The basic equations are derivated, and critical load evaluation method for elastic-plastic thin-walled conical shell is presented. It is assumed that the shell is subjected to the following, external, axially symmetric loads: lateral uniform pressure, external uniform hydrostatic pressure, longitudinal compressive force, acting along the shell generatrix. Taking into account, Shanley's concept, for each case the relations are given enabling to find critical loads according to the both basic plasticity theories (incremental and total strain). The material's compressibility and linear-type stress-strain characteristic are taken into account. The problem is solved by the orthogonalization method. Numerical results are given in diagrams.


This paper presents an integrated framework for conceptual assembly design. Because the complexity of assembly design leads to extremely large design spaces, adequate support of design space exploration is a key issue that must be addressed. CAMF allows the designer to manage the overall design process and explore the design space through explicit representation of design stages and their relationships (history), assembly design constraints, and rationale. The designer is free to use both bottom-up or top-down approaches to explore different assembly configurations. Exploration of the design space is further enabled by incorporating a simulated annealing-based refinement tool that allows the designer to rapidly complete partial designs, refine complete designs, and generate multiple design alternatives.


Researchers often investigate health-related behaviours through the individual-level lenses of biomedicine and behavioural psychology. Increasingly, however, researchers are paying attention to the role of community contexts in framing health and well-being. This poster draws on data from our research to highlight how health initiatives that integrate community understanding have the potential to lead to more health-enabling communities, where people have the physical, mental and social resources they need for living.


The electrical conductivity of sodium vapour at pressures above 10 torr cannot be calculated satisfactorily on the assumption that the vapour is monatomic. A theoretical assessment shows that clusters of three and four sodium atoms, which have exceptionally low ionization potentials, may make contributions to the conductivity out of all proportion to their concentrations, to the extent that under nearsaturated conditions their influence could predominate by an order of magnitude. The conclusions of this paper apply to all alkali metal vapours, and possibly to other metallic vapours also.


Functional properties of protein concentrates from alfalfa leaves (ALP) prepared by several methods were determined. Minimum solubilities occurred around pH 3.5–4; sodium chloride 0.05–0.2M had little effect on minimum solubility. Extraction of the lipids from ALP with acetone decreased solubility slightly; increased the bulk density (2-3-fold); and reduced water and fat absorption capacities by 50% compared to the controls. Both emulsifying activities and emulsion stabilities of ALP samples were generally better than those of soy protein concentrate but poorer than those of soy sodium proteinate i.e., average of 57, 48 and 87 and 60, 50 and 90%, respectively. Emulsifying capacity of ALP samples were reduced following acetone extraction.


In this study, watermelons in the images obtained by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from watermelon field in Adana, Turkey, were segmented and classified. The original image obtained was processed in two ways. To start with, images were divided into overlapping blocks and gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) from these blocks was generated and texture features were extracted using these GLCMs. Then, blocks containing or not containing watermelon were classified by employing a linear classifier. As a result of this study, the accuracy of watermelon classification was obtained as 86.46%. Second, k-means clustering of the original image was performed. Following this, groups having the highest blue value at its center were chosen. Finally, first and second results were combined with logical and operator. It was derived from this study that the method may be useful for detecting watermelons in field images obtained via UAV for counting and yield estimation.


Abstract We investigate phase-averaged equations describing the spectral evolution of dispersive water waves subject to weakly nonlinear quartet interactions. In contrast to Hasselmann's kinetic equation, we include the effects of near-resonant quartet interaction, leading to spectral evolution on the 'fast' $O({\epsilon }^{- 2} )$ time scale, where $\epsilon $ is the wave steepness. Such a phase-averaged equation was proposed by Annenkov & Shrira (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 561, 2006b, pp. 181–207). In this paper we rederive their equation taking some additional higher-order effects related to the Stokes correction of the frequencies into account. We also derive invariants of motion for the phase-averaged equation. A numerical solver for the phase-averaged equation is developed and successfully tested with respect to convergence and conservation of invariants. Numerical simulations of one- and two-dimensional spectral evolution are performed. It is shown that the phase-averaged equation describes the 'fast' evolution of a spectrum on the $O({\epsilon }^{- 2} )$ time scale well, in good agreement with Monte-Carlo simulations using the Zakharov equation and in qualitative agreement with known features of one- and two-dimensional spectral evolution. We suggest that the phase-averaged equation may be a suitable replacement for the kinetic equation during the initial part of the evolution of a wave field, and in situations where 'fast' field evolution takes place.


This paper describes the implementation of soft-decision Viterbi decoder on TMS320C62timesDSP. In this work a soft-decision Viterbi decoder is implemented on code rate 1/3 and constraint length 9. Originally the aim is to achieve a decoding rate of 32Kbps as per WCDMA IS-95 standard recommendation, which also employs a convolutional encoder with 8 trellis states and Viterbi decoder with 256 states in the trellis. Presently there are numerous standards for digital cellular systems, especially when considering the third generation system. Each of these contains operation modes utilizing convolutional coding which is usually decoded via Viterbi decoder. In each standard there are different formulations of this coding with each form imparting requirements upon the decoder. This gives rise the need for Viterbi decoders with highly flexible capabilities. Realizing such flexibilities in DSP software is straightforward. This paper presents a flexible Viterbi decoder constructed to operate as a loosely coupled coprocessor for the DSP. Single shift register convolutional codes with 1/n code rates are targeted. Some application of the implemented decoder and the bottlenecks in the implementation have also been discussed


The purpose of this manuscript is to summarize research on how experimental pain is experienced by adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to translate results into implications for nurses.


Circular synthetic aperture radar (CSAR) observes the scene by 360 degrees, the characteristics of targets from different aspects can be obtained. The noncoherent imaging is more popular since more textural features and lower speckle noise can be acquired. However, due to the motion error of the radar platform and the topography of observation scene, the noncoherent imaging result of full aperture can not be derived by simply noncoherent superimposing the subaperture images. In this paper, based on the enhanced correlation coefficient (ECC), we proposed a registration strategy to obtain full aperture noncoherent imaging result of CSAR, and the experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.


This template analyzes the expression of the color texture in knitted garment, including 2d (plane/two-dimensional) texture,3d(three-dimensional) texture, and the matching form of the texture and fabric. Enumerated the creative representation of the texture, including the interlacing and balance of lightness and purity, the word games, the concave-convex space, the independent harmony and the collocation of the color texture. It can enrich the content of knitted garment design and endow the knitted garment with the unique aesthetic perception. What's more, according to this can broaden design thinking and this paper provides reference for the development and design of knitted garments.


Different amount of pumice were used to replace gravel to make mixed aggregate concrete, the fast freeze-thaw cycle test were conducted and the influence of pumice rate substitution to the frost resistance properties of concrete were studied.The mass loss rate, strength loss and relative dynamic elastic modulus were regarded as the evaluation index of frost resistance properties of concrete. Results showed that the mass loss rate and strength loss rate gradually decreased and the relative dynamic elastic modulus gradually increased with the increase of pumice rate, the mass loss rate, strength loss rate and the relative dynamic elastic modulus gradually decreased with the increase of freeze-thaw cycles. Polypropylene fibers could reduce the strength loss rate, improved the relative dynamic elastic modulus, but had little effect to improve the mass loss. Through the frost resistance, the frost resistance of concrete improved with the increase of pumice content, at the same time, polypropylene fiber also could improve the frost resistance of concrete.


Through the study on Android,JSON and WCF and other relative technologies,this article aims to design an Androidbased laboratory management system to call the WCF services. The article introduces the model design,design of system function module,data transmission processing etc. in detail. Through the software testing,the design scheme is validated feasibility.


Ecovative Design, a Green Island, N.Y.-based firm that develops structural materials out of organic matter bound with fungal mycelium, has been awarded up to $9.1 million from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The funds will support Ecovative's work with researchers at Columbia University and MIT to develop self-repairing materials that can be used to grow structures in place, such as military bases in the field. The four-year project aims to demonstrate commercial-scale manufacturing.


THE REQUIREMENTS OF EARTHWORKS FOR THE LOWER LAYERS OF STANDARD HIGHWAY PAVEMENTS ARE DISCUSSED, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE RELATIONS BETWEEN BEARING CAPACITY VALUE, PORE CONTENT AND MOISTURE CONTENT, AND THE INFLUENCES OF CLIMATE, SOIL WATER AND COMPACTION. IT IS POINTED OUT THAT NON-UNIFORMLY COMPACTED AREAS CAN BE DETERMINED MUCH MORE QUICKLY BY MEANS OF BENKELMAN BEAM SETTLEMENT MEASUREMENTS THAN BY PLATE-BEARING TESTS. WITH RESPECT TO SUBSOIL CONDITIONS IT IS SHOWN THAT THE PRODUCTION OF AS EVEN A BASE AS POSSIBLE AND CONSIDERATION OF THE EFFECT OF CLIMATE AND HYDROLOGY ON SOIL CONDITIONS ARE IMPORTANT PREREQUISITES FOR LONG-LIFE ROADS. /FG/RRL/


