Standard methods for determining dose per monitor unit values in a patient do not yet exist for proton therapy. Indeed, some aspects of D/MU estimation remain poorly understood, such as the conversion of absorbed dose in a water phantom to absorbed dose in a patient. This study focused on the water-to-patient absorbed dose conversion factor, F CSPS , which accounts for differences in scatter (from the range compensator and internal patient anatomy) between patient treatments and their corresponding calibration irradiation in a homogeneous water-box-phantom. We estimated F CSPS for 32 prostate fields using a pencil beam dose algorithm in the treatment planning system (TPS). The mean F CSPS value was 1.006; its standard deviation of the mean was ±0.001. The lower bound for uncertainty in F CSPS , μF CSPS , was estimated for a sub-set of fields through comparisons of TPS dose predictions with measurements and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Comparison of TPS predictions and measurements yielded μF CSPS of 0.4% - 0.8%. Comparison of TPS predictions and MC simulations yielded μF CSPS < 0.3%. For a prostate treatment, a comparison of F CSPS values from TPS predictions with the historical value of 1.0 yielded μF CSPS < 3% and a mean μF CSPS of 0.6%. Regardless of estimation method, μF CSPS was approximately 1%, suggesting that uncertainty in F CSPS for proton treatments of prostate cancer is clinically acceptable.


"This essay explores the relationship between parody, melodrama and writing in the metafictional novels La tia Julia y el escribidor by Mario Vargas Llosa and La amante de Shakespeare by Rodrigo Parra Sandoval. This comparative reading of the two novels, based on the notion of ""literature memory"", pretends to establish a dialogue between both texts, particularly in terms of their similarities and differences, around three fundamental topics: the way in which they parody melodrama and its derived contemporary forms (feuilleton, radionovelas and romance novels), the parodies they construct of the writer characters within the diegetic level of the novels and, finally, how these multiple parodies pose a series of challenges for the reader. In conclusion, this dissertation argues that both novels parody melodrama in a similar fashion (in terms of its style and themes), particularly in the suppression of the happy ending typical of this genre. Moreover, both novels present three characters that write but, in both texts, these same characters and their parody raise the question of what it means to be a writer (or its comic foil, an escribidor, an incompetent writer), as well as the question about the subject (modern or postmodern) that underlies each novel, definable by the relation between each writer-character and their text. Finally, it was concluded that, even though both novels parody the melodramatic happy ending and the notion of what it is to be a writer, the parodic ethos, i.e, the intention behind the parody, is different for each novel. In Vargas Llosa s case, his parody of melodrama appears to be the materialization of a desire to pay homage, in a critical way, to a tradition he feels indebted to. On the other hand, for Parra Sandoval, the parody constitutes a criticism to the reception modes promoted by the popularity of paraliterary forms such as the romance novels written by Corin Tellado. Regarding the parodization of the writing figures, both authors seem to question the conflictive relationship between popular culture and high culture by highlighting that both are constructed with the same language and the same linguistic resources, therefore presenting postmodernist ideas. However, given the notion of the subject brought forth by each novel, it is possible to argue that Parra Sandoval s novel is closer to the logics of the postmodernist Latin- American narrative while Vargas Llosa s text, by proposing an homogeneous notion of the subject, is still attached to the traditional ""modernist"" Latin-American literature."


Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) play a critical and increasing role in modern combat, giving significantly enhanced surveillance, communication and strike capabilities. There are currently a large range of UAV's available, but in general the more capable the UAV, the larger and heavier it becomes. The largest UAVs such as the Naval MQ-4C Triton are currently operated exclusively from land-based runways.
The BAE systems "UXV Combatant" is designed as a drone mothership, able to deploy large numbers of UAV's and including two 50m flight decks for launch and recovery systems. In order for the UXV combatant to deploy large naval drones such as the Triton, a significant electromagnetic launch system will be needed. This work looks at design and modelling of an electromagnetic launch system capable of launching a Triton sized large UAV at high acceleration from a small naval platform. The work considers both the UXV combatant design, and the use of the rear flight deck of the existing Type 45 design.
The work consists of outlining the launch requirements of the drone, initial scoping of system power requirements and selection of launch topology, analytical modelling of the system launch cycle and Finite Element Analysis to verify the chosen motor system design.
The results of this work show that an electromagnetic linear motor based system capable of launching large naval drones is feasible from a Type 45 scale launch platform, either configured as a drone carrier or by using the existing flight deck.


In an online graduate paleontology course taken by practicing Earth Science teachers, we designed an investigation using teachers' local informal educational environments. Teachers (N = 28) were responsible for photographing, describing, and integrating fossil specimens from two informal sites into a paleoenvironmental analysis of the landscape in which the fossils were originally deposited. Our practicing teachers also developed mini-units for their individual classrooms, utilizing the fossils and the informal sites they investigated. Not only did teachers develop a multitude of innovative and effective activities, but they were overwhelmingly enthusiastic about incorporating aspects of local informal sites within their individual classrooms. Content analysis of teachers' anonymous responses revealed three stable findings: 1) The informal sites and local fossils affirmed the importance of the local environment and put it into a larger context, 2) directed student activities within informal sites can maximize learning, and 3) informal sites provide a context for information and can supply an interdisciplinary "big picture" for students. We propose that directed interdisciplinary investigations that incorporate the local environment may enhance science learning at informal education sites. As students, most of us thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to step outside the classroom for a day filled with new places to visit, fun-filled activities, and the obligatory bus ride. After all, this was essentially a day "without school." As science teachers, however, some of us may have hesitated to bring our classrooms to a museum, arboretum, botanical garden, or fossil park. Although a chance to escape the traditional classroom was a positive factor, could students really learn in these informal environments, or did they feel inundated with a multitude of exhibits, often precisely labelled and "caged" within glass displays or behind fenced areas? Similar to traditional classrooms, the quality of informal education can vary across a broad spectrum, with some instructional methods being more effective than others. "One size" in instruction does not necessarily "fit all." Our students' backgrounds are often quite varied, yet important, when planning science lessons. Fortunately, our previous research with the Geological Sense of Place writing template revealed that the local landscape had a strong influence on the majority of our students (Clary & Wandersee, 2006). Students typically indicated that local rock types, landforms, and experiences had the greatest impact in their youth, as opposed to events and products that were highly publicized in textbooks and television documentaries. Therefore, in our Earth Science classrooms, we hypothesized that an integration of fossils within local informal environments, such as museums, national parks, and nature centers, might enhance informal learning opportunities.


The orthooxovanadates of the 3d transition metals M3V2O8, known as kagome staircase systems, reveal interesting magnetic properties due to their crystal structure. Although these compounds are isostructural for M=Co, Ni, Mn, Cu, they differ considerably with respect to their magnetic phase transitions and magnetic structures. As the magnetic ions are situated on corners of cornersharing triangles, geometric frustration plays an important role in this system. This is not only connected to the fact, that the antiferromagnetic structures exhibit reduced magnetic moments, but apparently also to the ferromagnetic structure of Co3V2O8, which exhibits a strongly reduced Co moment of 1.54 Bohr magnetons. Within this work precisely this ferromagnetic structure has been investigated in detail and it could be shown that the relatively weak magnetic moment does not result from frustration, but is a consequence of the strong hybridization effects between the cobalt and oxygen orbitals. The pronounced covalent character of this Co ion leads to the fact that due to the charge transfer the oxygen ions signicantly contribute to the bulk magnetization when applying an external magnetic field. The second part of the presented work deals with the systematic investigation of the mixed system (CoxNi1-x)3V2O8. A detailed magnetic phase diagram could be drawn, in which the temperature and composition dependent magnetic phase transitions have been pinpointed. Furthermore, an interesting magnetic structure of a chosen composition of x=0.5 has been observed, which differs considerably from those of the end members.


