The functional-semantic features of purpose clauses introduced by conjunctions so that, lest, in order that, for fear that, in the hope that, and to the end that are examined in this study. These conjunctions differ in their frequency and expressiveness. The material for the study was taken from the Corpus of Contemporary American English and the British National Corpus. The novelty of the research lies in specifying the list of differential features of the categorical grammatical value of complex sentences of purpose. It is demonstrated that complex sentences with purpose conjunctions are used in literary, journalistic, scientific, and conversational texts, but their frequency differs not only depending on the type of discourse but also on the language variant. Based on statistical data, it is confirmed that Present Subjunctive forms are the most commonly used in purpose clauses regardless of the language variant. Types of purpose clauses are analyzed: proper-purpose, argumentative-purpose, syncretic, and anti-purpose clauses. It is established that the first ones, which are not complicated by additional shades of meaning, are most frequent in American texts, while the third ones, containing indications of circumstances for achieving the goal, are most commonly used in British texts.


Methylglyoxal (MGO) is a reactive carbonyl species found in Manuka honey reported to cause advanced glycation end products (AGE) formation. AGE's increase the risk for hyperglycaemia resulting in neuropathy, arteriosclerosis, retinopathy and Alzheimer's disease. Phenolic acids such as pyrogallol (PY) are known to trap MGO, lessening the harmful effects of MGO as an AGE precursor. However, MGO is also a very effective antibacterial agent therefore; its trapping could have negative side effects. Manuka honey contains both phenolic acids such as gallic acid (GA), caffeic acid (CA) as well as MGO and it is unknown whether trapping of MGO by phenolic acids reduces the antioxidant activity of phenolic acids or the antibacterial activity of MGO. Phenolic acids PY, GA and CA were combined with MGO in a 1:1 and 1:2 ratio. The trapping of MGO with polyphenolic acids was determined with Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LCMS). Total polyphenolic acids (TPC) was determined with the TPC assay. Antioxidant activity was determined with 2,2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) assays. The effect on cell number and viability was determined with crystal violet and 3-(4,5dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assays on Caco-2 and SC-1 cells. Cellular antioxidant activity was determined with Dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate assay. Lastly, antibacterial activity was determined with the turbidity assay on Gram positive B. subtilis and Gram negative E. coli and the ultrastructural morphology of B. subtilis was further investigated with scanning electron microscopy. PY was the only phenolic acid used with trapping ability, forming monoand diadducts with MGO reported with the LCMS results, resulting in a decrease in TPC and antioxidant activity measured with the DPPH assay. GA did not show any alteration when combined with MGO at 1:1 and 1:2 ratio in all antioxidant content and activity assays. The antioxidant content of CA in combination with MGO was decreased, although its antioxidant activity (DPPH) was increased at 1:2 ratio. The antioxidant activity measured with the ORAC assay was increased with PY and CA combined with MGO. TEAC assay did not show any changes when phenolic acids were combined with MGO a 1:1 and 1:2 ratio. The cytotoxicity of phenolic acids combined with MGO did not cause a change in cell number or viability of SC-1 and Caco-2 cells. MGO and phenolic acids alone and in combination did no cause oxidative damage (without 2,2'-Azobis(2amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH). All phenolic acids in combination with MGO retained the ability to reduce AAPH induced oxidative damage. The polyphenolic acids showed minor inhibition of the growth of B. subtilis and E. coli. PY only reduced the antibacterial activity of MGO at a 1:1 combination of B. subtilis. GA and CA did not alter the antibacterial activity of MGO when combined at 1:1 or 1:2 ratio. This study showed that phenolic acids with the ability to trap MGO can be altered by the monoand di-MGO adduct formation, altering its antioxidant activity and can further alter the antibacterial activity of MGO.


The present invention relates to data storage systems, there is disclosed a method for accessing data in a data storage system, wherein the data storage system includes at least vols, and the first volume and the second volume via synchronous copying consistency relations, said method comprising: a unique identifier of the virtual volume is set to a second unique identifier of the first volume; vol using the unique identifier of the host to establish a first volume and a first host to the second path volumes I and II of a second path; a first path using the host to access data in the first volume; and the host to the second path of the second volume is set as unavailable.


In the present study a QbD acquiescent method utilizing design of experiment and method operable design regions methodology was evaluated for optimization of chomatographic condition for separation of ten degradation products along with peaks of aspirin and lansoprazole. Box-Behnken design was exploited to evaluate the main and interaction effects of the selected critical process parameters on the critical quality attributes, viz resolution between thee peak pairs and retention time of last eluting peak. The optimal separation was predicted at pH 3.6, with a gradient starting at 20% of acetonitrile and initial hold time of 10 min. The results of experimental methods show excellent agreement with predicted results, highlighting the importance of design of experiments in method optimization. The selected working condition was then fully validated according to ICH guidelines for linearity, range, accuracy, precision and robustness.


There is growing evidence for the use of mobile health technology to support change in physical activity (PA) behaviour. However, studies in COPD have yielded mixed results, possibly because the contextual factors that characterise the use of mobile technology in COPD are not well understood. This study compared intrapersonal characteristics of patients with COPD who use mobile applications (apps) with those who do not. Patients with COPD were eligible if they used smartphones. They were surveyed about their use of mobile apps (any app beyond calls/texts apps), and specifically, apps for PA promotion and for COPD management, performed a 4.5m gait speed test and used an accelerometer (ActiGraph GT3X+) for 7 days. Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U and T-tests were used to compare sociodemographic (age, sex, marital status, education, occupation), health-related (FEV1pp, gait speed, CAT, mMRC, 6MWT) and PA (step count; time in sedentary, light, moderate and vigorous PA) characteristics between patients using and not using mobile apps. A total of 54 participants were enrolled (72% male; 67±8yrs; FEV1 48±18pp). 31/54 (57%) used mobile apps; from these, 15 (48%) used apps for PA promotion, 4 (13%) used apps for COPD management and 4 (13%) used both. Participants using mobile apps walked at a higher speed (Median [M] 1.49 [1.33-1.72] vs. M 1.31 [0.98-1.54]m/s; p=0.021) and spent more time in vigorous PA (M 0.49 [0.14-1.45] vs. M 0.12 [0.07-0.84]min/day; p=0.025) than those not using apps. No other differences were found. Patients with COPD using apps presented higher functionality and PA behaviours than those not using them. Future studies should investigate possible explanations for these findings to inform future mHealth apps.


The National Wildlife Strike Database for Civil Aviation in the USA became operational in 1995 with the initiation of data entry of all strikes beginning in 1990. Since 1995, approximately 46,600 reported strikes from 1990-2002 involving civil aircraft in the USA or for USA carriers in foreign countries have been entered into the database. About 97% of the reported strikes have involved birds and 3% have been with mammals or reptiles. Over 2,000 reported strikes have indicated substantial damage to the aircraft. The database has proven to be an extremely useful source of objective information on the extent and nature of wildlife strikes for individual airports and for researchers and engineers conducting national studies. Selected records and fields of the database are now available online at http://wildlifemitigation.tc.faa.gov for use by airport personnel, engine manufacturers, FAA officials and others. Although the database is already a powerful research and management tool, improvements are needed in the reporting procedures to make the database even more useful. First, we estimate that up to 80% of strikes with civil aircraft were not reported under the current voluntary reporting system. Furthermore, only 19,324 (43%) of the 45,340 reported bird strikes identified the bird to species group (e.g., gull or hawk) and only 9,350 (48%) of these 19,324 reports further identified the bird to species level (e.g., ring-billed gull [Larus delewarensis]). Thus, only 19% of the bird strike reports identified the bird to species. Identification of species struck is critical for prioritizing bird management activities at airports and for engineering/airworthiness studies of aircraft and engine components. To improve species identification, the Feather Laboratory at the Smithsonian Institution, through an agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration, now provides free identification of bird strike remains for civil aircraft in the USA (instructions can be found at the above website). Improvements are also needed in the reporting of other critical strike variables. For example, height above ground level at the time of the strike was not provided in 13,888 (31%) of the 45,340 bird strikes. During the past 8 years, the National Wildlife Strike Database for Civil Aviation in the USA has provided a scientific foundation for the various efforts underway to reduce the problem of bird and other wildlife strikes with aircraft. Improvements in reporting as outlined above will make the database even more powerful and useful in the years ahead. Introduction and History of the Database Bird and other wildlife strikes to aircraft are a serious economic and safety problem in the United States. Since 1968, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has requested, but not mandated, that pilot and airport personnel report all wildlife strikes on FAA Form 5200-7. However, the extent and nature of the bird strike problem for civil aircraft in the USA or USA aircraft at foreign airports, had been largely unquantified until 1995 (Dolbeer et al. 1995). The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Wildlife Services (WS), National Wildlife Research Center took over management of the Wildlife Strike Database for the FAA in 1995 through an interagency agreement. An initial screening of data from1990-1994, indicated over 70 % of the records in the database had critical errors in variables such as date of the incident, species struck, or type of damage. In addition, about 10 % of the records were duplicate entries. These errors have been corrected. There were 11,000 strike reports in the database for 1990-1995 (an average of less than 2,000 per year). There now are approximately 46,600 strike reports in the database for 1990-2002 (97% birds, 3% mammals and <1% reptiles) with an average of 4,100 per year since 1995. In all, 251 bird species have been reported as struck by civil aircraft, 1990-2002 (Table 1) and 121 species of birds have been reported as causing damage (Table 2). Many additional species have likely been struck because only 43% (19,324) of the 45,340 reported bird strikes have identified the bird to species group (e.g., gull, hawk) and only 48% (9,350) of these strikes have identified the bird to species. Strikes are reported mainly through FAA Form 5200-7


Batch Normalization is known as a method to shorten training time, stabilize training and improve the performance of neural networks. Despite its wide use, the impact of Batch Normalization on the learning dynamics of neural networks is yet to be clarified. Though some recent studies tried to tackle this problem, few of them derived the exact learning dynamics of neural networks with Batch Normalization. Because deriving the learning dynamics is helpful for understanding what Batch Normalization is doing during training, we derived an exact learning dynamics of two-layered neural networks with Batch Normalization by drawing on the previous work about a statistical mechanical method of neural network analysis. Specifically, for neural networks with Batch Normalization, we derived differential equations of order parameters, which represent a macroscopic behavior of neural networks.


