In a 1995 interview, contemporary American composer John Zorn stated: 'I got involved in music because of film […] There's a lot of film elements in my music' (Duckworth, 1995, p. 451). Scholars and critics have since widely noted these cinematic elements, with emphasis being placed on Zorn's genre of so-called 'file card compositions'. Whilst these studies have primarily concentrated on how the arrangement of sound blocks – the disjointed segments of Zorn's compositions – can be compared to cinematic montage, this article instead focusses on how sound blocks suggest the visual aspects of cinema.
To delve deeper into the visuo-cinematic qualities of Zorn's file card compositions, an idealised cinematic listener will be constructed, aided by various psychological, semiotic, philosophical and film theories. I will suggest that a listener occupying a hypnogogic state projects moving images, akin to those of cinema, onto what Bernard Lewin first called a 'dream screen'. These projections occur due to intertextual associations made between file card compositions and the artistic figures to whom they are dedicated. These images combine with the sounds that brought them into being to form an audio-visual diegesis, which can be considered a type of half-imagined film. The cinematic listener then actively draws out of this diegesis a narrative, via the semi-conscious process Boris Eikhenbaum called 'inner speech'. I will conclude by giving some broader justification for the methodology that brought this cinematic listener into being and suggest how the cinematic listener may be further utilised to provide musical analyses for file card works.


FIELD: organic chemistry of natural compounds, chemical technology. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to new acylation method of taxane hydroxyl group involving treatment of taxane with acylating agent taken among the group consisting of anhydrides, dicarbonates, thiodicarbonates and isocyanates in the reaction mixture comprising less of one equivalent of a base per each equivalent of taxane but preferably in the ratio = (1:1)-(1:100) to form C(10)-acylated taxane. Invention relates also to method for silylation of C(10)-hydroxyl group of taxane and methods for conversion of C(7)-hydroxyl group of 10-acyloxy-7-hydroxytaxane to acetal or ketal. Invention provides a new method for selective derivatization of taxanes by means C(10)-group is protected or derivatized before C(7)-hydroxyl group. EFFECT: improved derivatization method of taxanes. 32 cl, 2 tbl, 10 ex


Synchrotron x-ray radiation was used for in situ strain measurements during uniaxial tests on polymer substrates coated by a metallic gold film 400 nm thick deposited without interlayer or surface treatment. X-ray diffraction allowed capturing both components elastic strains and determining how these were partitioned between the metallic film and the polymeric substrate. For strains below 0.8%, deformation is continuous through the metal-polymer interface while above, the onset of plasticity in the metallic film induces a shift between film and substrate elastic strains.


On the ideological and political education,we must concretely and confidently mention the problem of"either capitalism or socialism".Since the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,Chinese scholars' study on "major theoretical and practical issues"of the ideological and political education has taken on six hot spots: the social ethos,the "four major boundaries",the socialist core value system,the ideological and political education in universities,the role of the ideological and political education in resolving social conflicts and social management,and the moral condition of the migrant workers.We should continue to strengthen the study on these problems,so as to promote the discipline construction further enriched,developed and perfected.


We conducted a quasi-experimental study of pair programming versus solo programming, in the context of a required, four-hour, intermediate level-course that focuses on the acquisition of a second language (C/C++). We found pair programming served as a protective factor for the retention of female students and less experienced students. Our findings support those of prior studies that suggested that pair programming may improve retention for female students and also suggest that pair programming strategies may help to shorten the long pre-requisite chain typically found in CS programs, reduce time to degree, and promote student productivity during undergraduate studies. We also found that solo programmers relied more heavily on TA assistance, which implies that resource-constrained departments might better meet student needs or handle larger groups of students with existing resources through the use of pair programming.


This article summarizes the results of a study involving 42 educational diagnosticians from North Texas. The study was conducted to determine diagnosticians' perceived understanding of early literacy development and their ability to effectively choose and interpret assessments of phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and reading fluency. The results suggested that the educational diagnosticians who participated in the study were not sufficiently knowledgeable in identifying the numerous components of reading (e.g., phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and fluency); nor were they prepared to choose appropriate assessment instruments to assess selected components of reading.


G. Terrance Walker, et al., "Isothermal in vitro amplification of DNA by a restriction enzyme? DNA polymerase system". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, vol. 89, Jan. 1992, pp. 392–396. Product Catalog by Amersham Bioscience: GenomiPhi DNA Ampli fication Kit, (URL:http://www.jp.amershambiosciences.com/cata log/web catalog.asp?frame5 Value=912&goods name=GenomiPhi+DNA+Amplification+Kit) (with Translation). English Frank B. Dean, et al., "Rapid Amplification of Plasmid and Phage DNA Using Phi29 DNA Polymerase and Multiply-Primed Rolling Circle Amplification'. Genome Research, 2001, pp. 1095-1099. Paul M. Lizardi, et al., "Mutation Detection and single-molecule counting using isothermal rolling-circle amplification' nature genet ics, vol. 19, Jul. 1998, pp. 225-232. Slawomir Dabrowski, et al., "Identification and characterization of single-stranded-DNA-binding proteins from Thermus thermophilus and Thermus aquaticus—new arrangement of binding domains'. XP-002411103, Microbiology, vol. 148, No. 10, Oct. 2002, pp. 3307 33.15. Celia Perales, et al., "Enhancement of DNA, cDNA synthesis and fidelity at high temperatures by a dimeric single-stranded DNA binding protein'. Nucleic Acids Research, XP-002411102, vol. 31. No. 22, Nov. 15, 2003, pp. 6473-6480. Jin Inoue, et al., "Improvements of rolling circle amplification (RCA) efficiency and accuracy using Thermus thermophilus SSB mutant protein' Nucleic Acids Research, XP-002411101, vol. 34, No. 9. 2006, pp. 1-9. Slawomir Dabrowski, et al., "Cloning and Expression in Escherichia coil of the Recombinant His-Tagged DNA Polymerases from Pyrococcus furiosus and Pyrococcus woesei Protein Expression and Purification, XP-000917996, vol. 14, vol. 1, 1998, pp. 131-138. Józef Kur, et al., "Single-stranded DNA-binding proteins (SSBs)— Sources and applications in molecular biology. Acta Biochimica Polonica, XP-002411104, vol. 52, No. 3, 2005, pp. 569-574. U.S. Appl. No. 1 1/780,284, filed Jul. 19, 2007, Shigemori, et al. J. Chase et al., "Characterization of the Escherichia coli SSB-113 Mutant Single-stranded DNA-binding Protein'. The Journal of Bio logical Chemistry, Jan. 25, 1984, vol. 259, No. 2, pp. 805-814. D. Richard et al., "Physical and functional interaction of the archaeal single-stranded DNA-binding protein SSB with RNA polymerase'. Nucleic Acids Research, Feb. 10, 2004, vol. 32, No.3, pp. 1065-1074. W. Sun et al., "Interaction of Escherichia coli Primase with a Phage G4ori-E. coli SSB Complex". Journal of Bacteriology, Dec. 1996, vol. 178, No. 23, pp. 6701-6705. G. Fradkin et al. "The Role of In Vivo Interaction of Single-Strand DNA Binding Protein with DNA Plymerase II", Mol. Biol. (Mosk.), Jan.-Feb. 1988, 22(1), pp. 111-116. J. Aliotta et al. "Thermostable Bst DNA polymerase I lacks a 3'-> 5' proofreading exonuclease activity. Genetic Analysis. Biomolecular Engineering, 1996, vol. 12, pp. 185-195. G. Walker et al., "Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA with thermophilic strand displacement amplification and fluores cence polarization'. Clinical Chemistry, 1996, vol. 42, No. 10, pp. 1604-1608.


.............................................................................................................................. 14 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 15 Background ......................................................................................................................... 16 Setting ................................................................................................................................. 21 Results ................................................................................................................................. 27 Discussion and Conclusions ............................................................................................... 35 CHAPTER 3: Exploring Factors that Affect the Attainment of Women's Plans for Pregnancy: Efforts to Improve the Understanding and Predictive Ability of Fertility Intentions ...................................................................................... 42 Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 42.............................................................................................................................. 42 Data and Methods ............................................................................................................... 48 Results ................................................................................................................................. 55


Techniques and apparatus for comparing and matching the time response of sheathed, grounded junction thermocouples used in the transit time flowmeter development program are described. Applications include quality control of TC fabrication and reduction of potential errors in transit time flow measurement from differences in TC time response. (auth)


This paper presents the design and performance of a low-cost, low-power remote condition monitoring (CM) solution for large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. The developed CM solution utilises ESP-NOW and Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) wireless communication protocols for data exchanges. The developed solution operates in self-power mode, with each IoT node capable of monitoring up to 16 channels of voltage, current, and temperature of the PV panels. The 2.4GHz ESP-NOW wireless communication protocol is used for data transfer between the IoT nodes in a many-to-one configuration. The transceiver node stores messages from all IoT nodes and broadcasts them via the LoRaWAN network to the server. The developed hardware and software solutions were tested to measure the accuracy and reliability of the CM system. As a result, a fully-functioning low-cost solar PV CM system is developed, with an overall sensor measurement error of less than 3%, with an average Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of -105dBm in non-line-of-sight conditions.