Viral respiratory infections are usually benign but can trigger asthma exacerbations. The factors associated with upper respiratory tract infection (cold) frequency are not fully understood, nor is it clear whether such factors differ between women and men. To determine which immunological and clinical variables associate with the frequency of self-reported respiratory infections (colds), 150 asthma cases and 151 controls were recruited. Associations between antiviral immune response variables: toll-like receptor (TLR)7/8 gene expression, plasmacytoid dendritic cell (pDC) numbers and interferon-α, tumour necrosis factor and interleukin-12 production, and asthma were then examined that might explain cold frequency. People with asthma cases reported more colds per year (median 3 versus 2; p<0.001) and had lower baseline TLR7 gene expression (odds ratio 0.12; p=0.02) than controls. Associations between many variables and cold frequency differed between women and men. In women, high blood neutrophil counts (β=0.096, p=0.002), and younger age (β=−0.017, p<0.001), but not exposure to children, were independently associated with more frequent colds. In men, low TLR7 expression (β=−0.96, p=0.041) and high CLEC4C gene expression (a marker of pDC; β=0.88, p=0.008) were independently associated with more frequent colds. Poor asthma symptom control was independently associated with reduced TLR8 gene expression (β=−1.4, p=0.036) and high body mass index (β=0.041, p=0.004). Asthma, age and markers of inflammation and antiviral immunity in peripheral blood are associated with frequent colds. Interestingly, the variables associated with cold frequency differed between women and men. Asthma, age and blood markers of antiviral immunity associate with cold frequency in a sex-dependent manner. People with asthma have lower TLR7 gene expression than healthy people; only in men does this associate with cold frequency. https://bit.ly/3e3yWKy


Non intellectual factors influence to a large extent the English study of the students and, therefore, their interest becomes vital in the matter. On basis of teaching practice of many years, the Happy Learning concept is proposed.


The Trash Trout Motion Picture Show is a collaborative creative placemaking project that employs the power of the arts to help protect freshwater ecosystems in the Appalachian Mountains. Filmmaker Tom Hansell, musician Trevor McKenzie, and musician/dancer Julie
Shepherd-Powell shares a multimedia performance they developed in collaboration with local civic organizations.


[Purpose] Fundamentally understand and grasp the trend and strategy of periodical service and strive for more survival and development opportunities for sci-tech journal. [Methodology] Periodical service is observed and analized from the change of scientific users academic exchanges demand. [Findings] Newscholarly communication demand more efficient communication and access to information,and ask for knowledge service. [Conclusions] Sci-tech journal service need combinate with a variety of network channels and technology,need transform to become service mechanism of oriented process of knowledge production and professional activities. The specific strategy is to realize the efficient dissemination of sci-tech information,expand the service functions for the production of knowledge and professional activities.


This paper proposes the legal argumentation about legal basis of a father's shares in the family inheritence ( waris ) as ratified in the Indonesia's Compilation of Islamic Law. Using Islamic Law theoretical framework, it challenges the popular misconception that is expressed in the compilation that a mother and children have one-third shares after father's shares was given. Under this mode of thought, it is assumed that father's and male family member's shares are bigger that that of mother's and female family member's. In fact, it argues that the shares for all members of the family are the same: one-third.


Elastic impedance inversion is widely used in the reservoir prediction field because of its advantages of both pre-stack and post-stack inversion,and sensitive to lithologies and fluids with many elastic parameters.In fact,elastic impedance equation is a function of single angle whilst it's resolution is lower in practical application due to the acquisition and processing technology limited.The inversion for angle partial stack trace gathers,caused the contradiction between the equation and trace gathers,thus the accuracy of impedance body inversion will be reduced.Stack impedance theory considered the contradiction between equation and angle partial stack trace gathers by rewriting the elastic impedance equation to the function of the angle stack range.Common elastic impedance equation rewritten to the form of stack impedance equation,then introduced into the elastic parameter inversion and proved its feasibility,hoping to get more accurately reverse performance,so as to improve the success rate of reservoir prediction.


Since the opening of Japan to the world in 1859, European and North American sports have been introduced. Focusing on both the establishment of yacht clubs and the social characteristics of yacht club members as accepters, this paper tries to analyze the diffusion process of yachts in modern Japan. Yachts began to diffuse between colonial cities with the development of economic relations and personal communication. With regional economic growth in Yokohama, foreign residents such as diplomats and businessmen employed by trading companies and banks increased gradually after the 1860s. With such accepters, yachting was introduced to the Yokohama foreign settlement in 1870, and the Yokohama Yacht Club was established in 1886. In the 1890s, a highland resort was developed on the lakeside of Chuzenji Lake by upper-class foreigners living in Yokohama and Tokyo. They organized the Nantaisan Yacht Club in 1906, and thereafter held parties after yacht races every weekend during summer. Therefore the Nantaisan Yacht Club functioned as a communication channel for the elite in the summer resort in that period. Moreover, the Tokyo Angling and Country Club was established in 1924, also on the lakeside of Chuzenji Lake. The members of this club included Japanese peers and the wealthy as well as foreigners, and international social contact was promoted through such events as fly-fishing and parties. In the Shonan area, coastal resorts have been developed since the late 1890s, as wealthy Japanese have increasingly built second homes. Japanese cottage owners introduced yachts to this area in 1912 with the intention of promoting their children's health and enjoying themselves. Although Hayama Port was constructed in 1935 as a fishing port as part of the reconstruction after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, the port could not be fully occupied by fishing boats. This situation made it possible for yacht owners to berth their yachts in this fishing port, and they organized the Shonan Yacht Club in 1936. A key person in the Shonan Yacht Club, Saionji, was a peer and also joined the Tokyo Angling and Country Club of Chuzenji Lake. Most of the members of the Shonan Yacht Club had kinship linkages or occupational interrelations with Saionji. Consequently, the Shonan Yacht Club restricted its members to the Japanese upper class. As described above, accepter of yachts was transferred from the foreign upper class living in Yokohama or Tokyo to Japanese peers and plutocrats with the modernization of Japan. With this transfer, yachts spread from foreign settlements to highland resorts and then to coastal resorts.


Luminance is the main feature indicating organic light-emitting diode (OLED) degradation; however, this requires delicate photometric measurements that are difficult and costly to realize in situ. In this article, an original luminance decay prediction method not requiring optical measurements will be presented. Analysis of the impedance revealed a strong correlation between the luminance and the time constant of the equivalent circuit. As a result, the time constant is chosen as the main feature to track OLED degradation, the evolution of which is linearly modeled over time at different stress levels using the design of experiments methodology. Simultaneously, a linear relationship between luminance degradation and the evolution of time constants, in terms of the thermal stress applied, enables prediction of the luminance degradation over time. This method is an accurate novel solution for luminance tracking in particular for data taken inside the experimental plan limits.


Sleep changes with age and lifestyle. In the first of two articles, Sue Wilson explains normal sleep patterns, and how a healthy sleep cycle can be maintained.


A partially unusual behaviour was found among 14 sophomore students of civil engineering who took a pre test for a free fall laboratory session, in the context of a general mechanics course. An analysis contemplating mathematics models and physics models consistency was made. In all cases, the students presented evidence favoring a correct free fall acceleration model, whilst their position component versus time, and velocity component versus time graphs revealed complex misconceptions both on the physical phenomenon and it's implicit mathematics consistency. The last suggests an inability to make satisfactory connections through definitions between graphed variables. In other words, evidence strongly suggests that students are perfectly able to memorize the free fall acceleration model, whilst not understanding it's significance at any level. This small study originated the develope and validation of a tutorial on free fall graphs for position, velocity and acceleration models, as part of a following cross universities major project.


In this paper, we propose a novel long-wavelength VCSEL with an oxidized AlAs confinement structure which is grown on an InP substrate. We expect the proposed structure will provide a threshold reduction and a high temperature operation of long wavelength VCSELs. We present some characteristics of AlAs oxidation on InP substrates and demonstrate GaInAs-AlGaInAs edge emitting lasers (/spl Lambda/=1.65 /spl mu/m) with the AlAs-oxide current confinement for the first time.


Quoting from the inscription into the Intangible Cultural Heritage List (2018), the art of dry-stone walling concerns "the know-how" related to making stone constructions that explains the interest towards the product process as well as the product itself. The protection of the ability in stones selection and their placement, without mortar or dry soil at most, has moved the attention from walls to walling too. As a result, the idea of authenticity should be rediscussed to preserve not only some existing monuments and amazing landscape, but a living heritage and a sustainable land use. A risk occurs in some coastal areas, both maritime or front lake, and in the valleys, of the Alps or the Apennines. These places are the most sensitive to residential and receptive exploitation; as a result, an aesthetic landscape perception is taking advantage against its structural conception and the authentic art construction for dwelling (buildings), farming (terraced arrangements) or husbandry (cow-walls). The awareness of the role of dry building for the consolidation of the slopes, the protection of the mountain and the harmonious relationship between environments and species the inscription would preserve, is misunderstood. In Italy some evident ambiguities are occurring into practice and local behaviours. Although the inscription has invited preservation program, the governance of the art of terraced arrangement seems often reduced to a picturesque disposal; misunderstood if not betrayed in its authenticity both as a product and as a process. Some case studies are proposed to point out this slipped issue, considering the Lake of Como as an elective observation area. By the presentation of some real examples, both virtuous and critical, a discussion and comparison with other contexts, both national and international, should eventually be favoured.


