The application of optimal fertilizer rates for component crops improves productivity, land use efficiency, and profitability in an intercropping system. Two field experiments during the 2019 and 2020 cropping seasons were conducted in Adet and Debre Tabor districts with the objective of evaluating the nutrient requirements of sweet lupine in bread wheat-sweet lupine under additive design intercropping systems. Sweet lupine grown in bread wheat-sweet lupine intercropping was fertilized with seven fertilizer levels (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%, 125%, and 150% of the blanket-recommended NP fertilizer rate of sole lupine) and laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The findings revealed that the highest grain yield of sweet lupine in wheat-sweet lupine intercropping system at Adet was achieved at 125% NP (0.51 t · ha − 1 ) and 150% NP (0.52 t · ha − 1 ), followed by 100% NP (0.43 t · ha − 1 ) and 50% NP (0.35 t · ha − 1 ) fertilizer levels of sweet lupine. Similarly, the highest grain yield of sweet lupine in Debre Tabor was recorded by the application of 125% NP (2.07 t ha − 1 ) fertilizer level of sweet lupine followed by 150% NP (1.89 t · ha − 1 ), 100% NP (1.71 t · ha − 1 ), and 50% NP (1.70 t · ha − 1 ) fertilizer levels. For every invested Ethiopian Birr in the treatments of 50% and 125% NP fertilizer levels of sweet lupine averaged additional profits of ETB 7.667 and ETB 4.537, respectively, can be obtained from sweet lupine that grew under bread wheat-sweet lupine intercropping system. Based on the averaged MRR across the different cost price ratio, application of 50% NP fertilizer level of sweet lupine can be recommended for profitable production of sweet lupine in bread wheat-sweet lupine under additive design intercropping system in Adet and Debre Tabor and areas with similar agroecology as it recorded the highest net return with acceptable marginal rate of return.


One of the impediments in deploying active networks is its lack of support for security. In overlay type of active networks, required security is provided by sand boxing in Java. However, in the active networking approach where packets are processed in the network layer, there is only little support for security. This paper presents a new method of providing security using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). It can be also used with the Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) of the IP Security (IPSec) protocol. Key-Words:Active networks, Security, IPSec, PKI


This year's Summer Reading Challenge is now under way – with Sandwell children urged to help clever Animal Agents crack a case at their local library over the six-week school holidays.


Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most commonly diagnosed bacterial infection of childhood, and has a significant healthcare impact. Renal parenchymal infection and scarring are well-established complications of UTI in children and can lead to renal insufficiency, hypertension and renal failure. Although frequently encountered and well researched, diagnosis and management of UTI continue to be a controversial issue with many challenges for the clinician. The evolving state of knowledge about pediatric UTI leaves many questions and controversies. The goal of this chapter is to provide an up-to-date summary of the literature with particular attention to practical questions about diagnosis and management for the clinician. This chapter reviews also recent evidence regarding the epidemiology and evaluation of children with UTI.


RESEARCH IN THE PHYSICAL SCIences at nondoctoral institutions is at a watershed—a crisis point, some would say. The ever-increasing cost, both in terms of dollars and time, of pursuing original research and obtaining publishable results seemingly has led to a decline in activity at colleges and master's-granting universities. Yet the data needed unequivocally to draw such a conclusion—or to refute it—have yet to be systematically collected and analyzed. Now, the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, the W M. Keck Foundation, the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Research Corporation, and the Robert A. Welch Foundation are embarking upon just such a study and, in anticipation of their results, have released "Academic Excellence: The Role of Research in the Physical Sciences at Undergraduate Institutions." (I should note that I am a senior adviser to the Dreyfus Foundation.) The volume is a combination position paper and how-to manual for conducting research in chemistry and physics in the absence of ...


Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy,adverse reaction and safety of Jieyu pill(JYP)in treating Dysthymia.Methods 60 patients were randomized into the treatment group(30 patients) treated with Jieyu Pill and the control group(30 patients) treated with Paroxetine.The efficacy of treatment was evaluated 12 weeks after treatment with Hamilton depression rating scale(HAMD),self-rating scale for depression(SDS),self-rating scale for Anxiety(SAS),and the adverse reaction was assessed by TESS.Results There was no significant difference between the two groups in scores assessed by HAMD,SDS and SAS(P0.05),and there was no significant difference between the two groups in clinical efficacy(P0.05).However,the adverse effects of JYP were significantly fewer than those in the Paroxetine group.Conclusion JYP is similar to Paroxetine in efficacy but has fewer adverse effects than Paroxetine in treating Dysthymia.


IndigenousAustralians comprise 2.5% of the population of Australia, but 32.5% of people in the Northern Territory. Studies have documented the critical importance for Indigenous people from rural and remote areas of "finishing up" (the culturally appropriate reference to death and dying) on "country" (ancestral community and lands). Transferring sacred knowledge, providing culturally appropriate care, and returning their "animal spirit" to the land are all facilitated by dying on country. Finishing up on country in rural and remote NT usually takes place in dwellings in the person's ancestral community and lands, either in their own home or the home of a relative or close communitymember who has assumed responsibility for their care.


Local governments have the authority and obligation to implement regional autonomy more independently to reduce the level of fiscal dependence on the central goverment. One way is to maximize the recepit of PAD, one of which is local tax. The purpose of the study was to analyze the growth rate and contribution of entertainment taxes, hotel taxes and advertisement taxes on PAD in the Bangka Belitung Islands Province. The analysis used in this research is quantitative descriptive analysis, namely by collecting, compiling and calculating data in the form of reports on the realization of financial budgets in the Pangkalpinang City and Belitung Regency by using the ratio of the growth rate and contribution ratio. The results showed that the PAD of Belitung Regency was better than City of Pangkalpinang. The growth rate of entertainment tax in Pangkalpinang City lower than Belitung Regency with both categories unsuccessful, but the contribution given by entertainment tax in Pangkalpinang City is higer than Belitung Regency with the category of both being very lacking. The growth rate and contribution of hotel tax in Pangkalpinang City is lower than Belitung Regency with the category of hotel tax growth rate in Pangkalpinang City unsuccessful while Belitung Regency is less, while the hotel tax contribution is both very lacking. The growth rate and the contribution of advertisement tax in Pangkalpinang City is higer than Belitung Regency with the category of the advertisement tax growth rate, both of them are not successful while the contributions given by advertisement tax are bot very lacking.


Ninety weaned piglets [Duroc×Landrace×Yorkshire,average body weight(11.2±0.8)kg]were selected and divided into group 1(control group,basic diet),group 2(basic diet added with antibiotics),group 3(basic diet added with xylo-oligosaccharide),group 4(basic diet added with probiotics)and group 5(basic diet added with probiotics and xylo-oligosaccharide).Each group had 3repeats,to observe the effect of probiotics and xylo-oligosaccharide on growth performance and enteric microbial in weaned piglets.The results showed that thoct compared with control,the average daily gain was significantly increased in group 2,3,4and group 5(P0.05)and the highest was observed in group 5,showing significantly increase than group 2;feed conversion rate,serum urea N and E.coli in jejunum were significantly decreased(P0.05)in group 2,3,4,5and the lowest of them was observed in group 5.Serum IgG and IgM were higher in group 3,4,5than group 2and control(P0.05),and the highest levels of IgG and IgM was obtained in group 5.Lactic acid bacteria in jejunum were higher in group3,4,5than group 2and control(P0.05)and the highest was obtained in group 5.The results indicated that based diet added individually or combination with probiotics and xylo-oligosaccharide can improve the growth performance,microbial population status and immune function of weaned piglets.


The atmospheric concentration of refractory carbonaceous aerosol (black carbon, or elemental carbon) concentration are used for the evaluation of their direct radiative forcing. In addition, the deposition of such light absorbing substances on the snow or ice surface will result in the increase of the positive radiative forcing at the surface level. Long-term record of deposition for such relative inert substances is expected to reflect the change in the regional emission strength. However, the reported measurements of deposition to the ground surface are scarce. We thus have conducted the retrieval of decadal record on the deposition of refractory carbon at two sites in the northern Japan (Rishiri Island: a remote site, and Sapporo City: an urban site). At these sites, the environmental monitoring division of local government have been measurering the total deposition of water-soluble aerosol components in the collected water by use of deposition gauges. To remove insoluble particles from the collected water placed beneath the funnel, a membrane pre-filter is placed at the bottom of the funnel of these deposition gauges. Such pre-filters were stored for more than 18 years for Sapporo site. These can be regarded as the long-term record of the deposited water-insoluble aerosol components in the past, as those in ice-core samples collected in glaciers. We re-suspend these water-insoluble components into the aqueous phase by dissolving the membrane filter (mixed cellulose acetate) by an organic solvent and re-filter the suspended particles through quartz fiber filters for the analysis of TOT refractory carbon. Before dissolved into organic solvent, carbonate in soil dust particles were removed by the 2N HCl with heat. Collection efficacy of quartz fiber filters were corrected by the amount of retained particulate carbon on the first and second filters placed in series. The deposition flux of TOT-EC is lager in Sapporo, while that in Rishiri showed a large seasonal variation, in general. In Sapporo, the flux decreased greatly in 2010s compared to those in 1990s, probably due to the introduction of regulations for diesel exhaust emission in 2000s. In addition, the deposition sample has been collected in Oki Island since 2013 spring. The preliminary result for this site will also be shown in the presentation.


In banks the concept of customer retention is held in high esteem but most of the bankers are still not sticking to that. Customer retention is the buzzword for all times rather than the concepts as benchmarking or best practices, more than process reengineering or quality management. To  meet the threat of competition and retain customer base, banks now looking at business process management (BPM) to increase returns on investment, improve customer relationship management (CRM) and employee productivity. This paper helps to know the different strategies to be followed by Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) bank to retain their existing customers. The arrival of foreign and private banks with their superior state-of-the-art technology-based services pushed Indian Banks  also to follow suit by going in for the latest technologies, the study has been carried out to find out what can be further done. Statistical tool like Simple average and one way ANOVA methods are used to meet the  objectives.