This paper brings out the plight of about one hundred thousand Nepali refugees from Bhutan who were forced to flee the country by the monarchical state in late 1980s and early 1990s.These refugees are, by and large, ignored by the world that is otherwise quite supportive of democratic movements like the one the refugees had launched in Bhutan in response to highly constrictive legislations relating to marriage and dress passed by the state since 1980s, including the census of the southern Bhutan with a clear view to de-nationalising the so-called 'Lhotsampas'. The paper further shows how the negotiation between Bhutan and Nepal, the identification of the bonafide nationals of Bhutan in the refugee camps of southern Nepal, the terms and conditions for such identification and repatriation, etc. were all dictated by Bhutan ignoring the UNHCR, acquiesced by Nepal, and tacitly supported by India. Finally, the author examines the circumstances forcing Nepal to kowtow before Bhutan and questions the stand taken by India, the Asian superpower, which supported anti-establishment in Nepal and opposed anti-establishment in Bhutan. During the autumn months of 2002, some warmth returned to the troubled relationship between the governments of Bhutan and Nepal. It seemed that the two landlocked (effectively India-locked) Himalayan kingdoms had many interests in common, and that their long-standing disagreement over the fate of the 102,000 people living in Bhutanese refugee camps in southeastern Nepal represented an obstacle to pursuing those interests. Most of these people claimed to have left Bhutan against their will during the early 1990s; approximately one third of them were children born since that exodus took place. BHUTAN AND ITS PEOPLES Bhutan is the sub-continent's most thinly populated state, with an official total population of only 680,000 in a country approximately one-third the size of Bangladesh. At least 60% of its surface area is forested, and the capital, Thimphu, has a population of less than 50,000. Despite its small size, the population is ethnically diverse. The four main ethnic categories are the Ngalong in the west, the 'central Bhutanese', the Sharchop in the east, and the Lhotshampa or 'Nepali Bhutanese' in the south. The Ngalong and central Bhutanese are politically dominant. The Ngalongs' language, Dzongkha, has been the national language since 1961, and the Drukpa Kargyu school of Mahayana Buddhism, which is predominant in western Bhutan, has statutory representation in state institutions. The Bhutanese commonly make a distinction between the Buddhist 'Drukpas' of the north and the Nepalispeaking southerners, who are known as Hindu. In the early 1990s, the Dutch linguist George van Driem reported the presence of 160,000 speakers of Dzongkha, 138,000


Compared with former times the children's enlightenment education of t he Song Dynasty had the following characteristics: it paid great attention to eth os and norms education which were centered on Neo-Confucianism and tended to at tach much importance to education of common knowledge of physical science. The tr inity of school, family and community resulted in diversifying educational instit utions and ways. The idea of the best students take offices was further strengthen ed, the aim of serving for the imperial examination system was made more clear th an ever. Prominent scholars and powerful officials actively participated in child ren's enlightenment education. The above mentioned characteristics had imposed s ignificant impacts on children's enlightenment education in the Ming-Qing times, and even in modern China.


A horizontal conveyor strings of linked sausages, comprising a frame (10) having a platform (12) operative horizontal with a first and second ends (16, 18) opposite, opposite sides, a top surface (20) and wall (14) extended continuous perimeter along the sides and first and second ends (16, 18), the wall (14) of substantially semicircular perimeter at the first end (16); and has portions (21) of substantially parallel side in an intermediate section; and has parts (22) distal converging together from parts (21) side to be in a portion (18A) semicircular distal said second end (18), a channel (24) located at the top being (20 ) in a spaced relation uniformly inwardly from the perimeter wall (14), and a conveyor chain (26) continuous in the channel (24), a plurality of members (28) spaced hook is attached to the conveyor chain (26) and having a rod (30) which engages slidably on the top wall (14) perimeter, and a portion (32) of hook extending downward and outward with respect to the wall (14) perimeter portion (18A) of semicircular end of said second end (18) of the platform (12) comprises a charging station sausages and has a smaller diameter than the distance between the side portions (21) wall (14) perimeter so that the parts (32) of the hook members (28) of hook sliding on said portion (18A) end will move at a higher speed than the speed of the members (28) of hook that slide over the parts (21) of side wall (14 ) perimeter.


The Shushtar New Town Residential Complex (SNTRC) is one of the most well-known construction projects in the contemporary history of Iranian architecture designed by KamaranTabatabayieDiba in early 1970s. With the claim to mediate and compromise the conflicts of modern architectural requirements with the expectations of new born social comers, the plan was treated as a turning point in the design of personnel housing complex plans (PHCPs) for developing countries. However, this masterpiece has experienced serious erosion and changes since first phase operation of 1977 by its inhabitants and left today the Iranian vested interests facing with one challenging question: why should such a fascinating and relatively prominent build with its promising high sustainability was not able to maintain its integrity in facing with residents expectations and suddenly become a disaster and if this was the true, why a part known as "Sector Five", has preserved its original configuration? The present research has tried to solve this dilemma using POE; a systematic method for post-operational evaluation of buildings. According to the finds it is positively possible to match safely the new architectural concepts with post-modern cultures during transitional from volatile culture of newcomers to more sustainable social classes. Also the research highlighted that SNTRC failure was due to overall ignorance of factors such as compatibility with the needs of residents and flexibility with necessary after-occupation changes including installation of new municipal utilities where instead sustainability of the "Sector Five" stemmed from proper design, and ownership of the residents. Keyword Shushtar New Town, Sustainability, Urban Sustainability, POE


We (Huyghens et al 1987) reported in this journal on the influence of cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the pharmacokinetics of nimodipine in the dog. The experiments were performed under anaesthesia with ketamine and muscle paralysis with gallamine. This anaesthesia had been used in a study on the blood flow in the cerebral cortex during cardiac resuscitation in dogs (Jackson et al 1984), and was chosen because we also planned cerebral blood flow studies after cardiopulmonary resuscitation. We are now concerned about the anaesthesia we used since, when following up our work we learnt that ethics committees in the USA no longer accept the use of ketamine as sole anaesthetic for surgical purposes in the dog because it is difficult to judge the adequacy of anaesthesia, especially with muscle paralysis. We therefore would like to provide additional information on the anaesthetic protocol we used and to draw the attention of other investigators to this potential problem. Like Jackson et al (1984) we induced anaesthesia with an i.v. bolus injection of 7 mg kgI ketamine and gave gallamine as an i.v. bolus injection of 1 mg kg-I to control ketamine-induced muscle rigidity and spontaneous muscle activity. Details on the maintenance of anaesthesia were not mentioned by Jackson et al; in our experiments, anaesthesia was maintained by means of an infusion pump to be sure that it was continuous, and started at a rate of0.2 mg kg-' min-' ketamine and 0.01 mg kg-l min-' gallamine. Since a muscle relaxant was used with an anaesthetic agent, and as advised by the guidelines of the Journal of Physiology (Journal of Physiology 1989), we continuously monitored changes in heart rate and arterial blood pressure to judge the adequacy of the anaesthesia. If the arterial blood pressure started to fluctuate or if the animals showed voluntary or stimulation-induced movements, the infusion rate was increased; this was not mentioned in our publication. After we were alerted to the possible shortcomings of ketamine anaesthesia in dogs, we examined the literature. In experimental work on resuscitation, Salerno et al (1987) also used ketamine anaesthesia together with muscle paralysis but in combination with diazepam pretreatment in a protocol approved by their ethics committee. However, we have been in contact with Dr Blaine C . White, a co-author of the paper of Jackson et al(l984) who told us that the use of ketamine as sole anaesthetic is no longer permitted by the ethics committee


The support bracket of the vehicle spring, including a base with mounting planes and a stand protruding upward relative to the upper surface of the base, having mounting planes with holes for attaching to the frame side member, eyelets protruding downward relative to the upper surface of the base, parallel to each other and having attachment ends planes with holes for mounting the fingers of the springs, stiffeners, characterized in that the number of mating planes of the rack with holes For mounting to the frame side member more than two, the upper end of the bracket is made rectilinear, and the stiffeners are convex in shape and extended to the upper end of the bracket.


'Kiron INIA' is a new wheat cultivar (Triticum aestivum L.) developed by the National Wheat Program at the Regional Experimental Center (CRI) Carillanca of the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA). The cultivar has medium plant height and late cycle; it is resistant to yellow rust (Puccinia striiformis West. f. sp. tritici Erikss) and oidium (Blumeria graminis D.C. f. sp. tritici Marchal), and moderately sensitive to leaf rust (Puccinia triticina f. sp. tritici Erikss y Henn) and septoria (Mycosphaerella graminicola (Fuckel) Sand). It is a high yielding winter wheat with good quality characteristics for direct baking, containing an allele of tolerance to soil acidity inherited from a parent. Its leaves are pale green, with a semi-erect flag leaf, with abundant cerosity (glaucosity) in the beam. The spike is white, decumbent, parallel in shape, high density, compact, with awns along its full length. The grain is round in shape, medium in size, and pale red in color. The height of the adult plant varies between 95 cm and 105 cm, with an average of 100 cm, and with Chilean J. Agric. Anim. Sci., ex Agro-Ciencia (2019) 35(1): 50 49-56. a stem of very good resistance to lodging. It is a high yielding cultivar (12.9 t ha-1) exceeding the commercial check in different localities and seasons.


The paper searches into two subjects: digital library and technologists, digital library and librarians' ability, moreover, some opinions and advices are brought forward.


Polynomial dynamical systems (i.e. dynamical systems with polynomial right hand side) are ubiquitous in applications, especially as models of reaction networks and interaction networks. The properties of general polynomial dynamical systems can be very difficult to analyze, due to nonlinearity, bifurcations, and the possibility for chaotic dynamics. On the other hand, toric dynamical systems are polynomial dynamical systems that appear naturally as models of reaction networks, and have very robust and stable properties. A disguised toric dynamical system is a polynomial dynamical system generated by a reaction network $\mathcal N$ and some choice of positive parameters, such that (even though it may not be toric with respect to $\mathcal N$) it has a toric realization with respect to some network $\mathcal N'$. Disguised toric dynamical systems enjoy all the robust stability properties of toric dynamical systems. In this paper, we study a larger set of dynamical systems where the rate constants are allowed to take both positive and negative values. More precisely, we analyze the $\mathbb{R}$-disguised toric locus of a reaction network $\mathcal N$, i.e., the subset in the space rate constants (positive or negative) of $\mathcal N$ for which the corresponding polynomial dynamical system is disguised toric. We focus especially on finding a lower bound on the dimension of the $\mathbb{R}$-disguised toric locus.