I presented a paper titled "From redneck cowboys to pipeline cowboys to queer oil barons: Discourses of individualism and split subjectivity in an economically globalized Alberta" on Saturday, September 15, 2007. The session was well attended and comments were positive. One researcher from the Univeristy of Calgary, Dominique Perron, Quebec Studies will be drawing on my work in this paper to theorize comparative work she is doing on Alberta and Quebec. This paper is part of an ongoing, larger project, 'Producing Alberta Identity,' that Lorelei Hanson and myself are undertaking.

My second presentation is from my doctoral work on queer youth in Alberta in the1990s. The Last Best West conference provided an opportunity to present to a different audience and feedback was overwhelmingly positive in this well attended session.

The conference Still the Last Best West was an excellent venue for both my past work as well as emerging research. The conference drew on interdisciplinary work which parallels my own work and disciplinary investments. I was able to network with a group of scholars doing similar research but in different geographic areas (BC, SK, and MB) and we generated important intellectual discussions and personal connections for all attendees.

As well, I am in discussion with 4 conference presenters about the possibility of putting together an edited critical collection of papers taking up the trope/stereotype 'cowboy.'

I am grateful for the opportunity that this conference offered to my scholarship.


In this paper, a wavelet transform (WT) based multichannel detection system was proposed and applied to the detection of ventricular late potentials (VLPs). Preliminary results showed that the system is capable of detecting every-beat surface VLPs by a weighted averaging technique in the Wand In-transformed domain. Also, we have shown that WT is insensitive to the precise shape of the signal waveform by a robust theorem.


Information technology-driven,and high-technology industries as the pillar of the "new economy" is developing rapidly in recent years,which brought great impact on human′s social life.China′s developing art and design education are also faced with the enormous challenges.To enhance the comprehensive abilities and to develop the creativities are the new objectives and focuses in the new context of personal training of art and design.It is a pity that China′s art and design education are still backwards at present.The main issues are embodied in four aspects: we give weight to technical skills and make light of the training of creativity;the training content and objective are out of touch with the need of new economy;the teaching content and methods are out of date;and there is no enough emphasis on quality education.Facing those problems and challenges,the author suggests some initial adjustments in the following four aspects: to develop new teaching fields,to establish new teaching goals,to have new thinking training,and to have a correct and rational market-oriented reform in the overall art and design education system.


but his writing lacks the polemic quality sometimes found in refugee works. The first four chapters describe well the evolution of West German foreign policy from the inflexibility of the Adenauer era through the cautious re-examination in the mid-1960s to Brandt's startling Ostpolitik. The next three chapters assess East European and Soviet reactions to Bonn's new policy. The final chapter analyzes Ostpolitik as it unfolded after the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 to the signing of the West German treaties with Poland and Russia. Although Gbrgey praises Brandt's foreign policy initiatives for their courage and realism, he criticizes their results. First, he charges that West Germany in effect recognized Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and the legality of two Germanies while gaining little in return. These results may not be satisfactory in Western eyes, but Brandt's realism was needed to alleviate tensions and thus lay the foundations for more fruitful political and economic relations between West Germany and the Soviet orbit. Second, he charges Brandt with forgetting Berlin; however, the opposite is true. This book was written before the ratification of the Warsaw and Moscow treaties, which Brandt astutely tied to the outcome of the four-power negotiations on Berlin then in progress. The author does not mention these negotiations. While a united Berlin could not be expected, Brandt did gain major concessions from Moscow, and thus from Pankow, regarding access to West Berlin, contacts between East and West Berliners, and ties between West Berlin and West Germany.


This paper proposed an original approach to the analysis of the threshold voltage metal-oxide-semiconductor structures based on local three-dimensional SOI-structures.


The surface organometallic fragment [RhI(P(CH3)3)2(CO)], 1, was prepared by the reaction of trans-[CH3Rh(P(CH3)3)2(CO)] with partially dehydroxylated silica. 1 is attached to the silica surface by a covalent bond to oxygen. The reactions of 1 with organic and inorganic substrates were followed by transmission infrared and solid-state NMR spectroscopies. Ligand exchange reactions were observed when 1 was treated with 13CO and P(CH(CH3)2)3. In the presence of excess PR3 (R is methyl or isopropyl), cationic [Rh(PR3)3CO]+ was formed. In the presence of HCl/DCl, Cl2, CCl3Br, CH3I, and CH2CHCH2Cl, 1 underwent oxidative addition to give Rh(III) surface species, characterized by a shift of the ν(CO) modes ca. 100 cm-1 to higher frequency and displacement of the 31P chemical shifts to lower field. In the case of HCl/DCl, ν(Rh−H/D) modes were also observed. Oxidative addition of CH3I to 1 occurs without CO insertion, but the formation of acyl complexes was induced by addition of excess P(CH3)3 or CO. The reaction o...


Constant Work-in-Process (ConWIP) is a card-based control system that was developed for simple flow shops – a lack of load-balancing capabilities hinders its application to more complex shops. In contrast, load balancing is an integral part of Workload Control, a production planning and control concept developed for high-variety environments. One means of load balancing evident in the Workload Control literature is through the use of a capacity slack-based backlog-sequencing rule. This study therefore investigates the potential of the backlog-sequencing decision to improve load balancing in the context of ConWIP, thereby making it suitable for more complex, high-variety environments. Using simulation, we demonstrate that: (i) the choice of backlog-sequencing rule significantly impacts throughput times and tardiness-related performance measures; and (ii) capacity slack-based sequencing rules achieve significant performance improvements over 'classical' ConWIP backlog-sequencing rules. These results significantly extend the applicability of ConWIP. Results from the Workload Control literature however do not directly translate across to ConWIP. The simplified release procedure of ConWIP makes backlog-sequencing based on planned release dates dysfunctional. This negatively impacts the performance of modified capacity slack-based sequencing rules that were recently shown to be the best choice for Workload Control.


This paper proposes a Systematic Maintenance Planning(SMP) for improving the availability of a continuous vibration mill. The key point of this SMP is to find the major components by FTA and to pinpoint the optimal preventive maintenance time that the tot


This book is based on the case of civil service reforms that were formally adopted in Zimbabwe in 1991 and were implemented in several phases. The book investigates the implementation of these reforms and their influence by two sets of factors that are in competition with one another. There are international pressures that compel the adoption of the reforms yet the local factors resist this implementation. The local factors include elite and national mentalities, practices and preferences, and ideals about the role and scope of government. Sovereignty, Corruption and Civil Service Reform Implementation in Zimbabwe recommends that the traditional discourse on administrative reform and management capacity building in Africa and other developing countries needs to be extended in recognition of the importance of this tension.


ABSTRACT The treatment of cavity carious lesions in anterior deciduous teeth is a frequent demand in the pediatric dentistry clinic, since the control of the disease in early childhood still presents itself as an inter-factor challenge in child health care. While the scientific evidence on the minimally invasive principles of approach in Dentistry is presented at an increasing level, the alternatives for restorative treatment in anterior deciduous teeth still face the low availability of reports that associate minimal intervention with the aesthetic needs inherent to the treatment. Thus, this article presents a series of cases in which direct restorations in composite resin, without removing carious tissue using polyvinyl matrices, were treatment alternatives for moderate and severe caries lesions in anterior deciduous teeth. It was observed, therefore, that the use of this artifact helped the rehabilitation of compromised dental elements with speed and satisfactory 50 result, suggesting that this is an appropriate approach for application in Pediatric Dentistry, 51 since it offers resistance, durability, besides providing aesthetics and functionality, it presents lower cost and agility as it eliminates the laboratory phase.