An evaluation of environmental factors was performed for the progressive closure plan of the Mining unit Aurifera Anabi These are the environmental factors evaluated: (Water, Soil, Air, Flora, Fauna and Landscape Environment). The results showed that the progress of the activities of environmental factors captured in the mine closure plan (MCP) are met on a schedule during the years 2012 and 2013, it is clarified that there was quarters which real progress was better that theoretical, and vice versa advance, this detail is justified giving knowledge that there is amending of the PCM that was submitted to the competent authority for review and approval respective. For the environmental factors were determinated the percentages of advances total real until the year 2013 in comparison with the percentages of advances total theoretical until the year 2013, having as result for the water environmental factor values of 44.98%, compared to 60% . In relation to the soil environmental factor, this one showed the values of 63.89 %, in comparison of 57.89 %. As for values air environmental factor, it reached 77.77% compared to 22.22%. Regarding environmental factors flora and fauna, presented the values 77.77% compared to 22.22%. And finally, landscape's environmental factor values presented 77.77% compared to 66.67%.


textabstractIn the beginning of the 1980s, when computers became available in the legal discipline, researchers at first concentrated on possibilities to let these systems take over certain legal tasks, such as decision making and delivering advice. Not many of the projects undertaken in these early years led to successful applications, however. One reason for that was that the software tools available at the time had their limitations. The main bottleneck, however, was the legal knowledge incorporated in these systems. Jurimetrical research projects aimed at increasing the amount of available (empirical) knowledge, often with interesting results. The importance of knowledge for the legal discipline has become apparent by the recent attention for the subject of legal knowledge management within this field.


Serving as the pillar industry of domestic economic as well as the main consumer of social energy, construction industry plays a critical role in the sustainable development of China. To comprehensively and quantitatively understand the level of energy consumption and environmental loads of Chinese construction industry, this study figures out the ecological efficiency of construction industry and its correlated industry by adopting the input-output life-cycle assessment (I-O LCA) model. The boundary of ecological items covers 8 types of energy and 4 sorts of environmental emissions. Results show that the energy consumption structure of the construction industry is unbalanced which mainly relies on fossil energy and thus becomes pollutant-intensive. Besides, the enhancement of ecological efficiency of construction industry dependents heavily on the ecological improvement of correlated industry sectors.


This contribution contains a discussion of the three arrangements for Employee Board Representation that exist in Germany: the Drittelbeteiligungsgesetz, the Mitbestimmungsgesetz and the Montan-Mitbestimmungsgesetz. The first act applies to companies that regularly employ more than 500 employees, the second to companies that employ more than 2,000 employees on a regular basis, whereas the third act holds special provisions for the coal, iron and steel industries.


From previous results on disturbance decoupled observers design, an observer design problem for descriptor systems with an additional numerical conditioning requirement is considered. The numerical conditioning requirement is related to a nonsingular matrix that is required to be inverted for state estimation purposes. Therefore it is shown that, since chosen a previous solution for the disturbance decoupled observer, the numerical conditioning requirement can be obtained, without the changing of original eigenvalues assignment none input-output type properties of error system associated to the observer. Keywords— Descriptor Systems, Observers, Sylvester's equation, Minimizing Condition Number, Eigenstruc-


Of all the illicit drugs available in this country, marijuana is by far the most widely used and the most controversial. During the late '60s and early 70s, "pot" was the symbol of the drug counterculture, but its use has increased so much recently, particularly among middle-class adolescents and young adults, that smoking marijuana has become almost a social norm. By 1979 more than 50 million Americans had tried it at least once. In 1981, 7 per cent of the high-school seniors surveyed said that they used it daily, and 46 per cent said they had used it at least . . .


With a large-scale introduction of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), a new entity, the PEV fleet aggregator, is expected to be responsible for managing the charging of, and for purchasing electricity for, the vehicles. We approach the problem of an aggregator bidding into the day-ahead electricity market with the objective of minimizing charging costs while satisfying the PEVs' flexible demand. The aggregator places demand bids only (no vehicle-to-grid is considered). The aggregator is assumed to potentially influence market prices, in contrast to what is commonly found in the literature. Specifically, the bidding strategy of the aggregator is formulated as a bilevel problem, which is implemented as a mixed-integer linear program. The upper level problem represents the charging cost minimization of the aggregator, whereas the lower level problem represents the market clearing. Since the bids of other market participants are not known to the aggregator ex ante, a simple strategy is used to estimate them, based on historical data. An aggregated representation of the PEV end-use requirements as a virtual battery, with time varying power and energy constraints, is proposed, derived from individual driving patterns. Since driving patterns cannot be perfectly forecasted, we introduce a probabilistic virtual battery model. We compare the results of the proposed bidding strategy with those of a bidding strategy assuming exogenous prices, uncontrolled charging, and a central dispatch of the fleet. We also explore the impacts of different sources of uncertainty. Results show that with the proposed bidding strategy, costs are significantly lower than under inflexible charging and are lower than assuming exogenous prices. Moreover, the approach also performs well under uncertainty. Results also suggest that the aggregator only has limited market power potential at moderate PEV penetrations.


This chapter explores Lewis's second editorial venture, The Tyro, a magazine which formed one component of a much broader – though largely unfinished – satirical science-fiction project, postulating a future society of 'Tyros', living in caste formation on a distant planet. This chapter examines this distinctly professionalist critical project in relation to Harold Perkin's sociohistoric analysis of the 'professionalisation' of British society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For Perkin, the professional project is bound up with the processes of industrial rationalisation, the corporatisation of state and business interests, and the evolution of a 'professional ideal' (privileging knowledge, expertise, and human resources). Across the Tyro project, Lewis reflected upon these processes and transformations. This chapter considers the influence of the scientific management movement, and the already mythologised figure of Henry Ford, upon Lewis's thought, casting the world of the Tyros as a professional utopia (or dystopia), organised along syndicalist lines. In this respect, the Tyro anticipates The Art of Being Ruled, in which Lewis went on to formulate a proposal for a particularly noxious societal system, an occupational caste system; a disquieting vision which is explored and traced here – in varying ways – across the work of a number of contemporary critics.


There are three universal dimensions of return that drive the performance of all strategies—regardless of investment style or asset class: consistency, magnitude, and conviction. These dimensions serve as levers that can increase or decrease performance of any strategy. They also provide context for why portfolios are constructed in the manner that they are. This piece will attempt to create a framework for evaluation and to identify which of the dimensions have a disproportionate influence on performance. In applying the framework to the Russell 1000® and 2000® Value, and the top and bottom large and small cap managers, I find that the dimensions provide insight as to which skills differentiate top and bottom professional managers.


The importance of cross-border cooperation systems along the external and internal borderlines of the European Union has been increasing since the last enlargements (in 2004 and 2007, 2013). Cross-border cooperation forms gained greater importance in the Hungarian national policy, in the cohesion policy of the European Union as well as in the formation of neighbourhood policy. In the last few years, however, the three most recent crises of the European Union-the 2015 migration crisis, the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war-and the socioeconomic impacts of all these crises have resulted in the re-discovery of borders. The European discourse changed fundamentally: instead of the elimination of borders and border obstacles, the issue of security has come to the fore, resulting in reclosing of borders, construction of new borders and application of more stringent border control. The aim of the study is to examine the institution-building process of cross-border territorial cooperation processes in the European Union. Analysing the legal framework for cross-border cooperation established by the Council of Europe and European Union can be recognised as a response to the lack of legal and institutional instruments of cross-border cooperation.


To quantitatively analyze the effect of air pollution on hospital admissions for respiratory diseases in Lanzhou.A semi-parametric generalized additive model(GAM) was used to analyze the exposure-effect relationship between air pollution and daily respiratory hospital visits from 2007 to 2009 in Lanzhou after controlling long time trend,the "day of week" effect and confounding factors of meteorology.At the same time,the model was established based on the sex and age groups.The three kinds of air pollutants all had certain lag effect in which PM10 lagged in 2 or 5 days,SO2 lagged in 3 days and NO2 lagged in 0 or 3 days.The relative risks of PM10,SO2,NO2 were 1.015,1.049 and 1.040 for all hospital visits,respectively.The population with the age less than 15-year-old is the most sensitive to air pollution in Lanzhou,followed by the population with the age more than 65-year-old.The influence of air pollution on the male is more obvious than the female.


Determination of optimal distribution route is one of the keys to increase supply chain efficiency. Looking for an optimal distribution route that belongs to the type of vehicle routing problem (VRP) can be solved by modeling the entire boundary of the problem as the constraints and finding the solution with the objective of minimizing the total distance. The problem is the complexity of solving the model will be increased in line with a number of constraints that exist. In addition, some dynamic constraints and unidentifiable boundaries can make the optimal route obtained is not suitable with the actual current condition. In this study, historical-based VRP (HbVRP) method which consists of graph partitioning and graph optimization is used to solve the problem. In the case study, the HbVRP method can build optimal route with 97.98% similarity level to the actual route and reduce the total distance from 572.217 to 120.913 which is better than existed method.


