This paper discusses the character of Samson as an historical figure within Judges 13-16 narratives in the Old Testament Bible. The main aim of this paper is to find out through theoretical inference whether there were circumstances surrounding Samson's sexual behaviour. Drawing from causal theory, the paper argues that there is a possible nexus between Samson's failed marriage and his subsequent relationship with other women. It shows that Samson's problem was not metaphysical but human induced and as such it is causal. It constructs, Samson as human figure in the narrative and analyses the text from the perspective of causal theory and concludes that Samson's failed marriage could be responsible for his subsequent relationship with a Harlot in Gaza and Delilah. In the Narrative, apart from the harlot in Gaza, the ex-wife and Delilah betrayed his love. Within this line of theoretical thought, Samson was seen as a victim of emotional catharsis, human intrigue, insensitivity, naivety and the woman power factor.
Key Words: Samson, Causal theory, Promiscuity, Judges 13-16, Human figure,


Three new species of Leptocimbex, L. praiaformis, L. clavicornis, and L. yanniae, from China were described and illustrated. Nearly complete mitochondrial genomes were sequenced using next‐generation sequencing. Compared to the ancestral organization, four tRNA genes were rearranged: trnM (+) and trnQ (−) are shuffled, while trnC (−) and trnY (−) are translocated from the trnW‐trnC‐trnY cluster to a location upstream of trnI. By mapping gene order onto phylogenies estimated from the mitochondrial genome, the evolutionary histories of gene rearrangement traits can be deciphered. All protein‐coding genes are initiated by ATN codons and terminated with TAN, or T codons. By labeling the mutation on predicted secondary structures of rRNAs, the highly conserved motifs of rrnS (H769, H921, H939, H1506) also show phylogenetic signals. Phylogenetic relationships among the Symphyta were reconstructed using mitogenomes. Both maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses highly support the monophyly of the genus Leptocimbex and the sister‐group relationship between Leptocimbex and Labriocimbex + Trichiosoma.


The demographics of clinical populations can predict the demand for critical care services. Both Japan and the United States forecast a substantial expansion of the aged population. The inevitable consequence is a sharp increase in the number of patients who may wish to be admitted to an intensive care unit. No economy can meet the predicted demand. As a consequence, some rationing of critical care services is inevitable. Such rationing cannot be done by rules, but rather must reflect a system of values that is clearly stated and compassionately applied. Each critical care physician must undertake introspection to understand his or her own values and ensure that those values are transparent in any rationing process. Values such as integrity, honesty and respect for the personal views of patients and families can enlighten difficult decisions regarding the goals and duration of critical care services.


In this chapter, the author intends to analyze, the Exegesis on the Soul, a Nag Hammadi text that, as a matter of fact, combines the motif of Odysseus' journey home with the commandment given to Abraham. A closer examination of the text's conceptual background will help us to discover the allegorical interpretation the author is applying to the text and, at the same time, to reveal its differences when compared to other apparently parallel uses of the biblical passage. Within this purpose the author exposition is organized into three sections. The first part includes an initial approach to the Exegesis on the Soul that provides a conceptual framework for our study. The second compares it with some other extant allegorical interpretations, mainly those by Philo, and the third attempts to draw some conclusions regarding the cosmological and anthropological views of text. Keywords:Abraham; allegorical interpretation; Exegesis on the Soul; Nag Hammadi text; Odysseus' journey


The utility model discloses a movable wireless digital display liquid nitrogen spraying refrigerating low-temperature logistic refrigerator which comprises a box body, a box door, a box cover, a liquid nitrogen liquid storage device, a controller and a wireless receiver. A heat-preserving structure of the box body is divided into three layers, the outermost layer is a heat-preserving plate outer shell layer, the innermost layer is a vacuum heat-isolating plate layer, and the middle layer is a hard polyurethane heat-isolating layer, namely a composite heat-preserving structure of a vacuum plate and the hard polyurethane heat-isolating layer. A temperature displayer is arranged on the position, on one side of the box body, of the box face, the box body is further provided with a liquid nitrogen ejector used for controlling temperature in the box body, and the controller controls the liquid nitrogen ejector according to the temperature set by the temperature displayer. Due to the fact that the liquid nitrogen ejector ejects liquid nitrogen, the temperature in the box body can be controlled in a range from -70 DEG C to -15 DEG C. The refrigerator is suitable for transport and delivery of high-price and low-temperature articles such as tuna and ice cream in a refrigerated mode. Besides, the bottom of the box body is provided with universal sliding wheels, so that the box body has a movable function.


Sediment contaminated with a complex organic such as ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid, may be decomposed utilizing incineration or wet oxidation. Essential wet oxidation utilizes Fenton`s reagent which is hydrogen peroxide in the presence of a catalyst such as ferrous sulfate react together at low pH. The organic contaminant is oxidized to carbon oxide, ammonia gas and water. The water will contain the residue which consists of metal oxides and sulfate salt, mainly ammonium sulfate. The paper will review the relationships between the various independent variables such as pH, peroxide consumption, off gas content and the dependent variable-EDTA destruction levels.


This article is an attempt to analyze and summarize the main factors of Russia's low competitiveness as an international medical tourism destination with a focus on some recent developments. Among the most critical factors emphasized the following: the deficiency in international reputation, insufficient promotion and information about medical and health facilities, infrastructural problems, the lack of government support and strategy, poor international credentials of Russian doctors and the absence of international accreditation of medical institutions, growing competition in the sector with new emerging reputable players and weakening interest in the Russian medical system on the part of neighboring countries.


Research into social network systems has observed a phenomenon, named tolerance, through simulations. Tolerance is defined as agent's willingness to maintain an unrewarding connection. We have presented a mathematical model of tolerance to predict the n-tolerance of an agent. We use a real world dataset in the experiments and adjust variables and procedure to achieve desirable results. This work has shown that tolerance is not just a side-effect of the decision rule chosen for the system, nor is it a purely sociological theory, but an observable trait of dynamic social networks in real-world situations.


It is essential to understand the underlying mechanism if one is to understand the timing of events during the menstrual cycle. During the latter part of the preceding menstrual cycle the high output of estradiol and progesterone by the corpus luteum suppresses the production of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) by the pituitary gland. The waning production of hormones by the corpus luteum at the end of that cycle causes endometrium shedding (menstruation) and removes the suppression of FSH production. The FSH levels rise slowly with a delay mechanism. This delay is necessary for it takes 5 days from the initiation of a follicular response to the production of enough follicular estrogen to inform the pituitary that the required production of FSH has been achieved. FSH production is below that required for the growth of follicles initially but some conditioning occurs at these levels. The output of FSH "hunts" upward seeking the threshold level at which a group of follicles is stimulated into active growth. Within 5 days these follicles are secreting estradiol. There is an intermediate level of FSH production which must be exceeded before a follicle is stimulated sufficiently from its initial growth phase to progress to ovulation. In addition there is an upper level of FSH production which must not be exceeded lest excess stimulation and multiple pregnancies result. As this upper level is only 20-30% above the threshold value precise feedback control of FSH production by ovarian estradiol is essential. As the dominant follicle is being boosted to ovulation it is producing increasing amounts of estradiol which feed back to the pituitary and suppress FSH production to below the threshold value. The high estradiol levels also actuate a positive feedback stimulus to the pituitary to cause the preovulatory surge of LH release which initiates follicular rupture (ovulation). Estradiol produced during the follicular phase of the cycle causes production of cervical mucus. The progesterone produced by the corpus luteum even in the presence of estradiol inhibits production of this mucus. All of these processes take time. During the normal cycle the rise in FSH production continues smoothly so that the intermediate level is exceeded within a few days and the follicle is boosted to ovulation. In prolonged cycles the rise may be arrested and the FSH level remains within the intermediate phase. This is the other variable time sequence of the cycle. Once an ovulatory course is embarked upon the resulting events occur within narrowly defined time sequences. In terms of the mucus symptoms prolonged cycles are characterized by an extremely variable number of "dry" days and "mucus" days. The chart is in effect a record of when the FSH levels are in the "sub-threshold" or "intermediate" ranges.


A hot task in the Computer Assisted Translation scenario is the integration of Machine Translation (MT) systems that adapt sentence after sentence to the postedits made by the translators. A main role in the MT online adaptation process is played by the information extracted from source and post-edited sentences, which in turn depends on the quality of the word alignment between them. In fact, this step is particularly crucial when the user corrects the MT output with words for which the system has no prior information. In this paper, we first discuss the application of popular state-of-the-art word aligners to this scenario and reveal their poor performance in aligning unknown words. Then, we propose a fast procedure to refine their outputs and to get more reliable and accurate alignments for unknown words. We evaluate our enhanced word-aligner on three language pairs, namely English-Italian, EnglishFrench, and English-Spanish, showing a consistent improvement in aligning unknown words up to 10% absolute Fmeasure.


We evaluated the mechanical properties, obtained by means of flexion-compression assays in femurs and flexion assays on three tibial sites of ovariectomized adult female rats submitted to physical activity. Thirty rats were employed and divided into 3 groups: G1: Control. G2: Ovariectomized animals and not submitted to physical activity. G3: Animals trained in a spinning cage for five consecutive days, subsequently submitted to ovariectomy, and allowed to rest during 24 hours. The animals were submitted to physical activity for 30 minutes, 5 days a week, for a period of 9 weeks, at a speed of approximately 0.31 m/s. The values achieved for load and deformation evidenced that ovariectomized rats' femurs presented with a statistically significant reduction on load and deformation mechanical properties, at the maximum limit. Femurs in the group submitted to ovariectomy and physical activity presented with load and deformation values at maximum limit superior to those for the group submitted only to ovariectomy, however, with no statistical significance. The tibiae didn't present significant changes in any of the mechanical properties studied. Physical activity applied for 30 minutes, 5 days a week, during 9 weeks at 0.31 m/s was not enough to correct the biomechanical changes of bone tissue yielded by ovariectomy.


