This study examines the forecasting performance of the Taylor rule on the exchange rate when there is uncertainty in the structural breaks in a small open economy. Using the combination window method, which considers the uncertainty of the size of the estimation window, we find that the out-of-sample forecasting performance of our approach is better than that of other benchmark models in the U.S. dollar-Korean won exchange rate. This finding indicates that the expected exchange rate is influenced by the capital mobility between small and large open economies, which is driven by the dynamic interactions of monetary policies between the two countries, and that the forecasting outcome is sensitive to the estimation window size and to whether or not the window reflects changes in the policy regime.


Children who have severely destructive anterior primary dentition, as in nursing-bottle caries, in trauma, in rampant caries and in developmental defects, present the dentist with one of the most perplexing situations in dentistry. Especially, children with managed behavor difficultly is very severly situations. This paper reported a new technique for the utilization of resin post and strip crown to indirect methods on severely destructive primary anterior teeth. We name it "indirect short resin post crown" in this paper. Indirect technique be considered to be a simple, a retentive, intensive, color-stable and esthetic restoration.


Surrounding formation control has potential applications in a wide range of fields, such as cooperative escorting, hunting, patrolling, deployment, rescue, delivery, and reconnaissance. In this article, an event-triggered control algorithm is developed to tackle the multiple dynamic targets surrounding formation control problem. Essentially, the proposed scheme could achieve diverse surrounding patterns with both monolayer and multilayer configurations which have distinct benefits to various application scenarios. Furthermore, the communication cost can be decreased and the Zeno behavior is theoretically guaranteed to be excluded as well. Finally, numerical simulations are conducted to substantiate the effectiveness of the proposed event-triggered surrounding formation control algorithm.


Myxoma is the most common primary tumor in the heart. Cardiac myxomas can present in various manners including embolization and fever, sometimes simulating endocarditis. However, they are rarely infected. We report here a case of an infected left atrial myxoma that seeded a normal mitral valve and atypically presented with multiple embolic events in the lower extremities along with multiple splenic and a cerebellar infarction.


A simple measurement system is built to estimate the dual-antenna diversity gain at 2.4GHz easily in open lab environment. To obtain multipath fading propagation channel, the system consists of two transmission horn that placed on opposite direction and a rotating stage mechanically changing the position of test dual-antenna with time over distance greater than one wavelength. Estimated diversity is nearly same as theoretical value such that measured diversity gain of 30mm separated is about 6dB similar to theoretical value of 5.7dB and increases monotonically with the increasing separation distance as predicted by the theory. Proposed measurement system that is simple enough to fit in a small space can evaluate the performance of various dual-antennas with a reasonable accuracy with lower 5% difference between the ten sets of measured waveform distribution and theoretical Rayleigh cumulative distribution.


With banking currently in turmoil, a new formula for bank structure and activities, for deposit insurance, and for bank regulation is necessary. This paper reviews the dilemmas of the current structure of banking in the United States and explains how the banking sector arrived at its current state of crisis. It then suggests three alternative formulas, along with their advantages and disadvantages, that could provide the future framework for banking, deposit insurance, and regulation. Copyright 1992 Western Economic Association International.


Let $G=(V,E)$ be a finite undirected graph without loops and multiple edges. An edge set $E' \subseteq E$ is a {\em dominating induced matching} ({\em d.i.m.}) in $G$ if every edge in $E$ is intersected by exactly one edge of $E'$. In particular, this means that $E'$ is an induced matching, and every edge not in $E'$ shares exactly one vertex with an edge in $E'$. Clearly, not every graph has a d.i.m.
The \emph{Dominating Induced Matching} (\emph{DIM}) problem asks for the existence of a d.i.m.\ in $G$; this problem is also known as the \emph{Efficient Edge Domination} problem; it is the {\em Efficient Domination} problem for line graphs.
The DIM problem is \NP-complete in general, and even for very restricted graph classes such as planar bipartite graphs with maximum degree 3. However, DIM is solvable in polynomial time for claw-free (i.e., $S_{1,1,1}$-free) graphs, for $S_{1,2,3}$-free graphs, for $S_{1,2,4}$-free graphs, as well as for $S_{2,2,2}$-free graphs, in linear time for $P_7$-free graphs, and in polynomial time for $P_8$-free graphs. In a paper by Hertz, Lozin, Ries, Zamaraev and de Werra, it was conjectured that DIM is solvable in polynomial time for $S_{i,j,k}$-free graphs for every fixed $i,j,k$.
In this paper we solve it in polynomial time for $(S_{2,2,3},S_{1,4,4})$-free graphs (generalizing $S_{1,2,3}$-free graphs and based on the solution for $S_{2,2,2}$-free graphs).


Critical systems must be designed resilient to malfunctions and especially to a loss of control authority over actuators. This malfunction considers actuators producing uncontrolled and possibly undesirable outputs. We investigate the design of resilient linear systems capable of reaching their target even after such a malfunction. In contrast with the settings considered by robust control and fault-tolerant control, we consider undesirable but observable inputs of the same magnitude as controls since they are produced by a faulty actuator belonging to the system. The control inputs can then depend on these undesirable inputs. Building on our previous work, we focus on designing resilient systems able to withstand the loss of one or multiple actuators. Since resilience refers to the existence of a control law driving the state to the target, we naturally continue with the synthesis of such a control law. We conclude with the application of our theory to the ADMIRE-fighter-jet model.


For the purposes of Electric Power Industry of Serbia, a Study on need of establishment of computer information system aimed to support the environmental protection, land reclamation, revitalization and arrangement of the degraded areas of coal open pit mines is completed. The paper gives a short review of the real system, functions of information support system, data classes system, communicational integration of the system, and a description of system architecture.


In recent years the concept of competitive advantage has taken center stage in discussions of business strategy; that is why, one of the major challenges organizations face today is how to have a competitive advantage. In most cases a stand-out product will do the job, since products are perceived as both highly relevant and meaningful, the ability of any one product to stand out in a competitive category will guarantee the success of such an organization. While there are numerous ways to differentiate brands, identifying meaningful product-driven differentiators can be especially fruitful in gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage. Product maturity is when a firm or brand has grown to the point where it outperforms rival brands in the provision of a feature(s) such that it faces reduced sensitivity for other features. This study used a sample of 150 respondents to provide evidence of the relationship between product maturity and firms' competitive advantage in Nigeria. The study employed the ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis. This study finds a positive and significant relationship between product maturity and firms' competitive advantage, as well as a positive and significant relationship between product differentiation and competitive advantage. This study therefore recommends that managers should continue to address competitive advantage with strategic balances using product maturity.


What does it really mean to be rich in this era of globalization? What does it really mean to be poor and marginalized? How does the Kingdom of God speak to the rich and poor in this era? These are questions of concern in this book. By using the beatitudes and parables of Jesus from the synoptic gospels the book sensitively discusses the position of the rich and that of the poor at the encounter with the Kingdom of God which is one of the main themes in the earthly ministry of Jesus. The book argues that the rich meet Jesus when they interact with the poor and marginalized people. It also asserts that material poverty is not the prerequisite to enter the Kingdom of God. The book suggests that the Kingdom of God entails responsibility to both the rich and the poor in this era of globalization. Hence, the book is expected to provide a substantial contribution to the academic discussions about globalization and the relationship between the rich and the poor.


For social networks, the interactions among agents and the relative self-confidence of each agent compared with the effects of its neighbors generally change over time. This requires using time-varying signed digraphs to describe the opinion forming processes of agents, where the positive and negative edges can represent cooperations and antagonisms, respectively. In this paper, an improved opinion dynamics model instead of the conventional Laplacian-type model is exploited with allowance of the potential variation of relative self-confidence of each agent, which can be reflected by the diagonal dominance degree. It is shown that both the structural characteristics of social networks and the diagonal dominance degrees determine the opinion forming performances, and some sufficient conditions related to these two factors are proposed to establish the bipartite consensus and stability results of agents. Two simulation examples are provided to illustrate the obtained opinion forming behaviors.


The reputation of the business is its bedrock if it would want to contiune to live and develop, it would have to base on keeping its promise, otherwise it would suffer from the vital losses. In order to raise its credit level and thoroughly resolve its credit shortag, it is gready necessary to establish the sound inner control system and imporve the credit culture and guarantee system so that all its promises are kept and all business can contest and exit healthily.


Canada's new regulations on the medical use of cannabis have drawn criticism from both its medical profession and current users.

The new regulations, which allow cannabis to be used by people with a terminal condition and serious medical illness, came into effect at the end of July and make Canada the first country to take such a step (14 July, p 68).

Peter Barrett, president of the Canadian Medical Association, said that most physicians were reluctant to participate in the government's programme for the medical use of marijuana because they worry about recommending a drug that has …


This paper introduces the application of spark emission spectrometer for determining elements like Mo,Cr,V,etc.in high-alloy tool steel.Some standard samples of series high-alloy tool steels which were made by Baosteel and other series tool steels were used to set up the calibration curve after the pre-burn time test.At the same time some tests such as element disturbance and spectrum line selection were analyzed and discussed.Now some standard curves for this kind tool steels have been established.The accuracy and precision of testing results are good and they can meet the demand of the R D and the real production.