Dropping out of secondary school is the result of a multidimensional and multifactorial process. The population's social/economic/cultural inequalities are present, as well as the opportunity that the school offers to stay in school. The study combines a statistical analysis with personal perspectives. It first identifies modes, environments, and schools with a high dropout rate, and then focuses on the perspective of various agents at school (collective and individual). The study shows that these agents' perceptions and causal attributions regarding dropping out of school reiterate sociocultural guidelines on socioeconomic or gender inequality, independent from school. The educational institution's agents show to be unaware of the school factors that have an important influence on dropping out; as a result, they do not assume responsibility for the implied pedagogical dimension. The school does make a difference.


A device for cleaning vanadium-removing copper wire balls comprises a tunnel, a copper wire ball conveying mechanism which is arranged at the bottom of the tunnel and passes through the entire tunnel, and a suction tube which is arranged at the top of the tunnel and connected with a vacuum pump. An acid cleaning spray nozzle set, a rough cleaning spray nozzle set and a fine cleaning spray nozzle set are sequentially arranged on the inner wall of the tunnel from the inlet of the tunnel, and an acid cleaning liquid storage tank, a rough cleaning liquid storage tank and a fine cleaning liquid storage tank are sequentially arranged below the copper wire ball conveying mechanism in the positions corresponding to the spray nozzle sets. The acid cleaning spray nozzle set, the rough cleaning spray nozzle set and the fine cleaning spray nozzle set are all connected with a high-pressure hydraulic pump via pipelines, and the high-pressure hydraulic pump is correspondingly connected with acid cleaning liquid storage tank, the rough cleaning liquid storage tank and the fine cleaning liquid storage tank. The entire cleaning process is enclosed and mechanized; and during the cleaning process, noirritant gases are discharged and an operator does not directly contact the copper wire balls, so as not to affect the health of the operator.


Pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (PCASL) can be used to generate noncontrast magnetic resonance angiograms of the cerebrovascular structures. Previously described PCASL‐based angiography techniques were limited to two‐dimensional projection images or relatively low‐resolution three‐dimensional (3D) imaging due to long acquisition time. This work proposes a new PCASL‐based 3D magnetic resonance angiography method that uses an accelerated 3D radial acquisition technique (VIPR, spoiled gradient echo) as the readout. Benefiting from the sparsity provided by PCASL and noise‐like artifacts of VIPR, this new method is able to obtain submillimeter 3D isotropic resolution and whole head coverage with a 8‐min scan. Intracranial angiography feasibility studies in healthy (N = 5) and diseased (N = 5) subjects show reduced saturation artifacts in PCASL‐VIPR compared with a standard time‐of‐flight protocol. These initial results show great promise for PCASL‐VIPR for static, dynamic, and vessel selective 3D intracranial angiography. Magn Reson Med, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Rotary electrical plug assembly for a volatile material dispenser, the assembly comprising: a tray having first and second opposing sides; and electrical prongs extending from the pallet, and includes a terminal, and the electrical connector pins. The plug assembly further comprises a wire from the terminals to a first side of the pallet extends, wherein said wire loop is formed between the terminal and the first side surface, and further to the said second side extending pallet.


Internal friction and ΔE‐effect measurements have been made on Metglass 2826 and other ferromagnetic metallic glasses, electrolytically charged with hydrogen. Initially, the ΔE‐effect and magnetoelastic damping are strongly suppressed. The internal friction is dominated by a peak attributed to the stress‐induced reorientation of interstitial hydrogen atoms, with a mean activation energy of 0.5 eV. Various aging effects occur after charging. Recovery of charge‐induced bending is followed by a slower decline of the reorientation peak, a recovery of the ΔE‐effect, and an accompanying transient appearance of a magnetoelastic internal friction peak. The observed behavior indicates a strong interaction of hydrogen with domain walls, and leads to the prediction, confirmed experimentally, that hydrogen degrades the soft magnetic behavior of these alloys.


Objective
To evaluate the analytical performance of lipid testing with six sigma(σ) in order to promote the quality improvement.

Methods
Sixty-four Laboratories participated in trueness verification program and Internet-Based Interlaboratory Comparison of Internal Quality Control Data program lipid testing in 2012 were included in this study.The CVs and Bias of TC, TG, HDL-C, and LDL-C for each laboratory were evaluated from the reporting data.The sigma metrics based on the Tea from National Cholesterol Education Program according to the formula:σ=(TEa-Bias)/CV for each analyte.Quality goal index(QGI) was also calculated to investigate the reason for dissatisfied performance as follows:QGI=Bias/(1.5CV).

Results
The rates for σ≥6 of TC, TG, HDL-C, and LDL-C were 21.9%, 34.4%, 9.38%, and 18.8%, respectively.The corresponding rates for 3≤σ<6 were 31.3%, 29.7%, 29.7%, and 34.4%, while the rates for σ<3 were 46.9%, 35.9%, 60.9%, and 46.9%, severally.For analytes which σ were less than 3, 91.3%-100% of the laboratories should improve the trueness first, 0.00%-8.75% of the laboratories should improve the precision, and 0.00%-2.08% should improve both.

Conclusions
Six sigma is an effective tool for quality control in clinical laboratory, which can help improve the quality level for laboratory testing. The analysis of performance of the lipid testing shows that further effort is acquired to enhance the supervision of the trueness verification .(Chin J Lab Med,2014,37:311-314)

Key words:
Total quality management; Laboratories, hospital; Lipids; Quality control


PurposeThis paper aims to find out what kind of export and failure risk patterns exist among young Estonian manufacturing exporters and explore their interlinkages.Design/methodology/approachThe sample consisted of 208 young Estonian manufacturing exporters. Based on internationalization literature, export patterns were detected with a consecutive three-stage clustering of export sales share from total sales, outside-Europe sales share from export sales and number of target markets, while failure risk patterns were detected by clustering failure probabilities obtained from a universal prediction model. The interconnection of export patterns with financial ratios and failure risk patterns was studied with statistical tests.FindingsSix main internationalization patterns existed. In all, 49 per cent of firms exported to a single European market and their export share was constantly very low, while even most of the firms with high export shares (39 per cent of the sample) were also active on one European market. In terms of failure risk patterns, 49 per cent of firms had constantly very low failure risk, while 51 per cent of firms had medium risk. Higher export engagement did not lead to better financial performance or lower failure risk.Originality/valueThis study is the first to find out if firms following different export patterns are also characterized by specific financial performance and failure risk. In addition, studies encompassing young exporters' specific target markets and failure risk development are rare. While exporters' and non-exporters' financial performance differences have been frequently documented in favor of the former, this study found no such differences for different types of young exporters.


Background:Several studies assessed gene and protein expression of p21 in endometrial carcinoma(EC), and mention that P21 represent an important participant in EC Cell invasion and metastasis ,while some researchers indicat that there were no apparent differences in immunostaining for p21.Other studies found that p27 expression significantly reduced in the endometrial carcinoma and inactivation ofP27 proteins is a specific feature in the progression of this cancer. Methodology: This study has used Immunohistochemistry for detection the gene expression of p21 and p27 in tissue specimens from 70 hysterectomized patients diagnosed with malignant uterine tumors (30 cases), non-malignant uterine tumors (25 cases),and 15 cases as control tissues groups. Results: The results of moleculare detection of P21 revealed12 (40%) in malignant uterine tumor 8(32%) non-malignant uterine tumor and 5(33.3%) in control groups and low expression of P27 revealed in all groups :5 (16.7%) in malignant uterine tumor 6(24%) non-malignant uterine tumor and 2(13.3%) in control groups. Conclusions: Decrease in expression of P21 was found mostly in malignant endometrial uterine tumors and this expressions occur could have correlated to the an early events of their tumorgenesis while low expression of P27 in hysterectomized patients mostly appear in non-malignant uterine tumors at the endometrial sites.


I t is often forgotten that instruction about our sexuality began, at least in the United States, at university level; only since the Second World War has it generally been an aspect of the school curriculum, and indeed earlier and earlier in that curriculumwith the passing years.My ownBostonUniversitymay lay claim to have offered the first elective course on marriage and sexual relations, in 1926, in response to a petition by a group of male students in their final year of undergraduate study. Over the following years, more and more American colleges provided such courses (Moran, 126). Today, it seems likely that few higher education institutions believe that they need to offer courses about sex, except to those who plan to specialize in the field. The subject has, however, become well established in the secondary and even in the elementary school curriculum in many countries; this has led to much political and legal conflict, and has been a precipitating factor in the withdrawal of many children from the public schools. It is the significance of such conflicts that we will be discussing today. I will be suggesting that there are fundamentally two sources of these difficulties. The first is the way that definition of the purposes and methods of sex education, perhaps more than any other aspect


In this paper, optics-based sensor node localization using MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) CCR (Corner Cube Retro-reflector) array is studied. Since CCR is a device which is made up three mutually orthogonal mirrors, an incident ray sent toward CCR can be reflected back in the opposite direction of the incident ray. Using this characteristic, the distance between sensor node and source can be calculated by measuring the difference in detection time of source and sink. However there is a short detection range problem because the power of ray reflected by MEMS CCR is not strong enough to be detected. So we analyze reflection process using MEMS CCR and base station, and simulate using analysis of reflected power of ray. And we suggest MEMS CCR array instead of single MEMS CCR to overcome weak power problem and analyze the power of ray reflected by MEMS CCR array. It is expected that the analysis in this research can be utilized as a mathematical baseline of MEMS CCR to be distributed in optics-based sensor network.


