OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the study were: to explain our protocol of selective digestive decontamination (SDD); to know the therapeutic activity that the protocol implies in the nursing staff; to assess the impact on the incidence of ventilatorassociated pneumonia.

METHODS DESIGN
Prospective descriptive study for time measurements, and non randomized comparative study for the incidence of ventilatorassociated pneumonia. We calculate time means and 95 percent confidence interval (CI). We calculate ventilatorassociated pneumonia relative risk and number-needed-to-treat (NNT).

SETTING
Intensive care unit with 13 beds reference for neurocritical illness.

STUDY PERIOD
Control group from November-2001 to April-2002. Treatment group from May-2002 to November 2002.

PATIENTS
consecutive patients who were admitted in our intensive care department with mechanical ventilation for more than 48 hours.Results. A total of 122 consecutive patients were included: control group 62 patients, treatment group 60 patients. We have recorded 136 SDD administration time and 16 vigilance culture records. The SDD administration mean time was 8.11 minutes (95% CI, 7.59-8.63). Morning Nursing Duty Schedule spent significantly more time mean 10.7 minutes (95% CI, 9.87- 11.89) than afternoon 8.1 (95% CI, 7.20-9.08) (p < 0.05) and night 6.9 (95% CI, 6.39-7.46). There was a significant difference between time spent in SDD administration in trauma patients (p < 0.05) 7.45 (95% CI, 6.63-8.27) and medical patients 8.71 minutes (95% CI, 8.41-9.01). We spent a mean of 9 minutes (CI 8-10) in culture sampling. In the treatment group the ventilator associated pneumonia incidence relative risk was 0.28 (CI 0.13-0.63) with a NNT of 4 (CI 3-8).

CONCLUSION
In our patients SDD administration represents the 2.5% of our therapeutic activity time per patient and reduces the ventilator associated pneumonia risk.


Background: In the past m8any years, there have been many studies that are considering the nanoparticles as the carriers of the drugs for improving the patient compliance. One such approach of delivery of the drug is through the ethosomes. Objectives: This review aims to describe the vesicular approach of ethosomes that had been used to overcome the barrier for the transdermal delivery of drug and also describes brief composition, method of preparation, characterization tests, mechanism of penetration of ethosomes, as well as highlighted various studies of ethosomes in medicine. Methodology: Relevant data was searched using various databases like Google Scholar, PubMed, SpringerLink and Scopus. Results: Ethosomes are the vesicular shaped structures comprising majorly of phospholipids and ethanol. Due to their size in nanometers and presence of increased amount of the ethanol in its structure, it had shown very high permeation of the drug when given through the transdermal route or topically. There are basically two methods for the formulation of the ethosomes that includes the hot method and cold method. Furthermore, recently more two methods have also been developed for formulating ethosomes including classical mechanical dispersion method and transmembrane pH gradient method. After formulation of ethosomes, many characterization tests can be performed on ethosomes such as pH, particle size, zeta potential, in vitro permeation studies, microscopic evaluation and stability studies. Conclusion: Many more studies are needed to enhance these novel drug delivery systems and other vesicular systems such as transferosomes and invasomes for better therapeutic output and ultimately increasing the patient compliance.


Background: Chlorotoxin is a 36-amino acid peptide found in the venom of the Leiurus quinquestriatus which blocks small-conductance chloride channels. Chlorotoxin binds preferentially to glioma cells that allow development of new methods for the treatment and diagnosis of several types of cancer. Thus chlorotoxin derivative was labeled with 131 I for further investigation. Materials and Methods: A chlorotoxin derivative was synthesized on a solid phase using a standard Fmoc strategy. Labeling with iodine-131 was performed through chloramine-T method and radiochemical analysis involved sephadex G-25 and HPLC methods. The stability of radiopeptide was checked in the presence of PBS and human serum at 37 °C up to 24 h. The biodistribution was studied in mice. Results: The chemical purity of synthesized peptide as assessed by analytical RP-HPLC was 95%. Labeling of peptide resulted in a radiochemical yield of 80% with radiochemical purity of > 95% with specific activity of 0.740 GBq/µmol. Result of in vitro studies demonstrated acceptable stability of compound in human serum and PBS solution. Biodistribution data showed moderate blood clearance, with concentration of radioactivity in the kidneys, liver, intestine and stomach. Conclusion: Results indicates that the labeled Chlorotoxin derivative might be useful in determining tumor extent and also, tumor therapy of gliomas or possibily other cancers. Iran. J. Radiat. Res., 2011; 8(4): 243248


The study classified speech styles of shopping hosts and tried to examine how the classified speech styles have an effect on the evaluation of shopping hosts and the purchase intentions. In the evaluation of speech styles of shopping hosts, except customer-oriented confutative style, credibility, descriptive relevance, other speech styles are analyzed to have an impact on the styles. When we investigate the influential relations between speech styles proved by a theory and the evaluation of shopping hosts, the demonstrative style comes first, the expressive style is next and the descriptive follows in terms of influential power. In terms of the purchasing intention, speech styles of shopping hosts have an effect on the demonstrative and expressive types rather than the elucidative and descriptive ones. Namely, the analysis shows that the speech style which is logically persuasive and expresses the contents in detail is preferred to the descriptive and leading speech style.


Ismail Gaspirali is an important name who represents the modernization of education in Krimia territory and formation of cultural identity. Gaspirali, issues a newspaper under the name of Tercuman which uses the slogan at "Unity in language, in idea, in work". This newspaper serves in exchanging such ideas throughout the Turkic geography. Gaspirali conveys the same ideas via his literature for his readers. In this work, perception of the women is evaluated in these three of his novels. The perception of women (in his novel) is an important indication of modernity. One of the bases which directly indicates the social tensions and evaluations is the literary works. At the end of the 1800s, in the geography of the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean, critics discussed the location of the income of women in society. They moved to different works by intellectuals and literary newspaper. Ismail Gaspirali is one of these people. In this study, women carrying his newspaper columns, and dealt with the literary works; his ideas, and their mode of operation has been revealed. Key words: Ismail Gaspirali, perception of women, utopia, Tanzimat period novel.


This paper examines the optimal use of investment constraints in delegated portfolio management. We show that investment constraints, which limit managers' uses of margin purchase and short-sales, can benefit investors by enhancing managers' incentives to acquire long-term investment information – information that identifies significant asset mispricing, which may take a long time to be corrected. Our analysis helps explain why mutual fund managers are typically subject to much tighter investment constraints and receive less high-powered compensation than do hedge fund managers.


Precipitations are produced by mixing LuCl3 and Na2SiO3 solutions.XRD and SEM were measured after filtration,ageing and drying.Results indicate most of powders are LuSiO5 and particles are spherical.Compared two methods,purity LSO powders is synthesized without high temperature calcinations by precipitation method,while the raw materials remained after high temperature by mixing solid oxides method.According to particle size,shape and sintering character,precipitation method is better than the other method.


Nurses are at the forefront of health development in Indonesia. Currently, the nursing profession is still not prosperous and has problems related to compensation, job stress, and job satisfaction. This study aims to determine how payment, job stress, and job satisfaction on nurse performance. The method used in this research is a literature study by taking the data source through garuda.ristekbrin.go.id, which was published in the 2015-2021 period, downloaded on 12-16 March 2021. After selecting and identifying according to the inclusion criteria, ten articles were reviewed. The results showed that the welfare of nurses is paramount, appropriate compensation has a significant effect on motivation and enthusiasm to improve nurse performance. Nurse performance is related to work stress experienced by nurses. The welfare of nurses influences work stress, and the workload is not appropriate. Then low work stress on nurses can increase the productivity of nurse performance. Productive nurse performance can provide nurse job satisfaction so that the quality of nursing services becomes optimal. Suggestions for the government to pay attention to nurses' welfare to achieve an optimal health degree from nurses who are prosperous and dignified.


When Andrew Lowe's patients tell him that they can't make it through the day without taking large amounts of opioid drugs to alleviate chronic pain, he asks them a simple question: "Do you like the way you feel today?"

"With very few exceptions, they say 'No, I don't.' And then the


Fatigue and Co-occurring Symptoms in Women with Irritable Bowel Syndrome Jungyoun (Claire), Han Chair of Supervisory Committee: Professor, Monica E. Jarrett Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common bowel disorders. It is characterized by symptoms of abdominal discomfort or pain that are associated with changes in bowel habits such as diarrhea or constipation. However, fatigue is also common disabling symptom seen in patients with IBS. Fatigue frequently co-occurs with abdominal pain and psychological distress (i.e., depression and anxiety). Current management of fatigue for patients with IBS is difficult. It is a challenge to obtain clarity of separating fatigue from other cooccurring symptoms or the combinations of symptoms that come with fatigue. Because there are limited understanding of relationships among symptoms, and patient characteristics including underlying mechanisms of symptom cluster of fatigue and co-occurring symptoms. The aims of this dissertation study were: [First part of the dissertation study] 1. To explore the relationships among fatigue and co-occurring symptoms (i.e., abdominal pain, depression and anxiety). (1-a) the relationships between abdominal pain and fatigue; and (1-b) whether psychological distress (i.e., depression and anxiety) mediates the effect of abdominal pain on fatigue, across-women and within-woman; and [Second part of the dissertation study] 2. To determine (2-a) if latent classes (i.e. subgroups) of women with IBS could be identified based iv on the symptom cluster severity of fatigue, abdominal pain, depression and anxiety, (2-b) if these latent classes differed on patient characteristics, and (2-c) if genetic polymorphisms of tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH), serotonin reuptake transporter (SERT) and catecholamine methyl-O-transferase (COMT) are associated with fatigue, and (2-d) with latent class membership. A secondary analysis of baseline data were conducted from two previous randomized controlled trials of a nurse-delivered symptom intervention. Study participants, Caucasian women with IBS, completed an initial interview, questionnaires, and kept a daily symptom diary for 28 days. For the first part of the dissertation, the relationships among daily diary fatigue, abdominal pain, and psychological distress were tested using a generalized estimating equation (GEE). For the second part of the dissertation, the latent class profile analysis (LCPA) was used to determine the latent classes, and analysis of variance/Chi-square test were used for testing group differences in patient characteristics and genetic polymorphisms. Buffy coat deoxyribonucleic-acid was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction for genetic analysis. For the first part of the dissertation study, we found that fatigue, abdominal pain and psychological distress were positively related with each other as a symptom cluster. The positive and significant across-women relationships were observed between abdominal pain and fatigue. Abdominal pain predicted next-day fatigue within-woman, but not in the reverse. Psychological distress significantly mediated the effects of abdominal pain on fatigue across-women and within-woman. For the second part of the dissertation study, three latent classes were identified (Class-1, low severity; Class-2, medium severity; Class-3, high severity). Women in the high severity class had a lower social support, higher symptom burden (in particular poor sleep quality and high stress level), a poorer quality of life (QOL), and higher life interferences. The


