Objective: Orthodontic patient's motivation and cooperation are an important factor which determines their treatment outcomes. Considering them as vital components in this study Q-methodology was used to investigate motivating factors among adolescents seeking orthodontic treatment and parents wanting their children to undergo orthodontic treatment (third person grammar). These motivating factors help to develop a set of specific motivational strategies during orthodontic treatment. Methods: This study was divided into 2 parts: first part generated a list of reasons for seeking orthodontic treatment by taking interviews among school children and their parents. 18 items for patients and 20 items for parents were generated from these interviews. In second part, list of reasons generated from the interviews were placed in order of importance on a Q-methodology grid by 50 patients and 50 parents respectively which were made to assess and categorize the relative importance of these reasons. Result: For the patients, statistical analysis using Chi-Square test identified four most important factors, all of which included in esthetic concern (P-value<0.001 for overall comparison of distribution of responses on importance of factors). For the parents, statistical analysis identified five most important factors which placed high importance on seeking treatment for their child who is still growing to prevent future problems. (P-value<0.001 for overall comparison of distribution of responses on importance of factors) (Mention P value). Conclusion: This study showed that an effective treatment strategy can be selected for each patient and parent according to their motivational profile using Q-methodology which is a novel and efficient tool that can be used in dental research.


A low density polyethylene (LDPE) is one of the hazardous polymers accelerates land and water pollution. Standardizing the protocol for degradation of plastics in an aesthetic approach is a big task. Low density polyethylene polymer can be degraded by microbial enzymes by means of cutting down the molecular chains. Two fungal strains Aspergillus fumigus and Xylaria sp. were showing high degradable activity through the determination of pH variation and carbon di oxide estimation. Aspergillus fumigus and Xylaria sp shows pH variation in the culture media containing LDPE strips after 30 days and was recorded as 6.5 to 8.4 and 6.5 to 7.7 respectively. The efficacy of polyethylene degradation was confirmed further by CO2 estimation of culture filtrate and was recorded as 1.460 g/l in Aspergillus fumigus and 1.350 g/l in Xylaria sp. Surface erosion and the formation of pits and cavities on the surface of the LDPE strips were also observed using Scanning Electron Microscope and significant disappearance in carbonyl peak with respect to the control band absorbance (2361.61 cm-1) and increase or decrease in peak intensity with respect to control indicates structural changes in chemical bond due to degradation process.


A resource allocation mechanism based on matching and bargaining is presented. There are many resource providers and many resource seekers. The resource valuations of the agents are private and are uniformly distributed over a common support. The regulator establishes two bid levels. Each participating agent is randomly paired with a counterpart and the allocations arise out of these bilateral encounters based on agents' individual bid choices. We show a Bayes Nash equilibrium in dominant strategy when the regulator fixes the strategy for one set of agents. The mechanism has parameters to tune the allocations.


Chronic Covid Patients Can Trigger More Lethal Variants , Rather than evolving from regular transmission among millions of humans, the coronavirus variants of concern from chronic, long Covid patients can be more deadly and need urgent attention, scientists have warned. Chronic Covid Patients Can Trigger More Lethal Variants, Earlier studies have shown that some immune-compromised people, such as those taking medication for other chronic disorders, have carried active Covid infections for a year or even longer. It's critical to identify these people, the researchers stress, not only to help them get treated for Covid, but also to conduct genomic surveillance of the SARS-CoV-2 viruses that they carry. "Rather than evolving from transmission chains of acute Covid infections in hundreds of millions of people, our results show that the variants of concern come from rare cases when someone may have an active


OBJECTIVE
To confirm the anti-cancer effect and mechanism of Wuxing soup.

METHODS
Inhibition of cellular growth under Wuxing soup treatment was observed by MTT; Apoptosis was detected by gel electrophoresis, transmission electron microscopy and FACS; The concentration of calcium was measured by fluorescence probe.

RESULTS
After SGC-7901 cell being treated by Wuxing soup, it showed that: 1) Wuxing soup could specifically inhibit cancer cells proliferation in a time and dose dependent manner; 2) Typical apoptotic morphological changes and DNA ladder of SGC-7901 cells were observed; 3) calcium inhibitor Bapta AM could reduce the apoptotic rate and protect SGC-7901 cells in a dose dependent manner.

CONCLUSION
Wuxing soup has an effective inhibition on cancer cells, and can induce SGC-7901 cells to apoptosis by calcium.


advanced machine learning discriminant analysis models for face retrieval system has been implemented in this paper. The image can be portioned into different subband system to extract the features. To reduce the dimensionality to extract a few features. So, it takes more computational time to extract the features. The proposed method can be implemented in one of the most popular methods is dimensionality reduction. Discriminate analysis models are widely applied on linear and non-linear expressions to extract the feature basis on scatter matrix. Different preserving projection models are used for extract the features from local and non-local matrices. In this paper, we proposed the advanced machine learning discriminate analysis models based on discriminant analysis and preserving projection based on the ORL, YALE database. This paper gives improved results regarding of face recognition parameters as compared to existing models.


In this paper, the remote liquid detection through the wireless interrogation of a VHF Love wave acoustic sensor is presented. In the prototype, the Love wave sensor is interrogated with a Vector Network Analyzer in a bistatic antenna configuration. The addition of salt water onto the sensor induces a repeatable change in its impedance and a change in its Radar Cross-Section (RCS) around of 0.13 dBsm. A variation in the frequency of 221 kHz and in the magnitude of the transmission coefficient 0.17 dB were measured at the resonant frequency region of the device.


Vector boson production is a classical benchmark process at hadron colliders, where it has been measured to high accuracy. We discuss recent progress on precision calculations for vector boson production at NNLO and N3LO in QCD and highlight the phenomenological impact of the newly derived corrections.


Nanoporous polysulfone (PSU) membranes were fabricated via post-hydrolysis of polylactide (PLA) from PLA–PSU–PLA triblock copolymer membranes. The PSU scaffold was thermally crosslinked before sacrificing PLA blocks. The resulting nanopore surface was chemically modified with sulfonic acid moieties. The membranes were analyzed and evaluated as separators for vanadium redox flow batteries. Nanoporous PSU membranes prepared by this new method and further chemically modified to a slight degree exhibited unique behavior with respect to their ionic conductivity when exposed to solutions of increasing acid concentration.


SONOLINE Antares system is integrated with pulsed Doppler,Color Doppler,and Power Doppler imaging.This paper decribes a case of troubleshooting for it.


When someone measuring for pressure of a Solid Rocket Motor(SRM) at Static Firing Test, generally, used with pressure tube to be filled in Oil. But, if you used pressure tube with oil, you were worried about possibility of spilled oil when you measured pressure in SRM at high altitude environment. Because it usually connected at ignitor. In this paper, We described how to make a pressure tube without oil and matters to be attended to design it.


The present work looks into the essential aspects of consortium learning management and the role and architecture of a suitable learning management system (LMS).The aim of the proposed architecture for the LMS of a university consortium is to provide in it the capability of learning content according to the grade/marks and learning style of the specific learner. Different universities, colleges in geographically dispersed locations, forming the consortium, contribute their learning resources to the consortium. Therefore a LMS is required that serve the purpose of LMS for a university consortium as well as can be used for a standalone institution. The LMS in the university consortium tracks the usage of contents from individual institution/university. There is a need for the consortium to rate contents according to the basis of learners' acceptance. It is possible that the payment would be fixed on the basis of this rating.


1 that use image-based algorithms must make cumbersome preparations for reconstruction of 3D geometry of objects. Such preparations include acquisition of multiple images, calibration of camera(s), and specification of corresponding points in images. We have developed a system that frees users from these preparation steps. Our system provides an easy-to-use 3D editing environment that requires only a single-source image to begin with. Users can edit 3D objects via their 2D projection on the image. A 3D object is interactively selected and exported to the paste buffer by specifying a couple of characteristic points of the shape. In the paste buffer, the object surface is flattened and laid out using a 2D coordinate that is naturally defined on the surface of the object. A user can perform edit and paint operations in this paste buffer. The contents of the buffer can be pasted either back to the original object or to another object. The system also provides the following functions to assist users: • Points Adjustment Once coarse positions of an object to be extracted are given, our system automatically refines these positions using the gradient of the image. • Diffuse Color Editing Users can edit the diffuse (object) color while preserving the effect of illumination. The system performs a color histogram analysis to obtain shading and specular reflection in an image. Then, given a new diffuse color, the system adjusts its intensity to match the shading in the original image and add the specular component to restore shiny reflection. The same method is used in our illumination conscious texture mapping. • Spreading out Adjacent Surfaces to One Paste Buffer Adjacent surfaces in the image preserve the adjacency in the paste buffer as well. This is useful when a user wants to draw across surfaces. • Image Restoration The system can remove an unwanted foreground object (i.e., 3D eraser). This is done by applying an image restoration algorithm 2 in the paste buffer. • Alpha Blending Optional key (alpha value) of the destination image can be used during the paste operation. Users can write-protect regions of the destination from overwritting by the paste buffer contents, achieving additional occlusion effects on the result. Fig. 1 shows a sample of an editing session using our system. In the result image, the covers of the yellow and purple notes were swapped and the cover of the yellow note was pasted on the stuffed cat …


Graptophyllum pictum is a well-known folk medicine in Indonesia. The red leaves are widely used for their anti-inflammatory properties to relieve hemorrhoids. However, little is known about to what extent these properties can affect platelet aggregation. This study was aimed to determine the anti-inflammation and anti-platelet aggregation activities of the ethanolic extract of Graptophyllum pictum (EEGP). Apart from the ear and hind-paw edema assay, anti-platelet aggregation and bleeding time assay were also performed on male Wistar rats. The test animals were grouped into six groups: three treatment groups termed EEGP100, EEGP600, and EEGP3000 (received 100, 600, and 3000 mg/kg BW of EEGP, respectively), one control-solvent group (1% CMC-Na), and two positive control groups (aspirin and Na-diclofenac). Based on the percentage of edema inhibition, absorbance change, and bleeding time, EEGP600 and EEGP3000 produced a comparable percentage of edema inhibition to that of Na-diclofenac, which was not found in EEGP100. Also, EEGP600 and EEGP3000, but not EEGP100, inhibited platelet aggregation as effective as aspirin (positive control). In conclusion, if administered at 600 and 3000 mg/kg BW, the ethanolic extract of Graptophyllum pictum can function as an anti-inflammatory agent that inhibits platelet aggregation.