In this paper, a bottom-up integration structure to model tone influence at various levels is proposed. At acoustic level, pitch is extracted as a continuous acoustic variable. At phonetic level, we treat the main vowel with different tones as different phonemes. In triphone building phase, we evaluated a set of questions about tone for each decision tree node. At word level, a set of tone change rules was used to build transcription for training data and word lattice for decoding. At sentence level, some sentence ending words with light tone are added to system vocabulary. Integration at these five levels experimentally drops the word error rate from 9.9 to 7.8 on a Chinese continuous speech dictation task.


ABSTRACT COVID-19 has led many countries to dismiss globalization and reassert sovereignty through 'Vaccine Nationalism', a process whereby high-income countries race to secure vaccine doses for their own populations. This nationalist behaviour has severe consequences for low-income countries lacking vaccine manufacturing capacity or the funds to buy doses, by limiting their access to the pool of available vaccines. Despite calls for vaccine sharing by international organizations, this nationalist behaviour has continued for two years by many countries, including typical multilateral actors such as Canada. To understand this trend, this paper argues that the pursuit of vaccine nationalism by wealthy nations is both a rational by-product of realpolitik, and justified through securitization discourse. In looking back at Canada's active engagement in vaccine nationalism throughout the pandemic, this paper concludes that as a long-time multilateral leader, Canada's nationalist actions to secure COVID-19 vaccines were uncalled for.


Conference proceedings contain papers presented at 3rd Brno
Conference on Linguistic studies organized by the English
Department, Faculty of Education, Brno, in September 2008. The
papers explore issues of cohesion and coherence in academic,
literary, media, learner, internet and medical discourse.


The utility model discloses an indoor ecological wall vertical greening system. The indoor ecological wall vertical greening system comprises a frame body, a circulating water supply pipeline system and greening single bodies, wherein the frame body is fixed to a wall, the circulating water supply pipeline system is fixed into the frame body, and the greening single bodies are hung into the frame body. The frame body is a semi-closed type frame body. A water storage tank is formed in the bottom of the frame body. The circulating water supply pipeline system comprises an irrigation pipe, a circulating pipe, a water pump, a liquid supplying pipe, a three-way valve I and a three-way valve II, wherein the irrigating pipe irrigates the greening single bodies with water flow in a water supply pipe, the circulating pipe is used for leading accumulated water in the water storage tank into the irrigating pipe, the water pump is used for extracting accumulated water in the water storage tank, the liquid supplying pipe is connected with the water supply pipe and stores water in the water storage tank, the three-way valve I is connected with a water outlet of the water supply pipe, a water outlet of the circulating pipe and a water inlet of the irrigating pipe, the three-way valve II is connected with a water outlet of the irrigation pipe, a water outlet of the water pump and a water inlet of the circulating pipe. Water dropping holes are formed in the irrigating pipe. By the adoption of the indoor ecological wall vertical greening system, the indoor environment requirements can be met, overall operation and control are easy, shaping, maintaining and replacing of plants are facilitated, and the operability is high.


For many years, real options analysis (ROA) has been perceived as an attractive project valuation alternative to the traditional discounted cash flow analysis (DCF). Right now, one can see evidence of a growing dispersion in the applicability of the method among various industries (particularly minerals, coal, gas and petroleum) and the banking sector. This is because of its potential to value managerial flexibility including possibilities for delaying investments or reformulating the operating strategies of the company. The real option approach enables one to calculate a project's fundamental value in approximating the market one. The basis of option theory is stochastic modeling of underlying assets - the preferred, commonly used ROA methodology, introduced by Copeland and Antikarov (2001), is called the MAD (marketed asset disclaimer) approach. It assumes that an underlying asset, which is the (gross) present value of the project (PV), changes with time according to themultiplicative stochastic process derived as discrete binomial approximation of geometric Brownian motion (GBM). In addition, theMAD assumes, that a twin asset of the underlying instrument is calculated in a common way net present value (NPV). The twin-asset assumption fulfills the theoretical criteria required for fair option valuation in no-arbitrage conditions. The paper delivers empirical arguments arguing that indirect modeling of PVs, according to the standard stochastic process, do not properly reflect reality. The calculations were based on the valuation of a hard coal project with flexibility - the methodology has included multiplicative price modeling (that parameter has served as so called 'referential asset') and, consequently, built a consecutive PVs tree, where respective present values have been adjusted by referential price levels. Moreover, the paper has emphasized that the option-to-wait changes the structure of project's cash flow and PV trees, depending on the waiting period. In conclusion, the arguments have been derived from the consecutive modeling of a PV asset is more accurate than indirect constructing of it in the MAD's multiplicative mode.


FUNCTIONAL amenorrhea resistant to steroid hormone therapy is a known phenomenon although it is not often seen and has not been studied in sufficient detail. We are, therefore, reporting 2 such cases with a study of the mechanism involved. Case 1. R. W. presented herself in May, 1948, at the age of 33, because of amenorrhea of four and one-half years' duration. The menarche occurred at about 13 years; menses were fairly regular except for a four-month period of amenorrhea at the age of 17, which occurred during extended travels. Menstruation was re-induced by hormone therapy of an unknown nature. The patient married at the age of 19 and subsequently became pregnant; the pregnancy was voluntarily terminated during the first trimester. Menstruation was fairly regular thereafter. A change of environment at the age of 23 did not affect the menses. At the age of 29 (seven years after a divorce) she underwent severe psychic stress because of an emotional entanglement with a very unstable individual. Amenorrhea ...


This paper reviews the perception of image quality by human respondents in the context of super-resolution. Specifically, the desirability of an automated mechanism for generating a metric that correlates well with human perceptions of image quality is discussed. Common metrics are evaluated to ascertain whether they demonstrate suitable correlation with human perception of image quality. It is found that the commonly used pixel-difference evaluation technique outperforms a threshold-based technique; however, neither is demonstrated to correlate well with human perception.


Straw fiber seedling pots are a promising substitute for plastic seedling pots. The mixing mode of straw fiber affects the mechanical properties of the raw material membrane of the seedling pot. To explore the processing technology of making the raw material membrane of the seedling pot with two kinds of plant fibers in a layered manner, the optimal combination of the process parameters of the raw material membrane of the seedling pot without additives in the production process was studied experimentally. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to analyze the parameters (beating degree of unbleached softwood kraft pulp fiber, beating degree of wheat straw fiber, wheat straw fiber quality percentage content, and film grammage) with regard to the dry tensile index and Z-direction tensile index of the seedling pot body. The optimal process parameter combination with a certain dry tensile index and Z-direction tensile index of seedling pot raw material was obtained by using four factors and five levels of a quadratic regression orthogonal rotation center combination design parameter optimization experiment. The optimal technical parameters were optimized as wheat straw fiber quality percentage content 70%, film grammage 70 g/m2, unbleached softwood kraft pulp fiber beating degree 47–48 °SR, and wheat straw fiber beating degree 65–75 °SR. With the optimal conditions, the dry tensile index of the seedling bowl raw material film was between 21 and 22 N·(m·g−1), and the Z-direction tensile index was greater than 2.1 N·(m·g−1). Using wheat straw fibers and unbleached sulfite wood pulp fibers as raw materials for seedling pots, the raw material membrane of the seedling pots was made in a layered manner. The experimental study proved this feasibility. With this mixing process of raw materials, the straw fiber-based plant fiber seedling pot would meet the demands of a crop nursery after adding chemical additives. The research results provide a theoretical basis and technical support for the manufacture of the raw material membrane of the seedling pot body.


High-resolution fluorescence imaging together with spectrally- and time-resolved analysis indicates a strong dependence of the energy transfer efficiency to graphene on the number of graphene layers. By correlating intensity and decays of emission, we found that energy transfer is the most efficient for single layer graphene, and reaches 89%. In contrast, for structures with more graphene layers (from 2 to 7), a substantial drop in energy transfer efficiency is observed. The results clearly show that the number of graphene layers, in addition to the distance between emitters and graphene as well as the excitation energy, is key parameter which can be used to control the acceptor properties of graphene in hybrid nanostructures.


The article is about philosophical foundation of the modern conception of human rights; the article explains the reasons of the hierarchy of the modern human rights that forms ethical and social dilemmas of the modern society. The article explains the importance of ethical method to the forming the human rights.


Throughout this book we've emphasized the importance of bringing users into the interface design process. However, as a designer you'll also need to evaluate the evolving design when no users are present. Users' time is almost never a free or unlimited resource. Most users have their own work to do, and they're able to devote only limited time to your project. When users do take time to look at your design, it should be as free as possible of problems. This is a courtesy to the users, who shouldn't have to waste time on trivial bugs that you could have caught earlier. It also helps build the users' respect for you as a professional, making it more likely that they will give the design effort serious attention. A second reason for evaluating a design without users is that a good evaluation can catch problems that an evaluation with only a few users may not reveal. The numbers tell the story here: An interface designed for a popular personal computer might be used by thousands of people, but it may be tested with only a few dozen users before beta release. Every user will have a slightly different set of problems, and the testing won't uncover problems that the few users tested don't have. It also won't uncover problems that users might have after they get more experience. An evaluation without users won't uncover all the problems either. But doing both kinds of evaluation significantly improves the chances of success.


The existence of boundary value problems for first order parametrized differential equations with a piecewise constant argument was discussed by applying monotone iterative methods,and the result of Jankowskis(Acta Math Hungar,1999,84:65-90)was extended.


AIM:To study the analgesic effect of lappaconitine in patients after cholecystecystectomy. METHODS:Fifty-six patients aging 20-65 were randomly divided into two groups (28 patients per group). Lappaconitine group received lappaconitine 40 mg and Fentanyl group fentanyl 0.4 mg. RESULTS:Compared with Lappaconitine group,the pain scaling of patients who received lappaconitine were similar to fentanyl (P0.05),but there were significant differences on the side-effects such as itch of skin,nausea and vomiting between two groups (P0.01). CONCLUSION:Compared with Lappaconitine group,the pain feel of the patients who received fentanyl were equal,but the side effects such as itch of skin,nausea and vomiting in Lappaconitine group were less.