Compton scattering by a locally plane-parallel atmosphere is analyzed within the Kompaneets approximation. In contrast to almost all previous analytic calculations of inverse Compton scattering, we assume neither homogeneity nor isotropy of the photon distribution. However, we do adopt an assumed angular distribution of the photons. For any specified energy dependence of the flux entering the base of the atmosphere, an analytic expression is obtained for the flux at any optical depth. Only integrals over the input flux are involved. If the thickness of the atmosphere is much less than its radial position on an accretion disk, the contribution from all radii may be summed. The initial motivation (addressed in a subsequent paper) is the computation of the energy spectrum of (possibly modulated) photons originating from a specified radial region of an accretion disk, relative to the total energy spectrum.


This note further develops Ikema's (1990, 1991) diagrammatic demonstrati on of the Cournot-oligopoly equilibrium on the price- quantity plane. It is shown that Ikema's method can be used to illustrate the Stackelberg and Bertrand equilibria on the price- quantity plane. Furthermore, we algebraically derive the ``monopoly- equilibrium'' curve and show that the Cournot- oligopoly equilibrium is stable if the monopoly-equilibrium curves for all producers are upward sloping.


The problem of increasing the probability of successfully transmitting a data packet during a meteor burst is considered. It is shown how the ordering of redundant information can be chosen to increase success probability. Two simple rate 1/2 coding schemes amenable to soft decision decoding are introduced. It is found that these codes provide considerable additional improvement in the probability of successful transmission. One of the codes achieves significantly better performance than a hard decision (31, 15) Reed-Solomon code proposed previously. >


A sharp decrease in the number of cattle in Latvia has essentially affected the possibilities to introduce organic fertilizers into soil. A solution of this problem may be growing catch-crop plants. The purpose of this study is to clarify the factors, technologies and machinery ensuring good and widespread introduction of catch-crops (winter rape, spring rape, red clover, fallow) without their previous shredding. It is found that unthreaded catch- crop plants may be qualitatively introduced into soil using a combined aggregate by orienting them in the direction of the movement of the aggregate and inclining them towards the surface of the field (rolling with the roller) and simultaneously plugging in with a plough which has a disk knife in front of each body to cut the inclined plants and a greater width (50 cm), and adjustable mouldboard curvature having improved skimmers to avoid clogging and to turn over the arable strips in a better way and to ensure more complete plugging of plants into soil. The technology of introducing catch-crops into soil without previous disintegration has been tested in practice and it is an environment-saving means of preserving and raising soil fertility. It is economically efficient in comparison with the introduction of previously shredded plants presently used on farms. It is possible to raise the introduction quality of unthreaded plants (also long-stalked ones) to 96-98%. Optimization the technology and the plough completion allow save labor – 1.4-1.8 men h ha-1, fuel 6-8 kg ha-1 and financial means 5,60-7,20 Ls ha-1.


A complicated accounting model, FASB ASC 740 has been around for a while. But the rules are becoming more challenging as businesses become more complex. This book incorporates the new tax rates and other impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and will assist you in understanding FASB ASC 740, Income Taxes, and how it establishes guidelines for accounting for income taxes, including income tax expense, classification of deferred tax accounts, and related disclosures. Key topics include: Principles of FASB ASC 740 Income tax expense and deferred tax liabilities and assets Valuation allowances Proper documentation of deferred income taxes in the work papers Required disclosures within the financial statements


The invention discloses a liquid crystal alignment process, which comprises the following steps of: supplying a first substrate and a second substrate and forming a liquid crystal accommodating space between the two substrates; pouring a liquid crystal composite into the liquid crystal accommodating space, wherein the liquid crystal composite comprises liquid crystal molecules, a first monomer material and a second monomer material; and applying a voltage between the two substrates to make the liquid crystal molecules arrayed at a preset inclined angle, and performing aeration processing by using mixed multi-waveband beams to make the first monomer material and the second monomer material undergo a polymerization reaction to form a liquid crystal alignment polymer on the opposite surfacesof the two substrates. The liquid crystal alignment process can improve aeration efficiency, shorten manufacturing time and solve the problems of high cost and waste pollution in the manufacturing ofa liquid crystal alignment layer.


Credit scoring establishes discriminant models of financial ratios to forecast corporate financial distress. We adjust the definition of financial distress, selection and calculation of financial ratios for China security market, and use them in forecasting financial distress of listed companies. The market information variables containing stock prices are introduced in our model for the first time. We divide samples into two groups: estimation and test samples. The new model performs better than Altman, Ohlson and Zmijewski models, and forecasts quite well one year before the distress. As the time gets longer, the predicting power decreases, so the new model is suitable for short time forecasting.


The Policy of LawEnergy Law and PolicyCross-border Online Gambling Law and PolicyEnvironmental Law, Policy, and EconomicsRoutledge Handbook of Water Law and PolicyThe Law and Policy of Healthcare FinancingFoundations of EU Food Law and PolicyLaw and Public PolicyThe Law and Policy of Harmonisation in Europe's Internal MarketTerrorismEvidence and Innovation in Housing Law and PolicyTax Compliance as the Result of a Psychological Tax ContractEnvironmental ProtectionLaw and Policy of the European Gas MarketLaw, Policy and the InternetThe Law and Policy of the World Trade OrganizationEnvironmental Protection, Law and PolicyCompetition Law and Policy in the EU and UKUnderstanding Common Law LegislationInternational Trade & Business Law & PolicyContemporary Intellectual PropertyThe Development of Child Protection Law and PolicyLaw and Policy for the Quantum AgeEU Citizenship Law and PolicyRoutledge Handbook of Family Law and PolicyThe Law and Policy of New Eurasian RegionalizationEnvironmental Law from the Policy PerspectiveTransformative Law and Public PolicyEU Environmental Law and PolicyHousing Law and PolicyThe Law and Policy of Ecosystem ServicesConsumer Law and PolicyAquaculture Law and PolicyThe Law and Policy of Environmental FederalismLaw and Policy for a New EconomyEssentials of WTO LawSports Law and Policy in the European UnionMedia Law and Policy in the Internet AgeFundamentals of Space Law and PolicyAdministrative Law and Policy of the European Union


The article is devoted to the study of the microbiological profile of the mouth and nose in children with congenital cleft palate and remaining defects after uranoplasty.
Objectives. To determine the microbial profile of the mouth and nose in children with a cleft palate and defects after uranoplasty and conditionally healthy children in the control group.
Methodology. The microflora of the oral cavity and nose of 109 children aged 6-12 years with a severe form of congenital cleft palate (combined cleft of the upper lip, alveolar ridge and palate, as well as a wide isolated cleft of the palate) after uranoplasty and residual palate defects in the dispensary was studied observation of the maxillofacial surgeon of the Republican Children's Clinical Hospital of the Republic of Bashkortostan and 50 apparently healthy children of the same age group.
In the examined children, microbiological studies of biological materials were carried out using standard methods in the conditions of the bacteriological laboratory of the Republican Children's Clinical Hospital, Ufa. The material was taken with a sterile cotton swab from the mucous membrane in the area of the palate defect and from the side of the nasal cavity and sown on various nutrient media. The presence of pathogenic and opportunistic microorganisms was determined.
Results. All 109 examined children with remaining postoperative defects with congenital cleft palate revealed atypical microflora in the oral cavity and in the nasal cavity, mostly represented by pathogenic streptococci and staphylococci, yeast-like fungi.
Conclusions. The data obtained as a result of the study on the presence of pathogenic microflora from the oral cavity and nose in the area of the residual palate defect after uranoplasty in children with congenital cleft palate is the basis for the need to develop therapeutic and prophylactic measures aimed at improving the microbiocenosis of adjacent cavities at the stage of preparing the patient for reconstructive - plastic surgery to eliminate a defect in the palate.


Colleges and universities in China, while being responsible for providing talents to the society, have also integrated the function of shaping the spiritual quality of talents. In addition, with the society's emphasis on psychological problems of college students, physical education and health education have become important courses for shaping the mental and mental health of talents. Therefore, this article focuses on the intervention of college sports and health on the mental health of college students. Firstly, the background environment of sports and health theory is analyzed. Secondly, it analyzes the common mental health problems of college students. Thirdly, it explains how to use physical education and health teaching to guide students to establish a correct mental health environment. It is intended to be able to use education intervention to comprehensively improve the quality of talents.