[Objective] The aim was to study the difference of cold resistance of Cinnamomum camphora and Magnolia grandiflora in natural decreasing process of air temperature.[Method] With health leaves of C.camphora and M.grandiflora in xuzhou as the materials,the dynamic change laws of their cell membrane permeability,malondialdehyde content,superoxide dismutase activity and free proline conten in natural decreasing process of air temperature were studied.[Result] With the decrease of temperature,the cell membrane permeability and the contents of malondialdehyde and free proline of 2 tree species were all showed a trend of increase first then decrease,and the maximum of cell membrane permeability and free proline content of 2 tree species were all appeared in january.The superoxide dismutase activities of 2 tree species showed "M" curve change,and the superoxide dismutase activity of M.grandiflora was higher than that of C.camphora in the whole process.[Conclusion] The cold-resistance of M.grandiflora was stronger than that of C.camphora.


Since the appearance of the bitcoin, more and more people have been paying attention to it. Investors have shown great concern about the price of bitcoin through ARCH (Autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model) effect test and asymmetric test, we drew the following conclusion: the fluctuations of bitcoin price have the time-varying characteristics and the characteristics of wave agglomeration, but there is no leverage effect.


Intellectual property (IP) reuse is essential for meeting the challenges of system-on-a-chip (SoC) design productivity improvement, design quality and meeting time-to-market goals. However, IP quality issues in terms of inadequate test coverage, low power capability, absence of functional features etc. has led to reduced benefits from reuse. This is because the IP is usually designed for use in one chip and later on (re)used in chips having different requirements. Hence, part of SoC design productivity is spent in enhancing the IP to the desired quality level. In a joint development program with the customer, where it is required to integrate some of their IPs, the usual paradigm followed for reuse has to be enhanced beyond the state-of-the-art to meet the design goals. As updated versions of the IP may be released several times during the SoC design phase, managing the design database poses challenge with respect to the IP enhancements.


We investigated the effect of hydrochloric acid concentration for preparing the superhydrophobic surface on aluminum alloy by etching and PP coating. The superhydrophobicity of the surface was characterized by water contact angle. The morphologies of the surface were observed by SEM. The results showed that the acid concentration had an obvious effect on the hydrophobic surface and a good superhydrophobic surface was achieved by PP coating after etching for suitable time. When the acid concentration is lower, the longer time is necessary for obtaining the superhydrophobic surface. When the concentration of hydrochloric acid was 4 g/L and the etching time was only 8 min, the best superhydrophobic surface with the highest contact angle (CA) of 157° was prepared. The obtained superhydrophobic surface resulted from the rough surface and the material of PP with the low surface energy.


Summary

Characteristics of bottom substrates have caused wide concernas to their importance for sturgeon spawning ground requirements. Substrate requirements for spawning of Chinese sturgeon Acipenser sinensis have not yet been well studied because of the difficulties in investigating on a large and fast flowing river such as the Yangtze River. During 2007 and 2008, the underwater video surveys on the present spawning ground of A. sinensis were successfully conducted. Two kinds of substrates were documented: one stable infrastructure consisting of large boulders and cobbles mixed with pebbles and gravels, the other comprise sediments in transportation, especially coarse and fine sands. The large boulders (size range 20–50 cm), cobbles and pebbles (size range 10–20 cm), pebbles or gravels are estimated to account for 50, 30, 20% of the available substrates of the infrastructure on spawning ground according to our underwater video survey points, respectively. The transporting sands can be observed in most area, while the river sand embedded or covered the large structural compounds just occur in certain area and the substrate where spawning occurs annually and occasionally were similarly 'clean' of fine sediment. The eggs (embryos) of Chinese sturgeon have been observed 'hiding' in or adhering to the interstitial spaces between the clean large materials e.g. boulders, cobbles and pebbles during the 2007/2008 study period. Therefore the degree of cover of the larger particles by sand (embeddedness), which will directly affect the spawning habitat and subsequently influence survival of the new hatched larvae, were assessed by determining the topographic data in relation to water velocity. The multivariable correlation analysis and binary logistic regression analysis showed that the comparably topographic characteristics which had been confirmed to be suitable at the historic and present spawning sites would eventually contribute to the substrate deposition. The embeddedness of the sediment are obviously lower in shallow water with higher water velocity than in the deeper water with slower water current (P < 0.01) and the sites where the embryo occur can be predicted with the three physical variables: embeddedness of the sediment, water velocity and river bottom elevation. The bedform morphology with an adverse slope (channel slope adverse to the bottom elevation grads) formed by larger blocks of substrate, will improve the water turbulence at high current to carry the suspended or embedded fine sediments away from the spawning site and (in turn) provide enough interstitial spaces for effective egg deposition and incubation. Therefore the substrate requirements for the spawning habitat of Chinese sturgeon should be described and assessed more than just rocky and gravelly substrate, taking the embeddedness of sediment in well consider. The concepts of detailed description of the substrate requirements and their relationship with the overall bedform morphology has been shown to be essential to provide benefit for the rehabilitation of the spawning ground while fostering the conservation of the endangered species.


fllHIS report deals with the re-survey of the southern part of the X State. The formations here found may be divided into the five following groups : (1) crystalline rocks, (2) laterites, (3) limestones, (4) the Warkalay formation, (5) the recent deposits. The crystalline rocks form part of the great charnockite series: they are on the whole intermediate in composition, containing little quartz. These typical fresh charnockites are overlain on the higher ground by a zone of leptynite, in which the felspar is kaolinized and the hypersthene converted into garnet. The massive charnockites are cut by numerous dykes of norite. The laterites are chiefly of the residual type formed from the crystalline rocks. The Warkalay beds are mostly coarse red and yellow sands, and the argillaceous formation known as teri probably forms part of this series, which is believed to be of Cretaceous age. The occurrence of monazite in the Warkalay and recent formations is dealt with in a separate report. The chief minerals of economic value, besides monazite, are graphite and pyrrhotite. 11. H. R.


Production and biomass of the macrobenthic intertidal fauna of a sand flat, a Zostera noltii bed, and a mud flat in the Ria Formosa, Southern Portugal were examined over an annual cycle. The following values were obtained for secondary production P (g ash free dry weight m-2 a-1) and average biomass B (g ash free dry weight m-2)—the value in brackets with the epibenthic predator Carcinus maenas included: sand flat: P=32·5 (34·4); B =15·2 (15·4); P/B=2·14 (2·23); Zostera noltii bed: P=54·2 (57·6); B =16·7 (17·2); P/B=3·24 (3·35); mud flat: P=54·7 (71·5); B =22·4 (25·1); P/B=2·44 (2·85).

Biomass varied markedly with minimum values during winter and maxima in spring/summer reflecting highest macrobenthic production during spring and summer months. Production and biomass were much more diverse on the sand flat and in the Zostera bed compared to the mud flat. This was interpreted as being due to differences in grain size characteristics between the sand flat and the mud flat and a caging effect of Zostera leaves. Production figures are discussed with reference to the main food sources of the species. It is concluded that detritus must be of outstanding importance for the production processes in the Ria Formosa.


[Objective] To understand the molecular epidemiological characteristics of some rare serotype Salmonella with pulsed field gel electrophoresis(PFGE) in Shanghai. [Methods] 22 strains of Salmonella including seven serotypes were isolated from different sources.PFGE were performed by genomic DNA digestion with Xba I restriction enzyme.[Results] Significant difference were expressed between two strains of Salmonella Lexington and two strains of Salmonella Hvittingfoss in electrophoretogram map.Homology were expressed in electrophoretogram map for two strains of Salmonella Montevideo,two trains of Salmonella Langensalza,two strains of Salmonella Uppsala,five strains of Salmonella Schwarzenground and foure strains of Salmonella Pomona. [Conclusion] The epidemic strains of rare serotype Salmonella and Salmonella strains in food are expressed either as homology or non-homology in Shanghai.To make a comprehensive surveillance and real-time molecule typing analysis can predict the epidemic of rare serotype Salmonella.


