The double-layered Ti/Si barrier metal is demonstrated for the source/drain Cu interconnections in oxide semiconductor thin-film transistors (TFTs). The transmission electromicroscopy and ion mass spectroscopy analyses revealed that the double-layered barrier structure suppresses the interfacial reaction and the interdiffusion at the interface after thermal annealing at 350°C. The underlying Si layer was found to be very useful for the etch stopper during wet etching for the Cu/Ti layers. The oxide TFTs with a double-layered Ti/Si barrier metal possess excellent TFT characteristics. It is concluded that the present barrier structure facilitates the back-channel-etch-type TFT process in the mass production line, where the four- or five-mask process is used.


Two series of contracted all-electron basis sets are presented for Rb to Xe which were obtained by full optimization of atomic SCF energies. The smaller, economic basis is of split valence type. The larger is of triple
 zeta type
 for the 4d
 atomic orbitals and better than double zeta quality for remaining valence orbitals.


Logical reasoning is an effective method to analyze and solve problems, obtain mathematical conclusions, and build a mathematical system. It is also the basis for forming a methodical, logical quality of thinking and rational spirit, so logical reasoning literacy has become a focus in educational studies. This paper summarizes the relevant research results and draws the following conclusions: Firstly, the previous research on logical reasoning literacy mainly focuses on four aspects: the connotation, level, influencing factors, and training strategies. Secondly, among them, level status and training strategies are hot topics in current research. Thirdly, regarding research methods, scholars mostly use test questions, questionnaires, and interviews to study the status. Fourthly, the single research method, lack of empirical research, unsystematic research on influencing factors, and unfeasible research conclusions on training strategies are deficiencies in previous research. Finally, the current research on logical reasoning literacy lacks theoretical research and balanced grade research. Therefore, it is necessary to further improve the research method in future studies and conduct a more in-depth and systematic study on the influencing factors from an empirical perspective, to find out more comprehensive influencing factors and more operable cultivation strategies.


This travel characteristic learning method preferentially learns vehicle-to-vehicle distance during a decelerating operation during manual driving by a driver in a vehicle that can be switched by the driver between manual driving and automatic driving.


The placement of the tibial component is critical on the effect of Oxford mobile-bearing unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (OUKA). On the one hand, the coverage of tibial component is one of the factors affecting the clinical outcome. Overhang of tibial component can cause the damage to the medial collateral ligament and irritate the surrounding soft tissue, while underhang may easily lead to some complications such as subsidence and loosening of tibial component due to the lack of the support of the medial cortex. Both of them cause an adverse effect on the clinical result and postoperative function of the patients. Rotation of the tibial component has also been shown to associate with postoperative function in patients. From the perspective of surgery, the vertical cut on the tibial plateau is the decisive procedure affecting the placement of the tibial component, thus affecting the coverage and rotation of the tibial component. In previous studies and the clinical practices, it is found that, according to the direction and position of the standard vertical cut by Oxford, the tibial component of some patients could not cover perfectly, and the rotations of the tibial component are various. The investigation of the influence of Oxford standard vertical cut on the coverage and rotation of the tibial component, and whether there is a relationship between the coverage and rotation of the tibial component, may play a positive role in guiding surgeons to get better results of Oxford mobile-bearing unicompartmental knee arthroplasty.

Key words:
Arthroplasty; replacement, knee; Rotation; Tibia


Benevolence Thought is an important part of Confucian Thought and it contains three dimensionalities.The first one is love's philosophy,which consists of three levels;the second one is considerations to zoology;the last one is Mean Thought.The above three dimensionalities are essence of Confucian Thought,and their overwhelming charm will lead to renaissance of Confucian Thought in the future.Nowadays,with the development of science and techonology,our society becomes more and more inhuman,as a result,this kind of Mean Thought will attract the world's attention gradually.


A shampoo is a cleaning aid for the hair and is counted among the foremost beauty products. Shampooing is the most common form of hair treatment. Shampoos are primarily been products aimed at cleansing the hair and scalp. Today's shampoo formulations are beyond the stage of pure cleaning of the hair. Additional benefits are expected, e.g., conditioning, smoothing of the hair surface, good health of hair, i.e., hair free of dandruff, dirt, grease and lice, and above all, its safety benefits are expected. Standardization of formulation is essential in order to assess the quality, purity, safety and efficacy of the drug. The present research study deals with the standardization and evaluation of marketed shampoo formulation. The standardization of this formulation, the organoleptic characters, physical properties, the various physico-chemical properties such as moisture content, total ash, total solid, surface tension, specific gravity, test for ammonia, test for basic nitrogen compound, determination of water by toluene distillation were carried out.A more radical approach in popularizing shampoo would be to change the consumer expectations from a shampoo, with emphasis on safety and efficacy. We have evaluated marketed shampoos; the findings of this investigation reveal that synthetic preservatives have sometimes been the cause of adverse effects among consumers. We have used the physico-chemical approach to preservation and by formulating a self-preserving shampoo, have avoided this risk posed by chemical preservatives. However, the aesthetic attributes, such as lather and clarity, of the laboratory shampoo are comparable with the each. The foam volume was on a par. Although the retail products were not fare so well in the tests conducted by us, they enjoy market


AbstractThe effects of a variable-resolution mesh on simulated midlatitude baroclinic eddies in idealized settings are examined. Both aquaplanet and Held–Suarez experiments are performed using the Model for Prediction Across Scales-Atmosphere (MPAS-A) hydrostatic dynamical core implemented within the National Science Foundation–Department of Energy (NSF–DOE) Community Atmosphere Model (CAM-MPAS-A). In the real world, midlatitude eddy activity is organized by orography, land–sea contrasts, and sea surface temperature anomalies. In these zonally symmetric idealized settings, transients should have an equal probability of occurring at any longitude. However, the use of a variable-resolution mesh with a circular high-resolution region centered at 30°N results in a maximum in eddy kinetic energy on the eastern side and downstream of this high-resolution region in both aquaplanet and Held–Suarez CAM-MPAS-A simulations. The presence of a geographically confined maximum in both simulations suggests this response ...


The control of non-destructive testing of long-distance pipeline construction schedule in the construction planning and operations of construction plan review should focus on issues, progress in the implementation of the plan and the site should be taken control of the specific control measures and attention.


The first demonstration that active endocrine material can be extracted from the adrenal cortex, and that it is capable of prolonging life and mitigating symptoms in completely adrenalectomized animals, was by Rogoff and Stewart (1) in 1925. Their experimental observations constitute the basis for the method that is now generally employed in the treatment of Addison's disease. The first demonstration that substantial benefit may be derived from administration of potent adrenal cortex extract, in Addison's disease, was published by the same authors (2), in 1929. Amelioration of symptoms was the outstanding observation in 7 patients that had been under treatment with interrenalin, in the form of an extract of adrenal cortex, for periods ranging from approximately 6 to 18 months. Other articles (3), were followed by a second report (4), in 1932, which included 14 additional cases together with further observations on the original 7. It was clearly shown, by comparison with a control group of 12 cases, that s...


Due to the strict data conditions of machine learning for fault diagnosis, the application of fault diagnostic method based on the transfer kernel locality preserving projection is proposed. It solves the seawater pump's problem of low diagnostic accuracy due to insufficient fault samples and complex and variable operating conditions. This method uses the vibration signal of seawater pumps as the object, and the historical data came from different working conditions of the pump to prepare for the proposed model. By preserving the prior distribution structure of seawater pumps fault training data, the fault data is mapped into high-dimensional space. Then, transfer learning minimizes the distribution discrepancy between different datasets by the maximum mean discrepancy (MMD) in the Hilbert space. By this means, the samples with same class in different datasets could cluster together. Resulting with a classifier SVM trained to diagnose the fault class of the seawater pump by the different datasets combined. Through experiments, the results show that the proposed algorithm is effective, having better diagnostic accuracy than several learning algorithms.


Electric trains transport people and goods around the world. Complex environments exposed people to electromagnetic (EM) fields, especially in train stations. Malaysia's railway system is expanding, especially in Klang Valley. The EM interference near railroads is the main concern. This paper predicts cardiac pacemaker EM-field through calculation and measurement in a railway environment. A spectrum analyzer, a loop antenna, and a tri-log antenna were used to conduct the measurements at 9 kHz to 1 GHz. The Highest radiation level measured was 111.14 dBuV/m at 84 kHz, below cardiac pacemaker limit. Thus, pacemaker-wearing railroad passengers face no significant risks.


Objective. To assess the effects of adding combined estradiol/norethisterone acetate therapy (CENT) to goserelin acetate treatment (GA) of dysfunctional uterine bleeding (DUB) in perimenopausal women. Methods. In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial followed by an open follow-up study, 31 perimenopausal women with DUB were recruited from gynecological outpatient departments of two Dutch hospitals and randomized for treatment with either GA/placebo or GA/CENT for 6 months followed by 18 months of GA/CENT for all. The main outcome measures were abdominal pain, number of bleeding days, double-layer endometrial thickness (DET), Greene climacteric score (GCS), visual analog scale for well-being, bone mineral density (BMD) and mammographic density (BI-RAD score). Results. Abdominal pain, number of bleeding days and DET decreased in both groups, the between-group difference in decrease not being statistically significant. GCS initially showed significant improvement in the GA/CENT group. BMD decreased significantly in the GA/placebo group (−4.1%) compared with the GA/CENT group (−0.3%). Another 18 months of GA/CENT did not result in a lasting difference in BMD between groups. BI-RAD scores did not differ significantly between or within the two groups. Conclusions. Adding CENT to GA treatment for DUB in perimenopausal women initially prevented BMD loss and improved climacteric complaints, while having no negative impact on vaginal bleeding, abdominal pain or BI-RAD scores. However, prolonged treatment did not result in a lasting prevention of bone loss.