In order to find out the phosphorus level suitable for best combination of hybrid cotton yield and fiber quality,using transgenic hybrid cotton variety Han 6402 as test material,applying calcium superphosphate,potassium chloride 180 kg /hm2 and urea 150 kg /hm2 as base fertilizer before sowing,the calcium superphosphate fertilizer was set 0( no applying,CK),210,300,390 and 480 kg /hm2,and the effects of different levels of phosphate fertilizer application on hybrid cotton yield and fiber quality were analyzed under the optimum planting density of 42 000 strains /hm2 condition. The results showed that the best combination of hybrid cotton Han 6402 yield and fiber quality could be realized applied phosphate fertilizer 390 kg /hm2 before sowing,in the phosphate fertilizer level,the yield of cotton reached 4 697. 75 kg /hm2,and the quality fiber was better,the cotton with fiber length of 29. 86 mm,fracture strength of 31. 4 cN /tex,micronaire value of 5 and uniformity of 84. 5%.


As a precursor to future public transportation, automated shuttle buses can already be experienced in some test regions, but the general public still has reservations and may not yet be ready for this change. For example, the fact that such vehicles might operate independently (without a human driver) creates a barrier of uncertainty and mistrust among people. In this work, we aim to identify and classify the prevailing reservations and propose solutions. We followed the User Centered Design (UCD) process to design concepts that are specifically tailored to the needs of future public transport users. After related work analysis, on-site research, and pre-studies, two main studies were conducted specifically to address communication in the exterior (n = 24) and interior/service design (n = 21). For both studies, we applied a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative measures. Our results indicate that, in general, existing ways of communication in the exterior are insufficient to meet future needs. The two visualization concepts for external communication developed in this work were rated (significantly) better in most dimensions of the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ), when compared to the baseline condition with no additional visualization. Furthermore, preferences among the study participants towards simple, highly visible, and well-known lighting concepts could be observed. As for the interior, the results show that participants rated attractiveness highly for the two design concepts (closer, further in the future) as compared to current, state-of-the-art solutions (automated buses currently in operation). For the "near future" concept, the pragmatic quality dominated, while in the other (the "far future") concept the hedonic quality was in the foreground. From the results, design recommendations in different categories were derived, which reflect the general openness of the public towards new technologies and interior approaches, but also point out the importance for privacy and designated personal spaces inside an (automated) shuttle bus. Some of the results do not strictly apply to automated shuttle buses, and can serve as valuable suggestions for improving conventional shuttle buses.


An experimental evaluation of multivariable self-tuning control algorithms for the simultaneous control of both top and bottom product compositions of a binary distillation column is presented. The study was carried out using an 8-tray, 30.5 cm diameter methanol-water pilot scale column. The column is controlled using an LSI 11/03 microcomputer with continuous capacitance analysis of top product composition and with bottom composition analyzed on a 3 min cycle, by gas chromatograph. Column control is studied for 25% step increases and decreases in feed flow rate. Terminal composition regulation using `positional' and `incremental' forms of both single and multiple rate formulations of the algorithms is compared with that achieved using conventional digital PI/PID control strategies. In multirate self-tuning top and bottom composition loops are controlled at different sample rates.


Introduction: The principles of palliative medicine are interdisciplinary. In the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), for patients with irreversible disease, with a negative prognosis for improvement in health, in futile therapy, palliative care are provided. The consequence of the treatment in ICU is the desire to refer the patient to the Palliative Medicine Centers (PMC). Aim of the study was to analyze patients hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit of the University Hospital in Bialystok and transferred to the Centers for Palliative Medicine in the period 01.01.2011 – 31.12.2016. Material and methods: The data obtained from the medical documentation were evaluated on a retrospective basis. For patients referred to PMC, information was collected on: primary diagnosis, coexisting conditions, hospitalization time, methods of preparing for palliative care. Results: 2755 patients were hospitalized in ICU, 48 of them – 1.74% were transferred to PMC. Significant increase in number of patients reported over the years 2014, 2015 and 2016 has been demonstrated (p < 0.005). The most common indication for palliative care was chronic respiratory


Objective To study the effect of the neuromechanism of the nerve graft on the regeneration of peripheral nerve defect. Methods 12 New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into three groups. A 1.2 cm segment of the auricularis magnuses on both sides was resected to establish an artificial defect. In group A, the defect was repaired by the coaptation of both ends of the auricularis magnuses. In group B, the defect was coaptated by saphenous nerve grafting. In group C, the defect was coaptated by lateral femoral cutaneous nerve grafting. The nerve electrophysiological test was preformed to detect the nerve action potential and the conduction velocity, and the neuromechanism was observed by methylthionine chloride staining 12 weeks after the procedure. All of the images were analysed by the Image Pro Plus computer program. Results 12 weeks after the procedure, the amplitude of nerve action potential and its recovery rate in group A were bigger than those in group C while those in group B were the biggest. The nerve conduction velocity in group B was bigger than that in group C. The mean density and area of the myelinated fibers in the distal nerve in group A were bigger than those in group C while those in group B were the biggest. The mean thickness of the myelin in the distal nerve in group B was bigger than that in group A and C (P 0.05). Conclusion The neuromechanism of the graft nerve could affect the autograft nerve regeneration, and the nerve graft with larger area of its nerve bundle, higher density of its axon but smaller area of its cross section could regenerate better.


Biological control techniques are commonly used in many horticultural crops in Spain, however the application of these techniques to Spanish strawberries are relatively recent. In this study the effectiveness of augmentative biological control techniques to control the two main strawberry (Fragaria xananassa Duchesne) pest: the two-spotted spider mite (TSSM), Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), and the western flower thrips (WFT), Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), through releases of the predatory mites Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot, Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor), Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot (Acari: Phytoseiidae), and Orius laevigatus (Fieber) (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae) were tested. Two-year results on the performance of treatments using combinations of these biocontrol agents are presented. In both years, all treatments resulted in the reduction of TSSM numbers; but no treatment was better than the release of P. persimilis alone (P < 0.05). TSSM suppression varied among crop phases being greater early in the season. None of the treatments reduced significantly WFT numbers (P < 0.05), and the established economic injury level (EIL) was surpassed from March to late April in both years. However, EIL was surpassed less times when treatment included O. laevigatus (2009: 20.7%; 2010: 22.7% of samples). No effect of A. swirskii was observed when this mite was released. Results corroborate that biological control techniques for TSSM and WFT are feasible for high-plastic tunnel strawberries. Under the conditions in our study no additive effects were observed, and there was not advantage in the release of multiple natural enemies.


Lithium–air batteries are considered to be promising electrochemical storage devices, due to their high specific energy density. However, instability limits their cyclic performance and rate capacity and also leads to a high overpotential; lithium–air batteries are typically characterized by capacity degradation and short cycle life. Such challenges prevent lithium–air batteries from entering and competing in the battery market. Electrodes, organic solvents, the interface between electrolyte and cathode, and ambient conditions have all been demonstrated to impact substantially the stability of the lithium–air battery. In this Minireview, we focus on electrode and electrolyte decomposition, side reactions, and physical mass transport in aprotic lithium–air batteries, as well as other types of lithium–air batteries, and aim to understand comprehensively their performance and association with instability factors.


Full-quantitative characterization has not been performed to analyze changes in the hammering sound in cementless hip arthroplasty. We analyzed the frequency spectrum of the hammering sound during stem insertion for 20 cases of uncomplicated cementless total hip arthroplasty for osteoarthritis using a proximal-coated stem. The absolute sound pressure (Pa) and normalized sound pressure of each frequency bands in early and late stage of femoral stem insertion were determined by the Fast Fourier Transform analysis. The absolute sound pressures (Pa) of a majority of frequency bands was significantly higher in the late-stage stem insertion than in the early stage The 1.0–1.5-kHz frequency band showed a significant change in normalized sound pressure in all cases between the early and late stages of stem insertion (p=0.000). The femoral morphology and canal fill ratio were correlated with late stage normalized sound pressure in specific frequency bands. In the 5.0–5.5 kHz band, the Dorr A femoral morphology was significantly higher normalized sound pressure than those in the Dorr B (p=0.004). This study revealed the hammering sound frequency with full-quantitative value altered during cementless stem insertion. Frequency bands of 1.0–1.5 kHz, 5.0–5.5 kHz were the key bands for predicting stem fixation.


In this article, thermoelastic damping (TED) in functionally graded material (FGM) circular micro plates is analyzed based on classical plate theory and one-way coupled heat conduction equation. The material properties are assumed to be varied continuously in the thickness direction of the plate. A one-way coupled heat conduction equation with variable coefficients is solved by using a layer-wise homogenization approach. The complex frequency, including TED, of the FGM micro plate is obtained in terms of the natural frequency of the corresponding isothermal homogenous plate without TED from the mathematical similarity between the eigenvalue problems of governing differential equations of the two kind structures. Numerical results of TED for a ceramic-metal composite FGM circular micro plate are presented quantitatively to show the effects of the material gradient index, the geometry, the vibration mode shapes, and the environmental temperature on the TED in detail. The present mathematical model and solution method can be also used to evaluate TED in the FGM circular and annular plates with other through-thickness material gradient forms. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 17 July 2018 Accepted 23 July 2018


The human genome comprises 57 putatively functional, protein-coding cytochrome P450 (CYP) genes that are grouped according to their sequence similarity into 18 families and 44 subfamilies. Approximately one dozen CYP isozymes of families 1, 2, and 3 are mainly responsible for the metabolism of drugs and other xenobiotics. Large interindividual variability of these enzymes, to which both genetic and nongenetic factors contribute, is an important determinant of drug pharmacokinetics and drug response. This chapter summarizes the functional, clinical, and toxicological relevance of human P450 genetic polymorphism, which affects all drug-metabolizing CYPs, but to a very different extent.

Keywords:

cytochrome P450;
drug metabolism;
pharmacogenetics;
pharmacogenomics;
polymorphism


We compute weight functions (off-shell Bethe vectors) in any representation with a weight singular vector of the quantum affine algebra Uq( glN ) applying the method of projections of Drinfeld currents developed in [EKP].