The expected n-step return-probability of a random walk X̂n with symmetric transition probabilities on a random partial graph of a regular graph G of degree δ with transitive automorphism group Aut(G) is considered. The law μ of the random edge-set is assumed to be stationary with respect to some transitive subgroup Γ of Aut(G). By the spectral theory of finite random walks, bounds in terms of the expected number of open clusters per vertex and moments of the cluster size are obtained:


provides the organism a mechanism for adaptation to new habitats (Sun and Rees 1964). Extensive studies on chiasma frequency have been made by several workers. Mutagenic agents are known to bring about changes in chiasma frequency. Ben net and Rees (1970) in rye, Umrao Singh (1974) in Delphinium and Nerker (1977) in Lathyrus observed an increase in chiasma frequency after mutagenic treatments. On the other hand Goud (1967) in wheat, Prasad and Godward (1969) in Phalaris, Sree Ramulu (1971) in Sorghum, and Sinha and Roy (1976) in Phaseolus reported reduction in chiasma frequency due to mutagen induced structural changes. Sinha and Mahapatra (1969) in maize and Jain and Basak (1965) found that mutagens in duced no reduction in chiasma frequency despite the occurrence of univalents and this has been explained as due to a compensatory mechanism by which the remain ing bivalents formed more chiasma than they usually do. Rees (1955) showed that crossing over and chiasma formation are under genetic control. Chiasma formation and frequency is controlled by a very large number of genes (Gottschalk and Klein 1976). The variation if the frequency of chiasma by each mutagen in the two vari eties of pearl millet due to their genotypic differences (Panthulu and Manga 1972, Lal and Srinivasachar 1979). In the present study attempts have been made to assess the effects of three chemical mutagens on the chiasma frequency in Capsicum annuum.


This study aims to determine the effect of student resilience and self-regulated learning on student academic achievement in economics subjects. The research method used is an explanatory survey using a questionnaire as a data collection. The population in this study were students of class XI and XII of Social Science senior high school in Cianjur regency for the academic year 2021/2022 and a sample of 237 students was taken using simple random sampling technique. The data analysis technique used is multiple linear regression analysis. The results showed that resilience and self-regulated learning had an effect on students' academic achievement in economics subjects


The problem of a ladder leaning against a wall in static equilibrium is a classic example encountered in introductory mechanics texts.1 Most discussions of this problem assume that the static frictional force between the ladder and wall can be ignored. A few authors2,3 consider the case where the static friction coefficients between ladder/wall (μs,wall) and ladder/floor (μs,floor) are equal. This situation is indeterminate (i.e. without modeling the elasticity of the ladder, it is not possible to solve for all the external forces), but the critical angle beyond which the ladder will not remain in equilibrium can nevertheless be determined if the ladder is assumed to be perfectly rigid. The case where μs,wall ≠ μs,floor has also been considered by several authors.4–6 Assuming a perfectly rigid ladder, we will show that the critical angle in this case can be determined through an interesting application of the inequality describing the magnitude of the static friction force. We will also show how it is pos...


to resolve the industrial field actual requirements on rotor auto-balancing control system,which includes system volume,reliability,response speed and so on,free rotating bi-discs electromagnetic rotor auto-balancing control system based on PC/104 is es-tablished,and movement control strategy for the two discs which can freely rotate in both directions relative to the shaft.This system can be easily installed in a narrow space which is very common in industrial appliances.It is dust-prevention and quake-resistance.Ex-perimental results show that this balancing system is high-speed and accurately,reduced balancing time and improved control precision.This study made rotor balancing system more practical and broadened its application prospects.


This project comes out of a desire to investigate the subjective factors that influence how and why people become and stay dance artists. When dance artists in Australia earn, on average, $27,000 per year, and only $16,700 of that income is dance-related, according to David Throsby's (2003) recent study for the Australia Council, one has to start to think that maybe sustainability, that is, artists' ability and willingness to stay within the industry, is not solely governed by economic factors. One has to also start to think that subjective factors, things to do with the value, satisfaction and quality of life dance artists get from what they do, might be as significant, if not more significant, drivers of sustainability than pure economics.


Objective To evaluate the significance of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and microvessel density (MVD) in the angiogenesis in cervical cancer, as well as the relationship between VEGF and clinicopathologic features. Methods The expression of VEGF and VIII factor were examined by immunohistochemical staining in 62 cervical cancer tissues and 18 normal controls. Results Thirty - five (56.5%) out of the cancer specimens were positive for VEGF. The MVD in cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in normal ( P 0.001) . A close correlation was present between MVD and VEGF (P 0.05) . The MVD and VEGF in adenocarcinoma tissues were higher than those in squamous cell carcinoma tissues ( P 0.005 and P 0.05) . Conclusions The expression of VEGF is involved in the promotion of angiogenesis in cervical cancer and may play an important role in adenocarcinoma.


An intriguing study shows that, in epidermal progenitor cells, circadian genes are expressed in successive waves that modulate responses to differentiation signals. progenitor cells residing in the basal cell layer. These Molecular mechanisms of the circadian clock Circadian rhythms coordinate the physiology of an organism with the light–dark environmental variation caused by the rotation of the earth. Most organisms have some form of circadian regulation, making it one of the most ubiquitous regulatory pathways discovered to date. The core circadian components in mammals include an autoregulatory feedback loop in which the positive factors Clock and Bmal1 (Arntl) dimerize to transactivate expression of negative Per and Cry factors. A secondary loop includes transactivation of genes encoding Ror factors and Rev-Erb that, respectively, activate and repress target genes, including Bmal1. In mammals, the circadian clock is cell-autonomous – each individual cell has a self-sustaining clock. However, only cells in the eye can sense light information, which is conveyed to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) – the master pacemaker in the hypothalamus – through a pathway known as the retinohypothalamic tract. The SCN in turn coordinates clocks in peripheral tissues in order to regulate physiology and behavior [1]. Although the functions and mechanisms of central core clock genes have been studied extensively, their roles in peripheral tissues remain largely unknown. In a recent study, however, Janich et al. begin to fill this gap, as they describe an unexpected function of clock genes in the regulation of human skin differentiation [2]. * Correspondence: firstname.lastname@example.com; firstname.lastname@example.com Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, USA Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2013 BioMed Central Ltd. The circadian clock and the skin The skin takes the brunt of damage from the harmful radiation emitted by the sun and is constantly exposed to toxins and abrasive injuries. The outmost layer of the skin, the epidermis, comprises a stratified squamous epithelium that is maintained by proliferating stem and progenitors exit the cell cycle as they enter the suprabasal compartment, where they undergo a series of differentiation steps, ultimately forming the dead cornified layer at the surface of the skin. While the role of the circadian clock in regulation of diurnal changes of physiology through modulation of gene expression in metabolically active organs, such as the liver, fat and muscle, is well known, less is known for epithelial tissues, such as the skin, which primarily perform protective functions. Over 50 years ago, it was observed that cell proliferation in the skin occurs in a circadian manner [3]. However, only recently, by utilizing mice harboring mutations in core clock genes, has the functional significance of this regulation become clear [4-7]. Furthermore, mouse skin is more sensitive at night than during the day to DNA damage and tumorigenesis from ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation; the greater sensitivity to UVB radiation correlates with there being a higher proportion of progenitors in S phase and less efficient excision repair of DNA at night [4,8]. The evolutionary advantage underlying the circadian clock regulation of cell proliferation in the epidermis remains unclear, but it could relate to improved function of progenitor and stem cells when DNA replication is temporally separated from the maximum generation of reactive oxygen species from oxidative phosphorylation [4]. Multiple waves of gene expression in synchronized normal human epidermal keratinocyte cells To investigate the role of the circadian clock in epidermal cells, Janich et al. utilized an in vitro model in which normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEKs), cultured under conditions of low Ca, resemble progenitor cells of the basal cell layer. NHEKs were induced to differentiate Kumar et al. Genome Biology 2013, 14:140 Page 2 of 3 http://genomebiology.com/2013/14/11/140 by increasing the concentration of Ca, during which they executed a gene expression program bearing similarity to that of suprabasally located keratinocytes. When synchronizing the clock of cultured NHEKs, the authors discovered unexpected complexity in circadian clock gene expression in these cells [2]. Core circadian genes fell into five phases of peak mRNA levels. These phases, termed A to E, corresponded with peak expression of the genes for the nuclear receptors NR1D1 and NR1D2 (phase A), the period circadian proteins PER1 and PER3 (phase B), the period circadian protein PER2 and the cryptochrome CRY2 (phase C), the cryptochrome CRY1 (phase D) and the aryl hydrocarbon receptor BMAL1 (ARNTL) (phase E) (Table 1). Whole-genome expression analysis showed between 720 (peak A, Table 1) and 1,667 (peak C, Table 1) active genes in each of these five phases under the two conditions – undifferentiated and differentiating – with little overlap of genes in each phase between undifferentiated and differentiating keratinocytes. Each phase is enriched for a unique set of gene ontology (GO) categories. Analysis of the enriched GO categories indicates that peaks A to C, corresponding to late-night to early-morning hours, encompass pathways involved in keratinocyte differentiation, whereas peaks D and E, corresponding to afternoon to evening hours, are pathways involved in DNA replication, UV protection and cell division. Thus, the phases of circadian gene oscillation correlate with different biological and physiological functions, causing differentiation versus DNA replication and repair to occur at distinct circadian times. The work also suggests that the sensitivity of keratinocytes to certain signaling pathways is circadian time dependent. Circadian time dictates sensitivity to signaling pathways Janich et al. also investigated in detail two major differentiation pathways in keratinocytes, involving Caand Table 1 The peaks of circadian gene oscillation and their corre Peak Clock genes Peak time (hours after synchronization) Number of genes Pathway Differentiated Stem cell Both A NR1D1, NR1D2 16 327 374 19 Protein l metaboli B PER1, PER3 20 566 454 28 Ca hom amino ac C PER2, CRY2 22 899 695 73 Ca hom metaboli D CRY1 26 494 575 23 Nuclear l ribosome and DNA metaboli E BMAL1 34 832 415 23 Endosom DNA me transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ). The genes associated with these two categories are enriched in peaks B and C, corresponding to differentiation phases of late night to early morning. The authors found that the gene targets of Ca and TGFβ signaling are most responsive at the time of peaks B or C in synchronized NHEK cells. This difference in sensitivity implies that circadian conditioning of these signal transduction pathways occurs such that the same treatment elicits a greater response at certain times. Perturbation of circadian rhythms by overexpressing the genes encoding PER1 or PER2 or by knocking down CRY1 or CRY2 led to premature differentiation in in vitro assays and colonization defects in orthotopic transplantation studies in mice. Why there should be an evolutionary advantage of initiating the epidermal differentiation program at specific times during the day remains a mystery, especially considering that the transit time of a progenitor cell from the basal cell layer to the surface of the human skin is very long – between 1 and 2 months. The end-product of differentiation – the cornified envelope – persists for a long time. Furthermore, despite abnormalities in cell proliferation dynamics, none of the core clock mutants in mice exhibits obvious barrier or differentiation defects of the interfollicular epidermis. There is some evidence of an age-dependent decrease in skin function in Bmal1 (Arntl) knockout mice [9]. One possibility is that circadian variation in the ability to induce differentiation is secondary to the effect of the circadian clock on cell proliferation, given that only post-mitotic cells normally enter the differentiation program. Moving from in vitro to in vivo human studies The report by Janich et al. is an exciting contribution to the growing field of circadian clock studies in epithelial tissues. However, the induction by Ca of differentiation in NHEK cultures is by no means a perfect model of lation with different biological and physiological functions