Recently, communication capacity has increased significantly due to diversification of contents, and online classes and teleworks emerging from the spread of COVID-19. Furthermore, technological development of sixth-generation mobile communication system (6G) has planned in 2030, it is predicted that communication capacity increase more in the future. For the realization of 6G, not only a large capacity of backhaul, but also an all-optical network is required owing to high frequencies. To satisfy these requirements, orbital angular momentum (OAM) in optical wireless communication has been investigated. The OAM is a part of the Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beam, which possesses modes that are determined by the radial order n and the azimuthal order m. The OAM is modes when the radial order n is equal to zero. Because crosstalk between the modes are inevitable, it is necessary to separate orders during multiplexing. Therefore, the LG mode that has been extended to the radial order n must be used for mode multiplexing in order to achieve large communication capacity. For realizing multiplex communication, the multiplexed signal must be separated into individual detectors. Previous studies have reported a method for separating signals using light as the carrier wave in multiplex communication, by preparing the same number of filters as the number of multiplexes. However, the system becomes more complex and reception efficiency deteriorates as the number of multiplex increases. In this study, we achieved mode-demultiplexing with one filter using kinoform-type computer generated holograms as multiplexed holograms in LG mode multiplex communication.


Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of PCOS among different gynecological disorders at tertiary care hospital of Karachi and to assess the most frequent presenting complaint with associated complications among them.
Study Design: Single-centered cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Gynecological clinic of Karachi at a Tertiary care Hospital during 3rd December 2018 to 29th March 2019.
Methodology: Total 335 premenopausal women approached the clinic with different gynecological disorders during the period of four months and 305 patients agreed to participate. The patients were enrolled via convenient sampling technique. After taking the informed consent they were evaluated through clinical interviews, questionnaire, and anthropometric measurements. The diagnosis of PCOS was made by using Rotterdam criteria 2003. Menstrual irregularities were assessed via history. Clinical hyperandrogenism was evaluated by using modified Ferriman–Gallwey scale and Acne Global Grading System. Obesity was calculated through BMI. The Hamilton scale was used to appraise associated psychological disturbances.
Results: PCOS was the most prevalent gynecological disorder (55.41%) among women of the premenopausal age. Overall, the most frequent presenting complaint was infertility but age related variations in symptoms showed that young adolescent and adulthood had more menstruation irregularities while, in late adolescent the chief complaint was infertility. Moreover, these patients were either overweight 32% or obese 46.2%. Other associated problems such as anxiety and migraine were more frequent in young adults and juveniles respectively.
Conclusion: PCOS is the most common gynecological problem in our region. These women usually presents with altered complains that influence their physiological and psychological health which in turn effects the quality of life.


-1-Abstract Significant advances in the theory of electronically non-adiabatic collision processes have been made in recent years by the advent of models that treat all the "heavy particle" degrees of freedom--Le., translation, vibration, and rotation--by classical mechanics; only electronic degrees of freedom are treated quantum mechanically. The "surface hopping" model , of Tully and Preston and the generalized Stuckelberg model of Miller and George are examples of this, type of approach. There have, however, been questions as to whether or not such models are capable of describing resonance effects in electronic-vibrational energy transfer, e.g., This paper shows that these resonance effects are the result of interference of amplitudes for different classical trajectories that contribute to the transition. The Miller-George model, which incorporates interference and tunneling within the framework of classical S-matrix theory, thus describes resonance behavior, whileethe Tully-Preston model, which adds probabilities (rather than amplitudes) for the various trajectories, does not.


While predominantly seen as a technical process, environmental planning is in fact largely shaped by cultural and ideological factors. Ecolinguistics offers a coherent approach to analyse these elements, by unearthing their linguistic traces and exposing how they naturalize social-ecological goals. So far, limited efforts have gone into developing tools for a systematic ecolinguistic analysis of Chinese texts informing environmental decision-making. This paper seeks to address this gap, by introducing a novel ecolinguistic framework and the results of its application on a Chinese Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.


Visceral leishmaniosis is a zoonotic disease that is transmitted by Lutzomyia longipalpis sandflies. Dogs are the main peri‐urban reservoir of the disease, and progression of canine leishmaniosis is dependent on the type of immune response elaborated against the parasite. Type 1 immunity is characterized by effective cellular response, with production of pro‐inflammatory cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α). In contrast, Type 2 immunity is predominantly humoral, associated with progression of the disease and mediated by anti‐inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin 10 (IL‐10). Although seemly important in the dynamics of leishmaniosis, other gene products such as toll‐like receptor 2 (TRL‐2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) exert unclear roles in the determination of the type of immune response. Given that the dog skin serves as a micro‐environment for the multiplication of Leishmania spp., we investigated the parasite load and the expression of TLR‐2, iNOS, IL‐10 and TNF‐α in the skin of 29 infected and 8 control dogs. We found that increased parasite load leads to upregulation of TLR‐2, IL‐10 and TNF‐α, indicating that abundance of these transcripts is associated with infection. We also performed a xenodiagnosis to demonstrate that increased parasitism is a risk factor for infectiousness to sandflies.


At present, accessing and publishing new knowledge are much easier than they were in the past. This has given rise to a "copy-and-paste" culture, which is a violation of intellectual property. A plagiarism checker can help to identify such incident. Unfortunately, existing plagiarism checkers still do not offer services that handle many users at once like what Google's do. We conjecture that there is a bottleneck that they still need to overcome before making their adoption more widespread. This paper proposes a framework to improve the throughput of existing plagiarism checkers to tackle the bottleneck in question. Our framework leverages stream processing via Apache Storm. It can be tailored to meet throughput specification with additional computational resources that grow linearly with the increase in throughput.


The report describes and reviews the installation of the automated satellite transit shuttle system at Miami International Airport. The system at Miami is presently under construction and targeted for passenger service in the first quarter of 1980. The guideway connects the International Satellite Building with the Main Terminal and will separate passengers who have to pass through Customs and Immigration Service from those who do not. Two two-vehicle trains can transport up to 16,000 passengers per hour in around-the-clock shuttle service. The report provides a technical review and indepth description of the Miami Airport system in terms of the following: Technical Subsystem Review; System Performance; System Costs; and System Development Process. This report also provides findings from the review, namely: the Miami Airport system lends itself to similar installations transporting passengers between two or more points; the capital cost of this system is within the range of ten other evaluated AGT systems; and the system is completely accessible by the elderly and handicapped.


We read with interest the case report of McNally and Greally, describing post-exercise laryngoscopy used to evaluate a child with exercise induced dyspnea. A 9 year old boy had continued noisy breathing and dyspnea with exercise, despite adequate treatment for a coexisting asthma. The upper and lower airways were normal at bronchoscopy, as was laryngoscopy at rest. After exercise, however, laryngoscopy revealed an ''inferiomedial prolapse of the corniculate cartilages.'' The child subsequently underwent supraglottoplasty and improved. The authors are to be congratulated for their approach to this patient. We suspect that exercise induced laryngeal obstruction (EILO) is confused with exercise induced asthma in many patients. Given the potential for side effects from high doses of inhaled corticosteroids, such mistakes may have unfortunate consequences. However, in their discussion, the authors state that exercise induced laryngomalacia is a rare disorder, and they refer to only six cases from the literature. We acknowledge that taxonomy in relation to EILO is unclear, and that a literature search therefore may be challenging. The number of terms used to describe relatively similar clinical scenarios are numerous, and different pathophysiology may produce relatively similar symptoms. Most attempts on classification have split laryngeal obstruction into glottic disorders, often termed paradoxical vocal fold movement or vocal cord dysfunction, and supraglottic disorders, often termed intermittent arytenoid prolapse or laryngomalacia. In the present case report, the authors state that larynx was normal at rest, excluding a classical laryngomalacia. This scenario of an apparently normal larynx at rest, with anteromedial motion or collapse of the arytenoid and aryepiglottic folds at peak exercise, has been described in several reports, also in this journal. In September 2009 we described similar findings in a large proportion of 151 patientswho had all been examinedwith laryngoscopy during ongoing exercise. According to McNally, laryngoscopy during ongoing exercise is a difficult procedure in children, an opinion we do not share after having done more than 300 such examinations over the last 8 years. Different strategies for assessment of ongoing EILO have been proposed and also validated in the literature. Surgical therapy has been described by several authors, not all with only positive results. Selection of patients for surgical treatment is difficult, and we hold it highly important not to confuse a primary supraglottic medial motion or collapsewith the secondary supraglottic medialization often seen after primary glottic occlusion. We are concerned that the picture of EILO conveyed through this case report is fragmented, as important references are disregarded. The body of literature onEILO is increasing and our understanding improving. Particularly, the European Respiratory Society (ERS) has taken an important step by appointing an official Task Force to work on its taxonomy, assessment, and treatment. We would like to emphasize that the citation list given by us in this short ''Letter to the Editor'' by no means is complete.