The year was 1961; the scene was a Southern California coffee shop, and Walter F. Bauer of Ramo-Wooldridge was presiding over the April breakfast meeting of the 1961 Western Joint Computer Conference Committee. The meeting was spirited, as the chairmen of the various subcommittees reported on the status of their activities. Cornelius Leondes of UCLA chaired the Program Committee, with Paul Armer, John D. Madden, and John McLeod serving as assistant program chairmen. Keith W. Uncapher was the vicechairman of the conference; he supplied the continuity and historical perspective for the forthcoming event. Rumor had it that this would be the last Joint Computer Conference (JCC) to be held under the sponsorship of the National Joint Computer Committee (NJCC). It was said that a new organization was to be created to run the JCCs. I was the conference administrator for the 1961 Western Joint Computer Conference (WJCC), a position that Bauer had created when he accepted the chairmanship of the conference. He had been able to implement this move because he was then my boss. For those like myself who were not in direct contact with the national body, the NJCC, the implications of the impending event-the last JCC-were unclear. The immediate goal of our committee was probably the same as that of the eighteen previous JCC com-


: The problem of recommendation in tourismis to provide important landmark for tourists. This proposed work predicts the user favorite location in a city.Before traveling to particular city the tourist needs information about landmark worth to visit and its order. Without this knowledge the tourist depends on the travel blogs, travel guides and public transportation sites which is time consuming process. In this paper it provides the landmark with user preference categories like education, entertainment etc. Under each categorythe important landmarks are found out. Flickr is a photo sharing website which has launched its service for adding latitude and longitude information to photos called geotagged photos. This information is extracted from flickr using photoid. Based on these geotagged photos information the users preference category get recommended and then ranked the tourist spot. To recommend the travel for the users, the traveling path is also necessary. So to recommend the path, the routing calculation is done. Then the interested travel routing between the landmarks is recommended to the users.


A simple classical treatment of the potential curve fitting to the experimental differential cross section is presented. The classical deflection function is expanded in a triple series of the inverse power of the impact parameter. This series holds for any combinations of both repulsive and attractive inverse power potentials stronger than γ-2, and it permits an analytical evaluation of the classical differential cross section. This method is attempted to fit to the differential scattering data of Ar++Ar and Xe++Xe measured by Lorents, Olson and Conklin. Results show fairly good agreement in the neighborhood of the rainbow scattering angle except for the oscillatory interference patterns due to the resonant electron exchange. This method is simple and it may save much numerical labour compared with semiclassical or quantal treatment.


Vocational schools are a resource for many students, with usually low motivation and high learning difficulties. The fact that this type of teaching is of a more practical, experimental, and job oriented type, points to teaching strategies less theoretical and focus on a more practical student involvement. Profiting from those characteristics, the study of the use of scientific projects on vocational teaching was initiated. It was proposed to vocational school students, high-school equivalent students, the development of small science projects in the subjects of physics and chemistry with the final objective of being presented. The difficulty level of the science projects was increased progressively, in a way to be correctly adapted to this type of teaching. Learning gains were evaluated trough questionnaires and tests presented at different stages of the learning process.


Objective: to adapt the model of Kristen M. Swanson for nursing care of elderly women, focused on their health needs, taking as a reference the comprehensive assessment and interpretation of their experience. Method: the study was qualitative with hermeneutic approach, ten elderly women were interviewed, aging from 65 to 84 years old, who attended a Day House in Toluca, to whom semi-structured interviews were applied in depth, which were transcribed, codified and grouped in the dimensions of the central contents analysis of each thematic unit. Heidegger's hermeneutic circle was taken as a reference for the understanding and interpretation of the substantive codes. The analysis was of content through the discourse technique. Results: there are six categories of care identified in the therapeutic actions that intervene in the achievement of well-being. Family accompaniment, hope, movement, guidance in health, therapeutic dialogue and love are factors that promote the well-being of elderly women. The disposition of the categories was organized into semantic fields from which three dimensions emerged: that of being a woman, elderly woman and coping strategies, and nursing care. From the hermeneutic analysis, it was possible to buildup the Model of Kristen Swanson for nursing care of elderly women with their five healthcare processes: Maintaining beliefs; Knowing; Being with; Doing by; and Allowing or enabling. Conclusion: the care model aimed at elderly women is based on: dialogue, hope, movement and health guidance focused on the exercise of autonomy. DESCRIPTORES: Nursing care. Women. Elderly. Nursing models. Geriatric nursing. ADAPTACIÓN DEL MODELO DE KRISTEN SWANSON PARA EL CUIDADO DE ENFERMERÍA EN ADULTAS MAYORES


This paper investigates the performance and emission characteristics of single cylinder four stroke petrol engine using unleaded gasoline with combination of ethanol and diethyl ether. Exhaust emissions were analysed for CO, HC, NOx, and CO2 by varying engine torque and engine speed. The result showed that the blend of unleaded gasoline with diethyl ether increases the octane number which in turn increases the power output which leads to increase in the brake thermal efficiency of the engine. The CO, HC, and NOx emissions concentrations in the engine exhaust decreases while the CO2 concentration increases. The use of diethyl ether and ethanol blends as a fuel additive to unleaded gasoline causes an improvement in performance and significant reduction in exhaust emission.


In temperate zone, early freeze, particularly if preceded by a period of warm and wet weather, can severely injure many woody plants. The young plants are particularly sensitive to frost, especially those grown in containers. The timing and capacity of cold acclimation are modified by environmental cues. We examined whether regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) imposed in the fall affects cold acclimation of containerized Lawson cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana)'Columnaris' and Knaphill-Exbury azalea (Rhododendron) 'Oxydol'. Three-year-old plants were grown in containers placed in the open field and were cultivated according to standard nursery practice. In the end of growing season (from 5th October to 2nd November 2015, half of the plants were expose to moderated water stress by ceasing irrigation and protecting them from the rain (RDI treatment). The volumetric water content of the growing medium gradually decreases in this time from 0.45 to 0.2 m3/m3. Irrigation of the second part of the plants were continued in October and water content was maintained at 0.45 m3/m3 (control treatment). Cold hardiness of stem tissues was assessed two times (2nd November and 7th December) in the laboratory using the ion-leakage test. Stem tissue were exposed to 6 test temperatures, ranging from +4 to – 26 ̊C. Additionally, plant quality after overwintering was evaluated. Freeze tolerance of plant stems of both woody plants was significantly higher in December than November. Regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) generally increased cold hardiness of Lawson cypress in November as well as in December. At RDI treatment, Bożena Matysiak, Waldemar Treder 556 ion-leakage from plant tissue frozen to – 26 ̊C was lower by 20% in the first time of assessment, and by 8% in the second time. Regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) increased cold hardiness of azalea stems only in November, but did not affect frost hardiness in December. At water deficit treatment, ion-leakage from plant tissue frozen to – 26 ̊C was lower by 12% than at control treatment. This study demonstrated that reduced water supply early autumn promoting acclimating to low winter temperatures.


There is an important trend in light emitting diodes (LED) industry to produce continuously thinner package. Chip-on-Board (COB) packaged LED, as a promising thermal efficient package structure, has rarely been investigated for its thermal performance under smaller package thickness. In this work, encapsulant or overall package thickness as a factor to influence the junction temperature as well as the maximum phosphor temperature for COB LEDs is presented. Finite element method (FEM) is employed and validated by forward voltage method (FVM). As shown in the results, for single-chip COB LEDs with standard MESA structure and volume distributed phosphor, there is a lowest point in the maximum temperature while thinning encapsulant layer. But for multi-chip COB LEDs, the junction and phosphor temperature will be reduced with thinner encapsulant. In both cases, the largest deviation of the maximum temperature with different encapsulant thickness can be more than 10°C. Parametric studies of other critical factors such as different Die Attach Adhesive (DAA) materials and radius of encapsulant while thinning encapsulant thickness are also provided. There are two ways to enlarge the input power of COB LED: one is to raise the input power into each chip; the other is to increase the number of chips. It's interesting to find the different thermal behaviors for the two cases. Larger input power will cause a more stable maximum temperature for COB LEDs. While more chips leads to higher variation of the maximum temperature with respect to encapsulant thickness.


'I'his book is unique in that it seeks to gather the more notable of the" Bible Triads," i. e. texts in which a triple presentment of truth may be found, as "The Three-fold Blessing-Grace, Mercy and Peace." At first thought one would think this could be only artificially done, but a reading of this book convinces one otherwise. 'I'here are forty-five of these types of texts selected and briefly though beautifully treated. A reading of these essays will make the Bible more precious. H. C. WAYMAN.


While the customer interruption cost of industry and corporation are constantly researched, researches of customer interruption cost in home user are immaterial than other sector. In this paper we calculate home user's customer interruption cost and then we construct objective and reliable statistic of customer interruption cost, and make a contribution of and order of priority that is distribution system for high quality and high reliable electrical power.


Zinc Oxide thin films of thickness 0.7μm has been prepared by spray pyrolysis technique on to the sapphire and glass substrates kept at 500°C. The films were formed using two different molar concentration ie 0.15 and 0.2M. These films were characterized for SEM and XRD analysis and it was observed that the average size of the crystallites were of order of 400nm and 325nm for sapphire and glass respectively. XRD analysis revealed that the intensity of peaks were more pronounced in sapphire as compared to glass. Moreover the intensity of (002) plane were increased in both the samples ( films on sapphire and glass) as the concentration of spray solution was increased. V-I characteristics were analyzed for both the samples (using two probe method) and was observed that resistivity for glass and sapphire were of order of 140ohm-cm and 110ohm -cm respectively. Moreover the films were annealed at temperature 350°C for 2hours in vacuum ( 10-5 torr) and was found that resistivity for films on sapphire were decreased by 101. Optical properties for both the samples were studied and was found that band gap for films grown on sapphire was more by 0.02eV as compared to the films on glass.