Evaluating potential hazardous effects of chemicals on ecosystems has always been an important research topic which traditionally done by laboratory or field experiments. Experiment-based ecotoxici...


7.2 ± 1.9 in FGI and 6.5 ± 2.1 in VGI ( p = 0.863). The movement at C3 was 5.01 ± 0.91 in FGI and 5.93 ± 2.52 in VGI. No patient developed new-onset deficits. Conclusion: The degree of cervical spine movement was similar with both the techniques and no patient developed intubation-related motor deficits. concerns were bleeding, thromboembolism, hemodynamic instability, valvular dysfunction, and infective endocarditis. Balanced anesthesia was used with invasive monitoring and transesophageal echocardiography. Intraoperative course was uneventful and patient was extubated. Intravenous heparin was administered. On day 2, CT suggested hematoma with midline shift. Patient was taken for re-exploration with repeat blood and plasma transfusions. After extubation, a single episode of convulsions occurred on the fifth day. An-ticonvulsants were started. CT scan showed increased size of extra-axial hematoma. A third decompression craniotomy followed. Injection low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) 0.4 mg subcutaneous twice a day started. At present, patient is stable and shifted to ward. Conclusion: Valve replacement patients are at high risk of intracranial hemorrhage due to anticoagulation. Ap-propriate management of anticoagulation is essential to en-sure functioning of valve as well as prevent bleeding at other sites. initial-ly time to and substantial-ly by remodifying our (four Conclusion: Setting IOMRI involves challenges. Institute-based checklists, protocols, and data recording incidences and infusions and hourly fentanyl boluses targeting <60 without muscle relax-ants. DBS placement was done with neuronavigation + CARM and mainly optic tract stimulation and recording N40-P70. DBS electrodes were placed at 1mm away from the distance where optic tract) VEP amplitudes were maximum and no positive corticospinal stimulation even with 5 mA current. DBS electrode placement was confirmed with intraoperative MRI after sanitization and removal of all metallic electrodes, entropy sensors, etc. Later the battery was placed and the patient was extubated. Conclusion: Challenges faced in such GPi targeted DBS placements are enormous and careful planning and teamwork are utmost important in such cases in She was posted for foramen magnum decompression. Intraoperative MEP monitoring was planned to avoid spinal cord damage during surgery. After fiberoptic awake intubation, anesthesia induction was performed with propofol (2 mg/kg) and fentanyl (2 µg/kg). For maintenance, sevoflurane (0.8–1 MAC) with O 2 + air and dexmedetomidine (0.5 µg/kg/h) + fentanyl 1 µg/kg/h infusion was initiated. Once the patient was prone, there was significant hypotension and corrective measures taken (inotropes). The anesthesiologist was hesitant to switch to propofol and decided to continue with low-dose sevoflurane (0.3 MAC). We tried to achieve baseline recordings but were unsuccessful. After confirming all hemodynamic, metabolic parameters, and checking connections again (RAW EMG), anesthesia protocol was changed to TIVA (entropy guided) with propofol, fentanyl (1 µg/kg/h), and dexmedetomidine (0.5 µg/kg/h) and successful baseline MEP recordings were achieved. Thorough checklist, proper anesthesia protocol, and communication with surgeon help us to warn, predict, and prevent postoperative deficits during intraoperative neuromonitoring in complex spine surgeries. Conclusion: Sevoflurane even at low MAC (0.3 MAC) can suppress MEP recordings and should preferably not be used during MEP. TIVA is preferable.


—Phasor measurement units (PMUs) provide useful data for real-time monitoring of the smart grid. However, there may be time-varying deviation in phase angle differences (PADs) between both ends of the transmission line (TL), which may deteriorate application performance based on PMUs. To address that, this paper proposes two robust methods of correcting time-varying PAD deviation with unknown parameters of TL (ParTL). First, the phenomena of time-varying PAD deviation observed from field PMU data are presented. Two general formulations for PAD estimation are then established. To simplify the formulations, estimation of PADs is converted into the optimal problem with a single ParTL as the variable, yielding a linear estimation of PADs. The latter is used by second-order Taylor series expansion to estimate PADs accurately. To reduce the impact of possible abnormal amplitude data in field data, the IGG (Institute of Geodesy & Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) weighting function is adopted. Results using both simulated and field data verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed methods.


Mesoporous carbon (MC)-supported Ni–Mo catalysts with varying amounts of Ni (x = 0, 3, 6 and 9 wt%) and Mo (y = 0, 10, 15 and 20 wt%) were prepared using the wet-impregnation method and characterized. Their catalytic activity in the selective conversion of aqueous glucose solution (15 wt%) to ethylene glycol (EG) in a batch reaction was investigated. A catalyst, with 3% Ni and 15% Mo on MC showed the highest activity and selectivity. The complete conversion of glucose with 63.2% yield of EG was obtained in a reaction conducted for 6 h at 200 °C and 40 bar hydrogen pressure. A synergistic enhancement in catalytic performance was found when both Ni and Mo were present in the catalyst composition. The dispersion of Mo enhanced in presence of Ni and a part of Mo was reduced from +6 to lower oxidation states (+5 and +4), which imparted the acidity of the catalyst. Ni facilitated the hydrogenation activity and acid sites on Mo led to the retro-aldol reaction forming higher amounts of EG. The catalyst was found to be reusable.


Modern software are object-oriented program systems. Almost all software has a database. Some databases are object-oriented. In this case, object-oriented software and databases shall be designed in a consistent manner. In this article, we describe a UML profile for the programming environment. It is an environment for support of object-oriented databases. The UML profile allows describing an application domain in notions of a metamodel of the programming environment.


To improve the transmission rate of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex(OFDM)systems, an Expectation Maximization(EM)iterative semi-blind channel estimation algorithm based on the added pilot symbols is proposed.The algorithm does not require the channel statistics and does not have band loss because of pilot symbols transmitted.The tradeoff between system performance and algorithm complexity is realized by choosing the iteration number.At the expense of a little transmitted power,the simulation results show that the proposed algorithm converges to the known channel parameters and the performance is improved significantly compared with the interpolation methods for Pilot Symbols Assistant Modulation(PSAM)OFDM systems.


Simple Summary Euthanasia is one of the most commonly performed procedures in laboratory rodents, as the majority of animals are killed upon project completion or when humane endpoints have been reached. Overdose with carbon dioxide gas remains a widely used killing method, despite evidence it is aversive to rodents. The inhalant anesthetic isoflurane is a refinement to overdose with carbon dioxide, but also elicits aversion in rodents. The inhalant anesthetic desflurane has a faster onset of action than isoflurane and may therefore offer further refinement. In this study, rat aversion to desflurane and isoflurane was compared. Isoflurane and desflurane were similarly aversive; however, desflurane exposure resulted in a shorter time to achieve recumbency, shortening any period of potential distress. Therefore, desflurane represents a refinement over the use of isoflurane. Abstract Carbon dioxide and isoflurane are widely used for killing rats, yet may not truly achieve "euthanasia", because they elicit aversion. The inhalant anesthetic desflurane is faster acting than isoflurane, representing a potential refinement. Using an aversion-avoidance paradigm, 24 rats were exposed to isoflurane or desflurane (n = 12 per group) at initial exposure. Fourteen rats were then re-exposed to isoflurane or desflurane (n = 7 per group), after a 7 days washout period. Initial exposure: time to recumbency was faster for desflurane than isoflurane (p = 0.0008, 95% CI [-12.9 to 32.6 s]), with 9/12 and 6/12 rats becoming recumbent, respectively. At initial exposure, there was no difference between groups in time to withdrawal (p = 0.714). At re-exposure, all rats withdrew and no rats became recumbent. Time to withdrawal at re-exposure did not differ between treatment groups (p = 0.083). Compared to initial exposure, time to withdrawal during re-exposure was similar for isoflurane (p = 0.228) and faster with desflurane (p = 0.012, 95% CI [19.1 to 49.5 s]). Isoflurane and desflurane are similarly aversive, with aversion increasing at re-exposure. The shorter time from exposure to recumbency with desflurane indicates that any distress is of a shorter duration when compared with isoflurane.


ABSTRACT The design, development and calibration of a novel analytical reaction microcalorimeter is described. The instrument uses a modified Teflon stopcock as the reaction chamber, an aluminum block with built-in syringes as the equilibrium chamber and a thermistor bead as the detector. Operational amplifiers are used for signal amplification. The reaction of two thermally equilibrated reagents occurs inside the reaction chamber. Using microliter quantities of reagents, the microcalorimeter is sensitive to energy changes in the order of millicalories per mole.


This paper examines the challenges of democratic development in Nigeria since 1999. Modernization theory was reviewed as a theoretical framework. Secondary sources of data were employed in carrying out the study as qualitative descriptive analysis method was used in the analysis and interpretation of findings. Democratic governments are expected to be concerned with and committed to policy formulation and implementation to raise the standard of living of the people through fair distribution of the state's wealth for national development. However, this paper finds that there are major challenges against democratic development in Nigeria which include electoral irregularities and malpractices, inter and intra ethnic rivalries, religious crises and insecurity, poverty, inadequate and weak democratic institutions, political decamping and institutionalized corruption. These challenges have, no doubt, affected national development in Nigeria. The study recommends good governance for national development in the country, efficient policy measures to fight corruption, transparent electoral system to avoid rigging, internal democracy in party politics, review of electoral processes to improve voter turnout, among others.