Objective To investigate the expression and relationship between IL-12 and IL-18 in acute optic neuritis(AON) before and after methylprednisolone pulse therapy(MPPT).Method ELISA was employed to determine the expression of IL-12 and IL-18 in serum in 27 patients with AON before and after MPPT.RT-PCR analysis was employed to demonstrate the expression of IL-12 and IL-18 receptors in peripheral lymphocytes.Results The serum level of IL-12 was decreased from(45.6±12.2) ng/L to(17.1±4.7) ng/L after MPPT(P0.01);that of IL-18,from(157.5±39.3) ng/L to(126.2±22.6) ng/L(P0.05).The expression of IL12R mRNA was decreased after MPPT too(0.2948 vs.0.1507,P0.05);and so was that of IL18R mRNA(0.5352 vs.0.2843,P0.05).The expressions of IL-12 and IL-18 as well as that of their receptors were positively correlated.Conclusion Mythylprednisolone can exert its important antiphlogistic action against AON by inhibiting the expression of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-2 and IL-18.


This study examined the cardiovascular effects of 17β-estradiol in ovariectomized rats with heart failure. Two groups (50-60 days old) were implanted with 60-day-release pellets containing 17β-estradiol (25 μg/day) or vehicle at 7 days before ligation of the left coronary artery. Another group was sham operated and given vehicle pellets. After 7 wk, they were studied under pentobarbital anesthesia. Relative to sham-operated rats, ligated rats had reduced mean arterial pressure (MAP, -24 ± 6 mmHg), cardiac output (-27 ± 4 ml/min), left ventricular (LV) end-systolic pressure (-29 ± 8 mmHg), depressor responses to ACh (-6 ± 4 mmHg at 7.2 μg/kg) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP, -22 ± 6 mmHg at 9 μg/kg), and pressor responses to N G-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME, -14 ± 6 mmHg at 8 mg/kg) and increased LV end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP, 10.3 ± 0.8 mmHg) but no change in total peripheral resistance (TPR). Treatment of ligated rats with 17β-estradiol reduced TPR (-0.19 ± 0.06 mmHg ⋅ min ⋅ ml-1), LVEDP (-3.6 ± 1 mmHg), and responses to ACh (-16 ± 4 mmHg) and augmented responses tol-NAME (14 ± 3 mmHg) but did not alter other variables. Therefore, 17β-estradiol reduces preload and afterload and restores the vasodilator role of basal nitric oxide in ovariectomized rats with chronic heart failure.


Abstract On July 3rd 1999, William Doherty gave a keynote speech at the Smart Marriages Conference in Washington, DC. The title of his speech was "How Therapists Harm Marriages and What We Can Do About It." Doherty discussed two dangers that face people seeking marital therapy. The first is individually trained therapists and the other is therapists with an individualistic orientation which may undermine marital commitment. In my comments regarding Doherty's speech, I commend his whistle blowing on the field and add to his comments from a feminist point of view.


Diabetic retinopathy (DR), a serious microangiopathic complication of diabetes, is the leading cause of catastrophic loss of vision in Japan. Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is an enzyme involved in remethylation of homocysteine to methionine. A point mutation (C677T) in the MTHFR gene leads to impaired activity and is the most common genetic determinant of moderate hyperhomocysteinemia in the general population (1). Neugebauer et al. (2) reported a significantly higher prevalence of the mutant allele in diabetic patients with retinopathy. However, in their study, patients with retinopathy showed severe renal failure with higher levels of serum creatinine compared with those without retinopathy. Considering …


Silver iodide nanoclusters were successfully prepared in the channels of mordenite by a heat diffusion method. Powder X-ray diffraction, adsorption technique and infrared spectroscopy were used to characterize the prepared materials, which showed that the guest silver iodide had been encapsulated in the channels of mordenite. The optical properties of the solid phase diffuse reflectance absorption of nanocomposite material NaM-AgI were studied, showing that the absorption bands of the diffuse reflectance absorption of the prepared material moved to the region of high energy. The absorption peak of the material prepared shifted to the region of high energy. Namely, blue shift was caused. This has demonstrated the incorporation of silver iodide into the channels of the zeolite. We observed the luminescence and surface photovoltage spectra of NaM-AgI sample, proposing the mechanisms of the photoluminescence and photovoltaic responses.


Introduction: Valvular heart disease remains an important cause of heart failure. Studies comparing acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) associated with valvular disease to other forms of ADHF are limited. We compared mortality rates of patients with acute decompensated valvular heart failure (ADVHF) to those with non-valvular ADHF (ADnVHF). Hypothesis: Mortality differs between ADVHF and ADnVHF. Methods: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study conducted surveillance of hospitalized ADHF patients age ≥55 years in 4 U.S. communities starting in 2005. ADHF hospitalizations were validated by standardized physician review. The prevalence of at least moderate mitral and aortic valvular disease was quantified using in-hospital echocardiograms. In-hospital, 28-day, and 1-year mortality were compared between ADVHF and ADnVHF using logistic regression and adjusted for demographics. Results: From 2005 to 2011, a weighted sample of 15,397 patients was hospitalized for ADHF and had echocardiography data. The ADVHF group was predominantly female (55%), Caucasian (70%), and had a mean age of 76 ± 0.2 yrs. After multivariate adjustment, in-hospital mortality was 30% lower for ADVHF patients compared to those with ADnVHF (OR 0.7, 95% CI 0.5 to 1.0). At 28 days, mortality rates were similar. At 1 year, however, mortality rates were 20% higher for the ADVHF group (OR 1.2, 95% CI 1.0 to 14) (Figure 1). Conclusions: Valvular heart disease is associated with increased risk for 1-year mortality in those hospitalized with heart failure, despite a lower in-hospital mortality in our sample. This suggests that patients with ADVHF have a worse long-term prognosis than those with ADnVHF and may benefit from more intensive follow-up care and aggressive therapy after hospital discharge.


The invention relates to a method and a device for treating garbage. The method comprises the following steps of breaking garbage, dehydrating the broken garbage, winnowing the dehydrated garbage to separate them into matters with a large specific gravity, matters with a middle specific gravity, matters with a low specific gravity, dust and their mixtures, winnowing further the mixtures obtained from the previous step to separate them into matters with a large specific gravity, matters with a middle specific gravity, matters with a low specific gravity and dust, putting the matters which haverespectively a middle specific gravity and a low specific gravity and are winnowed by the above steps into a solution to carry out a flotation process to separate further the matters into different substances. The device for treating garbage comprises a garbage breaking device, a garbage dehydrating device, a garbage winnowing device and a garbage flotation device. Through the method and the device, household garbage and medical garbage of which treatments are difficult greatly can be carried out processes of treatment, classification, recovery and utilization thus problems of pollution and land occupation of garbage are solved.


The authors presented an approach of Chinese coordination relations recognition based on CRFs.Tokens were tagged with different roles according to their functions in the generation of Chinese coordination relations.Then coordination relations were recognized by CRFs(conditional random fields).Compared with the maximum spanning tree dependency parsing,the experiment shows that recall and precision of coordination relations increase by 9.1%,13.8%.


This paper presents an asynchronous digital-analog mixed-mode neuro-fuzzy controller that enables energy efficient implementation of machine intelligence SoC. The proposed neuro-fuzzy controller adopts an asynchronous 2-stage pipeline for analog and digital domain operations, which is the main contributor to high throughput and energy efficient machine intelligence SoC. To this end, a neuro-fuzzy controller with a delay prediction unit and a new ISA is introduced to modify the stage depth of mixed-mode pipeline incorporating with highly parallel special function units. Compared to the conventional digital standalone VLSI architecture, power reduction and processing speed acceleration are achieved by 46.6% and 71.4%, respectively, reporting 12.5μJ/epoch energy efficiency.


The main features and functions,application in the small and medium motor's hot overload were introduced.The circuit diagram were given.The advantage of the new motor protector was showed by the comparative between the new motor protector and the old motor protector.The stabilization and reliability of this product were proved by application.


This article endeavours to present a succinct analysis of the legal education system in India in the context of changes inspired in it by globalization and the subsequent modernization of society. The introduction reconnoitres the significance of legal education in any civilization. Encompassing the evolution of legal education by tracing its emergence from the Vedic period to the twenty-first century, the article reflects profoundly upon the rise of the national law universities across the country, which not only revolutionized the system, but also changed the manner in which legal education was perceived by the society. While scrutinizing their controversial aspects, the article acknowledges the debates that have been spurred amongst legal luminaries since their inception. Addressing the core issues in the deliberations surrounding the ongoing debate over the 5-year curriculum as opposed to a 4-year curriculum coupled with a year of compulsory internship experience, the article proceeds to analyze the feasibility of the model in the Indian context. While expounding the progressive and regressive elements of the legal education system in India, the article intends to cast a cursory glance upon the prevalent education system of the United States in an attempt to paint a clearer picture of the state of affairs. Harping on the point of modernization of legal education, the article delves into the concepts of legal aid clinics and clinical legal education that have materialized among the significant aspects of modern legal education. This review of the legal education system is an attempt to 'critically appraise' its facets, and in doing so, maintaining a neutral approach.


Objective: We aimed to provide an update and highlight the value of V-Y advancement flaps in the management of cutaneous loss of substance (LOS). Methods: We included 18 patients in whom cutaneous reconstruction was performed at various sites between 2019 and 2021. Skin coverage was provided by means of unilateral or bilateral VY advancement flap. Among the 18 patients, 13 were men and 5 were women. The age of the patients ranged from 8 to 75, with an average age of 46.8. Perineal scrotal reconstruction was performed in 5 cases, sacral in 5 cases, plantar in 3 cases, ischial in 1 case, lumbo-gluteal in 2 cases, retroauricular in 1 case, and forearm in 1 case; 7 cases had bilateral V-Y advancement flap, while 11 cases had unilateral flap. We studied the indications, the size of the defect (4 cm × 5 cm to 20 cm × 30 cm), postoperative complications, and patient satisfaction. Results: No flap defatting was necessary. Long-term results in terms of scarring, functionality, and cosmetic appearance of the reconstructed area were considered satisfactory by the patients. Conclusion: Coverage of cutaneous LOS is a daily procedure for plastic surgeons. Since the V-Y advancement flap is a simple, useful, and reliable coverage technique with low morbidity, it should be an option in cutaneous reconstruction.