Understanding magnetic-field generation and amplification in turbulent plasma is essential to account for observations of magnetic fields in the universe. A theoretical framework attributing the origin and sustainment of these fields to the so-called fluctuation dynamo was recently validated by experiments on laser facilities in low-magnetic-Prandtl-number plasmas ( Pm < 1 ). However, the same framework proposes that the fluctuation dynamo should operate differently when Pm & 1 , the regime relevant to many astrophysical environments such as the intracluster medium of galaxy clusters. This paper reports a new experiment that creates a laboratory Pm & 1 plasma dynamo for the first time. We provide a time-resolved characterization of the plasma's evolution, measuring temperatures, densities, flow velocities and magnetic fields, which allows us to explore various stages of the fluctuation dynamo's operation. The magnetic energy in structures with characteristic scales close to the driving scale of the stochastic motions is found to increase by almost three orders of magnitude from its initial value and saturate dynamically. It is shown that the growth of these fields occurs exponentially at a rate that is much greater than the turnover rate of the driving-scale stochastic motions. Our results point to the possibility that plasma turbulence produced by strong shear can generate fields more effi-ciently at the driving scale than anticipated by idealized MHD simulations of the nonhelical fluctuation dynamo; this finding could help explain the large-scale fields inferred from observations of astrophysical


Review(s) of: Last stand at Nymboida, by 19 August 2010. $25. Director: Jeff Bird. Producers: Paddy Gorman, Diane Michael and Kerry Herman. Running time: 56 minutes. DVD $25 (available from PO Box 275, Kurri Kurri NSW 2327).


Taking the characteristics of surfactant LAS and AEO-9;builder crystal lamellar Na 2Sio 3 or 4A zeolite and fluorescent whitening agent VBL or 31 #,we prepared nonphosphate powder detergent by tests.The effects of fluorescent whitening agents in washing powder are studied through tests on whiteness for powder,detergency and cycle of washing.The results are as follows:fluorescent whitening agents added into washing powder can raise the whiteness for washing powder;the washing powders with fluorescent whitening agent can raise detergency power;the optimum weight percentage of fluorescent whitening agent VBL or 31 # in washing powder is 0.15%.


Quality of life (QOL) refers to the subjective well-being of the individual or society that consists of various positive and negative aspects of life. As believed that job is the most influential factor in enhancing the quality of life, however working women face various problems because of dual responsibilities. Similarly, homemakers have to take care of their homes and children as well so it is very difficult to state which group has a better quality of life. The present study was planned to solve this controversy and to compare the quality of life of working and non-working women. The sample for the current investigation consists of 40 women (20 working and 20 non-working) in the age range of 20-40 years. Data collection was done in Hisar district of Haryana state using quality of life questionnaire developed by Gehlert et al. (2006). Data was analysed using SPSS 28 version by applying appropriate statistical tests. Findings of the study revealed that significant differences existed in quality of life of working and non-working women. Working women were found on the better side in all the aspects of quality of life except in the case of social health aspect the mean score of non-working women was found higher than working. Age, number of years in marriage, number of children, working hours, domestic help, mass media exposure, family size and income were found contributing factors toward quality of life among women.


Computer modeling of fast capillary discharge is performed to investigate a new laser active medium created by excited hydrogenlike boron ions leading to lasing at 26.23 nm. Recombination excitation of the boron ions is expected in the undercooled pinching plasma created during the expansion phase of the pinch. Plasma dynamics is described by the magnetohydrodynamic code NPINCH and the plasma ion kinetics is evaluated according to the FLY code. Results of simulations for capillary filled with boron are reported and compared with previous results achieved for nitrogen filled capillary. In both cases, the same nonablative capillary with radius of 1.6 mm is presumed and the current pulse with 50 kA peak value and 1012 A s−1 current slope are taken into account. Evaluated pressure optimized gains are 1.04 and 0.11 cm−1 are found for boron and nitrogen filled capillary, respectively. Capillary wall ablation is then also assayed.


Part 1. The Solute. 1. Preparation of carbohydrates for analysis by HPLC and HPCE (A.J. Mort, M.L. Pierce). Part 11. Analytical and Preparative Separations. 2. Reversed-phase and hydrophobic interaction chromatography of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates (Z. El Rassi). 3. High performance hydrophilic interaction chromatography of carbohydrates with polar solvents (S.C. Churms). 4. HPLC of carbohydrates with cation- and anion-exchange silica and resin-based stationary phases (C.G. Huber, G.K. Bonn). 5. Analysis of glycoconjugates using high-pH anionexchange chromatography (R.R. Townsend). 6. Basic studies on carbohydrate - protein interaction by high performance affinity chromatography and high performance capillary affinity electrophoresis using lectins as protein models (S. Honda). 7. Modem size exclusion chromatography of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates (S.C. Churms). 8. High performance capillary electrophoresis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates (Z. El Rassi, W. Nashabeh). 9. Preparative HPLC of carbohydrates (K.B. Hicks). Part III. The Detection. 10. Pulsed electrochemical detection of carbohydrates at gold electrodes following liquid chromatographic separation (D.C. Johnson, W.R. LaCourse). I 1. On-column refractive index detection of carbohydrates separated by HPLC and CE (A.E. Bruno, B. Krattiger). 12. Mass spectrometry of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates (C.A. Settineri, A.L. Burlingame). 13. Evaporative light scattering detection of carbohydrates in HPLC (M. Dreux, M. Lafosse). 14. Chiroptical detectors for HPLC of carbohydrates (N. Purdie). 15. Pre- and post-column detection-oriented derivatization techniques in HPLC of carbohydrates (S. Hase). 16. Post-column enzyme reactors for the HPLC determination of carbohydrates -(L.J. Nagels, P.C. Maes). 17. Other direct and indirect detection methods of carbohydrates in HPLC and HPCE (Z. El Rassi, J.T. Smith).


by Mitchell A. Holder Many Missouri career and technical education (CTE) centers are based regionally, causing students to lose instructional time because of their commute, due to school scheduling conflicts, and weather conflicts. It was proposed the flipped classroom model could impact instructional time. However, no data were located addressing CTE center directors' perceptions on implementing the flipped classroom model. Through descriptive survey research, twentyeight of the 57 CTE center directors (49.1%) responded over a three-week period. Results indicated directors believed the flipped classroom model was a solution to address lost instructional time, (67.86%) and the flipped classroom model was a solution for their school to enhance skill-based learning (82.14%). Additional findings included a majority of directors believed their faculty had the requisite technological skills to flip their classrooms, and the directors could play a role in their faculty's professional development needs. Four conclusions, five recommendations, and 29 references are provided.


Bottled water is generally considered safe for drinking. However, several studies have reported the substandard quality of bottled water. Physico-chemical assessment of ten different brands of bottled water distributed in Bhaktapur Municipality was carried out from January 2018 to March 2018. In total, one hundred bottled water samples consisting of ten different brands were collected randomly from various retail outlets. Eight selected physico-chemical and microbiological parameters were analysed following standard methods, and the results were compared with the Nepal Drinking Water Quality Standard (NDWQS) (2005). Out of one hundred samples, sixty-nine samples did not comply with the standard pH limit. Other physico-chemical parameters were found to comply with the standard though variations were observed in the concentrations among different brands. Microbial contamination was not found in any brands of the bottled water samples considered in this study. However, it is necessary to examine other contaminants such as heavy metals, minerals, and chemicals to know the overall quality of water. Moreover, the regulatory bodies are required to strictly monitor water processing companies for the maintenance of the quality of bottled water.


work presents a shallow water ambient noise analysis and modeling effort in the Arabian Sea. Real ambient noise recording at very shallow depths has been analyzed for two environmentally unique periods when the sound velocity profile and the wind conditions present distinct characteristics. Ambient noise data were collected for January and March in the shallow water of Arabian Sea between the wind speed 0.0 m/s to 4.11 m/s. The relative spectral energy distribution of sea noise is presented for a number of wind speeds. Linear relationship between the sea noise spectrum levels and the wind speed were found for the entire frequency range, but the slope were frequency dependent. The results of empirical fitting based on the analysis were used for noise level prediction and the model predictions were compared with the measured noise level. Such study post extensive validation has the potential to develop predictive models for ambient noise estimation based on recorded data. dependent coefficient. The ambient noise was also shown to be site specific in shallow water where speed of the sound and the bottom properties vary substantially with the location. Gayer & Wille (1984) in their work made measurements in North Sea and Baltic Sea and reported that the influence of propagation loss on the wind dependent shallow water noise appears to be marginal even at extremely different area. It was observed that the contradicting behavior of the summer and winter noise levels was due to wind stress at sea surface. Similar work by Ingenito (1989) on site dependence of wind- dominated ambient noise in shallow water reported lower noise level of around 2 dB in the silt bottom at wind speed of 7 m/s when compared to sand bottom at wind speed 3-5 m/s and variability of 10 dB in the average noise spectrum level was observed in the essential fraction of the entire range of the spectrum. The large spread of wind generated noise levels measured for the same wind speed and wave height in the absence of other noise sources is essentially attributed to the site dependence and the primary site dependent factor that influence the noise level being acoustic propagation which in turn are dependent on the season, ocean depth and the bottom composition . Piggott (1964), has reported a logarithm relation for the ambient noise and the wind speed based on his study at two depths in very shallow water (36 m and 51 m), where the non wind dependent factors were reported to be not significant and the contribution of the wind dominated source was observe to be dominant at nearly all wind speeds and all frequencies. The relation has been extensively validated by numerous researchers and adapted for varying sites. The relation is presented below for reference:


With the rapid improvement of China's socio-economic level, the importance of ecological environmental protection has become increasingly important. As a major factor affecting ecological environmental protection, carbon emissions have received high attention. At the same time, various tasks for energy conservation and emission reduction have entered a period of rapid development. In China's construction industry, green buildings are the main measures for energy conservation and emission reduction. The use of green buildings to achieve water, material, and energy conservation can not only ensure environmental benefits, but also improve ecological benefits. In order to further improve the environmental benefits of green buildings from the perspective of carbon emissions, it is also necessary to conduct a specific analysis combining the development advantages and environmental benefits of green buildings.