The invention discloses an aircraft head-shield two-lobe rotation separation wind tunnel test apparatus which comprises a missile body, two half covers which are closed under the effect of a locking component and cover the head of the missile body, a connecting ring which is arranged on the missile body, two elastic components in a pre-compression state, each of the elastic components is arranged between a half cover and the missile body so as to apply an elastic force which rotates outwards to the half cover, wherein the tail parts of the two half covers are connected to the connecting ring through two connection pieces, after a locking mechanism is unlocked, the half covers rotate outwards relative to the connection pieces, when the connection pieces are fractured under the effect of aerodynamic force and elastic force, the two half covers are mutually separated and leave the missile body. In the testing process of the invention, firstly the heads of the two half covers are opened, the tail parts are finally separated, and the accurate simulation of an aircraft head-shield two-lobe rotation separation wind tunnel test is ensured.


Tibet is located in the high cold and high altitude, the ecological environment is fragile, and the clean utilization of energy has attracted much attention. On the basis of clean energy and reliable power supply, winter heating in Tibet is an urgent livelihood problem to be solved. Based on the current situation of solar heating in Tibet, a distributed solar flat heating scheme with auxiliary energy is proposed, and the heating dispatching mode is analyzed. The research results not only provide a solution for energy efficient and clean heating in Tibet, but also have a certain reference value for the construction of clean energy base in Tibet.


AbstractA 40 year old woman had the sudden onset of influenza-like symptoms and developed a pericardial effusion. Cytologic examination of the fluid using the papanicolaou, PAS, and mucicarmine stains revealed the presence of metastatic adenocarcinoma. Primary adenocarcinoma of the lung was identified at postmortem examination. The cytologic features and possible differential staining attributes of pericardial fluid malignancy are discussed. (The J of Histotechnol 10: 195, 1987).


Simulating real-world satellite and cable network configurations in the lab The R&S®CLG and R&S®SLG [1, 2] multichannel TV signal generators simultaneously modulate numerous TV channels in realtime. They use pseudo random bit sequence (PRBS) data as digital channel content, and, for real program content feed, feature a broadband network interface capable of receiving MPEG-2 transport streams over IP for individual digital channels at separate UDP ports.


Online emotion diffusion is a compound process that involves interactions with multiple modalities. For instance, different behaviors influence the velocity and scale of emotion diffusion in online communities. Depicting and predicting massive online emotions helps to guide the trend of emotion evolution, thus avoiding unprecedented damages in crises. However, most existing work tries to depict and predict online emotions based on models not considering related modalities. There still lacks an efficient modeling framework that promotes performance by leveraging multi-modality knowledge, and quantifies the interactions among different modalities. In this paper, we elaborate a computational model to jointly depict online emotions and behaviors. By introducing a common structure, we can quantify how user emotions interact with the corresponding behaviors. To scale up to large dataset, we propose a hierarchical optimization algorithm to accelerate the convergence of the model. Evaluation on Sina Weibo dataset suggests that prediction error rate is lowered by 69 percent with the proposed model. In addition, the proposed model helps to explain how user emotions influence consequent behaviors in extreme situations.


The present invention discloses a method of preparing five-decahedral twin silver alloy particles by a chloroauric acid, silver nitrate, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, water and N, N- dimethylformamide and the method disclosed by the obtained Five twin decahedral silver alloy particles. Discloses a method for the five-decahedral twin silver alloy particles, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, water and N, N- dimethylformamide was prepared from chloroauric acid quintet twinned and gold particles by the method disclosed in class ellipsoid prepared quintet twinned gold particles, all of the {110} crystal faces are quintet twinned crystal faces gold particles pentagonal dodecahedron, some crystal planes {110} crystal faces of the pentagon five Star-shaped gold particles and partially twinned crystal face {110} twinned gold particles quintet truncated crystal faces of decahedral. The present invention is such that the first quintet twin structure and {110} surfaces of high binding energy, so that the twins quintet gold particles having morphologies more physicochemical properties determined.


The National Climate change Adaptation Research Plan: Indigenous Communities (2011) highlighted that research on Indigenous communities and climate change, including the variables of impacts, vulnerability and adaptive capacity and adaptation has been limited. While most research has focused on identifying the biophysical impacts of climate change, a minority of studies have considered the Indigenous knowledge and peoples whom continue to reside in Australia and care for; 'country';. The report concluded that "there is a need for research that expands knowledge about these and other dimensions of Indigenous adaptation to climate change." This paper reviews work in progress on a NCCARF funded research project that is seeking to investigate select coastal urban and per-urban Indigenous community vulnerability to, and capacity for climate change adaptation. Working collaboratively with Indigenous communities resident in Adelaide, Heywood/Portland, Mornington Peninsula, Stradbroke Island and Brisbane, it seeks to explore and articulate strategies that enhance Indigenous capacity to climate change including possible protocols, frameworks, processes and procedures that may lead directly to a more informed appreciation of what is transpiring around Australia's coastal per-urban regions for their Indigenous communities who still hold strong bonds and responsibilities to their 'country'.


In the last decade, several computational methods have been successfully applied to understand cancer initiation and progression through integration of genomic and epigenomic data. However, despite recent advances in discovering a wide array of novel chemotherapy agents, identification of patients with poor and favorable response prior to treatment administration remains a major challenge in clinical oncology and cancer management.


It is no great surprise that in the contemporary world the use of deadly force by a political grouping or nation-state or on behalf of international society should raise troubling questions of legitimacy. The problem appears to be massively overdetermined and the intellectual challenge is to bring some order to a confused and confusing debate; to distinguish between short-term problems and deep-rooted changes in both understandings of legitimacy and patterns in the use of force; and try and identify where there might be scope for narrowing the very deep disagreements that have come to surround this question.


Human intuition and the creativity afforded by that intuition is an aspect of the essential human-ness of any Human Being. Heidegger refers to this essential humanness as Dasein. Collectively and individually therefore, Dasein - and from that, intuition - should be an organization's greatest asset. It is accordingly, at least initially, difficult to understand why the management of almost all organizations do not pay more attention to the development of this asset. This paper examines a phenomenological approach to managing intuition. In particular, the paper examines the nature of Heidegger's notion of Ding-an-sich (the thing-in-itself), a grasp of which, it is argued, is essential in coming to terms with the human capacity for intuition and creativity. The paper also offers a number of possibilities for managing intuition under the general heading of Thematic Management.


Sustainability pledges are en vogue. In the business sector, but also in climate negotiations, pledges are used to signal actors' intention to act pro-environmentally. Laboratory experiments testify to the potential effectiveness of these public declarations. Previous work has examined under which conditions subsequent trust and cooperation can flourish. In this study, I postulate that also conformity is an important determinant for the effectiveness of pledges. In specific, I examine what role social influence plays in the decision to pledge. In a public good game, subjects can make prior play a pledge to contribute to the public good in the socially optimal way. Across treatment conditions, I vary the way in which the pledges are elicited. Hence, the degree of social influence on pledge making is manipulated and its impact can be examined. I find that when individuals are aware that the majority of other subjects decided to pledge, they are likely to conform and also make the pledge. The emergence of such a critical mass can be stimulated when the elicitation of pledges is based on previous contribution behavior. Overall, this commitment nudge is effective. Both socially-oriented and previously not socially-oriented subjects modify their behavior after the pledge.


Gendered analysis of economic, political and social spaces not only reveals discrimination and the lack of understanding of women and their contributions (the usual laments), but also leads to a better understanding of intersectionality and of political and economic theories and contributes to a more precise measurement of social, political and economic realities. The outcome of this improvement in measurement directly affects the achievement of goals, which are universally defined in terms of justice and progress, however elusive and controversial the term.


5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), one of the most important intermediates derived from biomass, was directly produced from monosaccharides (fructose and glucose) and disaccharides (sucrose and cellobiose) by a simple one-pot reaction including hydrolysis, isomerization and dehydration using solid acid and base catalysts under mild conditions.


Health is a result of interactions between genes and environmental factors. The environmental factors that most significantly influence human health are nutrition, diet and daily lifestyle. Individual-based nutrition is an approach that recommends nutrition for individuals based on individual genetic information. The relationship between nutrition and disease has been widely researched and contains significant relationships. The specific relationship between nutrition and disease are being studied further in the form of epidemiological studies. Environmental factors such as dietary nutrition and genetic may have important roles in phenotypic manifestations through the central dogma of biology. This review article explains how DNA and genotype influence each individual's specific nutritional needs and maintain good health throughout life.

Key words: individual nutrition, nutrigenetic, nutrigenomic


This paper proposes a mobile sun-tracking (MST) system to track the sun on the moving vehicle. We have developed a novel MST algorithm using general sun-tracking formulas associated with simple-moving average linear regression (SMALR) to smoothen sun-tracking activity. Furthermore, two different timing control schemes to activate sun tracking are investigated: time lapse (TL) mode and azimuth actuation (AA) mode. For experimental validation, a prototype of MST has been constructed on a small truck moving at constant speed of 30 km/h for field measurements. For the result, AA mode has average pointing error of 110 mrad for the open-loop tracking design (13% better than that of TL mode), which is still far below the half acceptance angle of compound parabolic concentrator at 659 mrad. Since there is no feedback sensor to be implemented in this prototype, optical encoders and CCD camera can be employed in the future work to further reduce the pointing error of MST system.


In the segment precasting,cantilever erection and bridge deck construction during the PAKSEY bridge construction, the precise surveying control results in the minimum error between the bridge deck line and the designed line.