THE INVENTION CONCERNS THE MANUFACTURE OF INTEGRATED CIRCUITS. THE PROCESS OF THE INVENTION EASY MAKING ARRANGEMENTS BY ATTACK OF MATERIALS SILICON 53, SPRAY IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF REACTIVE CHLORIDE IN A PLASMA REACTOR 51 WAS AN OPERATION PASSIVE ATTACK PREVIOUS USING A GAS CONTAINING FLUORINE. Reactive ON THE REACTOR FOR PASSIVE ATTACK SPRAY WITH REACTIVE CHLORINE BY PRODUCING IN THE REACTOR OF PLASMA TRICHLORIDE BORE. YOU CAN ALSO USE A MIXTURE OF CHLORINE AND BORE TRICHLORIDE TO TRIGGER THE ATTACK OF THE MATERIAL BASED ON SILICON BEFORE CONTINUING WITH CHLORIDE ATTACK PUR. APPLICATION TO MAKING MEMORIES DYNAMIC VIVID 64 kb.


In Mexico there is little information about the symbiotic associations among diatoms on other marine microalgae and particularly, ciliates and marine planktonic crustaceans. For that reason, we report the first record of the epizoic symbiosis between the copepod Farranula gibbula and the diatom Pseudohimantidium pacificum as well as other microalgae associations with marine ciliates in Bahia de La Paz. Biological samples were collected using a 20-μm mesh plankton net in six sampling sites in Bahia de La Paz. Sixty-two male copepods of F . gibbula were found. From these, 27 specimens showed a bouquet composed of the diatom P. pacificum on its carapace. Average abundance values of P . pacificum for each sampling station ranged from 16 to 82 diatoms per copepod. Pennate diatoms were observed as epibionts on copepods belonging to the genus Acartia . In addition, other symbiotic relationships among ciliates, microalgae and cianobacteria were also encountered, outstanding the following ones: Chaetoceros coarctatum - Vorticella oceanica , Leptocylindrus mediterraneus - Solenicola setigera . The association between the diatom Fragilariopsis doliolus and the silicoflagellate Dictyocha pentagona with a Vorticella- like ciliate is reported for the first time.


In this work, we describe the "in situ" synthesis of "all-acrylic" copolymer (n-butyl acrylate-co-methyl methacrylate)/clay materials at different low contents of raw and modified Montmorillonite (1–4 wt % versus monomer). The cationic 2,2′ azobis-(amidinopropane)dihydrochloride initiator was used to modified the clay by cation exchange in combination with the N-tert-butyl-N-[1-diethylphosphono-(2,2-dimethylpropyl)] (SG1) nitroxide to synthesize the polymer/clay nanocomposite via nitroxide mediated controlled radical polymerization. All synthesized materials are characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance, size exclusion chromatography, thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry techniques. The thermo-mechanical properties of the synthesized materials are also reported. The results show that a decrease in molar masses and/or slight changes in molar compositions of poly (n-butyl acrylate- co-methyl methacrylate)/clay systems can be balanced by clay loading in polymer matrix, and consequently compensated or masked clay effects on physical properties of obtained materials. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012


Results on the use of Z-cut, X-propagating LiNbO/sub 3/ plate mode devices as detectors for dilute electrolyte or metal ion solutions are reported. It is shown that a relatively strong external electric field associated with the selected SH plate wave penetrates into an adjacent liquid and interacts with ions and dipoles. The resulting electrical loading leads to a measurable perturbation in the wave propagation characteristics, which can then be related to the liquid properties. Experiments were conducted with various aqueous and nonaqueous solutions, at various device frequencies. An increase in sensitivity and resolution of at least two orders of magnitude greater than that of previously reported acoustic plate mode sensors is observed. These promising results have also led to the investigation of the detection of aqueous metal ions (Fe/sup 3+/, Mg/sup 2+/, Cu/sup 2+/, etc.) using solution conductivity changes rather than the commonly used mass sensitivity.<<ETX>>


One action being taken when people feel sick is self-medication. Self-medication is the selection and use of medicines by individuals to treat self recognized illness and symptoms.
The study was done to know the profile of self-medication in pharmacy consumers, especially adult patients in North Surabaya. A descriptive study was conducted by using purposive sampling to 104 pharmacy consumers at 26 randomly selected pharmacies in North Surabaya.
Most respondents were female (53,8%). Majority of respondents were 31-40 years (34,6%). Their education level are mostly high school/equivalent (32,7%) and work as private employees (45,2%). Most symptom felt by consumers was cough (13,5%). They did self-medication to relieve symptom (63,5%). They bought medicine at a pharmacy (45,2%) due near to the house (65,4%). Most drug information obtained from doctors (26,0%). They chose the medicine because of its efficacy (56,7%). Their perception of the drug price was cheap (54,8%). Almost all respondents mentioned the name (brand) of medicine when they requested it (91,3%). About 81,7% respondents have used medicine they bought before and generally knew the use of the medicine (92,3%). Majority of drug dosage form was a solid (91.3%) with the highest number was 10 (48,0%). Most drugs purchased were prescription drugs (33,6%). Most respondents use medicine for 1 day (56,7%). Respondents only noticed medicine name (91,3%) and expiration date of the medicine (80,8%).
It can be concluded that the role of the pharmacist at a pharmacy is needed on giving information and education related to medicine which consumers used for self-medication


On basis of the properties of the elements of Hadamard matrix and cyclic matrix and in combination with the existent number of +1 elements and-1 elements in Order n4Hadamard matrix,it is confirmed that such a Hadamard matrix cannot be generated by cyclic matrix.Therefore Order n4Hadamard matrix can not be a cyclic matrix.


Isothermal microcalorimetry can be used to investigate the photosynthetic energy conversion of auto- trophic organisms. In this study, for the first time a diatom alga was used to compare the calorimetrically measured heat flux with measurements of the photosynthetic perfor- mance by oxygen evolution and pulse-amplitude modu- lated fluorescence. The presented experimental setup proved suitable to compare calorimetric data with those of conventional methods of the determination of photosyn- thesis rates. Special attention was paid to the contribution of energy dissipation via non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) of chlorophyll fluorescence to the metabolic energy balance. This was achieved by a combination of different light conditions and the use of an inhibitor of NPQ. Although NPQ is an important photoprotective mechanism in diatoms, the inhibition of NPQ resulted in an activation of alternative, energy dissipating pathways for absorbed radiation which completely compensated for the fraction of energy dissipation by NPQ.


When significant resistance to loading under static, fatigue and creep conditions is required, the superalloys have emerged as the materials of choice for high temperature applications. This is particularly true when operating temperatures are beyond about 800C. This is the case for gas turbines used for (i) jet propulsion, e.g. the 100,000 lb thrust engines used for powering large two-engined aeroplanes such as the Boeing 777, or the smaller 1,000 lb engines used for helicopter applications and (ii) electricity generation, e.g. the 250 MW gas-fired industrial gas turbine which can generate enough power to satisfy a large city, or a smaller 3 MW gas-fired generator suitable for back-up capability. However, as high temperature materials which are relatively expensive, the superalloys should be employed only after consideration of others which are available. When weight-saving is important, titanium alloys are used in preference to the superalloys but their poor oxidation resistance restricts their application to below about 700C. For some electricity-generating power plant applications which rely upon superheated steam at about 565C, high strength creep resistant ferritic steels are preferred on account of their lower cost. The superalloys come into their own particularly in extreme environments, when resistance to oxidation and corrosion is required; for this purpose, they are often used in combination with protective coatings.


Aiming at the problem that the traditional formula method is very complicated to calculate the pipeline pressure loss in the design process of pneumatic conveying system, the paper proposes a prediction model of pipeline pressure loss based on deep neural network (DNN). By supervising and analyzing the signals of flow parameters in the process of conveying, it can effectively extract the characteristics of signal by self-adaptive learning. The advantage of this prediction model is that it does not need to extract the characteristics of flow parameters signal in advance, and directly realizes the prediction of pipeline pressure loss end-to-end. This model avoids the complexity and signal loss in the process of artificially extracting parameter features, has higher stability and better prediction effect.


When guaranty and hypothecation coexist, there still exist some problems with theory and judicial practice. As to the problem with the division of responsibility between the guarantor and the pledger, the resolution is not theoretically based on the principle that the real right takes precedence over the creditors right, instead, the creditor has the right to require the guarantor and pledger to undertake their responsibility according to the agreed share and the related legal regulations. As for the problem with the internal recovery, the resolution should be based on the principle of fairness. Specifically speaking, when the actual amount of guaranty exceeds the guarantors share calculated on a basis of proportion, the guarantor will have the right to recover the part above his share from the other party. As to the problem with the relief or exemption of guarantors liability, the guarantor can be relieved or exempted from his liability of guaranty within the scope where the creditor renounce his right or within the scope where the creditor is remiss to exercise his real right and causes the depreciation, derogation and loss of the pledge.


Serpentine ore [(Mg, Fe)3(OH)4Si2O5] has been evaluated as a stationary phase in gas chromatography for the separation of higher hydrocarbons in air. Separations of isobutane, N-butane, cyclohexane and air have been studied using temperature programming. A stainless-steel tube of 1.8 m × 2.0 mm size, packed with 60-80 mesh particles of serpentine ore is used as an analytical column. The separated components are detected using a thermal conductivity detector. Studies reveal that the separation of isobutane, cyclohexane and air mixture is possible using temperature programming in the range 100-150°C at the rate of 30°C min -1 . Isobutane and N-butane could not be separated due to the close retention times. The packed column is successfully applied for the separation of synthetic mixtures of isobutane, cyclohexane and air.


