In this article, the author considers various aspects of teaching Chinese in Russia, and also specifies some factors that affect the successful mastery of the Chinese language, in particular, learning in a natural language environment as a part of student exchange programs, during which students study language material in class with native speaker and have the opportunity of extensive language practice outside the school. In addition, the author notes the importance of the sociocultural component in learning - familiarity with the traditions and holidays of China, thereby increasing students' interest in the culture of the country of the language being studied. The article also notes the difficulties that both students and the teacher encounter in the classroom at North-Eastern State University, caused by the fact that in the same group are both students who have undergone language training in China and those who have not yet had a chance to study there. This is manifested in different levels of language proficiency by students, primarily in the level of their oral speech skills. This situation affects the group's learning speed and requires the teacher, in turn, to have a differentiated approach to conducting classes. The author suggests maximizing the practice of students using the Chinese language - conducting classes in the language they are studying, stimulating them to communicate only in Chinese within the class, and also, if possible, beyond. The basis of this practice is proposed to put thematic-situational training, for example, within the framework of the topic "Shopping", interactively consider situations "in a clothing store", "in a mobile phone store", etc. At the same time, the author notes that the same situations proposed in the educational literature are perceived differently by native speakers and students, since they are filled with realities characteristic of China and different from the usual realities of Russia. To familiarize students with similar sociocultural content, it is proposed to use multimedia teaching aids - video and graphic presentations.


The notary authority is to make an authentic deed which is one part of the notarial protocol. This protocol will be safeguarded and submitted to the Regional Supervisory Board (MPD) if the Notary passes away. In this paper, the author applies empirical juridical research methods, uses primary data, and applies data collection techniques in the form of interviews with parties related to this study. Based on the results of the study, in the event that the Notary retires due to death, the protocol will be transferred to another notary of protocol holder. In order to guarantee legal certainty and avoid the abandonment of a Deed, through a proposal from an heir or Notary employee, the MPD appoints a Temporary Notary Officer in accordance with Article 40 of the Regulation of the Minister of Law and Human Rights No. 25 of 2014. Appointment of Temporary Notary Officials is expected not to break all matters related to the management of authentic certificates and the parties, that bind the agreement of the authentic deed, receive legal certainty. When a Notary passes away, Article 35 paragraph (1) of the Law on Notary Position Amendment states that a husband/ wife or family of blood in a straight line of descent to the second degree must notify MPD. Subsequently, the MPD makes a Decision Letter on the dismissal of a Notary addressed to the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. After the letter is issued, MPD conducts the process of making a notarial protocol transfer report, which is later transferred to another Notary of Protocol Holder.


Within the automotive industry, safety is an important topic, and vehicles are constantly improved to minimize fatalities in traffic. A Capacitive Occupant Sensor system in the passenger front seat can detect and classify passengers. The classification is communicated to the airbag suppression system, which enables or suppresses the airbag accordingly. The purpose of this master thesis is to explore the possibility of developing a Capacitive and Conductive Test Dummy to facilitate testing of the Capacitive Occupant Sensor system and support future development of seats. The objective is to develop a Capacitive and Conductive Test Dummy with admittance characteristics, correlating to a user group of up to one-year-old children. The project is divided into two blocks, where the main block constituted an empirical study, focusing on Concept Development and Product Testing. The final result was achieved through idea generations and the completion of six experiments. The findings indicate that children within the one-year-old group give small variations in admittance value. It is therefore possible to establish an admittance value for a Capacitive and Conductive Test Dummy, to correspond to the majority in the group. Different mixtures of water were found to be the best material for mimicking the admittance characteristics of the 1yo group. Through the output from the experiments, the project arrived at a dummy, named Kim. Kim has a textile body cover and an internal body made of plastic bags filled with a mixture of water and Super Absorbent Polymer. The dummy resembles the shape of a one-year-old child and has the same admittance characteristics as the representative for the one-year-old group. This support the use of the Capacitive and Conductive Test Dummy Kim for seat development.


Dirac and Weyl materials possess chiral fermions, which are characterized by nontrivial topology and large Berry curvature. Chiral fermions have nontrivial interactions with magnetic fields and light. In this work, we propose three different mechanisms for magnetic photocurrents caused by chiral fermions, with different requirements on the symmetry group of the crystal. We also study quantum oscillations of the anomalous current in the presence of a magnetic field, showing it has a different phase from the Ohmic current. We formulate a mechanism for THz emission observed in TaAs in response to ultrafast pulses. We propose a strain-induced anomalous current. We also show that an external magnetic field can create a difference between left and right handed fermions, which can be controlled by changing the field.


A palindrome is a word that reads the same left-to-right as right-to-left. We show that every simple group has a finite generating set X, such that every element of it can be written as a palindrome in the letters of X. Moreover, every simple group has palindromic width pw(G, X) = 1, where X only differs by at most one additional generator from any given generating set. On the contrary, we prove that all non-abelian finite simple groups G also have a generating set S with pw(G, S) > 1. As a by-product of our work we also obtain that every just-infinite group has finite palindromic width with respect to a finite generating set. This provides first examples of groups with finite palindromic width but infinite commutator width.


This report presents an analysis of the discovered crude oil resources, reserves, undiscovered recoverable crude oil resources, and estimated annual production from oil fields in Mexico. Estimates of total recoverable crude oil in Mexico and an analysis of the potential rates at which crude oil might be produced and enter into world markets are given. This analysis does not take into account the possible supply of recoverable resources from such nonconventional deposits as tar sands and oil shale. The main export markets for Mexican crude oil in 1981 were, in order of importance, the United States, Western Europe, the Caribbean, and the Far East. Mexico has actively attempted to expand its export position only recently, after internal supply gradually exceeded demand.


Complete positivity [1, 2, 3, 4] is a mathematical property of some maps between C algebras, typically algebras of operators, which arises in Quantum Physics in two relevant fields, namely the dynamics of open quantum systems [5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] and the analysis of entanglement and separability of quantum states [11, 12, 13, 14]. In this contribution we generalize a simple proof of the so-called Jamio lkowski criterion [15, 16] to chech whether a given linear map is completely positive (CP herafter) or not. Our preceding proof [17] (see also [18]) only applies to maps between finite algebras, i.e. to finite quantum systems. Here we extend the proof to include also any algebra of Hilbert-Schmidt operators. The work is divided as follows. In section 2 we enunciate the Jamio lkowski criterion and present the main tools and preliminary results to be used later in section 3, where the proof is worked out in detail. In section 4 we include examples to illustrate the usage of these results. In section 5 we end with a brief discussion and some conclusions.


An energy-efficient hybrid on-chip video memory architecture (enHyV) is presented that combines private and shared memories using a hybrid design (i.e., SRAM and emerging STT-RAM). The key is to leverage the application-specific properties to efficiently design and manage the enHyV. To increase STT-RAM lifetime, we propose a data management technique that alleviates the bit-toggling write occurrences. An adaptive power management is also proposed for static-energy savings. Experimental results illustrate that enHyV reduces on-chip static memory energy compared to SRAM-only version of enHyV and to state-of-art AMBER hybrid video memory [9] by 66%-75% and 55%-76%, respectively. Furthermore, negligible external memory energy consumption is required for reference frames communication (98% lower than state-of-the-art Level C+ technique [18]). Our data management significantly improves the enHyV STT-RAM lifetime, achieving 0.83 of normalized lifetime (near to the optimal case). Our hybrid memory design and management incur low overhead in terms of latency and dynamic energy.


This paper describes how automated visual inspection systems hold significant potential for improving rail car maintenance. By providing consistent, reliable data, which can be used to determine current and future condition, a more predictive approach to maintenance can be adopted. This should result in fewer out of service vehicles and easier compliance with standards. New Jersey (NJ) Transit has been interested in using such technology for some time and in 2008 started a significant trial of its application. This paper describes the introduction of an Automated Rail Vehicle Inspection System (ARVIS) at NJ Transit's Morrisville, PA maintenance facility in order to automatically inspect brakes and wheels on a range of fleets. Following a public tender process at the end of 2006, NJ Transit contracted DeltaRail from the UK to design, build and install three ARVIS installations to undergo a two-year trial at Morrisville. The use of automated inspection technology for rail applications is now maturing in Europe (DeltaRail's first system was installed over 14 years ago) and demand has increased significantly in recent years. To provide local support DeltaRail has chosen to work with ENSCO as its US partner on this project, the two companies having many years of experience in the delivery of high technology to rail properties. This paper describes the systems installed, discusses how the information will be managed and used, and looks at the expected benefits as the trial proceeds.


This study aims to predict the effect of CPO (crude palm oil) prices or government policies such as BI 7days and CPO export taxes on palm cooking palm oil prices in Indonesia during the Palm Oil-Free labeling period. To address this research issue, this study uses the VECM method by implementing the Impulse Response Function (IRF) and variance decomposition approaches to analyze the research data. Further, the research period starts from January 2017 to April 2020. The study results show that CPO prices affect palm cooking palm oil prices positively. On the contrary, the government policies such as BI 7days and CPO export taxes negatively affect cooking palm oil prices during the Palm Oil-Free labeling period. Further, this study also informs that of all the determinant variables, CPO prices have the greatest response to the fluctuations in cooking palm oil prices. Thus, this study suggests the government to constrain raw material or CPO prices to reduce palm cooking palm oil prices in the domestic market.


CANSIM, the Canadian Socio-Economic Information Management system is Statistics Canada's computerized data bank and information retrieiral service. This paper gives an overview of the current status and development activities of electronic information services provided by Statistics Canada.