Granularity control is an effective means for trading power consumption with performance on dense shared memory multiprocessors, such as multi-SMT and multi-CMP systems. With granularity control, the number of threads used to execute an application, or part of an application, is changed, thereby also changing the amount of work done by each active thread. In this paper, we analyze the energy/performance trade-off of varying thread granularity in parallel benchmarks written for shared memory systems. We use physical experimentation on a real multi-SMT system and a power estimation model based on the die areas of processor components and component activity factors obtained from a hardware event monitor. We also present HPPATCH, a runtime algorithm for live tuning of thread granularity, which attempts to simultaneously reduce both execution time and processor power consumption


Background: The most common complication after hemorrhoidectomy is almost always postoperative. This dreadful complication makes the patients postpone the treatment even for prolapsing, bleeding, and uncomfortable piles. There are different methods that can be used for reducing pain including performing a lateral internal sphincterotomy (LIS). Better outcome of hemorrhoidectomy combined with lateral internal sphincterotomy has been observed in a few past controlled trials with respect to decreased pain after surgery, and improved and early wound healing. Objective: To compare the mean post-operative pain score in patients undergoing open hemorrhoidectomy with and without lateral internal sphincterotomy for III and IV degree hemorrhoids. Study Design: Randomized control trial. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Surgery, Jinnah Hospital Lahore from 1st July 2021 to 31st December 2021. Methodology: One hundred and twenty patients with diagnosis of III & IV degree hemorrhoids were selected. They were divided in two groups, Group A included patients who underwent open hemorrhoidectomy with lateral sphincterotomy and Group B included patients who underwent open hemorrhoidectomy alone. Standard Milligan Morgan Hemorrhoidectomy was done under local anesthesia. A fine surgical blade was inserted in inter-sphincteric groove with blade parallel to the circular fibers of internal sphincter. Blade was then rotated so that it faces the lumen of the anal canal. With the surgeon's index finger in the canal, the blade was advanced towards the index finger so as to divide the internal sphincter but not the anal mucosa. Post-operative pain was assessed at first 48 hours post operatively according to 'Visual Analog Score'. Results: The mean age was 34.6±7.72 in Group A and 34.28±8.09 years in Group B. There were 34 (56.67%) males in Group A and 32 (53.33%) in Group B while 26 (43.33%) females in Group A and 28 (46.67%) in Group-B. The mean pain score was 1.43±0.49 in Group A and 2.03±0.74 in Group B (P=0.001). Conclusion: Open hemorrhoidectomy with lateral sphincterotomy results in significantly lower mean post-operative pain when compared to open hemorrhoidectomy alone Keywords: Hemorrhoids, Open hemorrhoidectomy, Lateral sphincterotomy, Post-operative pain


Over the last two decades, several studies and practical trials have shown the value of combining automated pulse-echo UT and TOFD techniques to replace radiography for the manufacturing inspection of welded joints in various industries. Although widely used in pipeline NDT, the "zone-discrimination technique" has several limitations and practical issues. Combining sectorial scan phased array and TOFD techniques will result in a more robust and flexible inspection technique, but increases the performance requirements on phased array UT data acquisition hardware and software. This paper will show how recently developed portable phased array hardware and state-of-theart software can adequately support this improved concept for volumetric weld inspection. Various aspects of the hardware and software specification will be discussed, highlighting the potential benefit of enhanced performance on the final inspection results. The presented practical examples will also include considerations about phased array and TOFD probe design, selection and generation of focal laws, and analysis of inspection results.


Correspondence Address: A method of facilitating the construction, maintenance, and Avaya usage of Social-trust networks is disclosed. The illustrative DEMONT & BREYER, LLC embodiment monitors the call processing details of commu 100 COMMONS WAY, STE 250 nication events between users of a telecommunications sys HOLMDEL, NJ 07733 (US) tem as the basis for estimating whether or not a relationship 9 exists between the users that can be exploited in a social-trust network. This is possible because the call processing details (73) Assignee: AVAYATECHNOLOGY LLC, of communication events between users is an excellent indi Basking Ridge, NJ (US) cator of the nature of the relationship between users. For s example, if Alice calls Brian three times a day on average, including nights, weekends, and holidays, and Brian answers (21) Appl. No.: 11/968,754 Alice's calls quickly and returns her unanswered calls quickly, then it is reasonable to infer that Alice and Brian have a relationship that is Substantial enough to be used in a social (22) Filed: Jan. 3, 2008 trust network.


A novel organic microporous polymer (HTP) has been synthesized from a hexaphenylbenzene based triptycene monomer by Ni(0)-catalyzed Ullmann cross-coupling reaction, which displays a BET surface area of 1151 m2 g−1 and reversibly 12.5 wt% CO2 at 1.0 bar/273 K.


Studies have revealed that high‐fat (HF) diets promote hyperglycaemia, whole‐body insulin resistance and non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Recently, hepatic glucagon resistance has been shown to occur in rats fed a HF diet. More precisely, diet‐induced obesity (DIO) reduces the number of hepatic plasma membrane glucagon receptors (GR), which results in a diminished response to glucagon during a hyperglucagonaemic clamp. The present study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that a HF‐DIO is associated with a desensitization and destruction of the hepatic GR. We also hypothesized that a single bout of endurance exercise would modify the GR cellular distribution under our DIO model. Male rats were either fed a standard (SD) or a HF diet for two weeks. Each group was subdivided into a non‐exercised (Rest) and an acute exercised (EX) group. The HF diet resulted in a reduction of total hepatic GR (55%) and hepatic plasma membrane GR protein content (20%). These changes were accompanied by a significant increase in endosomal and lysosomal GR content with the feeding of a HF diet. The reduction of GR plasma membrane as well as the increase in endosomal GR was strongly correlated with an increase of PKC‐α, suggesting a role of PKC‐α in GR desensitization. EX increased significantly PKC‐α protein content in both diets, suggesting a role of PKC‐α in EX‐induced GR desensitization. The present results suggest that liver lipid infiltration plays a role in reducing glucagon action in the liver through a reduction in total cellular and plasma membrane GR content. Furthermore, the GR desensitization observed in our in vivo model of HF diet‐induced hepatic steatosis and in EX individuals may be regulated by PKC‐α.


The problem to detect the similarity or the differ-ence between objects are faced regularly in several domains of applications such as e-commerce, social network, expert system, data mining, decision support system, etc. This paper introduces a general model for measuring the similarity between objects based on their attributes. In this model, the similarity on each attribute is defined with different natures and kinds of attributes. This makes our model is general and enables to apply the model in several domains of application. We also present the applying of the model into two applications in social network and e-commerce situations.


A method by increasing the depth of piezoelectric ceramic in the longitudinal vibration is proposed to increase the longitudinal vibration's amplitude and to make the frequencies of longitudinal and torisonal vibration much closer.Two composite USMs with different depth of longitudinal vibration PZT were designed.The experimental tests and analysis have shown that the design method is simple and effective.


In order to obtain the satisfied machining requirements, ball-screw feed drive systems of machine tools need to work accurately and efficiently. A new method which can predict exactly the dynamic performance of feed drive systems by integrating the virtual prototype and finite element is proposed in this paper. The influences of flexible bodies and joint surfaces on dynamic performance were studied based on the finite element theory and dynamic theory. The exciting vibration simulation model can then be formed by using the integration method. The frequency response curves of ball-screw feed drive systems were obtained based on the vibration model, which matched quite well with the experimental results, where the stiffness and damping ratio were also identified respectively. It can be concluded that, therefore, the proposed integration simulation method can offer a theoretical foundation and reference for dynamic optimal design for other products.


An understanding of a school's culture was essential to quality management. In this study the researchers identified the international school's culture in Singapore International School (SIS) Palembang, Indonesia and Jerudong International School (JIS) Brunei Darussalam. The approach used in this paper was qualitative, case study. The data were collected by using observation, interview, and documentation. The data were analyzed by using Miles and Huberman's Model. The results obtained indicate that the school's culture in SIS was building students' character such as honesty, sincerity, creativity, compliance with rules and norms. While in JIS, the students should take responsibility for themselves and others. They take the initiative, evaluate the situation in front of them and make decisions accordingly. JIS thrives on mutual respect by working with people from different backgrounds.
Keywords: School's Culture, SIS Palembang, JIS Brunei Darussalam


THE EFFECT OF WORD OF MOUTH COMMUNICATION AND PERCEIVED QUALITY ON CONSUMER DECISION MAKING OF BLACKBERRY SMARTPHONES WHICH MODERATED BY GENDER (STUDY OF CONSUMERS IN JAKARTA) - Consumer decision making, word of mouth communication, percieved quality, gender, youth subculture, quantitative research methodology, multiple regression model, and moderating variable.


Preface and acknowledgements Introduction 1. The Berti and Islam 2. Men and women 3. Milk and water 4. Village and wilderness 5. Custom and religion 6. Life cycle 7. Circumcision 8. Blood and rain 9. Custom and superstition Glossary References Index.


Based on the investigation of vehicle loads, the model of the random dense vehicle load was simulated, and three different degree dense vehicle loads were obtained with the simulated model. The calculated results show that the random dense vehicle loads moving on the bridge structures is very dangerous for the security of the structures.


From the literature study we concluded that the plant Zingiber officinale has a wide variety of medicinal properties. Due to huge application of the plant in the field of medicine it fascinates attention of researchers. Plants synthesize various phenolic compound, mainly gingerols are synthesized from the Phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway. There is a strong correlation between C-4-H and biosynthesis of phenolic compounds. Until now, there is no report on the sequencing of the gene encoding C-4-H from Zingiber officinale. Our increasing understanding of individual enzymes will allow use of more sophisticated approach with the ability to engineer substrate and product specificities (natural or unnatural) into native enzyme or domains will increasingly remove our dependence upon nature to provide desirable activities. It would be very helpful to further understanding of the Phenylpropanoid and Gingerol synthesis pathway, and its molecular regulation mechanisms, which might provide the basics for improving of phenylpropanoid pathway by genetic engineering in Zingiber officinale.