Aristotle's poetics has influenced western literature as a whole.This paper takes Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights for example to discuss Aristotle's theory of plot.The conclusion is that the plot of Wuthering Heights meets the criterion of Aristotle.


Abstract We are grateful to Jonas Ljungberg for his courteous and informative response to our pair of articles recently published in this Review.1 We will argue that Ljungberg has misunderstood our intention on one central point. Since other readers may share this misunderstanding, we are happy to set the record straight. We also take this opportunity to stress a second central point which characterizes our work in this Review.


Effective counteraction to the recent armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine has exacerbated the need to summarize and put into operation the Ukrainian Army combat experience gained in the anti-terrorist operation / operation of the United Forces. In order to make this work more effective, you need to learn from the past. The article analyzes the scientific and memoir literature, the documentary source base on the creation and operation of bodies to study and use the combat experience of the RSCA during the Second World War. The results of these bodies constitute a valuable array for historiography. And the organization of their work is of practical importance in modern conditions. To study the experience of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression, we propose the author's periodization of the evolution of the RSCA bodies to study and use the combat experience in 1939-1945. Even before the outbreak of Second World War, the armies that eventually joined the anti-Hitler coalition and their opponents began work on generalizing, studying, and using experience in the use of armed forces, armies, and forces, and organizing their interaction in combat. For the study and implementation of the experience    of war, structures were established in the military authorities to study, summarize, and use combat experience, the activities of which are of great interest to modern researchers, scientists, and military specialists. Combat experience is required to  develop and implement the newest methods of conducting armed combat, organizing and conducting military operations, developing instructions, manuals and techniques for the preparation of units of troops and special forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Therefore, in order to streamline this work in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and to avoid mistakes, it is urgent to take into account foreign experience, especially in all – countries of the North Atlantic Alliance, as well as to conduct military-historical researches on the history of creation and activity of structures for studying, generalization and use of combat experience. during the Second World War, particularly in the RSCA.


Contact device (1) for producing a detachable electrical connection between two components (10, 20), comprising: - a first connector (100) having a first housing part (101) in which at least a first contact element (110) is arranged, each of which has a first base surface (111) and a first wedge surface (112), between the respective first base (111) and the first housing part (101) comprises a first force-generating means (120) is provided which the first contact element (110) of the first housing part (101, 201) pushes away; - a second connector (200) having a second housing part (201), in which at least one second contact element (210) is arranged, each of which has a second base surface (211) and a second wedge surface (212), between the respective second base (211) and the second housing part (201) a second power generating means (220) is provided which the second contact element (210) of the second housing part (101, 201) pushes away; - wherein, for making an electrical connection of the first and second connectors (100, 200) the first and the second housing part (101, 201) are so mechanically releasably connected together such that the respective first base surface (111) of the (at least one first contact element 110) of the first connector (100) and the respective second base surface (211) of the at least one second contact element (210) of the second connector (200) are arranged substantially parallel to each other, whereby the respective first and the associated second wedge surface (112, 212 ) of the first and second contact element (110, 210) are placed under application of force surface contact with each other.


The effect of pyrethrum thrips, Thrips nigropilosus Uzel., on yield of pyrethrum (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium Vis.) was investigated using three densities of thrips and three pyrethrum clones. Clones differed in their response to increasing thrips-days. Clone 4331 was most sensitive, followed by MA/71/423 and SB/66/107. Yield reduction by T. nigropilosus was caused by reduction in flower numbers; the pyrethrin content of the flowers was not affected(.)


Various approaches have been introduced to infer the organization of white matter connectivity using Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). In this study, we validate a recently introduced geometric tractography technique, Geodesic Connectivity Mapping (GCM), able to overcome the main limitations of geometrical approaches. Using the GCM technique, we could successfully characterize anatomical connections in the human low-level visual cortex. We reproduce previous findings regarding the topology of optic radiations linking the LGN to V1 and the regular organization of splenium fibers with respect to their origin in the visual cortex. Moreover, our study brings further insights regarding the connectivity of the human MT complex (hMT+) and the retinotopic areas.


Given the ever-increasing amount of high-dimensional and complex omics data becoming available, it is increasingly important to discover simple but effective methods of analysis. Divergence analysis transforms each entry of a high-dimensional omics profile into a digitized (binary or ternary) code based on the deviation of the entry from a given baseline population. The divergence package, available on the R platform through the bioconductor repository collection, provides easy-to-use functions for carrying out this transformation.


Virtual home theatre systems provide an efficient means of multichannel sound reproduction with two loudspeakers. Six commercial and academically developed systems have been collected and subjectively evaluated under controlled conditions against discrete 5-channel reproduction. Tests have been carried out in two test rooms. The experimental design and the detailed analysis of results are presented in this paper.


A Research Project Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment for the Requirements for the Degree of a Bachelor of Environmental Planning and Management in the School of Environmental Studies of Kenyatta University


This paper presents macro-model and circuit of a spin transfer torque magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ), implemented using two voltage-dependent resistances for parallel and antiparallel layer magnetization. Macro-model suitable for use in any circuit simulators, the problems previously encountered in the convergence of SPICE-like programs eliminated. The efficiency of the model is demonstrated for a MRAM memory, simulation results showed high accuracy and adequacy of the proposed macro-model.


Chlorite is one of the most important hydrothermal minerals in many hydrothermal uranium deposits worldwide and is commonly closely associated with the uranium mineralization. Trace elements in chlorite have been extensively applied to fingerprinting the hydrothermal fluid evolution and indicating the concealed ore bodies in porphyry Cu (-Au) deposits and skarn-related Pb-Zn deposits. However, this approach was rarely attempted on hydrothermal uranium deposits to date. Xiangshan uranium ore field, located in the southeast part of Gan-Hang Metallogenic (or Volcanic) Belt (GHMB), is the largest volcanic-related ore field in the whole country. In this study, the focus was placed on the petrographic characteristics and trace elements in hydrothermal chlorite from two typical deposits (Zoujiashan and Yunji) at Xiangshan. Four types of chlorites were identified, i.e., Chl1-Y and Chl2 from Yunji deposit, and Chl1-Z and Chl3 from Zoujiashan deposit. The pre-ore Chl1-Y and Chl1-Z are formed through replacing the original magmatic biotite. Chl2 and Chl3 occur as veinlets or disseminated, and are closely associated with early-ore U mineralization and main-ore U mineralization, respectively. All the four types of chlorites are typically trioctahedral chlorite. Vein-type/disseminated Chl2 and Chl3 in ore veins were precipitated directly from the hydrothermal fluids through dissolution-migration-precipitation mechanism, whereas the replacement-type chlorite was formed by the dissolution–crystallization mechanism. Empirical geothermometry indicates that the chlorite from Yunji and Zoujiashan were crystallized at 179~277 °C, indicating a mesothermal-epithermal precipitation environment. EPMA and LA-ICP-MS results show that the replacement-type chlorite has relatively consistent compositions at Yunji and Zoujiashan. Both Chl2 and Chl3 are enriched in U, Th but depleted in Mn and Ti. Compared with the Chl2 related to early-ore U mineralization, Chl3 that formed at main-ore stage has higher concentrations of Fe, U, Th, REEs, Mn and Ti, as well as higer Fe/(Fe + Mg) ratios. Such compositional differences between Chl2 and Chl3 are mainly attributed to the formation temperatures and fluid compositions/natures. Combined with petrology and chemical compositions of different types of chlorite, we propose that the presence of vein-type/disseminated chlorite with high U and Fe/(Fe + Mg) ratio but relatively low Mn, Ti and Pb contents can be regarded as an effective vector toward the most economic (high U grade) mineralized zone, whereas the occurrence of Chl2 is likely to indicate the subeconomic U mineralization and less potential exploration for uranium at depth.


Background: The outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and the related disease (COVID-19) has rapidly spread to a pandemic proportion, increasing the demands on health systems for the containment and management of COVID-19. Nowadays, one of the critical issues still to be pointed out regards COVID-19 treatment regimens and timing: which drug, in which phase, for how long? Methods: Our narrative review, developed using MEDLINE and EMBASE, summarizes the main evidences in favor or against the current proposed treatment regimens for COVID-19, with a particular focus on antiviral agents. Results: Although many agents have been proposed as possible treatment, to date, any of the potential drugs against SARS-CoV-2 has shown to be safe and effective for treating COVID-19. Despite the lack of definitive evidence, remdesivir remains the only antiviral with encouraging effects in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Conclusions: In such a complex moment of global health emergency, it is hard to demand scientific evidence. Nevertheless, randomized clinical trials aiming to identify effective and safe drugs against SARS-CoV-2 infection are urgently needed in order to confirm or reject the currently available evidence.


PDM system is developed based on structure of B/S with tools of C#, ASP.NET、SQLSERVER2000, according to the status of composite machine tool management and management of work stream and task stream.The situation that there isn't professional management software in machine factory for long term is resolved. The cycle of designing and making machine is shortened. The efficiency is improved.


A 61-year-old male patient with rheumatoid arthritis developed an osteolitic lesion in the 2nd and 3nd lumbal vertebral bodies. The Histolongic findings of the lesions were comparable to those found in rheumatoid subcutaneous nodules. the patient also developed episcleritis, pleurisy and subcutaneous nodules, suggesting rheumatoid vascuritis. We concluded that the lesion was caused by the formation of rheumatoid nodulelike granulation in the lumbal vertebrae.