The measurement of the optical phase of far-detuned laser light by phase modulation spectroscopy is promising as a non-destructive probe of the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates. We have developed the experimental technique on a room-temperature Cs vapour cell, and a Cs magneto-optical trap (MOT). We measure column densities with an accuracy better than 7%. A numerical model, including Doppler broadening and transitions between all relevant hyperfine levels, accurately describes the data from the Cs cell. The same model without Doppler broadening gives quantitative agreement with measurements from the Cs MOT. We show that the conditions needed for non-destructive measurements of BEC dynamics are achievable with conventional equipment and a simple, robust experimental setup.


The research was made into the psychological health of middle students in Jiangxi province by means of questionnaire,offering some suggestions.


We all know the vast number of studies that presented several generalizations of open sets in topological spaces. On the other hand, since 2002 when A. Csaszar introduced the definition of generalized topology, other generalizations of open sets have appeared in generalized topological spaces. Our study provides a new generalization for an open set, where the definition will be a mixture of ordinary topology and generalized topology. Our new open set is named Xw-open set. We give several characterizations, properties, and examples related to the new concept.


Education and Training Minister Chris Burns will meet with Federal and State counterparts in Perth today to discuss education issues. Dr Burns said the Ministerial Council meeting will cover a range of topics including curriculum, teaching excellence, and school funding initiatives. "Following COAG and a meeting of education ministers in Sydney earlier this month looking at the Gonski report, I will be continuing work to ensure all Territory schools stand to benefit from this important reform of school funding," Dr Burns said. "There will be discussion around the Certification of Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers. "We are committed to supporting our top teachers and the Territory and rewarding our highly accomplished and lead teachers. "Our centre of School Leadership, Learning and Development is continuing work with our teachers and future school leaders to support their professional development. "We are advancing with the implementation and development of the Australian national curriculum and the progress will be looked at. The progress of the National Quality Framework to build the quality and sustainability of the early childhood sector will also be discussed," Dr Burns said.


It was to summarize research progress of effects and regulatory mechanism of acupuncture on urinary bladder in recent ten years.It is believed that mechanism of regulatory function of acupuncture on urinary bladder lies in levels of peripheral,spinal cord and brain stem,and regulation of acupuncture has characteristics of specificity in acupoint and stimulation parameters.


The visual acuties of striped beakperch larvae and juveniles were calculated from the size of baits taken and the reaction distance of the fish at 1000-1100 lx and the apparent contrast of the target at 2.0-3.0. The visual acuities were 0.011 for larva of 5.5mmTL and 0.06 for juvenile of 18mmTL. The relationship between visual acuity (VA) and fish size (TL) for the larval and juvenile stages were expressed by the equations VA=0.020 exp (0.326TL) and VA=-0.059+0.041 ln TL, respectively. The visual acuity of the juveniles was estimated to reach that of the adults at 38mmTL. The visible ranges for 1 and 3mm size targets at the larval stage were 4 and 12cm, respectively, while at the juvenile stage they were five times those at the larval stage.


A circuit configuration is configured Such that Selectively a first amplifier or a Second amplifier amplifies signals. The Second amplifier is operated depending on the conditions established at the input terminal of the first amplifier. A Switching element has a controlled path connected to an input terminal of the Second amplifier. The Switching State of the Switching element can be controlled by the input termi nal of the first amplifier. As a result, it is possible to effect the changeover between the amplifiers with minimal outlay and without disturbing the amplifiers.


An ecological risk assessment was undertaken of the aquatic ecosystem at the Leichhardt River, Mount Isa to assess the effects of metal or metalloid contamination of the Leichhardt River, from residual contamination of mine sediments largely resulting from mine practices in the 1940's. The assessment of sediments in the Leichhardt River involved comparison of the concentrations of heavy metals and metalloids with the ANZECC/ARMCANZ (2000) interim sediment quality guidelines (ISQGs). Results of the ecological risk assessment indicated that all sites including the background site exceeded one or both the ISQG-High and ISQG-Low trigger values based on total concentrations. A lesser number of sites exceeded the ISQG-Low trigger values once the 1 M hydrochloric acid extract was used as an indication of bioavailability. To assess the significance of the exceedances of the ANZECC ISQG trigger levels, a toxicity assessment was undertaken using aquatic macroinvertebrate species. The test results indicated that only the zone of sediment in the Leichhardt River within Mount Isa city and adjacent to the Velodrome (Sites 3 and 4), associated with acidic sediment from oxidised sulfide mineralisation and elevated metal and metalloid concentrations had potential to be toxic to aquatic biota and required further assessment. However, all sites where sediments exceeded the ANZECC ISQG-Low trigger required toxicity assessment. Only Sites 3 and 4 exhibited sediment toxicity with both aquatic test species. Following completion of the Leichhardt River Remediation Project in May 2008 further ecological risk assessment of sediment was undertaken with test organisms. The ecotoxicity testing of the remediated Leichhardt River sediment showed no further effects to test species and indicated that the remediation of sediment within the city area was completed satisfactorily.


In this paper, the problem of stability analysis for a class of impulsive Cohen-Grossberg neural networks with mixed time delays is considered. The mixed time delays comprise both the time-varying and distributed delays. By employing a combination of the M -matrix theory and analytic methods, several sufficient conditions are obtained to ensure the global exponential stability of equilibrium point for the addressed impulsive Cohen-Grossberg neural network with mixed delays. The proposed method, which does not make use of the Lyapunov functional, is shown to be simple yet effective for analyzing the stability of impulsive neural networks with variable and/or distributed delays. Moreover, the exponential convergence rate is estimated, which depends on the system parameters. The results obtained generalize a few previously known results by removing some restrictions or assumptions. An example with simulation is given to show the effectiveness of the obtained results.


3 KEY TERMS 4 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 5 1.1 Overview 5 1.2 Research Problem 6 1.3 Justification 7 1.4 Research Question 8 1.5 Research Goals 9 1.6 Thesis Structure 9 1.7 Conclusion 10 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 11 2.1 Overview 11 2.2 Defining "Refugee" 11 2.3 Reviewing the Field of Refugee Studies 13 2.4 Theoretical Paradigm 18 2.4.1 Social constructionism. 18 2.4.2 The social construction of identity. 20 2.4.3 The medical, psychosocial and acculturative models. 25 2.5 Conclusion 29 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 30 3.1 Overview 30 3.2 Research Question 30 3.3 Methodology 30 3.4 Sampling 32 3.5 Research Process 33 3.5.1 Assessing the field. 33 © University of Pretoria Exploration of the Identity of Zimbabwean Refugees 2 3.5.2 Administering interviews. 34 3.5.3 Processing of data. 36 3.5.4 Analysis of data. 36 3.5.5 Ethical procedures. 37 3.6 Conclusion 41 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS 42 4.1 Overview 42 4.2 Sindani 42 4.3 Kurai 52 4.4 Nashe 60 4.5 Londisizwe 64 4.6 Conclusion 69 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION 72 5.1 Overview 72 5.2 The Process of Becoming a Refugee 73 5.2.1 The emergence of a crisis of identity. 73 5.2.2 The flight from home. 75 5.2.3 Self esteem and confidence. 77 5.2.4 Becoming the "other". 80 5.3 Aspects of Refugee Identity 84 5.3.1 Race and ethnicity. 84 5.3.2 Religion. 85 5.3.3 Posttraumatic growth. 86 5.3.4 Future deliberations of home. 87 5.4 Reflexivity and the Researcher 89 5.5 Recommendations for Future Research 93 5.6 Conclusion 94 REFERENCES 96 Appendix A: Consent Form 105 © University of Pretoria Exploration of the Identity of Zimbabwean Refugees


This paper aims at examining the relationship between board composition and corporate social responsibility (CSR) of a sample of listed financial entities, discussing the driving reasons of these entities to disclose CSR information. We hypothesize that there is a positive association between outside (institutional and independent directors) and female directors and CSR disclosure and a negative relationship between inside directors and CSR reporting. Our findings provide evidence that the proportions of independent directors and female directors on boards encourage CSR disclosure. Moreover, the results also show that the proportions of inside directors and institutional directors on boards do not have influence on CSR reporting. Thus, our evidence suggests that board attributes such as independent and female directors encourage financial entities to report CSR matters, showing the effectiveness of these two corporate governance mechanisms. The paper shed light on the influence of board structure of financial entities on CSR disclosure. Therefore, this study contributes to past research by providing an index to measure CSR disclosure of financial entities and the importance of the distinction between outside and inside directors.


The Lee-Wick theories require unusual Lee-Wick (LW) partners to the standard model (SM) particles. The excitations of the unusual fields may have indefinite norms in the Hilbert space. In the present talk the thermodynamic results of a toy LW (where each normal particle has only one LW partner and the standard massless gauge fields do not appear in the normal particle spectrum as their LW partners has the potential to produce negative energy density) as well as a realistic LW universe (where the above restrictions are not present) will be discussed.