The seismic records of 25 stations at Class Ⅰ,Ⅱand Ⅲ sites in Wenchuan were selected. The corresponding rotational components were firstly derived from the relation between the rotational components, and then the translational components, and the corresponding spectra were calculated by the theory of response spectra. Finally, the platform values of design response spectra were gained and analyzed, and the reference Platform value under different intensity was given.The results show that the influence of soft soil on the platform value is the most obvious.


Hesperidin, known as a flavonoid constituent of citrus, has been known to reduce the proliferation of several cancer cells. We investigated whether hesperidin-induced cell death on SNU-668, human gastric cancer cells. The cytotoxicity of hesperidin on SNU-668 cells was determined by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay at the concentration of 1, 10, 50, and 100 µM. Cell viability by hesperidin was 53.18± 2.85% of control value at 100 µM. The cell death by hesperidin showed apoptotic features, which were confirmed using a combination of 4, 6-diamidino-2phenylindole (DAPI) staining and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. In the apoptosis-regulating genes, treatment of hesperidin decreased mRNA expression of B-cell CLL/lymphoma 2 (BCL2), whereas expression of BCL2-associated X protein (BAX) was increased. The mRNA expression and the activity of caspase3 (CASP3), a major apoptotic factor, was significantly increased by hesperidin treatment. These results suggest that hesperidin could induce apoptosis through CASP3 activation on SNU-668, human gastric cancer cells.


According to steady state stability and avoiding the singularity induced bifurcation,saddle-node bifurcation,and Hopf bifurcation in power systems,this paper presents corresponding mathematical models for stability equilibrium solutions respectively based on analyzing the property of eigenvalues of Jacobian matrix and the semismooth property of spectral functions in mathematics.The new models are composed of a nonlinear system of equations with semismooth inequality constraints.The characteristic of the models is that they have not only good mathematical property,but also they can satisfy the stability requirement at equilibrium points.As to the semismooth property of mathematical models,the models are transformed using smoothing function.Furthermore,a class of smoothing Newton-type algorithm is set for solving the stability models.The proposed approach possesses the nice global and local convergence as the same as the classical Newton method.A simple system for avoiding saddle-node bifurcation is tested for the effect of models and the algorithm.


This paper presents methodologies and techniques for multi-sensory fuzzy hybrid navigation of an active mobile robot assistant for the elderly people in known, cluttered and dynamic indoor environments. For self-localization, the geometric and topological representations are combined together to maintain the advantages of them and counteract their disadvantages. By using RFID system, the estimation of position hypothesis for similar regions in a known environment can be reduced. The global optimal path composed of via points is determined by using Dijkstra's dynamic programming approach. Fuzzy adaptive speed control law is designed to make the robot adapt to various users' speeds. Safe fuzzy hybrid navigation is achieved by fusing adaptive speed, goal-seeking and obstacle- avoidance from the sensing data of laser scanner and ultrasonic rangers. In addition, Experimental results are conducted to show the effectiveness and merits of the proposed methods.


Apparatus for transporting silicon wafers in a horizontal transport direction into the printing device has two transport unit has a holding means thereon each of which is a traversing device. Each made up of at least two transport unit is provided with holding means, the transverse feed device of the transport unit extends adjacent to each other along the conveying direction. As with the retaining means the space past the holding means carrying the silicon wafer there is nothing on the respective holding means is formed, is arranged. Crossfeed device is a rail, the holding means is a carriage mounted thereon.


V ions were implanted into quartz (single crystals of SiO2) at doses of 3 ×1016–1 ×1017 ions/cm2 at 20 keV. The changes in the optical properties and microstructures were measured while annealing the sample in air at temperatures up to 800 °C. For the as-implanted sample, nanoparticles including V in the metallic state were confirmed to be formed in the implanted layer. The absorption spectrum showed a tendency of monotonic increase toward short wavelengths. When the samples were heated at the temperature range of 450–650 °C in air, a large and narrow absorption peak was observed at approximately 402–418 nm with the tendency to shift toward longer wavelengths as the temperature increased. After heating at 500 °C, the surface of the sample was yellow-green. The micromorphology of the surface was slightly roughened after heating with randomly dispersed microcrystals and concavities. Bleaching of this color occurred when the sample was heated at 550 °C for 30 h or at 700 to 800 °C for 1 h. The surface of the sample heated at 800 °C was found to be flat, and some nanoparticles were still observed in the surface layer. The chemical state of V in the implanted layer of the as-implanted sample was metallic, and after heating at 500 or 800 °C the core line of V 2p3/2 was shifted by about 2.7 eV from that of the metallic state. The binding energy of V 2p3/2 was 515 eV, which corresponds to that of vanadium oxides.


The purpose of this study was to examine how 28 kindergartners in two half-day classrooms from a rural midwestern school monitored and self-regulated their understanding of texts (fiction and nonfiction) while reading. Three different interviews (fall, early spring, and late spring) were conducted while the children read from one of two self-selected books offered in each setting: (1) fiction in the fall (to develop routines), (2) nonfiction in the early spring, and (3) fiction in late spring. The interview protocol included questions to examine what the children were thinking as they read and what strategies were used to understand. Observational data also were collected. The results revealed that these kindergartners used strategies while reading, although more strategies (e.g., pictures) were used to construct the meaning of the nonfiction text. More often, the children considered themselves as "readers" with the nonfiction. Words were noted as important to the children as they pointed out words they did not know. This study shows the importance of the use of a variety of texts in the early primary grades to guide children's development of strategies to understand text.


The potential consequences of the development of domestic debt markets in Low-Income Countries (LICs) are extremely relevant for policy-makers and international financial institutions, especially in light of a scaling-up of public investment in infrastructures. This paper introduces a new dataset on the stock of domestic debt in LICs over the period 1970-2010. With respect to the existing dataset, this one expands the country and time coverage, devotes a careful attention to the problem of the zeros and addresses some inconsistencies between the existing datasets. The descriptive analysis of the evolution of domestic debt in LICs, especially over the last two decades, points out some interesting patterns. The reliance on internal financing has partially offset the reduction in external debt granted by bilateral and multilateral debt relief initiatives. Domestic debt increased at a lower and less volatile pace in countries with better policies and institutions. This pattern is mirrored by a greater capital accumulation, a faster financial development, and a stronger output growth. This descriptive evidence supports the hypothesis that the development of the domestic debt market can bring benefits only in presence of a stable macroeconomic environment, lack of political uncertainty and a developed financial system.


Aim\ The conductive and the contact region geometry of a solid armature has been designed. Methods\ The theoretic model has been analyzed by using the experimental results. Results\ The conductive and quadrilateral solid armature can drop the velocity skin effet (VSE) which affect the performance of a railgun badly. Conclusion\ When the parameters of solid armature \%δ\%\-v\%d\%\-r and \%φ\%=20°, \%d\-0\%=(5~10) mm, VSE would be the least.


The article highlights the image of social and spiritual slavery in the works of Molla Nasreddin followers. Prior to 1905, opportunities and conditions for critics immoral public officials, false religious leaders were not. Laws and hints, to obey the law, wealth and rank, taught people to say "yes, yes." Any protests, free thinking were suppressed. Flushed bright minds of the people, whose patience is running out, looking for opportunities and forms to express their thoughts and feelings. Such views and meetings of Molla Nasreddin followers criticized in the magazine "Molla Nasreddin" in the style of satire, irony and a hint. The article brought to Molla Nasreddin followers analysis, choose the path of protecting the interests of the people in the form of satire and humor, the workers and peasants who are in dire straits, and political speech is suppressed, and he was doomed to extinction.