The objectives of this research are: 1). to analyze the factors which determine the production of leading small-medium food industry, 2). to analyze the effect of leading small-medium food industry production towards community income. The analysis models used are simultaneous equation model (ESM) and simple regression. The research results show that the determining factors on the production of leading small-medium food industry are investment, production capacity, labor, sales, and the utilization of technology simultaneously. However, individually, the sales have significant influence on the production of leading small-medium food industry in which determined by promotion and market share. In addition, the influence of leading small-medium food industry is very significant on community income with a contribution of 59.54%. The amount of public income in the leading small-medium food industry is IDR 1.5 million for a single production period of 1.5 months or approximately IDR 1 million per month.


Since the motor drive system of electric vehicles works in complex and diverse environment, an enhanced internal model control(EIMC) technology is proposed, which can validly improve the robustness of the control system in the case of model mismatch and load disturbance. Firstly the dynamics model of electric vehicles is established and the dynamic characteristics of electric vehicles are analyzed, and then by analyzing the sensitivity function(SF) and complementary sensitivity function, the EIMC technology shows that the control system have both better robust stability(RS) and strong quality robustness(QR) at the same time. Secondly, EIMC technology is applied to speed control loop, which is powered by permanent magnet brushless DC motor(PMBLDCM), therefore the RS and QR of speed control loop are enhanced greatly, and the speed controller has only one adjustable parameter and overcomes the drawback of complex parameters setting in conventional PIDs, even if at the gross environment. Finally, the computer simulation is carried out based on the Matlab/Simulink, and results validate the conclusions.


Due to the fluctuation of the bearing stratum and the distinct properties of the soil layer, the buried depth of the pile foundation will differ from each other as well. In practical construction, since the designed pile length is not definitely consistent with the actual pile length, masses of piles will be required to be cut off or supplemented, resulting in huge cost waste and potential safety hazards. Accordingly, the prediction of pile foundation buried depth is of great significance in construction engineering. In this paper, a nonlinear model based on coordinates and buried depth of piles was established by the BP neural network to predict the samples to be evaluated, the consequence of which indicated that the BP neural network was easily trapped in local extreme value, and the error reached 31%. Afterwards, the QPSO algorithm was proposed to optimize the weights and thresholds of the BP network, which showed that the minimum error of QPSO-BP was merely 9.4% in predicting the depth of bearing stratum and 2.9% in predicting the buried depth of pile foundation. Besides, this paper compared QPSO-BP with three other robust models referred to as FWA-BP, PSO-BP, and BP by three statistical tests (RMSE, MAE, and MAPE). +e accuracy of the QPSO-BP algorithm was the highest, which demonstrated the superiority of QPSO-BP in practical engineering.


Pressure sores are a serious problem for patients with spinal cord injuries (SCI). Many kinds of pressure-relieving cushions have been developed to distribute the weight widely. In rehabilitation medicine, the selection of the wheelchair cushion and the adjustment of the cushion are very important problem for the medical staff in prevention of pressure sores. So we propose a radar chart to support the medical staff. We believe that this radar chart is very useful to the medical staff in selecting the wheelchair cushions, adjusting the cushions and assisting the SCl patient's posture. Moreover, it is useful for the SCI patients to study their posture on the wheelchair and the prevention of pressure sores.


The influence of welding residual stress on fatigue performance depends strongly on how stable these stresses are during cyclic loading. If the tensile residual stresses at the fatigue crack initiation sites relax, their influence on service life decreases and if they stay stable their influence on life assessments should be taken into consideration. The relaxation of residual stresses under cyclic loading is most considerable during the very first load cycle which could be considered as relaxation under quasi–static loading. It was shown here that the von Mises failure criterion describes the relaxation mechanisms in welded S355J2G3 and S690QL specimens under quasi–static tensile and compressive loading. By increasing the tensile load a continuous relaxation of residual stresses occurs. Under compression the relaxation sets in with delay which is an evidence of stability of tensile residual stresses under compression. The residual stresses were determined by means of X–ray diffraction.


Three novel interesting polychlorinated cyclodipeptides,designated dyssmide A(1),B(2),C(3)and a known compound,2,3-dihydrodyeamide C(4)were isolated from the sponge Dysidea sp.Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods.


The twin primes conjecture is a very old problem. Tacitly it is supposed that the primes it deals with are finite. In the present paper we consider three problems that are not related to finite primes but deal with infinite integers. The main tool of our investigation is a numeral system proposed recently that allows one to express various infinities and infinitesimals easily and by a finite number of symbols. The problems under consideration are the following and for all of them we give affermative answers: (i) do infinite primes exist? (ii) do infinite twin primes exist? (ii) is the set of infinite twin primes infinite? Examples of these three kinds of objects are given.


Fertility regulation in the male is discussed. The current state of research into new methods of male contraception is reviewed with special emphasis on the efforts of the World Health Organization Special Program of Research Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction. This article concentrates mainly on the development of orally administered or injectable substances capable of either 1) interfering with the hormonal control of testicular function; 2) disrupting spermatogenesis by direct influence on testis function; or 3) interfering with the fertilizing ability of the sperm and their transport. Current research includes alpha-chlorohydrin vas occlusive mechanisms and devices such as Y-valves. It is concluded that despite the numerous areas of research currently being pursued the prospect of a marketable male contraceptive remains several years away.


Changes in soil mineral nitrogen(N) were monitored during regrowth of pasture between consecutive grazings in two contrasting grassland systems; Grass-clover (the norm in NZ) and a more intensive system, Grass+N400 (pure grass + 400 kg fertiliser N/ha/year). The experiment was carried out during autumn at DSIR Grasslands.Palmerston North. Net mineralisation of N under field conditions was estimated in an ancillary experiment, using soil _- ~samples from undisturbed soil cores contained in PVC tubes. The dynamics of mineral N in soil were dominated by a 'pulse' of ammonium, observable soon after grazing. Nitrification proceeded rapidly thereafter. Mineral N in soil then progressively declined, much of it going into organic combination presumably through uptake by plants. Since nitrate formation in the soil is minimised by maximising the residence time of N in plant (organic) form, differentmanagementoptions(varyinginfrequency and intensity of defoliation) may have important influences, not only on pasture utilisation and production, but also on the management of mineral N in the soil-plant-animal complex. Tubes embedded in soil and incubated in the field have provided some additional, useful perspectives. There was only limitedevidence for significant net mineralisation of organic N throughout the period of regrowth. Analyses of individual soil cores demonstrated a sharp contrast between the pasture at large and the 10 - 15% of total area influenced by urine from the previous grazing, in terms of mineral N content. 'Averaging' these by bulking numerous cores into a composite sample can provide an accurate quantitative estimate of mineral N, which can be related to herbage uptake of N over the whole area. But if losses of N (by leaching or volatilisation) are disproportionate to the concentration of mineral N in affected and unaffected volumes of soil, then bulking samples and averaging will not be the most appropriate way to estimate these losses. The results of this study


The development of campus business has a bright future. A research about the consuming habits, the consuming level and the consuming directions has been conducted among more than 1000 college students. It shows that: 62.44% of the students will purchase most of goods in campus if the surroundings are improved. It suggests that with the socialization reform of our rear service, we should explore the potential of our campus economy and build up an well equipped consuming system of rear service and to benefit both economy and socialization.


Evaluation of 20 min. shot peening surface treatment on fatigue strength of 6063-T6 Al allay is presented under 3.5% NaCl solution from one day, one week and one month under room temperature and stress ratio R= -1. The results show that the shot peening has strong effect on the fatigue strength at 10 7 cycles for corroded specimens. In case of shot peening ,only 17.5% loss in fatigue strength even after submerging for one week compared with 60% of the fatigue strength was reduced in case of un shotted specimen . But for one month pre – corroded specimens, the fatigue strength was reduced by 64% in corrosion environment while shot peening improved the above reduction to be about 44%. © 2013 Elixir All rights reserved ARTICLE INF O Articl e h istory: Received: 2 October 2013; Received in revised form: 25 November 2013; Accepted: 5 December 2013;


Operations Research is a compulsory course that taught many universities at the department of Business Management/Administration as Black Sea Region Universities in Turkey. Survey studies, and students feedback, and experience ofteachers show that business students are lacking motivation in studying with mathematics-based lessons as OR. In this study, an exploratory investigation was made of Operations Research teaching on the Turkish Bachelors Programs courses ofsix Turkish Business Schools, which supply information for program developers, teachers and trainers. The results of research in terms of the position of Operations Research courses in the curriculum, the name assigned to this course, its objectives, contents, teaching methods, text-books used, assessment methods, prerequisites, expectations, obstacles and related lessons has been put down and commented. The comparison of Operations Research courses in different universities will be helpful to all Operations Research faculty who teach this type of courses and particularly those who are looking for ideas on how to re-design courses.


The Federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 require emission inventories be constructed for every area in nonattainment of any of six criteria pollutants, including particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 10μm (PM10). An essential component in building mobile emissions inventories is an accurate estimation of vehicular traffic; in California, one particularly important source of PM10 is vehicle activity on unpaved roads. To develop a statewide estimate of VMT on unpaved roads, this research expands upon a pilot study developed to estimate VMT on unpaved roads for two counties in the San Joaquin Valley. Research to date indicates that the current method used by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) overestimates annual VMT on unpaved roads, particularly VMT attributable to agricultural harvest activities. The pilot study results using the new methodology produced 29% less VMT on unpaved roads in San Joaquin County than calculated by the current method and 40% less in Fresno County.