We show numerically that any of the constant mean curvature tori first found by Wente must have index at least eight.


This paper pointed out that the existing problems and reasons of financial management system in the higher vocational school and you will get benefit if you want to set up for your own actual financial management system.


The heat transfer move execution of the regular liquid can be advanced by the nanofluid, a creative warmth move liquid as it fulfils our mission with its unrivaled potential. This article reports t...


WRITING THIS in the cool of an August midday, I tell anyone who will listen that, in the 1930's, we had summer every year.


We estimate the distribution dynamics of city income and size in China during 1984–2003 using stochastic kernel. Our results show that intra-distribution mobility are significant in both income and size and provide evidences on China experienced internal brain drain.


The continuous flow inverted A2 /O process was used to treat Buji River wastewater,Shenzhen,and the removal efficiencies of COD,NH 4+-N,TN and TP were investigated to provide tech-nical support for newly built wastewater treatment plants.Even if in winter,good removal efficiency of pollutants from Buji River wastewater can be achieved when HRT is 11 h.When the influent COD,NH 4+-N,TN and TP are 160 to 322 mg/L,24.0 to 60.2 mg/L,25.5 to 64.3 mg/L and 2.85 to 3.96 mg/L respectively,their effluent concentrations are 27 to 63 mg/L,0.25 to 29.23 mg/L,6.46 to 35.2 mg/L and 1.24 to 2.0 mg/L respectively,and the average removal rates reach 82.5%,88.7%,65.7% and 50.1% respectively.Chemically enhanced phosphorus removal was carried out to further de-crease TP concentration in the effluent.When PAC dosage is 60 mg/L,the effluent TP is decreased to 0.09 to 0.48 mg/L,with an average of 0.32 mg/L,reaching the first level A criteria specified in Dis-charge Standard of Pollutants for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant(GB 18918-2002).


Background: Osteoarthritis is the most common cause of disability in the Indian population. Total knee arthroplasty, which aims to relieve pain and improve joint function and mobility, is the main surgical alternative in this patient population. To assess the functional outcome of osteoarthritis knee treated with proximal fibular osteotomy. Materials and Methods: 30 patients were selected who suffered from Osteoarthritis. The patient underwent Proximal fibula osteotomy. Following discharge, patients followed up at 1st, 3rd and 6th month and during which serial Xraysand clinical assessment were done of knee joint. Result: 30 patients were selected with medial compartment osteoarthritis knee.Out of them 2patients had paraesthesias along the course of the SPN and over the dorsum of the foot, and 2patients had EHL weakness, and all of them recovered within 3months. and none of the patients had foot drop and infection. Conclusion: PFO is a relatively simple, safe, and affordable surgery for pain relief, correction of varus malalignment, and to improve joint function in medial compartment osteoarthritis knee.


No wonder you activities are, reading will be always needed. It is not only to fulfil the duties that you need to finish in deadline time. Reading will encourage your mind and thoughts. Of course, reading will greatly develop your experiences about everything. Reading living in the state of stuck how assistive technology impacts the lives of people with disabilities is also a way as one of the collective books that gives many advantages. The advantages are not only for you, but for the other peoples with those meaningful benefits.


This paper reports vertical Gallium nitride (GaN) PN diodes on free-standing GaN wafer using a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor compatible contact materials. Static and switching current-voltage measurements have been carried out to evaluate the fabricated vertical GaN PN diodes. The vertical GaN PN diode in this paper shows turn-on voltage Von of ~3.3–3.4 V, on/off current ratio of ~2.7<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times 10^{7}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and ideal factor <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of ~2.1. The reverse recovery time Trr is 21.2 ns and 23.2 ns, respectively, under a testing temperature of 300 K and 500 K. With an on-state resistance Ron of 3.9 m<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Omega \cdot$ </tex-math></inline-formula>cm2 and a breakdown voltage <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{\text BR}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of 2.4 kV, this device achieves a power device figure-of-merit <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{\text BR}^{2}/R_{\text on}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1.5\times 10^{9} \text {V}^{2} {\Omega} ^{-1} \text {cm}^{-2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>.


Bending stress expressions are derived using standard vibration methods for impact of the free end of a free-pinned beam on a rigid and a spring stop and these are shown for any cross-section shape to be independent of beam length or dimension of cross-section. Test results are presented suggesting confirmation of theory.


Abstract The growing development of numerical simulation in aviation industry raises the issue of the quality of the models implemented. Flight test protocols are designed and flown to adjust the coefficients of the predicted aerodynamic model to the real aircraft in order to improve the flight dynamics model accuracy. The aircraft model becomes of major importance in every new aircraft program. Consequently, the constraint on its reliability increases. This paper describes a new optimization methodology using Genetic Algorithms (GA) for the design of optimal flight test protocols and provides a comparison with alternative method such as Dynamic Programming (DP).


The present invention, the reaction for producing the method according to the fine particle of the alkaline earth metal titanates and alkaline earth metal compound and titanium dioxide particles. The titanium dioxide particles have a higher BET surface area than 50 m The titanium dioxide particles can have a very low content of sulfate, chloride and carbon. The reaction can be carried out at temperatures below 700 ° C.. The alkaline earth metal titanate can have a BET surface area of 5 to 100 m Advantageously which has no hydroxyl groups in the crystal lattice. The alkaline earth metal titanate can be used for the production of microelectronic devices.


Photothermal spectroscopy with pulsed laser sources is developing into
 a powerful method for determining nonradiative, excited state quantum
 yields and decay kinetics of molecules in solution. The measurement is
 an example of photocalorimetry where the heat given off by the decay
 of excited states and/or photoproducts is observed as an increase in
 the sample temperature. Photoacoustic spectroscopy with a pulsed laser
 and a high bandwidth piezo electric transducer allows the
 time-dependence of the heat release from excited states to be measured
 directly with submicrosecond time resolution. The instrument signature
 on the heat signal for this method, however, is not ideal for
 determining the photoreaction kinetics of the sample due to acoustic
 resonances and lack of any low-frequency response.


The current financial crisis has brought with it a number of challenges for global economies. The impact of the crisis on the survival of regional blocs has attracted much attention in international circles. More so, the interdependence and interconnectedness of global and regional economies have increased their vulnerability and exposure to the contagion effects of the present crisis. Caribbean countries are no different in this respect. The challenges coming out of the crisis have exacerbated the already difficult economic conditions within the region. Reduced exports, foreign reserves, government revenues, remittances and employment are some of the challenges facing regional economies. In light of the crisis and its associated challenges, the Caribbean is now at a critical decision point with respect to its drive for deeper regional cooperation. The crisis threatens the core of the region's integration initiative and also provides opportunities to strengthen regional ties. This paper, therefore, examines whether the strategic responses of individual CARICOM member states facilitates or hinders deeper integration within the region. The paper posits that the sustainability of the region's integration initiative lies in the adoption of a pragmatic and coordinated regional response to the crisis.


ABSTRACT The primary objective of the study is to explore the predictability of herding patterns of foreign institutional investors in the Indian market using high frequency data over a period from January 2003 to June 2014. Herding of an individual stock was measured estimating a simple volume based ratio and persistence of trends was detected using the runs test (Wald and Wolfowitz [1940]) on that ratio. Predictability of herding behavior has been successfully modeled by applying 7 data mining models using various measures of performance. Market regulators may consider our findings to regulate the foreign institutional investors trading to make the financial system more transparent and robust.


Article history: Received Received in revised form Accepted The optimization problems with more than three objectives are manyobjective optimization problems (MaOPs) that exist in various scientific and engineering domains. The existing multi-objective evolutionary algorithms do not found effective to address the many-objective optimization problems. Its limitations initiated the need to develop an algorithm that efficiently solves many-objective optimization problems. The proposed work presents the design of the many-objective hybrid differential evolution algorithm (MaOHDE) to address MaOPs. Initially, two multi-objective evolutionary algorithms viz. non-dominated sorting based multi-objective differential evolution (NS-MODE) and nondominated sorting based multi-objective particle swarm optimization (NS-MOPSO) algorithms designed. These algorithms developed by incorporating the non-dominated sorting approach from NSGA-II, the ranking approach, weight vector, and reference points. Tchebycheff – a decomposition-based approach applied to decompose the MaOPs. The MaOHDE algorithm developed by hybridizing the NS-MODE with the NS-MOPSO algorithm. The presented approach's strength is revealed using 20 instances of DTLZ functions and its effectiveness and efficiency are verified by comparing with the recently developed state of algorithms from the literature. From the results, it is observed that the MaOHDE responds better than its competitors or is competitive for most of the test instances and the convergence rate is also good.


Quantum coherent oscillations in the electric charge passing through a mesoscopic conductor can give rise to a current noise spectrum which is strongly asymmetric in frequency. The asymmetry reveals the fundamental difference between quantum and classical fluctuations in the current. We show how the quantum current noise can be obtained starting from a Born-Markov master equation, an approach which is applicable to a wide class of systems. Our method enables us to analyze the rich behavior of the current noise associated with the double Josephson quasiparticle resonance in a superconducting single-electron transistor (SSET). The asymmetric part of the noise is found to be strongly dependent on the choice of operating point for the SSET and can be either positive or negative. Our results are in good agreement with recent measurements.


The data bank system described in this paper has been developed by the Ship Research Institute of Japan for the purpose of analysing marine engine failures and improving reliabilty and availability of marine engines. Besides general information on a number of ships, the following data which are useful for failure analysis and qualitatively different from those of other existing banks are stored in the bank; location, time, cause and frequency of failures; the effect of failures on the operation of the ships; the method of failure detection; the corrective action taken, etc. Two examples of application of the data bank are presented. The first is factor analysis of Diesel engines by the Pricipal Component Analysis method; in particular, methods for detecting abnormal states and initial judgements by operators are carefully analysed as failure factors. The second application is the drawing up of a failure map as an aid to the diagnosis of engine troubles. Order from: BSRA as No. 51,421.