The presence of shock waves is an important feature of high-speed fluid flows. At physically relevant Mach-and Reynolds-numbers the shock thickness is vanishingly small; therefore the only realistic computational approach is to either treat the shock as an interface (" shock-fitting ") or to use numerics that smear the shock over a few grid points while predicting the correct shock jumps (" shock-capturing "). The main advantage of the shock-capturing class of methods is the ability to handle shocks of arbitrary topology. The present work is focused on direct numerical or large eddy simulation (DNS and LES, respectively) of flows involving both shocks and turbulence. In such high-fidelity calculations, it is vital to be aware of and estimate all possible sources of error. Consider the canonical case of isotropic turbulence passing through a normal shock, for which some sample results are shown in Fig. 1. The figure shows the streamwise evolution of the transverse Reynolds stress R 22 before and after the shock. The shock oscillates around its mean position in response to the turbulence; the extent of this motion is shown as the " width " in the figure. The instantaneous thickness of the shock, however, is about 3 grid points wide and much smaller than the " width " shown in the figure. The figure illustrates several different sources of error due to numerical dissipation and insufficient grid resolution: (a) Upstream of the shock, the dissipative method yields too fast decay of the isotropic turbulence. This error can be eliminated by use of a non-dissipative method (dashed line in the figure), and has been well documented in the literature (cf. Mittal & Moin 1997; Larsson et al. 2007). (b) Downstream of the shock, one must (in the case of DNS) resolve the viscous dis-sipation; this occurs at smaller length scales than upstream (Larsson 2008). (c) At the shock, all shock-capturing methods necessarily must introduce numerical dissipation. However, the figure shows that the amplification of R 22 across the shock is underpredicted on the coarse grid (compare the solid and dashed lines). This error affects both DNS and LES, and has not been analyzed in the existing literature (to the author's knowledge). It is, therefore, the topic of the present work. There is a wide array of shock-capturing methods in the literature. These methods may be high-order accurate when applied to smooth problems, but they must necessarily be first-order …


Purpose The present study sought to evaluate the effects of pupil dilation on ocular parameter measurements and intraocular lens (IOL) power calculation using IOLMaster in highly myopic cataract patients. Materials and methods A total of 233 eyes were included in this prospective study and assigned to four groups based on range of axial length (AL) as follows: group A:26–28 mm, group B:28–30 mm, group C:30–32 mm, and group D:32–36 mm. Flattest and steepest keratometry (K1 and K2), AL, anterior chamber depth (ACD), lens thickness (LT), and white-to-white (WtW) were determined using IOLMaster before and after administration of topical tropicamide. The corresponding IOL powers were calculated using Sanders–Retzlaff–Kraff/theoretical (SRK/T), Haigis, and Barrett Universal II formulas. Results Variations in AL, K1 and K2 following dilation were not significant (P > 0.05 in all groups). The results showed that ACD increased significantly after dilation (P = 0.000 in all groups), whereas LT decreased significantly after dilation (P = 0.000, 0.000, 0.001, and 0.003). Post-dilation WtW increased significantly in Group A, B, and C (P = 0.001, 0.001, and 0.025) but not in Group D. When IOL power was calculated as a discrete variable, significant differences were observed between pre- and post-dilation IOL power. Conclusion Pupil dilation in cataract eyes with high myopia does not cause significant changes in AL and K. However, it significantly increases ACD as well as WtW values and significantly decreases the LT value. Surgeons should evaluate the effect of pupil dilation on IOL power prediction as the present findings show extreme cases. Notably, Barrett Universal II formula had the best concordance between different pupil conditions in long eyes.


Many surveillance systems today provide only a passive form of site monitoring. Extensive video records may be kept to help find the instigator of criminal activities after the crime has been committed but preventive measures require human involvement. In addition, there is a need for large amounts of data storage to keep up to several large volumes of video streams that may be needed for later analysis. However, monitoring and storage space are not the only concerns. Behavioral analysis itself can be applied to numerous features extracted from video sequences including path detection and other aspects of human behaviour. Up till now, path classification has been carried out mainly using Boolean logic and allows only the identification of unusual paths, and not the extent to which they are deviant from usual paths. This chapter reports on the results to solve this problem with a fuzzy inference approach to
classify paths into different categories


Cloud computing comprises of cooperation and coordination of different computing services to provide very high computing power for acquisition and analysis of wide spread out sources of data. It greatly helps in lowering the cost while maximizing the ability to process the required information. With cloud computing universities and other institutions can better manage their labs, research facilities, classrooms and libraries, etc. The students and teachers can benefit far better from it in individual and collaborative work because of easy access features provided by the cloud. This paper reviews the growth of cloud computing, its benefits and problem, features of common cloud computing services, and the various issues to be considered in selecting the most appropriate cloud computing service for academic institutions. The paper also discusses the importance of virtualization in growth of cloud computing.


In this paper , hydraulic fracturing technology and hydraulic fracturing test in practice after 2001 was classed and the effect of implement was analysed . The emphases is describing and evaluating the theory and the effect of implement of delamination hydraulic fracturing technology , especially analyse the effect of tri - Y241 -115 mechanism delamination hydraulic fracturing technology . Finally , get some accidence conclusion , at the same time , put forward some advise of next step.


Recognition of the importance of both image analysis and 3-D modeling of geophysical data has led to the development of interpretation software that combines these functions using an advanced 3-D graphics workstation. The present implementation is confined to the interpretation of gravity and magnetic fields in conjunction with geological information, digitised seismic sections and borehole location data, but the design is generalised so that other datasets may be included in the future. Observed fields are displayed as 3-D faceted surfaces and analysed using lighting, shading and coloring operations. A combined structural analysis can then be used as a starting point for quantitative 3-D forward modeling. Models are held as triangular-faceted polyhedra, constructed interactively from a series of sections.


Radial pulse examination is one of the most important diagnostic methods in traditional Chinese medicine. It has been used in establishing diseases and in guiding medicine selection for thousands of years. Blood flow fluctuation types present in radial artery contains rich and critical information which can reflect the state of various problems with health. Having precisely mastered the art of blood flow pulse practitioners can exactly determine what kind of health problems (i.e. problems with: gallbladder, kidneys, stomach, lungs, heart, high level of cholesterol and more) the patient has. Being non-invasive diagnostic technique this type of examination depends on the practitioner's subjective analysis and may be unreliable and inconsistent. In this paper, we present novel computerized non-invasive micro-opto-electro-mechanical radial pulse signal analysis techniques strongly correlating with the valuable knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine. First, the fluctuations of blood flow are registered by laser triangulation displacement sensor. Then, using computer based techniques the signal is filtered from possible noise. Possible prototype model of final object is presented. Experiment results show that the proposed system works accurately and could be especially effective and helpful in ambulance medicine because of its portability and manufacturing price. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.mech.18.4.2343


and signifying and can never be recaptured again as a unity. The above-mentioned roles are therefore not only analysed in stylistic terms but also as metaphors for the present condition of the artistic 'mindset' which can be described as relativistic in a totalitarian sense; preoccupied with the deliberation and reflection of its own self; conscious of its supposed interpretive tragedy but with a sense of pride. In all these characteristics, there is manifested a definite grasp of our contemporary reality as (creative?) chaos and (inspiring?) threat to existence. The thesis contributes to an ongoing discussion which is rather advanced in France and well established in the States but has not yet received much attention in Germany. As far as deconstruction makes direct or indirect statements about the sense and essence of human discourse (of which literature is an integral part), the author sees it as a major provocation and challenge of our time, regardless of geographical boundaries. Although the deconstructionist approach may not represent the panacea to this challenge, it should be taken as one of the "strong readings" of it. In the near future, the investigator plans to do similarly interdisciplinary research into related topics such as the New Historicism and its critique.


The tomato is a plant belonging to the Solanaceae family, known scientifi cally Lycopersicum esculentum Mill, potentially lasting and easily adapt to a wide variety of climates. The aim of this study was to characterize regarding the physical-chemical, nutritional, instrumental color and texture characteristics four accesses Italian tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) of kind 'heirloom', produced under organic management. The non-hybrid tomatoes (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill) San Marzano, Chico Grande, Amish Paste and one called EUA 05 were used in the study. The fruits were produced in the period from May to September 2010, in the sector of Horticulture Department of Plant Science, of UFRRJ. Analyses were performed using soluble solids (SS), total acidity (TA), pH, quantifi cation and identifi cation of carotenoids, color of skin and pulp, instrumental texture and pesticides determination. The average content of soluble solids (SS), of great importance for the effi ciency in the industry of tomato products, was 5.2 ° Brix in access Chico Grande and San Marzano, followed by Amish Paste and EUA05 with the average values of 4.7 ° Brix. The balance between acidity and sugar content in fruit, established by the SS / TA (° Brix /%) were 12.7, 19.2, 15.5, 15.7 for accessions San Marzano, Chico Grande, Amish Paste and EUA05 respectively. High quality fruits contain the SS / TA greater than 10. Tomatoes with good color presented lycopene levels in the range 5-8mg/100 grams (5000- 8000μg/100g) of pulp. Access San Marzano had a higher average content of this carotenoid (6029μg/100g), followed by access EUA05 (4073mg/100g), not signifi cantly different (p>0.05). The accessions with higher levels of lycopene were also highlighted in red color. Access San Marzano had more skin colored red (a*=29.68), while pulp color of access EUA05 showed higher value of a* (21.84). It was not found residues in the samples for organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides. T


Background: Hand washing has become one of the most recommended methods of infection control in hospitals. Studies indicate that the knowledge, attitude and practices are poor in many countries. There has not been any study of similar in the Trinidad and Tobago. This study is an attempt to document the situation in the twin-Island state. Aim: To document the perceptions of the nurses in the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) of the selected hospitals in Trinidad with regard to hand washing in accordance with the policies of the Ministry Health, Trinidad and Tobago. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using 3 major hospitals with ICUs. 81% of the nurses in the units voluntarily participated. Result was analyzed in simple percentage frequencies and presented in tables. Result: Overall the nurses show favourable perceptions on aspects of the policy. There are however aspects of the perceptions that indicate that are suspect. Discussion: The result was discussed noting the implications of their perceptions compared to literature.