Author's version of an article published in the journal: International Journal of Wavelets, Multiresolution and Information Processing. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/s0219691311003979


This article arises from two related research programs. One examines the relationship between financial development and economic growth. The basic conclusion from this work is that countries that experience greater financial development also experience faster rates of economic growth and higher levels of income per capita (King and Levine 1993a, 1993b; Levine and Zervos 1998; Rousseau and Wachtel 1998; Levine et al. 2000; and Levine 2003). Under this umbrella also are studies that test for the role of property rights and regulation on financial development. Shehzad and De Haan (2008) find that financial liberalization — a reduction in regulations — reduces the probability of a banking crisis and, therefore, promotes economic growth. Baier et al. (2012) find that countries with relatively low levels of regulation — more economic freedom — are less likely to experience a financial crisis in the near future (five years out) than countries with more regulation. Like De Haan et al. (2009), Baier et al. find that in the period immediately following a crisis there generally is a diminution of economic freedom that stems from increased regulation, portending slower economic growth in the future.The other line of research investigates the institutional sources of economic growth. In addition to physical and human capital, researchers have considered a number of institutional factors as diverse as colonial background and religious preferences (overviews can be found in Sala-i-Martin 2002, Barro and Sala-i-Martin 2004, and Loayza and Soto 2002). A number of studies also have employed indexes of economic freedom to proxy for the socio-economic institutions that may affect economic growth. The weight of evidence from this work suggests that countries with higher levels of economic freedom experience faster economic growth (Gwartney et al. 2006, Weede and Kampf 2002, Weede 2006).The question addressed in this article is whether greater economic freedom leads to a higher level of financial development. While there is evidence that more economic freedom is associated with improvements in credit allocation at the micro level (Hartarska and Nadolnyak 2007, Crabb 2008, Enowbi-Batuo and Kupukile 2009) and to better sovereign credit ratings (Roychoudhury and Lawson 2010), there does not appear to be any study that explicitly tests for the link between economic freedom and financial development.


Water soluble fractions (WSF) of wheat bran treated with thermal processes such as autoclaving, microwaving and extrusion were characterized to investigate the structural response of plant cell wall to thermal and mechanical energy. From the chemical analysis and gel filtration chromatography of WSF, gelatinization of starch was found to be the primary solubilizing mechanism of wheat bran, followed by the structural disintegration of fibrous non-starch cell wall materials. It was also found that extrusion process resulted in degrading relatively higher molecular weight non-starch polysaccharides from the cell wall. GC analysis of water soluble non-starch polysaccharides indicates that the arabinoxylan residues of cell wall are the most susceptible site to thermal treatments studied. In particular, the degrading degree of cell wall of wheat bran is the most significant for extrusion accompanying both high temperature and high shear.


PURPOSE
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is known to inhibit unwanted saccades through its connections to the superior colliculus (SC). Indeed, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the PFC decreases saccade latency by increasing the rate of express saccades. This study examined whether a similar phenomenon exists for vergence.

METHODS
In a gap paradigm, six healthy subjects were asked to look at LEDs placed in a horizontal plane and to make lateral saccades, pure convergence along the median plane, and combined eye movements. Eye movements were recorded binocularly. TMS was applied over the right (r)PFC synchronously with the onset of the target. In a control condition, TMS was applied over the motor cortex (MC).

RESULTS
TMS over the MC had no effect on the latency of any type of eye movements. In contrast, TMS over the rPFC (1) decreased significantly (P = 0.00367) the latency of contralateral pure saccades, (2) had no effect on the latency of pure convergence, (3) and caused a mild decrease in the latency of both the saccadic and the convergence components of combined eye movements, and the effect was bilateral. Decreased latencies were mainly due to an increase of the rate of express movements.

CONCLUSIONS
The inhibition exerted by PFC over SC and preventing express movements from occurring is presumably a saccade-specific mechanism. When the saccade is combined with convergence, the express triggering can be transferred to a certain extent to the convergence.


With the increasing employment of the Web in our daily lives, we often use it to find evidence of real-world events. The difference with normal web searches is that users want to reveal whether an event is true or false based on firm facts. In this paper, we propose a model to excavate real-world events from the Web, to manage the vestige in spatio-temporal space and to offer users reliable evidence of an event. We also describe a similarity measure between events to perform searching and clustering. A credibility estimation method, based on the trustworthiness of events and the authority of web sites, using a primary experiment is also presented.


Nitinol, a biocompatible material with shape memory effect and superelasticity, has been used in various biomedical applications. Here we demonstrate a 3D expandable nitinol microwire electrode array that can be programmed to the desired shape to conform to the brain vasculature, minimizing the vessel damage during implantation. We developed a fabrication process for precisely setting the shape of nitinol microwires and assembling them to form electrode arrays. We tested our nitinol microwire array in in vivo animal experiments and successfully demonstrated that our array can detect single spikes as well as local field potentials with minimum tissue and vessel damage.


Multivariate chemometric techniques were used to classify alcoholic distillates and to develop a typification model for Galician liquors, on the basis of percentage data obtained from nine chromatographic peaks. By using the Bayesian model, the probability of a genuine Galician liquor being rejected is 0.11 and that of a false one being accepted is practically nil. Partial least squares was used as a modelling method, taking the liquor category as response variable. This method enables a confidence interval (95%) to be constructed that does not include any of the other distillates.


Promoters play a very essential role in regulating gene expression at the transcriptional level. Studies of promoters are very crucial and important to improve our basic understanding of gene regulation and will also enhance toolbox of available promoters for further use in agricultural biotechnology. In the present study the promoter sequences have been predicted for seven drought tolerant microRNAs genes and also their contributing cis - acting elements have been predicted, as they provide insights into plant signaling behavior under drought stress and gene regulation. The function of a regulatory RNA molecule to a large extent is determined by its structure. Computational tools and methods for modelling and predicting secondary structure provide us with useful initial models for solving the tertiary structure by NMR. We have predicted the secondary structure of the miRNAs on the basis of minimum free energy. The phylogenetic tree has been generated by using the precursor miRNA sequence has served to clarify significantly the evolutionary relationship of these drought tolerant microRNAs in maize with other crops.


Abstract : This AFOSR project investigated the small-scale ($$ 100 m) plasma dynamics of Convective Ionospheric Storms (CEIS), i.e. Equatorial Spread-F. CEIS cause sever degradation of earth-to-satellite communication signals (e.g. GPS) and other disruptions of communication. Our plan was to investigate the dynamics of small-scale CEIS using Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations and theory. All previous simulations had used large-scale fluid codes which generally ignored the important physics that occurs at scale sizes below 100 m. In order to do this, we developed our existing massively-parallel PIC simulator, adding new boundary conditions and field solvers. We then performed 2 and 3 dimensional simulations initialized with strong density gradients. We found that these gradients result in small scale drift wave instabilities perpendicular to the background density gradient. The gradient length scales required to produce these instabilities, however, are slightly smaller than those previously measured in situ by satellites and rockets. We conclude that a simple drift wave instability is sufficient to explain the development of small scale irregularities as they quickly dissipate the steepened structures that drive their growth. We are currently preparing a manuscript discussing these results.


A numerical model to predict the formation processes of dunes in open channel flows is developed. Flows and bed shear stresses over dunes are calculated by the depth averaged model considering the effect of vertical acceleration. Inotational condition of flows far from a dune bed and the acceleration/de-acceleration effect near a bed are included in the depth averaged model. Formation processes of dunes are simulated incorporating the nonequilibrium sediment transport model proposed by Nakagawa·Tsujimoto. Calculated results on the temporal development processes and shape characteristics of dunes are compared with previous theoretical and experimental studies. It is indicated that the calculated wave length caused by initial instability is coincident with the resonant relation of open channel flows over a wavy bed, and the wave length and height of dunes in the equilibrium state are dependent on the step length.


Objective: The major contributors to physical disability after stroke are considered to be the negative impairments of loss of dexterity (defined here as loss of the ability to co-ordinate muscle activity in the performance of any motor task) and loss of strength. The aims of this study were: (1) to determine the relative contributions of strength and dexterity to function during recovery after stroke; and (2) to determine the predictive value of initial strength, dexterity and function on long-term function after stroke. Design: A longitudinal descriptive study. Setting: The inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation departments of two metropolitan hospitals. Subjects: Twenty-two patients undergoing rehabilitation after acute stroke participated. Main outcome measures: Strength and dexterity of the elbow flexors and extensors were measured, along with arm function, at 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 15, 19, 23 and 27 weeks after stroke. Results: Standard multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that strength and dexterity in total contributed significantly to function at all times (r2 = 0.66-0.82, p < 0.0001). Furthermore, strength always made an additional separate contribution to function (r2 0.05-0.26, p<0.05). Function at week 3 was the best clinical predictor of function at week 27 (r2 0.55, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Loss of strength is a more significant contributor than loss of dexterity to physical disability after stroke. This suggests that, where significant weakness is present, exercise designed to increase strength will be required to decrease disability.