Recent concerns about the spread of the mosquito-borne West Nile Virus (WNV) through North America have prompted a number of regional studies of mosquito species composition and distribution. In this study, we report on intensive surveys of mosquitoes on Prince Edward Island (PEI). Larvae were collected by sampling standing water habitats (ponds, ditches, puddles, containers) along roadsides throughout the province, using a 0.5L dipper. Adults were collected through a combination of larval rearing, light trapping, and conducting landing surveys. Results of the study nearly doubled the known species numbers for the province from 18 to 32, and yielded information on larval habitats and adult flight periods. The different collection methods yielded very different results, indicating the importance of combining sampling methods to conduct a full species survey. For example, three species collected as adults were not collected as larvae, and four were collected only as larvae. Eleven species dominated the Island-wide fauna, including the salt marsh mosquitoes (Ochlerotatus cantator and Oc. sollicitans) which made up about half of the mosquitoes collected and were among the most aggressive biters. Twenty-two of the 32 species were attracted to humans with five ( Oc. abseratus/punctor, Oc. cantator, Oc. sollicitans, Oc. stimulans, and Coquillettidia perturbans) making up ~80% of those that landed and attempted to bite. The Culex species (Cx. pipians and Cx. restuans) that have been identified as important enzootic vectors of WNV are reported on PEI for the first time, but their abundance is relatively low suggesting a low risk of WNV on PEI.


In this paper, the problem of adaptively selecting radar waveforms from a pre-dened library of waveforms is addressed from an information theoretic perspective. Typically, radars transmit specic waveforms periodically, to obtain for example, the range and Doppler of a target. Although modern radars are capable of transmitting dierent waveforms during each consecutive period of transmission, it is hitherto unclear as to how these waveforms must be scheduled to best understand the dynamic radar scene. In this paper, a new information theoretic metric - directed information - is employed for waveform scheduling, and is shown to incorporate the past radar returns to eectively schedule waveforms. We formulate this waveform scheduling problem in a Gaussian framework, derive the corresponding maximization problem, and illustrate several special cases.


In the last decade, the advent of enormous galaxy surveys has motivated the development of automated morphological classification schemes to deal with large data volumes. Existing automated schemes can successfully distinguish between early- and late-type galaxies and identify merger candidates, but are inadequate for studying detailed morphologies of red sequence galaxies. To fill this need, we present a new automated classification scheme that focuses on making finer distinctions between early types roughly corresponding to Hubble types E, S0 and Sa. We visually classify a sample of 984 non-star-forming Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies with apparent sizes > 14 arcsec. We then develop an automated method to closely reproduce the visual classifications, which both provides a check on the visual results and makes it possible to extend morphological analysis to much larger samples. We visually classify the galaxies into three bulge classes ( BC ) by the shape of the light profile in the outer regions: discs have sharp edges and bulges do not, while some galaxies are intermediate. We separately identify galaxies with features: spiral arms, bars, clumps, rings and dust. We find general agreement between BC and the bulge fraction B / T measured by the galaxy modelling package GIM 2 D , but many visual discs have B / T > 0.5. Three additional automated parameters – smoothness, axial ratio and concentration – can identify many of these high- B / T discs to yield automated classifications that agree ∼ 70 per cent with the visual classifications ( > 90 per cent within one BC ). Tests versus disc inclination indicate that both methods identify most face-on discs, but visually, features are lost in edge-on discs. 80 per cent of face-on visual discs have features while few visual bulges do, strongly validating the visual classifications. Given the good agreement between the visual and automated methods, we believe that the automated method can be applied to a much larger sample with confidence. Both methods are used to study the bulge versus disc frequency as a function of four measures of galaxy 'size': luminosity, stellar mass, velocity dispersion ( σ ) and radius ( R ). All size indicators show a fall in disc fraction and a rise in bulge fraction among larger galaxies.


TIGER/Line shapefiles from the United States Census Bureau are commonly used for the mapping and analysis of US demographic trends. The tigris package provides a uniform interface for R users to download and work with these shapefiles. Functions in tigris allow R users to request Census geographic datasets using familiar geographic identifiers and return those datasets as objects of class "Spatial*DataFrame". In turn, tigris ensures consistent and high-quality spatial data for R users' cartographic and spatial analysis projects that involve US Census data. This article provides an overview of the functionality of the tigris package, and concludes with an applied example of a geospatial workflow using data retrieved with tigris.


In recent years, automatic skin lesion diagnosis methods based on artificial intelligence (AI) have achieved great success. However, the lack of rich available training data and visual similarity of various skin diseases remain the major challenges in intelligent skin lesion diagnosis. In this paper, we propose a contrastive learning based intelligent skin lesion diagnosis (CL-ISLD) scheme in edge computing networks. Specifically, an edge computing based intelligent skin lesion diagnosis network is constructed, which can provide the convenient and quick online diagnosis service to users nearby. Meanwhile, a contrastive learning based dual encoder network is designed to overcome training sample scarcity by fully leveraging unlabeled samples for performance promotion. Subsequently, we devise a maximum mean discrepancy (MMD) based supervised contrastive loss function, it can efficiently explore complex intra-class and inter-class variances of samples. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate that the proposed CL-ISLD obtains competitive diagnosis accuracy compared with existing representative works and achieves relatively more balanced performance among classes in inadequate and imbalanced dataset.


Oral leukoplakia is a common disease of oral mucosa,belongs to precancerous lesion.Some types will turn to canceration,so more and more attentions have been focused on the canceration changes of oral leukoplakia.The canceration of oral leukoplakia are reviewed in this article from epidemiology,carcinomatous change and treatment.


ABSTRACT This article describes the evolution of a critical dimension of self psychology that has evolved since Heinz Kohut's death, one characterized by the transition from a one-person to a two-person psychology. This transition involved, initially, the change in the analyst's role as limited to interpreting the patient's intrapsychically generated selfobject experiences of development, rupture, and repair, to an emergence into full personhood; second, a new emphasis on the analyst's subjectivity participating in a bi-directional relationship of mutuality rather than a unidirectional provision of needed functions; and finally, an overall approach to the therapeutic process as a complex, dynamic system. This emergent paradigm within self psychology we term relational self psychology. We illustrate its evolution through a historical review of critical papers that extended and transformed Kohut's original vision, which already contained the seeds of a genuinely intersubjective and relational model. We outline these changes in four sections: (I) "Empathy and Beyond," detailing the concept's evolution within Kohut's writing and its subsequent elaboration; (II) "From Provision to Mutuality," describing the movement beyond Kohut's focus on understanding and explaining and the mutative force of optimal frustration; (III) "You've Come a Long Way, Baby," discussing infant research emphasizing face-to-face interaction and mutual regulation moving into the development of a truly bi-directional model of therapeutic action; and finally, (IV) "From Dyads to Systems," integrating self psychology into a broader intersubjective, relational, dynamic system and theoretical context. Each section concludes with a bibliography of seminal-related articles that may offer a syllabus for further study.


The invention provides a lattice ridge forming vehicle for controlling desert. A crawler tractor or a similar locomotive is modified and provided with a gypsum powder gelled material device and a hydrosol device, quartz sand in field is used as aggregate, and lattice ridges in a certain shape and specification are mechanically made on the surface of sand dunes through front and back forming devices so as to stabilize sand, prevent wind, green the desert and achieve the effect of permanent benefit through one-time investment. The forming vehicle is easy and convenient to operate, mechanical parts have high universality and interchangeability, the mechanical force is utilized to the greatest extent, the utilization rate of the device is improved, the cost is low, the product has high quality, and the lattice ridge forming vehicle is convenient to maintain, and is suitable for controlling sand and greening the desert in large areas.


The thickness and behavior of the liquid film on the surface of the wall is the most important to study heat transfer and it mechanism for spray cooling. The paper reported the measurement of the turbulent film under spraying. The turbulent behavior and thickness of the liquid film was measured by a micrometer-scale glide-localizer with oscillograph to check-up if the current pass through the liquid film under spraying at different pressure, and different distance from orifice of the nozzle to the wall. With the heat transfer experimental results of the spray cooling, the relationship between the thickness of the liquid film and spray cooling situations was discussed.


Regulatory authorities in the U.S., Europe and Latin America require the pharmaceutical industries to follow guidelines on scale-up and postapproval changes (SUPAC) to maintain the quality of the pharmaceutical products. Apart from these guidelines, there are other checkpoints, such as change control and validation exercises. This chapter describes the regulations imposed by different regulatory authorities.

Keywords:

regulatory authorities;
scale-up and postapproval changes (SUPAC);
validation exercises;
pharmaceutical industry;
pharmaceuticals


In earlier work, we have reported subtle differences in acoustic measures of speech from 15 subjects who produced the Rainbow Passage at eight hour intervals over 36–42 hours of sleep deprivation. To determine whether results are due to sleep deprivation per se, or to the effect of increasing familiarity with the speech materials, we collected Rainbow Passage recordings from 15 subjects at eight hour intervals over three days while following their normal sleep/wake pattern. These data were subjected to the same measures (based on automatic detection of acoustic landmarks) as reported in our previous work. Results showed no consistent effect of familiarity with speech materials under these experimental conditions, supporting the contention that sleep deprivation affects speech articulation. [Work supported by NIH.]


Human studies: A: The influence of the underwear fabric material on sweat production, evaporation, and sweat accumulation in a two-layer clothing system (I,,,, =-0.25 m2·K·W) was stodied (n=8). Five different fiber type materials (cotton (e), wool (W), polypropylene (P), and two polyesters with different finish (POI, P02)) were tested in the underwear. The 2-hour test comprised a twice repeated bout of 40-min bicycle exercise (M = 313 W ro) followed by 20 min of rest. Environmental conditions: Tn = SoC, r.b. = 54%, Va = 0.3 m·s· I .