Herein, substrate, conductive layer, and a conductive structure including darkening layer and a manufacturing method thereof. The conductive structure can improve the concealment of the conductive layer by the can to prevent reflection by the conductive layer without affecting the conductivity of the conductive layer, to improve the absorption. Therefore, it is possible to develop a display panel visibility is improved by using the conductive structure.


A theory is presented to investigate the formation of unstaggered and staggered (or Tamm) discrete interface solitons via the Kerr effect in hetero-structure waveguide arrays. The influences of temporal dispersion and nonlinear absorption are discussed in detail for different initial pulse power levels. It is shown that an unstaggered soliton with low power is destroyed by normal dispersion while a high power unstaggered soliton can propagate, keeping the intensity profiles, although an energy loss is evident. For a staggered soliton with moderate or high input power, the nonlinear absorption causes substantial energy loss, while the normal dispersion breaks the input pulse into a train of short and high peak pulses, localized within the central waveguide. We also investigate the influences of anomalous dispersion on staggered solitons, and find that it would be better if the wavelength of the light is set at the anomalous dispersion region to excite these staggered solitons.


Early diagnosis of carcinoma of urinary bladder remains a challenge. Urine cytology, as an adjunct to cystoscopy, is less sensitive for low‐grade tumors. Soluble Fas (sFas), a cell‐surface receptor and member of the tumor necrosis factor superfamily, is frequently expressed in urinary bladder carcinoma. The objective of this study was to investigate the urinary sFas for diagnosis of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of urinary bladder.


This study explores garnet coronas around hedenbergite, which were formed by the reaction plagioclase + hedenbergite→garnet + quartz, to derive information about diffusion paths that allowed for material redistribution during reaction progress. Whereas quartz forms disconnected single grains along the garnet/hedenbergite boundaries, garnet forms ∼20‐μm‐wide continuous polycrystalline rims along former plagioclase/hedenbergite phase boundaries. Individual garnet crystals are separated by low‐angle grain boundaries, which commonly form a direct link between the reaction interfaces of the plagioclase|garnet|hedenbergite succession. Compositional variations in garnet involve: (i) an overall asymmetric compositional zoning in Ca, Fe2+, Fe3+ and Al across the garnet layer; and (ii) micron‐scale compositional variations in the near‐grain boundary regions and along plagioclase/garnet phase boundaries. These compositional variations formed during garnet rim growth. Thereby, transfer of the chemical components occurred by a combination of fast‐path diffusion along grain boundaries within the garnet rim, slow diffusion through the interior of the garnet grains, and by fast diffusion along the garnet/plagioclase and the garnet/hedenbergite phase boundaries. Numerical simulation indicates that diffusion of Ca, Al and Fe2+ occurred about three to four, four and six to seven orders of magnitude faster along the grain boundaries than through the interior of the garnet grains. Fast‐path diffusion along grain boundaries contributed substantially to the bulk material transfer across the growing garnet rim. Despite the contribution of fast‐path diffusion, bulk diffusion through the garnet rim was too slow to allow for chemical equilibration of the phases involved in garnet rim formation even on a micrometre scale. Based on published garnet volume diffusion data the growth interval of a 20‐μm‐wide garnet rim is estimated at ∼103–104 years at the inferred reaction conditions of 760 ± 50 °C at 7.6 kbar. Using the same parameterization of the growth law, 100‐μm‐ and 1‐mm‐thick garnet rims would grow within 105–106 and 106–107 years respectively.


This paper proposes a new scheduling algorithm, called variable-weight GPS (VWGPS), for wireless networks. This algorithm is based on the GPS (generalised processor sharing) model for allocating channel capacity to flows according to their weight values. However, the weight values in VWGPS are adjustable, depending on the channel status and the rate-reduction tolerance flows. VWGPS realizes this mechanism via two independent processes in our scheduling scheme: the forward process allocates the capacity according to performance requirements flows, and the reverse one controls the service-rate reduction of flows according to their levels of tolerance. The main benefit of the VWGPS algorithm is the capability to accommodate flows with dissimilar tolerances to service quality degradation, which is mainly caused by the reduction of the channel capacity. The efficiency of the VWGPS algorithm is demonstrated by the results of the analysis and computer simulations.


• Ralph R. Smith is a labor relations specialist, U.S. Office of Education, Washington, D.C. Prior to taking this position, he was employed as a labor and employee relations specialist for the U.S. Customs Service. He has a master of arts degree in political science from East Carolina University and is an active member of the Society of Federal Labor Relations Projessionals. Since the signing of the agency's first collective bargaining agreement in May 1974, the U.S. Office of Education (OE) has experienced a number of problems in the administration of the negotiated grievance procedure. While the technicalities of negotiated procedures vary from agency to agency throughout the federal government, each collective bargaining agreement in the federal sector is required to have a grievance procedure under the terms of Executive Order 11491, as amended. The stages of the OE grievance procedure are undoubtedly similar to a number of other Federal agencies, as the steps in the procedure closely follow the organization of the agency and each negotiated procedure is required to conform to certain requirements established by the executive order. In keeping with the requirements of the collective bargaining agreement and the spirit of the labor-management relations (LMR) program, agency management in OE Headquarters initiated a program to impart to all supervisors their rights and responsibilities in the LMR program. While these training programs succeeded in making most managers aware of the program and gave them a general knowledge of their rights and responsibilities, the number and types of procedural defects encountered in the handling of grievances filed subsequent to the training courses clearly demonstrated the failure of initial attempts to convey the necessary information to those responsible for administering the collective bargaining agreement.


Weed control program has considerably enhanced the growth of Populus deltoides G3 at the nursery stage. Though T 4 (manual weeding), was the best method to control weed, but it is labour intensive and costly. T 2 - (Glyphosate-4 application), at the rate of 5 ml diluted in 1 litre of water was also found equally good; thus it is recommended where there is labour scarcity.


Interaction of oxacarbocyanines D-G with three polycations in aqueous solutions results in the formation of two types of likely small, distorted aggregates rather than the classical J aggregates. On the contrary, the latter are extensively and almost exclusively obtained in electrostatically self-assembled multilayers (ESAMs) prepared by alternate polycation/dye adsorption on quartz substrates. The J-aggregate growth on supported polycations is qualitatively shared by the four cyanines, a fact that reveals the crucial role of the double anionic substitutions on the dyes. On the other hand, films with D and E, which are known to have a stronger tendency to give dimers in water, exhibit higher J-band intensities and stability upon drying relative to those with F and G. Based on these observations, we suggest that energetic factors associated with cofacial dye/dye van der Waals interactions, ultimately related with the degree of planarity of the conjugated chromophores, may still play a major role in controlling aggregation equilibria in these complex systems.


Due to the long life and high reliability of vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers, the performance degradation experiment cost is high, and the experiment cycle is long, because the degradation failure process of a semiconductor laser is a monotonic decreasing process, and the amount of performance degradation is independent for each function. Therefore, based on the Gamma process, the degradation performance of vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers has been modeled and analyzed in this paper. First, a model is given based on the Gamma process. Then, the failure distribution of the product is determined by analyzing the first arrival time distribution of the process, and then, the reliability of the product is statistically deduced to determine the residual life distribution of the device. Finally, combined with the data obtained from accelerated aging experiments, the product failure time of 261 470 hours is deduced, approximately 30 years. The model is in good agreement with the experimental results, which proves the validity of the model and provides a theoretical basis for the analysis of the reliability of the vertical cavity surface-emitting laser. According to the model, the reliability of the device decreases to 0.9994 after 100 000 hours of operation.


In this paper, the performance of a mixed Terahertz/free-space optical (THz/FSO) wireless transmission system is studied, where the joint effects of channel fading and pointing errors are considered for both THz and FSO links. Employing the semi-blind amplify-and-forward protocol, we derive the cumulative distribution function and probability density function of the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio. By applying the derived statistics, exact expressions for the outage probability (OP), average bit error rate (BER), and average channel capacity are obtained. In order to attain useful physical insights, asymptotic OP and average BER expressions are also presented. Based on them, the diversity gain is determined, which is shown to depend on channel fading and pointing errors of both links. In addition, by taking into account the hardware impairments, the OP of the non-ideal hardware system is derived. Moreover, the analysis is extended to multi-antenna scenarios and the asymptotic OP is obtained. Finally, illustrative numerical results are plotted and it can be observed that the path loss, channel fading, pointing errors and hardware impairments lead to a considerable degradation in system performance.


As water is an essential asset for the population, traditionally the populations have sought to settle in places that facilitate their access, hence the justification for most cities to be founded near water resources, with disorderly population growth and great real estate speculation exorbitantly valued urban land, with this, it was inevitable was the implantation of human activities in the marginal ranges of water courses. Given this historical context, the present study had the scope to analyze the institute of urban anthropic occupation, in order to establish the correct application of environmental legislation in the face of interventions in areas of permanent preservation. At the end, it is concluded that in places where the environment is mostly modified by man, by means of land subdivision, improvements and buildings, there will be occupation as consolidated anthropic. Therefore, interventions that do not entail suppression of native vegetation typical of the local biome do not cause environmental damages and should not be considered illegal, under penalty of unjustified interference in the right to use the property, thus impairing the social function of the urban property in search of the protection of areas that no longer fulfill environmental functions.


oped statements designed to assist practitioner and client in decision-making about appropriate healthcare (1). A systematic review found evidence to support the use of guidelines to improve care and ultimately client outcomes in professions such as nursing (2). In 1999, the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO), with funding from the Government of Ontario, initiated a program of nursing best practice guideline development, implementation, evaluation and dissemination/uptake. Two guidelines specific to infusion therapy have subsequently been published through this initiative, namely Assessment and Device Selection for Vascular Access (3) and Care and Maintenance to Reduce Vascular Access Complications (4). Rigorous Canadian research that examines current practice around reducing vascular access complications is limited. Nevertheless, recommendations based on the best available evidence to guide nurses in the care and maintenance of vascular access are necessary. To this end, the nursing best practice guideline Care and Maintenance to Reduce Vascular Access Complications (4) has been developed to facilitate high-quality client care outcomes with the goal of reducing infusion related complications. Although the scope emphasizes care of central venous access devices (CVADs), the care and maintenance of peripheral devices is also addressed. This article highlights key practice recommendations which illustrate the unique contribution that nurses make to client care by applying critical thinking to problem-solving and clinical decision-making. Table I summarizes the practice recommendations found in the guideline. Readers are encouraged to refer to the published guideline, available at www.rnao.org/bestpractices for a review of the full range of recommendations and corresponding evidence support.