Using data from in-depth interviews with female information and communication technology (ICT) professionals from New Zealand's four main cities, this article uses a social constructivist framework to investigate the women's perceptions of their ICT work place. The results show that there are regional differences in organization type, job category and salaries, as well as in the perceptions of the women towards their environment. Most women did not actively seek to be employed in ICT — rather their entry was serendipitous. While they enjoyed working in the environment, there was an obvious gendering of the workforce with most technical positions being held by men and women working mainly in the softer side of ICT. The women perceived their gendered roles to be a highly important and an integral part of ICT and believed their salaries were equitable with their male colleagues. Having a greater understanding of how women view their ICT work place will contribute to attracting and retaining them in an industry where a shortage of skills is envisaged in the near future.


This paper examines the theoretical implication of quantity-discounted transportation rates on the impact of a change market demand on the optimum location decisions of undifferentiated oligopolistic firms within the Weber-Moses triangle. Assume that transportation rates are a function of quantity shipped and distance traveled. We show that the optimum location is independent of a change in market demand if the market demand function is linear. This is consistent with the well-known Mai-Hwang results with constant transportation rates. It indicates that Mai and Hwang proposition is more general than it appears. We further show that an increase in market demand may move the optimum location closer to (away from) the output market when the market demand function is concave (convex). These results are significantly different from the well-known Mai-Hwang results with constant transportation rates. It indicates that the quantity discounted transportation rates have an important influence on the location decisions of undifferentiated oligopolistic firms.


Changes in serum concentrations of alpha2-macroglobulin alphal-antitrypsin (AAT) and antithrombin III (AT III) which have an important role in maintaining the hemocoagulative equilibrium between the coagulation system and the fibrinolytic system were measured in 40 health women aged 20-40 years who used combined oral contraceptives (OCs) containing 30 mcg of ethinyl estradiol and 150 mcg of progestogen. Serum variation in the fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) which indicate fibrin intravasal deposition and enzymatic interaction between thrombin and fibrinogen were also measured. The 40 women were divided into group 1 consisting of 20 women who had used OCs for 12 months or less and group 2 20 women who had used them for 1-6 years. An additional groups of 20 control women aged 18-40 who did not use OCs or have thromboembolic disease was included. Mean values of AT III were 20.58 IU/ml in the control group 18.19 IU/ml in group 1 and 20.13 IU/ml in group 2. The difference between the control group an group 1 was statistically significant but the difference between the control group and group 2 was not. The mean serum concentration of AAT was 151.76 mg/dl in the control group 193.95 mg/dl in group 1 and 189.19 mg/dl in group 2. The differences were statistically significant. The mean value of alpha2-macroglobulin serum concentration was 175.61 mg/dl in the control group 209.80 mg/dl in group 1 and 197.14 mg/dl in group 2. The difference between the control group and group 1 was significant while the difference between controls and group 2 was not. No positive results were observed in the FDP study. It was concluded that women taking combined OC pills present a modification of hemocoagulative equilibrium of thrombophilic type.


This article opens with a recognition that ectopic maxillary canines may lead to frank impactions requiring a coordinated and multidisciplinary approach to their surgical/orthodontic management and the potential benefit of managing canine ectopia, particularly palatally displaced canines, more conservatively in their pre-eruptive ectopic positions in an effort to avoid impaction. The prevalence of palatally displaced canines (PDC) in various populations and corroborating as well as competing or conflicting opinions of etiology are briefly reviewed. Some of the traditional as well as relatively newer strategies and associated investigations of managing pre-eruptive palatally displaced maxillary canines are discussed, and the imaging techniques utilized to identify and locate ectopic maxillary canines are also discussed. Early detection of ectopic canines must include at the very least panoramic and/or periapical radiographs as part of any mixed dentition orthodontic examination and assessment. The sometimes unpredictable continued path of the ectopic maxillary canine poses clinical and ethical issues to the clinician when developing treatment strategies as part of any overall orthodontic treatment plan for young patients presenting with maxillary canine ectopia. The need for more thoughtful and carefully designed randomized clinical trials with a greater emphasis on subject sample scrutiny is strongly recommended to add much needed clarity to the clinical management of ectopic maxillary canines.


The atomistic structure and energetics of the Σ13 (1014)[1210] symmetrical tilt grain boundary in α-Al 2 O 3 are studied by first-principles calculations based on the local-density-functional theory with a mixed-basis pseudopotential method. Three configurations, stable with respect to intergranular cleavage, are identified: one Al-terminated glide-mirror twin boundary and two O-terminated twin boundaries, with glide-mirror and twofold screw-rotation symmetries, respectively. Their relative energetics as a function of axial grain separation are described, and the local electronic structure and bonding are analyzed. The Al-terminated variant is predicted to be the most stable one, confirming previous empirical calculations, but in contrast with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations on high-purity diffusion-bonded bicrystals, which resulted in an O-terminated structure. An explanation of this discrepancy is proposed based on the different relative energetics of the internal interfaces with respect to the free surfaces.


In this paper, we would like to present a model framework for testing the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) initially proposed by Davis [5] with pre-service teachers using Virtual Worlds (VWs). The main hypothesis of this study states that the use of VWs will enhance technology acceptance by pre-service teachers, and will also facilitate adoption of technology applications within the classroom environment. There have been plenty of studies which have tested the TAM within work-related environments. Other breakthrough studies have also tried to apply the TAM for an education environment, investigating reasons for the possible lack of adoption of technology by teachers within the classroom environment. However, as yet, the model's effectiveness has not been investigated with immersive technology applications such as VWs and their possible use and adoption within the teacher training framework.


Shield tunneling process is simulated with FLAD3D combined with engineering situation of Guomao—Shuangjing interzone of Beijing subway line No.10. Stress and displacement monitoring points are distributed around the model shield tunnel. Regularities of displacement and stress in surrounding soil are studied. The main results are as follows:(1) not only vertical but also horizontal displacements show that soil is extruded ahead of excavation;(2) vertical displacement is more prominent that horizontal displacement;(3) vertical and horizontal stresses decrease speedily near the tunneling excavation face with half stress being released;and (4) a mass of disturbance mainly occurs in 20 m between excavation face and its behind. It is found that the simulated results are in good agreement with in-situ values.


Let G be a Hausdorff locally compact abelian group. In this paper we characterise completely those continuous linear operators T from C0(G) (the space of continuous functions with compact supports endowed with the inductive limit topology) into M(G) (the space of measures with the vague topology of measures) which commute with convolution: T(f*g) = (Tf)*g. They are represented by convolution with a "quasimeasure". As a corollary of this theorem, we have the result that the space of multipliers from L(G)(p Φ oo) to L(G) is isomorphic to a subspace of the space of quasimeasures. The quasimeasures are defined as the elements of the dual of a certain inductive limit of Banach spaces. We develop some of the theory of pseudomeasures and of quasimeasures and establish the structural relationship of quasimeasures to pseudomeasures.


A reduced size antiresonant antenna for underground object detection is presented. The reduced size antenna is shown to provide improved differential impedance properties to that of a full size antiresonant dipole while providing a factor of eight reduction in the maximum dimension of the antenna.


After the Opium Wars,the three great religious sects,especially the protestant and the Catholic,seizde the legal right of doing missionary work in China through the unequal treaty by force.The facts that the western churches reached their missionary purpose with political ways and the evil actions done by missionaries in China aroused Chinese people great indignation,and resulted in many modern religious cases.This is one of the main causes that the Yihetuan Movement took place.


A UWB impulse radio (IR) timed-array radar using time-shifted direct-sampling architecture is presented. The transmitter array can generate and send a variety of 10GS/s pulses towards targets. The receiver array samples the reflected signal in RF domain directly by time interleaved sampling with equivalent sampling rate of 20 GS/s. The radar system can determine time of arrival (TOA) and direction of arrival (DOA) through time-shifted sampling edges which are generated by on-chip digital-to-time converters (DTC). The proposed architecture has range and azimuth resolution of 0.75 cm and 3 degree respectively. This prototype is implemented in a 0.18μm CMOS technology.


This book surveys the evidence for musical historiography in antiquity, and gives succinct accounts of the methods, preoccupations and contributions of the genre's most important practitioners. Readers unfamiliar with this material will find Barker an illuminating guide and specialists will find much of interest in his more detailed arguments as well as in his sketches of larger cultural developments. The book provides a valuable introduction to an under-appreciated topic and will be useful to anyone interested in ancient scholarship and performance culture. After a brief account of the evidential problems posed by ancient musical historiography in general (11–13), Barker examines a particularly important and problematic source, ps.-Plutarch's De Musica. This treatise is usually considered to be a series of paraphrases of previous writers, and the book's first chapter (15–27) is given over to a detailed defence of this position. Barker shows that there are various inconsistencies in the treatise's treatment of its subject matter and that these are best explained by the hypothesis that the author is combining 'material derived from at least two different sources whose accounts were mutually incompatible' (24). For example, the account of the origins of Greek music with which the treatise opens argues that citharodia was the primary form out of which other types of music developed, while later chapters give priority to aulos music. Barker also brings out a structural contradiction between the discussions of the development of νόμοι in chapters 3–8 and the classificatory analyses in chapters 9–10. Having established the paraphrastic character of the De Musica, Barker proceeds in the second chapter (29–42) to a discussion of two of the treatise's principal sources: the Catalogue of Musicians by Heraclides of Pontus and On the 203


Ray tracing methods have been applied in the computation of atmospheric refraction for a path at White Sands Missile Range, N. Mex., with a range of about 48 miles and an elevation angle of 14.5 milliradians. The atmosphere was assumed to be horizontally stratified. Refractive index profiles were derived from meteorological data obtained from surface observations, wiresondes, radiosondes, and airborne refractometer soundings. The profiles were classified "A", "B," or "C," in descending order of reliability, prior to radar refraction computations. The classification system considered the variety of data available, the time lag between radar and weather observations, and the proximity of the sounding to the propagation path. A good correlation between observed and computed angles resulted and the correlation was directly related to the classification. Radar observations were made in the X -band and instrumental precision maintained to within 0.25 milliradian. Total bending ranged between 0.56 and 2.23 millirardians, with standard deviation 0.38 milliradian. The rms deviation of computed from observed angles ranges from 0.19 to 0.41 milliradian for Class A and Class C data, respectively. The correlation coefficient ranges from 0.81 to 0.13. It is concluded that within the limits of this experiment: a)ray tracing methods are justified, b) horizontal stratification may be assumed and c) the accuracy of bending predictions is increased by improving the meteorological data.