Aspect-oriented programming languages support the modular definition of crosscutting abstractions. In most languages, this is achieved through pointcuts, which provide a means for quantifying over execution events in order to implicitly trigger advice. Notably, an advice is more than a simple event handler because of its ability to override the underlying computation. Unrestricted quantification and arbitrary advice computation are powerful but dangerous.
 In this talk we look at a number of approaches to tame aspects in order to retain their benefits without sacrificing important software engineering properties, like modular reasoning, separate development, type soundness, and controlled interferences. Specifically, we report on our work in scoping, interfaces, types, and effects:
 scoping We have proposed scoping strategies [8], which extend the work of Dutchyn et al. [2], and have been successfully applied to distribution [10] and access control [13-15]; execution levels [3, 9], which avoid infinite regression and computational interference between aspects, and have been applied to compose dynamic analyses aspects [11]; and membranes [4, 12], which allow more flexible topological scoping and local weaving customization.
 interfaces We recently developed the notion of Join Point Interfaces [1], which builds upon Steimann et al. [6], recovering sound type checking and retaining flexibility thanks to generic interfaces and controlled global quantification.
 types and effects We provide a typed embedding of aspects in Haskell, which statically ensures that pointcut/advice bindings are type safe; in addition, the use of monads makes it possible to statically control interferences and effects of aspects [4, 7].
 Finding the right balance between power and control is a delicate and still open question, especially when aiming at simplicity of usage. We believe further work is needed to address this crucial challenge for the principled adoption of aspects.


Objective: to identify the knowledge of nursing students on predisposing to the development of pressure damage; investigate the preventive measures used to reduce the UPP and analyze how they perform patient care with pressure damage. Method: exploratory study, research conducted at the Center for Health Sciences UFPB in February 2013, through the interview technique with 84 students from 6th to 9th semester Graduate Nursing. Results: increased participation was 33.3% 8th period. 90.5% cited friction as a predisposing factor for the pressure damage. Preventive measures predominant position change by 84%. As for nursing care maintenance leaves wrinkle prevailed by 47%. Conclusion: there is an interest among academics in the development of the issue and that there was 100% uniformity in.


Variability in process parameters is making accurate timing analysis of nanoscale integrated circuits an extremely challenging task. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm for statistical timing analysis using levelized covariance propagation (LCP). The algorithm simultaneously considers the impact of random placement of dopants (which makes every transistor in a die independent in terms of threshold voltage) and the spatial correlation of the process parameters such as channel length, transistor width and oxide thickness due to the intra-die variations. It also considers the signal correlation due to reconvergent paths in the circuit. Results on several benchmark circuits in 70 nm technology show an average of 0.21 % and 1.07 % errors in mean and the standard deviation, respectively, in timing analysis using the proposed technique compared to the Monte-Carlo analysis.


This paper describes an approach to obtain three-dimensional (3D) imaging measurements in combustion systems based on computed tomography of chemiluminescence (CTC). Past efforts have already recognized the capabilities of CTC for obtaining instantaneous 3D measurements with high temporal resolution. However, past efforts have largely relied on the so-called parallel beam assumption. Such an assumption allows the 3D tomographic problem to be solved as a series of 2D problems, significantly simplifying the mathematics involved in the tomographic inversion. However, as shown by the results obtained in this work, such a parallel-beam approach has several drawbacks. Therefore, this work describes an alternative and more general approach to obtained 3D combustion measurements based on CTC. A raytracing technique based on Monte Carlo was developed to analyze the tomographic problem with nonparallel beam (i.e., arbitrary). A hybrid algorithm, which combines traditional Algebraic Reconstruction Technique (ART) with the Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm, was then developed to solve the inversion problems. The paper reports simulation results to illustrate the advantages of the new approach, and also proof-of-concept experimental demonstrations of the new approach.


Omentin-1 a new anti-inflammatory adipokine has been identified as a major visceral (omental) secretory adipokine which plays important roles in glucose homeostasis, lipid metabolism, insulin resistance and diabetes.

 This study aimed to investigate the level of Omentin-1 in chronic kidney disease patients with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus.

 The study included 70 patients who further subdivided into three subgroups (20 T2DM, 25T2DM+CKD, 25CKD) and 20 healthy subjects formed the control group. They subjected to full clinical examination, weight, height, waist and hip circumference and BMI was calculated.Lipid profile, omentin-1, kidney function test, UACR, and HbA1c were measured.

 Serum omentin-1 level was lower in all patient groups compared to healthy control. It's level was lower in groups with T2DM than CKD only group. It had a negative correlation with HbA1c, cholesterol total, TGs, LDL-c and e-GFR, and a positive correlation with s.creatinine, UACR, BUN, HDL-c. The best cut off point of serum omentin-1 was  < =330 ng/ml to differentiate group 3(T2DM+CKD) from control group using ROC curve analysis.

 The results of the present study suggest that diabetes mellitus may be associated with lower omentin levels in CKD population .


Abstract Nuclear weapons and their delivery platforms are expensive propositions. Since their acquisition, Nuclear Weapon/Capable States have spent billions of dollars in the development and production of their delivery platforms. Unfortunately, in all such countries the detailed cost of their nuclear spending and budget estimates is usually classified information. A detailed study of the amount of money spent on the developmental, hidden and sunk costs for acquisition of such weapons and their delivery platforms has probably never been carried out. Presently, irrespective of the economic capability of the countries involved, there exists a concerted effort to try and reduce this expenditure without compromising seriously on deterrence capability. The conventional Cold War mindset of having large nuclear arsenals for "massive retaliation." has given way to a more rational, smaller, technologically advanced arsenal amongst all the NWS. In doing so, most of the NWS have tended to shift to the more survivable legs of the triad. The shift towards the dad or even the overwhelming dependence on the single sea‐based deterrence leg of the triad has been mainly because of economic concerns and efforts to reduce nuclear expenditure against the background of the altered post Cold War threat perception. This explains the requirement of placing the "burden of maintenance of deterrence" on the more survivable sea‐based leg of the strategic triad, even though this leg is the most expensive and technologically difficult one to maintain.


The purpose of this study to find out the process of applying excellent service, used of facilities, accuracy in service.This research was carried on BPJS Ketenagakerjaan Malang Regional Tax Office. Use the method of Interview, observation, and review document by the power point. Data analyze used is qualitative descriptive for explains research data. Based on results of observations has been obtained 3 aspects is Process is service flows, people is attitude , physical evidence use of office facilities.From the results of this study indicate the application of Service Excellent has been carried on in accordance with the standard blue print service in providing services to participants.


The wireless communication system including a base station, a relay apparatus, and the terminal device is described. The terminal equipment if the answer to one or more access request message of a first transmitted access request message of the first type, and transmits the first type in order to request uplink resources from the base station is received from the base station, a request to access a second type it is operable to transmit a message. The base station in response to the access request message of the first type received from the terminal and transmits the allocation of uplink resources to the terminal device. Relay apparatus transmits to in response to an access request message of the second type is received from a terminal device to request the base station to allocate uplink resources to the terminal apparatus, a relaying access request message to the base station. The base station in response to the access request message relay from the relay apparatus transmits an assignment of uplink resources to the terminal device. The modified random access procedure for uplink dedicated transit systems of the terminal device that can not be directly served by the base station (because they have failed have already tried to reach the base station through an access request message of the first type) relay allowing the device to be easily identified.


The 11 papers in this special issue (i) highlight the multi-faceted nature of connectivity or graph structures that are supported by today's Internet, (ii) illustrate the benefits and richness of principled approaches to measuring, modeling, and analyzing the resulting graph structures in ways that respect their layer-specific nature, and (iii) demonstrate the need for new measurement techniques in support of a more rigorous exploration of Internet-specific connectivity structures.


To the Editor: Derby et al (1) noted that in 2003 approximately half (14/29) of International Spinal Injection Society (ISIS) instructors and the majority (14/17) of poll respondents reported performing transforaminal epidural steroids injections. Do the authors have any data as to needle type (blunt vs sharp) used? If ISIS instructors persist in performing transforaminal injections with sharptipped needles, this would appear to be a resounding rejection of the recent caveats appearing in the interventional pain management literature. Furthermore, although blunt tipped needles appear to be safe for use around canine renal arteries (2), no information is available to confirm the proposition that they reduce the incidence of serious complications in humans undergoing pain procedures. At this point in time the putative benefit is pure conjecture. Whether or not using blunt needles results in an unanticipated new set of devastating injuries unique to blunt Blunt Or Sharp Needles For Transforaminal Epidurals?


The present invention provides a single filter having a plurality of holding positions incorporated into the plastic connector, plastic connector is attached to the filter for coupling the filter to the pump inlet by the retention post, the filter I will provide a. A sock type filter, in order to provide a position of a finite or infinite number for coupling the posts on the pump in the holding or other form, by incorporating grooves or flat tabs around the plastic outlet port , the portion that engages, for example a pump body, a fuel pump assembly, allowing a variety of matching positioning of the filter to the modules can, or fuel tanks, sock-type filter is disclosed.


The whole phenomenon of the multiple function and of the multiple meaning of each psychic act, then, is not—in analogy to the older neurology—to be understood through any sort of conception of a summation of stimuli and threshold values, but—parallel to the concepts of newer neurology and biology—is to be understood as the expression of the collective function of the total organism . . . . The organism always reacts in its entirety. [Waelder 1936, pp. 81-82]1


In the 1980s, researchers established the need to document and analyse the educational attitudes, behaviours and outcomes of 'ordinary kids' as a means of developing a holistic account of school experience. Yet, while significant attention is given to extremes in educational attitudes and behaviours, 'ordinariness' tends to remain overlooked in contemporary research and policy discourses. This article contributes to this void by presenting data from a qualitative study of young men's school-to-work transitions. Their educational experiences at both compulsory and post-compulsory levels illustrate a distinctive middle-ground, defying typically conceived dualisms of resistance or engagement. Alongside research interest in the extremes of 'success' and 'failure', such ordinary experiences can enable us to reinvigorate and refine our conceptual repertoire.