HACCP system is one of the effective sanitation management approaches that many countries have widely used in order to assure food safety in the processing stage.Taking advantage of the questionnaire of 482 food manufacturing enterprises,this paper analyses the influence on cost and benefit of the enterprises that HACCP certification may have brought,and elaborates the factors that influence the firms adopting HACCP system,and thoroughly discusses the effi- ciency of HACCP on the firms' economic performance.Finally,relative conclusions and suggestions are pointed out.


Plexogenic arteriopathy rarely develops in existing animal models of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Rapidly growing chickens spontaneously develop PAH accompanied by the formation of plexiform‐like complex vascular lesions (CVL). The objective of this study was to evaluate the frequency with which at least one CVL per tissue section was observed in the lungs of chicks from lines selected for susceptibility (S) or resistance (R) to PAH. At 1, 7, 14 and 21 days of age (n ≥ 10 chicks per age and line) the CVL incidences were 33, 30, 35 and 50% for S chicks, and 20, 30, 28, and 25% for R chicks. The combined CVL incidences over days 1–21 did not differ significantly (P = 0.105) between S (36.4%) and R (25.5%) chicks. Early CVL formed when proliferating intimal cells occluded an arteriole lumen distal to branch points in muscular inter‐parabronchial arterioles that typically exhibited medial hypertrophy and intimal proliferation. Mature CVL in chicken lungs strikingly resemble published photomicrographs of plexiform lesions in the lungs of human PAH patients. The development of CVL in the lungs of young chicks suggests a complex interaction between pulmonary hemodynamics, vascular development and vascular pathology. Supported by NIH grant 1R15HL092517.


Car following model of urban freeway under snow condition is studied. First,urban road is classified according to it's surface in winter,and then organizes traffic survey of the two common snow and ice road combined with the actual situation of urben expressway. According to the result of the survey,a statistical analysis of traffic flow characteristics was made such as free flow velourban,average velourban,the characteristics of velourban distribution,headway between adjacent vehicles,the relavance between relative speed and headway,the driver'reflect characteristics,then the influence on following behavior of different snow and ice urban expressway was studied quantitatively. Second,the characteristics of different types of optimization voleurban function were analyzed comparatiaely,and expected speed model according to Greenshields speed-density relationship was built,and minimum distances model according to car-following state was built,and thus snow and ice road speed optimization model was built. Based on the existing research of car-following theory,using the modeling thoughts of linear car-following model,combining with full velourban difference model,the new car-following model was established which is suitable for snow and ice urban express way. Finally,the measured data is used to calibrate the model,and then the model of stability,acceleration asymmetry were analyzed through the designed experiment. At the same time,survey data were used to simulate and comparatively analyzed the new model and the full velourban difference model. The results show that the simulation of the new model is more close to the actual traffic flow. It can provide theoretical support for formulating icy and snowy traffic management measures.


In this paper an analysis of variation of span of member function values with multiplying factor 'k' is done. This is carried out using MatLab and Simulink and Time and Frequency response Analysis of final output is carried out to find different parameters of designer's interest and comparative analysis is put forth graphically and in tabular form. It will be providing a ready made reference to designers about the position of the notional values and its effect on output, providing an ease of selection of position of notional values of member functions depending on the demand of the application and type of Plant in a system.


The development and deployment of harvesting systems aims to provide physically feasible, economically viable, and environmentally sound solutions. The paper aims to investigate one impact of environmental soundness - the effects of four harvesting systems on the frequency and the characteristics of residual tree damages. The following harvesting systems were surveyed: (i) a cut-to-length wheeled harvester-forwarder system, (ii) a cut-to-length tracked harvester-forwarder system (iii) a cut-to-length harvester-cable yarder system, and (iv) a whole-tree chainsaw-cable yarder-processor system working in Norway spruce stands. After finishing the harvesting operations, a field survey was done to collect data of all residual trees (species, DBH, height) and of tree wounds (size class, location and intensity of damage). The CTL wheeled harvester-forwarder system showed the lowest damage percentage, followed by the CTL tracked harvester-forwarder system, the CTL harvester-cable yarder system and the WT chainsaw- cable yarder processor system. Currently the description of the character of tree damages is confined to the two CTL harvester-forwarder systems, whereas no mentionable differences were found.


We have prepared pyrolytic carbon samples from triethylamine and investigated their yields and magnetic properties. Ferromagnetic samples were obtained from the pyrolysis products even at room temperature. The yield of the ferromagnetic sample was increased by setting a magnetic circuit on the pyrolysis chamber. The magnetic field seemed to affect the triethylamine vapor and then increased the yield and the magnetization. Also, the synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments were performed for these pyrolytic carbon samples. Diffraction peaks of iron or iron oxides were not observed for the ferromagnetic samples, whereas the major diffraction peaks of the intermediate graphite-diamond (IGD) structure were observed for the ferromagnetic samples. The best magnetization sample also showed the diffraction peaks of the diamond-like-carbon structure. Therefore, the magnetic field may help to form a three-dimentional ferromagnetic structure in pyrolytic carbon.


In the past, management of marine fisheries has concentrated largely on biological matters, but a cursory glance at any major fishery reveals that such an approach has not been successful. This article considers the fundamentally economic control techniques which might be used to improve the economic (and biological) condition of the world's fisheries. The principal alternatives are regulation by taxation, licensing or some kind of property rights system, and the merits and demerits of each measure are analysed. It is concluded that a property rights system appears to hold the most promise for improved fisheries management in the future.


The article provides evidence for a large change above System 1 (Roman/ Iron Age) because the elements P, Cu, and Pb increase above this level. The article presents these data with a clear set of illustrations and tables to show their excavations and interpretations of more than ten meters of strata. Overall, this article presents a complicated puzzle of the natural processes of sea level rise, 12th and 13th Century flooding, and human adaptation by raising the city's surface.


When a scholar seeks to understand the purpose and raison d'etre of a particular passage in the Old Testament he is not surprised to find that he cannot go straight to his objective. It frequently happens that he must first clear the ground by investigating other problems, such as those of text, language, literary criticism, or even geography. The story ofJudah and Tamar in Genesis xxxviii involves a number of such problems, and it is impossible to discuss satisfactorily the meaning and purpose of the narrative without facing them. The present paper examines some preliminary questions that arise from the chapter, and I hope to return to the story in a later article or articles to discuss further problems. I


A new formula is derived for the spin-wave stiffness constant D and is compared with previous work. It is shown that in NiD is very sensitive to the 'ground-state' exchange splitting Delta in the d band and that hybridisation with the sp band has little effect on D. The observed value of D yields a value of 0.40 eV for Delta , which is larger than the observed quasiparticle exchange splitting of 0.33 eV, as expected theoretically. Calculations on D in Ni alloys, within the virtual crystal approximation, are compared with experimental results on NiCo and NiFe.


THE scientist is never satisfied, although he digs deeper and deeper into phenomena in a continuing effort toward a more detailed understanding. In the last analysis, whatever we mean by "under standing" at any level must be carefully qualified, for no scientist has any illusions that he has ever reached absolute reality. In many fields, however, long before we have even a rough picture of what is happen ing, it is nevertheless possible to make practical use of phenomena and processes. Consider such a commonplace phenomenon as cooking food. It is safe to say that even our most erudite chemists cannot fully describe all the complex chemical reactions that go on when the housewife mixes up a batch of ingredients in the kitchen, puts it in the oven, and raises the temperature of the mixture. Yet the taste of the resulting cake is won derful, and the human race has been enjoying complex reactions of this kind for many thousands of years without fully understanding them. So it is with nuclear energy. Long before a detailed understanding of nuclear forces has been achieved we have been able to utilize nuclear energy. For decades the intrinsic energy, E ? me'2, available in matter has been understood implicitly. The exothermic and endothermic char acter of the "energy of arrangement" or binding energy changes in typi cal nuclear reactions was thoroughly understood in essence for well over ten years before 1939. Production of nuclear reactions with charged particles as in a cyclo tron is very inefficient in an over-all sense, however. Charged particles must have high energy to penetrate the atomic nucleus, and so far it has not been possible even to achieve 1 per cent nuclear hits. Most of the energy of bombarding charged particles is frittered away ionizing electrons in the vast wide open spaces away from the nucleus. With the advent of the uncharged neutron in 1932, the situation changed. Particularly with the opening of the slow neutron field in 1934 35, completely new possibilities became clear. In the first place neutrons interact only with atomic nuclei, and as they bounce around in matter from nucleus to nucleus they lose energy by nuclear collisions; but even though finally slowed down to ordinary thermal molecular equilibrium speeds, eventually they are always captured by atomic nuclei, and in the slow neutron capture cases, the nuclear processes are always exother mic. This led some of us as much as fifteen years ago to say that slow neu tron phenomena looked the most promising for practical nuclear energy release. "Burning" materials with slow neutrons is, in principle, the same as burning materials with oxygen in ordinary chemical combus


There are ongoing research challenges for the addition of the blend of PET and crumb rubber in polymer-modified concretes, which aims to leverage the benefits of both materials. In this study, various percentage combinations of waste aggregates, such as PET and crumb rubber, were used to replace coarse and fine aggregates in natural rubber latex (NRL)-modified concrete. Engineering properties such as compressive and flexural strengths, modulus of elasticity, and toughness obtained from compressive- and flexural stress-strain curves were investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis was performed to examine the microstructural properties and study the strength development of the studied concretes. The results revealed that the compressive and flexural strengths of NRL-modified concretes with PET and crumb rubber aggregate replacements decreased with increasing replacement ratios. SEM analysis indicated that PET and crumb rubber (hydrophobic and non-polar materials) can affect the microstructure of the studied concrete by creating a weak interface between the aggregate and cement pastes, leading to reduced strength development. With the addition of the NRL additive, the film formation was found to act as a bridge and improve the bond strength of aggregates and hydration products in NRL-modified concrete. Furthermore, the integration of PET and crumb rubber aggregate can enhance the ability of the concrete to absorb energy and improve ductility. It was found that 10% of PET and crumb rubber aggregate replacement can be used for NRL-modified concrete as a rigid pavement, as its mechanical strengths satisfy the requirements set by the Department of Highways (DOH) in Thailand. This research helps repurpose waste materials and reduce the environmental footprint of concrete production.