Singrauli district, which is in central India, is renowned for its extensive natural riches and vibrant industrial activity. The present study includes a comprehensive investigation on the spatial distribution and fluctuations of major physicochemical parameters, namely magnesium (Mg), chloride (Cl), and fluoride (F), in the groundwater of the Singrauli district. Understanding these characteristics is critical due to their potential impact on water quality and human health. The data needed for this study came from two distinct sources. The Central Groundwater Board website provided data from 2010 to 2018, while the Madhya Pradesh Groundwater Yearbook provided data for 2019-2020. This dataset was linked into ArcGIS, a Geographic Information System (GIS) application, allowing for the creation of thematic maps and spatial patterns that provide significant insights into the spatial distribution of certain parameters. Mg conc. values were within the permissible limit, that is 100 milligram litre-1 except the max value that was observed at the location marked by the coordinates 24.067, 82.629 in the year 2012. At most places in the study area the conc. of chloride in the groundwater was found to be within the permissible limit. Maximum value of Fluoride conc. was 3.8 mg/l at the location marked by coordinates 24.233,82.377 (Lat., Long.) in the year 2016. The reason for this unusually high level of F conc. in the groundwater of Singrauli may be due to human activities like coal mining and leaching from the waste generated from the various power plants, etc.


The purpose of the work described in this thesis was to measure standard electrode
potentials and rate constants for various systems, based around cobalt and copper
centred catalysts. The intention was to increase understanding of these two different
types of complexes, with the knowledge described herein aiding in catalyst and
system design.
Two main techniques have been used, those of UME voltammetry and SECM. The
UME measurements proved technically simple and were used to provide information
on redox kinetics and coupled solution reactions. Conversely, the SECM experiments
were more complex to perform but allow more complicated systems to be studied.
The results obtained in Chapter 3 provide further information about the properties of
[Cu] ATP catalysts. Enhanced information could be obtained with better knowledge
of the values ofE1I2 or F!., but the work has shown that in organic solvents even
simple parameters are difficult to obtain due to complexities such as ion pairing.
The theme of Chapter 4; the reaction of [CUll] with Cu
o
had previously been
unexamined. This reaction has been characterised and provides new information of
the processes involved in adding Cu
o
to ATP reaction mixtures. A computer
simulation was applied that described the theoretical behaviour of an oxidative
etching event. A good fit was obtained between experiment and theory at large values
of d/a and at short times. The potentials of a number of [CuI]/[CUIl ]and [Cul]/[CUO]
redox couples have been measured in order to understand the substrate potential
response during the SECM etching process.
The rate of reaction of a number of different [COl] with E2mB has been measured in a
range of solvents, as described in Chapter 5. The solvent was seen to have a great
effect on the behaviour of each system, stabilising the formation of R[Colll ], such that
two reduction processes became evident where mma was the solvent. Such [Co]
species are commonly used as C - C bond forming reagents and therefore knowledge
of their behaviour in certain solvents is invaluable. Additionally the [Colt E2mB
system may be used as an initiator/catalyst system for polymerisation reactions, either
in homogeneous or emulsion solutions.


Hot temperatures increase the risk of dehydration. Fluid with certain osmolarity and contain of electrolytes can prevent dehydration. Banana isotonic drinks (BID) was developed for rehydration. This study aims to determine the difference effect of BID and plain water (PW) of body hydration. Experimental research using a cross over design involved 16 subjects and divided into two groups. After undergoing two days of quarantine, each subject was administrated with 500 ml of fluid. Wash-out period between treatments was 7 days. Indicator of hydration of hemoglobin, HCT, and urine volume are assessed before and after intervention. The result showed that indicator of hydration differed significantly after receiving the intervention (P <0.05) although there was no difference between groups (P >0.05). However, urine volume formation was higher on the PW than BID group. BID is able to improve the hydration of the body through the mechanism of maintaining body volume and slowing down the urine formation.


We empirically examine a seldom-tested nexus of relationships that is fundamental to corporate finance theory: that having access to public capital markets may allow firms to grow faster, but may not be value-enhancing due to investment distortions arising from owner-manager conflicts. We use a large matched sample of publicly traded and privately held U.S. commercial banking companies between 1984 and 2012. We gain identification by exploiting (a) the natural exogeneity of banks' growth opportunities and (b) the life-cycle characteristics of private versus and public firms. We find that public banks are more responsive than private banks to new growth opportunities, but this advantage manifests itself only during local economic downturns when internal capital generation slows. Faster growth is accompanied by relatively higher accounting returns at public banks, an indication that the value increment from faster growth more than offsets any related principal-agent inefficiencies.


A board-on-chip (BOC) type semiconductor package comprises a substrate with an opening and a semiconductor die with a conductive area on its active surface. The die is mounted onto the substrate with the active surface facing the upper surface of the substrate and completely covering the opening in the substrate, The conductive area of the active surface of the die is exposed to the opening in the substrate. The die is joined to the substrate using an adhesive and is electrically connected to the substrate with wire bonds through the opening of the substrate. The wire bonds are protected with an encapsulant, which fills the opening in the substrate. Solder balls are implanted on the lower surface of the substrate at an area outside of the encapsulant. The package is characterized by the absence of encapsulant for the inactive side of the die and the absence of an encapsulant for the sides of the die.


This symposium is dedicated to finding and developing new ways to open organizations for the inclusion of diverse employees, by directing attention to the role of human resource management (HRM). D...


This paper investigates and models the relationship between firm value and risk. In order to model the impact of operating and financial leverages and intrinsic business risk on firm value we extend both the theoretical and empirical issues of Mandelker and Rhee (1984) and Chung (1989). We use panel data to estimate operating and financial leverage degrees and 403 sample non-financial USA firms for the period from 1995 to 1999. Our empirical findings suggest that the degree of operating leverage and intrinsic business risk explain a large portion of the variation of excess return in dollar when firm's sales are negatively correlated with the market portfolio. In contrast, when firm's sales are positively correlated with market portfolio, the degree of operating leverage is embedded in the intrinsic business risk and a significant portion of cross-sectional variation in the excess return in dollar can be explained by intrinsic business risk and the degree of financial leverage.


In 1996, the government decision to offer free treatment to all citizens with HIV/AIDS, including pregnant women, was a milestone in the fight against the epidemic. Besides the treatment, the government offers HIV counseling and testing during prenatal and labour, scheduled cesarean delivery, zidovudine administration during labour, delivery and to the newborn, as well as lactation inhibitors and breast milk substitutes. All of these treatment and prevention efforts collaborated to control epidemic spread in Brazil and to have a relatively low and stable HIV prevalence [3,4]. This new reality combined with the significant decrease in new cases of pediatric HIV infection raised the possibility that perinatal HIV infection could be eliminated.


A silicone punctal plug-based delivery system for ophthalmic medications (Evolute, Mati Therapeutics) provides precisely controlled medication release into the tear film and has been associated with positive results in initial clinical testing.


Bangladesh emerged from its war of independence desperately poor and over-populated and reeling from overwhelming war damage to its institutional and physical capital. It was not until 1978/79 that per capita income had recovered to its pre-independence level. The economy was ravaged by acute food shortages and famines during the early years. According to some authors, Bangladesh was designated as a "test case" for development while Henry Kissinger called it "an international basket case".


Li4Ti5O12/Ce nanoparticles are synthesized through hydrothermal method. The structure and morphology characteristics of the composite are investigated by XRD, SEM. Meanwhile, electrochemical properties were analyzed through charging-discharging test. The prepared Li4Ti5O12/Ce nanoparticles have good rate performance and cycling performance. It exhibited discharging capacity of 128.0 mAh/g at a high rate of 10 C. It promises to be advanced batteries with high energy density and long cycle life.


This article examines claims regarding the effectiveness of coercive interrogation as an interrogation tool used to produce intelligence to prevent acts of terrorism. The article draws on a wide range of historic and contemporary sources in concluding that there are a range of inherent problems in using coercive methods, such as torture, to gain reliable, timely life-saving intelligence. This paper also considers one further issue - the importance of debating the question of effectiveness to establish the reliability of various claims made by those proposing a system of legalised torture.


The airborne Spectrometer for Sky-Scanning, Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research (4STAR) is developed to retrieve aerosol microphysical and optical properties from multi-angular and multi-spectral measurements of sky radiance and direct-beam sun transmittance. The necessarily compact design of the 4STAR may cause noticeable apparent enhancement of sky radiance at small scattering angles. We assess the sensitivity of expected 4STAR-based aerosol retrieval to such enhancement by applying the operational AERONET retrieval code and synthetic 4STAR-like data. Also, we assess the sensitivity of the broadband radiative fluxes and the direct aerosol radiative forcing to uncertainties in aerosol retrievals associated with the sky radiance enhancement. Our sensitivity study results suggest that the 4STARbased aerosol retrieval has limitations in obtaining detailed information on particle size distribution and scattering phase function. However, these limitations have small impact on the retrieved bulk optical parameters, such as the asymmetry factor (up to 4%, or ±0.02) and single-scattering albedo (up to 2%, or ±0.02), and the calculated direct aerosol radiative forcing (up to 6%, or 2 Wm-2).