Aims: Therapeutic options of ischemic heart failure are limited. Shock wave therapy (SWT) reportedly induces VEGF overexpression in ischemic myocardium. We hypothesized that epicardial SWT improves ventricular function in an experimental model of ischemic heart failure by inducing neoangiogenesis. Methods: Pigs were subdivided in 3 groups: unharmed myocardium with epicardial SWT (healthy control, n=2), infarcted myocardium with epicardial SWT (SWT-group, n=6) and infarcted myocardium without epicardial SWT (control, n=2). Four weeks following myocardial infarction (MI), epicardial SWT (300 impulses at 0.15 mJ/m2) was applied directly to the infarcted area in the healthy control and the SWT-group, controls were left untreated. Cardiac function was evaluated using echocardiography before MI, 4 weeks after MI and 4 weeks after SWT. Angiogenesis was evaluated 4 weeks after treatment by immunohistology with vonWillebrand Factor antibody, which was morphometried with Lucia software. Results: Compared to healthy controls (68±0.7%), left ventricular ejection fraction decreased in the SWT (43±2.5%, p<0.001) and control group (41±4.2%, p=0.012) 4 weeks after MI. After epicardial SWT, ejection fraction improved in the SWT-group as compared to 4 weeks after MI (62±9.1%, p=0.006), no improvement was observed in the control group (46±5%, p=0.126). As compared to healthy controls (69±1.4%) ejection fraction normalized in the SWT-group 4 weeks after SWT (p=0.358), it remained decreased in the control group (p=0.031). No adverse effects were observed. Conclusion: Epicardial SWT improves left ventricular function after myocardial infarction in pigs. It therefore seems to be an effective and safe therapeutic strategy for the treatment of ischemic heart disease.


departures from elastic behavior are evident in strain energy dissipation Q � 1 and associated dispersion of the shear modulus G. In marked contrast with the high-temperature viscoelastic behavior of melt-free materials, a broad dissipation peak is observed for each of the melt-bearing specimens - superimposed upon a melt-enhanced level of monotonically frequency- and temperature-dependent ''background'' dissipation. The oscillation period at which the peak is centered decreases systematically with increasing temperature. A ''global'' model comprising an Andrade-pseudoperiod background plus Gaussian peak accounts adequately forthe variation ofQ � 1 with frequency,temperature, average grainsize and melt fraction. In the following paper (Part II) a microstructural explanation for the observed viscoelastic behavior is sought and the global model is used to extrapolate the experimental data to the conditions of teleseismic wave propagation in the Earth's upper mantle. INDEX TERMS: 3909 Mineral Physics: Elasticity and anelasticity; 5102 Physical Properties of Rocks: Acoustic properties; 5120 Physical Properties of Rocks: Plasticity, diffusion, and creep; 5144 Physical Properties of Rocks: Wave attenuation; KEYWORDS: anelasticity, viscoelasticity, seismic wave attenuation, olivine, partial melting, grain boundary sliding


The ordered mesoporous carbons were synthesized with phenolic resin resol solution as a carbon resource,taking amphipathy triblock copolymer F127 as templates through the hydrothermal method. The phase,morphologies and microstructures were characterized by XRD,TEM and SEM.Mesoporous carbons were modified by different modifiers,and the dispersing properties of the modified mesoporous carbons were investigated to screen out the best modifier. The triboloical performance of0. 5%( wt) modified mesoporous carbons as lubricant additives in base oil was tested through a fourball tribological testing unit and compared with that of base oil. The results reveal that the modification of mesoporous carbon has excellent tribological property,and the friction coefficient and wear scare diameter of the base oil with 0. 5% modified mesoporous carbons are decreased by 24. 7% and44% respectively,and the compressive capacity PBand the weld load PDare improved by 26. 7% and58. 7% respectively.


This paper makes research on the application of control-motor in digital-control system of Turbojet engine,describes mathematical models of servo motor and stepper motor system composed of stepper motor and computer,analyses comparatively the influences of stepper motor and servo motor on the digital-control system of speed of turbojet engine,attains some useful conclusions.


Optical gain and photostability have been investigated for several orange/red rhodamine laser dyes (RLDs) doped in the polydimethylsiloxane and tetraethoxysilane derived organically modified silicate (PT-ORMOSIL) composites. The RLDs in PT-ORMOSILs exhibit gain and stability comparable to those in methanol solution while substantially better than in the PMMA matrix. Broadband laser oscillations have been achieved in a free-running resonator with Rh610/PT-ORMOSIL as the gain medium. The lasing threshold and slope efficiency are found to be approximately 8 (mu) J and approximately 30%, respectively.


The aim of this study was twofold. The first aim was to study the effect of an intervention combining team feedback and guided reflexivity on virtual teams' affective outcomes. The second was to examine the mediating role of perceived social loafing in this relationship. An experimental laboratory study was carried out with 54 teams randomly assigned to an experimental condition or a control condition. Results showed that this intervention had an effect on satisfaction with the result, but not on group cohesion and satisfaction with the team. Moreover, perceived social loafing fully mediated the effect of this intervention on group cohesion and partially mediated its effect on satisfaction with the team and the result.


This chapter outlines an implication that a commitment to ecological justice has for theorising environmental justice. One necessary, but not sufficient, criterium for achieving compatibility between the author's framework of ecological justice and theories of social justice between humans is that theories of justice must be based on the premise that the Earth is originally unowned. Thus, the chapter develops a critique of the notion of humanity's original ownership of the Earth that has been influential throughout the history of political thought. The critique of this notion can be seen as an extension of the critical investigation of some environmental ethicists on the relationship between ownership and animals, as well as contributing to a necessary 'denaturalisation' of assumptions within political thought that 'Otherise' the nonhuman. Attributing original ownership of the Earth to humans only creates a similar problematic power asymmetry between agents that matter and objects that cannot own and can potentially even be owned. Such philosophical theories exhibit a form of theoretical exclusion of an Other, which is nonhuman living beings in this case. The problem is that such perspectives exclude nonhumans from mattering in theory which can then translate into not mattering in practice.


A treatment plan is required for malignant lesions originating in the cervix and/or corpus uteri and occupying both sites as determined by clinical evaluation. The results for a specially designed treatment program are provided and contrasted with the outcome for patients receiving a variety of treatment programs. It is stressed that results are essentially preliminary because of the limited degree of followup and because of the small size of the groups that were contrasted. Results to date suggest that carefully coordinated multiphasic therapy, consistently applied by a qualified team, leads to a lesser incidence of local recurrence and of significant complications than will be achieved by varied inconsistent treatment technics.


The sensitivity of matched field techniques to source location is a significant benefit from a localization accuracy perspective. Unfortunately, the implementation of matched field techniques in real‐time systems is hampered by the computationally demanding hypothesis testing of source location in range and depth. Furthermore, operational requirements of such systems generally do not demand a high degree of accuracy. The Minimum Variance with Environmental Perturbation Constraints (MV‐EPC) processor developed by Krolik [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 92, 1408–1419 (1992)] has been used to reduce the sensitivity to environmental uncertainty. This same approach can be used to reduce the sensitivity to source location, thereby reducing the number of source location hypotheses. This produces a computational tractable approach to real‐time, robust matched field processing. Illustrative simulations and real data results using SWellEX‐96 data are presented.


AbstractThis study focuses on adsorption of lead (II) using various inexpensive adsorbents, such as dried activated sludge, diatomite, and sepiolite, through the batch process. The data were evaluated using three types of isotherm models to determine the design parameters. Additionally, the adsorption kinetics was analyzed using first- and second-order kinetics. The regression coefficient (R2) quantitatively evaluates the correlation between the experimental data and the predicted responses. The Box–Behnken design of three factors at three levels was used to determine the important parameters affecting the adsorption of lead (II) by different adsorbents and the results showed that pH, initial concentration, and type of adsorbent in these experiments are the important factors. The Freundlich isotherm model fits for all adsorbents, as indicated by the R2 values of 0.992, 0.997, and 0.997 for Pb2+ adsorption onto dried activated sludge, diatomite, and sepiolite at pH 3, respectively. The adsorption capacity ...


In acute toxicity bioassays with at 20 C and 20‰ salinity, the concentrations fatal to 50% of the organisms of various marine species in 96 hr ranged between 0.32 and 55.0 mg/liter Cd2+. The order of sensitivity was: sand shrimp, Crangon septemspinosa (0.32); hermit crab, Pagurus longicarpus (0.32); grass shrimp, Palaemonetes vulgaris (0.42); common starfish, Asterias forbesi (0.82); common soft-shell clam, Mya arenaria (2.2); green crab, Carcinus maenus (4.1); Atlantic oyster drill, Urosalpinx cinerea (6.6); eastern mud snail, Nassarius obsoletus (10.5); sandworm, Nereis virens (11.0); striped killifish, Fundulus majalis (21.0); blue mussel, Mytilus edulis (25.0); sheepshead minnow, Cyprinodon variegatus (50.0); and mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus (55.0). Mummichogs were more susceptible to cadmium exposures at 20 C than at 5 C and at 5‰ salinity than at 15, 25, or 35‰. Additional studies with mummichogs clearly demonstrated that 96 hr was not sufficient to adequately evaluate cadmium toxicity to this s...