This convergent parallel mixed-methods study examined the effectiveness of a self-directed online platform that promotes the use of the Singapore model method in solving mathematics problems among primary students in a private school in the Philippines. There were 275 students and 4 mathematics teachers that were involved in the study using stratified sampling method. Mathematics achievement test, survey, and interviews were utilized in gathering data. Findings show significant learning gains among the primary students on their pretest and posttest scores. Both the quantitative and qualitative data reveal that students' problem solving experiences improved because they can visualize the abstraction of the problems using pictorial and bar modeling methods. The respondents enjoyed the self-directed nature of the platform, where they could solve problems in the comfort of their own homes. However, the respondents shared that unstable internet connection and the overwhelming number of lessons in the integrated curriculum were some areas for improvement. Overall, the initial assessment shows promising results on the integration of the online self-directed platform that promotes an innovative and creative way of solving mathematical problems among primary students. Further assessments in the future should be made to ensure that integration can bring positive learning outcomes in the long run.


Chronotop in Novels by Lajos Grendel The ideas of Grendel's work is necessary to mention a certain continuity of space and places shown in his novels with spaces and places the real world. Lajos Grendel is linked mainly with the left, where he was born. Left are places that Grendel was treated for his genius loci and it was for him a source of inspiration. A specific Levice (New Hont) the place where takes place a substantial part of Grendel's stories. Although the author in his novels often inspired by real space, transforms the space in his speech, the need for their stories, in artistic form.


The document presents a state-of-the-art review of available technologies and achievable performance levels in leak-detection systems at hazardous-waste-management units. The review is necessary to establish the best demonstrated available technology (BDAT) for leak-detection systems. It provides the critical information considered in developing EPA's regulatory options and describes the criteria used to select among the options. The document also presents a rationale and technical data to support extension of the double-liner system requirements to waste piles, significant unused portions, and certain other units. Lastly, the document presents a comprehensive discussion of the issues, methodologies, and benefits associated with construction quality-assurance programs at hazardous-waste-management facilities.


The paper presents technological schemes of hybrid and combined operations performed through the action on a workpiece by several sources of loading (static and dynamic). Multiple or single dynamic action is performed during action of static loading. Use of pulsed magnetic fields is treated as the dynamic action. The brief description of the presented schemes, needed for understanding of the new technical decisions, their features and advantages, is available. The proposed technical decisions are innovative, they are protected by patents and are tested in respect of their reality and efficiency. Standard-type parts have been obtained which were made with the help of the proposed technologies of sheet stamping, assembling, welding, casting, rolling, etc. The paper defines a new scientific-technical direction in processing of metals which is aimed at increase in productivity of production processes.


To study the technological possibility of removing chlorine from microwave roasting zinc oxide dust, the dielectric properties of zinc oxide dust with high content of Cl, which was derived from zinc leading residue treated in rotary kiln, was measured using a microwave cavity perturbation method, and the temperature increasing characteristics of oxide zinc dust were studied under different material quantities and different microwave powers, respectively. The results show that zinc oxide dust dielectric constant and dielectric loss are proportional to the apparent density.Meanwhile, apparent density of zinc oxide dust exhibits a linear function relationship with dielectric parameters and the microwave penetration depth. Zinc oxide dust has a strong microwave absorbing ability, and can reach 800 ℃ in 6 min under microwave heating. The heating rate increases with the increase of microwave roasting power and decreases with the increase of material quantity.


Piotr Skarga was a Jesuit theologian, preacher, hagiographer, Catholic polemicist, one of the greatest prose writers of the Polish Renaissance, the author of, among others, famous the Kazania sejmowe. Thanks to the historical and literary legend created during the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and surviving to modern times, he became a symbol of a great priest – a patriot. There is a black legend of Piotr Skarga, in which he appears as a huge nietolerant and almost eager for blood of dissidents. There is no lack of objective studies on the other hand, along with a critical analysis of the works of Piotr Skarga.


Berkah Toys is one of the UMKM engaged in the production of surpets, dolls. mattresses and pillows that utilize HDP (High Density Padding) and dakron (Silicon) as the main raw materials. When sales are rising, UMKM owners will apply an excessive overtime policy, resulting in a decrease in the worker attendance rate by 20%, which is as many as 2-3 workers out of a total of 13 workers. In addition to resulting in decrease in attendance, excessive overtime also causes fatigue in workers, both physical fatigue and mental fatigue. Therefore, workload strengthening must be carried out on UMKM workers of Berkah Toys, the methods used are the NASA-TLX (National Aeronautics and Space Task Load Index) and CVL (Cardiovascular Load) methods. From the results of research conducted for the NASA-TLX methods, the factors that most affect workload are performance (22,32%) and physical needs (21,64%) while from the CVL method it is known that there are 38 % of workers who experience physical fatigue, namly as many as 5 production workers.


Background: The mental health of adults and adolescents in Colombia is increasingly fragile and despite the continuous alerts of psychologists, psychiatrists and patient associations the situation remains alarming, all these disorders are the result of adversities associated with family dysfunction such as divorces, violence, death of one of the parents, sexual abuse and others. The National Survey of Mental Health of Colombia published in 2015, reports that 10 out of every 100 adults aged 18 to 44 and 12 out of every 100 adolescents have a problem that suggests the presence of a mental illness. Depression has become a public health problem because of the disease burden it generates. It is estimated that there are 350 million people in the world who are affected by depression; The worst outcome of the disease is suicide. It is estimated that 800,000 people commit suicide worldwide each year and the most affected age group is that of people between 15 and 29 years old. Ideation, attempt and suicide committed in adolescents continue to show alarming data at the international, national and local levels; without neglecting the prevalence of depression in this population. Objective: Observational descriptive study, to determine the frequency of depressive signs and symptoms and their relationship with suicidal ideation and attempt in adolescents of the tenth and eleventh Degree of an official school in the municipality of Palmar De Varela (Atlántico), year 2019. In the same way, the relationship between physical activity, quality of life and suicidal ideation and attempt in this population was assessed. Materials and Methods: The Hamilton Scale (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS)) was applied to 218 adolescent students in grades 10 and 11 of the Educational Institution, the sample is constituted for convenience by 172 adolescents whose Hamilton scale presented a positive result ≥ 8 for depression; Likewise, the Health and Wellbeing Questionnaire for children and adolescents from 8 to 18 years old (KidScreen-52) was applied to determine the quality of life and Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (PAQ-A). Results: Adolescents who showed some degree of depression, it was evidenced that according to Hamilton scale it was considered as mild in 40.6%, moderate in 35.4% and severe in 24%. According to the perception of quality of life (KidScreen 52) by the adolescents under study, 64.5% have a perception of low quality of life. 47.8% of adolescents have low physical activity according to the PAQ-A questionnaire. Ideation and / or suicide attempt was observed in 16.8%. The relation of quality of life and suicidal ideation and / or attempt in adolescents, evidences that in those with low quality of life (KidScreen 52) 21.7% showed suicidal ideation and / or attempt, in those with adequate quality of life this percentage fell at 8.2% (p = 0.02). The relationship between physical activity and suicidal ideation and / or attempt in adolescents shows that in those with low physical activity (PAQ-A), 33% showed suicidal ideation and / or attempt. Conclusions: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 78.8%, where 16.8% presented suicidal ideation and / or attempt, showing a directly proportional relationship with the intensity of the depressive symptom, as well as a significant relationship with the low quality of life (p = 0.02) and low physical activity (p = <0.0001).


The advances of unscented Kalman filter (UKF) are firstly reviewed. The combination of the Kalman linear filtering with the unscented transformation (UT) is discussed in general sense. UKF and its typical sampling strategies are given and analyzed. Finally, the possible future directions of the UKF are also discussed.


In this paper the attempt to make an analysis of distance measurement using a stereo vision system was presented. Main emphasis was placed on the geometric camera calibration. The classical method based on the specially prepared calibration pattern with known dimensions and position in a certain coordinates system was performed. Finally, the metric information obtained from images was presented.


Curing and thermal transition behavior of two epoxy resins i.e. 2,2′-dimethyl-4,4′-diaminobiphenyl (MTB)–4,5-epoxycyclohexyl-1,2-diglycidyl diformate (TDE85) and 2,2′-bis(trifluoromethyl)-4,4′-diamino biphenyl (TFMB)–4,5-epoxycyclohexyl-1,2-diglycidyl diformate (TDE85) with different chemical structures were experimentally and theoretically investigated via molecular simulations to establish the structure–property relationships. The slight modification in the diamine structure resulted in significant changes in the curing and glass transition behavior of epoxy resin. As the side group of the diamine was changed from methyl to trifluoromethyl, the reactivity of the diamine toward epoxy decreased and the glass transition temperature increased from about 164 °C to about 191 °C. These phenomena can be illustrated by the change of the reaction energy barrier, flexibility of chains and the cohesive energy density in the molecular simulation of the curing process. The simulated values show good agreement with experimental data, and can be used to predict the related material characteristics for the different amine curing agent–epoxy systems.


A hybrid thin film multilayer antenna for automotive radar is presented in this work. A 2×8 aperture coupled stacked patch antenna array is realized on a single layer printed circuit board (PCB) using a novel thin film based approach. Using a compact 180◦ phase difference power divider, interelement spacing in a 2×2 sub-array is reduced. Measurement results show a 19% (67.9–82.5 GHz) impedance bandwidth and a wideband broadside radiation pattern, with a maximum gain of 15.4 dBi realized gain at 72 GHz. The antenna can be employed in mid-range automotive radar applications.