The 2008–2009 economic crisis led to the loss of more than 9 million jobs in both the United States and Europe, resulting in unemployment totals of 15 million in the United States and 23 million in the European Union. In both cases, unemployment rose to over 9 per cent.1 In recent months, however, the fi nancial markets have started to grow again, the major fi nancial institutions (bailed out by taxpayers) are making profi ts and in various countries GDP is increasing. The 'jobless recovery' predicted by a number of observers and governments is under way.


Effects of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on thermal stability of polymeric thin film are investigated in this study. Polystyrene with molecular weight of 52,000 g/mol is used as a base polymer. The concentrations of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in polystyrene are varied from 0-0.20 wt.%. Films are fabricated by spin casting on Si wafer substrate and annealed at 180 °C and 190 °C for various times in order to study dynamics of dewetting. Film morphologies are analysed by optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Dewetting areas of each film as a function of annealing time are determined. It is found that addition of titanium dioxide nanoparticles suppresses dewetting in polystyrene film with thicknesses of ~30 nm and ~100 nm. The same titanium dioxide amounts, on the other hand, accelerate dewetting process in the film with thickness of ~265 nm. Mechanisms of dewetting suppression in polymeric film by titanium dioxide nanoparticles are discussed.


For the rational use of protein in Penaeus Vannamei,the muscle protein was separated.Amino acid composition was detected by amino acid analyzer and molecular weight was determined by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis.The results showed that the total protein content was(19.72 ±0.08)g/100g wet weight,and the proportion of salt-soluble protein,water-soluble protein,matrix protein,non-protein nitrogen was 64.30%,25.00%,5.78 %,4.92 %,respectively.There existed some differences in the proportion of each protein amino acid,but the first limiting amino acid was similar.The result of SDS-PAGE electrophoresis displayed that the molecular weight of salt-soluble protein,water-soluble protein,matrix protein were 200~45ku,80~27ku,200~19ku,respectively.


This paper presents a high speed and low energy transceiver for 10 mm long minimum width on-chip global interconnects. To improve the link bandwidth, the transmitter employs a capacitive-resistive pre-emphasis technique and the receiver employs the AC-coupled resistive feedback inverter (RFI) de-emphasis technique. Exploiting two emphasis techniques, the proposed interconnect achieves 1.26 GHz bandwidth which is 20 times improved compared to conventional link. As a result, it achieves error-free 3 Gb/s data rate and consumes less than 0.6 pJ/b during transmission by using low-swing and pulse signaling. The test chip is designed using 1.8 V 0.18 mum 6 M CMOS technology.


Segregation analysis using a regressive model with age‐ and sex‐dependent effects was applied to family data of weight, fat mass (FM) and fat‐free mass (FFM) to investigate the major gene hypothesis. The sample consisted of 220 nuclear families from the 'Stanislas Cohort' who volunteered for a free health examination (n = 913). FM and FFM were assessed by bioelectrical impedance. The data were adjusted for height and height2 prior to analysis. The spouse, father‐offspring, mother‐offspring and sib‐sib correlations were: 0.16,0.18,0.25 and 0.32 for weight; 0.13,0.20,0.23 and 0.28 for FM; 0.18,0.16,0.29 and 0.41 for FFM. For the three phenotypes, models specifying a major gene with age‐ and sex‐dependent effects and residual family correlations was better supported than models including only family correlations. For weight, the most parsimonious genetic model was a codominant model with a sex‐dependent effect in parents and an age‐increasing effect in offspring. For FM, the most parsimonious model was also a codominant model with sex‐dependent effects in parents indicating higher effects in women than in men. For FFM, the most parsimonious model was a recessive model with no significant age or sex interaction, although the age interactions paralleled those observed on weight in offspring. For weight and FM, mendelian transmission was rejected. For FFM, the Mendelian and the environmental hypotheses were nearly equally supported and none was rejected when compared to general transmission. Then, evidence for a single major gene could not be inferred for any of the traits. This does not preclude the existence of several genes acting in a more complex way. However, our findings emphasize that weight is a composite phenotype reflecting different components which evolve in distinct ways during life span. For this reason, FM should be highly preferred to weight or BMI for the research of susceptibility genes to obesity. Genet. Epidemiol. 14:51–62,1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


A data disguised method for privacy preserving ordinal associate rule mining based on the randomized response techniques is introduced. The mining algorithm gets on the disguised item set and analyzes the security and complexity of this algorithm. The experiments show the rule that this algorithm gets fewer relative error which is less than 5% compared with the original rules.


Aiming at the imbalance of phase and SOC of H-bridge cascade energy storage system, based on the analysis of the topological structure and mathematical model of cascade energy storage system, this ...


Aptamers are a class of oligonucleotide sequences which have been widely used in molecular medicine and other fields due to their excellent affinity and selectivity to targets. As an important frontier technology and application, the research of aptamers will have an important impact on the cultivation of high-quality talents. Introducing frontier technologies and applications about aptamers in teaching is of great help to meet the needs of the country and society, cultivate students' sense of social responsibility, and heighten their spirituality. Thus frontier technologies and applications about aptamers are necessary for analytical chemistry teaching reform. In this paper, how frontier technologies and applications about aptamers influence ideological education of analytical chemistry teaching are briefly discussed.


In the last decade machine learning techniques based on logic such as Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) have started being used in learning grammars from corpora. While the first approaches were based on the translation of grammar into first-order predicate logic, an attempt has been made recently to adapt the ILP learning schema to the feature constraint logic of typed-unification grammars. In this framework, the learner applies in turn generalisation and specialisation to the typed feature structures representing the grammar in order to improve its coverage of the training corpus provided. In this paper we demonstrate how the lexical resource WordNet could be incorporated into an existing grammar learning tool and show how lexical semantic constraints could be learned on the basis of the ontology information.


Cultivated potato ( Solanum tuberosum ) is an economically important crop world wide as shown by its increasing demand each year.  However, the relatively high demand of this crop is hard to meet due to leaf miner flies ( Liriomyza huidobrensis) attack which could reduce potato production up to 70 percent.  The devastation is due to the ability of the flies' imago to suck up leaf liquid and then lay their eggs which in turn develop into larvae which fed on the potato leaves.  To overcome this problem, it was necessary to assess the heritability resistance of some potato varieties to leafminer flies.  Therefore, the aim of the present study was to identify some parameters genetically resistance to leafminer flies on the potato plant. The study took place in Ngadas Village, Sukapura District of Probolinggo Residence from June to August 2007.  L  huidobrensis flies and six potato varieties such as Granola, Granola Kembang, Granola Lembang, HK, Atlantik, and Sulur were used.  The study results showed that trichome density of lower (73.29%) and upper (67.76%) leaves had high resistance heritability assessment. Such parameters with high heritability assessment can be used as selection criteria for plant breeding program.


In this paper, phoneme sequences are used as language information to perform code-switched language identification (LID). With the one-pass recognition system, the spoken sounds are converted into phonetically arranged sequences of sounds. The acoustic models are robust enough to handle multiple languages when emulating multiple hidden Markov models (HMMs). To determine the phoneme similarity among our target languages, we reported two methods of phoneme mapping. Statistical phoneme-based bigram language models (LM) are integrated into speech decoding to eliminate possible phone mismatches. The supervised support vector machine (SVM) is used to learn to recognize the phonetic information of mixed-language speech based on recognized phone sequences. As the back-end decision is taken by an SVM, the likelihood scores of segments with monolingual phone occurrence are used to classify language identity. The speech corpus was tested on Sepedi and English languages that are often mixed. Our system is evaluated by measuring both the ASR performance and the LID performance separately. The systems have obtained a promising ASR accuracy with data-driven phone merging approach modelled using 16 Gaussian mixtures per state. In code-switched speech and monolingual speech segments respectively, the proposed systems achieved an acceptable ASR and LID accuracy.


Mobile cloud computing networking (MCCN) is a new approach of cloud-based resources where the cloud computing and mobility are integrated to form a new concept when accessing mobile services. This paper outlines the major models of mobile cloud networks and their challenges and proposes and analyzes a cognitive data routing method to extend the capacity of the access networks in mobile cloud services based on the integration of networking and computation concept in heterogeneous mobile cloud networks.