Proximal femur fractures are usually low-energy injuries of elderly patients, but they can also occur after highenergy trauma in young adults and children. The proximal femur shows very special biomechanical (high load) and biological (blood supply) characteristics. These factors, the patient's age, and the implant characteristics (weight bearing capacity and cut out risk) are determinants for the surgical management of proximal femur fractures. There are two main fracture groups that require a different approach because of the difference in blood supply: 1) medial femoral neck fractures and 2) lateral femoral neck, trochanteric, and subtrochanteric fractures. Medial femoral neck fractures occur in about 90% of dislocated adduction fractures. Because of the high risk of pseudarthrosis and head necrosis (~30 %) in older patients, a hip joint prosthesis should be used. A total hip prosthesis is used (mainly cementless) for patients in good biological condition; in elderly patients (>80 Y.) a hemiarthroplasty is performed. Because prospective studies have not shown any benefit for bipolar hemiarthroplasty, we use a unipolar hemiarthroplasty. In non-dislocated fractures of the elderly and in all medial femoral neck fractures in younger patients, a joint-preserving osteosynthesis is used. The most used therapy is three canulated screws. Because of implantrelated complications (dislocation, cut out) particularly in steep fracture lines, comminution zones, and noncompliant patients, a stabler fixation with an intramedullary device should be used. We prefer the gliding nail because of the rotation stability and minimal cut out risk of the I-beam profile femoral neck component. Lateral femoral neck, trochanteric, and subtrochanteric fractures have a minimal risk of femoral head necrosis. Intramedullary locked nail systems such as the gliding nail and gamma nail have a much lower bending movement and therefore allow full weight bearing in all types of fractures. The gliding nail also gives rotation stability to the head and neck fragment in unstable fractures because of the I-beam-profile of the femoral neck component, and has an over 50% reduced cut out risk as compared to screw profiles. Extramedullary implants like the DHS do not allow full weight bearing in unstable trochanteric fractures and are unsatisfactory in subtrochanteric fractures. They can be safely used only in stable fractures. Prostheses should not be used in primary management of trochanteric fractures because of the very low re-operation rate in modern intramedullary implants (


Meteoritic bombardment of the lunar surface results in an erosion process that tends to soften the topography. A simplified mathematical model illustrating the erosion of lunar craters is presented. The model takes into consideration the angular distribution of impacting meteorites and ejecta and the topography and mechanical properties of the lunar surface. Calculations indicate that craters 1, 10, and 100 meters in diameter disappear almost completely after 107, 108, and 109 years, respectively. The results of this study suggest that the minimum depth of debris in the maria is a few meters. Processes other than erosion due to small meteoritic masses, such as volcanic activity, isostatic compensation, and the infrequent impact of a large meteoroid, would be necessary to significantly modify the relief of craters larger than a kilometer in diameter.


Central heating is a sophisticated process, and many factors influence the heating loading for boilers; without comprehensively monitoring and analysis, it is difficult to find out potential hazards of substation heating supplying electrical equipment. This paper presents a wireless machine to machine based district heating monitoring solution that uses smart mobile devices in a global network. In particular, focusing on the design and implementation for GPRS-based multiserial data transmission terminals to collect the PLC/OPC data in the substation, machine to machine communication network is used to handle the transmission monitoring data from boiler room to master station via GPRS devices and data center that uses different smart mobile devices in a global network, and we also illustrated the mobile substation monitoring scenarios for district heating system. Finally, we give the conclusions and future works.


THIS is the first, large history of the development of the Public Health Services in England in the nineteenth century. There have in the past been numerous small studies, mostly prepared for lectures and several lighter general surveys of the subject, but until now no one has attempted to present a proper coordinated study. The work involved must have been immense, and it is fortunate indeed that Professor Frazer, whose experience and gifts render him so suitable a person, has found time to make such a thorough study. It will be of immense value, not only to students of public health, but to all social historians of the period. Perhaps the only criticism which occurs to the reviewer is that the material selected for study and the deductions drawn from it are so eminently conventional. Perhaps in an endeavour to be fair in all respects the author has not allowed his own opinions to appear sufficiently often. The reader will, for example, search in vain for clues-as to the reasons for the failure of the existing public health services to survive unscathed the impact of the changes of the last twenty years. Perhaps one clue can be read between the lines; how few names of medical officers of health mentioned as contributors to new knowledge appear in the latter half of the book. Such criticism, which is, after all, but opinion, cannot detract from the great merits of this book-its accuracy, its collection of information never before assembled, and its pleasant, clear presentation.


Described is an infant consultation service which provides preventive psychiatric intervention to the families of young children, training of professionals and paraprofessionals, and a research component. Reviewed are clinic experiences leading to the program and the underlying theory which stresses integration of familial and individual development. Described are varieties of counseling services offered such as group meetings for parents, intensive guidance in the mother-child relationship, and group meetings for both parents and children. It is noted that volunteer professional social workers needed training in areas such as understanding of family interactions and dynamic processes. Also explained is the training program for paraprofessionals, most of whom were selected from parents who had successfully completed a therapeutic program. It is reported that the previous patients experienced emotional difficulties during the training program and were not utilized as paraprofessionals. AspPeAs of the research component are considered including followup interviews of clients. Program evaluation is given to indicate that the Infant Consultation Service has led to 52 percent of cases receiving additional services suggesting that the service provides early intervention which may well prevent more serious problems later. (DB)


Sickle cell disease (SCD) and hydroxyurea have implications for fertility and reproductive health. The goal of this study was to examine desire for parenthood and reproductive health knowledge among a cohort of adolescent and young adult (AYA) with SCD receiving hydroxyurea and their caregivers at a large pediatric academic center.


Catalytic technique is a key technology to purify automobile exhaust gas. In this work, the effect of cerium on noble metals catalyst was investigated by CO oxidation under the condition of exhausting, XRD and TPD were used to examine the affect of rare earth on catalyst. It has been shown that the addition of cerium can increase the catalytic activity, improve the absorbing quantity of catalyst, and benefit to low the activity energy of the catalytic reaction.


The flexibility of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) allows prototyping and comparing different designs to achieve an optimized performance and power efficiency. While measuring the total power consumed by the chip is a straightforward task, optimizing the design requires comparisons between different architectures of individual components in the design hierarchy. An accurate power estimation tool could accelerate the process of developing power budgets, therefore reducing the time to market. In this paper, Intel's PowerPlay power estimations are compared to experimental measurements for an Intel Cylone IV FPGA. Timing simulations are performed in modelsim for an integer square root circuit, a Genetic Algorithm implementation and Intel's Fast Fourier Transform. The accuracy of power estimations is investigated with different design sizes, clock frequencies, and architectures. Results show that Intel PowerPlay cannot be used as a reliable tool for power efficiency optimizations. In all of the simulations, the tool overestimated power consumption, with a worst case of 30% error percentage. Depending on the design's area and operation frequency, Modelsim timing simulations may require several hours, up to days to complete, and may utilize several tens of gigabytes of hard disk space to store simulation traces.


The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effects of self-esteem on the relationship between parenting behaviors and peer relations among adolescents. The subjects of this study were middle school students who reside in Seoul. 425 self reported questionnaires were used for final analysis. Findings of this study from structural equation modeling analysis indicated that parenting behaviors affected self-esteem. Self-esteem of adolescents influenced peer relations. This study showed that self-esteem mediated the relationship between parenting behaviors and peer relations.


Background/Objective The diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) in resource poor TB endemic environments is challenging. The accuracy of current tools for the rapid diagnosis of TBM is suboptimal. We sought to develop a clinical-prediction rule for the diagnosis of TBM in a high HIV prevalence setting, and to compare performance outcomes to conventional diagnostic modalities and a novel lipoarabinomannan (LAM) antigen detection test (Clearview-TB®) using cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Methods Patients with suspected TBM were classified as definite-TBM (CSF culture or PCR positive), probable-TBM and non-TBM. Results Of the 150 patients, 84% were HIV-infected (median [IQR] CD4 count = 132 [54; 241] cells/µl). There were 39, 55 and 54 patients in the definite, probable and non-TBM groups, respectively. The LAM sensitivity and specificity (95%CI) was 31% (17;48) and 94% (85;99), respectively (cut-point ≥0.18). By contrast, smear-microscopy was 100% specific but detected none of the definite-TBM cases. LAM positivity was associated with HIV co-infection and low CD4 T cell count (CD4<200 vs. >200 cells/µl; p = 0.03). The sensitivity and specificity in those with a CD4<100 cells/µl was 50% (27;73) and 95% (74;99), respectively. A clinical-prediction rule ≥6 derived from multivariate analysis had a sensitivity and specificity (95%CI) of 47% (31;64) and 98% (90;100), respectively. When LAM was combined with the clinical-prediction-rule, the sensitivity increased significantly (p<0.001) to 63% (47;68) and specificity remained high at 93% (82;98). Conclusions Despite its modest sensitivity the LAM ELISA is an accurate rapid rule-in test for TBM that has incremental value over smear-microscopy. The rule-in value of LAM can be further increased by combination with a clinical-prediction rule, thus enhancing the rapid diagnosis of TBM in HIV-infected persons with advanced immunosuppression.


We offer for consideration a possible association between hypermobility syndrome seen in Ehlers–Danlos syndrome and risk of potential development of idiopathic intracranial hypertension – mediated primarily through the effects of insulin‐like growth factor‐1.


The article aims at presenting the plan for training the capable men of Gwangju with the present social and economic situation The plan can be summarized an follows : First, surroundings for training the capable men should be established. Capable men necessary for Gwangju cannot be trained without cooperation and effort. Second, leaders for Gwangju in many fields at politics administration and economy should be educated Third, enterprises should make every effort to train the capable men along with the educational institutions and local government Forth, networks among the industrialㆍeducational and governmental institution should be formed in order to efficiently the capable men. Fifth, local economy should be activated and many companies should be promoted for lasting training of the capable men in this area.