Piracy adversely affects online music sales. This article aims to investigate the factors that affect global music piracy directly and electronic business indirectly. These factors can be grouped into three categories: economic, legal/regulatory, and technological. On analyzing data from 68 countries, a country's economic status and regulatory status emerge as the primary factors affecting music piracy. Technology indirectly affects music piracy by acting as a mediator between a nation's economic status and the music piracy rate. Hence, a nation can reduce its music piracy rate and enhance e-business by devising stricter laws to safeguard intellectual property, punishing violations of information and communication technology related laws more strictly, allowing more free trade with other countries, inspiring attitudinal changes about inappropriate copying behavior through awareness campaigns, and encouraging increased and secure broadband usage.


This article describes a case study of mobile learning activities in a course on the Strength of Materials in engineering degree programs. The activities were based on two applications available in app stores or repositories: Mechanics of Materials and Frame Design. Students appreciated these activities because the learning experience progressed more quickly and proved to be more enjoyable, and they also felt more motivated. And furthermore, students improved their academic results as compared to previous years when these apps were not incorporated. This real experience with mobile learning demonstrated other advantages as well: competences in ICTs improved, along with skills involved with using mobile devices.


This study attempts to discern the frames that dominated the coverage of the 1994 Rwandan crisis and genocide in Kenya's Daily Nation and Nigeria's Guardian, two leading African dailies. The study found that there was a great deal of overlap between the two newspapers with regard to the major frames: bane of a nation, Rwandan national introspection, an(other) African cataclysm, together with world inaction and indifference emerged as the dominant themes. However, there were also differences in coverage. The national/regional interest emerged as a theme in the Daily Nation but did not develop in the coverage by The Guardian. Both papers also went to considerable lengths to explore the background to the crisis and its wider implications.


Objective To analyze the obvious and hidden blood loss after operations in the posterior lumbar intervertebral fusion( PLIF) by two drainage methods,and compare the effect of the two kinds of drainage. Methods From October 2008 to December 2012,retrospective analysis of 108 patients undergoing treatment of the PLIF was carried out. According to the kind of drainage method after PLIF,they were randomly divided into two groups. 56 patients received ordinary drainage method,52 patients underwent low suction drainage method. Statistics was applied to comparison analysis of the two groups in terms of total blood loss,visible blood loss,hidden blood loss,and transfusion. Results In the ordinary drainage group: the mean blood loss of( 860. 62 ± 375. 45) ml was found in 56 cases after operation; the mean total blood loss was( 1415. 10 ± 592. 66) ml while the hidden blood loss was( 516. 73 ± 314. 71) ml,36% of the total loss. In the low-suction drainage group: the mean blood loss of( 794. 17 ± 337. 19) ml was found in 52 cases after operation; the mean total blood loss was( 1251. 53 ± 540. 99) ml and the hidden blood loss was( 457. 36 ± 332. 79) ml,35% of the total loss. There were no statistical differences between the two groups. Conclusions The ordinary drainage and the low-suction drainage may have no difference in hidden blood loss after operations.


Healthcare providers (HCPs) may face numerous dilemmas in optimally screening, diagnosing, and treating patients with, and/or at risk for, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed to achieve a greater understanding of the challenges in HCC care which in turn could delineate HCP educational opportunities within this oncologic sub‐specialty.


Inertial motion capture (mocap) is a widespread technology for capturing human motion outside the lab, e.g. for applications in sports, ergonomics, rehabilitation and personal fitness. Even though mature systems are commercially available, inertial mocap is still a subject of research due to a number of limitations: besides measurement errors and sparsity, also simplified body models and calibration routines, soft tissue artefacts and varying body shapes lead to limited precision and robustness compared to optical gold standard systems. The goal of the research group wearHEALTH at the TU Kaiserslautern is to tackle these challenges by bringing together ideas and approaches from different disciplines including biomechanics, sensor fusion, computer vision and (optimal control) simulation. In this talk, we will present an overview of our approaches and applications, starting from the more traditional ones.


Plug and process load power requirements are frequently overestimated because designers often use estimates based on 'nameplate' data, or design assumptions are high because information is not available. This generally results in oversized heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems; increased initial construction costs; and increased energy use caused by inefficiencies at low, part-load operation. Rightsizing of chillers in two buildings reduced whole-building energy use by 3%-4%. If an integrated design approach could enable 3% whole-building energy savings in all U.S. office buildings stock, it could save 34 TBtu of site energy per year.


While travelling through the Eastern Cape, on the last leg of our provincial trip, we stopped in Willowmore - a little gem in the southern Karoo. While enjoying lunch at Sophy's Choice in the main street of town, we also learned more about the town and its history.


A subgroup H of a group G is called conjugate-permutable in G,if it is permutable with all conjugate subgroups of H.In this paper,utilizing definition of conjugate-permutable subgroups and article[1],we give some properties about conjugate-permutable subgroups and some sufficient conditions of the conjugate-permutable subgroups on the structure of finite groups,Furthermore some results of[1] are generalized.


The purpose of the present paper is to introduce and study two strong forms of α(γ ,γ ′ )-semiopen sets called α(γ ,γ ′ )-semiregular sets and α(γ ,γ ′ )-θ -semiopen sets. And also introduce a new class of functions c alled (α(γ ,γ ′ ),α(β ,β ′ ))-θ -semi continuous functions and obtain several properties of such f nctions.


Background: The existing of opinion that enterprises registered within Employment Accident Benefit Program to reduce the employment's accident risk will disregard the implementation of occupational health and safety (OHS). The implementation of OHS through the occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) is an obligation for enterprises as means to prevent employment accident in order to establish a comfort, health and safe workplace and contiunity of business. Method: The type research which used is survey research using cross-sectional design. Samples consist of 55 enterprises from type III of group-business which registered in Employment Accident Benefit Program at PT Jamsostek Medan Branch. Accident rate data were gathered through enterprises report on Jamsostek Form 3 Type K.K.3 (Employment Accident Report Phase I) within one year period (January 1st - December 31st, 2005). The level of compliance the implementation of OHSMS was measured by OHSMS audits which consist of 166 criteria. Regression analyzes was employed to examine relationship between accident rate and level of compliance the implementation of OHSMS. Results: Accident rate was varying among each business types ranges 87 cases as most frequent and 1 case least. Higher level of compliance the implementation of OHSMS were 127 criteria (76.51%), lowest were 6 criteria (3.61%) with average     32 criteria (19.04%). It is recognized that 2 (3.64%) enterprises were reach 60 - 84% criteria and 53 (96.36%) enterprises reach 0 - 60% criteria for compliance. Total average and percentage which actually been comply by enterprises on each criteria element from 12 auditing elements of OHSMS was mostly on 5th element (purchasing). Relationship between accident rate and level of compliance the implementation of OHSMS is significant (p < 0.05) with correlation coefficient r = - 0.236. Conclusion: Management must have solid commitment and entail every worker to implement OHSMS, and involves various relevant and qualify parties thus level of compliance the implementation of OHSMS can be improved and reducing accident rate. Keywords:  registered enterprises in the employment accident benefit program, accident rate, the level of compliance the implementation of occupational health and safety management system


The issue of the image of the rulers of Muslim countries in the Russian historical sources (the 18th – beginning of 20th centuries) is considered in the article. The issue is analyzed studying the example of the territory culturally and geographically close to Russia – the countries of the Near and Middle East. The sources used in the study include reports, notes and evidences of the Russian periodicals, states- and servicemen. The article presents an attempt to indicate the most characteristic features of the rulers and politicians of the Eastern countries shown in the Russian sources.


Propagation constants of weakly guiding optical fibers with arbitrary shapes can be efficiently calculated through a limited circular Fourier expansion of the wave equation, with a direct numerical integration.


From the angular dependence of the edge singularities in the second-order quadrupole-shift spectra of the $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ NMR \textonehalf{} \ensuremath{\rightarrow} -\textonehalf{} transitions, the distribution of the electric-field-gradient (EFG) tensors at the Rb sites has been determined in the incommensurate ($I$) phase of ${\mathrm{Rb}}_{2}$Zh${\mathrm{Cl}}_{4}$. The EFG tensor elements ${V}_{\mathrm{ab}}$ and ${V}_{\mathrm{bz}}$\char22{}which are zero in the paraelectric phase in view of the $a\ensuremath{-}c$ mirror symmetry\char22{}become nonzero in the $I$ phase and increase with decreasing temperature linearly with the amplitude of the incommensurate distortion wave. The displacement amplitudes are larger at the Rb(2) than at the Rb(1) sites. The plane-wave-modulation model provides a rather good description of the distribution of the Rb EFG tensors in the high-temperature part of the $I$ phase in ${\mathrm{Rb}}_{2}$Zn${\mathrm{Cl}}_{4}$.


The invention discloses a container spreader of a transtainer or a quay crane. The container spreader comprises a spreader upper layer structure (1), a spreader lower layer structure (2) and a slewing bearing (3), wherein the outer ring of the slewing bearing (3) is fixed on the upper portion of the spreader lower layer structure (2), the inner ring of the slewing bearing (3) is fixed on the lower portion of the spreader upper structure (1), and a corner fitting mechanism (4) is arranged on the spreader lower layer structure (2). The container spreader of the transtainer or the quay crane can achieve the rotating container alignment of the container spreader to solve the problem that a container cannot be lifted up normally under the condition that the container spreader is not aligned to the container.