Spintharina Semenov (type species: vagans Radoszkowski occurs in the southern Palearctic and Ethiopian Regions. This group is characterized by the absence of teeth on tergum III, a long triangular forewing marginal cell, and an apically blunt or emarginate lateral propodeal projection. Fragmentary evidence points to Masaridae as hosts. have been able to study types or authentically determined specimens of 23 of the 26 species. Status of the other 3 is in doubt. Complete synonymy and distribution will be given in a generic revision of Chrysididae now in preparation by L. S. Kimsey and R. M. Bohart. I would like to thank Dr. Kimsey for turning over to me her basic research on the genus, and for reviewing this paper.


Preface to the first edition. Preface to the second edition. List of maps. 1. Introduction - Reconstruction under the Romanovs: Michael 1613-1645. 2. New foundations: from Alexis to the Regent Sophie, 1645-1689. 3. The new structure: Peter the Great, 1689-1725. 4. Renovation and the extension: Anna, Elizabeth and others, 1725-1761. 5. Enlightened completion: Peter III and Catherine the Great, 1761-1796. 6. Improvement or deterioration?: Paul (1796-1801) and sons. Conclusion. Select bibliography. Maps. Index


Bulbous bows are widely used in hull design because of reducing resistance and improving propulsion. The principle, how to decrease the drag after appling some common kind of bulb noses defined with their geometric characteristics, is described at first. And then, in order to transform bow form among different types of bulbous or from non\|bulb bow to bulbous, a new approach is put forward to harmonise and fair form variation. On the basis of Holtrop resistance estimation, the kind of objective function, including the total resistance and the propulsion results and considering the weight factors, is set up to optimise hull bow under the constrained conditions of the essential elements of the hull and bulb. It can be seen that the new approaching is a short\|cut method that is very advanced and practicable by giving the examples of optimum calculation of the real bulbous bow hull form design, so it can be offered to the practical use to design ship lines with lower resistance and higher propulsion in the initial and conceptual ship design.


The objective of the effort was to numerically simulate viscous subsonic flow in a proposed elliptical two-duct version of the fuel side Hot Gas Manifold (HGM) for the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME). The numerical results were to complement both water flow and air flow experiments in the two-duct geometry performed at NASA-MSFC and Rocketdyne. The three-dimensional character of the HGM consists of two essentially different geometries. The first part of the construction is a concentric shell duct structure which channels the gases from a turbine exit into the second part comprised of two cylindrically shaped transfer ducts. The initial concentric shell portion can be further subdivided into a turnaround section and a bowl section. The turnaround duct (TAD) changes the direction of the mean flow by 180 degress from a smaller radius to a larger radius duct which discharges into the bowl. The cylindrical transfer ducts are attached to the bowl on one side thus providing a plane of symmetry midway between the two. Centerline flow distance from the TAD inlet to the transfer duct exit is approximately two feet. Details of the approach used to numerically simulate laminar or turbulent flow in the HGM geometry are presented. Computational results are presented and discussed.


We report disparate quasiballistic heat conduction trends for periodic nanoscale line heaters deposited on a substrate, depending upon whether measurements are based on the peak temperature of the heaters or the temperature difference between the peak and the valley of two neighboring heaters. The degree of quasiballistic transport is characterized by the effective thermal conductivities of the substrate which are obtained by matching the diffusion solutions to the phonon Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) results. We find that while the ballistic heat conduction effect based on the peak temperature diminishes as the two heaters become closer, it becomes stronger based on the peak-valley temperature difference. Our results also show that the collective behavior of closely spaced heaters can counteract the nonlocal effects caused by an isolated nanoscale hot spot. These results are relevant to thermal conductivity spectroscopy techniques under a) To whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail: firstname.lastname@example.com 2 development and also have important implications for understanding nonlocal heat conduction in integrated circuits and carbon nanotube array thermal interface materials.


This paper analyzes optimal pricing for access to essential facilities in a competitive environment. The focus is on investment incentive issues arising from regulation under complete information. To that end, examining the provision of a natural monopoly infrastructure with unlimited capacity, it is shown that the fixed component of a regulated access price can be structured so as to induce a "race" between market participants to provide the infrastructure. An appropriate pricing formula can ensure that a single firm chooses to invest at the socially optimal time (taking into account producer and consumer surplus) despite the immediate access granted to rivals and the non-existence of government subsidies. Under the optimal pricing formula, firms choose their investment timing based on their desire to pre-empt their rivals. This pricing formula is efficient (a two part tariff), implementable ex post, and robust to alternative methods of asset valuation (replacement or historical cost). When firms are not identical, the access pricing formula resembles, in equilibrium, a fully distributed cost methodology.


Meteorological data assimilation techniques are motivated forward by the advance of numerical weather prediction models and the increasing rapidly observations, including the great part of unconventional data obtained by remote measurement methods. There are mainly two general concepts that have been discussed repeatedly for data assimilation in meteorology. The variational (especially adjoint variational) method has been the popular and most used scheme, which, however, has a drawback that model errors (system noise) are not taken into account. Another class of methods are those described as sequential data assimilation, which are represented by Kalman filters. The introduction of Kalman filters and their developmental stages in the meteorological data assimilation field are presented in this paper, as well as that the importance and applications of Kalman filters, particularly simplified Kalman filters and ensemble Kalman filters. Due to that they have the ability to consider model errors and let assimilation results not drift away from observations, Kalman filters are paid more and more attentions, though they need much of computational load. Compared with the current advance abroad, the developments and applications of Kalman filters in China are lagged. However, there will be a bright prospect for them with the improvements of computational conditions.


Compared with image few-shot learning, most of the existing few-shot video classification methods perform worse on feature matching, because they fail to sufficiently exploit the temporal information and relation. Specifically, frames are usually evenly sampled, which may miss important frames. On the other hand, the heuristic model simply encodes the equally treated frames in sequence, which results in the lack of both long-term and short-term temporal modeling and interaction. To alleviate these limitations, we take advantage of the compressed domain knowledge and propose a long-short term Cross-Transformer (LSTC) for few-shot video classification. For short terms, the motion vector (MV) contains temporal cues and reflects the importance of each frame. For long terms, a video can be natively divided into a sequence of GOPs (Group Of Picture). Using this compressed domain knowledge helps to obtain a more accurate spatial-temporal feature space. Consequently, we design the long-short term selection module, short-term module, and long-term module to comprise the LSTC. Long-short term selection is performed to select informative compressed domain data. Long/short-term modules are utilized to sufficiently exploit the temporal information so that the query and support can be well-matched by cross-attention. Experimental results show the superiority of our method on various datasets.


Ever since Tait's abortive attempt to solve the 4-color conjecture [ 71, geometers have been szarching for Hamiltonian circuits in various types of graphs. Special attention has been given to the polyhedral graphs, that is, graphs that are isomorphic to the l-skeletons of convex poly iopes. l AIthough there are polytopes of every dimension greater than 3 that do not have Hamiltonian circuit-s, only in 3-dimensional space simple r,olytopes with this property have been found (see [3,8]). Barnette I 1 ] has conjectured that every simple 4-polytope has a Hamiltonian circ&. This conjecture is still open even for prisms over simple 3-polytopes. In this paper we show that certain families of prisms have Hamiltonian circuits. In particular, we show that the k-fold prisms over 3polytopes (not necessarily simple) have Hamiltonian circuits for all k 2 :Y. We also show that for every polytope P, there exists a number k(P) such that the n-fold prism over 9 has a I familtonisn circuit for n 2 k(P). Finally we show that the prisms ovw simple 4-colorable 3polyltopes have Hamiltonian circuits.


In this paper, we consider an interval system of matrix equations contained two equations with two unknown matrices as We define a solution set for this system and then we study some conditions that the solution set is bounded. Finally, we present a direct method and an iterative method for solving this interval system.


This article introduces the targets and contents of Wushu Arena Contest in 2010 China Robotics Competition and RoboCup Open, and according to the actual situation of Nanjing University Jinling College, puts forward the concrete ideas, design plans and design steps of the humanoid robot, and expounds the problems encountered and the corresponding solutions. Finally, the author discusses the previous experiences of Nanjing University Jinling College in robot competitions.


The effect of integrated use of mineral N fertilizer (Urea) and biofertilizer (Azotobacter and Azospirillum) on grain yield, grain yield attributes and harvest index of wheat was assessed. Two field experiments were carried out on a sandy soil in the Experimental Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, South Valley University at Qena Governorate, Egypt. The recommended N (230 kg N ha -1 ) and biofertilizer (Azotobacter and Azospirillum) were applied alone and in various combinations among them. A randomized complete block design, with three replications, was used in this study. Treatments significantly affected plant height, spike length, number of spikelets/spike, kernel weight /spike, 1000-kernel weight, grain and straw yields and harvest index. The highest values of such traits were obtained in treatment T11 (75% mineral N + biofertilizer with Azotobacter and Azospirillum). However, T 12 (50% mineral N + biofertilizer with Azotobacter and Azospirillum) resulted also higher values for the above mentioned traits comparing with T 1 (100% nitrogen and uninoculated) but the differences among the two treatments almost did not attain the statistical differences. From this study, it can be concluded that the biofertilizers (double-inoculation of Azotobacter and Azospirillum) of efficient strains could save 25 or 50 % of the recommended dose of mineral N.