Black seabream (Mylio macrocephalus) were acclimated to various salinities (50, 33, 12 and 6‰) for eight months. Acclimation of fish to 6‰ for eight months allowed successful adaptation to freshwater (0‰) for a further 21 days without mortality. This is the first report of freshwater acclimation of a "true" marine fish for an acceptable experimental duration. Osmoregulatory and metabolic strategies were characterized via alterations in branchial chloride cell (CC) numbers and surface ultrastructural morphometrics along with changes in serum chemistry, muscle moisture, liver glycogen and branchial, renal, hepatic and intestinal enzyme activities. Branchial CC numbers were elevated in 50 and 6‰ environments; however, freshwater acclimation resulted in return to low numbers. Branchial Na+-K+-ATPase activity was generally higher in 50 and 33‰ environments and exhibited a declining trend in 12 and 6‰ environments. Freshwater acclimation resulted in a marked elevation in branchial Na+-K+-ATPase activity. Elevated CC exposure areas were typically found at salinity extremes. Serum Na+, Cl– and muscle moisture content did not vary between groups acclimated from 50 to 6‰. Freshwater acclimation resulted in significant hyponatremia, hypochloremia and muscle hydration. Branchial ICDH activity was lowest in a 12‰ environment and highest at salinity extremes. Renal Na+-K+-ATPase exhibited lower activity in 12 and 6‰ and was markedly elevated in 0‰. Enzyme activities of both liver and kidney indicated elevated gluconeogenic activity in freshwater-adapted fish. Total intestinal Na+-K+-ATPase activity tended to decline in lower salinities; however, lowest activity was found in fish adapted to 12‰. Na+-K+-ATPase activities in different segments of the intestine may reflect the osmoregulatory role of this organ in varying salinities. The data indicated efficient homeostatic control in Mylio macrocephalus acclimated from hypersaline to freshwater environments and clearly demonstrates the haloplasticity of this marine fish species. J. Exp. Zool. 283:226–241, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.


The current underactuated robot hands use a single actuator to drive multiple degrees of freedom, enabling them to perform grasping functions. This paper design a multi-mode compound grasping robot finger driven by linkage, called MCG hand. The MCG hand includes a base, two motors, three phalanx, multiple shafts, two motors, two driving wheels, four linkages, three springs, and two limit blocks. This unique design allows the MCG finger to perform various grasping modes, such as parallel, coupling, middle, and distal phalanx self-adaptive, proximal, and distal gesture-changeable modes, as well as their combinations. The device can independently control the rotation of the proximal phalanx and the distal joint and realize the parallel pinching action of the distal phalanx. It can also realize the coupling function of the proximal and distal phalanx. It has automatic adaptability to objects of different shapes and sizes. Furthermore, the MCG finger provides enveloping grasping with multiple contact points, resulting in a more stable grip. The easy switching between modes through simple control, along with its wide application range and low manufacturing and maintenance costs, make the MCG hand a versatile solution for various applications.


Web Map Service(WMS) is an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) data visualization service used for requesting and producing maps on the internet. OGC WMS has been widely adopted in the Geographic Information System (GIS) community. These WMSs make remote sensing data available to a wider range of public users than ever before. However, the performance of current WMS servers can not satisfy the need of massive remote sensing data visualization. To implement a performance-optimized WMS server, we propose a global remote sensing data hierarchical model based on image pyramid and tiling techniques for data organization. On this basis, we implement an OGC compatible tiled WMS service and a service wrapper for mapping WMSs to Web Services. Finally, we evaluate the tiled WMS server using real remote sensing datasets. Experiment results demonstrate a high-performance data access.


Background: A teacher with voice disorders is displaying a form of limitation in the teaching activity.

Objectives: To assess the magnitude of voice disorders among teachers and to identify the possible risk factors associated with voice disorders.

Materials: A total of 380 teachers were included. The researcher developed a questionnaire for data collection which comprised personal characteristics and symptoms of voice complaints during the last scholastic year. The Voice Handicap Index was used for assessment of voice and its effects on the life of a teacher.

Results: Most teachers experienced voice related symptoms during the last year (80.9%). Some had 1-2 symptoms (43.2%) while others had more than two symptoms (37.6%). The most frequent voice-related symptoms were dry throat (42.1%), sore throat (33.5%) and hoarseness of voice (32.9%). More than one third of teachers consulted a physician for their voice-related problems (35%). Moderate to serious severity of voice handicap index were reported by 8.2% of the teachers. There was an increasing prevalence of moderate to severe grade of voice handicap according to age group (p=0.004). Practice of non-healthy habits (e.g., smoking of cigarette, sheesha or moaassal and qat chewing) was associated with significantly higher prevalence of moderate to severe grade of voice handicap (p


This paper discusses approach mechanically and conceptually to generation notation in real-time in MaxMSP in the work The Semantics of Redaction. The work uses analysis data to generate scrolling, but conventional looking notation. The issues discussed include scaling and mapping of audio data to visual representation, the formal structure of the work and its relation to the generative processes, semantic principles guiding the notational concept and the development of a performance practice for the work. The intention of the work is to provide a flexible vehicle for a performer to explore audio from the media-world in a nearreal-time manner using a recent, topical speech recording as the generative artifact for each performance.


The monitoring is an activity that provides an opportunity for the student-monitor to participate in theoretical and practical moments with the students in order to deepen the content and in search of a development associated to the teaching practice. The discipline of Semiology and Semiotechnology, on its part, covers the technical procedures performed in the laboratory and throughout the life of the professional nurse. However, the monitor becomes a facilitator of the other student's acquisition of knowledge. The present study aims at reporting on the experience of the Semiology and Semiotechnology monitoring by undergraduate students of the nursing course of the Cristo Faculdade do Piaui. This is a descriptive study, of the experience report type. The monitoring occurred from August to December 2020, corresponding to the semester 2020/2. These were moments through the remote platform Google Meet in front of the participating students. The moments of monitoring provided the creation of bonds between the monitors and students benefited by the monitoring program, and this facilitated the teaching-learning process of the subject in question. Through the continuous review of the contents, it was possible to create a solid base of knowledge, as well as the constant search for updated information and the use of technology, thus inferring the great importance of the monitoring program for the students of the university. The experience represented a relevant activity for the monitors, since it allowed for academic, professional, and personal growth, as well as several gains for the participating public.


Volatile fractions were prepared from five ripe commercial plum cultivars and one breeding line by continuous vacuum steam distillation-hexane extraction and analyzed by capillary GC and GC-MS. Thirty-six compounds were identified. The eight major compounds for most cultivars were hexenal, butyl acetate, (E)-2-hexenal, butyl butyrate, hexyl acetate, linalool, γ-decalactone, and γ-dodecalactone. Minor constituents included eleven esters, two alcohols, four lactones, two terpenes, two saturated hydrocarbons, palmitic acid, three phenyl compounds and nonanal.


Context/Objective: Cognitive deficits can impact as many as 60% of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). In an effort to identify the nature of cognitive deficits in SCI, we examined neuropsychological test performance in individuals with SCI, age matched healthy controls and older healthy controls. Design: Participants completed a motor-free neuropsychological test battery assessing attention, working memory, information processing speed, new learning /memory and executive control. Setting: Outpatient rehabilitation research facility. Participants: Participants included 60 individuals with chronic spinal cord injury [SCI; 32 with paraplegia (T2-T12) and 28 with tetraplegia (C3-T1)], 30 age-matched healthy controls (AMHC; 30–40 years old) and 20 older healthy controls (OHC; 50–60 years old). Outcome Measures: Wechsler Intelligence Scale – 3rd edition (WAIS-III) Digit Span and Letter-Number Sequencing; Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) – oral version; California Verbal Learning Test-II; Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT); Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI); Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System; Verbal Fluency subtest. Results: Significant differences were noted between the SCI and AMHC groups on measures of information processing speed, new learning and memory, and verbal fluency. No significant differences were noted between the groups on tests of attention or working memory. Conclusion: The current study documented differences in specific realms of cognitive functioning between a chronic SCI sample and AMHC. Implications for cognitive rehabilitation and overall quality of life are discussed. Additional research is needed utilizing a more comprehensive battery of motor-free neuropsychological tests that avoid the confound of upper limb motor limitations on cognitive performance.


Industrial activities have experienced rapid growth producing an increase in the volume and toxicity of residues. Among these residues, liquid effluents containing heavy metals are of special interest. Metals have a high degree of toxicity, which can be prejudicial even at low concentrations for both human beings and the environment. Discharge and treatment of industrial wastewater containing heavy metals are important issues in environmental protection. Chemical precipitation, ion exchange, reverse osmosis process, electro dialysis, ultra filtration, coagulation–flocculation, flotation and adsorption processing techniques are used to reduce the concentrations of heavy metals in industrial wastewater. Use of adsorption contacting systems for industrial and municipal wastewater treatment has become more prevalent during recent years. Adsorption is often used at the end of a treatment sequence for pollution control due to high degree of purification that can be achieved. The adsorption abilities of a number agricultural by-products as low-cost adsorbents (e.g., rice husk, rice straw, tea factory waste, spent leaves tea, fly ash, sawdust, pomegranate husk, nut shell, several tree leaves,...etc.) have been determined for the removal of heavy metals


In this article, different infections of helicobacter pylori (Hp) in different diseases of upper digestive tract were dicussed and gastric mucosa direct smear was compared with fast determination of urea enzyme for Hp. The detectable rates of both methods for Hp in the diseases of upper digestive tract of 530 patients were 53.02 % and 53.56 % respectively, showing a coincidence rate of 95.7 %. The highest infection rate of Hp detected from chronic superficial gastritis was 57.67 %,and the Hp in duodenal ampulla ulcer has an infection rate of 52.11 %, slightly inferior to that in chronic superficial gastritis. The infection rates of Hp in bile-regurgitational gastritis and in gastric carcinoma were 31.25 % and 33.33 % respectively. This study is suggestive of a close correlation between Hp infection and diseases of upper digestive tract. Examination of diseases of upper digestive tract for Hp infection is therefore of clinical significance in the treatment of diseases of upper digestive tract.