In order to compensate the disadvantage of AID based on traditional traffic statistics technology can detect the incident but can't identify whether the individual vehicle is affected by the incident,this article presents a judge model of impact of lane closure incident on individual vehicles on freeways based on RFID technology and FOA-GRNN method.This model uses GRNN to classify the traffic information collected by RFID,uses FOA to optimize the spread value of GRNN.With VISSIM simulation,results shows that the model has the feature of high DR,low FAR,and can quickly detect the vehicle influenced by incident to support traffic evanesce.


Of concern is the scenario of a heat equation on a domain that contains a thin layer, on which the thermal conductivity is drastically different from that in the bulk. The multi-scales in the spatial variable and the thermal conductivity lead to computational difficulties, so we may think of the thin layer as a thickless surface, on which we impose "effective boundary conditions"(EBCs). These boundary conditions not only ease the computational burden, but also reveal the effect of the inclusion. In this paper, by considering the asymptotic behavior of the heat equation with interior inclusion subject to Dirichlet boundary condition, as the thickness of the thin layer shrinks, we derive, on a closed curve inside a two-dimensional domain, EBCs which include a Poisson equation on the curve, and a non-local one. It turns out that the EBCs depend on the magnitude of the thermal conductivity in the thin layer, compared to the reciprocal of its thickness. AMS subject classifications: 35K05, 35B40, 35B45, 74K15


Survival analysis is required to understand the amount of risk factor in a disease, that is, to understand the proportional estimation of recovery and death. In statistics, survival analysis is a concept where the probabilistic time span of an event is analyzed until another event happens in recovery and death issues in the medical world. It is used to enlighten some points like the number of people that will survive a specific amount of time, the rate of their deaths, etc. To analyze 'time-to-event' data, the Kaplan-Meier (KM) method is used. In KM study, the result sometimes involves all-cause mortality. One of the best options to use to calculate the fraction of subjects living for a certain amount of time after treatment is the Kaplan-Meier calculation.


Abstract A very important and essential phase of time series analysis is identifying the model orders. This article develops an approximate Bayesian procedure to identify the orders of seasonal autoregressive processes. Using either a normal-gamma prior density or a noninformative prior, which is combined with an approximate conditional likelihood function, the foundation of the proposed technique is to derive the joint posterior mass function of the model orders in an easy form. Then one may inspect the posterior mass function and choose the orders with the largest posterior probability to be the suitable orders of the time series being analyzed. A simulation study, with different priors mass functions, is carried out to test the adequacy of the proposed technique and compare it with some non-Bayesian automatic criteria. The analysis of the numerical results supports the adequacy of the proposed technique in identifying the orders of the autoregressive processes.


A survey of papaya (Carica papaya L.) cv. Solo farms was conducted in Jamaica to determine the abundance of rhizosphere-soil-inhabiting phyto-nematodes and root-inhabiting fungi. Field trials were conducted to evaluate the effects of pre- and post-plant mulching of soil with clear and black plastic sheeting on the abundance of these organisms, shoot growth, and root rot. The most abundant phyto-nematodes were Rotylenchulus spp and mean farm population densities ranged from 12 to 5600 nematodes 100 cm-3 soil. Fusarium solani and Macrophomina phaseolina, the more frequently occurring fungi, were detected in 71 and 29% of the farms, respectively. Soil mulched with black plastic for two months before planting stimulated papaya shoot growth. The three-month-long post-plant treatment caused no adverse effects on papaya growth, and resulted in significantly lower soil nematode population densities and less root necrosis at three and five months after the start of mulching, respectively, than the control. The percentage occurrence of fungi in roots was not affected by any treatment.


Stable silver nanoparticles of various sizes are synthesised using the aqueous extract of Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum) as the reducing agent as well as a stabilising agent under the influence of light of wavelength ranging from 200 to 900 nm. The formation of silver nanoparticles is monitored using a UV-Visible spectrophotometer and the particle shape, size and stability are analysed using scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering and zeta potential measurement techniques. It is observed that the size of the silver nanoparticles decreases on increasing the wavelength of irradiating light. The silver nanoparticles show antimicrobial activity against gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis), as well as gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria. The antimicrobial activity shows an inverse relationship with the size of the silver nanoparticles. The bio-synthesised silver nanoparticles are successfully embedded in a polymeric film to act as an active antimicrobial film that can potentially release the active constituents.


AIM: To explore whether in vivo human metabolic disposition of rabeprazole is dependent on CYP2C19 enzyme and to predict the influence of CYP2C19 genetic polymorphism on the acid-inhibitory efficacy of rabeprazole. METHODS: An open, comparative study of thirty-six healthy subjects genotyped for CYP2C19 by allele-specific polymerase chain reaction amplification was carried out and separated into 2 groups: EMs group(n=24) and PMs group(n=12). After administration of a single oral dose of rabeprazole 20 mg, blood samples were collected at various time-points until 12 h after administration. The plasma concentrations of rabeprazole with its two metabolites were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the pharmacokinetics disposition of them was analyzed. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the two groups on c_(max) and AUC; but the mean t_(max) and t_(1/2) of thioether-rabeprazole in PMs (3.6±s 0.9) h and (3.0±0.8) h were significantly longer than those in EMs (3.0±0.6) h and (1.9±0.4) h(P0.05 and P0.01). CONCLUSION: The pharmacokinetics of rabeprazole is independent on CYP2C19 and rabeprazole is dominantly transformed to the thioether metabolite in a nonenzymatical manner.


The elastic modulus El of the crystalline regions parallel to the chain axis was measured by X-ray diffraction for aromatic polyamides, i.e., Kevlar 49, 29, HM-50, aromatic polyesters, i.e., Ekonol, Vectran, and aromatic polyether ketone, i.e., poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK). The values of El for these polymers were obtained as follows; El (Kevlar 49, 29)=156 GPa, El (Ekonol)=130 GPa, El (Vectran)=126 GPa, and El (PEEK)=71 GPa. Except for PEEK, El of these polymer are very high and the ratio of the specimen modulus (Yl) to El is close to unity. These El values were discussed from molecular structure and conformation in the crystalline regions. The molecular structure and conformation which are required for high modulus and high strength polymers were discussed from the value of El.


This article is an interesting contribution towards the "chicken-egg" discussion, what was first on glacial/interglacial timescales: the rise in atmospheric CO2 or in temperature respectively land ice sheets. The author divides the component of the CO2 variations into three different frequency bands known to be important from variation in orbital forcing. According to the author CO2 is driven by ice sheet growth in two of the frequency bands ((41 kyr)−1, (100 kyr)−1), while it is leading ice sheet growth in the third band ((23 kyr)−1). The author recognizes in his manuscript the limitations of traditional spectral analysis in resolving leads and lags in data which obviously is not just a sum of sine functions but a nonlinear response to an external forcing. It is worth noting that for the most dramatic change in ice volume and CO2, i.e. during S17


Cu/Co nanomultilayers were prepared by electrocrystallization in boric acid solution.By the cyclic voltammetry,the deposition and dissolving potential of Cu and Co have been determined.Cu deposition starts at-0.55V(vs.SCE)and Co deposition starts at-1.05V(vs.SCE).The structure and composition of the deposited multilayers were studied by the XRD and XRF.The PPMS was used to characterize magnetic properties of the electrodeposited multilayers.The results show that coercivity of the multilayers is only 34 Oe.The GMR value decreases when the magnetic intensity increases,and keeps steady when the magnetic intensity is about 3000 Oe.The GMR is up to 14 %.


The in-plane thermal conductivity of thin silicon films is predicted using equilibrium molecular dynamics, the Stillinger-Weber potential and the Green-Kubo relationship. Film thicknesses range from 2 to 200 nm. Periodic boundary conditions are used in the directions parallel to the thin film surfaces. Two different strategies are evaluated to treat the atoms on the surfaces perpendicular to the thin film direction: adding four layers of atoms kept frozen at their crystallographic positions, or restraining the atoms near the surfaces with a repulsive potential. We show that when the thin-film thickness is smaller than the phonon mean free path, the predictions of the in-plane thermal conductivity at 1000K differ significantly depending on the potential applied to the atoms near the surfaces. In this limit, the experimentally observed trend of decreasing thermal conductivity with decreasing film thickness is predicted when the surface atoms are subject to a repulsive potential in addition to the Stillinger-Weber potential, but not when they are limited by frozen atoms.Copyright © 2004 by ASME


Abstract : The Canadian Safety and Security Program (CSSP) management framework, with respect to governance, collaboration, project selection, financial management and accountability, policy and planning, and the evolving public safety and security environment is more dynamic than ever, The need to focus on improving the quality, timeliness and value of risk information has never been greater, CSSP Strategic Planning Guidance (2013) states the requirement to compile a compendium of risk assessment technique with a view to building a consolidated, cross-domain capability-based perspective. The study considered risk assessment capabilities on the operational and program levels. The streamlined methodology included interviews and literature review, including international standards and best practices. Risk Assessment Capability Profiles were developed for operational areas and for the program. A capability maturity model technique and a preliminary SWOT analysis highlight quick wins for process improvement in the near-term. The study found that there is limited visibility of risk assessment and other decision support techniques that are being used by external organizations to prioritize requirements, and there is no internal systematic approach to communicate risk across communities and at the program level. For the most part, risk assessment is an ad hoc process, and there are missed opportunities to contribute to the program's strategic outcomes, value and evidence base.


Continuous variations in cell dimensions in synthetic hydrozincites and the gradual changes in infrared curves in natural hydrozincites preclude dividing hydrozincites into an ordered and disordered phase.


The robust stability of linear system with interval time-varying delay is investigated.A delay-dependent robust stability criteria for linear system with interval time-varying delay is derived by using an augmented Lyapunov functional combined with the integral inequality approach.Unlike existing methodologies,the proposed approach involves neither freeweighting matrix nor any model transformation,so that it can reduce the complexity both in theory and in computation.And this approach doesn't ignore some useful terms when estimating the upper bound of the derivative of Lyapunov functional.Numerical examples show the effectiveness and less conservatism of the proposed criteria.