Background Evidence based consensus guidelines for venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention are broadly accepted to be effective and safe for more than three decades (Clagett GP et al, 1992). However VTE continues to be associated with a major global burden of disease with 3.9 million cases of HAT during one year among 1.1 billion citizens of high income countries (Jha AK et al, 2013). Therefore prevention is the key to reduce death and disability resulting from VTE (Kahn S et al, Gould MK et al & Falck-Yitter Y et al, 2012). Ireland like many other countries has yet to implement a mandatory risk assessment tool and thromboprophylaxis (TP) policy nationally. Aims The aim of this study was to calculate the proportion of inpatients who had a VTE risk assessment performed and received appropriate TP in a large tertiary referral hospital. This information will be vital for baseline data for implementation of a new national policy for prevention of HAT. Methods This audit was performed at Cork University Hospital on 4 pre specified days between November 2014 to February 2015. All adult inpatients (Medical and Surgical) excluding maternity and psychiatric were included. Patients on therapeutic anticoagulation were also excluded. The patients9 medical chart and drug prescription chart were reviewed to determine whether or not a VTE risk assessment was documented for each patient and if they had received appropriate TP. If no risk assessment had been performed, trained researchers applied the National Institute for health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines 92 (Jan 2010) for VTE risk assessment and prevention. Following the risk assessment patients were divided into three categories, high risk of VTE with low risk of bleeding; high risk of VTE with significant risk of bleeding and low risk of VTE. From this the proportion of patients in each group that received appropriate TP were calculated. Results A total of 1019 patients were enrolled the majority were medical patients 63.5% (n=648). The mean age of patients was 69 years. Females accounted for 52% of patients. Average length of hospitalisation for each patient at the time of the audit was 6 days (range 1-664 days). Overall, a formal TP risk assessment was documented in only 24% (n=244) of all charts reviewed however TP was prescribed in 43.2% (n=441) of patients. See table. Within the high risk category patients, 64.3% (n=526) medical. TP was only administered to 46.3% (n=380) of patients in the high risk category. This was almost evenly distributed between surgical 50.1% (n=147) and medical 43.4% (n=233) patients. Conclusion This audit was done as the initial step to develop a national policy to prevent HAT. As suspected, this audit highlights that a large proportion of hospitalised patients, both surgical and medical, continue to be at high risk for VTE despite the availability of preventative measures. There is clear illustration of under prescription of safe, effective and recommended means of VTE prevention. The current overall figure of less than 50% prescription of VTE thromboprophylaxis in high risk patients is a major patient safety concern. There are numerous recognised international guidelines for prevention of VTE, and an efficient method to implement these guidelines needs to be developed. Beyond developing national guidelines for TP, we need a co-ordinated approach to implement and monitor compliance with guidelines. Once the preliminary results of this audit were available to us in March 2015, urgent measures were taken to reduce the identified risk such as the establishment of a Hospital Thrombosis Group which developed a user friendly VTE risk assessment tool and TP policy. The VTE risk assessment tool was incorporated into the patients drug prescription chart and included a pre printed prescription for TP. It is now mandatory for the all patients to have a VTE risk assessment tool and TP prescribed if appropriate within 24hrs of admission. This was successfully piloted for four weeks in the acute medical assessment unit and is now incorporated into each patients drug chart throughout the hospital. This audit will be replicated in 6 months from introduction of this initiative, with an aim of >90% compliance. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Collision detection is the key issue of three-dimensional walkthrough system.This paper proposes a two-step method for the collision detection between active observer and static virtual environment of three-dimensional walkthrough system.The first step uses bounding box to get a rough detection.The second step uses intersection test to get accurate collision detection.The collision detection is optimized by applying the thought of time-limited computing.The experiment results show that the algorithm speeds up the detection.


Arabidopsis bZIP11 is a transcription factor that modulates amino acid metabolism under high‐sucrose conditions. Expression of bZIP11 is downregulated in a sucrose‐dependent manner during translation. Previous in vivo studies have identified the second upstream open reading frame (uORF2) as an essential regulatory element for the sucrose‐dependent translational repression of bZIP11. However, it remains unclear how uORF2 represses bZIP11 expression under high‐sucrose conditions. Through biochemical experiments using cell‐free translation systems, we report on sucrose‐mediated ribosome stalling at the stop codon of uORF2. The C‐terminal 10 amino acids (29‐SFSVxFLxxLYYV‐41) of uORF2 are important for ribosome stalling. Our results demonstrate that uORF2 encodes a regulatory nascent peptide that functions to sense intracellular sucrose abundance. This is the first biochemical identification of the intracellular sucrose sensor.


The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) was developed by NASA and launched onboard the Terra spacecraft on December 18, 1999. It achieved its final orbit and began Earth observations on February 24, 2000. MODIS scans a swath width sufficient to provide nearly complete global coverage every two days from a polar-orbiting, sun- synchronous, platform at an altitude of 705 km, and provides images in 36 spectral bands between 0.415 and 14.235 microns with spatial resolutions of 250 m (two bands), 500 m (five bands) and 1000 m (29 bands). In this paper we will describe the various methods being used for the remote sensing of cloud properties using MODIS data, focusing primarily on the MODIS cloud mask used to distinguish clouds, clear sky, heavy aerosol, and shadows on the ground, and on the remote sensing of cloud optical properties, especially cloud optical thickness and effective radius of water drops and ice crystals. Additional properties of clouds derived from multispectral thermal infrared measurements, especially cloud top pressure and emissivity, will also be described. Results will be presented of MODIS cloud properties both over the land and over the ocean, showing the consistency in cloud retrievals over various ecosystems used in the retrievals. The implications of this new observing system on global analysis of the Earth's environment will be discussed.


One of the most remarkable British comments about Africa during this period can be found in Jameson, Wilson, and Murray's Narrative of Discovery and Adventure in Africa (1830). 'Could Africa cease to exist, great facilities would be afforded to the communication between the other continents, and many new channels of commerce would be opened up.' Could any comment on a continent be any more negative than this? Could any more reflect a seafaring commercial country's view of the world ? Compare what was being written not only about India but about Australia and South America. There is other evidence from the year 1851 which would have helped Professor Curtin to summarise the state of feeling after a period which he shows had seen far less change in the 'image' or 'images' than might have been expected. The Annual Register, a good guide to what was happening in England and overseas, had had little to say about Africa in the early 1780's, although it had much to say about Captain Cook and Tippoo Sultan. In 1851, however, it devoted a considerable amount of space not to West Africa but to South Africa. ' No question connected with colonial affairs occupied a more prominent position in the public mind at this period', it noted, 'than the state of the important British settlement in South Africa.' Debates in parliament on the state of affairs there would have provided Professor Curtin with an anthology in miniature. One member of parliament said that the struggle between black and white in Caffraria was the inevitable result of the contact of civilisation with utter barbarism. No amalgamation could take place. The savage would retire farther and farther back until he would die altogether. Another member, J. A. Roebuck, worth a mention in any account of images, particularly colonial ones, went further and claimed that the black race as a whole must vanish in face of the white. Yet, to reveal the pluralism of English attitudes, he was rebuked sharply and angrily by a third member who asked ' if a doctrine characterised by such a bloodthirsty and rapacious spirit were to be acted upon, where would the mischief end ? Who was to be the judge of which of two nations were the more civilised?'


Two experiments of direct sampling and sampling after 4.75mm sieve were prepared for the research on RAP (Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement)gradation and its variability. The results indicate that RAP gradation fluctuation causes the difficulty of controling recycled mixture gradation and the adverse impact on stability of recycled mixture. The method of sampling after 4.75mm sieve can effectively control RAP gradation fluctuation before recycled and reduce adverse impact on recycled mixture in the text.


The 2013 federal election was dominated by economic issues, carbon policy and the controversies surrounding asylum seekers, driven by the Abbott Coalition's campaign to damage the economic and political credibility of the Rudd–Gillard governments. As a result, the role and place of social policy issues during the campaign was uncertain and had less prominence. With the exception of the issue of paid parental leave, traditional social policy issues such as education and health did not play a decisive and direct role in the outcome. In part, this was the result of a deliberate strategy by the Coalition to neutralise key social issues, often perceived as the ALP's traditional areas of strength (McAllister and Pietsch 2011: 19–20). Nevertheless, there was some social policy convergence between the two major party groupings but this was for tactical rather than ideological reasons.


Cancer is not just one disease, but a group of more than hundred diseases in which a group of cells become abnormal, divide without control and invade other tissues. Cancer cells can spread to other parts of the body through the blood circulation or lymph system. The body is made up of many types of cells which are basic units of life and these cells grow and divide in a controlled way to keep the body healthy. When cells become old or damaged, they die and are replaced with new cells in a programmed way; this process is called apoptosis. However, sometimes this programmed process goes wrong. The genetic material (DNA) of a cell regulates the normal cell growth and division. If DNA becomes damaged or changed, producing mutations, cells do not die and cells keep dividing when the body does not need them, these extra cells form a mass of tissue which is called a tumour . Tumours are of two types; one is benign tumour, another one is malignant tumour. Benign tumours are not cancerous; they do not spread to other parts of the body but malignant tumours are cancerous, cells in these tumours can spread to other parts of the body (metastasis) cancer council. Clinicians working with patients with chronic cancer-related pain are familiar with the experience of pain having both somatic sensory and psychological components. With adequate pain management, we often see a lessening of anxiety and a return to emotional equilibrium, which allows patients to process the loss inherent in the cancer experience. But in some of our patients we see persistence of psychological suffering and of a maladaptive anxious response that interrupts this processing and worsens outcome. While most anxiety develops after the onset of cancer, a smaller subset of patients with anxiety represent those with pre-existing conditions. In the present study, the aim was to determine the effectiveness of mindfulness based cognitive therapy along with standard care on cancer patients. Total number of participants were 10, 5 each in the respective group (experimental group i.e. MBCT with standard care and control group i.e. only standard). The information regarding their age, gender, education, socioeconomic status, marital status, stage of illness and amount of physical activity was collected. The 2 groups pre-test post-test design was used for the present study. This design indicates one group was tested before and after being exposed to a treatment or intervention while another group was tested at the same two times but was not exposed to any treatment. The test results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the post test scores of the experimental group and control group on all the variables employed in the study. Thus, the hypothesis stating that the post-test scores of the experimental group will be higher than the pre test scores was supported.