Identifying the posthuman as that which is locatable within a halfposthumous space and which both has a subjectivity that is always divided and distanced from itself, and a corporeality of the same quality, this paper considers the mutually reflective ontology and topology of the unnamable narrator in Beckett's The Unnamable through the terms isomorphism and ontopology. Drawing on Derrida, Blanchot, Butler and Latour, while engaging the recent turn to posthumanism in Beckett criticism, this paper examines how the unnamable posthuman and its narrative engage and nuance ontological questions of what it means to think subjectivity without a subject.For what then surfaces, what displaces or revokes logic from the place, is Being itself in its redoubtable and creative inconsistency. It is Being in its void, which is the non-place of every place. Badiou, Briefings on ExistenceIt is this metamorphosis that is taking shape here.Blanchot, The Book to ComeWe begin with a response, a question that answers to a noise, and we do it in the dark - doing without exactly knowing, making do with speaking. Who's there, or here, and who's gone?Thomas Keenan, Fables of ResponsibilityTaking as its focus the very questions that The Unnamable begins with: "Where now? Who now?" (Beckett, 291), this paper responds to these fundamental questions by identifying the curiously entwined topology and ontology of the unnamable as an ontopology. Jacques Derrida first introduces the term 'ontopology' in Spectres of Marx as a term that combines ontology and topos to account for "an axiomatics linking indissociably the ontological value of present-being [on] to its situation, to the stable and presentable determination of a locality, the topos of territory, native soil, city, body in general" (82). Derrida is not offering a stable subject but rather a situating subjectivity, suggesting that subjectivity is inextricably enmeshed or networked within its exteriority. Beckett's ontopology makes even more explicit the movement between topos and ontology. It is this movement, this shape-shifting flow of the unnamable's being and space that marks the uniqueness of Beckett's ontopology. To account for this particular ontopology, this paper deploys the term 'posthuman,' a ubiquitous term that since Katherine Hayles's seminal exploration in How We Became Posthuman (1999) generally connotes a hybrid amalgam of materials, bodies or systems. In Hayles's schema, with its cybernetic connotations, the posthuman takes on the image of disembodiment. However, against this hyper-technologized image, my definition of 'posthuman' is a hybrid amalgam of Blanchot's definition of 'subjectivity without a subject,' Catherine Malabou's notion of 'plasticity' and the curiously intertwined economy of ontology and topology in the figure of the 'topological isomorphism.' By using the posthuman to describe the unnamable, the aim is to offer both Beckett's works and Beckett criticism a revitalized critical apparatus, as well as provide the discourse of the posthuman a space in literature that narrates the posthuman condition, which here describes the ontopological properties of the narrator's subjectivity and his space. My use of 'ontopology' differs from other investigations of the relation between The Unnamable's topos and an absent subject (cf. Addyman, Bellini, Connor, Katz, Mooijani 2008, Morot-Sir) by naming it specifically as a topological isomorphism, while my use of the term 'posthuman' differs from those critics who focus on the nonhuman in the text (cf. Gendron, Levy, Mooijani 1982, Stewart, Tubridy) insofar as it specifically names the constellation of complex reflections and refractions between subjectivity and corporeality, ontology and topology of the unnamable narrator. Alongside the unnamable's botched ontopology oozes a narrative that slides outwards and slips sideways, instead of progressively moving forward. We can read The Unnamable as an account of the posthuman and its metamorphosis, which is to say a subjectivity without a subject, and yet a subjectivity that has a corporeality and spatiality that are equally and contingently metamorphous. …


ABSTRACT Application of soil amendment enhances redistribution of potassium (K) forms which affects K availability. Information on the effect of soil amendment on soil K dynamics is vital for management of soil K. The effects of digestate on dynamics of water soluble (WS), exchangeable K (Exch), non-exchangeable (Non-Ex) and mineral (Min) K fractions as well as maize growth and potassium uptake were investigated under a factorial experiment arranged in a completely randomized design of 5 (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 t ha−1 digestate) × 3 (2, 4, 6 weeks after planting (WAP) ×2 (two growth cycles of maize). During incubation experiment, digestate application increased K fractions and altered the order of distribution of K fractions from Min > Exch > non-Ex > WS in the control soil to Min > WS > Non-Ex > Exch in the amended soil. Potassium availability increased with WAP in first cycle but decreased with WAP in second cycle due to crop uptake. Potassium uptake and dry matter yield were better in first cycle relative to second cycle. Complementing digestate with mineral fertilizer would improve K uptake and maize growth.


Carbazole-based imines were synthesized by the reactions of 3-amino-9-ethylcarbazole with heteroaromatic aldehydes (3-formyl-9-ethylcarbazole or 3-formyl-10-(2-ethylhexyl)phenothiazine) or with 4,4′-bis(dimethylamino)benzophenone. The characterization of the derivatives synthesized by 1H NMR and IR spectroscopy as well as by MS spectrometry is presented. The electron photoemission spectra of thin layers of the materials were recorded and the ionization potentials of ca 5.3 eV were established. Hole drift mobilities in the layers of bisphenol Z polycarbonate containing 50% of the electro-active material reached 4 × 10−6 cm2/Vs at an electric field of 1.4 × 106 V/cm.


Industrial micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) with robotic manipulators have numerous applications in search and rescue tasks that reduce risks to human beings. However, such tasks distinctly require MAVs to have the capability of real-time autonomous navigation only with onboard sensors, especially in GPS-denied applications. This article introduces a new approach to onboard vision-based autonomous state estimation and mapping for MAVs' navigation in unknown environments. The algorithms run on board and do not need an external positioning system to assist autonomous navigation. The state estimator is developed to provide MAV's current pose on the basis of the extended Kalman filter by using image patch features. Inverse depth convergence monitoring and local bundle adjustment are utilized to improve the accuracy. The mapping algorithm for navigation is developed according to a real-time stereo matching method for three-dimensional perception. Finally, we have performed several experiments to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


Software inspections aim to find defects early in the development process and studies have found them to be effective. However, there is almost no data available regarding the impact of UML diagram utilization in software requirements specification documents on inspection effectiveness. This paper addresses this issue by investigating whether inclusion of UML diagrams impacts the effectiveness of requirements inspection. We conducted an experiment in an academic environment with 35 subjects to empirically investigate the impact of UML diagram inclusion on requirements inspections' effectiveness and the number of reported defects. The results show that including UML diagrams in requirements specification document significantly impacts the number of reported defects, and there is no significant impact on the effectiveness of individual inspections.


Summary.  The positive strand RNA genome of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is transcribed exclusively from a full‐length cytoplasmic replication intermediate, the negative strand RNA. Despite this essential role in hepatocellular infection, the negative strand has not yet been subjected to extensive molecular characterization, and in comparison with the HCV genome and proteome, remains relatively unexplored as a target for antiviral therapy. The highly conserved negative strand terminal sequences, complementary to the positive strand 5′‐ and 3′‐untranslated regions, are believed to contribute structural features essential for the initiation of positive strand synthesis and the maintenance of template integrity. We investigated the solution structure of the HCV negative strand 5′‐terminal region by endoribonuclease mapping and thermodynamic modelling of RNA secondary structure. The enzymatic probing data are consistent with structural models featuring a large terminal stem loop (SL), which constitutes a mirror image of the complementary 3′‐X region SL I structure. Nucleotide positions within the negative strand accessible to hybridization were mapped by RNase H digestion in the presence of combinatorial oligonucleotide libraries. The hybridization data further support the existence of a terminal SL, and reveal target sites within the negative strand 5′‐terminus which may be susceptible to antisense‐mediated inhibition.