An analysis of variance (anova) indicates if several means come from the same population. Such a procedure is called an omnibus test, because it tests the whole set of means at once (omnibus means "for all" in latin). In an anova omnibus test, a significant result indicates that at least two groups differ from each other but it does not identify the groups that differ. So an anova is generally followed by an analysis whose goal is to identify the pattern of differences in the results. This analysis is often performed by evaluating all the pairs of means in order to decide which ones show a significant difference. In a general framework, this approach, called pairwise comparisons, is a specific case of "a posteriori contrast analysis" (see entry on contrast), but it is specific enough to be studied in itself. Two of the most common methods of pairwise comparisons are the Tukey test and the Newman-Keuls test. Both tests are based


Trichobezoar with Rapunzel syndrome is an uncommon diagnosis. Its clinical presentation without intestinal obstruction is rare. It is predominantly found in mentally retarded or emotionally disturbed youngsters. They typically cause abdominal pain and vomiting but can also present as asymptomatic abdominal mass progressing to obstruction and perforation; however, our case of trichobezoar presented with early satiety and loss of weight. The diagnosis was confirmed on computed tomography scan. The trichobezoar was removed by the anterior gastrotomy under general anesthesia. The post-operative period was uneventful. We recommend conventional laparotomy and anterior gastrotomy for large size trichobezoars extending to the duodenum and jejunum as the treatment of choice. Psychiatric consultation is recommended to prevent relapse.


The use of vanillin as a building block for the chemical industry is discussed in this article. Vanillin is currently one of the only molecular phenolic compounds manufactured on an industrial scale from biomass. It has thus the potential to become a key-intermediate for the synthesis of bio-based polymers, for which aromatic monomers are needed to reach good thermo-mechanical properties. After a first part dedicated to the current sourcing of vanillin, this article focuses on the alkaline oxidation lignin-to-vanillin process, reporting advantages and limits, discusses the various postdepolymerization methods for product isolation and finally examines the outlook for the wider use of vanillin as a key building block for the chemical industry.


We employ the casino gambling model in He et al (2015) (available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2534936) to study the strategies of a pre-committed gambler, who commits her future selves to the strategy she sets up today, and of a naive gambler, who fails to do so and thus keeps changing plans at every time. We identify conditions under which the pre-committed gambler, asymptotically, adopts a stop-loss strategy, exhibits the behavior of disposition effect, or does not exit. For a specific parameter setting when the utility function is piece-wise power and the probability weighting functions are concave power, we derive the optimal strategy of the pre-committed gambler in closed-form whenever it exists. Finally, we study the actual behavior of the naive gambler and highlight its marked differences from that of the pre-committed gambler.The appendices for this paper are available at the following URL: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2682637


The utility model discloses an elevator uninterrupted power supply (UPS) emergency rescue device. The elevator UPS emergency rescue device consists of a main contactor, a mains supply detection module, a UPS power supply, a USB contactor, a time sequence control module and an elevator control cabinet. The elevator UPS emergency rescue device has a simple structure and is convenient to assemble and use. When the elevator operates normally, the UPS power supply is charged and the UPS emergency rescue device is in a monitoring state. When the mains supply is interrupted or the elevator is in failure, the UPS emergency rescue device works within extremely short time to provide the power supply for the elevator and sends out a power failure signal to a control system; under the conditions that the control system guarantees operation safety, car ventilation and normal car illumination, the car approaches to the flat layer slowly, a car door and a hoistway door are opened, passengers are released, and the elevator stops operation, so that whole-course automation is realized, and the defects of low efficiency of manual operation and error-prone manual operation are overcome. Logic control parts such as a relay and the like are directly adopted, and a microprocessor is not adopted, the failure problem caused by software operation is avoided and the safe reliability is high.


It is an electrically assisted bicycle (100) is disclosed. The bicycle (100) comprises at least one support electric motor (10) and a plurality of the bicycle (100) mounted sensors (14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24). In particular, a control / regulating unit (12) is provided, which receives the signals from the plurality of sensors (14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24), wherein the plurality of sensors (14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24) are designed for the determination of road features. With the control / regulating unit (12) is thus adjusted as a function of the road characteristics that provided by the at least one electric motor (10) driving power and / or drive torque. Further, a method for setting a power and / or torque during operation of a bicycle (100) with at least one support electric motor (10) is disclosed.


Reading deeply in the Canon will not make one a better or a worse person, a more useful or more harmful citizen. The mind's dialogue with itself is not primarily a social reality. All that the Western-Canon can bring one is the proper use of one's own solitude, that solutude whose final form is one's confrontation with one's own mortality. (Bloom 1994:30)


The invention discloses a melted CMAS-corrosion resistant rare-earth aluminate thermal barrier coating and a preparation method thereof and belongs to the field of thermal barrier coating materials and preparation thereof. The melted CMAS-corrosion resistant rare-earth aluminate thermal barrier coating comprises a bonding layer, a first ceramic layer and a second ceramic layer which are obtained by being prepared on a matrix, wherein the first ceramic layer is a YSZ coating; the second ceramic layer is composed of garnet structure compound rare-earth aluminate or perovskite compound rare-earth aluminate; the first ceramic layer and the second ceramic layer are prepared by the adoption of methods of atmosphere plasma spraying, plasma physical vapor deposition and electron beam physical vapor deposition. According to the melted CMAS-corrosion resistant rare-earth aluminate thermal barrier coating and the preparation method thereof, the prepared rare-earth aluminate thermal barrier coating can prevent melted CMAS from permeating, and the excellent melted CMAS-corrosion resistant performance is achieved.


Integrating trees in agricultural fields may be beneficial in controlling land degradation and improving productivity in dryland areas. Two-year-old Hardwickia binata Roxb trees were intercropped for 7 years to examine tree-crop interactions and the effect of tree integration and the cropping pattern on land productivity. The tree integrated treatments comprised a Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilcz crop with H. binata in all years (fixed crop) (FC) and a rotation crop with H. binata in alternate years (RC). Sole crop treatments provided controls for the V. radiata crop (CFC) and rotational crop (CRC) treatments. Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br., V. radiata, Sesamum indicum (L.) and Cymopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub were harvested in the RC/CRC plots in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2003. Tree growth and growth increments did not differ between the FC and RC treatments (p > 0.05). Crop yield (grain + dry matter) was highest (p < 0.01) in the FC treatment in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000, indicating that the presence of trees was beneficial. The observation that yield was highest in the CFC/CRC treatments in 2001 and 2003 indicates a competitive effect of trees for soil resources in these years. Soil water content (SWC) in September was lowest in 2002 and highest in 2003. The effect of cropping pattern on SWC was significant (p < 0.05) only in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003, whereas SWC differed (p < 0.01) between 0–25-, 25–50-, and 50–75-cm soil layers. Soil water content to 75-cm soil layer was lower by 0.4 (1996) to 18.9 mm (2003) in tree-integrated treatments than in the control treatments, affecting crop yield. Soil organic matter, NH4-N, NO3-N, and PO4-P in the 0–25-cm soil layer were increased by tree inputs (p < 0.05). H. binata was apparently beneficial in increasing productivity even during droughts, and the benefits may be further improved by root trenching to reduce competition for soil resources in relatively low rainfall years.


The reductive cleavage of C(Ar)-X bonds is the key step for the cross coupling of Ar-X with other groups. In this work, under the irradiation of 407 nm LEDs using sodium formate as reductant and thiol as hydrogen atom transfer agent, a variety of (hetero)aryl chlorides, bromides, and iodides could be reduced to corresponding (hetero)arenes. The key intermediates, aryl radicals, could be trapped by either hydrogen, phosphite, or borates. The same reduction conditions can be extended to the deprotection of sulfonamides.


Background Adenosquamous carcinomas (ASQ) of the breast is rare, with a reported incidence of Methods A retrospective observational study of NCDB patients (pts) compared all ASQ pts to the same number of randomly selected IDC pts (ICD-O-3 diagnosis codes 8560 and 8500, respectively) using SPSS software. Patients9 clinicopathologic characteristics, treatment, and overall survival (OS) were analyzed using frequency statistics, t-tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, chi-square, Kaplan-Meier and logistic regression. Results From 1,932,688 female pts with invasive BC, 1,421,250 had IDC (73.5%); 453 had ASQ (0.0002%). ASQ pts were significantly (p Conclusion Our study is the largest study to date on ASQ revealing that this unique disease is an aggressive carcinoma and carries a significantly worse prognosis than IDC. Since prospective randomized clinical trial(s) are unlikely, further studies on the genomic make-up of ASQ are needed in order to understand biology and personalize treatment of pts with this uncommon BC. Citation Format: Cochrane K, Heidel RE, Bell JL, Orucevic A. Adenosquamous carcinoma of the breast, an uncommon diagnosis with poor prognosis – Lessons learned from analysis of the National Cancer Data Base 2004-2015 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-08-22.


A system of Class Qq is a polygonal system consisting of one central q-gon circumscribed by q other polygons, which may possess different sizes. As chemical graphs, these systems represent polycyclic conjugated hydrocarbons, which include homologous series of C20H10 corannulene and C24H12 coronene along with many other molecules of interest in organic chemistry. The problem of isomer enumeration for the Qq systems is solved completely in terms of generating functions by means of Póya's theorem


Conditional independence assumption of naive Bayes classifier as one of its major drawbacks, for real-world applications, has been recently tackled by various structural learning approaches. However, finding the optimal structure is itself reported to be an NP-hard problem. Compliance of the devised structure with general rules and concepts of the literature of Bayesian networks is also another challenge facing many researchers. Eventually, the computational complication of structural learning has impelled many scholars to adopt approaches to confine the search space of possible structures. In this paper, we incorporate a set of hidden variables in a predefined Bayesian network structure, for proposing Pairwise Hidden Naive Bayes Classifier (PHNB). In PHNB, a hidden variable is allocated for each pair of features with conditional mutual information higher than a specific threshold in a diverging connection to preserve their dependency whenever the class variable is instantiated. The Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm is modified using a Bayesian correction approach so as to consider an infinitesimal possibility for unforeseen events while converging to a local optimum. Experiments on 6 UCI benchmark datasets reveal substantial results based on classification accuracy(ACC) and area under the ROC curve(AUC).