Geophysical investigations have been widely used in studying geology and subsurface structures. A study on the application of gravity survey covering the Semanggol area has been acquired and analysed. The aim of this survey is to study the basin setting and subsurface structures such as fractures and faults. The survey is conducted by using the Scintrex model CG-5 gravimeter. There are total of 171 gravity stations established during the survey with a 500 m to 1 km spacing. In order to generate a corrected gravity data, the raw data were corrected for drift, latitude, free-air, terrain and Bouguer corrections. The corrected data were processed and analysed to produce Bouguer, regional and residual gravity anomaly maps for qualitative and quantitative interpretations. Techniques of regional-residual separation was applied to study the deep-seated and shallow-seated geologic features. The Bouguer and regional gravity values decreased towards the eastern part in the map, indicating the thickening of basement depth. The rose diagram for residual gravity and DEM maps reveal that the dominant orientation for gravity lineaments is in NE-SW direction. Also, the 2-D modelling was established by the A-A' profile from Bouguer gravity map to study the basin setting. © 2019 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.UK


Abstract:Between 1823 and 1865 members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Missouri utilized the labor of more than seventy enslaved individuals at locations including Saint Stanislaus Novitiate, Saint Louis University, and regional parishes and missions. The Jesuits were obligated to provide for the spiritual wellbeing of the enslaved and recorded their efforts. Although it is more difficult to grasp spiritual life from the perspective of the enslaved, sacramental and other records show that the Jesuits' bondspeople made the faith their own by selecting kin to be witnesses at sacraments, by choosing spaces in which they performed their faith, by actively participating in their faith communities, and by remaining Catholic for generations after they became free. Analyzing sacramental and sodality records allows us to look in new ways at the debate about whether faith was imposed by Jesuit masters or hybridized by the enslaved. Digital mapping tools expose patterns regarding whom the enslaved chose as sponsors, showing how the enslaved valued kinship in the sacraments that the Jesuits provided. This approach helps reveal the obscured history of the Catholic faith life of bondspeople and how they appropriated the rituals and religious spaces the Jesuits felt duty-bound to provide.


The potential of antiprotons for nuclear imaging, chemical element identification and radiotherapy is examined. A comprehensive R&D program for the characterization of these techniques is outlined.


Competence in working with diverse clients is essential for all therapists. Acknowledgement of subjectivity is a good indicator of a key competence: therapists' awareness of their own assumptions, values, and biases. Receiving and understanding clients' different perspectives is a good indicator of another competence: understanding the worldviews of culturally different clients. The goals and evaluation of a curriculum for cultural self-awareness assessment are briefly described. Applications for cultural self-awareness assessment are provided, including a checklist of self-descriptions, a group activity for self-awareness development, and trainee analyses of critical incidents. Excerpts from trainees' process notes illustrate one type of self-awareness assessment, showing trainee learning.


I SHOULD LIKE to start by making three points, and the first relates to the title of this talk. When I discussed this with those responsible for organising this meeting, I should have suggested that a question mark be put after the title. I say this because no one but a fool would be too categorical about what is going on in Africa today, or what is likely to happen there in the futllre; alld certainly all that I propose to do is to try to focus attention on certain undfirlying tendencies and suggest where they seem to be leading. Secondly, and also by way of introduction, I propose to talk alnnost exclusively about sub-Saharan Africa: that is to say, about the mass of btack Africa which lies to the south of the largely Arab states along thw southern shore of the Alediterranean and to the north of the Republic of South Africa, which is a very special case. The continent of Africa now contains some thirty-five independent sovereign states, Members of the United Nations, with others, as you know, like Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, etc., waiting in the wings. But today I shall only be concerned with about thirty of these. Finally, I believe there is a general underlying grouno swell at work in the whole of this vast area, though its manifestations, of necessity, vary from one country to another, and from one time to another. But nevertheless, I think that the basic underground swell is the same, and it is likely in the end to produce the same results. Now let us cast our minds back and try to put in perspective what is happening in sub-Saharan Africa today. Since the end of World War II, to go back no further, we ourselves, and the other European colonial powers, with various degrees of enthusiasm (or lack of it) always excepting the Portuguese, who seem to be swimming outside the main stream of twentieth century development-have been doing two things: we have, I think, been trying to give a specific international status to our former colonies, which process we have described as " the creation of new sovereign independent states "; and secondly, in terms of the irlternal structures of these states, we have attempted to introduce a whole complex of Western ideas which we can loosely call the ' Westminster Model '. This label should be taken to signify, not merely Parliamentary democracy as practised at Westminster, and indeed as practised in most of the Western world, but also a much wider complex of ideas and institutions, such as the rule of law, the independence of the


This dissertation analyzes the marketing development of the Federal District's (DF) urban solid waste. The integration of the involved stakeholders, the support to the foundation of cooperatives and associations of garbage pickers (called "residual persons"), and the incentive to the implementation of urban solid waste (USW) selective collection systems are initiatives aimed at restructuring and organizing this chain. Nevertheless, the omission of the public power and the absence of suited public policies in the juridical-managing, politicalinstitutional and economical-financial spheres, are factors that hinder an optimal managing model. The research also presents some actions that the government can develop to reduce the impact of unemployment, to generate income and to control the amount of waste inadequately disposed in open dumps, embankments and clandestine areas of the DF. As a conclusion, investments in appropriate technologies, besides stimulating the garbage "business", can provide in most of the cases a considerable cost saving. Appropriately destining and reutilizing the residues is fulfilling the "3 R's" principle – Reducing, Recycling and Reusing – thus minimizing the environmental passive and improving the population's life quality and well-besing.


The finding of raised alpha-fetoprotein (oc-FP) levels in the amniotic fluid is the most common method for the early antenatal diagnosis of spina bifida.' From a case of triplet pregnancy in which one fetus had an omphalocele,' there is evidence that a-FP can pass across the chorionic membrane, resulting in significantly raised a-FP values in the amniotic fluid surrounding a normal fetus. This is a potential source of diagnostic error and may result in the termination of a normal twin fetus, whose mother has a reduced chance of having a normal child. We have described the early antenatal diagnosis of spina bifida with ultrasound3 and report here on a patient with dizygotic twin fetuses that were discordant for spina bifida and which were correctly assessed at 17 weeks menstrual age by ultrasound examination and c-FP estimation.


This study addresses the problem of generating a high-resolution (HR) MRI volume from a single low-resolution (LR) MRI input volume. Recent researches have proved that sparse coding can be successfully applied for single-frame super-resolution for natural images, which is based on good reconstruction of any local image patch with a sparse linear combination of atoms taken from an appropriate over-complete dictionary. This study adapts the basic idea of sparse code-based super-resolution (SCSR) for MRI volume data, and then improves the dictionary learning strategy in the conventional SCSR for achieving the precise sparse representation of HR volume patches. In the proposed MRI super-resolution strategy, we only learn the dictionary of the HR MRI volume patches with sparse coding algorithm, and then propagate the HR dictionary to the LR dictionary by mathematical analysis for calculating the sparse representation (coefficients) of any LR local input volume patch. The unknown corresponding HR volume patch can be reconstructed with the sparse coefficients from the LR volume patch and the corresponding HR dictionary. We validate that the proposed SCSR strategy through dictionary propagation can recover much clearer and more accurate HR MRI volume than the conventional interpolated methods.


We show an example of Chow group of 0-cycles on surface over a p-adic field which has infinite torsion subgroup.


Rationale and methodology for teaching a problem-solving approach to international conflict resolution in college courses and for assessing the outcomes of instruction are described in this article. The Conflict Resolution Strategies Checklist was developed to evaluate students' problem solving in essays about international conflict scenarios. Interrater reliability was adequate. Checklist scores correlated positively with Cornell Critical Thinking Test scores and were highest for students majoring in international relations. Students frequently considered use of negotiation and military force in their essays, but they infrequently considered third-party involvement, nonpunitive influence strategies, consequences of actions on future relationships, or ethical issues. In four studies, students exposed to instruction about a prescriptive problem-solving model used more problem-solving strategies for conflict resolution at posttesting than at pretesting. Instruction about international conflict issues alone ...


Sea ice information in the Arctic region is essential for climatic change monitoring and ship navigation. Although many sea ice classification methods have been put forward, the accuracy and usability of classification systems can still be improved. In this paper, a two-round weight voting strategy-based ensemble learning method is proposed for refining sea ice classification. The proposed method includes three main steps. (1) The preferable features of sea ice are constituted by polarization features (HH, HV, HH/HV) and the top six GLCM-derived texture features via a random forest. (2) The initial classification maps can then be generated by an ensemble learning method, which includes six base classifiers (NB, DT, KNN, LR, ANN, and SVM). The tuned voting weights by a genetic algorithm are employed to obtain the category score matrix and, further, the first coarse classification result. (3) Some pixels may be misclassified due to their corresponding numerically close score value. By introducing an experiential score threshold, each pixel is identified as a fuzzy or an explicit pixel. The fuzzy pixels can then be further rectified based on the local similarity of the neighboring explicit pixels, thereby yielding the final precise classification result. The proposed method was examined on 18 Sentinel-1 EW images, which were captured in the Northeast Passage from November 2019 to April 2020. The experiments show that the proposed method can effectively maintain the edge profile of sea ice and restrain noise from SAR. It is superior to the current mainstream ensemble learning algorithms with the overall accuracy reaching 97%. The main contribution of this study is proposing a superior weight voting strategy in the ensemble learning method for sea ice classification of Sentinel-1 imagery, which is of great significance for guiding secure ship navigation and ice hazard forecasting in winter.