The report provides estimated costs of producing methanol transportation fuel from coal. Estimates were made for mine-mouth plants in five different coal-producing regions, and uniform methods were used so the estimated sales prices could be compared for market analysis. In addition to plant-gate prices, delivered prices were estimated for three major market areas. With presently available transportation the lowest delivered prices were for methanol production based in the southern lignite coal region. If new methanol-compatible pipelines were to be constructed, the lowest delivered prices would be for production based in the western subbituminous coal region. In the western subbituminous region, limited water resources would make extensive planning and careful site selection necessary, but they would not prevent the development of a coal-to-methanol industry. By-product carbon dioxide sales for enhanced oil recovery could reduce the required plant-gate methanol price in some areas near oil fields amenable to carbon dioxide injection techniques. A literature review with 50 references is included.


This paper analyses the importance of 'Shari'a scholars' in the Islamic Financial Services (IFS) sector, which has been a growing global practice since the 1970s. Based on Shari'a Law, IFS firms provide banking, finance and insurance respecting faith-based prohibitions on interest, speculation and risk taking. Although IFS firms operate across a variety of scales and involve a range of actors, this paper focuses on the transnational capacities of Shari'a experts employed by IFS firms. These scholars use their extensive knowledge of Shari'a Law to assess the 'Islamic' character of a firm's operations, and assist the development of Shari'a-compliant products. As they embody necessary entry-points into Islamic circuits of knowledge and authority, members of what we dub the 'global Shari'a elite' can be regarded as 'gatekeepers' of Islamic financial circuits. Drawing on a comprehensive data source we present a geographical analysis of Shari'a board membership, nationality and educational background of 253 Shari'a scholars. The results show that the global Shari'a elite connects a limited number of IFS hubs (e.g. Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait City, Manama, and London) to knowledge and authority networks falling outside 'mainstream' business and service spheres.


In this work, a MATLAB based user interface with various computation modules which simulate the image blur using the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) is presented. Image distortion in an imaging system occurs through image blur and noise. The amount of the image blur depends on the characteristics of the optical system, sensor, post-sensor electronics; atmospheric conditions; and motion characteristics of the platform where imager is situated. In this work, image blur is simulated using MTF, especially under conditions where atmospheric degradation effects are dominant. Upon selection of an image by the user, the image blur due to components of the imaging systems and different atmospheric conditions is added to obtain a resultant image. The user can freely specify the values of parameters determining the amount of image blur. By employing synthetic image generators, this work can be used for increasing the efficiency of target detection, tracking, and image restoration algorithms.


In A-Z format and spanning two volumes of 450 entries, this encyclopedia covers all aspects of drug policy through a variety of disciplines including criminology, sociology, psychology and politics.


The chapters in Part III bring the description of approaches and methods up to the present time and describe some of the directions mainstream language teaching has followed since the emergence of communicative methodologies in the 1980s. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) marks the beginning of a major paradigm shift within language teaching in the twentieth century, one whose ramifications continue to be felt today. The general principles of Communicative Language Teaching are today widely accepted around the world and we consider the reasons for this in Chapters 14 and 19. In Chapter 14 we present what we now might call the "Classical View of Communicative Language Teaching." The other chapters in this section trace how CLT philosophy has been molded into quite diverse teaching practices, although all would claim to embody basic principles of CLT. Although the Natural Approach is not as widely established as CLT, Krashen's theories of language learning have had a wide impact, particularly in the United States, and the issues the Natural Approach addresses continue to be at the core of debates about teaching methods. Cooperative Language Learning originates outside of language teaching, but because it is compatible with many of the assumptions of Communicative Language Teaching it has become a popular and relatively uncontroversial approach to the organization of classroom teaching in many parts of the world.


Abstract The eastern Nearctic pselaphine genus Custotychus Park and Wagner consisting of 14 species is revised, with ten new species being proposed: C. carloritaorum Chandler and Geromini new species, C. cavei Chandler and Geromini new species, C. chickasaw Chandler and Geromini new species, C. leei Chandler and Geromini new species, C. lobatus Chandler and Geromini new species, C. natchez Chandler and Geromini new species, C. rothorum Chandler and Geromini new species, C. spinosus Chandler and Geromini new species, C. turnbowi Chandler and Geromini new species, and C. watrousi Chandler and Geromini new species. Tychus spiculifer Casey is placed as a junior synonym of T. verticalis Casey, new synonymy. A diagnostic key and figures are provided for identification of the species.


The N2 photofixation presents a green and eco-friendly ammonia synthesis approach. Present strategies for light-induced N2 activation suffers from low efficiency and instability, largely hindering the development of this technology. Herein, we report the LaFeO3 co-optimization of N2 activation as well as subsequent photo-induced protonation with the further phosphate acid treatment. Efficient ammonia evolution rate reached 250 μmol∙g-1∙h-1 over LaFeO3 under simulated sunlight. The enhancement of phosphate modified samples was mainly attributed to the "pull and push" effect. The hydrogen bonding centers and transition metals Fe were served as two separation active sites, which improves the adsorption and activation of dinitrogen. Besides, the facilitation of H2O dissociation was also achieved after phosphate modification. These results suggested an alternative N2 photofixation strategy of traditional organic and precious metallic additives for efficient ammonia synthesis.


Different growing areas,different planting habits and different sowing date resulted in the large differences of wheat seed sowing quantity,which could have great influence on the control effect and safety of seed dressing with imidacloprid against wheat aphid.Using wheat variety Ji5265 as the material,the control effect and safety of seed dressing with imidacloprid against wheat aphid were studied.The results showed that under different sowing rate,the dose of imidacloprid had no influence on the emergence rate.Seed dressing with imidacloprid had excellent control efficacy and long persistent period to wheat aphids,which could dispense with other pesticides to control the insect.Under the same sowing rate,the control effect was improved with the increasing of the dose of imidacloprid,and the persistent period was prolonged.Under the same dose of imidacloprid,with the increasing of sowing rate,the control effect had no significant difference at earlier and middle stage,and it was improved and the persistent period was prolonged at later stage.The residue of imidacloprid in kernel was lower than the highest limited standards in USA.The sowing rate had no significant influence on residue of imidacloprid in kernel.Seed dressing with imidacloprid was safe to crops,had good control efficacy on wheat aphids,and remained lower residues in products.


A phase separated carbon and Fe0.5Ti2(PO4)3 bi-layer was fabricated on the surface of TiP2O7 particles. As the carbon layer improves electronic conductivity, and the Fe0.5Ti2(PO4)3 layer favors the transference of lithium ions, the capacity and rate performance of the TiP2O7 anode material for aqueous lithium rechargeable batteries are greatly enhanced.


Several deposition methods of ZnO film are introduced,including magnetro sputtering,chemical vapor deposition,sol-gel process,pulsed laser deposition,etc.The feasibility of ZnO film substituting for ITO film and the application are discussed.Also,as a new type of field emission cathode materials,the study progress of ZnO film in flat panel displays or as the electron source of field emission and the advantages as luminous devices are summarized.


The utility model relates to a speed reducing device of a novel ring-surface enveloping gapless worm gear, which is widely applied to various transmission mechanisms, in particularly to the transmission mechanisms in the fields of a truck with crane, an overhead working truck, a solar energy tracker and the like. The speed reducing device comprises a base (1), a worm (2) and a slewing bearing (3). The worm (2) comprises a core shaft (2.1), a left half worm (2.2), a right half worm (2.3), a spring (2.4) and a poking pin (2.5). The core shaft (2.1) is arranged in a shaft shell (1.1), the left half worm (2.2) and the right half worm (2.3) are symmetrically (left and right) sheathed on the core shaft (2.1), the spring (2.4) is embedded in large diameter holes of the left half worm (2.2) and the right half worm (2.3), the left end surface of the left half worm (2.2) is pin-jointed with a left shaft shoulder (2.1.1) of the core shaft by the poking pin (2.5), the right end surface of the right half worm (2.3) is pin-jointed with a right shaft shoulder (2.1.2) of the core shaft by the poking pin (2.5), and a gap is left between the right end surface of the left half worm (2.2) and the left end surface of the right half worm (2.3). The speed reducing device can automatically adjust the meshing state and eliminate the gap at the meshing gear side between a worm wheel and the worm.


Childbearing Poster Presentation Purpose for the Program Women who gain excessive weight during pregnancy have an increased risk of macrosomia, gestational diabetes, hypertension, prolonged labor, instrumental birth, shoulder dystocia, cesarean birth, lactation complications, and giving birth to infants prone to developing childhood obesity. Weight gain within the Institute of Medicine's Prenatal Weight Gain guidelines lowers risk of complications and postpartum weight retention. Typical prenatal care provides limited opportunity and time to offer the counseling and support many require to encourage the behavioral changes needed to optimize prenatal weight gain.


The Gunnison Gorge Wilderness Study Area is in southwestern Colorado, about 6 mi northeast of Montrose. The southeast boundary of this study area adjoins the Black Canyon of the Gunnison national Monument. The gorge is characterized by flaring canyon walls of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks at the top, surmounting an inner gorge cut through a variety of Proterozoic, igneous and metamorphic rocks. Inferred subeconomic resources of gypsum in the Wanakah Formation and of coal in the Dakota Sandstone occur in this study area. This entire study area has a low mineral and energy resource potential for undiscovered base metals (copper, lead, and zinc), precious metals (gold and silver) uranium, and geothermal sources. Outside of the inferred subeconomic resources of gypsum in the Wanakah and of coal in the Dakota, the potential for undiscovered resources of these commodities is low. There is no potential for undiscovered resources of oil and gas.