Abstract Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX) comprise one of the most ubiquitous and hazardous groups of ambient air pollutants of concern. Application of standard analytical methods for quantification of BTEX is limited by the complexity of sampling and sample preparation equipment, and budget requirements. Methods based on SPME represent simpler alternative, but still require complex calibration procedures. The objective of this research was to develop a simpler, low-budget, and accurate method for quantification of BTEX in ambient air based on SPME and GC–MS. Standard 20-mL headspace vials were used for field air sampling and calibration. To avoid challenges with obtaining and working with 'zero' air, slope factors of external standard calibration were determined using standard addition and inherently polluted lab air. For polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) fiber, differences between the slope factors of calibration plots obtained using lab and outdoor air were below 14%. PDMS fiber provided higher precision during calibration while the use of Carboxen/PDMS fiber resulted in lower detection limits for benzene and toluene. To provide sufficient accuracy, the use of 20 mL vials requires triplicate sampling and analysis. The method was successfully applied for analysis of 108 ambient air samples from Almaty, Kazakhstan. Average concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene were 53, 57, 11 and 14 µg m−3, respectively. The developed method can be modified for further quantification of a wider range of volatile organic compounds in air. In addition, the new method is amenable to automation. Abstract Kazakhstan is experiencing unprecedented growth in large urban areas with unintentional, negative impact on air quality. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX) are one of the most ubiquitous and hazardous ambient air pollutants of concern. There is no published information on BTEX concentrations in ambient air of Almaty, the largest city of Kazakhstan, mainly due to a complexity and budget limitations of standard air sampling and analytical procedures. The objective of this research was to develop a simple, vial-based method for whole air sample collection, and then measure BTEX concentrations in ambient air of Almaty. Gas samples were prepared using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and analyzed with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Air sampling method was optimized for simplicity, improved stability, and recovery of BTEX concentrations in samples. Air samples were collected at six locations in different areas of Almaty on March 31, April 2 and 4, 2015 at 8 A.M. and 8 P.M. Mean concentrations of BTEX analytes at different sampling times ranged from 24 to 89, from 32 to 96, from 6 to 23 and from 7 to 32 µg/m


The goal of this study was to assess student's laboratory technique learning during online laboratories in response to the transition online caused by COVID-19. From Summer 2020 through Fall 2021 our General Chemistry 1 laboratories were completely online using at-home lab kits and 3 h weekly web conference sessions. Starting Spring 2021 select sections were given a practical final examination where they had to generate a video of themselves performing a series of basic laboratory techniques. Results from faculty coding analysis of these videos illustrated that there were gaps in student skills and an intervention was attempted in Summer and Fall 2021 by the introduction of student-generated video technique quizzes throughout the semester. After the intervention student's skills increased significantly in three key areas on the student generated final video exam: weighing solids using the balance, quantitative transfer of a solid, and creation of a solution by dilution of the solute. This study indicates that student's laboratory technique skills can be developed and improved even in a completely online laboratory environment with direct targeting using student-generated technique videos. © 2023 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.


In October 2009, at the twenty-first meeting of the Japanese Society of Qin and Han History at Shizuoka University, a symposium was held entitled, "A Summary and Outlook of Post-War Research on Qin and Han History."1 Just as with "The Current State of Research on Ancient Chinese History and Future Problems," a special issue of Rekishi hyōron 歴史評論 was published two years ago,2 there is a move in recent years towards reflecting on the history of research in the post-war period and questioning current directions. This is perhaps because a number of scholars feel that due to the increase of specialization, there is an even greater need to rethink ancient Chinese history from a macro perspective inclusive of world history and all Chinese history.


We study non-performing loan (NPL) transactions in China using proprietary data from a leading market participant. We find these transactions – driven by tighter financial regulation – are consistent with banks concealing non-performing assets from regulators as (i) transaction prices do not compensate for credit risks even though the transactions are supposed to transfer risks; (ii) banks provide funding for the NPL transactions and remain contractually responsible for debt collection for the NPLs removed from their balance sheets; and (iii) over 70% of NPL packages are re-sold at inflated prices to third-parties who are mostly borrowers of the banks and are in the same local areas as the original banks. Altogether, these results imply the transactions do not truly resolve NPLs and raise the question how exposed banks remain to the hidden NPLs. Recognizing these hidden NPLs implies the total NPLs in China is two to four times the reported amount. We discuss implications for financial stability.


The use of clays as vehicle for drug release has been investigated in the scientific environment. This work aims to review articles and patents that present the use of clays in formulations to carry and release drugs...


We study birational monomial transformations of the form φ(x:y:z)=(ϵ1xα1yβ1zγ1:ϵ2xα2yβ2zγ2:xα3yβ3zγ3), where ϵ1,ϵ2∈{−1,1}. These transformations form a group. We describe this group in terms of generators and relations and, for every such transformation φ, we prove a formula, which represents the transformation φ as a product of generators of the group. To prove this formula, we use birationally equivalent polynomials Ax


For a few days before and after a new moon, light from the Sun, reflecting off Earth and onto the Moon's dark side, is just powerful enough to make the whole portion of the Moon facing Earth visible (see Figs. 1 and 2). This doubly reflected light (once from Earth's surface, then from the lunar surface into our eyes) goes by the name earthshine. In the present note we discuss some features of earthshine and of the reciprocal phenomenon termed as moonshine.For a few days before and after a new moon, light from the Sun, reflecting off Earth and onto the Moon's dark side, is just powerful enough to make the whole portion of the Moon facing Earth visible (see Figs. 1 and 2). This doubly reflected light (once from Earth's surface, then from the lunar surface into our eyes) goes by the name earthshine. In the present note we discuss some features of earthshine and of the reciprocal phenomenon termed as moonshine.


In Dec. 1994, IAEA safeguards were initiated on inventory of Pu- bearing materials, originating from the US nuclear weapons complex, at vault 3 of DOE`s Plutonium Finishing Plant at Hanford. Because of the diversity and heterogeneity of the Pu, plant operators have increasingly used calorimetry for accountability measurements. During the recent commencement of IAEA safeguards at vault 3, destructive (electrochemical titration) methods were used to determine Pu concentrations in subsamples of inventory items with widely ranging chemical purities. The Pu concentrations in the subsamples were determined and contribution of heterogeneity to total variability was identified. Measurement results, gathered by PFP and IAEA laboratories, showed total measurement variability for calorimetry to be comparable with or lower than those of sampling and chemical analyses.


Computer networks are constantly and radically changing the way in which the medical professions thinks and works. This article briefly explores some of these innovations.


The present study was aimed to investigate the preference of choosing a vocation and the person responsible in deciding a vocation during adolescence. The final sample of the study comprised of 588 subjects, randomly selected from 10 and intermediate classes of schools and Junior colleges in Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh, India. The subjects were within the age group of 15-17years. Among the 588 subjects, 376 were boys and 212 were girls. To gather the data Vocational Interest Scale (VIS) and Parental Aspiration Scale (PAS) were used. The obtained data was analyzed by using analysis of variance. Results revealed that majority of fathers; mothers and adolescent boys aspired vocations in the areas of modern technology followed by executive vocations. For girls, majority of fathers, mothers and girls themselves aspired vocations in the areas of science followed by vocations in the areas of artistic. It was also found that together parents and the child come to a decision regarding the future vocation.


Recent clinical evidence demonstrated the importance of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in the development of Crohn's disease. A mouse model for this pathology has previously been established by engineering defects in the translational control of TNF mRNA (Tnf Δ AREmouse). Here, we show that development of intestinal pathology in this model depends on Th1-like cytokines such as interleukin 12 and interferon γ and requires the function of CD8+ T lymphocytes. Tissue-specific activation of the mutant TNF allele by Cre/loxP-mediated recombination indicated that either myeloid- or T cell–derived TNF can exhibit full pathogenic capacity. Moreover, reciprocal bone marrow transplantation experiments using TNF receptor–deficient mice revealed that TNF signals are equally pathogenic when directed independently to either bone marrow–derived or tissue stroma cell targets. Interestingly, TNF-mediated intestinal pathology was exacerbated in the absence of MAPKAP kinase 2, yet strongly attenuated in a Cot/Tpl2 or JNK2 kinase–deficient genetic background. Our data establish the existence of redundant cellular pathways operating downstream of TNF in inflammatory bowel disease, and demonstrate the therapeutic potential of selective kinase blockade in TNF-mediated intestinal pathology.