This paper presents an efficient simulation tool for predicting a self deployment of an on-board deployable hexapod based on the release of stored strain energies provided by six tape-spring actuators. Six restoring force models describe their hysteretic behavior. A formulation of a direct dynamic model developed with a Lagrangian approach is achieved. Furthermore, tensor representation is used to condense and simplify the calculation of Lagrangian partial derivatives. Results are compared with a numerical model that performs the recursive Newton-Euler technique. Finally, the impact of the excitation of the base on the deployment performances is evaluated taking advantage of the proposed restoring force models.Copyright © 2007 by ASME


Summary Previous research has clearly established that for most populations at most periods, the relationship between fertility and female employment is significantly negative. It has also established that this relationship may be partly due to the influence of other characteristics which influence both fertility and employment behaviour. However, the true extent to which other characteristics influence the work-fertility relationship is blurred (a) because many reports do not include information concerning both the relationship before and after other influences are controlled, and (b) because the influences which are controlled differ from report to report. These influential social characteristics are simultaneously controlled in an analysis of women interviewed in the 1960 Growth of American Families Survey who had normal fecundity. The characteristics within marriage and in the backgrounds of the husband and of the wife are: Catholic devoutness, residence, and socio-economic status. Also controlled are...


This essay explores the philosophical sources of the modern prohibition of torture by tracing different systematic steps in the difficult moral struggle against torture. It will be shown that the reluctance to embrace an outright ban on torture does not originate only from ancient convictions but also from the internal tensions between sovereignty and freedom in the context of the legitimation of the modern state. Starting with the universally empathic approach of 16 th century's humanists the moral condemnation of torture shifted its focus successively from matters such as pity or the protection of bodily integrity to the recognition of human self-determination. During the Age of Enlightenment, the ambiguity of the modern concept of the state is even more clearly revealed. Political arguments against torture are put forward by utilitarians only stressing, again, the futility of bodily pain. Kant and Hegel, however, though developing human dignity as a matter of principle stick to retribution and the strict enforcement of the rule of law. Their approach overemphasizes certain notions of sovereignty and leads to perplexing consequences. This can be shown also with regard to the actual debate concerning exceptions from the general prohibition of torture.


Summary Knowledge about the transformation of sapwood into heartwood contributes to the understanding of the nature of pine trees and should be considered prior to the conversion of sawlogs to produce timber of prescribed properties and optimal revenue. In this study, heartwood formation was ascribed to the joint effect of ageing and growth rate. Observations of heart- and sapwood in 1656 trees and sawlogs of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), sampled throughout Scandinavia, were analysed using mixed models. The most important finding was expressed in the pine heartwood age rule: heartwood age equals the square root of cambial age less three, to the second power. This global formula was valid irrespective of environmental factors and location within the tree, and described 93 per cent of the variance in the sample. Transition rate increases from 0.6 rings a ‐1 at 50 years to 0.8 rings a‐1 at 200 years. The spatial amount of heartwood might be influenced by the silviculture through the annual ring width pattern. For samples missing sapwood, e.g. archaeological wood, the results might be combined with dendrochronology in specimen dating. When the diameter and the heartwood diameter of sawlogs were known, the mean annual ring width could be estimated with a standard deviation of 0.5 mm a ‐1 . The simplicity, consistency and high correlation of the pine heartwood age rule confirms the importance of age as the main factor in heartwood formation.


Objective:Through collecting and analyzing the detection results of 146 rural drinking water quality in 2009,to understand the water sanitation quality and safeguard farmers' drinking health.Methods: Water quality was evaluated based on the National Sanitary Standard for Drinking Water(GB5749-2006).Results: 146 finished water and terminal tap water in high water season and dry season were detected in 2009,the qualified rate was 49.3% in Laiwu,Qualified rates at Laicheng district and Gangcheng district were 58.3% and 32% respectively,there is serious pollution of rural drinking water in high water season(the qualified rate in high water season and dry season had a marked difference,P0.05).Conclusion: Various degrees of rural drinking water pollution in Laiwu has become a unignorable realistic problem,to strengthen the detection and protection treatment of rural drinking water is a pressing task.


The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) agonist pioglitazone has been widely used in previous studies to ameliorate diabetes mellitus and regulate inflammation. However, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of pioglitazone on macrophages and determine its impact on renal fibrosis in vivo. Firstly, bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) were used to detect the effects of pioglitazone on macrophages in vitro. It was demonstrated that pioglitazone promoted M2 macrophage activation and induced vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 (VEGFR3) upregulation in a PPARγ-dependent manner. Furthermore, pioglitazone increased macrophage proliferation and macrophage VEGFR3 expression in a murine unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) model; however, it had no therapeutic effect on renal fibrosis in vivo. Therefore, the results in the present study implied that presence of M2 macrophages may inhibit pioglitazone's ability to attenuate UUO-induced renal fibrosis. In addition, the results demonstrated that macrophage-associated VEGFR3 could be induced by pioglitazone, although it is still unclear what role VEGFR3+ M2 macrophages have in renal fibrosis.


The aim of this research is to find out which are factors that impact the timeliness
of company's financial statement. The object of this research is companies (except banking, securities, insurance, properties and non banking Credit Agencies) listed at Jakarta Stock Exchange for 2001 - 2005 using purposive judgment sampling. From 207 companies, there are 125 companies being samples of this research. Hypothesis test of this research is using logistic regression method, witha= 5% revealed that auditor reputations, audit opinion, size (proxy by market values) and ownership structure (outsider and insider) have impact to the timeliness of financial statement, but leverage (proxy by debt to equity ratio), ages and profitability (proxy by ROA) haven't impact to the timeliness of financial statement.


Designing and creating a Graphical User Interface (GUI) is a difficult and slow process. It requires a number of professions to all contribute to its development and it can be heavily detrimental to a product if implemented poorly. This research aims to investigate a method of using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to generate new and usable designs for GUIs. GANs are a relatively new architecture for adversarial learning and have been used to good effect in replicating instances of a real dataset. The primary aim is to develop a GAN that is capable of processing a collection of existing GUIs and learn how to replicate these to allow for creation of further designs. These GUI designs need to be formatted in a manner that enables modification, allowing for them to be used by a development team to enhance their production process. Completed work demonstrates numerous approaches at using GANs to create text files that contain the component elements of a GUI. Their results and the release of a similar research paper (GUIGAN) has led to a new approach focusing on more abstract data representation, with a quality control system for ensuring the output data is properly formatted. It is hypothesised that the approach will develop a model capable of creating new, editable GUI designs.


Objective: Radiological examination for the detection of asymptomatic pathology in edentulous patients is very important. The aim of this study is to evaluate different significant radiological findings in the panoramic radiographies, which were routinely taken for a group of edentulous patients. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 200 edentulous patients who admitted for various reasons to Inonu University, Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology. Each radiograph was observed for retained roots, impacted teeth, radiolucency and radiopacity changes, maxillary sinus close to crest of the ridge and mental foramen on crest. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Radiological findings were found in 48% (56.03% female, 39,28% male) of edentulous patients. Patients examined in this study had retained roots as the most common positive findings (15%). Most of the findings were observed in patients between 45-60 years of age in this study. Conclusion: According to these results, panoramic radiography is still advisable to study before making the prosthesis to edentulous patients.


In this excellent and concise monograph, Dr. Monafo presents an up-to-date and practical work on the care of burns. The repetitions and inconsistencies of many compendiums are avoided, but the author's personal preferences are reflected in some of the conclusions offered. The book includes a limited historical review and does not attempt to summarize all current laboratory work but concentrates on a remarkably complete survey of the therapeutic modalities currently available. Particularly impressive is his review of the multiple fluid regimens that have been proposed for burn resuscitation, none of which should be strictly followed. Dr. Monafo's own hypertonic lactated saline solution with which adequate electrolytes are administered without the large amounts of water usually used is still experimental but has shown impressive early results. Although they have been over-used in the past, his recommended near elimination of colloids in the acute treatment of burns is contrary to a wide


Levels of immunoreactive ACTH and calcitonin (CT), as well as CEA, were determined serially in 144 patients with lung cancer and in 62 patients with metastatic carcinoma to the lungs. Patients with neoplasms not involving the lungs, with nonmalignant blood dyscrasias, and with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were studied, as were normal control subjects.


Degradation pathway of melphalan was validated by stability indicating reverse phase liquid chromatographic method. melphalan was subjected to stress condition using acid, base or by oxidation, and photolysis. Significant degradation was observed in acid and base stress conditions. The stress samples were assayed against a qualified reference standard and the mass balance was found close to 98.2 %. Efficient chromatographic separation was achieved on a Luna C18 (4.6 x 150 mm) 3 μm stationary phase with simple mobile phase combination. In the developed LC method, the resolution of melphalan and potential impurities such as Dimer impurity, monohydroxy impurity, phthalimide, ethyl ester, elongated melphalan, dihydroxy and monolakylate was found to be more than 2.0. Regression analysis showed correlation coefficient (r) of greater than 0.999 for melphalan and eight potential impurities. This method was capable of detecting the impurities of melphalan at a level of 0.02 % with respect to test concentration of 0.5 mg/mL. The developed rapid LC method was showed specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision and robustness for impurities.