The use of lattice energy minimization techniques to generate the structures of titanium dioxide polymorphs is demonstrated, given cell dimensions and contents without symmetry or geometry assumptions. The method yields the structures of rutile, anatase and brookite and, additionally, the TiO2(II) structure. Combined with cell data from, for example, powder diffraction, the procedure will be of value in crystal structure solution.


Intrauterine hydrometrocolpos is a rare condition caused by congenital vaginal obstruction. Imperforate hymen is the most common cause and manifests as a huge abdominopelvic mass. Ultrasonography is an invaluable tool in screening and evaluation of fetal intra-abdominal mass but even with serial ultrasonography it may be very difficult to delineate the exact site of origin and come to a diagnosis. MRI is the most reliable and sensitive modality to evaluate complex malformations/ masses. In a female child born with cystic abdominopelvic mass a thorough neonatal examination after birth focusing on the urogenital system and the extremities will give a significant clue in diagnosis and subsequent management of hydrometrocolpos. Here we present a case of intrauterine hydrometrocolpos which remained in diagnostic dilemma until the postnatal period. Key words: complex malformations, congenital vaginal obstruction, hydrometrocolpos


have an iridescent appearance, as seen on many beetles. The former colorization mechanism is based on the chemical absorption of the used pigments or dye, while the latter mechanism exploits optical/physical effects such as interference, diffraction, or scattering. Both mechanisms are usually engineered separately and by different specialists. Actually, they can be combined synergistically and it is shown that absorption of three different dye lacquers is signi fi cantly enhanced when applied on a corrugated metal surface. Inspired by works on emission enhancement for molecules on top of grating surfaces, these dye lacquers are applied conformally on metallic crossed gratings. We vary thickness and extinction coef fi cient of the dye lacquers and fi nd that absorption can be enhanced locally by more than a factor of 20. Simulations reveal the underlying mechanisms of this enhancement and the huge color gamut that can be realized by combining otherwise colorless dye lacquers with a corrugated surface is revealed. This approach has potential for applications in sensing with focus on visual inspection like the pregnancy test.


In this paper, a novel genetic algorithm (GA) that employs species differentiation (SD) is proposed. The GA with SD (GA-SD) improves the convergence speed of the GA through the separation and progress of elite species that are classified by a kernel support vector machine. Furthermore, the GA-SD maintains exploration capability through the progress of inferior species and the gradual transition between species. To verify the effectiveness of the GA-SD, GA-SD was compared with the conventional GA on test functions. Finally, we applied the GA-SD for the optimal design of the wind generator.


Most functional systems in behaviour, such as courtships or aggressive encounters, are structured in time, that is, the frequencies of the components or elements comprising such systems will change during perf orrnance of the behaviour. While this is implicit in most descriptions of behaviour there have been rather few attempts to describe these temporal changes quantitatively. One exception, however, is that of courtship behaviour in glandulocaudine fishes investigated by NELSON (1964) who demonstrated nonstationarities for some species, that is changes in behaviour with time, which were mainly of a cyclical nature. Bi\LTHAZART also analysed the nonstationarities in fights between males of Tilapia lilacrochir using a method of dividing fights into quarters similar to that described in this paper. While large non-stationarities were found BAI-Ti-IAzART concluded that these were


As a model system for mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome (MCLS), we have advocated and used mice which had been rendered tolerant to Streptococcus pyogenes‐associated antigens by neonatal infection with group A fteta‐hemolytic streptococci, because these mice have shown a variety of peculiar bioimmunological characteristics bearing a striking resemblance to those of MCLS patients. The results of our current investigations reaffirmed the reliability of the animal model by indicating that mice subjected to neonatal infection with 5. pyogenes, or inoculation with streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin (SPE) in Freund's adjuvant, were perfect counterparts of patients with MCLS on account of their platelet activation and hyperaggregability in response to provocative treatment, which are familiar findings in this disease.


We investigate the optical response of a gold nanorod array coupled with a semicontinuous nanoparticle film. We find that, as the gold nanoparticle film is adjusted to the percolating regime, the nanorod-film hybrids are tuned into plasmonic Fano resonance, characterized by the coherent coupling of discrete plasmonic modes of the nanorod array with the continuum band of the percolating film. Consequently, optical transmission of the percolating film is substantially enhanced. Even more strikingly, electromagnetic fields around the nanorod array become much stronger, as reflected by 2 orders of magnitude enhancement in the avalanche multiphoton luminescence. These findings may prove instrumental in the design of various plasmonic nanodevices.


For every k ≥ 4 there exists a k-critical graph that is not Hajos-k-constructible through a sequence of k-critical graphs. This completely answers a question of G. Hajos, which has been answered previously only for k = 8 with an example given by P. Catlin. Also the corresponding problem for Ore's construction has the analogous answer for all k ≥ 4. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 30: 37–5, 1999


Multimedia technologies today are used in teaching and in general should be given priority in the educational process at the present stage. Along with obtaining the widespread computer test-systems for monitoring and evaluation of theoretical knowledge and practical skills increasingly attract the attention of the test systems using multimedia.


Abstracts. In light of the new Law of Ukraine "On Higher Education", pedagogy today should become a science providing a new solution to existing challenges. Modern contradictory information society is more than ever in need of resourceful, intellectual and creative young people with democratic frame of reference and high life values, who are capable of orientating themselves in the world and are ready to bear personal social responsibility.In this view, the reevaluation of 'how to teach' and 'what to teach' is of paramount importance, which would provide up-to-date cutting edge content to humanitarian curricula, especially in technical higher education institutions. Therefore, it is social education based on strengthening a humanistic component of educational process that is aimed at introducing young people to the system of democratic (civil) values and will be able to prepare students to participate in resolving current and prospective challenges in the government, be a responsible community leader and a country patriot.


Artificial neural networks and their variants play an important role in the analysis and classification of different biomedical data. Deep learning is an advanced machine learning approach which has been used in many applications in the last few years. Worldwide breast cancer is a major disease for women; it is one of the most challenging jobs to detect at an early stage. The authors in this work have taken an attempt to classify the breast cancer data collected from the UCI machine learning repository. Malignant and benign two different types of breast cancer tumours are classified using deep neural network (DNN). Before classification two pre-processing steps are done for improving the accuracy. The correlation and one-hot encoding of the dataset was done for getting some relevant features that can be used as the input to the DNN. Around 94% of classification accuracy is achieved by using a six-layer DNN classifier. The result is also compared with some earlier works and it is found that the proposed classifier is providing better results as compared to others.


In order to effectively treat the chicken excrement in chicken farm to avoid the environment problem caused by the chicken excrement, using chicken excrement dryer to dry fresh chicken excrement, then determining the nutrition components of dried chicken excrement; moreover, adding 10% dried chicken excrement to chicken diet in order to study its feeding effect to the adult chicken. The results showed that the crude protein content was relatively high(30.12%), which was almost the same as that in soybean; moreover, there were crude fat, crude fiber, Vitamin B, calcium, phosphorus, cooper, iron, zinc and manganese in chicken excrement, so it is a good feed resource. Adding 10% dried chicken excrement to chicken diet not only had no influence on weight of adult chicken and feed conversion rate, but also can save feed cost by 0.16 yuan/chicken, therefore, it can make a good economic benefit for chicken farm.


The prolific Ottoman historian Suraiya Faroqhi co-edited with Elif Akcetin a new volume on material consumption in the Qing and the Ottoman worlds in the eighteenth century. Several writers in this highly diverse volume look into the social and economic relations between the Ottoman and the Qing empires. After the introduction, the first chapter, "Setting the Stage" (p. 38-58), opens the discussion on material culture with references to new approaches by the editors. Chapter I presents consumption patterns in the Qing and the Ottoman empires by analyzing land use, population, trade effects, urban life and food culture. The Ottoman elite and their possessions receive special attention in that part. This chapter indicates that the essays on the Qings and the Ottomans group around a set of themes. Akcetin claims that similar to the relation between the Nile and the Egyptian civilization, the Qing Empire relied on the great opportunities offered by such great rivers as the Yangzi and the Yellow to boost commerce and consumption during the 1700s. On the Ottoman side, estate inventories of deceased persons and other registers, especially these of local qadis are major sources for the history of Ottoman material culture through the eighteenth century. The new interest in consumption and material culture in the Qing and the Ottoman empires rely on these sources primarily.


The objective of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the phenomenon of mathematical modelling in urban studies and to stimulate a deeper debate about the use of models in planning. This is done by means of an identification of key assumptions made in the process of the interpretation of reality as a set of algebraic relations; assumptions which, it is argued, underlie virtually the whole of mathematical modelling but which appear never to be openly discussed. An example of the use of these assumptions is then given in the theoretical development of the logit model of discrete choice, and the paper is concluded with preliminary recommendations about the future development and use of the mathematical model.


Getting the books teaching kids with mental health learning disorders in the regular classroom how to recognize understand and help challenged and challenging students succeed now is not type of challenging means. You could not unaccompanied going subsequently book addition or library or borrowing from your connections to admittance them. This is an very simple means to specifically acquire lead by on-line. This online broadcast teaching kids with mental health learning disorders in the regular classroom how to recognize understand and help challenged and challenging students succeed can be one of the options to accompany you taking into account having new time.


An opinion is presented that poets need to start from a point of leverage and proceed to identify and express the hidden, unknown meanings and images behind it. It is suggested that women's writings express recurring images of stifled rebellion, isolation and loss, even as feminist poetics need to tackle several issues from a single stance which can make a huge difference, similar to an Archimedes platform.