By examining the problems existing in Chinese curriculum reform,and combining features of traditional culture and Chinese learning,the author plans to explore how to carry out meaningful receptive learning in teaching practice of middle school Chinese curriculum reform from the following three aspects: 1.the exploration of the connotation of meaningful receptive learning;2.how to use the strategy of advance organizer to develop students' desire to receive learning meaningfully;3.how to lead students to find the anchoring idea in the course of building their cognitive structures.


Cultures from greenhouses, which runs from midsummer until the coming cold season, is an optimal environment for the development of californian thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis. Californian thrips attacked crops and untreated can suffer heavy losses, one of the biggest damage is recorded in the greenhouses cucumber crops. It considers that a number of 3.6 adults per flower cause damage to these crops. On the attack of the californian thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis, we can say that this insect is one of the most common and important species that affect the quantity and quality of cucumber production in protected areas and are necessary effective measures to controlling it. In greenhouses cucumber crops were 80% loss of capacity due to attack by this pest. Damage depends on the development of the plant in the attack moment and insect density. Attacked and untreated cultures may be compromised, so it is very important to know which is the number of individuals Frankliniella occidentalis on plants in order to apply effective treatments that reduce pest population. The culture of cucumbers, cycle II, the highest number of copies/ flower on experimental variants field before treatment varied between 11 and 14. Economic threshold of pest in the cucumbers culture, cycle II was greatly exceeded (3-4 adults / flower). In cucumber crop cycle II californian thrips population density was an average of 12.66 insects / flower. Due to damage caused by this pest in cucumber crops in protected areas is necessary to know the pest density, optimum application time of treatment and most effective insecticides.


Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA)/Cognitive Radio (CR) systems access the channel in an opportunistic, noninterfering manner with the primary network, thus being a promising approach to solve the problem of spectrum scarcity. Energy Detection, a spectrum sensing technique for DSA/CR systems, is widely used for blind sensing of unused frequency bands due to its non-parametric sensing ability and computationally low complexity. However, spectrum sensing becomes more challenging in Cognitive Vehicular Networks (CVNs) due to Secondary User's (SU's) mobility and often yields a detection performance loss as compared to static scenarios. In order to mitigate the impact of reduced detection performance due to mobility, the usage of an improved version of energy detection technique is proposed in this paper. Usage of Improved Energy Detection (IED) technique in CVNs results more than 10% increment in DSA/CR system performance. In this paper, we study the joint impact of SU's sensing range, PU's protection range and SU's mobility model on the PU Activity using IED technique in CVNs, with detection probability and probability of false alarm as the performance metrics. Also, we derive a closed form expression for the probability of PU being inside SU's sensing range. Based on the proposed framework, numerical results show great agreement with analysis, yielding a superior performance.


The first successful quantitative account of the electron thermal conductivity χe in a tokamak experiment due to imperfect magnetic surfaces is presented. The unstable spectrum of microtearing instabilities is calculated with the GS2 code for a well-behaved H-mode plasma in the National Spherical Tokamak Experiment [M. Ono et al., Nucl. Fusion 40, 557 (2000)], with 6 MW deuterium neutral beam heating at Ip=0.75MA, Bt=0.5T. The application of existing nonlinear theory shows that the unstable modes can produce overlapping magnetic islands leading to global stochastic magnetic fields. The calculated χe based on the present theory is in reasonable agreement with the values from transport analysis of the experimental data over the entire region (0.4<r∕a<0.75) where the electron temperature gradient is strong enough to make microtearing the most unstable mode. There is no adjustable parameter in this comparison. This instability can be avoided by reversed magnetic shear or by heating the electrons to lower the ...


expression of PD-1 and CD39 and the specific isolated CD8 and CD4 subpopulations are cultured in vitro to expand them to large numbers. The expanded CD8 and CD4 subpopulations are subsequently screened for tumor recognition by co-culturing the isolated subpopulations with autologous tumor cell lines. Tumor recognition is assessed by measuring the up-regulation of the activation markers 4-1BB or OX40 on CD8+ or CD4+ T cells, respectively, by flow cytometry, and by measuring


The matrix metalloproteinases(MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases(TIMPs) are important enzymes regulating extracellular matrix(ECM) degradaes.Participate in regulating ECM synthesis and metabolism balance in physiological and pathological condition.In different tissue types of kidney disease and different pathological development stage of the same disease,MMPs/TIMPs can produce different pathogenic mechanism,leading the progress of the disease.For MMPs/TIMPs research will clarify the progression mechanism of chronic kidney disease,to control all sorts of kidney disease provide theoretical basis.


Stress negative Piétrain pig (Piétrain) was developed by the University of Liège, Belgium. Since 2007, they are raised in North Vietnam. The study of semen traits of stress negative Piétrain under tropical conditions is important. The objective of this study is to evaluate the semen quality of stress negative Piétrain and Duroc boars as well as to identify various factors acting on these traits under tropical conditions in Vietnam.


We classify the non arithmetic rank one affine invariant orbifolds that do not arise from Veech surfaces in H(3,1) and H^odd(2,2). We also give rigidity results on the isoperiodic leaf of non arithmetic Veech surfaces.


Enzymatic characteristics of cellulase of Trichoderma koningii,Trichoderma viride,Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma reesei were investigated.The results showed that the cellulase activity decrease when pH below 5.0 and the temperature above 60 ℃.Fe2+ and Mn2+ can both increased the enzymatic activity,while Pb2+and Zn2+ inhibited the activity greatly.A.niger was considered to be an ideal strain for cellulase production due to the highest activity among the strains.


The internal bone remodeling is a repair mechanism, which aims to maintain bone strength, while keeping its mass and preventing fractures. This paper proposes a remodeling numerical algorithm based on the Continuum Damage Mechanics theory, and its basic idea is to simulate the porosity of the bone as damage. Is adopted the damage matrix as a mechanical stimulus to direct cellular responses in this process. This matrix is written as a function of the strain vector, remodeling matrix and damage scalar. The well-known "dead zone" - the region where the volume of voids within the tissue remains constant - is established in the domain of thermodynamics force matrix. The proposed mathematical formulation incorporates the possibility of bone resorption when the accumulated damage in the tissue, resulting from daily activities, is exceeded a critical value. Computer simulations using the Finite Element Method are made from a simplified two-dimensional model of the end of a long bone with cemented prosthesis, with reference to the human proximal femur. The results show the ability of the algorithm to obtain a tendency for the distribution of bone density, evidencing basic morphological characteristics of bone in regions of the epiphysis and diaphysis.


Background: People's beliefs and attitudes toward mental illness set the stage for how they interact with, provide opportunities for, and help support a person with mental illness. Objective: the present study aimed to assess the medical and non-medical female students' attitudes toward mental illness and psychiatric patients in Qassim University, KSA. Methods: descriptive design was adopted for the present study. Data collection took place from April to June 2014 via the Attitudes Scale for Mental Illness (ASMI) and Beliefs Scale for Mental Illness (BSMI); which tested in several studies worldwide. A total of 232 undergraduates were recruited from different colleges; 94 students from medical colleges "Nursing, Pharmacy Dentistry, Medicine and Applied Medical Science" and 138 from non-medical college "Business Administration". Results: on the Separatism sub-scale, more medical students (93.6%) than non-medical students (85.5%) disagreed with the statement: 'If a mental health facility is set up in my street or community, I will move out of the community' (χ2=6.249, p<0.044) and these differences were not statistically significant. Medical and non-medical students responded similarly to statements in the Restrictiveness sub-scale. However, 86.2% of medical students compared to 87% of non-medical students agreed that the 'After mentally ill patients are treated and rehabilitated, individuals should make friends of them' (χ2=2.824, p<0.242).Conclusion: Medical and non-medical University students show broadly similar positive attitudes toward speople with a mental illness. There is scope for further research including examining the effects of educational interventions.


Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) bone cement has been widely used in vertebroplasty to treat osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture. However, the high compression stiffness of PMMA is suspected to induce adjacent vertebral fracture following vertebroplasty. In the current study, modified low-modulus cement was prepared by combining PMMA with castor oil to solve this problem. The percentage of height recovery and compression stiffness of vertebral bodies was compared after injection of standard PMMA or low-modulus cement. This study aims to investigate whether low-modulus cement is as effective as standard PMMA for storing the initial vertebral height; while lowering the compression stiffness in treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures. A total of 20 fresh porcine lumbar vertebrae were assigned into two groups (10 per group): standard and low-modulus. All specimens received a four-week decalcification to mimic human osteoporotic vertebrae. The standard and low-modulus groups received a s...


Some new N1-substituted 3, 5-dimethyl (I), 4-arylazo (II) pyrazoles, N1-substituted 4-arylhydrazono-2-pyrazoline-5-ones (III) and N1-substituted 2-pyrazoline-5-ones (IV) have been synthesised by the condensation of aroyl/aryloxyacetylhydrazine with 2, 4-pentanedione or arylhydrazones of 2, 3, 4-pentanetrione and ethyl 3-oxobutyrate respectively. Some oxalyl/adipyl-1, 1'-bis-3, 5-dimethylpyrazoles (V) and oxalyl/adipyl-1, 1'-bis-3-methyl-2-pyrazolin-5-ones (VI) have also been prepared by the reaction of oxalyl/adipylhydrazine with 2, 4-pentanedione and ethyl 3-oxobutyrate respectively.