By analyzing the nature condition and present problems of White alkali beach town in Kelamayi.It propose the combination of natural grass and man-made green land with the method of planning sand area,so as to create a new green land city.


Regularization is usually necessary in solving seismic tomographic inversion problems. In general the equation system of seismic tomography is very large, often making a suitable choice of the regularization parameter difficult. In this paper, we propose an algorithm for the practical choice of the regularization parameter in linear tomographic inversion. The algorithm is based on the types of statistical assumptions most commonly used in seismic tomography. We first transfer the system of equations into a Krylov subspace by using Lanczos bidiagonalization. In the transformed subspace, the system of equations is then changed into the form of a standard damped least squares normal equation. The solution to this normal equation can be written as an explicit function of the regularization parameter, which makes the choice of the regularization computationally convenient. Two criteria for the choice of the regularization parameter are investigated with the numerical simulations. If the dimensions of the transformed space are much less than that of the original model space, the algorithm can be very computationally efficient, which is practically useful in large seismic tomography problems.


1 Brunner PM, Silverberg JI, Guttman-Yassky E et al., Councilors of the International Eczema Council. Increasing comorbidities suggest that atopic dermatitis is a systemic disorder. J Invest Dermatol 2017; 137: 18–25. 2 Radtke MA, Sch€afer I, Glaeske G, Jacobi A, Augustin M. Prevalence and comorbidities in adults with psoriasis compared to atopic eczema. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2017; 31: 151–157. 3 Egeberg A, Andersen YM, Gislason GH, Skov L, Thyssen JP. Prevalence of comorbidity and associated risk factors in adults with atopic dermatitis. Allergy 2017; 72: 783–791. 4 Egeberg A, Skov L, Andersen YM et al. Ten-year mortality is increased after hospitalization for atopic dermatitis compared with the general population, but reduced compared with psoriasis. J Am Acad Dermatol 2017; 76: 98–105. 5 Silverberg JI, Greenland P. Eczema and cardiovascular risk factors in 2 US adult population studies. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2015; 135:721.e6– 728.e6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2014.11.023. Epub 2015 Jan 8. 6 Loeffler M, Engel C, Ahnert P et al. The LIFE-Adult-Study: objectives and design of a population-based cohort study with 10.000 deeply phenotyped adults in Germany. BMC Public Health 2015; 15: 691. 7 Schmitt J, Schwarz K, Baurecht H et al. Atopic dermatitis is associated with an increased risk for rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, and a decreased risk for type 1 diabetes. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2016; 137: 130–136. 8 Wu LC, Hwang CY, Chung PI et al. Autoimmune disease comorbidities in patients with atopic dermatitis: a nationwide case-control study in Taiwan. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2014; 25: 586–592. 9 Mohan GC, Silverberg JI. Association of vitiligo and alopecia areata with atopic dermatitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Dermatol 2015; 151: 522–528. 10 Standl M, Tesch F, Baurecht H et al. Association of atopic dermatitis with cardiovascular risk factors and diseases. J Invest Dermatol 2017; 137: 1074–1081. 11 Silverberg JI. Association between adult atopic dermatitis, cardiovascular disease, and increased heart attacks in three population-based studies. Allergy 2015; 70: 1300–1308.


The World Health Organization (WHO) has proposed to associate diet and exercise to handle the overweight preva- lent in the population. The traditional exercise recommendation for fat burning is a moderate intensity session. In this condition fat oxidation during the activity reaches 6 to 8 grams per minute, which is greatly diminished when previous carbohydrates is ingested. Another option recently studied as a strategy for managing overweight is strength training or intermittent high intensity efforts. In this condition glycogen depletion favors the use of adipose tissue as energy after the exercise. With this strategy it is not necessary fasting before training. Carbohydrates ingestion prior to the session will increase glycogen oxidation and promote greater fat oxidation after the exercise.


BACKGROUND Carcinoma of the lower lip is a common cancer of the head and neck region. The accepted standard of care is surgical resection and reconstruction. The delicate location poses a challenge to surgeons because they have to aim for conflicting goals: complete oncological resection and functional and aesthetic restoration. For over a century, this challenge led to the development of more than 100 different reconstructive procedures. OBJECTIVE To develop a standardized surgical approach to simplify selection of an adequate reconstructive procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS We performed a review of the literature and a retrospective analysis of 59 patients treated according to a standardized surgical approach over the past 5 years. RESULTS By taking into account the anatomic location, the width of the defect, and the amount of tissue loss, three flowcharts have been developed to guide the physician to a selection of suitable reconstructive procedures for each case. CONCLUSION This surgical approach facilitated the successful reconstruction of all encountered defects, and over a mean period of 31 months, no recurrences or major complications were seen. The authors have indicated no significant interest with commercial supporters.


The ability of humans to communicate their thoughts in words is a defining characteristic of our species' intelligence. From an early age conversation serves as a primary method for learning information, building relationships, and coordinating action [1]. For this reason, the ability to participate in conversation stands as one of the primary requirements for an agent to be considered intelligent [2]. While these conversational intelligence tests are typically applied to purely digital systems, an increasing number of algorithms treat humans as computing agents, and the line between human and artificial intelligence has blurred [3]. One might refer to a group of sufficiently connected people as a single intelligent agent, yet the ability for groups to participate in conversational tests of intelligence is just developing. Recent work has demonstrated the ability of a group of people to complete linguistic tasks such as labeling pictures [4] and answering questions [5] within a conversation. Even so, a clear model of collective speech, or what it means for a group of people to speak as one is still lacking in the literature. This work presents a theoretical model to consider what it means for a group of people to speak as one, and uses it to develop a general model of collective speech. Due to the semantic ambiguity in what it means to "speak" our approach is to construct a simple model of speech for a single person then extend it to groups. A platform for achieving real-time collective speech based on this model is then introduced.


This chapter asks if there is something about the displacement of national identity that correlates with the formal development of the 'English Novel', even though that designation is now considered untenable, if not unusable. Reservations about tracing correlations, let alone compatibilities, between the persistence of Englishness and the prose of novelists whose job might be to decentre it, are so consolidated in literary studies that the cautions hardly need rehearsing. Yet the chapter considers how we might approach writers whose self-categorization defies criticism's prevailing inhibitions. And even when we do spot such contradictions, the chapter considers whether we can arbitrate, textually or biographically, in discrepancies between ethnic and aesthetic realms. In doing so, this chapter explores the 'fairy tale' of Englishness and what it might mean for our historical understanding of contemporary fiction.


This paper introduces the development and characteristics of basalt fiber and summarizes the major characteristics of basalt fiber reinforced concrete(BFRC).It describes the researches on impact resistance,reinforcement,corrosion resistance and dynamic energy dissipation of basalt fiber in concrete structure in recent years,which is favorable for promotion and application of basalt fiber reinforced concrete in practical engineering.


In 1996, even before the Treasury started issuing inflation-protected securities, two economists, John Campbell and Robert Shiller, suggested that if the Treasury were to introduce such a security, estimating expected inflation from it would probably overstate actual expected inflation by 50 to 100 basis points. They reasoned that in addition to compensation for expected inflation, regular Treasury notes must also pay compensation for inflation risk, or the possibility that actual inflation will be higher (or lower) than expected inflation.


The introduction and subsequent popularity of the personal computer (PC) marked a significant change in the computing world. This type of computer is now widely used both for business and home computing. The availability of relatively inexpensive, largely compatible machines has caused a reversal of the cost of using computers in the business environment: PCs offer a cheap computing base and people's time and information is likely to be much more valuable than the equipment itself. This popularity has attracted the attention of a large number of software writers. While this provides a tremendously diverse range of applications for the user, it also means there is a significant programming fringe that chooses to focus on destruction and disruption of the normal user's work pattern. Computer viruses form part of a family of 'malicious code' that also includes trojan horse code and dropper programs; these terms are outlined elsewhere in the paper. Viruses are now, of necessity, being recognized as a significant problem to users of PCs. Numbersboth of strains and occurrences are on the increase. This presents an ever worsening situation for operators of PCs, especially large (i.e. greater than a thousand) installed bases. This paper gives some background to computer viruses and also addresses their detection, removal and ongoing prevention, with particular emphasis on the large corporate scale problem. It also looks at the selection of suitable policies for tracking and controlling outbreaks. The paper reflects what is happening on a world scale and is not solely confined to BT's experience. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the day-to-day operation of PCs in a work environment but does not expect, or attempt to provide, a detailed technical explanation of the Disk Operating System (DOS) or of programming languages.


The self‐diffusion of ions in a polyelectrolyte solution is investigated both with respect to the average time an ion is associated with a particular polyelectrolyte molecule and with respect to the effect of the electrostatic field of the macro‐ions on the macroscopic self‐diffusion constant. The results on the macroscopic self‐diffusion constant are shown to be generally compatible with experiments on self‐diffusion of counterions in polyelectrolyte solutions. On the other hand, the study of the time of association of a counterion with a particular macro‐ion yields results which cannot be reconciled with the common interpretation of transference experiments on the same solutions.