This study focuses on the detection of ABR magnetic fields using a SQUID magnetometer with a variable baseline. The authors developed a highly sensitive DC-SQUID system. The SQUID magnetometer has a first-order gradiometer with a variable baseline, i.e., the distance between two co-axial coils. ABR signals, which are generated from a brainstem in a deep part of the brain, are very weak fields. The authors measured the ABR magnetic fields using three gradiometers which have different baselines: 30 mm, 50 mm and 80 mm. In this experiment, the authors were able to obtain the best signal-to-noise ratio using the gradiometer with the 50 mm baseline.<<ETX>>


Seven 3,5-disubstituted oxadiazole derivatives, 3a-g, have been prepared by direct condensation of appropriate benzamidoxime with succinic anhydride. Spectroscopic properties, especially uv, ir and mass spectra confirmed the cyclic 1,2,4-oxadiazole structure. No ring-opened intermediate or side product could be observed. The 1H-nmr assignments of the two CH2 groups were unequivocally made by acid- and base-induced shifts.


The point of divergence for the authors' analysis is the observation that research on the development of professional skills did not provide empirical support to a possible positive relationship between innovative culture and development of professional skills. The author believes that the injection of intervening variables has the potential to do just that. The purpose of this paper is to understand such contingencies through a developed moderated mediation model, which jointly examines supportive leadership as the mediating mechanism and individual power distance orientation as a moderator and to increase the theoretical validity and precision of investigating the development of professional skills.,The survey data were collected from 317 information technology (IT) professional technical engineers and their supervisors from high-tech sectors. The authors tested the hypotheses by hierarchical regression and followed Baron and Kenny (1986) instruction to examine our moderated mediation model. The authors used a series of confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) to verify the constructs' distinctiveness before testing the hypotheses was performed. Meanwhile, in order to test the mediating effect, the three-equation approach to testing mediation, as recommended by Baron and Kenny (1986), was used.,The strong support for schema theory in this study suggests that the development of professional skills can be notably promoted through a moderated mediation model which integrates the link between innovative culture and professional skills through the mediating effect of supportive leadership and the direct effects are mitigated by the moderating effect of individual power distance orientation. It highlights the importance of appropriately matching innovative culture and supportive leadership with the power distance orientation of employees. This universalistic organizational behavior approach has worked effectively in an Asian sample.,This study provides a better understanding of work motivation by showing that an employee uses schemas to interpret the relationships among perceived innovative culture, individual power distance orientation, supportive leadership and development of professional skills. This paper also illustrates how perceived innovative culture can act as an positive motivator to inspire IT technical engineers' development of professional skills, and how individually held power distance orientation may positively or negatively influence the relationship between perceived innovative culture and supportive leadership. Hence, this study has extended the schema theory in organizations and informed the literature on supportive leadership.


Biarticular muscles exhibit heterogeneous within muscle behavior at both the muscle fiber and fascicle levels in modeling [1,2] and animal studies [3]. Modeling of regional muscle fibers predicted greater along fiber strain in the region closest to the proximal musculotendinous junction of the biceps femoris long head (BFLH) where, coincidently, the majority of hamstring strains occur [2,4,5]. In vivo evidence of heterogeneity in regional fascicle behavior within the BFLH of humans could potentially help explain the disproportionate injury rate in the proximal vs. distal regions, e.g. provide empirical evidence of relatively large proximal fascicle strains. The purpose of this study is to assess the behavior of proximal and distal fascicles in BFLH under selected isometric muscle contraction levels. We hypothesize that the proximal fascicles will be longer [6], and will shorten more than their distal counterparts.


This document is a compilation of status reports on the national solar heating and cooling programs of seventeen countries participating in the Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society's Solar Energy Pilot Study. These reports were presented in two special sessions of the 25th Congress of the International Solar Energy Society held in May 1979, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. This information exchange activity was part of the two-year follow up (1978-1980) of the Solar Energy Pilot Study, which ended in October 1978.


ABSTRACT: Despite years of spatial mismatch hypothesis research, the poor's access to jobs is not well understood. This article provides a detailed analysis of the distributional imbalance between the residential locations of poor and nonpoor families and jobs over the 1990s in U.S. metropolitan areas. Descriptive and multivariate evidence are presented addressing whether job access for the poor has improved over the 1990s. If so, what factors drove the improvement, and do they help explain the disparity in job access between the poor and nonpoor? Using data from the U.S. Census, the Economic Census and the Zip Code Business Pattern files, the analysis reveals how the change in metropolitan factors over the 1990s explains the gap in job access between the poor and nonpoor. Specifically, the factors which increase parity or exacerbate it are identified. Results indicate that job access for the poor has improved significantly, particularly for black poor over the decade. A decomposition of job isolation indicates that change in dynamic metropolitan-wide factors such as job sprawl and the variation of housing affordability overall impedes movement toward parity in access to jobs between the poor and nonpoor.


The seed grading can improve the seed quality, save the sowing quantity and cereals, advantageous to achieving sowing mechanization and precision sowing, and it can bring a lot of society benefits. Hence, a cylinder screen seed corn grader used in large and medium-sized seed processing plant is designed. Its productivity is 1.5t/h and the effect is preferable. Its working principle; the specialty of framework design and the proceeding in use are introduced. By analyze in detail The separating movement and force of the seeds in cylinder screen, the critical rotate speed of cylinder screen is calculated and main parameters of the cylinder screen seed corn grader are confirmed .That is to say that the design rotate speed of cylinder is 50r.p.m and inclinable angle of cylinder is adjustable in size of 1° to 5°.


This thesis deals with electroacoustic detectors, distributes and describes the detectors according to their principle of operation. Another part of the thesis compares the acoustic detectors with other types of detectors. In the practical part I have compiled the acoustic pressure detector and ultrasonic detector. Subsequently, there is created a laboratory task for the subject Technical equipment security industry, which consists of theoretical and practical measurements. This task is solved is at the end of the thesis.


As supervisors of undergraduate elementary education majors, we are often in the classrooms of local elementary schools, watching science instruction take place. Recently, we were disappointed when a fifth-grade field trip to a river near the school was cancelled partially due to parents' fear of snakes. This fear of snakes developed into an opportunity to teach students about the processes of science: formulating questions, collecting and analyzing data, and communicating findings to the public. By using snakes to help students "think like a scientist," we engaged students in a five-day unit on inquiry while providing information about snakes found in our local community.


A novel fault-tolerant model predictive control (MPC)-based trajectory tracking approach for an aerial vehicle is presented in this study. A generalised online sequential extreme learning machine is introduced first to identify the corresponding coefficients of actuator faults. Subsequently, a robust trajectory tracking control is developed based on MPC, where the system constraints can be effectively considered in the designed control scheme. Trajectory tracking control is achieved by controlling only the acceleration of the aerial robot in the MPC structure. This leads to less computational burden and faster closed-loop dynamics. In addition, an effective disturbance observer is employed, which can satisfactorily capture the effects of unmodelled dynamics and external disturbances on the system dynamics. The stability of the proposed control algorithm is proved based on the Lyapunov theory under realistic assumptions. Finally, the proposed control strategy is applied to a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle. Both simulation and experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the introduced fault-tolerant control scheme. The obtained results suggest that the designed control approach is capable of stabilising the attitude and providing acceptable performance in tracking a predefined trajectory in a three-dimensional environment in the simultaneous presence of actuator faults and external disturbances.


3094Background: A promising avenue to increase the efficacy of anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-(L)1 checkpoint blockade therapies is to enhance T cell induction through vaccination. Surprisingly, concurrent gp100 peptide vaccination decreased clinical efficacy of anti-CTLA-4 in patients with melanoma. As a result, it is currently unclear how to effectively combine checkpoint blockade therapy with vaccination. We used an animal model of gp100 peptide vaccination and CTLA-4/PD-L1 checkpoint blockade to understand this phenomenon and define parameters for successful combination of checkpoint blockade and vaccination. Methods: We treated established B16 melanoma tumors with anti-CTLA-4 therapy and concurrent vaccination with gp100/IFA and studied T cell expansion, trafficking and therapeutic effector function. Results: Anti-CTLA-4 monotherapy significantly increased intratumoral levels of TRP-2 melanoma antigen-specific Teffs, as well as total CD44hiCD11ahiCD8lo Teffs at the tumor site. Conversely, gp100/IFA vaccinat...


This paper carries out the monitoring of entrepreneurship development at the current stage of the management. On the basis of this monitoring, the author reveals the main problems in the field of the legislation of the tax and financial-credit systems, and defines prospects of the development of lines of small-scale and mid-scale business improvement.


General election of regional leader in the reality does not at moments notice bear regional leader, which is have integrity to and blessing to aspiration and importance of people. All enforcer punish even also looked to be at the end of one's rope finish case badness of corruption entangling all authoritarians of this state and his partner. Equally law, enforcer punishes and our culture still not yet can give to have cold feet people who conduct badness of corruption.


Conventional erosion function apparatus (EFA) which has been used to measure the hydraulic resistance of soil was improved to consider direction change of the current flow. Using improved apparatus, hydraulic resistance capacities of the artificially composed clayey soil and sandy soil were compared. Test result shows that scour rates which were measured under the bi-directional flow were much higher than those measured under unidirectional flow for both type soils. Scour rate of sandy soil was higher than that of clayey soil. Velocity averaged scour rate of specimen which was consolidated under the relatively large consolidation pressure is higher than that of specimen which is consolidated under small consolidation pressure, which means scour problem under bidirectional flow may be more serious for the deep seabed ground.


This paper proposes virtual spaces designed in Game Engines promote a form of inhabitant hyperactivity. Allowing quick navigation between distant spaces the Game Engine fosters an appreciation of movement over pause, which may be to the detriment of architectural visualisation. This paper presents a series of three case studies that explore the notion of Real-Time Streaming Data within RTVE to enrich and enhance Virtual Environments. This paper proposes the notion of 'Digital Ephemera' can help produce a more immersive virtual environment. Based on the examination of these case studies, the paper concludes on a motion that breaking down the inherent 'stillness' of traditional RTVE's can be avoided by developing an environment that taps into data streaming and monitoring services to enhance the inhabi-


Health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) is a critical aspect to consider when making treatment decisions for patients with non‐Hodgkin‐lymphoma (NHL). This international study by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) tested the psychometric properties of two newly developed measures for patients with high‐grade (HG)‐ and low‐grade (LG)‐NHL: the EORTC QLQ‐NHL‐HG29 and the EORTC QLQ‐NHL‐LG20 to supplement the core questionnaire (EORTC QLQ‐C30).