This note attempts to assess the impact of the assumption that interregional migration patterns are independent of the birthplace on the accuracy of the method suggested by Rogers and von Rabenau (1971) to infer interregional migration streams from place-of-residence-by-place-of-birth (PRPB) data.

This assumption is shown to be the main element responsible for the relative inaccuracies of the method, a result which suggests that the use of an additional subscript to identify the birthplace, in matrix generalizations of some standard mathematical models of population growth and distribution, should be made with caution.


This chapter considers the moral status of discrimination in law enforcement. The answer to the question what amounts to wrongful discrimination in this context depends on the answer to the question what is the moral status of discrimination in general. Yet the focus in this chapter is on aspects that are especially salient in the context of law enforcement – mainly the moral status of rational discrimination and especially statistical discrimination, for example racial profiling, assuming that it is based on sound statistical information.
The main claims are that there are often both (pro-tanto) reasons for and (pro-tanto) reasons against statistical discrimination (also) in the context of law enforcement: its contribution to the prevention of (harmful) wrongdoing, on the one hand, and its negative effects of those who are subjected to discrimination, on the other hand. The answer to the question which reasons are decisive depends on the specific context.


The aim of this study is to observe the biological aspects such as length, weight,length weight correlation and sex ratio. The study was done in October 2006.There were 199 females rays and 166 males rays on the observation, thus theywere measured as length and weight. Therefore, it intended to achieve the weightlength connection of those rays. The result of the observation was that the value ofmales b and females was not differ obviously by 3 or b = 3. It showed that thegrowth figure of male and female's Himantura gerrardi was isometric, whichmeans that the growing of the length was balanced from the growing of theweight. The sex ratio between males and females is 1:1.2. After testing of Test X2,it had been found that there were not significant differences between male andfemale. It also emphasized that the capture had been done for the observation wason the breeding season, thus the males and females were altogether.


AbstractIn research on premodern South Asia, land-grant inscriptions have typically been mined for historical and geographical data. This article suggests that copperplate land-grant inscriptions may also provide an overlooked source of evidence for ideas about sacred space within and between South Asian religions. It focuses on inscriptions recording the granting of land by Buddhist kings to Brahman priests in medieval Bengal, and it hones in on the literary, oral, ritual, and performative elements of the inscriptions in relation to the spaces delineated by acts of granting. Drawing upon broader theoretical discussions concerning gift-giving in relation to economies and exchanges of religious prestige and royal power, it attempts to offer new perspectives towards gift-giving and the economy of the sacred in Hindu and Buddhist traditions. In the process, it attempts to draw out some of the broader ritual and "religious" implications of what is typically treated as an "economic" transaction – namely, the transfer of land from royal to priestly control, which forms the heart of the copperplate's function and formation.


&dquo;The monumental toll taken by illness in California was disclosed June 11 by the State Department of Public Health. Each year, it was revealed, disease costs Californians the staggering total of more than 300 million lost man-days. Approximately half of the State's 14 million people are afflicted with one or more chronic ailments. In any four-week period, 12 percent are hit by a brief illness, 27 percent by an attack of a chronic illness, and 13 percent by both, while only 48 percent remain in good health. &dquo;These findings were disclosed in the first major report based


One central element of the current war on terrorism is "draining the swamps," addressing conditions within a state that produce international terrorism. This paper empirically examines what factors lead a state to become a "swamp," drawing on a theoretical approach that guides current U.S. policy. This theory looks at the ability of a state to impose costs on terrorist groups within its own borders. The lower the operating costs within a state, the greater the amount of terrorism produced within that state. Using data on the number of international terrorist events originating from a state from 1968 to 1998, an empirical model incorporating variables designed to test this theoretical argument as well as relevant control variables is employed. Strong support was found for the state strength approach, suggesting that one way to address the threat of international terrorism is to strengthen a government's ability to control its own territory.


The purpose of this paper is to conduct a theoretical analysis of the performance of a Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) sensing surface based on and the attenuated total reflection (ATR) phenomenon. Initially, the proposed structure comprises a prism, a thin gold layer, and an analyte. The effect of rectangular and triangular gratings on the SPR sensing surface's sensitivity is evaluated. The finite element method (FEM) simulation results indicate that the presence of gratings significantly increases the sensitivity of the structure to the point where the maximum sensitivity of 62.5 (deg/RIU) has been achieved for both gratings when the width and height are 5 nm and 15 nm, respectively.


Delineation of discrete reservoirs is essential in the development of a petroleum field. An offshore field in S. California is an example where reservoir delineation was needed prior to designing a secondary flooding program. A data base, containing directional survey data and measured depths of stratigraphic horizons, was used to generate structural cross sections at user-defined planes which aided in the structural interpretation by outlining the plunging anticline, identifying faults, and revealing the variability in zone thicknesses. Digital well-log data were used by the stacked curves system to assist in the stratigraphic interpretation. Lithology and porosity variations were determined easily from the color stratigraphic cross sections generated on a zone by zone basis. Merging the information obtained from structural and stratigraphic cross sections provided a detailed geologic picture of the field allowing the strategic location for injection wells.


Birds are one of the most important components of biodiversity that has huge ecological, economical, and esthetic values. The main objective of this study was to assess diversity and species composition of bird community in Kafta Sheraro National Park, Northern Ethiopia. Data were collected from August 2017 to March 2018 in the national park. Point count method was employed to collect data on bird species diversity and species composition. Direct observations of birds and discussion with local people and scouts to assess potential threats of avifauna in the park were made. Shannon diversity index was used to calculate the species diversity. A total of 158 bird species belonging to 52 different families and 20 orders were identified. Of the recorded species, there were 76.6% residents, 15.8% Palaearctic migrants (PM), 5.7% Intra-African migrants (IM), and 1.9% partial migrants. Accipitiridae (11.4%) had the highest species followed by Columbidae, Estrilidae, and Ploceidae with 7%, 5.7%, and 4.4% species, respectively. The highest Shannon–Weiner diversity index (H′ = 4.50) was recorded during February while the lowest (H′ = 2.18) was recorded during March. Species richness of the park showed no significance difference among the study months (χ2 = 10.046, df = 5, ). Agricultural expansions, fire, livestock grazing, mining, and poaching were the major threats of the park bird species. Kafta Sheraro National Park is one of the areas with high avian composition in Ethiopia. In the park, wildlife watching in general and ornithological tourism in particular should be developed. Anthropogenic disturbances should also be minimized to conserve avian diversity of the park.


Experiments have shown that transitions occur between electron neutrino, muon neutrino, and tau neutrino flavors. Some experiments indicate the possible existence of a fourth neutrino known as the sterile neutrino. The question arises: do all neutrino flavors participate in transitions between flavors? These transitions are viewed as mass state transitions in parametrized relativistic dynamics (PRD). PRD frameworks have been developed for neutrino flavor transitions associated with the mixing of two mass states or the mixing of three mass states. This paper presents an extension of the framework to neutrino flavor transitions associated with the mixing of four mass states.


Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are Introduced as a chemical sensor for the detection of sulfur dioxide (SO2) molecules. For a single bundle of SWNTs, current-voltage (I-V) curves were measured for a series of different temperatures under adsorption of SO2 molecules. The I-V characteristics for a "MAT"-type thin film SWNTs, with respect to the amount of SO2 adsorbed, were measured at room temperature and compared directly with O2 adsorption. The change in current upon the adsorption of SO2 is distinctly higher than that of O2, and is also reversible for adsorption and successive evacuation. Thus, the results strongly suggested that a thin film of SWNTs can be used as a chemical sensor in the nanometer scale devices.


. In this study, a part of the shafting structure of the accessory transmission system consisting of shaft-gear-bearing is studied. ANSYS/LS-DYNA explicit dynamics simulation software is used to simulate the dynamics of the shaft structure. It compares and analyzes the overall shaft structure, gears and bearings. The simulation results show that: The place where the equivalent stress of the shaft structure is relatively large is mainly concentrated at the tooth root and the tooth surface, where the stress is mainly in the vicinity of two or three teeth. With the change of time, the maximum equivalent stress value and position of the rolling elements are also correspondingly changed, it provides a reference for the design and optimization of gear and bearing in the actual assembly process for transmission system.


The effect of pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment on pineapple juice, applied in a batch system, was studied in terms of change in microbial community, bioactive compounds, and antioxidant capacity. Among the bioactive compounds, total phenolic content (TPC), flavonoid, ascorbic acid, and β-carotene content were evaluated. The results were monitored over a 10 days of storage at −20 oC and compared with that of untreated juice sample. A PEF device-designed and fabricated in laboratory-was used for this purpose and the applied electric field strength were 9 kV/cm, 11 kV/cm, and 13 kV/cm at a frequency of 100 Hz. Highest microbial inactivation was observed at 13 kV/cm field intensity, which was the greatest possible field strength supplied by the PEF system. During storage, microbes grew in PEF treated juice, though at a slower pace than the untreated one, since the applied field intensity was far short of critical value to inactivate them entirely.


Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases have become one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the world. Thrombosis is a major cause. Conventional antithrombotic therapy comprises heparin, warfarin, and so on. All these agents have a potential bleeding risk and a significant adverse reaction of thrombocytopenia. Factor Xa, presented at the juncture of the intrinsic and the extrinsic pathways, plays a pivotal role in the blood coagulation cascade, and per molecule produces thrombin approximately 1000 molecules. Factor Xa inhibitors provide a new direction for the development of anticoagnlant drugs. Betrixaban is an oral direct factor Xa inhibitor, and has the lowest renal excretion. In a series of researches, betrixaban shows a good prospect. The drug situation, background, route of synthesis, pharmacological action and clinical trials researches of betrixaban are reviewed in this paper.