Human bone mineral, brushite (BRU) and synthetic apatites: hydroxyapatite hydrated (HAh), hydroxyapatite calcined (HAc) and carbonatoapatite of type B with 9 wt% of CO3 2(CHA-B), were studied by variable-contact time experiments using conventional crosspolarization (CP) and CP preceded by additional proton spin lock. The CP kinetics, that is the dependence of CP intensity on the contact time, was elucidated for the single 31 P NMR peak from those materials. Proton relaxation time in the rotating frame (T1ρ H ) was additionally measured using a CP-based pulse sequence. In order to avoid an effect of magic angle spinning (MAS) on CP and relaxation, all the experiments were carried out on static samples. The CP kinetic functions for bone mineral and CHA-B were comprised of two components corresponding to different kinetic models [1]. According to the classical model, CP between the concerned spin systems is driven by the difference in their spin temperatures. The non-classical model describes CP in heteronuclear spin clusters, which interact with bulk protons by means of spin diffusion. The two CP components were deconvoluted and characterised by appropriate kinetic parameters. The fast-relaxing component is from the surface of apatite crystals and the slow-relaxing component is from the crystal interior. In the former adsorbed water is involved, while in the latter participate structural hydroxyl groups of apatite. The interpretation was supported by 2D HETCOR experiments. The CP kinetic results for HA and brushite were described by single, non-classical component. It follows that bone and CHA-B have very large crystal surface areas, so the related classical CP components can be easily observed. No HPO4 2ions were detected in the bone mineral. The study shows the similarity between carbonatoapatite of type B and bone mineral as shown by their CP behaviour [2 4]. References: 1. Kolodziejski W, Klinowski J "Kinetics of cross-polarization in solid-state NMR. A guide for chemists" Chem Rev 102 (2002) 613-628 2. A. Kaflak-Hachulska, A. Samoson, W. Kołodziejski "H MAS and H → P CP/MAS NMR Study of Human Bone Mineral" Calcified Tissue International 73 (2003) 476-486 3. W. Kolodziejski "Solid-State NMR Studies of Bone" Topics in Current Chemistry 246 (2005) 235-270 4. A. Kaflak, D. Chmielewski, A. Górecki, A. Slosarczyk, W. Kołodziejski "Efficiency of the 1 H→ 31 P cross-polarization in bone apatite and its mineral standards" Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance 29 (2006) 345-348


We report on the integration of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) on lithium niobate waveguides. In particular, we discuss challenges during the fabrication process, characterization methods and efficiency optimization. Lithium niobate is an interesting platform for quantum optics. Waveguide-integrated devices provide a versatile toolbox for complex optical circuits, due to their low-loss waveguiding of TEand TM-polarization modes, electro-optic properties, and high second order susceptibility [1]. Many different tools for quantum optics applications have been realized on this platform including single-photon sources, couplers, switches and modulators. In addition, highly-efficient fiber-coupling can be achieved by direct end-face pigtailing due to an optimized mode overlap with the titanium in-diffused waveguides. However, the integration of single-photon detectors on these waveguides is challenging [2, 3, 4]. State-of-the-art single photon detectors at optical or telecom wavelength use the breakdown of superconductivity and a resulting electric response to measure impinging single photons. These detectors provide outstanding quantum efficiency and low noise. On the other hand they require cryogenic temperatures around 1 K. Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) made of amorphous tungsten silicide (a-WSi) offer high internal quantum-efficiency above 90 % at 1550 nm wavelength and low timing jitter as well as fast recovery times [5]. These detectors were demonstrated on various substrates including waveguide circuits. Our goal is the integration of a-WSi-SNSPDs on lithium niobate waveguides which enables the combination of highly-efficient nonlinear optics and on-chip detection for new complex quantum experiments. We have already shown successful deposition and saturated internal quantum-efficiency of our on-chip detectors [3]. Now we are working on the evanescent coupling from a waveguide to the detectors including manipulation of the optical mode to increase the system efficiency. [1] P. R. Sharapova, K. H. Luo, H. Herrmann, M. Reichelt, T. Meier, and C. Silberhorn, Toolbox for the design of LiNbO3-based passive and active integrated quantum circuits, New Journal of Physics 19, 123009 (2017). [2] M. G. Tanner, L. San Emeterio Alvarez, W. Jiang, R. J. Warburton, Z. H. Barber, and R. H. Hadfield, A superconducting nanowire single photon detector on lithium niobate, Nanotechnology 27, 505201 (2012). [3] J. P. Höpker, M. Bartnick, E. Meyer-Scott, F. Thiele, S. Krapick, N. Montaut, M. Santandrea, H. Herrmann, S. Lengeling, R. Ricken, V. Quiring, T. Meier, A. E. Lita, V. Verma, T. Gerrits, S. W. Nam, C. Silberhorn, and T. J. Bartley, Towards integrated superconducting detectors on lithium niobate waveguides, Proceedings of SPIE: Quantum Photonic Devices 10358, 1035809 (2017). [4] E. Smirnov, A. Golikov, P. Zolotov, V. Kovalyuk, M. Lobino, B. Voronov, A. Korneev, and G. Goltsman, Superconducting nanowire single-photon detector on lithium niobate, Journal of Physics: Conference Seires 1124, 051025 (2018). [5] F. Marsili, V. B. Verma, J. A. Stern, S. Harrington, A. E. Lita, T. Gerrits, I. Vayshenker, B. Baek, M. D. Shaw, R. P. Mirin, and S. W. Nam, Detecting Single Infrared Photons with 93% System Efficiency, Nature Photonics 7, 210-214 (2013). CEWQO 2019


The author attempts first to determine whether there are significant differences among the major oil companies' positions on global climate change, and second to discover the reasons behind any differences found. The investigation focuses upon Exxon and BP Amoco—two of the world's largest oil companies. The differences between the two, with regard to their attitudes and actions on global climate change, are striking: whereas Exxon is continuing to act as one might initially expect (resisting proactive policies on climate change), BP Amoco appears more willing to contemplate a world that uses less oil. Attempts to explain these differences focus upon the companies' respective interests, their management structures, and their nationalities. It appears that all factors are important, at least to some degree. The paper concludes with a discussion of research limitations and suggestions.


Based on the MLE(Maximum Likelihood Estimation) algorithm for SeaWinds scatterometer wind retrieval and according to the general distribution characteristics of its objective function,a fast wind vector search algorithm is described and realized in this paper.Using some SeaWinds L2A data,the fast algorithm is validated and compared with the ordinary one.The results indicate that the fast algorithm is more efficient than the ordinary one without reducing the retrieval accuracy.


ABSTRACT This paper critically examines the discursive construction of fear, crises, threat and dangerous Others in Pauline Hanson's populist political communication from 2016–2018. Specifically, it looks at how a politics of fear manifests through the construction of Islam and Muslims as Others who pose an existential threat to Australia's security and 'culture'. Drawing on critical discourse analysis, this paper examines the way in which discursive strategies and other linguistic devices are used purposefully in order to serve Hanson's right-wing populist agenda. This paper argues that Hanson is emblematic of both liberal and illiberal Islamophobia and that she strategically draws on liberal critiques of Islam to justify draconian policies such as immigration bans and restrictions on religious freedoms. Underpinning this research is the belief that populist communication is consequential and must be examined for a holistic understanding of the populist phenomenon.


Citation practices are considered to have a critical role in academic discourse across different disciplines. However, the citation practices of applied linguists have not been regularly investigated. Therefore, the researchers examined the factors affecting the use of citations of eleven Iranian applied linguists with differing research abilities. The researchers analyzed the narratives using Strauss and Corbin's (1998) systematic approach through MAXQDA 20. The results of narrative analyses showed similarities in factors motivating both low-ability and high-ability researchers to use citations. However, high-ability researchers seemed to exercise more options when citing sources. The conclusions reached demonstrate that the more experienced researchers are the most qualified to use citations for the purposes of construction and reconstruction of disciplinary knowledge. Implications for curriculum development are discussed


Books, and the spirited discussion they generate, make the Perkins Architecture Library a "machine for learning." G. Holmes Perkins, an architectural modernist, was active as a designer, planner and educator in the late twentieth century. However, it is his achievement as library consolidator, builder and catalyst that we describe here. The Perkins Library is a body of approximately twenty-five hundred books, with associated maps and prints, housed in a room of modest size in the Anne and Jerome Fisher Fine Arts Library of the University of Pennsylvania. The Perkins Library supports study in the history and theory of architecture as these disciplines have evolved over the past four hundred years. Its resources are available for consultation at the Fine Arts Library. Users consult the online catalog of the Penn Library and the card catalogs located in the Fine Arts Library. Library staff provide assistance in locating titles and making them available. The parent Furness Building, erected between 1888 and 1890 and used as the university's library until 1962, is the distinguished product of Frank Furness (1839-1912), whose architectural practice generated some of Philadelphia's most notable built works. In 1991, the firm of Venturi Scott Brown and Associates, with Clio Group and Marianna Thomas Architects, completed a sympathetic restoration and rehabilitation of the building. It stands as one of the university's treasures, serving hundreds of thousands of users each year.


New nano-composite layers of Fe-W-ZrO_2 with a component of 38.3%Fe,52.7%W and 9% ZrO_2 on carbon steel were obtained by composite electrodeposition.The effects of ZrO_2 nano-particles and heat treatment on structure of the coatings were studied.The results show that dispersing ZrO_2 nano-particles remarkably influences the structure of the Fe-W-ZrO_2 coatings.Amorphous structure prevails for the as-deposited Fe-W-ZrO_2 coatings with compact structure and no cracks is observed.The amorphous Fe-W-ZrO_2 composite coatings begin crystallizing when it is heat treated at 500℃ and crystal phase of α-Fe forms.The crystal phases form and grow continuously with the increase of heating temperature.When heat treatment at 700℃,the composite coating is fully crystallized and F_3W_3C carbides is observed in the coating.When heating to 800℃,amount of F_3W_3C phase in the coatings increases and becomes the main phase.


In this work we have considered a prey–predator model with strong Allee effect in the prey growth function, Holling type-II functional response and density dependent death rate for predators. It presents a comprehensive study of the complete global dynamics for the considered system. Especially to see the effect of the density dependent death rate of predator on the system behavior, we have presented the two parametric bifurcation diagrams taking it as one of the bifurcation parameters. In course of that we have explored all possible local and global bifurcations that the system could undergo, namely the existence of transcritical bifurcation, saddle node bifurcation, cusp bifurcation, Hopf-bifurcation, Bogdanov–Takens bifurcation and Bautin bifurcation respectively.


This article addresses the distributed prescribed-time leader-following consensus problem for a class of high-order multi-agent systems (MASs) with perturbed nonlinear agents dynamics and where the topology of the network contains a directed spanning tree, with the leader as the root. Prescribed-time consensus means that an agreement state of the MAS is achieved in a preset time, introduced as a parameter of the control law, and this constant settling time is achieved independently of the agents' initial state. The proposed control method exhibits three main advantages: first, to our best knowledge, it is the first time that prescribed-time convergence in a consensus problem is achieved for agents with high-order nonlinear dynamics, using a robust leader-following protocol, which allows an effective rejection of matched disturbances in the agents' model. Second, the proposed controller provides control signals of lower magnitude than existing approaches. Third, the proposed consensus protocol does not have parameters to be adjusted depending on the connectivity of the considered communication graph.