Introduction: Cervicofacial infections of odontogenic origin continue to cause various complications despite improvements in clinical services, especially the use of potent antibiotics. Empyema thoracis is a life-threatening and extremely rare complication of odontogenic infections. Objectives: The aim of this report is to discuss the pattern of presentation of empyema thoracis as complication of odontogenic cervicofacial infections observed in a maxillofacial unit. Material and methods: A retrospective review of cases of descending cervicofacial infection with chest cavity involvement seen at the oral and maxillofacial clinic and co-managed with the cardiothoracic unit between January 2016 and January 2020. Results: Five male patients presented with empyema thoracis from odontogenic infections, aged between 21 and 29 years (median, 27; mean age, 25.4 years). Coexisting systemic conditions were diabetes mellitus (1 patient), malnutrition (1 case), and mental illness (1 patient). In all cases, plain radiographs revealed pneumothorax, lung collapse, and pleural effusion. Treatment included systemic intravenous antibiotic therapy, control of diabetes, nutritional supplementation, and chest tube insertion. There was favorable outcome in four cases, while one patient died. Patients were discharged home after removal of chest tube. Conclusions: Cervicofacial odontogenic infections are complicated by empyema thoracis, which could be fatal in various patients.


The invention relates to a filter device (2) for a motor vehicle (1), operable with a regardless of a ventilation system of the motor vehicle (1) and additionally provided to the ventilation system conveying means (5) for suction and discharge of air from the interior (4) of the the motor vehicle (1), through which at least one taken in by the means of the conveyor (5) and conveyed air filter element (6) for filtering the air, and at least one outlet (8) for introducing the means of the filter element (6) filtered air in the interior (4), the filter device (2) is designed to receive at least one of a terminal (7) signal provided (19) wirelessly and to activate in response to the signal (19), the conveyor (5).


Education equality should be the embodiment of rights to education, rights through education and rights after education. Inequality today is more than a social phenomenon; schools are participating in and creating inequality as well. Hence, showing solicitude for equality in education becomes a great necessity. It is believed that education equality can only be progressively accomplished through fulfilling international commitments, expanding educational input and promoting social equity.


Clay membrane hybrid composites were prepared by facile solution-casting of aqueous precursor suspensions of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH) and montmorillonite clay (MMT), then cross-linked by gamma irradiation. The influences of absorbed dose and polymer loading on composite structure and properties were investigated. A moderate amount of PVOH (P4C6) is found to be optimum for fabricating mechanically strong PVOH composites; however, gamma irradiation has a positive influence on strengthening composites only with low PVOH content. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation shows a layered structure from the cross-section of a cryo-fractured surface for all composites, and a comparatively smooth surface. The wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) characterization shows an intercalated MMT structure with incorporation of PVOH. Cross-linking and the increase of clay content lead to a decreased onset decomposition temperature but an increase in the temperature at the maximum decomposition rate and enhancement o...


Present studies, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were biosynthesized using aqueous extract of Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng plant. The prepared AgNPs (PA-AgNPs) were examined by Ultravioletvisible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX). The results obtained from various characterizations revealed that average size of biosynthesized AgNPs was 33 nm and in face-centered-cubic structure. The anticancer potential of PAAgNPs was investigated against Human cervical cancer cells (HeLa). The cytotoxic response was assessed by MTT assay and NRU assays. Further, the influence of cytotoxic concentrations of PAAgNPs cell cycle arrest and apoptosis/necrosis was studied. The cytotoxic response observed was in a concentration-dependent manner. The cell cycle analysis and apoptosis/necrosis assay data exhibited PAAgNPs-induced SubG1 arrest and apoptotic/necrotic cell death. The biosynthesized AgNPs-induced cell death in HeLA cells suggested the anticancer potential of PA-AgNPs to treat the cervical cancer cells.


Knowledge-based Intelligent Systems. Neural Network Paradigms. Fuzzy Logic in Engineering. Introduction to Evolutionary Computing Techniques Developing Knowledge-based Applications in Engineering. Real-Time Knowledge-based Systems: Concepts, Issues, Approaches. Analogue/Digital Circuits Representation for Design and Trouble Shooting in Intelligent Environment. Applications of Neural Networks in Engineering. Evolution of Neural Structures Based on Cellular Automata. Further Applications of ART Paradigms. Fuzzy Control - Design and Engineering Applications.


Google Docs, a free web-based version of Microsoft Word, offers collaborative features which can be used to facilitate collaborative writing in a foreign language classroom. The current study compared writing abilities of students who collaborated on writing assignments using Google Docs with those working in groups in a face-toface classroom. The experimental research was conducted with students enrolled in EN 012 course in the first semester of academic year of 2013. Both groups were assigned to complete four writing assignments using different working methods: one group worked together outside class with Google Docs, while the other worked together in class. The instruments employed in the study were writing tests and two questionnaires. Data were analyzed by using means, standard deviations, percentages, and independent samples t-tests. The results indicate that a significant difference was found between the two groups' writing mean score after the experiment. Students in the Google Docs group gained higher mean scores than those working in groups in a face-to-face classroom. In addition, students reported that they had positive attitudes toward collaborative writing activity and high collaboration in their groups using Google Docs, while nearly all of them perceived that this learning tool is easy to use.


This paper presented a practical electromagnetic absorber design with periodic cells based on the well-known Salisbury screens. The unit cell has a size of 20cm × 20cm (7λ at the resonance frequency, 11 GHz) and a thickness of 20μm conductive ink. The return loss at the resonance frequency is up to 34 dB, which has a 3.5 GHz in bandwidth at the threshold of 10 dB. The frequency bandwidth is achieved by using the conductive ink with high dielectric constant to result in the resonance frequency shifted from high to lower frequency while in the meantime retaining the low profile. The sensitivity to the angle of incidence can be greatly reduced. Numerical and experimental results will be presented.


Abstract:John Cleland's novel Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (popularly known as Fanny Hill) is a classic of eighteenth-century English erotica. This article contains a brief discussion of some of the linguistic and stylistic decisions taken by the author in his Marathi translation of the novel. These decisions are dictated by a confluence of factors, namely, the historical influence of English on the syntactic structure of Marathi, the peculiarities of Marathi grammatical genders in sexual contexts, and the challenges involved in carrying out a cross-cultural transportation of the sacrilegious elements in Cleland's novel.


By employing the simple patterning and regrowth procedures, one-dimensional and two-dimensional (2D) periodically polarity inverted (PPI) ZnO structures are fabricated on (0001) Al2O3 substrates. For the selection of Zn- and O-polarity of ZnO films, patterned CrN buffer layers and Al2O3 substrates are used, respectively. The periodical change of the polarity is clearly confirmed by the polarity sensitive piezoresponse microscopy images, which are evidences for the successful fabrication of periodical polarity inversion structures. Cathodoluminescence investigation revealed that both polar layers have high crystal quality with strong free exciton emission. Moreover, 2D PPI ZnO structures with subnanometer scale periodicity are demonstrated by using the holographic lithography.


Objective To observe the normal MRI about the morphology of the anterior inferior cerebellar artery and the vestibulocochlear nerve. Methods MR inspection of inner ear was performed on 90 ears using MR 3D SPACE sequence. Normal performance of nerves and vessels in IAC(inner auditory canal) were observed and measured. Results It was clearly to display the micro nerve structure and its surrounding microvascular by three thin images. The mean diameter of cochlear nerve(CN) was(1.15 ±0.03) mm; superior vestibular nerve(SVN) diameter(1.08±0.03) mm; inferior vestibular nerve(IVN)(0.84 ±0.04) mm. The incidence of the anterior inferior cerebellar artery was 97.5 percent; the anterior inferior cerebellar artery loop 59 percent; the labyrinthine artery 34 percent. Arterial loops and labyrinthine artery contacted with the vestibulocochlear nerve 4 percent; 24 percent contacted,suspected contacted 44 percent,non-contacted 18 percent. Conclusion The result of this study could supply useful imaging anatomic data for the clinical practice in the cerebellopontine angle.


This Data Atlas of Byzantine and Ottoman Material Culture involves the archiving, storing and making accessible of Medieval and Post-Medieval data from several archaeological missions in the eastern Mediterranean (period 600–2000 ad). The data mainly originate from pottery studies carried out during excavations in four major urban centres and during two surface surveys in their respective surroundings. The urban sites are Butrint in southern Albania, Athens in central Greece, Ephesus in western Turkey and Tarsus in eastern Turkey, the material culture of which is studied in relation to archaeological finds from rural settlements and towns in their hinterlands (e.g., Aetolia, Boeotia).


Abstract This comment attempts to show that research methodology is not a complete model for the clinical domain. The writings of Shapiro serve as a good object lesson. Because Shapiro is often identified with the development of single case methodology, It is sometimes assumed that his clinical approach is no more or less than an application of this methodology. On the face of it, therefore, Shapiro's writings seem to represent a convenient rationale for heavily quantitative and predictive approaches to clinical neuropsychology. It is not difficult to show, however, that Shapiro's clinical philosophy ranges beyond the dictates of single case methodology to include qualitative approaches to observation and an historical approach to diagnosis.