With spring maize Neidan 4 as experimental material and five factor second universal regression ratary group disign (1/2),the effects of main cultivation factos on physicological indices were systematically studied by means of setting up index model of population photosythetic character accordingly.The result showed that relationship of the highest leaf area index(LAI)and total leaf area duration (LAD) with yield presented change curve of single peak,yield presented upward tendency when the highest LAI5.8 or total LAD3.627×10 6m 2·d/ha,LAI at filling stage and LAD in bloowing filling stage had more important effects on yield,bigger green leaf area and longer time after blooming could contribute to yield improvement.Under the conditions of local production , the optimun cultivation for 11250 kg/ha of Neidan 4 was following:density was 68850-70650 plants/ha;seed maurer:N30 kg/ha,P 2O 5 96.75-108.15kg/ha,K 2O 66.75-74.4 kg/ha;top dressing N,131.85-145.65 kg/ha at stem elongation,102.0-117.3 kg/ha at heading stage.Index parameter of population photosythetic character was:the highest LAI 4.83-4.94,total LAD 3.204×10 6-3.297×10 6 m 2·d/ha,averaging 6.77-6.79 g/m 2·d,in witeh LAD 7.98×10 5-8.235×10 5 m 2·d/ha in blooming filling stage.


This paper describes a USAF sponsored effort to develop, apply, test, and evaluate Pratt & Whitney's Damage Tolerant Design System for cold-section gas turbine engine disks. The design system includes a Damage Tolerance Specification proposed for new USAF engine programs, material characterization for crack- growth behavior, design procedures, and analytical life prediction methodology for consideration of large flaws. To evaluate and refine the design system, a current engine fan disk was redesigned to operate safely for a specified time after the occurrence of 0. 030-inch (0.76 mm) surface length fatigue cracks. The redesigned disk was tested to failure while monitoring crack growth and correlating observed measurements with analytical prediction. Test results were used to refine the design system. Current work involves extending Damage Tolerant Design capability to hot-section powder-metallurgy disks. The impact of these efforts is twofold; current designs will benefit from improved life prediction capability in applying Retirement-for-Cause philosophy, and future designs can take advantage of the Life-Cycle-Cost benefit of designing for damage tolerance. criterion. Under this criterion, all components of a given popula- tion are considered to be unsafe as soon as a crack of some finite size (defined by the NDE detection capability) has formed in the statistically few members of the population which have minimum fatigue properties. No attempt is made to utilize the life as- sociated with the remaining population members which have statistically higher fatigue properties and are therefore not cracked. In addition, no attempt is made to optimize the design for slow crack growth except for consideration of internal mate- rial flaws (the first disk application of fracture mechanics techni-ques).


induced pemphigus. Eur J Dermatol 2011; 21: 696–699. 7 Tang X, Zhang X. Drug-induced pemphigus after six years of treatment with phenytoin and carbamazepine. Int J Dermatol 2012; 51: 483–496. 8 Megro A, Inoko A, Ota M, et al. Association of major histocompatibility complex class I chain-related gene A and HLA-B alleles with Behc et disease in Turkey. Jpn J Ophthalmol 2007; 51: 431–436. 9 Hung SI, Chung WH, Jee SH, et al. Genetic susceptibility to carbamazepine-induced cutaneous adverse drug reactions. Pharmacogenet Genomics 2006; 16: 297–306. 10 Sarig O, Bercovici S, Zoller L, et al. Population-specific association between a polymorphic variant in ST18, encoding a pro-apoptotic molecule, and pemphigus vulgaris. J Invest Dermatol 2012; 132: 1798–1805.


The socio-psychiatric attributes of 103 patients found with the traditional healers in the city of Ibadan, Nigeria are reported. The patients were from all shades of educational and social status. Almost all their in-patients were psychotics while the neurotics were treated as outpatients. The implications of these findings for collaboration between western trained physicians and traditional healers are discussed.


Out of all the sense organs eye is considered as the most important and sensitive sense organ. It is not only sensitive but also equally complex system. Eye is a soft organ and most of the part is a vascular. It is housed in an eye socket, orbit. Light travels through the eye by crossing various layers, the outer most is tear layer and subsequent layers in order of appearance are corneal, aqueous humor, lens, vitreous humor, and retina. Finally image is formed at retina and it is sensed through lens optics which is connected to the brain through macular part. Any obstruction in any of the layer leads to blurred vision or blindness. The transplantation of the part is reported, but the supply is less than the demand. Therefore, there is great need of artificial support for the systems. A number of biomaterials has been tried for the purpose and many of the artificial transplants are been used successfully (Table 1). The current review evaluates all the biomaterials which has been explored for the applications with their drawbacks and advantages.


This study evaluated economic value recognized by the residents for the pleasant urban park management using contingent valuation method(CVM) to APEC Memorial Park in Pusan in terms of private fund development for the management of the city park. As a result, the estimated amount payable by each household for the management of APEC Memorial Park in Busan was between 5,673 won and 8,358 won. If such amount is expanded to households in park hosting area, it was 2.2~2.3 times of the park management budget in 2012, which demonstrates the willingness to pay (WTP) of residents for pleasant park was higher than the management budget. Social factors of respondents affecting WTP for city park management operation included age, educational level and income level. Those with high age and high education level had higher WTP. And, WTP was much affected by the use of park and recognition of residents. In particular, those with high frequency in the use of parks had higher WTP, and the users with more than once per week had 1.1 times higher WTP than overall WTP. Then, the satisfaction of park rather than recognition of necessity of park had led to higher WTP. Accordingly, it is necessary to manage park facility management and use program operation to enhance park satisfaction and it is also required to develop a park culture distribution policy to link such recognition to donation.


Network structures based on Star‐of‐David catenanes with multiple superior functionalities have been so far elusive, although numerous topologically interesting networks are synthesized. Here, a metal–organic framework featuring fused Star‐of‐David catenanes is reported. Two triangular metallacycles with opposite handedness are triply intertwined forming a Star‐of‐David catenane. Each catenane fuses with its six neighbors to generate a porous twofold intercatenated gyroid framework. The compound possesses exceptional stability and exhibits multiple functionalities including highly selective CO2 capture, high proton conductivity, and coexistence of slow magnetic relaxation and long‐range ordering.


The present study deals with the macroscopical and m icroscopic al studies on leaves of Cassia obtusifolia Linn. Some distinct and different characters were observed with section of young thin leaves. The anatomy of the leaves w as studi ed by taking transverse section of midrib. The chloroplasts are much more concentrated in the palisade layer of the mesophyll. There is only one large vascular bundle in the midrib. The midrib was st ained with t oluidine b lue. This helps to resolve the vascular tissues with greater cer tainty. The xylem and phloem were also observed. Powder microscopic al examination showed the presence of parenchyma cells, xylem fibres and starch grain. Physiochemical p arameter and p reliminary p hytochemical study of the leaves powder were also carried out.


Objective To investigate the distribution of occult hepatitis B virus genotype B and C in Shenzhen blood donors and to study the phylogenetic relationship between the genotype B and C,and subgenotype B and C.Methods A total of 30 HBsAg(-)/DNA(+)plasma samples were amplified for Basic core promoter/pre-core region(BCP/PC,295 bp) and whole genome(3 162 bp) by using nested-PCR,and the PCR products were cloned,purified and then sequenced.Both BCP and the whole genome were obtained and combined HBV complete genome(3 21 5bp).Several full length sequences of HBV genotypes A to H and subgenotypes were obtained from the GeneBank database as reference sequences,and 5 full-length HBV genome sequence were determined genotype and subgenetype by phylogenetic analysis.Results Four of 5 OBI complete genome was genotype C,the other 1 was genotype B,and the subgenotype were C2,C2,C2,C1,and B2,respectively.The evalution distance of the 3 Chinese subtype C2 strain was the most hemogenous to Japan and Malaysia strain,and the C1 and B2 strain was to Malaysia and Thailand carrier strain and asymptomatic Chinese in Indonesia.Conclusion The HBV subgenotype in Shenzhen population is genotype C2,C1and B2,and the predominant type is C2.


In this paper, we present a new method for solving standard quaternion equations. Using this method we reobtain the known formulas for the solution of a quadratic quaternion equation, and provide an explicit solution for the cubic quaternion equation, as long as the equation has at least one pure imaginary root. We also discuss the number of essential pure imaginary roots of a two-sided quaternion polynomial.


Low back pain is a very common disease that can be very painful and debilitating. It is also a costly disease which accounts for billions of dollars lost to health care and absence from work. Low back pain is more disabling in developing countries because lack of resources makes proper health care inaccessible to many people. In developing countries many people are employed in manual work and low back pain takes them away from a source of income. Most manual workers in these settings do not have insurance policies to support them when they are absent from work due to disease.
Pharmacological treatment of low back pain has sometimes resulted in opioid dependence which has reached epidemic proportions in some western countries. Opioid dependence is costly to treat and leads to deterioration or loss of human life. It would therefore be beneficial to find an inexpensive and effective treatment of low back pain which has no dependency hazard.
We describe the experiences of an African family physician who suffered from low back pain from early adulthood. He found that drinking lots of water alleviated his low back pain. He found that his low back pain patients also benefited from drinking lots of water when they had an episode of low back pain. We intend to do quantitative studies to test the effectiveness of water treatment in low back pain.


Abstract We present a diagnostically challenging case of a patient who presented with fever and rash during a measles outbreak. The diagnosis was complicated by the interpretation of the results of serological tests, which resulted in implementation of major preventive measures in the hospital. The patient was later confirmed to have murine typhus.