A Survey of Mycotoxin Contamination in Commercial Cat Foods and the Sensitivity of the Growing Feline (Felis catus) to Fusarium Mycotoxicoses Maureen. E. Crump Advisor University of Guelph, 2014 Dr. Trevor. K. Smith This research was conducted to examine the frequency of mycotoxin contamination in commercial cat foods and to examine the sensitivity of growing cats to feeds naturally contaminated with Fusarium mycotoxins. Seventy samples of dry commercially produced cat foods were tested for mycotoxins as well as conjugated (masked) deoxynivalenol (DON). Based on the results of this survey, it was concluded that commercially available cat foods are frequently contaminated with mycotoxins. An in vivo study was conducted with eight kittens (four per diet) fed one of two extruded diets for 21 days including a minimally contaminated control diet and a diet containing grains naturally contaminated with Fusarium mycotoxins. It was concluded that the feeding of diets naturally contaminated with Fusarium mycotoxins adversely affected the growth and development of kittens.


A summary for high-school students, discussing why there was a wave of revolution in 1848 in Europe and why they failed.


The present invention is provided a rotating electrical coupling means (1), comprising: a first connector (10), said first connector (10) having a frequency suitable for conducting or transmitting and / or high-speed data signal a first electrical contact member (11); and a second connector (30), said second connector (30) having adapted to conduct or transmit a high-frequency and / or the second electrical contact of high speed data signals (31) . Said second connector (30) is configured to be coupled with the first connector (10) for movement relative to the first connector (10) about the axis of rotation X substantially free or unobstructed, and the first a second electrical contact (11, 31) are configured to engage each other and maintain continuous electrical contact between the first and second connectors (10, 30) in a coupled state during the relative rotation.


It is important to control rockfill deformation for ensuring the security of anti-seepage system in concrete-faced rockfill dam development.Engineers pay more attentions to the utilization of soft rockfill.The main rockfill material in IIIB zone of Baisha CFRD is pyroxene porphyry and the secondary rockfill material in IIIC zone is silt slate.There are two design cross sections of sound rockfill zone and of soft rockfill zone in Baisha dam,FEM analysis is made to demonstrate the feasibility of making the best use of soft slate rockfill.According to the excessive deformation of soft rockfill zone,cross section design of the rockfill body is modifed.The deformation of new section is reasonable,the slab and waterstop systems are safe.


Propagation characteristics of Rayleigh-type wave in a piezoelectric layered system are theoretically investigated. The piezoelectric layer is considered as a cubic crystal with finite thickness rotated about Y-axis and is imperfectly bonded onto a semi-infinite dielectric substrate. The imperfect interface between the two constituents is assumed to be mechanically compliant and dielectrically weakly conducting. The exact dispersion relations for electrically open or shorted boundary conditions are obtained. The numerical results show that the phase velocity of Rayleigh-type wave is symmetric with respect to the cut orientation of 45 and can achieve the maximum propagation speed in this orientation. The mechanical imperfection plays an important role in the dispersion relations, further the normal imperfection can produce a significant reduction of phase velocity comparing with the tangential imperfection. Comparing with the mechanical imperfection the electrical imperfection makes a relatively small reduction of phase velocity of Rayleigh-type wave. The obtained results can provide some fundamentals for understanding of piezoelectric semiconductor and for design and application of piezoelectric surface acoustic wave devices.


THIS PAPER describes all-digital baseband correlation processing of GPS signals. The features of this highly digital mechanization are its (1) potential for improved anti-jamming (AJ) performance, (2) fast acquisition by a digital matched filter, (3) reduction of adjustment, (4) increased system reliability, and (5) provision of a basis for realization of the high degree of very large-scale integration (VLSI) potential for development of small economical GPS sets. Described are an experimental GPS receiver/digital processing system that has been operating for two years, and an improved engineering development model that is now in test. The basic technical approach consists of a broadband, fix-tuned RF converter followed by a digitizer, digital-matched-filter acquisition section; phase-and delay-lock tracking via baseband digital correlation; software acquisition logic and loop filter implementation; and all-digital implementation of the feedback numerically controlled oscillators (NCOs) and code generator. Baseband in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) tracking is performed by an arctangent angle detector followed by a phaseunwrapping algorithm that eliminates false locks induced by sampling and data bit transitions, and yields a wide pull-in frequency range approaching one-fourth of the loop iteration frequency. Test data from the experimental unit includes basic resolution and computation noise of the digital processing, pseudorange and range-rate errors, and acquisition times for the digital matched filter.


A novel design method for a fiber-optic Fabry–Perot (FP) acoustic sensor based on a flywheel-like diaphragm has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Through theory analysis and simulation, we have established a sensing model based on the flywheel-like diaphragm and illustrated the acoustic sensor's resonant frequency regulation method. A flywheel-like diaphragm-based acoustic sensor has been fabricated and a dual-wavelength system is used to demodulate the phase fluctuation caused by the acoustic wave. Experimental results show that the proposed acoustic sensor has an acoustic pressure sensitivity of 1.3967 rad Pa−1 and noise-limited minimum detectable pressure of ∼16.43μPa/Hz@9kHz. The signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 1 kHz, 9 kHz, and 20 kHz are achieved to be 10.39 dB, 60.51 dB, and 37.14 dB, respectively. Over a fairly broad response range (1 kHz to 20 kHz), the average SNR is up to 45.57 dB. Moreover, our acoustic sensor's directivity map approximates to a heart shape. Its excellent frequency response characteristics, sensitivity, and directivity pattern are believed to have bright application prospects.


NIGT1/HRS1s are GARP-type transcription factors that repress nitrogen starvation responses in order to optimize nitrogen acquisition and utilization under fluctuating nitrogen availability and demand. Nitrogen (N) is often a limiting nutrient whose availability determines plant growth and productivity. Because its availability is often low and/or not uniform over time and space in nature, plants respond to variations in N availability by altering uptake and recycling mechanisms, but the molecular mechanisms underlying how these responses are regulated are poorly understood. Here, we show that a group of GARP G2-like transcription factors, Arabidopsis thaliana NITRATE-INDUCIBLE, GARP-TYPE TRANSCRIPTIONAL REPRESSOR1/HYPERSENSITIVE TO LOW Pi-ELICITED PRIMARY ROOT SHORTENING1 proteins (NIGT1/HRS1s), are factors that bind to the promoter of the N starvation marker NRT2.4 and repress an array of N starvation-responsive genes under conditions of high N availability. Transient assays and expression analysis demonstrated that NIGT1/HRS1s are transcriptional repressors whose expression is regulated by N availability. We identified target genes of the NIGT1/HRS1s by genome-wide transcriptome analyses and found that they are significantly enriched in N starvation response-related genes, including N acquisition, recycling, remobilization, and signaling genes. Loss of NIGT1/HRS1s resulted in deregulation of N acquisition and accumulation. We propose that NIGT1/HRS1s are major regulators of N starvation responses that play an important role in optimizing N acquisition and utilization under fluctuating N conditions.


Air pollution is now ranked as the ninth worst scenario globally and is expected to be the most serious global issue by the year 2050. The objective of this study is to get information regarding transboundary haze phenomenon blanketing the Southeast Asia that has been happened for decades ago. Various techniques such as qualitative and quantitative techniques have been applied to get the informative input detailed out by previous researchers. The finding shows that that the smoky haze occurred in the dry season, which at this point, the activities of cleaning and ground maintenance being carried out by Indonesian farmers. Indonesia is one of the countries drastically affected by deforestation process where their forest loss is 2% yr-1 which is equal to 1.9 million ha each year. The establishment of ASEAN in 2002 would be a turning point in addressing on more reliance on prevention and cooperation than establishing a liability regime or adopting legal instruments to protect the environment. However, the reflection of so-called 'ASEAN Way', which preferred on non-interference in other states has inhibited the reliance on strong regional efforts in executing a more effective action in order to address and combat the transboundary haze pollution in Southeast Asia.


This study was conducted between 2016-2020 to investigate the Tachinidae (Diptera) fauna of Manisa Province of Türkiye. For this purpose, Tachinidae samples were collected from the cultural and natural areas of five districts (Salihli, Sarıgöl, Selendi, Soma and Şehzadeler) selected to represent the province. Thirty-six species were determined and identified. These were four genera and five species in the subfamily Exoristinae, five genera and eight species in the subfamily Tachininae, three genera and four species in the subfamily Dexiinae, nine genera and 19 species in the subfamily Phasiinae. Among these, Estheria cristata (Meigen, 1826), Cistogaster globosa (Fabricius, 1775) and Cylindromyia gemma (Richter, 1972) (Diptera: Tachinidae) were recorded for the first time in Türkiye. The distributions and hosts in Türkiye of the identified species are given. In addition, the definitions of the species determined as new records for Türkiye are also included. This study is the first detailed study on the family Tachinidae in Manisa Province.


The interpretation of the concept lonely women of post-working period of life is considered in the aspect of the concrete historical conditions in which there was formation of their personalities. Age-role expectations of these women were investigated. The article deals with the main factors limiting the social possibilities of lonely women. It was determined that modern Russian society is not able to perceive an elderly woman as its sterling member.


Given the post-9/11 climate of global uncertainty, suspicion, hostility, and fear, interest in the relationship between religion and economics, politics, and social behavior has been rekindled. In particular, there has been considerable attention afforded to the impact of religion on economic, social, and political development and vice versa. However, before the impact of religion on economic performance or the impact of economic performance on religion can be examined, one should first ascertain the religiosity of a country. In this case, "how Islamic are Islamic countries?" or "what is their degree of 'Islamicity?'" In this paper, we assess, on a very preliminary basis, the adherence of Islamic countries to Islamic economic teachings and develop an Economic IslamicityIndex (EI2) to assess the extent that self-declared Islamic countries adhere to Islamic doctrines and teachings. We do this by measuring 208 countries' adherence to Islamic Economic principles using as proxies 113 measurable variables.