We present a 5m long spectrometer for soft x rays to be used at a synchrotron radiation beamline for resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering in the 400–1600eV energy range. It is based on a variable line spacing spherical grating (average groove density of 3200mm−1, R=58.55m) and a charge coupled device two dimensional detector. With an x-ray spot on the sample of 10μm, the targeted resolving power is higher than 10 000 at all energies below 1100eV and better than 7000 at 1500eV. The off-line tests made with Al and MgKα1,2 fluorescence emissions indicate that the spectrometer can actually work at 12 000 and 17 000 resolving power at the L3 edges of Cu (930eV) and of Ti (470eV), respectively. SAXES (superadvanced x-ray emission spectrometer) is mounted on a rotating platform allowing to vary the scattering angle from 25° to 130°. The spectrometer will be operational at the ADRESS (advanced resonant spectroscopies) beamline of the Swiss Light Source from 2007.


Part 1 Writing women in the golden age: women's studies and feminist theory Teresa and the mystic body Zayas and women's language a chance of life. Part 2 Gongora and Barthes: beyond transgression "The Soledades" - gender and genre "The Polifemo" - narrative and catachresis figures of sexuality. Part 3 Galdos, Valera, Lacan: psychologism and psychoanalysis "La de Bringas" - the factor of truth "Juanita la Larga" - the insistence of meaning a letter of love. Part 4 Lorca and Foucault: against humanism "Bernarda Alba" - power and knowledge "El publico" - power and pleasure a sense of self. Part 5 Neruda, Vallejo, Marx: Marxian sexuality nature in the "Odas Elementales" man in the "Poemas Humanos" a politics of the body. Part 6 Fuentes, Puig, Lyotard postmodern conditions "Artemio Cruz" and the decline of metanarrative "La Mujer Arana" and the return of the body the end of history?


An apparatus comprising: a receiver 12 configured to obtain a signal from antenna elements 16 of a multi-antenna receiver; processing circuitry 14 configured to determine whether the signal is more likely associated with propagation from a transmitter via a line-of-sight (LOS) radio channel or a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) radio channel by being configured to determine the power variance of the signal and compare the power variance of the signal with known power variance values of LOS and/or NLOS signals; and use a model including parameters selected according to whether the signal is more likely associated with an LOS or an NLOS radio channel to estimate the distance between the receiver and the transmitter.


This article examines the calling contour (CC) in Hungarian and systematically compares its formal properties with those of its English counterpart. After a critical survey of the literature on the English CC, it carries out a phonological analysis of the Hungarian CC, offering a plausible representation based on that analysis. This contains a H pitch accent (H*) and a downstepped H phrase tone (!H-), corresponding to the first and second terrace of the CC respectively. Other apparent possibilities, viz. that the second H tone is a trailing tone or a boundary tone, are rejected. When the Hungarian CC is utterance-final, it coincides with the final portion of an intonational phrase and needs a boundary tone. It is argued that this boundary tone is neither H% nor L but 0% (H* !H-0%). Hungarian utterances can also contain utterance-internal CCs. These can be analysed as being intermediate phrases, lacking a final boundary tone.


This paper considers a two-level supply chain involving a supplier and a retailer. The retailer sells perishable products to consumers over a finite time horizon, and the demand is driven by a price-and-utility function. First, we study the noncooperative problem, which is formulated by a Stackelberg model. It is shown that the optimal pricing strategy of the retailer is to reduce a constant amount on the price at the beginning of each stage. Second, we examine the cooperative problem, in which the supplier and the retailer jointly price the product. Maximum selling cycle lengths of the two situations are obtained by analyzing the reasonability of the sales price. We demonstrate that the selling cycle length is extended by cooperation. Moreover, we show that they lower the sales price in the cooperative case so as to maximize the total profit. Meanwhile, an allocation method is provided based on the proportion.


Quality, " The most effective means of consistently ensuring the safety of a drinking-water supply is through the use of a comprehensive risk assessment and risk management approach that encompasses all steps in water supply from catchment to consumer. In these guidelines, such approaches are called water safety plans (WSPs) " (WHO, 2006). The WHO Guidelines also place WSPs within a larger " framework for safe drinking-water " that includes the public health context and health outcomes and also contains health-based targets and drinking water surveillance (Fig 1). As such, WSPs are specifically linked to health, with an implicit expectation that implementation of WSPs will safeguard health in areas with acceptable drinking water quality and improve health in areas with poor drinking water quality. At a certain level, this expectation of a link between WSPs and health can be taken at face value; ever since John Snow removed the handle of the Broad Street pump, which halted the London cholera outbreak of 1854, there has been a well recognized link between drinking water safety and health (Paneth, 2004). However, the link between a WSP undertaken for an existing piped drinking water system and ultimate health outcomes is not as direct as that between the Broad Street water pump and cholera. Unlike the Broad Street pump, many systems, even prior to WSP initiation, already have multiple barriers between sources of contamination and consumers. Such barriers may include source protection, water treatment with residual disinfection, safe storage, and a distribution system that prevents recontamination of treated water. The multiple barrier approach aims to employ as many of these barriers as necessary so that a failure in one area does not immediately expose consumers to unsafe water. For example, providing a residual disinfectant may counter the effects of leaks in the distribution system that could lead to recontamination after treatment. Therefore, many intervening factors can come between implementation of an individual WSP and ultimate health outcomes. Some examples may include operational factors such as continuity of service, or institutional factors such as better training for employees that results in improved protection of water safety. Evaluating the impacts of a WSP, therefore, requires a much broader analysis than simply looking at health improvements. Just as WSPs are placed into a larger " framework for safe drinking-water " in the WHO drinking water guidelines, the impacts 1 of WSPs must also be placed into a …


We consider the generalized minimum vertex-biconnected network problem (GMVBCNP). Given a graph where nodes are partitioned into clusters, the goal is to find a minimal cost sub graph containing exactly one node from each cluster and satisfying thevertex-biconnectivity constraint. The problem is NP-hard. The GMVBCNP has applications in the design of survivable backbone networks when single component outages are considered. We propose a Memetic Algorithm with two crossover operators, three mutation operators, and a local search component based on two neighborhood structures. Furthermore, two different population management approaches are investigated. Experimental results document the efficiency of the new approach. In particular, the local search component and the population management strategies have a substantial impact on solution quality as well as running time.


From the hands of Olmec, Maya including Inca from whom Corn evolved to all parts of the globe, maize has provided Man with Nutritive, Medical, Pharmaceutical, Industrial, Domestic, Economic including Research values. Corn stands at the center of Mankind, providing Humanity with raw materials for further survival and development. As the need for corn doubles, and as science further widens knowledge on the use/utilization of the crop, creating more avenue and approaches where corn grains, leaves, silk, stem, root and other parts of the plant can be transformed into countless products, then the need to devote more hectares of land to Corn production becomes imperative. Corn has been shown to have the potential to be used in combating global food insecurity, as an indicator-crop for soil fertility assessment and as a commercial cash crop for income generation. Production of Corn has reduce poverty rate and raise standard of living of farmers, especially in the poor/developing countries.


The role of non-normality and nonlinearity in flame–acoustic interaction in a ducted diffusion flame is investigated in this paper. The infinite rate chemistry model is employed to study unsteady diffusion flames in a Burke–Schumann type geometry. It has been observed that even in this simplified case, the combustion response to perturbations of velocity is non-normal and nonlinear. This flame model is then coupled with a linear model of the duct acoustic field to study the temporal evolution of acoustic perturbations. The one-dimensional acoustic field is simulated in the time domain using the Galerkin technique, treating the fluctuating heat release from the combustion zone as a compact acoustic source. It is shown that the coupled combustion–acoustic system is non-normal and nonlinear. Further, calculations showed the occurrence of triggering; i.e. the thermoacoustic oscillations decay for some initial conditions whereas they grow for some other initial conditions. It is shown that triggering occurs because of the combined effect of non-normality and nonlinearity. For such a non-normal system, resonance or 'pseudoresonance' may occur at frequencies far from its natural frequencies. Non-normal systems can be studied using pseudospectra, as eigenvalues alone are not sufficient to predict the behaviour of the system. Further, both necessary and sufficient conditions for the stability of a thermoacoustic system are presented in this paper.


Computer Science is beginning to come into its own-it is an emerging discipline. As it does, certain phases will be entered which are characteristic of developing disciplines . Further refinement of the definition of Computer Science is an absolute necessity. Merely learning how to prepare a set of instructions for solving a problem-generall y pedagogical in nature-can hardly continue to be the substance of the disciplin e called Computer Sciense, even though the problem solved may be a complex one. Hopefully , learning to write programs, learning how to write more efficient programs an d becoming conversant in several different computer languages will be relegated to freshman and even pre-college onienta,ttion to the d .theipfJne for Computer Science majors. Continuing the practice in some institutions of granting graduate credit for such courses is nothing short of deplorable. It is difficult to imagine how certain subject matter can be omitted from a curriculum called Computer Science, That name should be reserved to its proper meaning-science of computers or science of computing. Certain subject matter areas whic h must be included are algorithmic processes, information theory, compiler construction , software design, heuristic programming, artificial intelligence, theory of computa-bility, switching theory, computer linguistics, design of computer languages, theor y of automata, discrete structures, among others. Naturally not all of these course s will be offered at all levels and in all institutions-and others might be included. At the undergraduate level several of these areas might be combined into a singl e course, and they would undoubtedly be presented at an introductory level. Graduat e students would be exposed to rather rigorous courses that treat of the subject matte r at an advanced level-with a separate course covering each of those areas. It is true that just a few years ago most of these areas had not been adequatel y explored. Frequently texts for such courses were either not adequate, nor even available . But hopefully those involved in developing those fields have at least partiall y remedied those problems. There are presently rather satisfactory textbooks, and reference books, available. And, of course, the current literature is replete with articles in these fields. A common reason for an anemic curriculum is an inadequate faculty. Hopefully , we have progressed far beyond the time at which anyone with knowledge of a programmin g language, an interest in computers and a spirit of adventure was adequate …


Utilizing equity theory, this study extends previous research on maintenance strategies. The manner in which relational maintenance strategies are reported and perceived is examined. It was hypothesized that maintenance strategies are used more in equitable relationships than in relationships characterized by underbenefitedness. Further, the use of maintenance efforts by individuals in overbenefited relationships was explored. In addition, this study examined the relative contribution of self‐reported maintenance strategies, perception of partners' maintenance strategies, and equity in predicting the relational characteristics. Overall, the level of felt equity was found to be related to individuals' use of, and perceptions of partners' use of, maintenance strategies in a pattern consistent with equity theory. However, the findings varied somewhat when relying on wives' versus husbands' equity judgments. Moreover, self‐reported maintenance strategies as well as perceptions of partners' maintenance strateg...