Nowadays,university alumni association and foundation is in the booming but also faces the positioning imbalance,inaccurate job evaluation,low interaction other issues.Starting from the realistic problems,combined with working practice and some interview situation,the partnership model is made as a theoretical framework,the construction of the partnership path model between university alumni association and foundation is put forward,namely,to construct the concept of cooperation,establish and perfect the two-way flow of resources and benefit sharing mechanism,to construct the collaboration way of the mutual time cooperation and the contents of mutual supplement.Advice and suggestions are given to promote positive interaction between alumni association and foundation.


'Phags pa's piece concerns his interpretation of a passage in the Lotus Sutra in which a young girl apparently attains enlightenment in an instant. Here, then, is a hint as to the reason Iida discussed Buddhist attitudes about women. But the fact that he has chosen to discuss these two different issues (i.e., the male/female and sudden/gradual debates) within the same forum is still confusing, given that the two are logically distinct. To be fair, both elements are present in the passage from the Lotus and are discussed in 'Phags pa's piece. But neither the Lotus nor 'Phags pa suggests that the two are logically intertwined. For his part, 'Phags pa is clear in differentiating between the two issues. The cumulative effect is lack of focus for the article and confusion for the reader as to why Iida fails to explain clearly the connection between these two distinct questions. The tenth chapter of Facets is an essay on Buddhist and Sufi philosophy that is commendable for addressing a topic that has received virtually no attention from scholars. This reviewer hopes works such as this will generate further interest in comparisons between these two traditions. Unfortunately, however, the chapter suffers from methodological problems. The essay is a collection of various Madhyamaka, Vijfianavada, and Tantric Buddhist doctrines selected solely for their similarity to certain elements of various Islamic Sufi doctrines. Iida concludes that the selected similarities point toward a "transcendent unity of mysticisms." While some of the similarities are striking, Iida's, piece shows no awareness of the long-running methodological debate concerning the logical problems of assuming a "transcendent unity" of religious traditions and then, in circular fashion, selectively gathering facts that are used to "prove" the validity of the original assumption. While there is certainly room for genuine, informed disagreement on the validity of such approaches, enough work had been produced before 1980 (when the essay was first presented) to necessitate a careful use of such normative methods. Despite the structural and methodological problems of some of the chapters, much in Iida's work should attract interest from a wide range of scholars.


We consider a novel method for designing the sliding mode that minimizes the quadratic performance while keeping a pole-clustering constraint. Our approach is based on the manipulations of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) imposed by the design objectives. For this purpose, we newly propose LMI conditions for the quadratic performance optimization and the pole-clustering problem, respectively, in a full order state. Then they are combined in the LMI framework that is typically devised for the sliding mode design in the convex form. An effort is made to reduce the generic conservatism by allowing different Lyapunov matrices. In addition, a class of polytope uncertain systems is addressed to illustrate the advantages of the proposed method.


1076 Background: Adding bevacizumab (Bev) to chemotherapy (CT) improved the objective response rate and progression free survival (PFS) in many randomized controlled trials (RCTs), but the magnitud...


Draft revisions to the US Environmental Protection Agency's Lead and Copper Rule propose creating a 10 μg/L trigger level of lead concentration in addition to the action level.


In this paper the behavior of the quality of the gradient that implemented on an image as a function of noise error is presented. The cross correlation coefficient (ccc) between the derivative of the original image before and after introducing noise error shows dramatic decline compared with the corresponding images before taking derivatives. Mathematical equations have been constructed to control the relation between (ccc) and the noise parameter.


Aim To demonstrate the dissolution behavior of Gliclazide tablets Ⅱ using the fiber-optical pharmaceutic dissolution process monitor (FODM) and to study the parameters for dissolution tests of seven batches from two different manufacturers.Methods Gliclazide tablet Ⅱ was monitored with 2 mm fiber optic probe.The dissolution conditions were: 1 000 ml of phosphate buffer at pH (8.60±0.05),basket at 150 r/min.The fiber optic unit was configured to calculate the amount of drug dissolved by substracting the baseline measurement at 240nm against the reference wavelength at 290nm.Dissolution data were colleted and plotted as %- dissolved every 120 seconds during 180minutes. The results of cumulative dissolution by FODT had no difference with those by the methods pecificed in ChP 2005(P0.05). Results The dissolutions of Gliclazide tablet Ⅱfrom one manufacturer were all below 50% at 60 and above 75% at 180.Those of the other manufacturer were all below 50% at 60 and above 75% at 180. The dissolution curve did not differ significantly between the two manufacturers (P0.01). Conclusion The procession analysis can quantitatively monitor the cumulative dissolution at real-time,and can be used to compare the difference of dissolution curves from different manufacturers.


www.ccl-cca.ca/literacy What part of your district would benefit most from a family literacy program? What's the average literacy level in the area surrounding your library? This kind of granular data on literacy levels across different communities is now available, for free. The Canadian Council on Learning has launched an interactive online map that shows adult prose literacy levels in 52 200 cities, towns, and communities across the country. The map allows you to zoom in and get data on a particular neighbourhood or zoom out and see the patchwork of different literacy levels within a city, town, or region. The map uses data from the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (IALSS), which was conducted by Statistics Canada and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and combines it with 2006 Census data. It displays levels of prose literacy — that is, the knowledge and skills needed to understand and use information from text, such as news stories, editorials, poems, and fiction. The map drives home a sobering point. According to the 2003 data, nearly half of all Canadian adults have low literacy levels (level 2 or below), meaning they are ill prepared for the current demands of society. As many of you know, adult literacy is often measured on a prose literacy scale of 1 to 5. Level 3 is widely considered to be the minimum threshold for coping with the demands of the global knowledge-based economy. That nearly half the population can't cope with today's literacy demands should be a wake-up call, especially for those of us concerned with health.


A 3-year latitudinal study was conducted from 1990 through 1992 to determine the phenology of the alfalfa weevil, Hypera postica (Gyllenhal), in relation to alfalfa growth, at 4 Iowa fields located in a transitional region. Strong phenological differences were noted at the field sites. There was at least some fall and perhaps winter oviposition at all 4 of the sites. At the northernmost sites (Ames and Ankeny), the majority of eggs were deposited in the spring. However, there was greater fall oviposition at the two southernmost sites (Knoxville and Chariton). These differences in phenological behaviors led to greater densities of larvae present earlier in the growing season when plants were smaller at the southernmost sites relative to the northernmost sites. This suggested that alfalfa fields located in the southern part of Iowa have a greater potential for economically damaging densities of alfalfa weevil. Additionally, an Illinois-based alfalfa weevil management program was tested and found inadequate for making management recommendations for southern Iowa. Management recommendations were revised using our current understanding of alfalfa weevil phenology in Iowa.


Among the Musicians in Umberto Grossato's band, which appeared regularly in cafés and restaurants around Venice in the 1920's, playing on board the ferry which at that time plied between Venice and Mestre, and occasionally even in the prestigious Café Pedrocchi in Padova, was the bandleader's young son Brunetto, a child-prodigy whose violin-playing did much to increase the popularity of the band. Ever since his grandfather had given him a violin when he was four, with a nail put in its neck to mark a left-hand position, he had tried to live up to his grandfather's dictum that 'even if you later become the greatest of gangsters, you will still end up in heaven if you are a violinist.'


s of the papers presented are listed below, those with a "t" after their numbers having been read by title. The joint papers numbered 340, 372, 373, 376, and 381 were read by Dr. Singer, Professor Miller, Mr. Crispin, Dr. Juncosa, and Dr. Lukacs, respectively. ALGEBRA AND THEORY OF NUMBERS 319. A. A. Albert: New power-associative algebras and their deriva-


A metal bellow expansion oil conservator with the micro-positive pressure characteristic is applied to a power system, and used on power transformers and power equipment of various capacities in a matched mode. The metal bellow expansion oil conservator with the micro-positive pressure characteristic mainly comprises an oil conservator cover, a bellow expansion core arranged in the oil conservator cover, and a pressure balance board arranged on the bellow expansion core in a matched mode. The metal bellow expansion oil conservator with the micro-positive pressure characteristic is characterized in that the metal bellow expansion oil conservator is of an internal oil type structure, the pressure balance board and an exhaust pipeline are arranged at the upper portion of the bellow expansion core in a matched mode, and an oil conveying pipeline at the lower portion and a transformer tank are communicated to form a fully-sealed oil path system. When the oil temperature of a transformer is reduced, the bellow expansion core contracts under action of the pressure balance board to compensate for size changes of oil of the transformer, the system keeps the micro-positive pressure work characteristic all the time, air and moisture are effectively prevented from entering the system, safe operation of the system is guaranteed, the service life of the system is prolonged at the same time, and the operating cost is reduced.


The paper has an overall focus on the refusal to communicate, which naïve language users would often interpret as "zero communication". This aspect of human interaction has not yet been thoroughly investigated, which accounts for the novelty of the research. The paper analyses reasons for the refusal to communicate, its types, strategies, positive and negative effects, as well as verbal and nonverbal ways of its expression. The study uses a mixed-method research design based on observation, discourse analysis and method of introspection. The material of the research includes 389 acts of refusal to communicate selected from real-life or Internet conversations, fiction of the late 20th – early 21st centuries, and films in English and in Russian. All the communicative acts are investigated along the following lines: a) reasons; b) types; c) communication strategies; d) functions and e) forms of linguistic expression of refusal to communicate. We identify regularities and classify our data within each of the devised categories. The paper argues that refusal to communicate, which in fact manifests the intention to terminate communication, is part and parcel of human interaction possessing strong pragmatic, functional and emotional value. Though it is generally seen as a negative communication strategy, this study shows that under certain circumstances it can also have a positive effect on the outcome of interaction.