A source-free base station scheme with the capability to provide simultaneous access to wireless and wireline services is proposed. The proposed scheme can establish inter-communications among neighboring base stations without sending the signals to the central office.


Abstract Tasman Glacier, a temperate maritime glacier in the New Zealand Southern Alps, is rapidly receding. Climate warming is resulting in lengthening of the ablation season, meaning crevasses in the accumulation area are becoming exposed at the surface for longer. We combine measurements of air temperature and wind speed from inside crevasses with surface meteorological data, finding that during summer, in-crevasse air temperature is frequently positive, and can at times exceed surface air temperature. Greatest warming occurred in the widest crevasses during clear-sky conditions, but full depth warming of crevasses also occurred at night. Net shortwave radiation contributes to heating of air in the upper regions of crevasses, but turbulent sensible heat transfer was responsible for driving warm air deeper into crevasses. Crevasses orientated to maximise radiation retrieval, and running parallel to wind flow, have the greatest potential for warming and heat storage. We hypothesise a positive feedback loop in the surface energy-balance system, where crevasses entrain and trap heat, which enhances melting, that in turn enlarges the crevasses, enabling greater heat storage and further melting. Energy-balance models that treat accumulation areas of alpine glaciers as homogeneous surfaces will therefore underestimate snow melt and overestimate mass balance.


The Social Media Prediction (SMP) challenge aims to predict the future popularity of online posts by leveraging social media data. Social media data contains multimodal information, such as text, images, time series, etc. Previous methods have proposed many feature extraction and feature construction methods to represent these multimodal information, thereby predicting the popularity of posts. Despite the success of previous methods in extracting features from social media data, these features tend to be predominantly lower-order, posing a challenge in accurately capturing the rich information contained in text and images. In this paper, we propose a more diverse feature mining method and introduce a stacking block module to capture higher-order feature information contained in text and images. "lower-order" refers to the original high-dimensional embedding representation, while "high-order" pertains to the impact on post social popularity captured by tree models from text or image. We conducted massive experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed method and found that the stacking block module significantly improved performance.


This paper is concerned with the Islamic tourism product that is shariah compliant accommodations. The
overviews of Islamic tourism can be identified based on the literature review available. In Malaysia context,
Islamic tourism can be defined as any activities, events and experience undertaken in a state of travel that is
in accordance with Islamic teaching. This concept is widely discussed among the researchers as a result of
the increasing number of Muslim travellers around the world recently. However, the Islamic tourism concept is
always mistakenly understood where it is actually beyond than just halal food and availability of prayer places.
The present studies focused on the operation stage, but the design and construction stage of shariah compliant
hotel are remained undiscovered. Therefore, this paper will focus on the linkage of shariah compliant hospitality
with construction industry during the design stage.


Electricity generation using renewable energy-based microgrid (REM) is a prerequisite to achieve one of the cardinal objectives of sustainable development goals. Nonetheless, the optimum design and sizing of the REM is challenging. This is because the REM needs to supply the fluctuating demand considering the sporadic behaviour of the renewable energy sources (RES). This paper, therefore, proposes a nature-inspired metaheuristic optimization searching technique (MOST) to optimize the components of an autonomous microgrid integrating a diesel generator ${\left(D_{\text{GEN}}\right)}$, battery bank, photovoltaic and wind turbine. In this regard, a cycle-charging energy management scheme (CEMS) control is proposed and implemented using a rule-based algorithm. The proposed CEMS provide a power delivery sequence for the different components of the microgrid. Subsequently, the CEMS is optimized using the metaheuristic optimization searching techniques (MOSTs). To benchmark, the paper compares the success of six different MOSTs. The simulation is performed for the climatic conditions of Yobe State, in northern Nigeria using MATLAB software. The comparative results show that the grasshopper optimization algorithm is found to yield a better result because it gives the least fitness function relative to other studied MOSTs. Remarkably, it outperforms the grey wolf optimizer, the ant lion optimizer, and the particle swarm optimization by ~ 3.0 percent, ~ 5.8 percent, and ~ 3.6 percent (equivalent to a cost savings of $8332.38, $4219.87, and $5144.64 from the target microgrid project). Results also indicate that the proposed CEMS adopted for the microgrid control strategy has led to the implementation of a clean and affordable energy system, as it's significantly minimized CO2 (by 92.3%), fuel consumption (by 92.4%), compared fossil fuel-based ${D_{\text{GEN}}}$.


Neutrophils accumulate in the distal airspace in a variety of lung injury syndromes. To see if neutrophils might affect function of the distal respiratory epithelium, we studied Na transport in A549 cells in response to an 8h co‐incubation with neutrophils (PMN) isolated from blood and activated by phorbol myristate acetate (10 ng/mL). To assess Na transport, we measured 22Na accumulation over 5 min in the presence and absence of amiloride (10−4M). Activated neutrophils (5 million/well) had no effect on A549 cell number (control: 1.7 x 106 ± 0.3 vs PMN‐exposed: 1.8 x 106 ± 0.4 cells/well, n=6, mean ± SD), or on viability measured by vital dye exclusion (control: 98 ± 2% vs PMN‐exposed: 97 ± 4%, n=6), but they decreased amiloride‐sensitive Na uptake on average by 30% (control: 51 ± 18 vs. PMN‐exposed: 34 ± 13 nmol/5 min/mg protein, n=6, p < 0.05). To see if oxidants might play a role in mediating this effect, we treated A549 cells with superoxide dismutase (300 U/mL) and catalase (4 mg/mL) and found that the antioxidants blunted the decrease in Na uptake caused by activated neutrophils by nearly 70% (control: 19 ± 3 vs PMN‐exposed: 8 ± 2 vs antioxidants: 16 ± 4 nmol/5 min/mg protein, n=6). Thus, activated neutrophils decrease Na uptake in A549 cells, and this effect is diminished by antioxidants. We speculate that activated neutrophils in the distal lung may impair Na‐linked fluid clearance from the airspace and promote lung edema.


as a long-term survivor begins. During this period, parents and children may become depressed, feel loss of association with hematology/oncology medical personnel, and experience many fears and uncertainties about survival. Health care providers often present the opposite attitudes, such as happiness that the medicine and painful procedures have been completed. This can lead to conflicting goals and misunderstandings. Three months before ending therapy, patients are identified and assigned a specific nurse. That nurse and the patient's physician will then confer about an individualized tran-


The effect of various wire electrical discharge machining process parameters such as pulse on time, pulse off time, pulse current and the wire drum speed on machined surface quality characteristics such as surface roughness and kerf width has been discussed. The experiments were carried out with L27 orthogonal array on hybrid metal matrix composite prepared by inert gas–assisted electromagnetic stir casting process using particulates 7.5% Al2O3 and 7.5% SiC each in Al7075 alloy. Taguchi-based grey relational analysis, a multi-response optimization technique, was used to find the optimal process parameter setting for the best quality machined characteristics. Results of analysis of variance showed that the order of significance was pulse on time, pulse current, pulse off time and the wire drum speed contributing 50.02%, 39.50%, 4.58% and 2.75%, respectively, while machining the hybrid composite. Confirmation test was carried out at selected optimal parameter setting, which showed improvement in grey relational grade, thus confirming the robustness of grey relational analysis.


The global trend towards net-zero carbon emissions from burning fuels in combustion engines alerts us to the alternative role of biodiesel. The manufacturing cost of biodiesel hinders the fast development of various types of biofuels. Feedstock cost is one of the major determining factors of biodiesel cost and thus the extent of its competitiveness in the fuel market with other available alternative fuels or fossil fuels. Some low-cost feedstocks such as high-acid oil, which is produced from the acidifying processes of soybean soapstock, frequently contain high contents of free fatty acids (FFAs) and water. Hence, those feedstocks cannot be used to produce biodiesel through strong alkaline catalyst transesterification on an industrial scale. In contrast, the water can be converted to hydroxyl radicals to enhance the formation of esters from the dissociation of the FFA in a supercritical reacting tank. Hence, cheap high-acid oils containing high amounts of water and FFAs were used to produce biodiesel through a supercritical transesterification reaction system. The engine emission characteristics of using the biodiesel produced in this study were analyzed and compared with those of commercial biodiesel and super-low sulfur diesel (SLSD). A naturally aspirated, direct-injection, four-stroke, four-cylinder marine diesel engine associated with an eddy-current dynamometer was used to carry out the engine emission measurement. In comparison with super-low sulfur diesel (SLSD), the biodiesel had lower CO2 and CO emissions and black smoke opacity but higher emissions of O2 and NOx. The higher engine speed caused lower emissions of O2 and NOx but higher CO2 emissions. The supercritical-transesterification biodiesel appeared to be a competitive alternative fuel to fossil diesel.


Fuel economy has always been a major issue for the automotive industry due to environmental concerns. In particular, it is known that only 5-20% of the energy generated in a car that mainly uses an internal combustion engine is converted to increase fuel efficiency, many methods have been proposed. Among these methods, weight reduction is most commonly used because it is the simplest and cheapest. Weight is always the main reason for energy consumption, therefore, reducing weight is the best way to increase fuel efficiency while simultaneously saving on material costs. To reduce the weight of a compressor, material substitution is used. However, aluminum (a lighter metal substitute) is more fragile than steel, therefore, structural stability must be verified through testing. In this paper, we performed a 3D analysis to investigate whether aluminum can be used without compromising structural stability. Our investigation included static analysis and thermal analysis. As a result, we found that an aluminum swash plate can be safely applied on a shaft instead of steel; it reduces weight while maintaining stability that is equal to or better than steel.


A transistorised form of total-lightning-flash counter with a preset triggering sensitivity is described. The frequency response is similar to the WMO instrument for counting local lightning flashes. A particular feature is the extremely low standing current drain.