A low temperature co-fired ceramic 150 GHz bandpass filter is, for the first time, designed and manufactured. Experimental electric performances are encouraging and validate the use of LTCC technology at submillimeter wave range. A Chebyshev 2-pole bandpass filter is achieved, with 1.6% bandwidth and 4.6 dB insertion loss. The unloaded quality factor is found to be 290.


In order to improve the ability for capturing and tracking the space flying object and to decrease the fluctuation of the real-time guide data with the intersection model switching,an intersection approach for multiple stations based on the least square estimation is put forward in the measurement network composed of two or more TV theodolites.According to the real-time geometrical relationship between the measured object and the TV theodolites,the proposed method makes use of TV theodolites position and their real-time angle information of the measured object to construct two perpendicular planes for every theodolite,which are intersectant at the measure direction line.The coordinates of the measured object is estimated by the least square principle.During the period of two theodolites taking part in real-time intersection calculation,the nonplanar intersection method is the special case of this method,so this intersection method is very effective.The simulation results show that compared with the nonplanar intersection method,the real-time guide data produced by this method is smooth and unfluctuating,the position error of the two methods is less 0.18 m,and the method can meet the needs for the multi-station TV theodolites intersection.


In this study, molecular-dynamics simulations were employed with an embedded-atom method to investigate the shock-induced breaking behavior of single-crystal copper nanowires along a [100] direction at a constant strain rate. The cross section was fixed at $1.8\text{ }{\text{nm}}^{2}$ for all model nanowires. The results showed that the final breaking position depended on the nanowire length. When it was less than 6.0 nm, the most probable breaking position was located at the center of the nanowires. However, it gradually shifted to the ends as the nanowire length increased over 6.0 nm. The longitudinal wave theory was used to interpret the shift of the most probable breaking position.


Speech enhancement algorithms which are based on estimating the short-time spectral amplitude of the clean speech have better performance when a soft-decision gain modification, depending on the a priori probability of speech absence, is used. In reported works a fixed probability, q, is assumed. Since speech is non-stationary and may not be present in every frequency bin when voiced, we propose a method for estimating distinct values of q for different bins which are tracked in time. The estimation is based on a decision-theoretic approach for setting a threshold in each bin followed by short-time averaging. The estimated q's are used to control both the gain and the update of the estimated noise spectrum during speech presence in a modified MMSE log-spectral amplitude estimator. Subjective tests resulted in higher scores than for the IS-127 standard enhancement algorithm, when pre-processing noisy speech for a coding application.


This paper compares two completely different regional production systems Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna both characterised by marked specialisation in the motor vehicle industry. The former traditionally focuses on the automotive sector, while the latter is broadly differentiated into the manufacture of buses, trucks, motor cycles and agricultural equipment. The comparison is based on financial statements and is viewed from different perspectives: growth, productivity and profitability.


Soft errors are one of the significant design technology challenges at smaller technology nodes and especially in radiation enviro nments. This paper presents a particular class of approaches to provide reliability against radiation-induced soft errors. The paper provides a review of the lockstep mechanism across different levels of design abstraction: processor design, architectural level, and the software level. This work explores techniques providing modifications in the processor pipeline, techniques allied with FPGA dynamic reconfiguration strategies and different types of spatial redundancy.


Trisomy 13 (Sy Patau) is a clinically severe entity. 85% of the patients do not survive beyond one year, and most children die before completing six months of age. We report a female child, 30 day old, white, the third child of a non-consanguineous couple, who presented trisomy 13. The child was born at term, from a vaginal delivery, weighing 3200 g. The second day of life the development of respiratory distress translated ino KBC Kragujevac (release list no.29623). The initial clinical examination detected shisis primariy and secunday palate, ASD, stenosis rami AP, polidactily pedis dextri, microcornea and microftalmia. After 27 days of hospitalization in KBC Kragujevac, transferred to the Institute for mother and child New Belgrade, where he died after three days of receipt. During hospitalization blood samples were taken for determination of kariotip. Parents are advised that in case of subsequent pregnancies occur in the genetic counseling of the Institute for prenatal diagnosis.


where the selection of the functions ψ is suitably restricted whereas g is arbitrary. This problem is approached here from the point of view of similarity s defined below. The essential terminology and notation called on in the sequel are these : Gonsider the linear space % M of continuous functions defined on the cartesian product En of closed intervals [0, 1] in n-dimensional Euclidean space; let ^ stand for the space of continuous functions of a single variable. For points in En we use the dual notation p — (x, y, . . .). A level sei of / € ̂ n is the inverse image in En of a point t in its r nge, f(En): such a set is designated by lf(t):


Preface. Abbreviations. Introduction. Overview of ATM Signalling. UNI: User-Network Interface. ATM Addresses. SAAL: Signalling ATM Adaptation Layer. PNNI: Private Network Node Interface. ILMI: Integrated Local Management Interface. Protocols on Top of ATM Signalling. Appendix A: ITU-T Standards. Appendix B: Source Code Availability. References. Index.


It is not clear if platelet responses are sustained after thrombopoietin receptor agonist (ar‐TPO) withdrawal in paediatric patients. A multicentre retrospective observational study was performed in children with chronic immune thrombopenia (cITP) to describe ar‐TPO tapering and withdrawal in patients who had achieved a sustained complete response to ar‐TPOs. Ten patients (eltrombopag n = 6, romiplostim n = 4) were included. Treatment withdrawal was performed after a mean tapering time of 7.6 months. Two patients relapsed (median follow‐up time of 24 months). Slow tapering and withdrawal of ar‐TPOs can be safely performed in cITP paediatric patients after achieving a sustained complete response.


Ultrasonic laboratory scale measurements of scattering from an infinitely thick, striated surface were conducted to test the accuracy of the Twersky theory predictions. These measurements represent the first phase of a measurement program that is intended to provide a baseline and stimulus for refined theories of underice reflectivity and scattering, and will, in its next phase, consider randomly distributed and oriented half‐cylinders on plates. Results of the initial phase reveal that measured reflection coefficients are in excellent agreement with theory at grazing angles between 10° and 50°, when ka 1, where k is the wavenumber and a is the average half‐cylinder depth. At intermediate frequencies, measured losses were substantially greater than predictions due to resonance scattering associated with the physical/geometrical properties of the half‐cylinders. These results imply that both theoretical and laboratory scale modeling of scattering from sea ice at intermediate frequencies mu...


This paper investigates empirically the effects of personal and corporate taxes on taxable interest rates and on the spread between taxable and tax-exempt rates. Two main sets of results emerge. First, we establish that the effective marginal investors in the Treasury bill market are households, as opposed to tax-exempt institutions or corporations. We find no evidence of corporate tax rate effects on Treasury bill yields. The study is then extended to an examination of the tax-exempt market. The results there contradict the hypothesis that commercial bank arbitrage generally ensures that the taxable-tax-exempt interest rate spread is determined by the corporate tax rate. Our estimates decisively reject the corporate in favor of the personal income tax rate as being the relevant tax rate of the marginal investor in this market as well.


Catalytic hydrotreating of renewable oils is a promising way to get diesel alkanes, with the use of microbial lipids further facilitating scalable production of green diesel. The core issue of trig...


This paper considers the Cauchy problem for hyperbolic conservation laws arising in chromatography: with bounded measurable initial data, where the relaxation term g(δ, u, v) converges to zero as the parameter δ > 0 tends to zero. We show that a solution of the equilibrium equation is given by the limit of the solutions of the viscous approximation of the original system as the dissipation ε and the relaxation δ go to zero related by δ = O(ε). The proof of convergence is obtained by a simplified method of compensated compactness [2], avoiding Young measures by using the weak continuity theorem (3.3) of two by two determinants.


Guided wave elastography (GWE) is promising to measure the local arterial stiffness. However, most studies focus on the longitudinal section, with a guided axial wave (GAW). In addition, the dispersion curve of GAW can be well approximated by immersed Lame wave model only at high frequencies (Li et al, UMB 2017). In the transverse section, guided circumferential wave (GCW) can be utilized to obtain the arterial Young's modulus (Li et al, JBM 2017). In this study, the effect of the lumen pressure on the dispersion curves of GAW and GCW was investigated, and a pressure quantification method from GCW at different pressures was developed.


Abstract This study, uses two polyfunctional monomers (PFMs) namely ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as a bifunctional monomer and trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) as a trifunctional monomer were used as co-agents in irradiation crosslinking of Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer Rubber (EPDM). The effect of concentration of each PFM and irradiation dose on the crosslinking density, gel content, swelling behavior in motor and brake oils, in addition to the mechanical and thermal stability properties of EPDM was investigated in detailed. The results showed a remarkable increase in the gel content, crosslinking density and mechanical properties as the concentration of PFMs increased from 1 to 5 phr (parts per hundred parts of rubber). The various blends of EPDM with the trifunctional monomer express the highest gel content and crosslinking density than those with the bifunctional monomer. The addition of 5 phr of TMPTA to EPDM causes a dramatic improvement in tensile strength (TS) of the prepared blend reached to 188% compared to neat EPDM at 50 kGy. At the same time, the maximum TS of the blend containing 5 phr of EGDMA achieved only 41% compared to neat EPDM at an irradiation dose of 100 kGy. The swelling of irradiated samples in brake oil revealed a stronger oil resistance than motor oil. For all irradiated samples, the oil uptake decreased with the irradiation dose up to 100 kGy. The EPDM samples containing 5 phr of TMPTA recorded the highest oil resistance at 100 kGy. The results also showed that the addition of PFMs and irradiation treatment of the various prepared blends improved the thermal stability of EPDM. Finally, neat EPDM and the blends containing 1 and 3 phr of EGDMA can be used as radiation dosimeters in the very high dose range (50–200 kGy).