I develop a dynamic model of individual lifetime behavior and jointly estimate a set of correlated dynamic equations for observed risk aversion, wealth-related decisions (employment, occupation, investment, and savings), and other characteristics that an individual may value independently of wealth (family and health). I consider how to incorporate observed measures of individual risk aversion (calculated from survey responses) into an empirical model of individual behavior and how to reconcile the use of these measures with the economic theory of individual behavior over time. I allow risk preferences to be an endogenous determinant of observed behaviors and find that there is correlation, through unobserved characteristics, between risk aversion and wealth-related behaviors, as well as causal effect of risk preferences on these outcomes. The joint estimation of observed risk aversion and behaviors reduces the bias on the estimated marginal effects of endogenous variables that impact wealth-related decisions and better approximate the distribution of individual unobserved heterogeneity. Risk aversion provides explanatory power, yet require using econometric methods that account for correlated unobservables. Failure to model this correlation may result in biased estimates and overestimation of policy effects.


Based on mechanism analysis of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), a semi mechanism and semi empirical steady-state simplified model is established by adopting reasonable and necessary assumptions, which helps the study of fuel cell polarization curves. Taking external conditions such as temperature, pressure and current density as variables, the model identifies fitting parameters by linear regression according to the experimental data, which proves its strong universality and generalization ability. In order to further study the output characteristics of PEMFC, a dynamic model is established in Matlab/Simulink to reflect the changes of output voltage and internal gas components. Considering different operating conditions and current requirements, the model is conductive to optimizing the structural design of the PEMFC, improving its operating performance and developing a real time control system.


We propose a mechanism leading to the local epitaxy observed in HfO{sub 2} films grown on Ge(001). Our model is based on state-of-the-art ab initio calculations compared with available experimental data. According to the proposed model, the observed preferential orientation of the monoclinic structure is related to the relaxation of the epitaxially stabilized anatase phase when a critical thickness is reached. In fact, the preferential orientation of the monoclinic structure follows the in-plane axis of the anatase phase, as proven by accurate x-ray scattering data. We predict that the anatase phase, which has no bulk counterpart and has a calculated dielectric constant comparable to the bulk monoclinic one, is almost lattice matched with the Ge(001) substrate. Although the observation of the anatase phase is still missing, its stabilization would allow a control at the atomic level of the HfO{sub 2}/Ge(001) interface, possibly providing better performances in the next generation complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor devices.


This paper present the diesel fuel spray evolution and atomization performance in a multi-hole nozzle in terms of injection rate, spray evolutions, and mean diameter and velocity of droplets in a compression ignition engine. In order to study the effect of split injection on the diesel fuel spray and atomization characteristic in a multi-hole nozzle, the test nozzle that has two-row small orifice with 0.2 mm interval was used. The time based fuel injection rate characteristics was analyzed from the pressure variation generated in a measuring tube. The spray characteristics of a multi-hole nozzle were visualized and measured by spray visualization system and phase Doppler particle analyzer (PDPA) system. It was revealed that the total injected fuel quantities of split injection are smaller than those of single injection condition. In case of injection rate characteristics, the split injection is a little lower than single injection and the peak value of second injection rate is lower than single injection. The spray velocity of split injection is also lower because of short energizing duration and small injection mass. It can not observe the improvement of droplet atomization due to the split injection, however, it enhances the droplet distributions at the early stage of fuel injection.


Every year 83,000 Europeans and 6,500 Spanish CKD patients require dialysis or transplantation. The choice of renal replacement therapy (RRT) is an important decision that determines the quality of life and survival. A single therapy option might not be adequate across a patient's entire lifespan and a majority of patients change from one RRT modality to another to adapt RRT to clinical and psychosocial needs. Transitions should be considered as an expected progression in the patient's treatment options.
 In these circumstances, there are new questions about the best sequence of techniques.

 This observational study examined a cohort of all incident patients from the Madrid Registry of Renal Patients (REMER), who initiated RRT between January 2008 and December of 2018. This study used the proportional hazards models and competitive risk models to examine the impact of transitions between RRT modalities on survival.
 We performed an intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis, according to the initial RRT chosen and an as treated (AT) analysis, by RRT received (Only HD, Only PD, PD then HD or HD then PD).

 A total of 8,971 patients started RRT during this period in Madrid (6.6 Million population): 7,207 on hemodialysis (HD), 1,401 on peritoneal dialysis (PD) and 363 received a pre-emptive kidney transplantation (KTX). Incident HD-patients were older and had more comorbidities. They presented higher mortality (HD group 40.9% vs PD group 22.8% vs 8.3% KTX group, p <0.001) and less access to a transplant (HD group 30.4% vs DP group 51.6%; p <0.001). Transitions between dialysis techniques define different groups of patients with different clinical outcomes. Those who change from HD to PD do it earlier (66% in less than 6 months), are younger and behave like those treated only with PD. Those who change from PD to HD do so later (1.5 years on average), are older (61.6 vs 53.5 years) and present higher mortality and less access to kidney transplantation than the group who initiates in HD and transfer to PD. Survival analysis by competitive risks is essential for integrated RRT models, especially in groups such as PD patients, where 58.6% of the patients were considered as lost follow-up (received a KTX after during the first 2.5 years on PD). This analysis reflects how patients who change dialysis modality share more characteristics with the second technique than the original one.

 Our data suggest that transitions between RRT-techniques describes different patients, who associate different risks, and should be analyzed in an integrated manner to define improvement actions. This approach should be incorporated into the analysis and repports of renal registries.


Although there are many thinkers of training and its important role in improving firm performance, it has been criticized as a trend, or too costly and not transmitting the contents to the job. In fact, some studies have failed to find the impacts of training on firm performance. This paper intends to advance understanding of the effects of training on firm performance by reviewing theory and previous empirical studies on the relationship between training and firm performance. The paper aims to describe the important theoretical approaches and proposes a framework for analyzing training and firm performance concerns. Data from previous studies are used to review the effects of training on firm performance. The paper discusses and identifies the limitations of previous studies and directions for future research on this topic.


Upadacitinib (UPA), a selective and reversible Janus kinase inhibitor, has been shown to be safe and effective when administered at a dose of 45 mg once daily (QD) as 8-week induction therapy in moderate-to-severe Ulcerative Colitis (UC). This analysis evaluated outcomes following extended induction (45 mg QD for 16 weeks) followed by maintenance (15 or 30 mg QD) treatment with UPA in patients with UC who did not achieve a clinical response after 8 weeks' induction.

 Patients with moderate-to-severe UC who failed to achieve a clinical response (Adapted Mayo score decrease of ≥2 points and ≥30% from baseline, plus ≥1-point decrease in rectal bleeding score [RBS] or absolute RBS ≤1) to 8 weeks' induction treatment with UPA 45 mg QD in the U-ACHIEVE Induction (NCT02819635) or U-ACCOMPLISH (NCT03653026) studies, continued to receive UPA 45 mg QD in an 8-week open-label extension. Responders at the end of the open-label extension entered the U-ACHIEVE Maintenance study and were randomised 1:1 to UPA 15 mg or 30 mg QD for 52 weeks. The efficacy endpoints were evaluated at Week 16 for the induction studies and at Week 52 for the maintenance study.

 In total, 125 patients who failed to achieve a clinical response after 8 weeks' induction treatment received open-label UPA 45 mg for a further 8 weeks. Of these patients, 48.3% achieved a clinical response at Week 16 and were re-randomised to UPA 15 or 30 mg in U-ACHIEVE Maintenance. Among 16-week responders who entered the maintenance study, clinical remission, maintenance of clinical response, and endoscopic improvement, respectively, at Week 52 were achieved in 33.3% versus 19.0%, 66.7% versus 35.7%, and 37.5% versus 23.8% of those who received UPA 30 versus UPA 15 mg QD as maintenance treatment (Table 1). Adverse events of special interest were reported infrequently in the two maintenance treatment groups (Table 2).

 In this analysis, prolonged induction treatment for a total of 16 weeks was beneficial in almost half of UC patients who failed to achieve a clinical response after 8 weeks' induction with UPA 45 mg. The benefit of maintenance therapy in these delayed responders was further demonstrated, with UPA 30 mg providing greater benefit than UPA 15 mg QD.


The Hausdorff distance(HD) that measures the distance between two sets of edge points extracted from template image and test image,is commonly used in image matching.The conventional HD is analyzed and a new HD weighted is proposed based on structure tensor,which is called Structure Tensor Weighted HD(STWHD).By matching visible image and infrared image with different noises,the performance of conventional and proposed HD is compared.Result shows that the anti-noise ability of STWHD is improved.


Two equal-length strings X and Y over an alphabet Σ of size σ are a parameterized match iff X can be transformed to Y by renaming the character X[i] to the character Y[i] for 1 ≤ i ≤ |X| using a one-to-one function from the set of characters in X to the set of characters in Y. The parameterized text indexing problem is defined as: Index a text T of n characters over an alphabet set Σ of size σ, such that whenever a pattern P[1, p] comes as a query, we can report all occ parameterized occurrences of P in T. A position i ∊ [1, n] is a parameterized occurrence of P in T, iff P and T[i,(i+p-1)] are a parameterized match. We study an interesting generalization of this problem, where the pattern contains one wildcard character ϕ ∉ Σ that matches with any other character in Σ. Therefore, for a pattern P[1, p] = P_1ϕP_2, our task is to report all positions i in T, such that the string P_1 P_2 and the string obtained by concatenating T[i,(i+|P_1|-1)] and T[(i+|P_1|+1),(i+p-1)] are a parameterized match. We show that such queries can be answered in optimal O(p+occ) time per query using an O(n log n) space index. We then show how to compress our index into O(n log σ) space but with a higher query cost of O(p(log log n+logσ)+occ logσ).