Fabrication of fiber coupler using fusion requires stable torch flame. Stable torch flame is needed to have a good performance of fabrication. A model was required to observe the stable by equilibrium state of silicon dioxide fiber and nitrogen gas used for fabrication of fiber coupler. Continuity equation was applied to show the model of kinetic reaction derived from process of fiber molecule and nitrogen gas. Arrhenius equation form based on temperature variation and integration of kinetic model was examined. Validation of kinetic model towards thermodynamic equilibrium is evaluated by a zero dimensional and time dependence. Nitrogen species density is modelled by a continuity equation and extended form of Arrhenius equation. These equations were used to integrate the change of density over time. The integration was performed to acquire density and the reaction rate of each reaction where temperature and time dependence were imposed. A comparison was made with global model within pressure range of 1-100mTorr and the temperature of electron is set to be higher than other nitrogen species. Results show that the chemical kinetic model agrees only for high pressure because of no power imposition. The global model provides the power in the pressure range for electron and nitrogen at high density by a factor of 3 to 5. This model is plausible for evaluating experimental process in the fabrication of fiber coupler.


With the fast development of science and technology and the socialization of production,a lot of SME become associated thing of socialized production and development of science and technology.Miniaturization of enterprises will be the inexorable trend.Some problems will occur because of the restrictions of the SME themselves,such as scale obstacles,management obstacles and demand obstacles,etc.Therefore,it's necessary for SME to rely on their own effort and seek supports from others,especially from the government.


Sliding friction experiments involving copper and Cu-Be alloy plates in contact with copper, Cu-Be alloy, steel and titanium alloy sliders were performed in air and vacuum. Micro-hardness and metallographic examination of plate and slider interface suggests friction and wear by the adhesive friction mechanism with prow formation. Transfer of strain-hardened metal wear debris across the sliding interface leas observed. The friction coefficient and the prow size generally increased in vacuum. Presented as an American Society of Lubrication Engineers paper at the ASME/ASLE Lubrication Conference held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. October 8–10. 1968.


PURPOSE: To provide insulator porcelain which can be obtained by low temperature calcination, has small relative dielectric constant and excellent high frequency characteristics, and can be obtained by sintering with a material having high coefficient of thermal expansion. CONSTITUTION: The insulator porcelain is obtained by mixing and calcining MgAl2O4 ceramic material and borosilicate glass. In the porcelain, the MgAl2O4 crystal phase and at least one of Mg3B2O6 crystal phase and Mg2B2O5 crystal phase are crystallized as the main crystal phase.


Resumen en: The objective of this study was to evaluate the diuretic potential of Nyctanthus arbotristis Linn. (Oleaceae) flowers using a hot water infusion in ra...


For decades, higher education has been shaped by large-class lectures, which are characterized by large anonymous audiences. Well known issues of large-class lectures are a rather low degree of interactivity and a notable passivity of students, which are aggravated by the social environment created by large audiences. However, research indicates that an active involvement is indispensable for learning to be successful. Active partaking in lectures is thus often a goal of technology- supported lectures. An outstanding feature of social media is certainly their capabilities of facilitating interactions in large groups of participants. Social media thus seem to be a suitable basis for technology-enhanced learning in large-class lectures. However, existing general-purpose social media are often accompanied by several shortcomings that are assumed to hinder their proper use in lectures. This thesis therefore deals with the conception of a social medium, called Backstage, specially tailored for use in large-class lectures. Backstage provides both lecturer- as well as student-initiated communication by means of an Audience Response System and a backchannel. Audience Response Systems allow running quizzes in lectures, e.g., to assess knowledge, and can thus be seen as a technological support of question asking by the lecturer. These systems collect and aggregate the students' answers and report the results back to the audience in real-time. Audience Response Systems have shown to be a very effective means for sustaining lecture- relevant interactivity in lectures. Using a backchannel, students can initiate communication with peers or the lecturer. The backchannel is built upon microblogging, which has become a very popular communication medium in recent years. A key characteristic of microblogging is that messages are very concise, comprising only few words. The brief form of communication makes microblogging quite appealing for a backchannel in lectures. A preliminary evaluation of a first prototype conducted at an early stage of the project, however, indicated that a conventional digital backchannel is prone to information overload. Even a relatively small group can quickly render the backchannel discourse incomprehensible. This incomprehensibility is rooted in a lack of interactional coherence, a rather low communication efficiency, a high information entropy, and a lack of connection between the backchannel and the frontchannel, i.e., the lecture's discourse. This thesis investigates remedies to these issues. To this aim, lecture slides are integrated in the backchannel to structure and to provide context for the backchannel discourse. The backchannel communication is revised to realize a collaborative annotation of slides by typed backchannel posts. To reduce information entropy backchannel posts have to be assigned to predefined categories. To establish a connection with the frontchannel, backchannel posts have to be stuck on appropriate locations on slides. The lecture slides also improve communication efficiency by routing, which means that the backchannel can filter such that it only shows the posts belonging to the currently displayed slide. Further improvements and modifications, e.g., of the Audience Response System, are described in this thesis. This thesis also reports on an evaluation of Backstage in four courses. The outcomes are promising. Students welcomed the use of Backstage. Backstage not only succeeded in increasing interactivity but also contributed to social awareness, which is a prerequisite of active participation. Furthermore, the backchannel communication was highly lecture-relevant. As another important result, an additional study conducted in collaboration with educational scientists was able to show that students in Backstage-supported lectures used their mobile devices to a greater extent for lecture-relevant activities compared to students in conventional lectures, in which mobile devices were mostly used for lecture-unrelated activities. To establish social control of the backchannel, this thesis investigates rating and ranking of backchannel posts. Furthermore, this thesis proposes a reputation system that aims at incentivizing desirable behavior in the backchannel. The reputation system is based on an eigenvector centrality similar to Google's PageRank. It is highly customizable and also allows considering quiz performance in the computation of reputation. All these approaches, rating, ranking as well as reputation systems have proven to be very effective mechanisms of social control in general-purpose social media.


Some early color photographic processes based on special color screen filters pose specific challenges in their digitization and digital presentation. Those challenges include dynamic range, resolution, and the difficulty of stitching geometrically-repeating patterns. We describe a novel method used to digitize the collection of early color photographs at the National Geographic Society which makes use of a custom open-source software tool to analyze and precisely stitch regular color screen processes.


ABSTRACT This article takes up the pivotal question that Sarah asks upon learning that she and Abraham are to have a child of their own: "After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure?" (Genesis 18:12) This question indicates that Sarah prioritized pleasure, desired it, and asked questions of herself and of God in order to make space to receive it. For Black women who are looking for biblical precedent to prioritize pleasure, Sarah's question provides a textual and theological invitation to explore what a theology of pleasure might look like for women who have thought all hope was lost. For too long, conservative theology has been used to deny Black women sexual agency, but in Sarah's story, erotic possibility re-emerges through an insistent question that demands an answer.


OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated serum levels of the neuropeptides calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and substance P (SP) in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients with and without a history of diabetes mellitus (DM). METHODS: Patients undergoing coronary angiography for suspected myocardial ischaemia were divided into four groups depending on their clinical status: control group (no CAD or DM; n = 44), DM group (DM without CAD; n = 46), CAD group (stable CAD without DM; n = 44) and DM + CAD group (stable CAD with DM; n = 50). Serum levels of CGRP and SP were determined using radioimmunoassays. RESULTS: CGRP and SP levels in the DM and CAD groups were significantly lower than in the control group. The lowest levels of CGRP and SP were observed in the DM + CAD group. There were no significant differences in CGRP and SP levels between the DM group and the CAD group. CONCLUSION: CGRP and SP may have a role in the pathogenesis of CAD in patients with diabetes.


This article discusses the challenges faced by the U.S. freight infrastructure system during the current period of rapid growth, coupled with efforts by freight shippers and carriers to reduce inventories. To be able to effectively manage this balance, precise and highly reliable delivery services that are closely synchronized with manufacturing and distribution processes are required. The focus is on the ways in which maritime, air, rail, and highway planners are reconciling the needs of the freight industry with the infrastructure needs of local communities.


The multi-agent approach and technology for distributed scheduling, coordination and control of several UAV in group in order to perform joint tasks in real time was considered. The network-centric multi-agent system for real-time task scheduling for UAV's group was proposed. Two part of sheduling initial scheduling and dynamic rescheduling (task redistributed) were considered. For real-time task redistributed the randomized local voting protocol was used. The architecture of system consists of three basic subsystem. The approach to the organization of subsystems and agents within each subsystem interaction was described).


Phytostabilization is a management strategy aiming at limiting risks of heavy metal dispersion out of a polluted area by means of the use of appropriate plant species and soil amendments. Several aspects of this technique were studied based on laboratory experiments. We first clarified heavy metal mobility and bioavailability terms and showed what different laboratory measurements performed on contaminated soil samples can really indicate about these concepts. An interesting output of this work was the demonstration that heavy metal mobility and plant uptake are not always positively correlated. The impact of 2 contrasted soil amendments on heavy metal mobility, uptake by perennial ryegrass and metal leaching was assessed based on specifically-designed pot experiments. The suitability of steel shots for phytostabilization purposes was shown, but also that the development of plant species into a polluted soil could sometimes lead to an increased risk in metal leaching. Column experiments performed with ryegrass and white clover and with Cd- and Zn-contaminated substrates highlighted a potential risk linked to metal phytostabilization, i.e., a metal-induced impairment of root distribution within the soil profile which could decrease the longevity of the plant cover and limit soil stabilization. The use of an experimental flume allowed us to investigate the mechanisms of metal trapping by vegetative filter strips (VFS) during water erosion events. The effectiveness of a plant species to control soil erosion varied according to its growth and development dynamics. We showed also that the retention of metal contaminants by VFS was affected not only by the sediment retention, but also by the metal concentration in the various particle size classes. This metal distribution between the different particle size fractions varied according to the pollutant and soil physico-chemical properties as well as the nature of the pollution. Lessons from these experiments were combined with feedbacks from field trials in the literature to propose some guidelines for the in situ implementation of phytostabilization strategies. Such field experiments are decisive for the future of phytostabilization.