AIM AND OBJECTIVE
Wastewater treatment/remediation is a very important process that has a great environmental and economic impact. Therefore, it is crucial to innovate different methods to remove pollutants of different sources from wastewater. This work was conducted in order to study the removal of lead (Pb+2) from wastewater using microspheres of composites of sodium alginate, cellulose and chitosan, as well as using a cost-effective green route via composites of sodium alginate and dried water hyacinth.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Molecular modeling at B3LYP/6-31g(d,p) was utilized to study sodium alginate, cellulose and chitosan. Sodium alginate was cross-linked with calcium chloride to form microspheres then both sodium alginate/cellulose and sodium alginate/chitosan were also cross-linked as 50/50 to form microspheres. The roots of the aquatic plant water hyacinth in dry form were added to the cross-linked sodium alginate for up to 70%. SEM and FTIR were employed to study the surface of the prepared microspheres and their structures respectively. Atomic absorption spectroscopy was used to study the levels of Pb.

RESULTS
Molecular modeling indicated that blending of such structures enhances their ability to bind with surrounding molecules owing to their ability to form hydrogen bonds. SEM results indicated that homogeneous structures of cellulose and chitosan are deformed when blended with sodium alginate, and FTIR confirmed the proper formation of the desired blends. Microspheres from sodium alginate showed the ability to remove Pb+2 from wastewater. SEM indicated further deformation in the morphology with roughness of sodium alginate/water hyacinth microspheres, while FTIR confirmed the uniform matrices of the microspheres. The removal of Pb+2 was enhanced because of the addition of dried water hyacinth's roots.

CONCLUSION
Modeling, experimental and kinetic data dedicate sodium alginate/water hyacinth root as green route to remediate Pb+2 from wastewater.


Laparoscopic totally extraperitoneal (TEP) hernia repair is a well-accepted
technique for inguinal hernia repair. Different types of mesh
and fixation methods have been described. Recently, a novel, self-fixating mesh
has been introduced and used successfully in open inguinal hernia repairs. We
report the first initial experience using this mesh for TEP repairs.


Eight patients with rhabdomyosarcoma of an extremity or buttock were treated with one of several combinations of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, depending upon the stage of disease at diagnosis. Patients even with Stage I extremity (hand) tumor treated by earlier approaches had a less favorable survival than those treated more recently. Two survivors undergoing treatment, though only of seven and nine months duration respectively, in the latter group seem to attest to the efficacy of current combined modality therapy for non-disseminated tumors. Two of the eight patients with embryonal histology, (with a survival beyond two years) had a tendency to local recurrences prior to distant metastasis. Finally, the use of surgery alone or with insufficient chemotherapy, even for apparently localized and fully resectable tumors, must be discouraged because of the early dissemination of micrometastases among patients with rhabdomyosarcoma of any site. This is well illustrated by one of the patients in our series, whose affected extremity was amputated. Systemic chemotherapy is therefore warranted in all cases of rhabdomyosarcoma.


Living display articulates a practice generated at the intersection of the body and exhibition. At root is the recognition that corporeality serves a complex site for the inscription of knowledge and the enactment of cultural processes. Human exhibition raises fundamental questions about the dynamics of display, the porous division between art and life, the conventions of aesthetic engagement, and the problematics and possibilities of presence. As can be seen by the range of articles in this issue (7.2) and the next (8.1) of the Journal of Curatorial Studies, living displays can be located in multiple historical and geographical locations, and can convey a heterogeneity of significations. The quality of the framing may vary greatly, yet living displays share the aspect of emphatic bodily presence. Exhibitions of living people may involve simple pedestals or platforms upon which people are singled out for public viewing, as in the conventions of a circus sideshow. Or they may entail more elaborate installations such as in the construction of villages that simulate particular cultures or historical eras. Whether occupying department store windows, museums, arenas, architectural niches, living room parlours or street corners, these practices of self-exhibition strategically frame the body for compelling meaning and affect. Given the diversity and range of living display practices, the articles in these two special issues resonate with complementary thematics and dynamics. Considering human exhibitions through the lens of curatorial studies elaborates their contextual specificity, theoretical problematics and praxical interrogations.


In Australia, where UVB levels are amongst the highest in the world for much of the year, skin is even more exposed to sun damage and early age spots with 80 per cent of damage occurring before the age of eighteen. Visible in the twenties as fine lines and freckling, it becomes more pronounced in the thirties and forties with the appearance of wrinkles and pigmentation.


Globalization has created spaces in which conflicts are handled or discussed issues that end up generating within the legal or institutional reforms States. This text is a reflective paper that aims to establish the characteristics of two international political arenas, the General Assembly of the United Nations, the highest decision-making


The existing decentralized control for modular cascaded inverters is based on the assumption that all inverter modules have same capacities. However, available source power capacities of cascaded inverters may be different in practical distributed generation systems. To address this issue, this letter proposes an improved decentralized control scheme, in which the voltage amplitudes vary according to their individual available powers. Moreover, a power factor consistency control is proposed to achieve autonomous voltage phase synchronization. The steady-state analysis and synchronization mechanism of cascaded inverters are illustrated. In addition, the proposed strategy offers other advantages, including adjustable grid power factor and immunity to grid voltage faults. The effectiveness of the proposed control is tested by experiments.


Seminars in Ophthalmology ISSN: 0882-0538 (Print) 1744-5205 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/isio20 The Interplay of Genetics and Surgery in Ophthalmic Care Michael B. Gorin To cite this article: Michael B. Gorin (1995) The Interplay of Genetics and Surgery in Ophthalmic Care, Seminars in Ophthalmology, 10:4, 303-317, DOI: 10.3109/08820539509063801 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/08820539509063801 Published online: 02 Jul 2009. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 9 View related articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=isio20 Download by: [UCLA Library] Date: 02 May 2017, At: 14:05


Lightning is a furious natural phenomenon that may seriously affect the natural environment and human activities.Lightning causes injuries and deaths,disrupts human activities,and damages property.Lightning leads to heavy casualties and serious economic losses all over the world annually.Therefore,it has important social,(economical) and scientific value to detect and monitor the lightning activities effectively for the lightning disaster research.This paper introduces GIS-based lightning monitoring system,which is designed to be a powerful assistant tool for lightning monitoring network and lightning disaster forecasting and mitigation.


The details in design are paid more and more attention to,some feminization design symbols are applied in the process of design,we analyze the design form with the feminization characteristics from the perspective of design shape semantics,understand the spirit of female charm,which brings the feeling of feminization design for us,and makes people feel warm,intimate and personalization.


In recent years, bicycle sharing becomes a popular concept in China. Many companies are established to provide bicycle- sharing service to the public. As technology startups, these companies usually make several financing rounds during their growth. This study aims to research the causes and effects of the companies' financing strategy. Three companies in the industry are studied separately. I find that the choices of the financing strategies are often structured by the factors like the policy, industry development, technology growth, and the pros and the cons of the financing methods. The effects of the financing strategies lie on the market perspective like market share and future perspectives like new market development. What's more, the result of this research shows that company's performance is one factor that can influence the choice of financing strategy, and in return, financing strategy can influence company's performance.


Geo-economic power and the new European architecture of integration. Political Geography 21:647–70. Sparke, M. 2003. American empire and globalisation: Postcolonial speculations on neocolonial enframing. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 24 (3): 373–89. Sparke, M., and V. Lawson. 2003. Entrepreneurial political geographies of the global-local nexus. In A companion to political geography, ed. J. Agnew, K. Mitchell, and G. Ó. Tuathail, 315–34. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Storper, M. 1997. The regional world. New York: Guilford.


Jean Baptiste van Helmont was the founder of the iatrochemical school which looked to chemical explanations of vital phenomena. He was a man of great intellectual curiosity and studied philosophy at Louvain. Disappointed with the content of the course he turned to law and after further disappointment decided to study medicine.

Van Helmont's teaching revolved around two terms, Blas and Gas. He was much influenced by the doctrines of Paracelsus …


This article presents a closed-loop virtual-flux (VF) estimator for grid voltage sensorless control of pulsewidth modulation (PWM) rectifier under unbalanced network. Compared with the prior open-loop VF estimator, the proposed method shows better filtering capability and improved robustness against load variation. Considering the grid frequency may deviate from the nominal value in practical application, an adaptive method is further developed for online frequency estimation. Additionally, the finite control set-model predictive power control with power compensation is implemented based on the proposed VF estimator to attenuate dc voltage ripples under unbalanced network. Theoretical analysis show that the twice-grid-frequency ripple component in the dc voltage can be effectively suppressed even with inductance mismatches. Experimental tests on a two-level PWM rectifier confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Harsh environment applications such as electrical actuation on military and commercial aircraft, advanced engine controls, downhole energy exploration, propulsion systems of hybrid and all electric vehicles, and space exploration require sensor interfaces, control circuits, and power systems with electronics capable of operating at high temperatures. Wide band-gap materials such as SiC can be used to build devices with high operating temperatures due to their fundamental material properties. This paper presents initial results on developing basic analog and logic integrated circuits based on SiC JFET technology. Analog and logic integrated circuits were built using enhancement vertical channel lateral JFET transistors, metal film resistors and lateral p-n diodes. The analog circuits built include different types of operational amplifiers. The logic circuits include NOT, NAND, AND, NOR and OR gates. Transistors and integrated circuits were packaged in ceramic DIP packages and tested at temperatures up to 5...