Altitude control enables balloons to perform atmospheric soundings, avoid restricted airspace, and exercise rudimentary navigational control. Reversible altitude control, which does not expend lift gas or ballast, is particularly attractive because long-duration flights can be achieved. Methods of reversible altitude control, including air ballast and mechanical compression, are compared. A new system, described here as differential expansion, is ideally suited to near-neutral density operation and has many advantages over existing altitude control systems including cost, ease of construction, and altitude range.


Objective(s): Quinolinic acid (QA)-mediated excitotoxicity has been widely used as a model for studying neurodegenerative disorders. Recent studies suggested that saffron (Crocus sativus) or its active metabolite, i.e. safranal, exerts pharmacological actions on central nervous system including anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, and neuroprotective properties. The present study aimed to investigate the effect safranal pretreatment on QA-induced oxidative damage in rat hippocampus. Materials and Methods: Under anesthesia, a guide cannula was stereotaxically inserted into left ventral hippocampus of rats. The rats were then given either saline or safranal (72.75, 145.5, and 291 mg/kg, IP) 30 min before administration of QA (300 nmol, intrahippocampal injection). The markers of oxidative stress including thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS, as an index of lipid preoxidation), total sulfhydryl groups, antioxidant capacity of hippocampus (using FRAP assay), and oxidative DNA damage (%tail DNA, using comet assay) were measured in hippocampus. Results: The QA induced a significant increase in TBARS levels and %tail DNA and remarkable decrease in antioxidant power (FRAP value) and total sulfhydryl content of hippocampus, in comparison with control animals. Systemic administration of safranal (291 mg/kg, IP), effectively and dose-dependently decreased the QA-induced lipid peroxidation (P<0.001) and oxidative DNA damage (P<0.001). Safranal also prevented the decrease of hippocampal thiol redox and antioxidant status (P<0.001) produced by QA. Conclusion: Safranal have protective effects on different markers of oxidative damage in hippocampal tissue following QA administration. Our findings might raise a possibility of potential therapeutic application of safranal for preventing and treating neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.


Indigenous Communities residing inside or next to autochthonal forests conserved them through governance frameworks that invoked traditional sacral law and reverence for their resource commons. More recently, however, the link between communities and forest conservation has been mired by dynamics of dispossession and displacement. Through a qualitative case study approach, using key informant interviews, transect walks, focus groups, and interviews, the researchers explore the conservation dynamics in Loita, in the South of Kenya, specifically looking at the sacred Enaimina Enkiyio forest. The study evaluated how the Loita community has challenged two state initiatives predicating conservation efforts and mobilised the sacred to conserve their resource commons. It combines a social-ecological approach with social innovation theory, spiritual geography, cultural studies and literature on indigenous knowledge systems, looking at, among others, sacred values attributed to places, nature–culture relationships, and value and belief systems and rituals. The findings point to the embeddedness of the forest resource in the way of life of the Loita Maasai and the appropriation of the ritual/sacred element as a framework to negotiate and mediate access, use, and conservation outcomes. The Loita community is grappling with and responding to the pressures exerted by various forces on the Loita Enaimina Enkiyio in socially innovative ways, as exemplified in the conservation efforts by the Ilkimpa Community Conservation Association (ICCA). It leverages aspects of the sacred in negotiating its claims over the Enaimina Enkiyio forest, showing that community-driven initiatives present alternative approaches capable of maintaining the connection between communities and their resource commons by integrating the sacred in this connection.


Transverse waves propagating along an applied magnetic field are studied, with special attention to the role of the magnetic field in determining the behavior of the wave. No restrictions are place...


PEk solution for algebraic equation linear system with large periodic block and three diagonals was developed on the basis of PE method.When the coefficient matrix was M-matrix,the convergence of this new PEk method was discussed and several sufficient conditions for its convergence and the assignment range of parameter k were given.The computational example showed that,if the parameter k was optimal,the convergence rate with PEk method was about twice as that of blocked Jacobi iterative method or blocked symmetric GS iterative method.


Summary When the factor of high water content is eliminated, slices of kidney from the fetal rabbit accumulate as much PAH from surrounding medium as those from the adult. Slices of kidney from newborn rabbit are significantly deficient (p = <.01) in this function when compared to those from fetus or adult.


All nine independent elastic constants have been determined for a biaxially stretched poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) film using novel mechanical methods. The orthotropic directions and the in-plane Poisson's ratios were first characterized using vibrational holographic interferometry of tensioned membrane samples. The out-of-plane Poisson's ratio was obtained by measuring the change in tension with the change in pressure for constant strain conditions. Pressure–volume–temperature (PVT) equipment was used to measure the bulk compressibility as well as the volumetric thermal expansion coefficient (TEC). The in-plane Young's moduli were obtained by tensile tests, while the out-of-plane modulus was calculated from the compressibility and other elastic constants that describe the in-plane behavior. The in-plane TECs in the machine and transverse directions were determined using a thermal mechanical analyzer (TMA). The out-of-plane TEC was determined using these values and the volumetric TEC determined via PVT. The resulting compliance matrix satisfies all of the requirements of a positive-definite energy criterion. The procedure of characterization utilized in this article can be applied to any orthotropic film. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 2937–2947, 2002


Resonant infrared matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (RIR-MAPLE) was used to deposit the metal-halide perovskite (MHP), CH3NH3PbI3, and solar cell performance was demonstrated, thereby establishing the potential for MAPLE growth of MHPs.


Much has been accomplished, and the start is a promising one.* At other universities plans are being developed which will contribute to the same end. Differing in detail and shaped by local conditions, they will provide a welcome stimulus through rivalry. There is still a long way to go before the aim of the University of London is realized and before the peculiar opportunities present here in London are developed fully. When that time comes the postgraduate institutes will send out the future leaders of medical thought and practice, and will be able to welcome those who seek to advance knowledge by research and to improve their skill for the relief of suffering.


The Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) project was initiated more than ten years ago, as an investigation of the detailed chemical composition of the middle atmosphere.


Rationale : gd T lymphocytes are enrichedwithin the epithelial microenvironment, where they are thought to maintain homeostasis and limit immunopathology. gd T cells are postulated to exert a regulatory influence during acute allergic airway disease, but the mecha- nism is unknown. Although regulation of allergic airway disease has been attributed to IL-17–producing T helper (Th) 17 cells, we have foundthat gd TcellsrepresentthemajorsourceofIL-17intheallergic lung. Objectives :Theaimofthisstudywastodeterminethecontributionof these IL-17–producing gd T cells to regulation of allergic airway inflammation. Methods :FlowcytometryrevealedthatIL-17–producing gd Tcellsare more prevalent than IL-17 1 ab T cells (Th17) in a murine model of ovalbumin-induced allergic inflammation. Measurements and Main Results : Transfer of gd T cells at the peak of acute allergic responses ameliorated airway hyperresponsiveness with a corresponding acceleration in the resolution of eosinophilic andTh2-driveninflammation.Conversely,functionalblockadeof gd T cells led toexacerbationofinjury.Neither treatment changedpulmo- naryTh17cellnumbers.Moreover,transferofTh17cellshadnoeffect on disease outcome. Importantly, IL-17–deficient gd T cells were un-able to promote resolution of injury. These data identify IL-17– producing gd T cells as key regulators of the allergic response in vivo . Conclusions : This unfolds a new perspective for the understanding of gd T cell function with regard to innate regulation of the adaptive immune responses, emphasizing that resolution of responses are important in determining the outcome of acute inflammatory epi-sodes as well as for maintenance of tissue integrity and homeostasis.


This paper proposes a tabu search (TS) based method for topology identification in state estimation. In recent years, topology identification becomes much more important after the blackout of the North America in 2003. In this paper, the topology state is expressed in the Boolean variable while the system state is represented in continuous one. The mathematical formulation with the mixed logical dynamical (MLD) transform results in a constrained optimization problem. This paper minimizes the cost function in a sense of the L1-norm using TS. The method is tested in the IEEE 14-node system


The prototype of a religious enterprise based on an economic relationship with its patrons is Simon Magus, who tried to buy the ability to cure people by miracles from the apostle Paul. The notion of globalization as a unique phenomenon in history during the last two generations has been challenged by studies in cultural change and the spread of economic goods and culture in earlier historical periods. This chapter provides a striking example of a deity who was deliberately exported and imported through trade under the conditions of the market conventions of the receiving society and its taste for the sacred. It discusses an example of a god connected with the import of grain: the Egyptian Serapis. The chapter reflects on a number of systematic questions. It explains the ancient patronage of imperial Roman religion and then the theoretical categories which allows us to systematically approach different cultures and epochs. Keywords: economic goods; Egyptian Serapis; imperial Roman religion; religious enterprise; Simon Magus; systematic reflections


This report covers the following titles: (1) A versatile solvent to replace phenol for the paper chromatography of radioactive intermediary metabolites; (2) Chromatography of plant lipids on alumina paper; (3) Quinone and pigment composition of chloroplasts and quantasomes from Spinacea oleracea; (4) The lipid composition of chloroplast lamellae from Spinacea oleracea; (5) Metal chelates and photochemistry of flavins; (6) Photoinduced ESR in some solutions of organic electron donors and acceptors; (7) Fluorescence of oriented dye-macromolecule complexes--Theoretical study; (8) Formation of adenine by electron irradiation of methane, ammonia, and water; (9) Uptake of organic compounds by planarians; (10) The planaria: Absorption spectrum, cell disaggregation, and studies on homogenates.


Biomass power plants don't get the respect they deserve for their negative greenhouse gas footprint and for diverting waste from already overburdened landfills "Modern" renewables, such as wind and solar, receive more tax credits and legislative support than biomass because society still considers burning anything a dirty business. The time is right to correct this misconception.