1995-2 EXPLORING THE CURRENT AND FUTURE CULTURE APPLICATIONS FOR ITALIAN AND SPECIALITY CHEESE Craig J. Oberg, Ph. D., Department of Microbiology, Weber State University, Ogden, UT Coauthors: Dr. Jeff Broadbent, Dr. Don McMahon, Shelby Caldwell, Roxanne Fecera and David Perry. Now that Mozzarella cheese production rivals Cheddar cheese, intensified production demands are being placed on thermophilic starter cultures. Bacteriophage problems have increased requiring novel solutions. The use of new starter organisms, genetic engineering, and development of phage resistant mutants are recent approaches. Thermophilic pediococci with introduced lactose utilization genes show promise to combat phage problems. Consumer demands for low-fat, reduced-fat and non-fat Mozzarella cheese also require new cultures to provide proper physical properties in cheeses with a very different micro-environment. Culture adjuncts can be used to accelerate development of cheese functionality when fat is removed. Exocellular polysaccharide producing cultures have shown promise in the production of low fat Mozzarella, particularly in modifying cook properties. Review of Thermophilic Cultures Thermophilic starter cultures are differentiated from mesophilic starters by their ability to grow at higher temperatures (optimal growth from 40 to 52·c vs. 22 to 3o·q (Thunell, 1986). Thermophilic lactobacilli commonly used for Mozzarella cheese production include Lactobadllus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus and Lactobadllus helvetia iS. Among bacteria presently classified as streptococci, Streptococcus thermophilus is the only dairy starter to be used for Mozzarella cheese. All thermophilic lactobacilli are lactose-positive, but only L. helveticus and L. addophilus also ferment galactose (Kandler, 1986). Considerable variation among rates of add production from carbohydrate fermentation were detected within subspecies. These differences have important implications for cheese make times and the quality of finished product. Investigators suggested that slower acid drive in Mozzarella is accompanied by slower conversion of dicalcium para-casein to monocaldum para-casein, which yields less stretch in the finished product (Kosikowski, 1977). Conversely, if curd pH continues to drop below the acceptable range of 5.1 to 5.3, more calcium is lost from the curd, monocalcium para-casein is converted to para-casein, and the curd retains less fat and exhibits poor stretch. Commercial cultures can be purchased as either frozen concentrates or freeze-dried concentrates. Bulk sets of either type are used to inoculate bulk tanks while DVS (direct vat sets) are inoculated directly into the cheese milk. Cultures can contain individual strains, single rod or coccus strains, or can contain a mix of rods and cocci. The majority of cultures contain known strains and are called defined strains. Commercial culture media is composed of either a whey-based or milk-based medium with supplemental salts, buffers, and growth stimulants added. The vast majority of media is buffered either internally by salts or externally by liquid neutralizers. Most media currently used is whey-based and externally buffered, either by continual injection or a one-step neutralization.


Abstract Instructional approaches in the spatial sciences of geographic information systems, remote sensing, and computer cartography are becoming more integrated because of their redundant requirements in theoretical education and hands-on training. A common set of conceptual issues and topical priorities was established for a newly developed course, "Spatial Data Representation and Display." The course is organized under the major headings of data acquisition, data encoding and storage, data display, and data analysis, and encompasses issues that serve as spatial foundations for the more advanced GIS, remote sensing, and computer cartography courses. Hands-on experiences in satellite image processing, GIS analysis, and data output are conducted on laboratory facilities developed or adapted for instructional student opportunities. Hardware configurations and software systems used to accommodate the spatial training are presented, as well as the theoretical issues and topical areas covered through the cou...


Abstract The introduction of geosynthetics into road construction significantly facilitated fulfilment of the set of requirements for modern road building technologies. The fact that geosynthetic materials can be implemented at all stages, from earthwork through land drainage to the construction of layers of roads, new, repaired or strengthened ones, means that geosynthetics now occupy an important place in contemporary road building technologies. Industry supplies numerous materials classified as geosynthetics. In line with the standard PN-EN ISO 10318:2007, we distinguish four principal groups of these products: geotextiles, geotextile derivatives, geosynthetic barriers and geocomposites. The industrially produced materials have various properties, which means they have different applicability. This paper analyses basic characteristics, which decide how geosynthetics can be used. Because of a large number of features and factors that could apply to an evaluation of specific solutions, it is necessary to include a large group of criteria. Their analysis might be cumbersome, and therefore an approach is suggested which will greatly facilitate making a complex assessment and selection of a solution which will best meet the customer's expectations. The assessment of the extent to which specific criteria are met by the geosynthetic materials selected for an analysis allows us to gain better understanding of their suitability and proper choice, supported by multifactorial analytical methods. The theme of the article is a preliminary step which is to prepare and organize the relevant characteristics of geosynthetics and define the major groups of criteria and sub-criteria.


Numerical modeling is carried out to analyze the heat transfer and fluid flow for water in the critical region in laminar tube flow under zero-gravity conditions. The model considers variable density, specific heat, viscosity, and conductivity. The effect of proximity to the critical point is also considered. To accurately predict property distributions, the numerical grid is clustered in the region where property variation is severe. The results of the modeling provide heat transfer and flow characteristics including profiles of temperature and velocity, the heat transfer coefficient, and the friction factor in the developing region of the tube. Constant wall temperature and constant wall heat flux are considered, and pressure, inlet fluid temperature, and Reynolds number are used as parameters. The calculation results show differences compared from results based on constant properties, and provide insight into the effects of the large property variations on heat transfer.


Tim Hall and the other contributors to this important and challenging book present career development practitioners with an excellent perspective on the major contemporaty influences on individual career development in organisational settings in the latter part of the 1990s. The book represents Hall's latest effort to assist career practitioners to recognise just how fundamentally the "career landscape" has changed in the past 10 years since the author's last book on organisational career development. Career development in organisatiom (Hall & Associates, 1986) had a major influence on my own choice of Master's research and subsequent career transition. If co1porate restructuring bas done 11otbi11g else, it bas great(!' e11ba11ced career opportunities for career deue!oJmzent professio11a/s. (JJ. :340)


This work presents simulations of the Electrofluid Dynamic e nergy conversion process in slender channel devices having very small particles (in both micro and nano scales) as charge carriers. Solutions are discussed for a system composed by coupled differential equations, which includes the equati on for the total current along the channel, the equations for total energy and momentum of the mixture (gas and solid particles), the continuity equation and the equations for energy and momentum of a single particle. Results for suspended particles of highe r diameters have been previously published in the Literature, but the simulations here presented exhibit an appreciable increase in the values for output currents.


Instrumental analysis is a useful technology.Based on the investigation of the development and application of the instrumental analysis,an approach of reform on the content and method of teaching about the curriculum of basic instrumental analysis in colleges and universities of engineering is proposed.The teaching content should be emphasized to improve students' positivity,practical application and the ability of innovation.


The Ontario Natural Heritage Information Centre (NHIC) collects and maintains information on occurrences of significant vegetation communities in the province. Significant occurrences include those of communities considered to be rare in the province as well as high-quality examples of non-rare communities. The conservation rank (S-rank) of vegetation communities are determined using standard criteria developed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in the United States. Communities are ranked from S1-S5, with S1 being the most rare, and S5 the most common. Only those communities ranked S1, S2 and S3 are considered to be rare. The ranking is based on the number of community occurrences, the total area of the community, and the geographic range it occupies in the province. The quality of the community occurrence, referred to as Community Element Occurrence Rank, is also an important consideration. The occurrence rank is based on three considerations: size, condition and landscape context. Vegetation communities occur at different scales on the landscape. They may form a landscape matrix, or occur as large patches or small patches in an unaltered landscape. By considering the size of the existing community, in relation to its landscape patch size in an unaltered landscape, a size quality can be determined. The size quality can then be compared to the landscape context to determine a combined size/landscape context score. This score is then compared to a community quality score to determine a final community occurrence rank. The highest rank is A, this refers to a community which is large enough to maintain ecological processes and species interactions such that it is expected to have excellent predicted viability over time. A rank of B has good predicted viability over time, and a C rank has fair viability. Together, the community conservation rank and occurrence rank are useful tools in conservation planning initiatives. In gap analyses where community representation is considered, not only can the occurrence of a community within an area be considered, but so can its quality. The selection of candidate areas for protection as parks or nature reserves should be weighted toward those with high-quality community examples. On the other hand, knowledge of the presence of poor or degraded communities, especially of rare types, can help focus restoration and rehabilitation efforts.


An enhancement of atmospheric lithium was observed over Saskatoon during March, 1965, following a rocket release of lithium at Churchill. A diffusion coefficient, an average wind velocity, and upper limits on certain lithium chemical reactions are calculated from the observations after certain assumptions are made. The horizontal diffusion coefficient, applicable over distances of 1 000 kilometers and times of weeks, is larger than diffusion coefficients over shorter distances and times. The vertical diffusion coefficient between 60 and 80 kilometers in height appears to be much lower than the large horizontal coefficients.