In Byzantine hymnography, the Theotokos – the God-bearing Virgin, Mother of God and Unwedded Bride of the Orthodox Church – is represented as a fountain, spring, well or source, as an 'endless sour ...


Non-intrusive experimentation and measurements can be obtained from the latest neuroscience scanning techniques and technologies. Such technologies are now quite affordable and could possibly be used for the reading process research in information and communication sciences. The research experiment focuses on measuring the changes in attention while reading the text on different media (devices). The pilot experiment showed that cheap and easy to use brainwave measuring devices can be used for testing reading processes by measuring attention (concentration). The results revealed that a reading medium (device) affects the level of attention and suggested that less attention is needed to read from paper compared to any size or type of screen. Reading books (in a foreign language) can mostly be considered neutral on the attention level scale (slightly shifted towards 53 on a 1-100 scale).


A two-dimensional finite element analysis of the thermal state of man-made frozen islands is presented. The model includes an air-ground interface energy exchange simulator that incorporates available meteorological parameters for application to offshore areas in the Alaskan arctic. Comparison of simulations with analytical and available data indicates an accurate and efficient model. Two hypothetical island configurations are analyzed using actual meteorological data obtained at Barter Island, Alaska. Results suggest that islands constructed of dredged materials are feasible in shallow waters.


We have reanalyzed in a consistent way existing reverberation data for 35 AGNs for the purpose of refining the black hole masses derived from these data. We find that the precision (or random component of the error) of reverberation-based black hole mass measurements is typically around 30%, comparable to the precision attained in measurement of black hole masses in quiescent galaxies by gas or stellar dynamical methods. As discussed in this volume by Onken et al., we have established an absolute calibration for AGN reverberation-based masses by assuming that AGNs and quiescent galaxies follow an identical relationship between black hole mass and host-galaxy bulge velocity dispersion. The scatter around this relationship implies that the typical systematic uncertainties in reverberation-based black hole masses are smaller than a factor of three. We present a preliminary version of a mass–luminosity relationship that is much better defined than any previous attempt. Scatter about the mass–luminosity relationship for these AGNs appears to be real and could be correlated with either Eddington ratio or source inclination.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html


After disaster, effective distribution of relief commodities to the affected areas is vital to minimize the loss. Generally speaking, the exact demand data are hard to obtain immediately after the disaster, which will cause difficulties to the decision-making process. In this paper, we present a prediction method of the relief demands after an earthquake. We also propose a distribution model considering the satisfaction rate of the relief demands and distribution cost. The uncertain demands are addressed by the Affinely Adjustable Robust Counterpart (AARC) method when the model is solved. Finally, a numerical experiment is given to demonstrate the computational efficiency of the proposed model.


Abstract The purpose of this study is to analyse the combustion and emission characteristics of a heavy-duty single cylinder engine (HDSCE) with a mixer and a liquefied petroleum injection (LPi) system. The mixer and LPi systems provide liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in vapour and liquid phases throughout the intake manifold. Sensors such as the crankshaft position sensor (CPS) and Hall sensor supply spark and injection timing data to the ignition controller. An HDSCE runs at an engine speed of 800–1400 r/min, a compression ratio (CR) of 8, and a relative air-fuel ratio (Λ) value of 0.8–1.3. The major conclusions of this work include: LPi and mixer systems exhibit similar brake specific fuel consumption (b.s.f.c.) levels of 275g/kWh. Fuel efficiencies of LPi and mixer methods are almost identical. All these methods exhibit generally similar CO emission properties, and LPi wide-open throttle (WOT) and mixer WOT methods exhibit similar NOx emission properties.


Mucosal immunity protection induced by Ts87 recombinant protein of Trichinella spiralis(T.spiralis)in mice was investigated.Mice were divided into 3 groups: control group,CTB group and CTB+Ts87 group,and immunized 3 times by intragastric intubation at one week interval.Then mice were challenged with 400 T.spiralis infective larvae on the seventh day after the third immunization.Intestinal adult worms,female worm fecundity and muscle larvae were counted and compared.Compared with control group and CTB group,CTB+Ts87 group showed a significant reduction in the number of intestinal adult worms,newborn larvae and muscle larvae,the rate of reduction is 81.34%,67.02%,84.49% respectively.The levels of sIgA and serum IgG were significantly higher in CTB+Ts87 group than those in control group and CTB group,but there were no significant differences in the levels of sIgA and serum IgG between CTB group and control group.It suggests that Ts87 recombinant protein inoculated by oral garage can induce mucosal protective immune response against T.spiralis and enhance the level of specific sIgA,which play an important role in the expulsion of intestinal adult worms.


In this work, we present a numerical scheme to study the quasinormal modes of the time-dependent Vaidya black hole metric in asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetime. The proposed algorithm is primarily based on a generalized matrix method for quasinormal modes. The main feature of the present approach is that the quasinormal frequency, as a function of time, is obtained by a generalized secular equation and therefore a satisfactory degree of precision is achieved. The implications of the results are discussed.


Research achievements in the reflective cracking of semi-rigid pavements in China and abroad in recent years are summarized in this paper. Effect of different measures, including geotextile intermediate layer, rubber-asphalt sealing layer and graded granular intermediate course, on the reflective cracking resistance of semi-rigid pavements are discussed. It is pointed out that high quality granular intermediate base course (also called inverted section) has good performance in the prevention of reflective cracks. Structural and mechanical performance of the granular intermediate base course is introduced in detail.


We study the consensus decentralized optimization problem where the objective function is the average of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n$</tex-math></inline-formula> agents private non-convex cost functions; moreover, the agents can only communicate to their neighbors on a given network topology. The stochastic learning setting is considered in this paper where each agent can only access a noisy estimate of its gradient. Many decentralized methods can solve such problem including EXTRA, Exact-Diffusion/D<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula>, and gradient-tracking. Unlike the famed <sc>Dsgd</sc> algorithm, these methods have been shown to be robust to the heterogeneity across the local cost functions. However, the established convergence rates for these methods indicate that their sensitivity to the network topology is worse than <sc>Dsgd</sc>. Such theoretical results imply that these methods can perform much worse than <sc>Dsgd</sc> over sparse networks, which, however, contradicts empirical experiments where <sc>Dsgd</sc> is observed to be more sensitive to the network topology. In this work, we study a general <underline>s</underline>tochastic <underline>u</underline>nified <underline>d</underline>ecentralized <underline>a</underline>lgorithm (<bold>SUDA</bold>) that includes the above methods as special cases. We establish the convergence of <bold>SUDA</bold> under both non-convex and the Polyak-Łojasiewicz condition settings. Our results provide improved network topology dependent bounds for these methods (such as Exact-Diffusion/D<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> and gradient-tracking) compared with existing literature. Moreover, our results show that these methods are often less sensitive to the network topology compared to <sc>Dsgd</sc>, which agrees with numerical experiments.


In addition to traditional topics related to safety and serviceability, new and special topics have emerged concerning for example robustness, assessment of existing structures, sustainability, aesthetics or the extensive use of information technology in the design process. Finally, the transition between codes and practice is made possible by adequate teaching of the fundamentals underlying the codes.


Maturity stage and drying method are the factors that most influence coffee seed quality. The objective of this study was to assess the physiological quality and investigate the electrophoretic patterns of catalase and endo-s-mannanase enzymes and heat resistant proteins in coffee seeds harvested at different phenological stages and dried under different conditions. Physiological quality was assessed when the seeds had developed the green, greenish-yellow, cherry, overripe and dry stages after three treatments: no drying, conventional drying and fast drying. After each treatment, the physiological quality of the seeds was assessed using the germination test and electrophoretic patterns of heat resistant proteins and the activity of catalase and endo-s-mannanase enzymes. Seeds harvested at the cherry phenological stage had the best physiological quality, and the drying process reduced quality at the cherry, overripe and dry stages. This reduction was greater under the faster drying process, but at the greenish-yellow stage, seeds had better physiological quality after slow drying. Regarding the results from electrophoretic analysis, endo-s-mannanase and catalase activities increase as the ripeness stages advance; the activity of endo-s-mannanase is directly associated with the deterioration process; the expression of heat resistant proteins increases with maturation process and is associated with seed physiological quality.


The dynamics of in-plane tethered subsatellite moving in a circular orbit during station-keeping phase is studied.An attitude motion of the subsatellite is taken into account in this study.The system established by means of Lagrange's equation shows that the motion of in-plane tethered satellite behave as a time-varying nonlinear oscillation,i.e.,there exist the coupled fast and slow motions related to the attitude of the subsatellite and the pitch motion of the tether in the case of small ratio of radius of subsatellite to tether length.In order to gain an understanding of the coupled fast and slow motions,a two variable perturbation method in conjunction with multiple scales of time is proposed to obtain the asymptotic analytical solutions.The analytical and numerical results show that the coupled fast and slow motions of in-plane tethered satellite system in a circular orbit would fall into a quasi-periodic oscillation.


A method and apparatus for thermoplastic casting a suitable glass forming alloy is provided. The method and apparatus of the present invention, maintaining the alloy, as during the molding or the molding step, the temperature T The invention also provides a molded product in accordance with the thermoplastic casting process. Amorphous alloys, thermoplastic casting, glass transition temperature, crystallization, critical cooling rate, strain


This paper describes an approach, called centered object integrated segmentation and recognition (COISR), for integrating object segmentation and recognition within a single neural network. The application is hand-printed character recognition. Two versions of the system are described. One uses a backpropagation network that scans exhaustively over a field of characters and is trained to recognize whether it is centered over a single character or between characters. When it is centered over a character, the net classifies the character. The approach is tested on a dataset of hand-printed digits. Very low error rates are reported. The second version, COISR-SACCADE, avoids the need for exhaustive scans. The net is trained as before, but also is trained to compute ballistic 'eye' movements that enable the input window to jump from one character to the next.