As we were interested in the use of bispectral index (BIS) monitoring during the application of acupuncture, we conducted a PubMed search on 31 July 2012 using the keywords 'acupuncture' and 'bispectral index'. This yielded 23 articles reporting the use of BIS during evaluation of the effects of acupuncture. Except for the paper by Zheng et al 1 recently published in this journal, none of these articles mentioned the possible interaction of the acupuncture point stimulation procedure with EEG, which is the primary signal used in the BIS algorithm for monitoring the depth of anaesthesia. We present a clinical case which supports the concerns of Zheng et al on the influence of electroacupuncture (EA) on EEG.

After giving informed consent, a 73-year-old woman received auricular EA during elective extracranial skin surgery. …


The effects of NAA application, cincturing and shoot-tip removal on the incidence of premature fruit drop were investigated in orchard-grown trees of Macadamia integrifolia cv. Kakea. A single, post-anthesis application of NAA (1 ppm) increased (P < 0.05) the final set of macadamia fruit by 35%. Limb cincturing combined with shoot-tip removal increased (P < 0.05) initial fruit set and possibly final set. Cincturing alone was less effective and shoot-tip removal had no effect alone.


In the frames of the DLVO theory the root mean square amplitude of capillary waves in a thin liquid film is calculated and its dependence on some important physical parameters is unveiled. Two important models are considered: films with classical interfaces and films between lipid bilayers. The performed numerical analysis demonstrates essential difference in their behavior due to the different elastic properties of the film surfaces. It is shown that the film lifetime is significantly long at some magic film radii.


Total disc replacement in the cervical and lumbar spine will result in a good clinical outcome, if a very accurate preoperative work-up leads to adequate patient selection. This article might be helpful to define the correct indications for total disc replacement, to explain the implantation technique and to avoid complications. The available literature will be discussed critically with regard to the clinical results of total disc replacement.


This study investigated stereotypes of heterosexual, gay, and bisexual men in a sample of 112 psychotherapists. Stereotypes were assessed with an open-ended measure asking participants to list characteristics that they associated with one of the three groups of men. Thematic analysis of these characteristics yielded 14 stereotype categories, including categories that reflected psychosocial difficulties (e.g., Depressed and Anxious), gender roles (e.g., Female Gender Role Attributes), and personality (e.g., Open-Minded). Sexual orientation differences were found for 8 of the 14 categories. For example, therapists were most likely to associate open-mindedness with bisexual men, traditional male gender role attributes with heterosexual men, and intelligence with gay men. Implications of results for practice and training are discussed.


Rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have put public transit at the forefront of the push for more sustainable transportation. To improve transit accessibility and attract riders, agencies often build park-and-ride facilities on the periphery of cities. Through the provision of convenient parking facilities, agencies attempt to encourage drivers to shift modes and leave behind their cars to complete their journey by transit. Although park-and-rides are intended to increase transit ridership, such facilities may carry paradoxical environmental consequences. At issue is the degree to which such a multimodal car-to-transit trip actually offsets GHG emissions. The study reported in this paper examined single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) park-and-ride users in the Denver, Colorado, metropolitan area and evaluated the magnitude of GHG emissions saved from transit ridership. Through a comparison of a multimodal trip against a theoretical SOV drive-only trip, the effects from GHG emissions were weighed. In addition, the environmental opportunity cost of park-and-ride stations was assessed through the repetition of the analysis under the assumption that all park-and-ride transit users that originated from within a 2-mi radius would shift modes to walk or bike rather than drive an automobile to the station. The results suggested that park-and-rides located at inner-corridor stations were far less effective in reducing GHG emissions than were end-of-line stations. This ineffectiveness appeared to be exacerbated by a parking fee structure common to both the inner-corridor and end-of-line stations. If the goal is environmental sustainability, the location of a park-and-ride facility at almost every station should be reevaluated in favor of a strategy that focuses on how and where park-and-rides can be most effective. The results of this study suggested that inner-corridor stations, particularly those closest to a downtown area, induced unnecessary driving trips and provided an incentive for longer SOV transit-access car trips.


Al2O3/Fe surface composites were formed on steel pipe by combustion synthesis.The micrographs,phase composition and redistribution of elements were observed and investigated by means of microscope,X-ray diffraction and EMPA.The results show that the coating consists of α-Al2O3,FeO.Al2O3,Y3Al5O12 and a little 3Al2O3.2SiO2,α-Fe.The transition layer of coating and matrix is beneficial to to the bonding strength.


Equalization-cancellation theory accounts for the binaural unmasking of tones by assuming that the waveforms within corresponding frequency channels at the left and right ears are optimally equalized by an internal delay and then cancelled. A wide variety of experimental data have been successfully modelled using predictive equations derived from the model for each experimental design. Recently, a single equation has been developed that can make equivalent predictions for any experiment based on interaural statistics measured from the experimental stimuli, regardless of the stimulus construction. We have used this equation to predict unmasking of speech against maskers of very complex construction, one or more interfering noise sources in a reverberant room. The model assumes that effects of better-ear listening and binaural unmasking are additive within each frequency channel and weights their combined effects by the SII frequency weighting function to yield intelligibility predictions. These predictions correlate highly with speech reception thresholds measured in the same con gurations. Deriving the masker statistics directly from room impulse responses, computation is suf ciently economical for the generation of intelligibility maps for a given room, spatial con guration of sources and listener orientation.


The normative research on Indigenous Peoples Empowerment and Indigenous Preservation of the Nusantara-Indonesia Nation gives an understanding that the Creator of the Universe created the universe and its contents, both visible, and invisible. Man is created most perfect by having a creature or reason, taste or mind and initiative or work. Humans have developed nations and tribes of nations with their respective customs and cultures in each indigenous community. Nusantara-Indonesia nation is a large nation consisting of hundreds of tribes and tens of thousands of indigenous peoples with their respective customs . The problem is how the existence of the Nusantara-Indonesia Nation, legal protection and empowerment of tribes and indigenous peoples and the preservation of adat-culture in every indigenous community and each tribe in Nusantara-Indonesia. Keywords: Nations, Tribes, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Peoples Empowerment and Indigenous Preservation.


Vertical profiles of scalar horizontal winds have been measured at high resolution (10 m) in the 13 to 37 km region of the stratosphere. This resolution (at that range of altitude) represents the state-of-the-art, and is unique. The technique used smoke trails laid by rockets in the stratosphere, and were taken by AFGL at Wallops Island, VA, White Sands Missile Range, NM, and Ft. Churchill, Canada, in the 1977-78 time period. Two or three cameras were used to give the time-lapse photographs. The goal was to ascertain whether or not the internal waves of the stratosphere behave consistently with the Garrett-Munk model which was originally created for oceanic internal waves. Five profiles of horizontal wind are presented. It is concluded: (1) stratospheric internal waves obey the Garrett-Munk model for vertical wave numbers; (2) there is not statistically significant evidence for a break in the curve at high wave numbers when due allowance is made for aliasing effects; and (3) the power density level of the spectra are almost equal on a log-log scale in spite of the difference in time, season, and geographical location.


There is a great interest in developing robust and efficient controllers for autonomous cars. A special issue is related with the high energy consumed by the embedded GPUs for tasks like sensory data processing, feature extraction and decision making. In this paper, the benefits of using Semantic-Segmentation and Variational-Autoencoder methods integrated with a camera-based end-to-end controller are shown. With Semantic Segmentation an agent trained using Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient algorithm exhibits a faster convergence, a better performing policy and increased robustness when compared with the alternative raw RGB input. The Variational-Autoencoder, used for dimensionality reduction, represented a significant decrease in the GPU usage and in the neural network processing time.


THERE neo-humanism. Everyone, from Catholic Thomists to communists, seems to want to be a neo-humanist. This is probably a natural reaction to the process of de-humanization which we see at work in every part of the world and especially noticeably in fascism. And the fact that communists are striving to develop their own, Marxist, humanism is doubtless evidence of a crisis in communist ideology. Lenin was not at all a humanist. Fascist ideology consciously strives to be antihumanist. In the case of communism the situation is more com-


A general approach to Monte Carlo methods for Coulomb collisions is proposed. Its key idea is an approximation of Landau-Fokker-Planck (LFP) equations by Boltzmann equations of quasi-Maxwellian kind. High-frequency fields are included into consideration and comparison with the well-known results are given.


The paper analyze the forms of the tax evasion, in construct representation and comparative law, with exemplification on several European states and manifestations identified in international plain. There are elucidate the aspects of "tax evasion" and "tax avoidance", through realities of contemporary world in progress more and more the eludation actions are transferred from the interior of the national fiscal systems, beyond the state frontiers, being defined by the economic, politic and social globalization tendencies - and the solutions have there changes in view.


A survey of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteins in 334 patients with various neurological disorders was made to judge their relative merit in aiding in the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS). A comparison of direct measurement of CSF IgG by electroimmunodiffusion with estimation of the gamma electrophoretic fraction on concentrated CSF revealed that elevations of the latter correlated better with the diagnosis of MS. That is, the gamma fraction exceeded 14% of the total CSF protein in 94% of MS patients and in only 7.7% of all others. In contrast the IgG fraction exceeded 14% of the total protein in 75% of MS patients and in 23% of all others. Serum immunoglobulins measured at the same time did not differ significantly from one diagnostic category to another.