A self-biased cross-coupled differential rectifier is proposed with enhanced power-conversion efficiency (PCE) over an extended range of input power. A prototype is designed for ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) 433-MHz radio-frequency power-harvesting applications and is implemented using a 0.18- <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu\text{m}$</tex-math></inline-formula> CMOS technology. The proposed rectifier architecture is compared with the conventional cross-coupled rectifier. It demonstrates an improvement of more than 40% in the rectifier PCE and an input power range extension of more than 50% relative to the conventional cross-coupled rectifier. A sensitivity of −15.2-dBm (30- <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu\text{W}$</tex-math></inline-formula>) input power for 1-V output voltage and a peak PCE of 65% are achieved for a 50- <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{k}\Omega$</tex-math></inline-formula> load.


Mindfulness practices have become increasingly common in the United States and elsewhere in the world. The fact that mindfulness originally emerged out of Buddhism raises questions about whether public school teachers using it in their classrooms are violating the separation of church and state. Thomas Armstrong argues that contemporary mindfulness rests on a solid foundation of scientific research and can help students improve their self-regulation, executive functioning, sustained attention, and other school-worthy skills. There is a danger, however, that injecting Buddhist or Hindu-associated gestures, postures, words, or concepts into the teaching may violate the First Amendment. Public school teachers are enjoined to be scrupulously vigilant in presenting mindfulness practices in a totally secular way.


This department is designed to stimulate your curiosity, sharpen your skills, rekindle your spirit, revive your wit, and remind you why you love nursing and especially why you love being a leader in nursing. It is your job to motivate, stimulate, and provoke excellence and ambition in your staff-a staff that can range in educational preparation from the General Equivalency Diploma to the PhD, with employees who maintain a sanitary environment and provide clean linen to patients working alongside those who are accountable for complex clinical care. Regardless of educational preparation, skills, or level of responsibility, your staff are all entrusted with the day-today care of patients commended ultimately into your safekeeping. This article addresses several important motivational strategies that cross barriers of education, licensure, and job title. They include cheerleading, noticing patient care excellence and innovative ideas and devices, helping creative staff members patent such devices, and encouraging and broadcasting your staff members' excellence and creativity. Reader input is invited.


Quantum computing is promised to have the potential to revolutionize many industries, providing faster and more accurate solutions to complex problems such as financial sector examples portfolio management, wealth management, risk analysis, and market predictions. However, the adoption of quantum computing faces several challenges such as technological limitations, integration with current IT systems, and potential risks to encryption methods. In this paper, we review recent research on quantum computing, discussing potential use cases, benefits, risks, and issues. We also highlight the need for further research to address these challenges before widespread adoption of quantum computing can occur. As financial sector appears to present most promising results it is considered as a key topic of this article.


The purpose of this reseach was to study the rate of HIV-vertical transmission and the results ofperinatal HIV outcome monitoring. In all, 39 cases were recorded from January 1, 2001 to December31, 2005 at Cha Am Hospital, Phetchaburi and descriptive statistics was employed in the dataanalysis.It was reported that 20 cases (51.28%) of HIV-mothers and 36 cases (92.31%) of childrenindividually received a full regimen of anti-HIV medications. In the mean time, 25 cases (64.10%)aged between 18-month and 24-month old of these 39 cases of children were undergoing monitoringof HIV-virus while 12 case (30.77%) were out of reach. One case (2.56%) was put on a waitinglist for follow-up program and one cases (2.56%) died before its first birthday. It was found that theafore mentioned 25 cases were not effected by HIV-vertical transmission from mothers to childrenand were listed as success cases with good health and carried on normally with their lives.Key words: HIV- vertical transmission, perinatal HIV outcome monitoring


Electrochemical deposition of silicon at room temperature is problematic due to the intrinsically low conductivity of the deposits. This study reports the photoelectrochemical (PEC) deposition of silicon (Si) and silicon–carbon (Si–C) layers from an ionic liquid at 40 °C using silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) as a silicon precursor. Amorphous layers are deposited on p-type silicon (p-Si), p-type gallium arsenide (p-GaAs), and aluminum–copper alloy AA2024. The semiconductor substrates are activated by white LED illumination, which generates photoelectrons, thereby making the substrate conductive with respect to the cathodic reaction. The photoresponsiveness of the deposits is proven by the light-induced photocurrents on an optically inactive substrate made of the alloy AA 2024. The proposed method paves the way for the electrochemical modification of semiconductors and metals with Si and Si–C structures, which are applicable in various fields, such as batteries, anti-corrosion coatings, photovoltaics, or PEC electrodes for hydrogen production.


The world-changing blockchain technique provides a novel method to establish a secure, trusted, and decentralized system for solving the security and personal privacy problems in the Internet of Things (IoT) applications. As the mining process in blockchain requires high computational power, the lightweight IoT devices need to purchase computational resources from edge servers and thus can offload their computational tasks. The amount of computational resource purchased by IoT devices depends on how many profits they can get in the mining process, and will directly affect the security of the blockchain network. The security of the blockchain is closely related to the profits of the blockchain platform. Actually, there is a trade-off between blockchain security and the profits of the blockchain platform. In this paper, we investigate the incentive mechanism for the blockchain platform to attract IoT devices to purchase more computational power from edge servers to participate in the mining process, thereby building a secure blockchain network while guaranteeing the profits of the blockchain platform. We model the interaction between the blockchain platform and IoT devices as a two-stage Stackelberg game, where the blockchain platform act as the leader, and IoT devices act as followers. We analyze the existence and uniqueness of the Stackelberg equilibrium, and propose an efficient algorithm to compute the Stackelberg equilibrium point. Furthermore, we evaluate the performance of our algorithm through extensive simulations, and analyze the strategies of the blockchain platform and IoT devices under different situations.


In our previous studies, vehicle surfaces' vibrations caused by operating engines measured by Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV) have been effectively exploited in order to classify vehicles of different types, e.g., vans, 2-door sedans, 4-door sedans, trucks, and buses, as well as different types of engines, such as Inline-four engines, V-6 engines, 1-axle diesel engines, and 2-axle diesel engines. The results are achieved by employing methods based on an array of machine learning classifiers such as AdaBoost, random forests, neural network, and support vector machines. To achieve effective classification performance, we seek to find a more reliable approach to pick authentic vibrations of vehicle engines from a trustworthy surface. Compared with vibrations directly taken from the uncooperative vehicle surfaces that are rigidly connected to the engines, these vibrations are much weaker in magnitudes. In this work we conducted a systematic study on different types of objects. We tested different types of engines ranging from electric shavers, electric fans, and coffee machines among different surfaces such as a white board, cement wall, and steel case to investigate the characteristics of the LDV signals of these surfaces, in both the time and spectral domains. Preliminary results in engine classification using several machine learning algorithms point to the right direction on the choice of type of object surfaces to be planted for LDV measurements.


This paper is the second part of the survey . In recent years, e-commerce in rural areas of China has been developing rapidly, which has an impact on regional development. The article explores and analyzes the issues of e-commerce management in rural areas of China. It has previously been identified that this area has problems such as backward infrastructure, an imperfect system of agricultural supply chains, and unbalanced regional development of e-commerce and conditions for its conduct. The article proposes solutions aimed at improving the management of e-commerce development in rural China. The author recommends: a) setting a management priority for reducing the rural e-commerce gap in various regions of China; b) develop a model of rural e-commerce and implement a general optimization scheme for the development of rural e-commerce in the country; c) organize the process of transferring experience and professional knowledge from regions with high development of e-commerce to regions with its weak use. The key management solutions for the development of rural e-commerce in China are: strengthening infrastructure; optimization of the agricultural supply chain system; improving standardization and branding of rural e-commerce goods; balancing regional differences in rural e-commerce development.


Chlorination with HCl of a mixture of syn- and anti-P(NEt2)-bridged [1.1]ferrocenophane 3 derived from [Fe{(η5-C5H4)PCl(NEt2)}2] 2 accompanied facile anti-to-syn conversion to give the syn isomer of PCl-bridged [1.1]ferrocenophane syn-4 selectively in 90% yield, and treatment of syn-4 with PhLi, Me3SiCH2Li, or p-TolMgBr afforded the corresponding diarylated or dialkylated compounds syn-5 to syn-7. Reactions of syn-5 with [PdCl2(COD)], [PdMe2(TMEDA)], and NiCl2 gave respectively four-coordinate [PdCl2(syn-5)], [PdMe2(syn-5)], and [NiCl2(syn-5)] complexes, the former two of which had a distorted square-planar structure with the latter adopting a tetrahedral geometry. In addition, syn-5 acted as a bridging ligand toward piano-stool Mn carbonyl complex fragments to give a novel dinuclear complex, [{Cp'Mn(CO)2}2(μ-syn-5)] (Cp' = C5H4CH3).


In the method and apparatus for determining the active set of the mobile station, a plurality of cells to determine the cell individual offset (CIO). To the mobile station signals the shift, which adds the correction according to the cell individual offset (CIO) of the reference signal measurement, thereby forming a corrected reference signal and measuring the active set based on the corrected reference signal measurements.


The purpose of this research was to examine the connections between personality types as illustrated by the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and the desire for social presence components within a technology based learning environment. Participants in the study were undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in an educational technology program at a public university in the State of Texas. The study employed a mixed-method qualitative approach that utilized a paired comparison evaluation, a personality assessment, and semi-structured interviews. Results showed that the components of organization and feedback were thought to best foster social presence in technology based learning environments and that there was no real difference between the personality types of introverts versus extroverts and judgers versus perceivers.