A soundscape is a sound environment of the awareness of auditory perception and social or cultural understandings. Based on a soundscape investigation in 2019 in the historical and ethnic village of Dong Nationality in Zhaoxing County, Guizhou Province of China, a case study on the soundscape analysis with the acoustical sound pressure level and an impressive sound event or soundmark is introduced in this paper. Furthermore, in order to determine the subjective soundscape experience and its influence by the length of background music listening, the independent variable "Length of Listening" and six adjective pairs, such as "Monotonous" to "Rich", "Clamorous" to "Quiet", "Stressing" to "Relaxing", "Boring" to "Vivid", "Noisy" to "Musical" and "Disliked" to "Preferable" are chosen to obtain a curve-fit, which shows that the length of the music listening background has a higher correlation to the subjective experience, and no sufficient attention has been paid to the context of the traditional soundscape preservation, ethnic music and quiet and soft ambient sounds.


Experience in conducting audits carefully, accurately, and objectively is the main competency that must be possessed by auditors. In fact, what is happening in the field shows that there are still irregularities and errors related to the audit process. This is the basis of research in revealing the effect of competence and objectivity on audit quality. The research was conducted using a survey method conducted at PT. Pindad Bandung. The data obtained were analyzed quantitatively with multiple linear regression analysis techniques, hypothesis testing t, and F test to test simultaneously. The results show that there is an influence of competence and objectivity of internal audit on audit quality at PT Pindad Bandung which is indicated by the calculation results of 75%. With the results of this study, it is hoped that it can be used as a reference for every company to always improve the competence of each auditor.


The toxicity of Bcuillus lhuringiensis is temperature sensitive. Incubation of Caenorhabdilis elegans with nematicidal B. lhuringiensis strains at 16, 20, and 25 oC shows that toxicity decreases as temperature declines. At 16 oC, toxicity is completely lost, while it is maximal at 25 oc. Toxicity is pH sensitive and is significantly reduced when nematodes are incubated with the weak bases NH 4CI, chloroquine, acridine orange, methyl red, and neutral red. Based on these results, we proposed the hypothesis that the nematicidal factor is effectively internalized into the intestinal cells, a sharp deviation from the insecticidal B. lhun'ngiensis toxins acting at the level of the brush border membrane. Although the absence of purified toxin prevents a more definitive elucidation of the mode of action, the results of this third and final part of this series of publications convincingly indicate that nematicidal B. lhuringiensis do not hold the same promise as a biological control agent as the insecticidal B. lhuringiensis strains.


City of Joy Brief Points is an intensive six-month support program for survivors of sexual violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that aims to transform vulnerable women into co ...


The paper presents a review of intelligent techniques used for the optimization of an UAV mission plan using sensory input. The constrained problem is evaluated using evolutionary algorithms (such as GAs and PSO), while extenics logic is used to evaluate the sensor fusion state. The review is part of a innovative project dealing with swarm UAV missions and AirWing testing.


In a rapid, qualitative screening method for carbaryl in carrots, oranges, and cabbage, the carbaryl is extracted with isoctane-methylene chloride in the presence of calcium sterate and sodium sulfate. A liquid-liquid partition cycle from isoctane-methylene chloride into N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and back into methylene chloride provides sufficient cleanup for the qualitative detection of the carbaryl with p-nitrobenzenediazonium fluoborate after hydrolysis to 1-naphthol. Cabbage requires no cleanup; the test works in the presence of the light-colored extract. The procedure requires about 1 hour if the DMF cleanup step is required.


Surface and interfacial tensions of symmetric diacyl phosphatidylcholines [(C n ) 2 PC], 6 ≤ n ≤ 16, at the air-water and perfluorooctyl bromide-water interfaces have been studied. The interfacial tension kinetics were found to be very sensitive to the phospholipid chain length, decreasing by more than an order of magnitude for each pair of -CH 2 - groups (one per each chain) added. At n > 12, equilibration required more than one day, beyond the accessible experimental range of the Wilhelmy plate method. The surface and interfacial tension data reported in the literature for long-chain phospholipids are argued to be measured under nonequilibrium conditions and, because of this, heavily overestimated. Equilibrium interfacial tensions above the critical micelle concentration varied from 9.8 dyn/cm (n = 6) to 4.0 dyn/cm (n = 12). These values are substantially lower than those observed with conventional nonfluorinated surfactants (e.g., Pluronics or sodium dodecyl sulfate). The lower Ostwald ripening rates observed in phospholipid-stabilized emulsions, in comparison with those stabilized by other hydrocarbon surfactants, can plausibly be explained by the lower equilibrium interfacial tensions found in the phospholipid systems.


Abstract Several approaches of 2-aminothiazolo(5,4-b)pyridine (II, X = N, Y = CH) and 2-aminothiazolo(4,5-c)pyridine (II, X = CH, Y = N) synthesis will be described. In one of them, the corresponding nitro-thiocyanatopyridines (I, X or Y = N,Y or X = CH) were reduced and subsequently cyclized to II. If reduction was attempted by hydrogenation and in the presence of palladized carbon and ethanol, the corresponding so far unknown 3-oxides (III) were formed. Deoxygenation can be achieved either with hydrogen in the presence of palladium catalyst or by TiCl3 to give (II).


Objective
To explore the endoscopic endonasal approach assisted with various new techniques in the surgical treatment of suprasellar craniopharyngiomas.

Methods
Nighty-one patients (55 males, 36 females) with suprasellar craniopharyngiomas were recruited from September 2012 to December 2016, retrospectively. Endoscopic endonasal trans-tuberculum approach was applied in all patients at Neurosurgery Department of Huashan Hospital, Fudan University. After operation, all patients were asked to take regular follow-up including endocrine exams and sellar contrast MRI.

Results
Among the 91 cases, 53, 25 and 13 cases achieved gross-total, subtotal and partial resections, respectively. Other complications included intracranial infection (3 cases) and electrolyte disturbance (3 cases). Sixty-eight (74.7%, 68/91) patients obtained anatomic preservation of pituitary stalk postoperatively.Among 62 patients with original visual impairment, 35 cases (56.5%, 35/62) were improved to different extent. Postoperative complications included cerebrospinal rhinorrhea (3 cases), intracranial infection (3 cases), serious electrolyte disturbance (3 cases), hypothalamic dysfunctions (2 cases), intracranial hemorrhage (2 cases), epistaxis (2 cases) and loss of vision (1 case). All the cases were confirmed craniopharyngiomas pathologically. The follow-up period ranged from 3 months to 54 months (mean: 18.0±9.7 months). Endocrine exams indicated new-onset hypoadrenalism in 34 cases, hypothyroidism in 30 cases, hypogonadotropic hypogonadism in 15 cases and posterior hypopituitarism in 18 cases. Eight cases with residual tumors underwent radiotherapy and 2 recurrent cases received the second operation during contrast MRI follow-up.

Conclusions
Endoscopic endonasal surgery demonstrates good results in suprasellar craniopharyngiomas, which is advantageous in facilitation of maximal and safe tumor exposure and protection of the pituitary stalk.

Key words:
Craniopharyngioma; Neuroendoscopy; Treatment outcome; Extended endonasal approach


We consider the eciency properties of exchange economies where privately informed traders behave strategically. Specifically, a competi- tive mechanism is any mapping of traders' reports about their types to an equilibrium price vector and allocation of the reported economy. In our model, some traders may have non-vanishing impact on prices and allocations regardless of the size of the economy. Although truthful reporting by all traders cannot be achieved, we show that, given any desired level of approximation, there is ¯


This case note analyzes the outcome of the Spanish Colgate-Palmolive case, decided by the Supreme Court in September 2020. The case revolved around the interpretation of Article 12 of the Spain-Switzerland tax treaty (1967), on royalties, which omits any reference to the beneficial owner of the income in its wording. In short, the Court considered that the beneficial ownership concept cannot be construed by resorting to the OECD Commentaries, because soft law documentation cannot supersede the content of an applicable tax treaty.


A pharmacy stock inventory system (PSIS) is a computerized system designed for user to manage the stock of the drugs inventory and monitoring the stock facility.
The stand alone pharmacy stock inventory system provides alert of expire drugs and minimum quantity of each drugs and also searching algorithm technique applied in this
system. A research and analysis on the current system and searching technique was done to get better understanding of the system. The RAD methodology was used in this
project development implements iterative development which is suitable for stand alone applications requirements that changes from time to time. Testing is done every phase of the development life cycle to make sure that the system working properly. This project was developed using Visual Basic 6.0 and Microsoft Access 2000 as a database platform. As a final result,this system was fulfilled all the research objectives.This research was successfully developed the PSIS prototype system, computerized and optimized the current system using String Search Algorithm.


Constructional apraxia is a neuropsychological and neurological impairment in activities such as building, assembling, and drawing. In this study data is presented on the performance of left and right hemisphere single focal stroke lesion participants on drawing tasks of houses, trees, and persons. Forty-one participants completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery including the house-tree-person drawing task. The drawings were then rated as exhibiting signs of neurological impairment or non-impairment by three evaluators without knowledge of the medical condition of the patient. There was 72% agreement between the three evaluators of the 123 drawings. Both an analysis of variance and case series analysis was used to examine the data. Patterns of concordance with a previously outlined detailed neuropsychological model of constructional apraxia were found and the implications of the results are analyzed in the context of the current neuropsychological literature.