With growing concern about the optimum design in structural design
of architecture, in keeping with the rapid progress of industry, is
 great concern being focused on the form determination of structure.
 Among such structures are many parts handled with beams, and beam
theory has been the fundamentals of the structural engineering. In
 this study, the author discuss the displacement, stresses and main
 stress direction by the application of the finite element method
to folded beams and suggest a method about the behavior of beams.


Decay properties of neutron-deficient isotopes of actinide elements provide valuable information on the nuclear mass surface close to the proton drip line, on nuclear structure of deformed heavy nuclei and on fission properties far from stability. However, detailed experimental data on decay properties of neutron-deficient nuclei in the region of Z>96 are still scarce due to low production rates. Recently, attempts were carried out to investigate the decay properties of neutron-deficient isotopes of fermium [1]. Due to this renewed interest on decay properties of neutron-deficient isotopes we aimed to study the decay of the isotope 240 Cf at SHIP by measuring simultaneously α decay and spontaneous fission. The isotope 240 Cf was first identified in [2] by α decay. Spontaneous fission of this isotope was measured in [3] and a fission branching of ≈0.02 was deduced. However, in [3] only fission events were measured. Therefore, the estimated fission branching and deduced partial spontaneous fission half-life was based on a calculated total production cross-section in the fusion-evaporation reaction 208 Pb( 34 S,2n) 240 Cf [3]. Consequently, this important decay property was relatively uncertain. In addition, an α decay branching of 240 Cf being close to one would open a possibility to search for the so far unknown isotope 236 Cm using the α-α and α-SF correlations. The reactions 36 S( 207 Pb,3n) and 36 S( 206 Pb,2n) were used for production of 240 Cf. Beam energies were at Elab=170.3 and 163.3 MeV, respectively. Corresponding α decay spectra measured in the energy region (6500–7700) keV are shown in figs. 1a and b. The strongest line, observed at an energy of (7585±20) keV was attributed to 240 Cf according to the literature data [2]. In the reactions 36 S( 206 Pb,2n) 240 Cf and 36 S( 207 Pb,3n) 240 Cf, a total number of ≈70 and ≈770 α decay events were observed, respectively, having full energy release in the focal plane detector. A so far unknown α line at E=(6954±20) keV was observed in both irradiations during the beam-off periods. To assign this line we performed a position and time correlation analysis (see fig. 1c). The scatter plot marks events which are in delayed coincidence within a position window of ±0.3 mm and within a time window of 25 min. The scatter plot clearly reveals a cluster of events at parent-daughter energies of 7585 and 6954 keV, respectively. In addition to these events we observe correlations to known α decays of 232 Pu, 228 U, 224 Th and 220 Ra. Therefore, we unambiguously assign the group of events at (7585±20) and (6954±20) keV to 240 Cf and to the new isotope 236 Cm, respectively. Fig 1: Alpha spectra taken during the beam-off periods in irradiations of 206 Pb with 36 S at Elab=163.6 MeV (a) and of 207 Pb with 36 S at Elab=170.3 MeV (b). Two dimensional α-α correlation plot (c). Dashed lines mark the energies of α decays of 240 Cf and its decay products. See text for details.


This research-in-progress paper presents an examination of, and reflections on, the challenges of using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support patients suffering chronic respiratory conditions to achieve increased levels of selfmanagement and self-efficacy. These research insights arise as part of the planning and on-going implementation of the Pathways Home for Respiratory Illness project (Pathways). This project seeks to assist patients with either chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or cystic fibrosis (CF) to acquire skills that empower them to comprehend and initiate action in relation to alterations in their conditions. The overall aim of Pathways is to evaluate the impact of these newly acquired skills for improving health outcomes at individual and population levels and is due for completion in 2008. Achieving benefits from the introduction of ICTs as part of processes aimed at building sustainable self-efficacy and self-management is very difficult, not least because of a desire to avoid simply replacing patient dependency on health professionals with dependency on technology. Reflections on the challenges and experiences within the project to-date illuminate some implicit assumptions underpinning existing IS models for evaluating impact in terms of adoption, usage and benefit and the end-points we presume in our system development processes.


SUMMARY Access to the Comintern archives has been virtually impossible for many years. In 1992, the Project for Computerization of the Comintern Archives was launched. This resulted in the creation of a comprehensive database with an inventory to the complete Comintern archives and scanning of 1,200,000 pages from the records of the central bodies of the Comintern. The recently started Joint Venture RusAR Publishers is making the database, as well as the scanned images, available online.


ABSTRACT The potentials for neurotoxicity and respiratory distress under 96 h acute diazinon exposures was examined using behavioural indices and opercular movement respectively in walking catfish, Clarias batrachus. Diazinon exposure concentrations were correlated with toxicological (lethal and sublethal) endpoints. The LC50 values and 95% confidence limits at 24, 48, 72 and 96 h, were 21.85 (19.09- 28.199 mg/L), 19.081 (17.15-21.65 mg/L), 16.07 (14.49- 17.86 mg/L) and 12.85 (10.92-14.39 mg/L) respectively. Concentration-dependent mortality and altered behavioural responses including uncoordinated swim movements, excessive mucus secretion, imbalanced and erratic swimming patterns and brief inactivity prior to mortality was observed. The altered behavioural patterns reflecting neurotoxicity, and increased opercular movement indicating respiratory distress in the catfish increased proportionally with elevated levels diazinon and exposure time. The inactive and almost non-motile state prior to death indicates paralysis and muscle seizure typical in the late stages of cholinergic toxicity. The severity of behavioural and respiratory effects on adult C. batrachus, a hardy species, portends catastrophic consequences for less hardy and more susceptible aquatic taxa like fish in the field, including considerable loss of adaptive ability.


A modified elicited imitation task was used to examine the development of the ability to resist and overcome interference in the 2nd and 3rd years of life. In the modified task, distractor props were included in the test array, so that children could imitate the modeled sequence but could also produce actions with the additional props provided, which was predicted to produce interference. Both experiments examined differences between 20-month-olds and 27-month-olds. In Experiment 1, the modified task was compared to the standard elicited imitation procedure; inclusion of distractor props was detrimental to performance, consistent with interference. However, younger and older children were equally affected by the manipulation. In Experiment 2, the task was made more difficult by adding more distractor props. Older children were better able to make use of cues to overcome interference. The effect of the distractor props was different when they were drawn from sequences that shared props with the test sequence. We speculate that this stems from differing demands on cognitive flexibility.


This study explores the relationship between sovereign credit risk, financial fragility, and global factors in emerging market economies, by using a novel model-based semi-parametric metric (JLoss) that computes the expected joint loss of the banking sector in the event of a large financial meltdown. Our metric of financial fragility is positively associated with sovereign bond spreads and negatively associated with higher sovereign credit ratings, after controlling for the standard determinants of sovereign credit risk. The results additionally indicate that countries with more fragile banking sectors are more exposed to global (exogenous) financial factors than those with more resilient banking sectors. These findings underscore that regulators must ensure the stability of the banking sector to improve governments' borrowing costs in international debt markets.


Sub-10 fs pump-probe experiments on methylammonium lead halide (MAPbI3) perovskite films show hot exciton dissociation in 20 fs after photo-excitation with ~0.7 eV excess energy compared to its optical band gap (BG). Coherent wave packets were also detected in the form of spectral modulation, revealing electron-phonon coupling in these materials. The estimated electron-phonon coupling strengths from the frequency and amplitude of the detected spectral modulation are in the weak regime, suggesting formation of large polaron.


Aimed at weak compounding, unstable functions and difficult installadon of low temperature radiant metal electric heating film, investigation and test were done on its key technology of manufacture. Main points of working procedure were put forward. Some producing techniques were improved and changed; meanwhile its flow was perfected. Dry compounding and plate printing technology were used, corroding solution was utilized to corrode metal film and a new type metal electric film with stable performance and easy installation was developed.


The roots of the Hemidesmus indicus were studied on the lines adopted for Decalepis Hamiltonii and were found to have a similar composition particularly with regard to the petrol extract. Since the Decalepis roots contain much higher percentages of the various chemical components they are more suitable for use as drug.


A protection circuit for use in a system loading control for limiting power dissipated by an electronic component (26), switching said electronic component a source of AC (12) to a load (30), said protection circuit comprising: integrator circuit (40) which integrates a measured parameter of said electronic component (26) during a predetermined time and produces an output value (Pavg); a circuit (50) generator which generates a first threshold circuit (VTH) indicative of a maximum dissipation of said electronic component average power; and a comparator circuit (42) which compares said first threshold and said output value, and outputs a signal to turn OFF said electronic component when said output value exceeds said first threshold, characterized by a filter circuit (44) receiving said signal from said comparator circuit (42) and equalizes the signal from said comparator circuit.


Cryptocurrencies, of which Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most popular, are based on an underlying abstraction known as blockchain. The blockchain itself is built to offer two different but complementary abstractions: a distributed tamper-proof ledger and consensus. The properties of blockchains consensus are significantly different from classical consensus algorithms in the distributed computing literature. Moreover, those properties diverge depending on the type of blockchain and the underlying consensus algorithm. In this dissertation, we explore how to build a consensus service on top of existing blockchains, and how the different guarantees provided by the latter can be exploited by applications. Due to blockchain properties, the API provided by a blockchain based consensus service is more complex than the one provided by implementations of traditional consensus algorithm such as Paxos, PBFT or Raft. Blockchain Consensus Service (BCS), allows applications to balance performance and consistency i.e., applications can change from a costly strong consistent consensus execution to a weakly consistent and more efficient one. With this, we provide a Byzantine fault tolerant consensus service with a classic API that offers incremental consistency and a distributed tamper-proof ledger.