THE FUTURE OF ISRAEL IS shaped by interactions between external ("exogenous") and internal ("endogenous") "drivers,"' in the sense of major environmental and domestic factors shaping realities. This distinction is different from that between variables, which can and cannot be influenced by deliberate Israeli action. While some external drivers are susceptible to some shaping by Israel, and many internal ones are beyond deliberate control, in order to influence environments, some action by Israel based on internal capacities and goals is required. These efforts aim ultimately at achieving improved internal situations, including some satisfaction of values that deal with external realities, such as "mending the world." Thus, the exploration of the evolutionary potential of Israel, mapping of "rise and decline" tendencies, and the development of policies for preventing the bad and achieving the good, however defined, require, first of all, a dynamic cartography of expected environments, their impacts on Israel, and the opportunities and dangers posed by them. Examination of such a cartography2 is the task of this article, to be followed by a second one on the future rise and decline of Israel as a Jewish-Zionist, modern, and democratic state within its external settings.


Apollo's failure to give oracles in P. Oxy. 3723 has its closest parallel in Tibullus' elegy 2, 3, where the god is described as completely helpless and bereft of all his divine attributes as a result of his servitium amoris. The seeming parallel in Ovid's narration of the story of Apollo and Daphne in the first book of the Metamorphoses exhibits a more complicated concept: Apollo presents himself in command of all divine powers, but mourns the failure of these powers to archieve the love of Daphne. He does not humiliate himself as in Tib. 2, 3, but the comic element in his appearance consists in the self-reflected discrepancy between his divine self-confidence and his erotic failure. The haughtiness of Ovid's Apollo is in line with the broader context of met. 1, especially his defeat of Pytho and his quarrel with Cupido. Ovid regularly contrasts in the early books of the Metamorphoses 'epic' and 'elegiac' structural sections. In book one he programmatically contrasts his modified concept of divine love not absorbing completely the god's personality with the exhausting and uncompromising divine servitium amoris in Tib. 2, 3.


Objective To investigate the effects and mechanisms of pilocarpine on corneal endothelium in rabbits.Methods 20 rabbits in the experiment group were subjected to 2% pilocarpine 3 times a day for 1 month or 3 months.The expressions of bcl-2 and bax protein were determined by Westernblot,the apoptosis rate of rabbit corneal endothelium cells was determined by flow cytometry,and the morphological changes of the corneal endothelium cells were determined by transmission electron microscopy.Results The expression of bax protein in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group,however the expression of bcl-2 protein was lower than that in the control group.The apoptosis rate of the rabbit corneal endothelium cells using pilocarpine for 3 months was significantly higher than that of the control group(P0.05).Also transmission electronic microscopy revealed there were morphological characteristics of apoptosis including swelling of organelles,increasing of vacuoles in the cytoplasm,compaction and margination of nuclear chromatin in the groups after using pilocarpine for 1 month and 3 months.Conclusion Topical use of 2% pilocarpine can induce the apoptosis of corneal endothelium cells in rabbits.


Irradiation of p-methoxystyrene in the presence of electron acceptors in polar solvents gives a trans-head-to-head cyclodimer of the olefin via its cation radical.


Objective To observe the association between rs2842980、rs5746136、rs2758331、rs4880、rs5746092 Haplotypes in SOD2 and noise-induced hearing loss in Chinese Han population.Methods A case-control study was designed to study the effect of environmental risk factors on susceptibility to NIHL in 201 sensitive workers and 202 resistant workers.A questionnaire was designed to carry out an investigation,and an occupational health survey was used to identify the occupational risk factors.Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood cells samples using standard procedures of Qiagen kit.SNPs were detected using standard procedures of TaqMan probe allele identification method.Haplotypes were analyzed by the Haploview software.Results There were no significant difference in noise exposure levels between the NIHL sensitive workers and resistant ones(86.90(83.05,92.90) dB vs 86.90(83.73,92.70)dB),but the HT of 3 000 Hz in left ear were significant higher in NIHL sensitive workers than in the resistant workers((40.23± 9.53) dB vs(16.15±2.58) dB).All the five feasible polymorphisms were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.Compared with haplotype AGCTG,hyplotype AGCCG was a risk factor,OR(95%CI) was 2.63(1.14~6.06),P=0.020.Conclusion The rs2842980、rs5746136、rs2758331、rs4880、rs5746092 haplotypes in SOD2 may be associated with the susceptibility to NIHL.


Cutaneous melanoma represents the most lethal form of skin cancer and remains refractory to current therapies. Failure of treatment has been attributed to the over-expression of ABC transporters. Alternative combinatorial approaches comprising chemotherapeutics and photodynamic therapy have been proposed to overcome resistance. The aim of this study was therefore to use the chemotherapeutic drug dacarbazine (DTIC), together with PDT on pigmented and unpigmented metastatic melanoma cell lines in vitro to assess efficacy and potentially identify mechanisms of resistance. We show a possible synergism of PDT+DTIC in reducing melanoma cell viability in vitro. At 24h post-treatment, only the unpigmented melanomas were sensitive to DTIC treatment (20-25% death at 1250µM). At 48h, a lethal dose of 50% was reached in these cells in contrast to the pigmented melanoma (20% at 48h). The same trend was observed with the combination therapy (PDT+DTIC) at both timepoints. Furthermore, PDT+DTIC suppressed the self-renewal capacity of both melanoma cell lines. No significant differences in ABCG2 protein expression was found at 24h post-treatment. Overall, these results suggest that ABCG2 transporters may not play a role in melanoma resistance to therapies and thus further work is required to elucidate the clinical efficacy of combination treatments in the fight against skin cancer. Citation Format: Fleury Augustin Nsole-Biteghe, Olawale Ajuwon, Lester M. Davids. An investigation into the synergistic action of chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy (PDT) in resistant human melanoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR International Conference: New Frontiers in Cancer Research; 2017 Jan 18-22; Cape Town, South Africa. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(22 Suppl):Abstract nr B42.


regime, its political, social and economic system, and in the circumstances which led to its establishment. Over the years, the historiography of this subject has undergone considerable change. As the fiftieth anniversary of the Nazi Party's rise to power approached, and with increased interest in works dealing with various regions and in the history of everyday life (Alltagsgeschichte) in Germany, many critical studies were published,


Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is a universal health problem responsible for 8.2% of all cancer deaths. Numerous risk factors were documented to be contributed to HCC development with viral hepatitis C ranking as the major predisposing factor in Egypt. The presence of a detectable amount of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the circulation is linked to the development and spread of tumors. LncRNAs NBAT‐1 and FOXCUT expression levels were used as genetic markers for the detection of gastrointestinal tract cancers. We hypothesized that serum expression levels of NBAT‐1 and FOXCUT are new biomarkers for HCC that are related to laboratory and pathological markers.


In Realist Ecstasy: Religion, Race, and Performance in American Literature, Lindsay V. Reckson uses the current scholarship on secularism to examine, as she notes, a period that this theory has ignored: post-Reconstruction America and the emergence of Jim Crow. Reckson argues that this era, with its consolidation of notions of race and its creation of racial segregation, is "central to . . . a regulatory regime of secularism" (5). African American uneasiness with the secular regime, held in place by a predominately Protestant Christian majority culture, is performed in racial, ethnic, artistic, and religious forms. Ecstatic performance of racialized persons, therefore, is multiply located—behind, before, and beside the dominant culture (234)—a formulation that she takes from the "Bacchic performance" (236) in a church in Nella Larsen's Quicksand (1928). Reckson argues that "realism gives us a sense of how deeply encoded the secular is with structures of white supremacy" (3). As she examines the semiotics of the "frenzied black body," Reckson argues that even as realism struggles to forget how it is implicated in white supremacy, its effort to leave it behind is haunted by what it tries to contain. For example: "Naturalizing racial and spiritual boundaries as part of its steadfast attention to the material world, realist practice nevertheless remains strikingly animated by ecstasy's occluded histories of violence" (234), signaling a "very real proximity between ecstasy and terror." Realism's autonomy, therefore, is "haunted by what [it] can ever completely forget." Ecstatic performance, however, happens not just within but also beside these ongoing histories, opening often occluded possibilities of freedom as they both archive the past and present and open "(counter)investments" (235). In Jim Crow America, Reckson writes that secularism is a drama "at or of the skin" (7). Therefore, performance is constrained by a Gordian knot of "racial violence, compulsion, and the 'religious' " (2). Her objects of inquiry are sites of inspiration, contagion, and enthusiasm, religious forms and gestures emerging from the Second Great Awakening, which included emotional, ecstatic, and personal conversion experiences, and which, in its relative openness to people of color, led to reform movements and progressivism. Yet for Reckson, these movements reinscribe rather than transcend racism as they stand within its structures and strictures. Reckson examines the particular fascination in Black spiritual experience with Black and other racialized bodies in ecstasy, while also demonstrating how progressivism is interwoven with racially coded white supremacy. The stability of this secular order is continuously haunted, however, by a Derridean return of what postReconstruction America thought or hoped was dead and buried. This return happens because the material world is structured by this haunting, by the "pervasive systems of racial capital, imperialism, and genocide" that shaped the present moment. Haunting, Reckson argues, "might be the dominant affect of secularism," and is "integral to what it means to be modern" (5). Secularism is both epistemological and formative as it disciplines the reason and the imagination (6), as her opening example of the figure of Henry Johnson in Stephen Crane's The Monster (1898) demonstrates. Alongside this disciplining, however, Reckson recognizes how Black bodies in ecstasy and in the case of the Ghost Dance, Native American bodies as well, threaten


$lOS@S that change in the focal length is a second modulator of acuity. This model also proposes that the extraocular muscles are the more important neuromuscular entities for both lens and focal length changes. At accommodation there would be relaxation of the recti muscles and contraction of the superior oblique muscle. This increases focal length while allowing the ciliary muscle ring to contract, releasing tension on the lens capsule. Par object focus is due to contraction of the recti muscles. These pull on the sclera, stretching the eonule fibers taut to give flattening tension of the lens capsule. The myopic eye, in addition to a highly curved iens, also has longer f'oc?l length and is misaligned in the orbit, Ageing glaucoma is h:;pothesized as due to: 1. excessive curvature of an ageing lens; 3, chronic contraction of the recti in compensatory effort to flatten the lens and shorten the focal length; 3. the overcontracted recti pull to excess, stretching the inner tissue and distorting the Schlcmm canal and its access mesh area to inhibit efflux of aqueous fluid,


Overall, in patients with chronic low-back pain, opioids are moderately more effective than placebo in the short term for pain relief and slightly more effective in the short term for improving function. However, data for long-term use are virtually nonexistent. The long-term use of opioids for patients with chronic low-back pain is controversial. Physicians are asked to provide comfort to patients, yet the regulatory and safety concerns of long-term use are a sobering counterpoint.