Background Acute glomerulonephritis (AGN) is a sudden onset of macroscopic hematuria and edema. The chronic post-strepto- coccal acute glomerulonephritis (PSAGN) can be predicted if mi- croscopic hematuria, proteinuria, and low serum complement C3 level are present for a period exceeding six months after initial onset of illness. It is prudent to follow the course of PSAGN until proteinuria normalizes and microhematuria disappears in urinalysis. Objective To acquire the time of erythrocyturia and proteinuria conversion in post-streptococcal acute glomerulonephritis (PSAGN) among children. Methods A retrospective cohort study on children with PSAGN was conducted in the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic and Ward at Sanglah Hospital, Denpasar, Bali from January 2001-December 2003. All subjects were recorded for clinical and laboratory signs, including initial symptoms, history of previous streptococcal infec- tions, blood pressure, complete blood count, serum albumin, ASTO titer, complement C3 level, BUN, and serum creatinin. Erythrocyt- uria and proteinuria follow-ups were done by recording urinalysis findings for a six-month period after initial onset. Results Thirty subjects 21 boys and 9 girls, mean age 8.7 (SD 2.5) years] with PSAGN were enrolled in the study, 16 had hematuria with edema. Twenty-one subjects had the history of upper respiratory tract infections and 9 with skin infections. Mean systolic blood pressure was 141.3 (SD 21.8) mmHg, mean diastolic blood pressure was 90.8 (SD 16.3) mmHg, mean ASTO titer was 1103.3 (SD 686.1) IU/ml, and mean complement C3 level was 42.2 (SD 15.5) mg/dl. Urinalysis monitoring showed 2/30, 9/30, 12/30, 22/30, 27/30 subjects had conversion he- maturia at the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth month, respectively. Median duration of erythrocyturia conversion was 4.0 months (95% CI: 3.53-4.47). There were 11/30, 18/30, 21/30, 23/30, 25/30, 26/30 sub- jects with proteinuria conversion at the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth month, respectively. Median duration of proteinuria conver- sion was 2.0 months (95% CI: 1.25-2.75). Conclusion Three out of 30 children remained with persistent hematuria and 4 of 30 remained with persistent proteinuria


We show that if a complete Riemannian manifold supports a vector field such that the Ricci tensor plus the Lie derivative of the metric with respect to the vector field has a positive lower bound, then the fundamental group is finite. In particular, it follows that complete shrinking Ricci solitons and complete smooth metric measure spaces with a positive lower bound on the Bakry-Emery tensor have finite fundamental group. The method of proof is to generalize arguments of Garcia-Rio and Fernandez-Lopez in the compact case.


Many renewable forms of energy (ie. wind, solar, etc.) are intermittent in nature, which causes major problems when attempting to implement these types of energy into the electric grid [1]. Consumers demand an uninterrupted supply of power which requires constant generation sources. Although the amount of sunlight available in a given area is unpredictable, we can level the generation of an intermittent energy supply by coupling generation devices with energy storage systems (see Figure 1). At times of peak generation, part of the energy obtained can be transferred to a storage device, where it can be released during periods of low or no generation. This storage and release pattern can level the amount of renewable energy to provide a continuous source of power. Our study specifically investigates the coupled system of a p-n homojunction silicon solar cell and a Liion battery (see Figure 2). We model the combined system to study the effects on the system parameters and operating conditions caused by the coupling of the two systems. A electrochemical and transport based lithium ion battery model [2-5] and a 1-D continuum model of a p-n homojunction silicon solar cell [6-7] were validated independently and then coupled to use synchronized current and voltage conditions throughout the combined circuit. This hybrid system is then solved as a single, simultaneous system to obtain battery and cell characteristics through charging (generation) and discharging (no generation) cycles. The combined system will study the ability of the Li-ion battery to function efficiently as an energy storage device for solar generation. By solving both systems connected in circuit simultaneously we can study the effects each system has on each other dynamically. A simple circuit is considered which connects the battery and solar cell without any external voltage or current regulators. The voltage and current throughout the system are determined through the combined properties of the battery and solar cell. By obtaining results for a small hybrid system, we can better understand how the individual systems work in tandem and affect each other's conditions. Future work will include optimizing the hybrid structure at the systems level as well as studying large scale systems that could be used for an entire solar farm.


Internet of Things (IoT), which connects a large number of devices with wireless connectivity, has come into the spotlight. Various wireless radio technologies and application protocols are proposed. Due to scarce channel resources, different network traffic may do interact in negative ways. This paper argues that there should be an isolation layer in IoT network communication stacks making each traffic's perception of the wireless channel independent of what other traffic is running.We present Isolayer, an isolation layer design providing fine-grained and flexible channel isolation services in the heterogeneous IoT networks. By a shared collision avoidance module, Isolayer can provide effective isolation even between different wireless technologies (e.g., BLE and 802.15.4). Isolayer provides four levels of isolation services for users, i.e., protocol level, packet-type level and source-/destination-address level. Considering the various isolation requirements in practice, we design a domain-specific language for users to specify the key logic of their requirements. Taking the codes as input, Isolayer generates the control packets automatically and lets related nodes that receive the control packets update their isolation services correspondingly.We implement Isolayer on realistic IoT nodes, i.e., TI CC2650, Heltec LoRa node 151, and perform extensive evaluations. The results show that: (1) Isolayer incurs acceptable overhead in terms of delay and memory usage; (2) Isolayer provides effective isolation service in the heterogeneous IoT network. (3) Isolayer achieves about 18.6% reduction of the end-to-end delay of isolated packets in the IoT network with heavy traffic load.


With numerical simulation technique, the overburden failure and coal pillar stability in steep multi-seam mining was studied based on the actual conditions of Beijing datai coal mine. These numerical observations of steeply inclined coal seams would provide special foundations for the designs in steep coal seams mining under buildings.


Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a widespread difficulty of diabetes and is considered as a main reason for vision loss in all over the globe. Several difficulties of DR can be avoided by controlling blood glucose level and timely medication. In real time, it is difficult to detect the DR and consumes more time in a manual way. This paper introduces a new Gradient Descent (GD) based Hyper parameter tuned Xception model called GD-Xception model to detect and classify DR images in an effective way. The GD-Xception model involves a series of subprocesses namely preprocessing, segmentation, feature extraction and classification. A set of extensive simulation takes place to ensure the effective outcome of the presented GD-Xception model. The presented model is tested using a DR dataset from Kaggle. The extensive experimental study clearly portrayed the superior outcome of the GD-Xception model with the maximum accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of 99.39%, 98.50% and 99.62% respectively.


Introduction: Patients with bronchopulmonary disorders generally present with cardinal respiratory symptoms, an abnormality on a chest X-ray, or both clinical and radiological findings often lead to diagnostic possibilities. Physical examination, pulmonary function tests, other imaging studies, and bronchoscopic examination are done to refine thedifferential diagnosis.The diagnostic methods available for evaluating the patient with the suspected or known bronchopulmonary disease and involve direct visualization of part of the tracheobronchial tree.Flexible type is the most common type of bronchoscopy, visualizes the trachea, proximal airways, and segmental airways out to the third generation of branching and bronchial collections. This study aimed at interpretation of bronchial washings 'obtained from the lungs in various bronchopulmonary disorders and correlation with bronchoscopic biopsy. Objectives: In many bronchopulmonary disorders, diagnosis is not possible despite consideration of the clinico-radiological results, it is often necessary to obtain cells and tissue for cytologic and pathologic examination for definitive diagnosis. Materials and Methods: We did routine FOB and obtained bronchial washings and bronchial biopsy to know which is more useful in clinching diagnosis. Results: No significant correlation has been observed between BAL and bronchoscopic biopsy results. Conclusions: Bronchoalveolar lavage is a useful diagnostic tool in diagnosing bacterial pneumonia, tuberculosis lesions, fungal infections, and malignancies. © 2020 Published by Innovative Publication. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)


The association of Indonesian migrants with crime and various other social problems in Malaysia has resulted in the further regulation of this movement, and measures aimed at the governance of migration have been put in place. A brief overview of the governance of migration in Indonesia is presented that emphasises the human rights of the migrants.


ABSTRACT The purpose of this exploratory research paper is to evaluate the deployment and assessment methodology of the information technology governance (ITG) measurement tools, with the purpose of gaining deeper insight into the ITG initiation process, the nature of tools employed, measurement processes, and the implementation methodology, using case studies. Analysis of the available academic and non-academic literature sources showed measurement issues being the most dominant and ironically the most neglected domain in ITG implementations. We view ITG measurement tools and it subsequent deployment through the two theoretical ITG models namely the Integrated IT Governance model, and the Structures, Processes, and Relational ITG model. To validate these findings and to get a deeper insight into the ITG measurement domain, we conducted four case studies of measurement tools usage and processes in commonly used ITG frameworks in four organisations in New Zealand and United Arab Emirates. The results indicate that the IT governance initiatives differ in the manner of positioning in the integrated ITG framework, and objectivity of measurement is more evident and emphasized in UAE than in New Zealand. The result of these findings provides practitioners with guidance on the contextual usage of ITG measurement practices KEYWORDS: IT Governance measurement, IT business alignment, metrics INTRODUCTION Assessing the measurement and value of IT is a complex challenge and a future research direction (De Haes, Van Grembergen, & Debreceny, 2013). Thus, there is an ever-increasing demand for accountability and objectivity in the measurement of information technology auditing, and IT processes performance (Maria, Fibriani, & Wijaya, 2012). Supplemented, with an ever-increasing demand for compliance in the information domain, organizations have witnessed an increase in the adoption of IT governance (ITG) frameworks. In a highly contextually different, but global organizational structure, ITG implementation however, remains an issue where the theory does not or cannot always deliver to the expectations of practitioners. Globally, IT governance is concerned with two things: that IT delivers value to the business and that IT risks are mitigated and both need measurement (Grembergen, Haes, & Guldentops, 2004), but contextually the subsequent practices may differ. This key issue of aligning IT goals with business goals, which overlap two domains namely IT and business is the primary goal of IT governance. However, this continuous alignment of business and IT in a rapidly changing environment has also been the top concern (Kappelman, McLean, Johnson, & Torres, 2016) and a grand challenge for today's enterprises (Hinkelmann et al., 2016). In this respect, the objective of continuous measurement of IT processes/IT controls to ensure alignment, plays a critical role in IT business alignment success through higher-level measurement models (IT maturity model, balance scorecard); and process measurement tools namely heat map, key performance indicators, and key goal indicators. While organizations worldwide embark on adopting ITG frameworks, the subsequent need to select and integrate overlapping ITG frameworks has presented practitioners with challenges in terms of choice and integration of frameworks (Nicho & Muamaar, 2016). While the most prominent IT governance frameworks include ITIL, COBIT, ITCG & COSO (Benaroch & Chernobai, 2012), COBIT and ITIL are commonly used for IT governance implementations (Stevens, 2011). Hence, assessment of the IT processes/IT controls of these frameworks is not only a continuous process for audit and compliance, but also presents challenges in terms of consistency of audit, compliance, and/or measurement. With alignment of IT with the business being the highest management concern for organizations (Kappelman et al., 2016), IT governance become an important issue on the agenda for many enterprises (Simonsson, Johnson, & Wijkstrom, 2007). …