(57) Abstract: The spring loaded hinge member for a golf club practice, comprising first and second hinge members to pivot together by pivot pin transverse (30) (10, 20) . The first member (10) is internally provided with a recess tongue almost ends in an arc having a (15) (13), the second member (20) includes a pair of arms forming a fork ( has 23, 24), tongues of the first member (10) (13) is accommodated between the fork pivot pin (30) passes between the arms and the tongue. The second member (20) is provided with an arc axial bore which accommodates a spring-loaded detent member (27) in contact with the (14) (25) engages the recess (15). Hole in the second member (20), on the outside, toward the opposite end of the pivot pin (30), which thread (43) is subjected, for accommodating the spring (26) ( groove (41) is provided in the area cooperating with 25). Nuts provided with threads (42) engages with the thread of the screw (43) outside the second member (20), the pin (40) is a hole through the groove (41) (25) end of the spring (26) of the inner and engaging a nut (40). Therefore, if the rotation of the nut (40), it is possible to adjust the tension of the spring. Nuts, hidden pin (40) a groove (41), these and the adjacent nut and hinge member (20), marked as a convenience to adjust to the desired set point (50, 51) is applied It is.


Matrix assignment of linear control design is extended to nonlinear control. Linear and nonlinear controllers based on higher powers in the state variable are used for solving this optimization problem. The method presented addresses a scanning operation in the state-space region under consideration and minimizes the maximum deviation to the linear control design target. In addition, emphasis is put on Lyapunov conditions for stability and on controller norm restrictions.


I. Introduction: A Pragmatics of JudgementTo take part in politics is to judge and in judgement we seek rectitude and finality. We attempt to establish what is the case in matters of right and wrong, advantageous and harmful, just and unjust. We declare what should be done. But judgement in politics is marred by faults-bias, lack of measure, automatism, dependency on the object of judgement, inefficacy-and due to these faults each judgement is open to be corrected by a counter-judgement, to be corrected in turn, and so it goes: 'endless wrangling' in Edmund Burke's terms. Yet we continue to judge. Is this not monstrous? Each participant in a political scene insists on judging others despite it being evident that no participant can claim to speak for the whole, despite the evidence that all participants-failing violence-have to co-exist. Why the ostensive act of communication when no dialogue is sought with the object of judgement? Is the real goal just to shore up one's own position? In critical and polemical judgement-one side calling the other 'terrorist,' the other side responding 'colonizer'-there is no subjectivisation of the object of judgement, not even a pedagogy, just the command 'disqualify that voice, count it for less.' Critical judgement itself does not seek to change the very object that it claims must be changed. The monstrosity of judgement is evident: it arrogates rectitude yet perpetuates error; it claims to put an end to controversy yet fuels it. The task of this paper is rid ourselves of this, one of our forms of monstrosity.The first question is if political judgement so evidently fails to correct the other or to accurately guide future action then what does it do?When philosophers explore the question of judgement, they often take an epistemological or a normative approach. The question is either one of what kind of knowledge forms a basis for correct judgement, or what source of normative criterion forms the basis for evaluation. In the Principles of Philosophy Descartes defines judgement as an affirmation concerning both the existence and the nature of objects falling under the senses. The process of hyperbolic doubt begins in the philosopher's recognition that many of his 'past opinions' and judgements were founded on unguaranteed principles and inexact knowledge. It is the faculty of will in its adolescent haste to overtake and surpass the faculty of judgement that causes error in judgement. Descartes's project is to search for clear and evident first principles from which to deduce perfect knowledge of objects. This is the route of epistemological foundationalism.1Isaiah Berlin chooses this route in his essay on political judgement. He searches for a foundation of judgement either in a supposed science of politics based on the laws of history, or in the nature of practical reason. His embrace of the latter leads him to repeat Aristotle's tautology of defining phronesis (practical wisdom) as the knowledge possessed by the phronimon, the wise man. Berlin's exemplar is Bismarck, apparently a match for Aristotle's supposed subject of knowledge, Pericles.2 In line with Berlin, Vincent Descombes defines political judgement as an instance of practical rationality: a deliberation that leads directly to action. To identify error in political judgement he seeks normative criteria and finds them not in reason, nor in communicative action, but in those norms and ends that are internal to social roles and professions (Hegel's objective spirit). An actor will be said to have made an error in judgement when it contradicts such norms. Society, and its natural evolution, is thus the ultimate judge.Here Descombes joins Hannah Arendt who condemns the French Revolution for the Jacobins' attempt to change society itself-in contrast with the American Revolution, which focused on constitutional change alone. In her lectures on Kant's political philosophy-reconstructed as the third volume 'Judging' of The Life of the Mind-Arendt conceives of political judgement as the activity of a disinterested spectator rather than an actor. …


SUMMARY Sera from 40 onchocerciasis patients from the Yemen Arab Republic with either mild localized forms of onchocerciasis, intermediate or severe localized forms of the disease or generalized forms of infection were studies with rspect to their IgG and IgM response against Onchocerca volvulus antigens. Immunoblotting, performed with SDS–PAGE-separated proteins of female O. volvulus and quantified by densitometric scanning, revealed IgG and IgM antibodies against worm components in sera of all patients. Persons with intermediate or severe localized forms of onchocerciasis had a stronger IgG response against more proteins than individuals of the other group. However, some antigens (Mr 21, 23, 30, 33 kDa) induced comparable quantities of IgG in all groups. The IgM response of patients with mild localized forms of onchocerciasis was more intensive and directed against more antigensthan in the other groups. No antigens were detected that were recognized only by individuals with low levels of microfilaridermia. In all groups, varying concentrations of antibodies against cuticle, muscle/hypodermis layer and/or uterus of female O. volvulus were detected by the indirect immunofluorescence test using frozen worm sections as antigen. The highest mean antibody titres were found in patients with intermediate and severe localized forms of disease.


The orbital changes of a LEO (low Earth orbit) satellite are – apart from the gravitational field forces – mainly influenced by atmospheric drag, which causes the satellite to lose energy and to descend. To model accurately the atmospheric drag is a quite complex task. We will discuss the uncertainty in predicting the orbital evolution of a LEO satellite for longer periods of time, using the semianalytical theory of LEO satellite motion. Examples of applying this procedure to current geodetic satellites will be given.


Method and apparatus for fixing pendulum electrodes for use with Elektrodenfraseinrichtungen, according to which at least one in a Zustelloffnung (4) through which are passed the document to be served electrodes (7), which projects clamping element (4) for infeeding of the electrodes (7) to answer as a force applied to that co-rotation of the electrode (7) is prevented with the milling tool.


Hot forging processes are highly influenced by the contact conditions between the work piece and the dies. An inaccurate definition of the contact conditions may lead to high deviation predictions of the final component geometry, the quantity of material necessary to fill in the cavity, the wear of the tools and the force necessary to manufacture the component. Furthermore, when dealing with high added value materials such as titanium alloys, the wrong prediction of the aforementioned variables also could lead to inaccurate microstructure predictions. The main goal of the present dissertation was to understand the contact condition between Ti-6Al-4V work piece and heated tool steel with the purpose of calculating the coefficient of friction (COF) and the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) at the interface of the work piece and the tools. Both coefficients of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy under hot forging situation were determined by the combined approach of experimental tests and finite element (FE) simulations using FORGE3® finite element software. At the same time, in order to improve the flow of the material within the tools and reduce the alpha-case layer when forging titanium alloys at high temperature, three types of surfaces were analyzed in the present study: billets without coating, 40-45 μm and 80-90 μm of CONDAERO 228 glass coating. The objectives of this dissertation were four-fold. First, a Finite element (FE) parametric study has been performed in order to obtain the sensitivity of ring and T-Shape test when addressing the issue of varying input parameters. The objective of this study was to determine and interpret the factors that affect friction behaviour. Special care must be put in some specific inputs, to obtain accurate calibration curves and avoid errors when finding the real COF based on experimental observations. It is noticed that, HTC is the most influencing factor among all and has high impact on calibration curves of the friction test, thereby affects the measurement of interfacial friction factor. Then, tribological contact conditions in both the tests were compared. It concluded that, T-shape test is best suitable to evaluate the friction condition as this test induces large contact pressure and large surface expansion similar to what is occurred during a real forming operation. Second, columnar upsetting test was conducted for the determination of the HTC at the workpiece-die interface at two different contact pressures. An efficient numerical 3D model has been developed where, simulations have been carried out defining different values of the HTC. That gives as a result of different temperature evolutions which were used to estimate the HTC value which best fits the temperature read by the thermocouple in the real experiments. The validation of final coefficients determined by the inverse algorithm was made by comparison between the upsetting process and the FE analysis results. Variations in HTC have been obtained under different pressure with different surface condition during upsetting. Therefore, HTCs in function of pressure should be employed to generate the calibration curves for determining the interfacial COFs in friction tests. Third, a comprehensive numerical and experimental study on the ring and T-Shape friction test were carried out to calculate the COF where, geometrical shape of specimen was chosen to simplify this methodology. The aim of this study is to analyze the same tribo-system but having different contact pressures and surface enlargement factors, which could affect the coating behavior and to estimate the friction factor taking into account the HTC as pressure dependent. Calibration curves for the tests were obtained numerically by using viii finite element simulations. Then, the COFs are calculated by the comparison of the experimental data and numerical simulation results using inverse analysis. The results obtained that the glass coating clearly improves the forgeability of titanium alloys reducing the COF value. Finally, an experimentation was performed to observe the effects of alpha-case formation, cracks on the deformed T-Shape specimen and to investigate effect of coatings to reduce alpha-case formation. Using a microscope, photographs were taken and visible alphacase region was measured and also identified the cracks on each sample. Microhardness testing was then performed to determine exact depth range of the visible alpha-case region profile of the sample. It was found that alpha-case thickness and crack depth is more in uncoated specimen than the coated specimen.