We reconstruct the γ-ray opacity of the universe out to z ≲ 3–4 using an extensive library of 342 observed galaxy luminosity function (LF) surveys extending to high redshifts. We cover the whole range from UV to mid-IR (0.15–25 μm) providing for the first time a robust empirical calculation of the γγ optical depth out to several TeV. Here, we use the same database as Helgason et al. where the extragalactic background light was reconstructed from LFs out to 4.5 μm and was shown to recover observed galaxy counts to high accuracy. We extend our earlier library of LFs to 25 μm such that it covers the energy range of pair production with γ-rays (1) in the entire Fermi/LAT energy range, and (2) at higher TeV energies probed by ground-based Cherenkov telescopes. In the absence of significant contributions to the cosmic diffuse background from unknown populations, such as the putative Population III era sources, the universe appears to be largely transparent to γ-rays at all Fermi/LAT energies out to z ∼ 2 whereas it becomes opaque to TeV photons already at z ≲ 0.2 and reaching τ ∼ 10 at z = 1. Comparing with the currently available Fermi/LAT gamma-ray burst and blazar data shows that there is room for significant emissions originating in the first stars era.


This paper presents a reconfigurable built-in self-repair (ReBISR) scheme for multiple repairable RAM cores with different sizes and redundancy organizations (i.e., spare rows/spare columns or spare rows/spare IOs). We also propose an efficient built-in redundancy-analysis (BIRA) algorithm for allocating redundancies for the ReBISR scheme. A reconfigurable BIRA (ReBIRA) circuit is realized to perform the proposed BIRA algorithm for the ReBISR scheme. Experimental results show that the ReBISR scheme can achieve high repair rate (i.e., the ratio of the number of repaired memories to the number of defective memories). The area cost of the reconfigurable BIRA is very small, e.g., the area cost is only about 1.5% if 512times4times256 design parameters and four memory instances (64times2times32, 128times2times64, 256times4times128, and 512times4times256) are considered. Also, the ratio of the redundancy analysis time to the test time is very small, e.g., the ratio for a 512times4times256-bit memory tested by a March-14N algorithm with solid data backgrounds is only about 0.25%


The classification of diabetes mellitus in cats follows more or less the scheme used in human medicine. Although the etiopathogenic mechanisms may not be completely identical, the "human model" provides a guide for identification and differentiation of the various forms of the disease.


We present a system that performs sketch-based image retrieval and classification. The system enables the user to draw sketches that are used as queries against a dataset of 20,000 sketched images spanning 250 categories. The system returns top matches and uses a weighted voting scheme to estimate the most likely classifications of the user's sketch based on those matches. This work demonstrates the potential of the computer to compare and classify handdrawn images in addition to the more frequently researched digital photographs.


Metallic biomaterials constitute approximately 70% 80% of all implant materials, and thus represent a very important class of biomaterials. Among the various metallic biomaterials such as stainless steels and Co-Cr alloys, titanium and its alloys exhibit the best biocompatibility. Consequantly, titanium and its alloys have been the fucus of attension for biomedical materials, especially for use in load bearing implants such as artificial hip joints, bone plates and screws, spinal instruments, and dental implants. The Young's moduli of metallic biomaterials are generally much higher than that of the human cortical bone (hereafter, bone) (Niinomi, 2002a). If the Young's modulus of a load bearing implant made of metallic biomaterials is higher than that of the cortical bone, bone atrophy occurs because of the stress shielding between the implant and bone (Sumitomo, 2008). Stress shielding causes loosening of the implants such as artificial joints or bone re-fracture after extraction of the implants. Therefore, the Young's modulus of the metallic biomaterials must be equal to that of the natural bone. Titanium and its alloys possess lower Young's moduli than those of other mettalic biomaterials such as stainless steels and Co-Cr alloys. -type titanium alloys, in particular, having a single  phase exhibit much smaller Young's moduli compared with and ( + -type titanium alloys (Niinomi, 2002b). As such, the -type titanium alloys are particulary promissing for biomedical applications. A number of -type titanium alloys composed of non-toxic and non-allergic elements with low Young's modulus have been developed and even more are currently under development (Niinomi, 2011a). Much of the current research in the biomaterials field has been directed at lowering the Young's modulus of the -type titanium alloys for biomedical applications. The mechanical biocompatibility factors such as fatigue strength, fretting fatigue strength, tensile properties, wear resistance, fracture toughness, etc., including the Young's modulus are very important factors for the practical application of the allloys in biomaterials as well as the biological biocompatibilities (Niinomi, 2008a). Among the mechanical biocompatibility factors, the endurance, i.e., the fatigue strength is one of the most important factors (Niinomi, 20007). The development of metallic biomaterials with improved fatigue strength and a simaltaneously low Young's modulus is desirable for biomedical applications. The effect of the Young's modulus of the metallic implant should be clarified by animal experiments prior to medical applications, and recently, these kinds of studies have begun to be implemented (Niinomi, 2002b).


Active optics can facilitate two-photon microscopic imaging deep in tissue. We are investigating fast focus control mirrors used in concert with an aberration correction mirror to control the axial position of focus and system aberrations dynamically during scanning. With an adaptive training step, sample-induced aberrations may be compensated as well. If sufficiently fast and precise, active optics may be able to compensate under-corrected imaging optics as well as sample aberrations to maintain diffraction-limited performance throughout the field of view. Toward this end we have measured a Boston Micromachines Corporation Multi-DM 140 element deformable mirror, and a Revibro Optics electrostatic 4-zone focus control mirror to characterize dynamic performance. Tests for the Multi-DM included both step response and sinusoidal frequency sweeps of specific Zernike modes. For the step response we measured 10%-90% rise times for the target Zernike amplitude, and wavefront rms error settling times. Frequency sweeps identified the 3dB bandwidth of the mirror when attempting to follow a sinusoidal amplitude trajectory for a specific Zernike mode. For five tested Zernike modes (defocus, spherical aberration, coma, astigmatism and trefoil) we find error settling times for mode amplitudes up to 400nm to be less than 52 us, and 3 dB frequencies range from 6.5 kHz to 10 kHz. The Revibro Optics mirror was tested for step response only, with error settling time of 80 μs for a large 3 um defocus step, and settling time of only 18 μs for a 400nm spherical aberration step. These response speeds are sufficient for intra-scan correction at scan rates typical of two-photon microscopy.


The fourdimensional hyperbolic complex space is introduced in terms of Clifford algebra Cl1,which is used to express Minkowski spacetime and Lorentz group.


The utility model discloses a health-care pillow including a rectangular base, the edges of the two long edges of the base are provided with strip-shaped projections, in which a cavity is arranged, a health-care rod is arranged in each cavity, and soft filers are arranged between the two projections. The structure of the health-care pillow is accordant with the physiological structure of human's cervical vertebra, when one lies on back, the back of head can recess deeper due to the small area while contacting with the pillow, the projections at the edges of the base can support the neck up to enable the respiratory tract to be smooth, thus the health-care pillow has a certain effect on snoring prevention. When one lies on the side, the head cannot sink too deep because the face and head occupy a large contact area with the pillow. Moreover, the projections at the edges of the base can appropriately support one's neck. The health-care pillow provided can help one in falling asleep comfortably; meanwhile, the medicinal materials and petals in the health-care rod are also helpful for one to fall asleep.


The world's most populous nation has a new leader, Hu Jintao. His election in November 2002 as Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary and in March 2003 as Chinese president was the first smooth power transfer in the history of the People's Republic of China (PRC) that was not prompted by natural death or political crisis. However, the reelection of former Party and state leader Jiang Zemin as Party Central Military Commission (CMC) chairman, and his continued influence in Chinese politics, has fomented outsiders' speculation as to who is actually at the core, if any, of China's new leadership. Many speculate that Jiang still utters a strong voice on critical policy issues through informal channels, following the codes of conduct established by China's former leader Deng Xiaoping, who gradually transferred power to younger leaders over several years. It is safe to say that leadership transition in China is far from sharply defined—or complete—in the absence of free and competitive elections.


The paper investigates the use of CubeSat body as an UHF antenna for 435 MHz band. Since the lowest characteristic modes in 1U CubeSat become significant around 1 GHz, a set of four arms is developed to decrease this frequency and realize compact antenna that can be enclosed within in a sphere of 0.3 λ diameter. The antenna does not rely on any deployment mechanism, significantly increasing reliability of the satellite. Two use-cases are investigated: a linearly polarized with omnidirectional pattern and a bidirectional circularly polarized. Both offer broad beams with 1.6 dB gains, which is comparable to much larger deployable CubeSat antennas.


Efficient use of funds is the current challenge for operators both private and public sectors. In Slovakia the management of municipalities is governed only by law, that the main and only criterion considers the indebtedness of the village. The goal of the paper is to offer an alternative view of the legal assessment of the economic communities in the form of a comprehensive assessment of management of the municipality. Post characterizes TOPSIS technique as a suitable alternative for a comprehensive assessment of the management of municipalities in 2014, and this technique is applied to a set of villages in the Prešov Region (663) at two levels at the same and adapted monitored indicators. Within the article the best management of municipalities according to selected criteria is ranked. The results of applications are further statistical examined to identify the impact of the indicators, as well as identification of observed correlation. The document can be downloaded at http://hdl.handle.net/10195/66944.


An efficient algorithm for maximum likelihood (ML) bearing estimation of narrowband signal sources using a uniform linear array of sensors is proposed. This algorithm adopts the quasi-Newton method which is one of the most efficient gradient methods. The estimates are obtained by computing zeros of a polynomial whose coefficients can be given by solving the nonlinear optimization problem arising from the ML criterion. Simulations have indicated the following properties: the proposed method gives better estimation accuracy than MUSIC, gives almost the same accuracy as the conventional ML procedure alternating projection (AP), and requires lower computational cost than AP.<<ETX>>