A rotating ring-disk technique has been developed for the analytical determination of nitrate ions in acid media. It is based on the measurement of the ring currents associated with the oxidation of nitrite ions generated by the reduction of nitrate ions on a gold-disk electrode covered by a layer of underpotentially deposited cadmium. The ring currents were found to be proportional to the amount of nitrate in solutions for concentrations in the millimolar range down to 20-30 ppb.


Relationships extraction from unstructured text is essential for building wholesale reusable information in social computing applications, such as knowledge base construction, intelligent understanding, and biomedical text mining. Most existing approaches only ascertain the relationship type after all entities are identified, so the interaction between the relationship type and entity extraction is not entirely modeled. Recently, HRL-RL is proposed to deal with relationship extraction by adopting joint extraction paradigms in the fralanguage of hierarchical reinforcement learning. Specifically, HRL-RL recognizes relationship indicators through a high-level reinforcement learning subtask and predicts the participating entities for the relationship through a low-level RL subtask. However, HRL-RL uses the Monte Carlo sampling method to learn low-level subtasks for entity extraction, which leads to inconsistencies between the learned entities and the relations detected in the high-level tasks because of high variance estimation. In this paper, we propose a new hierarchical reinforcement learning framework to reinforce interactions between entity extraction and relationship types. Specifically, in the low-level subtask, our algorithm uses an advantage function to learn low-level strategies and updates the value estimate of a current entity state through bootstrap operations, thereby reducing the variance of the model and speeding up learning.


In urban economics housing has been treated as nondurable goods so far. If housing is nondurable, the spatial structure models of housing market are static and at long-run equilibrium and are concerned mainly with allocation of housing in a city. However, to consider dynamical models, housing must be thought of as durabl geoods, and in this case it is important to take account of maintenance, which compensates deterioration of housing quality. In this paper, the behavior of housing suppliers to maintain housing is formulated as one of optimal control problems. Housing is characterized by its quality, and suppliers' profit is maximized with respect to maintenance investment. Some properties of their behavior are derived: The behavior is classified into six types, and if they cease to maintain housing, they will never do that again. Furthermore, the effects of the changes of housing structural characteristics on the maintenance are also considered. Herword: optimal control, maintenance, housing


Thesis is the final project lesson for students S1. Prodi informatics Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta in the manufacturing thesis stage first thing to do is manufacture a title and determination thesis mentor. In determining the thesis mentor in the Prodi informatics still use manual way, and usually require a long time. Because must meeting lecture which one is match the titles and descriptions of students who pretty much. In this meeting the lecturer should also read the title and description of each student to really match with faculty expertise and experience lecturer in guiding. Meetings can take time one day work for determine mentor for 50 students, then this is very inefficient. In this research the authors have made a decision support system thesis mentor determination is made by using the method analytical hierarchy process (AHP). This application can determine thesis mentor appropriate title of student quickly and accurately. Based on the research results of the application of decision support system thesis mentor determination using method analytical hierarchy process (AHP) can be concluded that this application allows the bureau thesis and study program informatics for election thesis supervisor with accuracy applications 53.8%.


Objective To explore risk factors of diabetic peripheral vascular diseases(DPVD) by analyzing the clinical epidemiological data of type 2 diabetes patients with or without DPVD.Methods We collected the clinical epidemiological data of 157 patients(aged 40 to 70 years) with type 2 diabetes.According to the standard of diagnosis of DPVD,the patients were divided into DPVD group(79 cases) and non-DPVD group(78 cases).Biochemical indicators,including serum total cholesterol(TC),triglycerides(TG),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C),high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein(hsCRP),were determined by biochemical methods.Logistic regression analysis was used to find out risk factors of DPVD among these data.Results Compared to the non-DPVD group,DPVD group showed longer duration of the disease and higher incidence of complications with high blood pressure,peripheral neuropathy and diabetic oculopathy.The results of biochemical indicators demonstrated that serum hsCRP,HDL-C and TC/HDL-C in DPVD patients differed significantly from those of non-DPVD patients.And diabetes duration,hsCRP,HDL-C and TC/HDL-C were the independent risk factors of type 2 diabetes developing peripheral vascular disease.Conclusion DPVD patients showed different clinical manifestations and biochemical indicators from those of non-DPVD group.And among them,diabetes duration,hsCRP,HDL-C and TC/HDL-C were the independent risk factors of type 2 diabetes developing peripheral vascular complications.


Abstract We prove a fixed point theorem for continuous mappings which satisfy a compression-expansion condition on the boundary of a N-dimensional cell of ℝN. Our work is motivated by a previous theorem of Andres, Gaudenzi and Zanolin (1990) dealing with the existence of periodic solutions for dissipative-repulsive systems and is also related to some recent results by Zgliczyński and Gidea (2004) concerning covering relations for Markov partitions. Applications are given to the study of the iterates of a continuous map of ℝN. In this case we obtain some theorems on the existence of periodic points and chaotic-like dynamics.


Xenorhabdus nematophila is a motile gram-negative bacteria belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae and is a natural symbiont of a soil nematode of family Steinernematidae. The bacterium is essential for effective killing of the insect host and is required by the nematode to complete its life cycle. X. nematophila can be grown under standard laboratory conditions and known to secrete several extracellular products, which include lipase(s), phospholipase(s), protease(s), and several broad spectrum antibiotics as the bacteria enter the stationary phase of their growth cycle and are believed to be secreted in the insect hemolymph. Recently, the genome of X. nematophila has been completely sequenced and annotated version is available in the NCBI database. In this study we have extensively analyzed bioinformaticaly the genome of X. nematophila with NCBI server (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Our results showed the presence of relB, relE, and mazF toxin-antitoxin homolog's at different loci in the genome. Later, various genes present in these loci were studied for phy- logenetic as well as physiochemical analysis. Promoter analysis of each module has been done to know the various tran- scription factors involved in their transcription.


Risk informed inspection procedures are being developed to more effectively and economically manage degradation in plant piping systems. A key element of this process is applying nondestructive examination (NDE) procedures capable of detecting specific damage mechanisms that may be operative in particular locations. Thus, the needs of risk informed analysis are closely coupled with a firm understanding of the capability of NDE.


The purpose of this article is to present the design procedure and the main results of its validation through the liquid natural gas carrier structural optimization. The work has been carried out through the EU FP6 project IMPROVE. The objective of the developed optimization process was to distribute the material more effectively in order to reduce weight/cost and to improve the structural safety in the allocated time frame. A coarse mesh finite element method model (three holds) has been developed, using MAESTRO software. Strength calculation has been carried out according to the Bureau Veritas Rules for direct calculation. Sensitivity analysis has been performed to investigate the influence of web frame spacing, longitudinal stiffener spacing and material type on the specified design objectives. Design procedure applied for the structural optimization of the liquid natural gas structure (one cargo hold) resulted in mass decrease of about 424 t (after standardization of scantlings), or 10.8%; the cost of the structure was reduced by about 5%; structural safety was increased and vertical center of gravity was slightly reduced by about 20 cm compared to the prototype structure.


In the world of education, schools and colleges are not allowed to conduct in-person or often offline classes at campuses during the COVID-19 pandemic. All teaching and learning processes should be done online from home. An alternative to this policy is to use distance learning (PJJ) methods. PJJ is now conducted online (on the network) through internet-based media. At the University, PJJ is conducted using a learning management system (LMS). The method for this research procedure used to determine the impact of web-based learning in drafting courses used the ADDIE model research approach and the result of student reaction to web-based learning media is that learning media are not just tools, they must be able to enhance students' curiosity about the material to make it available to others. Learning can be done in a variety of ways, not just the traditional way. Due to the technology used, the media is accessed using only the Internet network, so users can access any device with an Internet network without consuming storage space on the device, WEB-based learning media related to the development of ICT-based learning media technology can be used as learning media for online and offline lectures.


Performing approximate data matching has always been an intriguing problem for both industry and academia. This task becomes even more challenging when the requirement of data privacy rises. In this paper, we propose a novel technique to address the problem of efficient privacy-preserving approximate record linkage. The secure framework we propose consists of two basic components. First, we utilize a secure blocking component based on phonetic algorithms statistically enhanced to improve security. Second, we use a secure matching component where actual approximate matching is performed using a novel private approach of the Levenshtein Distance algorithm. Our goal is to combine the speed of private blocking with the increased accuracy of approximate secure matching. Category: Ubiquitous computing; Security and privacy