Abstract: Present organizations are facing extensive competition, continuously changing technological and business environment. Globalization and ever-changing customer needs have added up more challenges on business organizations. In order to meet these challenges organizations must train and develop their employees. Current organizations should deal with training necessitates linked up with altering and growing internationalization of industry, diverse national point of view and a varied workforce. So, for this purpose individuals are prepared with the right sort of aptitudes, information and capabilities to carry out their allocated responsibilities and therefore training is considered to have a massive impact on organizational efficiency. It is also noticed that more expense in training has led to more productivity. Training includes but not limited to software training, management training whereas development focuses primarily on the activities that improve employee skills for future endeavors. Firms are now facing new changes due to the rapid pace of technological and global development. Technological advancements have brought about the need of competencies and capabilities needed to perform a specific task. In order to manage these challenges, more enhanced efficient training programs are needed by all corporations.


This paper constructs a statistical model that could predict housing prices in Beijing. With the fast development of China's society, the real estate market has shown an incredible growth rate. For Beijing, as the capital of China, the housing market would be the most specific example for research. Thus, we gathered about 20 years of housing data from the official site to construct a statistical model to predict housing prices. Furthermore, we use predicted data compared with real data. Since China has strong central control, the market is most affected by policies, and we cannot quantify it. However, we chose several factors that could be put into the model, including income, GDP, population, consumption level, and GDP from construction. These factors are considered the most important elements that will affect housing prices and are the factors we use in our prediction model. In the end, we make the predictions for values in 2019 and 2020, and the predicted price has little difference from the actual data, which could demonstrate our model's accuracy. However, our model is built ideally, and for real-word prediction it needs to consider more unpredictable factors, such as central policies, social change, and so on.


Since the introduction of the so-called Green Tyre concept, in the early 90ies, the use of silica as reinforcing fillers has spread and grown worldwide. The general advantages of silica as reinforcing filler over carbon black filler are better rolling resistance by achieving at least equal wet traction while tread wear should not be adversely affected.In general, high filler loading attributes poor dispersion and lack of adhesion to the rubber matrix which in turn affect the processability and physical properties of the rubber compounds. In this work, the objective of the study was to investigate the influence of viscosity on silica dispersion and in relation to mechanical and performance properties of Epoxidised Natural Rubber (ENR) compound. The viscosity of the compound was measured via viscometer. The filler flocculation and dispersion was monitored by following the changes in torque and storage modulus at low strain using rheometer MDR 2000 and DisperGrader. The filler network on the other hand was characterised by Rubber Processing Analyzer (RPA) and bound rubber measurements. The physical tests were also done according to the ASTM methods such as tensile strength and abrasion. Results showed that low viscosity of rubber will facilitate further the dispersion of the filler in the system although other physical properties will be affected.


ACADEMIC POSITIONS • Joseph J. Aresty Professor, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, since July 2015 • Professor of Economics (by courtesy), School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, since July 2015 • Professor of Marketing (by courtesy), Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, since July 2014 • Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, since July 2013 • Associate Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy (with tenure), Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 2010-2013 • Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Harvard University, 2009-2010 • Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Harvard University, 2004-2009 • Visiting Professor, INSEAD, 2018-2019 • Visiting Scholar, European School of Management and Technology, 2014-2015 • Metzler Bank Visiting Professor, Goethe Universität, 2013-2014 • Visiting Scholar, Duke University, October 2011 • Visiting Scholar, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, April 2009 • W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, 2006-2007 • Visiting Scholar, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, October 2006 • Visiting Scholar, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, 2001-2004


A comprehensive mission for schools is to educate students to be responsible, socially skilled, caring, and contributing citizens overall. This mission is supported by the growing number of school-based prevention programs. Most of those programs are based in socio-emotional learning which aims the enhancement of knowledge, skills, habits and values which represent a core of child's academic, personal and social development. Those skills are useful for school conditions and life in general: recognizing feelings and good emotion regulation, development of positive relationships with others, responsible decision making and problem solving help children to be more successful in general. Research shows that children who don't have socio-emotional skills are on higher risk for development of stabile behavioural disorders, learning difficulties and academic failure ; they have problems with connecting to peers and higher risk for substance abuse. The socio-emotional approach to school-based prevention incorporates health promotion, competence enhancement, and youth development frameworks that integrate strategies for reducing risk factors and enhancing protective mechanisms. In our talk, we will present the PATHS socio-emotional program. Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies is a school based universal prevention program developed by Mark Greenberg and Carol Kusche. Program is being delivered within pre-school settings and in all classes of elementary schools by a teacher on a weekly base. Although program is being delivered in school settings, intention of the authors was to reinforce the generalization of activities and strategies in other contexts of life. PATHS program goal is enhancement of self-control, enhancement of emotion regulation, learning of steps for problem solving and promotion of positive values and healthy relationships with others. Research shows that PATHS is successful in reducing aggression and violence among peers, enhancing positive climate in classroom and empowering children in problem solving.


One of the main problems of parallel and GRID technologies is to obtain information about execution of remote programs. In this paper we propose the on-li ne WWW-monitoring scheme for real-time watching of remote MPI-processes. The key-point of this scheme is that each process can actively report its state to the special WWW-server, which is responsible for correc t and on-time collecting of process data. The user can specify the monitoring operations by means of the spe cial C-library designed. It is extremely useful for large-scale jobs, which may require the execution time about sever al hours, days or more. The design was implemented in the framework of the WWW-based Workplace of Applie d Programmer (W4AP). From the user's viewpoint, this workplace represents an application-orient ed virtual machine being accessible via standard WEB-browsers. Key-Words: Parallel Processing, Distributed and GRID-computing, Client/Ser ver Technology, On-line WWW Monitoring, Message Passing Interface


The convergence analysis for the second order hyperbolic equation with a new second order nonconforming finite element is discussed.By using the special properties of the new element, the corresponding error estimates are obtained based on some new techniques.


While some resource-rich countries are highly corrupt, others have transparent and well-functioning governments. What explains this wide variation in so-called "resource-cursed" states? I show that these differences result from domestic institutional choices over how resource extraction is governed. Some governments grant procurement authority—the ability to award contracts for production rights—to state-owned enterprises, whereas others place this authority in ministries. Building upon agency theory, I argue that this choice matters: The relative political autonomy of state-owned enterprises compared with ministries fosters an opaque regulatory environment that incentivizes malfeasance. Using new data on transnational bribes in 59 oil-producing countries, I show evidence for a robust link between oil-related institutions and bribery, even after addressing the endogeneity of institutional choice via instrumental variables analysis. This research has implications not only for the political economy of the resource curse hypothesis but also for existing theories on corruption and regulatory independence.


The article analyzes the position of Brachylles as epistates in Sparta after the battle of Sellasia. In the author's opinion, the appointment of epistates was an allies' compromise, while Brachylles had no actual military powers. He held his post for several months and left it before the death of the Macedonian King Antigonus Doson. The appointment of epistates in Sparta should not be considered in the context of strengthening of the Macedonian dictate at the end of the third century B.C.


Floods belong to the most threatening natural hazards for human society and economics, and are enhanced by urbanization and climate change. Integrated assessment is defined as an interdisciplinary and participatory process of combining, integration, interpreting, and communicating knowledge from diverse scientific disciplines to allow a better understanding of complex phenomena. Ontology, as a formal knowledge representation, will provide methods for the interdisciplinary integrated flood assessment. This paper will develop integrated watershed flood risk assessment ontology from different perceptual models of watershed flood risk. First, different conceptual models, such as Pressure-State-Impact-Response model, are introduced. Then the development framework of ontology is given. The flood risk assessment ontology is designed based on the upper level ontology of Semantic Web for Earth and Environmental Terminology (SWEET). Finally the rainfall excess indicator computing ontology and vulnerability index computing ontology were given as the examples of application development.


The distribution of a backfill grouting layer behind concrete lining of a large diameter shield tunnel under construction is important for evaluation of its stability. In the paper, the numerical simulation is developed considering the three layered media of segment, backfill grouting and surrounding soil. In the simulation, the influences on the radargram from the steel bars in the segment are analyzed. To eliminate the multiple wave from the steel bars, coincidence information removing method (CIRM) is used and Karhunen-Loève (K-L) filtering is discussed. To calculate the thickness of the grouting layer more precisely, the field tests on segment, grouting layer and surrounding soil are carried out to acquire their dielectric permittivity. The detection of Guang-Shen-Gang large diameter shield tunnel shows, the measured thickness of backfill grouting layer using GPR is very close to the designed.