Studies of trait–environment relationships provide important tools for the prediction of the response of biological communities to environmental alterations. The Amazon basin presents enormous potential for the development of research on this type of relationship, given the diversity of both its fish fauna and the aquatic ecosystems this fauna inhabits. The present study investigated the association between local environmental variables and the functional traits of fish in 54 streams of six major Amazonian basins. We identified the relationship between the characteristics of the streams (channel morphology, channel habitat units, riparian vegetation cover, large woody fragments and instream cover for aquatic organisms) and fish traits related to locomotion, habitat use and feeding behaviour. The fish fauna of the broader, deeper and more slowly flowing streams was dominated by nektobenthic species that exploit autochthonous resources such as fish and invertebrates. In narrow, fast‐flowing streams, by contrast, there was a predominance of benthic fishes with varying feeding habits, including periphytivorous and invertivorous species. Narrow, shady streams were inhabited by nektonic species adapted for the exploitation of resources from the marginal vegetation. The results of this study contribute to the understanding of the association between the functional structure of fish assemblages and local environmental variables in Amazonian streams. We hope that these findings will stimulate further research into the natural variation in stream fish assemblages that will ensure the development of more effective management strategies that better protect these important aquatic ecosystems.


Inhibitory control is one of the most important components of executive functions, which allows to suppress or regulate prepotent attentional or behavioral responses. It was proved to be a crucial factor for school achievement, including math abilities and reading acquisition. In the present cross-sectional study Ober's assumptions about the developmental patterns of relationships between inhibitory control and reading skill were examined. The sample consisted of 256 grade 1-3 primary school children. Decoding and comprehension, the two subcomponents of reading skill, were assessed using Prolexia Test, while cognitive inhibitory control was measured with the Color Word Stroop Task. Simple correlation analyses showed that comprehension ability was related to inhibitory control but only among boys from 1st and 2nd grades (but not among 3rd graders), and no relations between reading subcomponents and inhibitory control were found among girls. However, hierarchical regression analyses controlling for other reading subcomponent did not yield a significant effect of interaction. Instead, it was found that inhibitory control was related to reading only in the 1st graders. Also, some gender differences between 1st and 2nd graders in their reading ability were observed. Those findings suggest that although gender plays a significant role in reading skill development of early school children, it does not moderate the developmental links between inhibitory control and reading skill.


For any partial combinatory algebra (PCA for short) $\mathcal{A}$, the class of $\mathcal{A}$-representable partial functions from $\mathbb{N}$ to $\mathcal{A}$ quotiented by the filter of cofinite sets of $\mathbb{N}$ is a PCA such that the representable partial functions are exactly the limiting partial functions of $\mathcal{A}$-representable partial functions (Akama 2004). The n-times iteration of this construction results in a PCA that represents any n-iterated limiting partial recursive function, and the inductive limit of the PCAs over all n is a PCA that represents any arithmetical partial function. Kleene's realizability interpretation over the former PCA interprets the logical principles of double negation elimination for Σ0n-formulae, and over the latter PCA, it interprets Peano's arithmetic (PA for short). A hierarchy of logical systems between Heyting's arithmetic (HA for short) and PA is used to discuss the prenex normal form theorem, relativised independence-of-premise schemes, and the statement 'PA is an unbounded extension of HA'.


Objective To study the etiology,diagnosis and therapy of adenomyomatosis of gallbladder(ADM),Methods Retrospective analysis was performed in 23 cases of ADM arisen from 1046 cholecystectomy specimens over 5 years in our hospital.All cases underwent pre-operation US,CT,or MRI.Results The clinical manifestation of the patients with ADM was similar to that of the chronic cholecystitis or cholelithiasis.Grossly,there were three growth patterns of the lesion,localized(13),segmental(7) and diffused types(3).Cholecystectomy was performed in all cases.Much of cases were accompanied with cholecystitis(14) and cholelithiasis(6).Conclusion ADM is a tumor-like lesion that occurs predominantly in adult.It frequently coexists with chronic cholecystitis and cholelithiasis.It is difficult to make the diagnosis for clinicians.Pathological confirmation of the diagnosis is always needed.The accuracy of preoperative diagnosis may be improved by combining diagnosis imaging of ADM,Cholecystectomy is the best method of the therapy on ADM.


ABSTRACT Introduction The impact of amputation on health care costs is an understudied topic due to the lack of sufficient population size and data sources. The purpose of this investigation was to leverage a publicly available database on amputations to determine health care–associated costs for individuals with lower- and upper-limb amputation of varying limb loss levels during the first 4 years after receipt of their first prosthesis. Materials and Methods An insurance claims database was obtained via public records request from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation for persons who suffered a traumatic injury in the workplace that resulted in lower- or upper-limb amputation. Data included information on cost and frequency of prosthetic limbs, equipment, and appointments, as well as information on general hospital care, physical, vocational, and mental health therapies, prescription medication, and additional health care categories. The population was categorized into five limb loss levels: individuals with unilateral transfemoral and transtibial amputation, as well as individuals with hand, below-elbow, and above-elbow amputation. Prosthetic claim codes were examined to determine the types of prostheses prescribed over time based on Medicare guidelines for activity levels (K1–K4) for lower-limb devices and by type (passive [cosmetic], body-powered, hybrid, or externally powered) for upper-limb devices. These data were used to determine short-term costs over the first 4 years, depending on the initial prosthesis prescription. Differences between total costs per year and over all 4 years were explored within each population to determine how initial prosthetic prescription impacts cost. Results In general, the microprocessor-controlled devices (i.e., microprocessor-controlled knee prostheses or externally powered upper-limb prostheses) resulted in higher initial prosthetic and total hospital costs, whereas the simpler mechanical devices (i.e., non–microprocessor-controlled knee prostheses or passive/cosmetic upper-limb prostheses) resulted in lower costs. Costs were highest in prosthetics-related expenses and physical therapy, especially in groups with the more advanced prostheses, during the first year after prosthesis receipt; however, the differences in costs based on prosthesis type minimized as time increased and few cumulative cost differences were seen over 4 years. In addition to determining costs accrued over time, the database provided insight into how frequently individuals with amputation received a new prosthesis and at what level. The average number of devices per person per year averaged 0.62 ± 0.36 for individuals with transfemoral amputation, 0.78 ± 0.40 for individuals with transtibial amputation, 0.24 ± 0.18 for individuals with hand amputation, 0.45 ± 0.39 for individuals with below-elbow amputation, and 0.40 ± 0.32 for individuals with above-elbow amputation. Conclusions The results of this cost investigation provide new information regarding all aspects of health care for individuals with lower-limb amputation and upper-limb amputation, respectively, who suffer from occupation-related traumatic amputation. The results provide new data trends on prosthesis usage and highlight how prosthetic prescription may alter these costs. The results suggest that there are no statistical differences in cost outcomes after 4 years, indicating that paying more initially for a more advanced prosthesis does not result in higher initial costs over time than paying less initially for a simpler prosthesis.


ABSTRACT Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has been the backbone of Singapore's push to build an industrialised workforce and is currently responsible for the post-secondary education of 65% of its Primary 1 cohort. Admissions to polytechnics increased from 5% of Primary 1 cohort in 1980 to 40% today while the Institute of Technical Education takes in 25% of this cohort. Under the current nation-wide comprehensive SkillsFuture Singapore initiative, skills acquisition seems to have replaced academic qualifications to become a new byword in Singapore's education landscape. This paper traces the development of Singapore's TVET into the current SkillsFuture epoch to analyse the tensions that have been wrought amongst knowledge, skills, habitus and curriculum frameworks. The role and place of vocational education, and its affordance and constraints within the wider hierarchy of what counts as valuable education in Singapore are also explored as questions here, including the complexities and issues around equal opportunities and social mobility, broader talent development, and the formation of life-long learners.


To make the most of the resources available in the operating room, careful planning of the available block time and the patient case sequences is required (OR). These planning methods will only help if the forecasts provided by TPT can be relied upon. This study makes use of linear regression models to improve TPT forecasts. These models are given estimated surgeon-controlled time (eSCT) in addition to other parameters of relevance. Surgical procedures at six Dutch institutions between 2012 and 2016 were evaluated using data from a benchmarking database. There were 79,983 contributors, which resulted in 199,772 hours of OR being reported. We analyzed the risk variables for TPT, which revealed that eSCT, patient age, surgical type, ASA physical status category, and anesthetic procedure were all contributors. During calculating the projected TPT for each file, the eSCT was multiplied by a fixed ratio model (discussed in further detail elsewhere) by a factor of 1.33. According to the findings of the research conducted by van Veen-Berkx et al., a conservative estimate of the period during which anesthesia is stable is around 33 percent of the SCT (ACT). In conclusion, we analyzed different linear regression models to predict TPT. These models included eSCT as one of the independent factors among the other covariates. In the end, each of the regression models was retested, this time to see whether or not it was possible to predict ACT reliably without using eSCT as a covariate (which leads to TPT by adding SCT). The most accurate projections of TPT were generated by a linear regression model that used eSCT, the kind of operation, the ASA classification, and the type of anesthesia. Compared to the fixed ratio model and the ACT prediction approach, the performance of this model was very satisfactory. Significant cost savings and increases in overall productivity may be realized if more accurate estimates were included in the planning and sequencing algorithms used to enhance operating room usage.


Shows the experimental setup for studying the mixing of powder-fiber suspensions. The experimental data on the change in the power of stirring the paper fibers, asbestos and sand.


Teacher attrition is a current issue in Australia and other economically developed countries, with up to 50 per cent of teachers resigning from teaching within the first five years. Teacher attrition is widely considered to impact negatively on student achievement and the school. The present study of 160 Australian primary and secondary teachers who have been in the profession for up to 10 years investigates whether teachers' generalised resilience is associated with their intention to leave the teaching profession. As hypothesised, results indicate that lower levels of resilience are significantly related to a higher intention to leave the teaching profession, after controlling for job satisfaction and demographic variables. Implications for teaching conditions related to job satisfaction and the resilience of early career teachers are discussed.