Diseases at the post-harvest stage cause significant yield losses in banana, both quantitatively and qualitatively, reducing its demand in hypermarkets. Two isolates of Fusarium recovered from banana fruits were identified as Fusarium thapsinum. The resulting cultures were purified and grown on potato-dextrose agar (PDA), malt yeast agar (MYA), and dextrose sabroud agar (SDA) under light for cultural identification. A slowly growing white colony that turned grey-violet in pigmentation on the agar was quite variable on PDA and MYA. On SDA medium bright white mycelia were produced, and macro and microconidia are present but sprase and chlamydospores were absent. The morphology of this species is unique and includes two types of microconidia, mostly pyriform to citriform, 0- or 1-septate forming chains. The pathogenicity of the isolated Fusarium was tested on banana fruits. Brownish spots formed 1 week after inoculation of F. thapsinum isolates on wounded fruit of green banana. These results suggest that F. thapsinum, which has not been reported yet in Saudi Arabia, could be introduced into the country along with imported bananas and may cause diseases on other plant species.


Chris Batt is Borough Libraries and Museum Officer. He can be contacted at the London Borough of Croydon, Libraries, Museum and Arts, Central Library, Croydon Clocktower, Katharine Street, Croydon CR9 1 ET, UK (fax: + (44-181) 2531004).


Chemicals are widely used in the museum for the prevention of mice,worms,acarids and mildew in the specimens.The more the specimens are collected,the more the chemical residues are remained.This paper has made a discussion of the effect of 3 hazardous chemicals on the health of the staffs working in this environment.


The twist defect mode (TDM) has been experimentally demonstrated in the transmission spectrum of a composite film consisting of two photopolymerized cholesteric liquid crystal (PCLC) layers. The self-organized helical structure of PCLC acts as a one-dimensional (1-D) photonic crystal, and the twist defect which is a discontinuity of the director rotation around the helix axis at an interface of two PCLC layers, induces the TDM. Optically pumped laser action based on the TDM has also been observed in a dye-doped double composite PCLC film. At a high excitation energy above the threshold, the laser action has been observed at the TDM wavelength in the middle of the 1-D photonic band gap of the PCLC helical structure.


Numerous studies related to Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have been conducted to develop the wireless sensor network in agriculture. However, sensor networks in the previous studies focused only for certain agriculture products with limited sensors attached, distributed in the location with enough electric power infrastructure, and was still hard to implement by the developers or agriculture experts due the complexity of its design. This paper aims to develop a wireless sensor network for paddy field monitoring system. The proposed system uses Arduino and XBee, and employs three sensors to collect infromation about air temperature, humidity, and soil humidity, and can be used in remote areas without access to electric power infrastructure. The evaluation result shows that network performances of the proposed WSN is acceptable. In addition, the proposed sensor nodes can collect the three important parameters in the paddy field and send to a sink/base station for further processing. A battery voltage measurement also shows that energy consumption of the sensor node is still large enough. It is not possible for long term use.


Distance Education have a lot of potential gains – such as meeting the education needs of the teeming population of qualified students who could not gain admission to tertiary institution; some of these are indigent students who could hardly afford formal tertiary education and so need to work and learn simultaneously. More so, the higher institutions in Nigeria are hardly able to absorb 30% of applicants on a yearly basis. With population increase, the situation is becoming aggravated with each passing year. The current state of the study centers needs urgent attention. This study, therefore, focused on empirically ascertaining the state of Open and Distance Education (ODE) in Nigeria and strives to evolve a pragmatic solution to the challenge of ODE in Africa. The research designs adopted for the first phase of this study is the case study design. The second phase of the study is devoted to test-running the proposed Information and Computer Technology (ICT) based solution. From findings in this study, the speculation that there are pertinent challenges in the current ODE practices in Nigeria has been confirmed. Thus, providing information required for improved platform for ODE implementation in Covenant University and hence the proposed recommendations


This article presents the argument that governments can mitigate the political risks associated with significant liberalization of trade by suggesting that under certain conditions, rent-seeking opponents of trade liberalization may actually turn into critically important allies of governments attempting major policy shifts from protectionism to free trade. It argues that where domestic rent seekers are persuaded that the government cannot or will not provide sufficient rents, they may pursue a second-most-preferred strategy that entails attempting to secure access to cheaper factor inputs and access to foreign markets by actively supporting trade liberalization.


The problem of testing the composite hypothesis of normality is considered for complete samples. Three related test procedures are developed. The testing procedures have their origins in an attempt to formalize the appearance of nonlinearity in probability plots. The fitting of the ordered observations is accomplished by general linear least squares using the expected values of the standard normal order statistics (snos) as plotting positions. The moments of the snos have been approximated where necessary. The test statistics are ratios involving the squares of linear combinations of order statistics and the usual quadratic estimate of the variance. The percentage points ofthe test statistics aregenerally intractable by analytical methods. However percentage points are estimated using simulation techniques. The test procedures are compared to nine other tests of the composite hypothesis of normality in an empirical power study.


To simulate the mass transport in biofilm, the two-dimensional micro-structure model of biofilms was reconstructed based on the Monte-Carlo method. This kind of biofilm consisted of two phases, including microbial phase (M phase) and intercellular phase (IS phase), and was established according to the average porosity of biofilm and the agglomerate coefficient of microbial clusters. The effects of average porosity and the agglomerate coefficient of microbial clusters on mass transport resistance in biofilms were studied by connecting the average porosity and the agglomerate coefficient of microbial clusters with the tortuosity of the extracellular mass transfer passageway in biofilms. The results showed that with the increase of average porosity, the tortuosity of the extracellular mass transfer passageway in biofilms decreased, and then mass transport resistance in the extracellular mass transfer passageway of biofilms decreased with the decrease of its tortuosity, that is mass diffusion coefficient increased with the increase of average porosity. In addition, with increase of the agglomerate coefficient of microbial clusters in biofilms, the tortuosity of the extracellular mass transfer passageway in biofilms also decreased, and then mass transport resistance in the extracellular mass transfer passageway of biofilms also decreased, that is mass diffusion coefficient increased with the increase of the agglomerate coefficient of microbial clusters in biofilms. © 2018 Friends Science Publishers


1. Background Information on Vocational Training Policies HRD policies reorganized Public policies of human resource development (HRD) in Asian nations have been significantly changing in recent years. Governments in Asian nations have aimed at their economic developments by attaching high value to HRD, but they started restructuring their HRD policy initiatives when they faced economic crises in the late 1990s. There are two reasons for this trend. Firstly, when Asian governments saw soaring jobless rates in their domestic economies, they started strengthening their HRD policy initiatives so that more and more jobless people would be able to enjoy job opportunities. For example, the Indonesian government has been providing education/training programs to improve domestic human resources and has established the Vocational Training Coordination Institution, the National Vocational Training System and the National Skills Certification System. Secondly, when Asian nations got back on the growth path after suffering their economic crises, business enterprises needed highly skilled human resources in order to compete in the highly competitive international arena. However, since the traditional HRD policy framework in Asian nations could not provide such skillful labor force, Asian governments needed to solve the problems in their traditional HRD approach. For example, the Thai government began beefing up its HRD policy, recognizing that a shortage of skillful human resources was preventing economic growth in Thailand. In the Eighth Malaysia Plan that started in 2000, the Malaysian government also announced its intention to strengthen its HRD programs, because highly skillful human resources are absolutely necessary to achieve a knowledge-based society in the future. In the "Manpower 21 Plan" in 1999, the Singapore government recognized skill development as an important policy agenda for improving the lifelong employability of workers. In its Medium-term Employment Policy Basic Plan (effective since 2004), the South Korean government aims at launching lifelong vocational training programs and providing sufficient job training chances for 3 million workers a year.


The dependence of refractive index on the concentration and temperature in six kinds of aqueous solutions was investigated. The six solutions were three electrolyte solutions (NaCl, KCl, and CaCl2), a polar solution (glucose solution), a nonpolar solution (ethyl acetate solution), and a protein solution (bovine serum albumin solution). It was found that dn/dc decreased with temperature and dn/dT decreased with concentration in polar, nonpolar, and electrolyte solutions. While in protein solution, both of the derivatives showed an opposite behavior due to the thermal aggregation effect of proteins. According to the experimental results, the empirical expressions of the refractive indices in terms of both concentration and temperature were derived for the six solutions. By having the derivatives of refractive index n with respect to concentration c (dn/dc) and with respect to temperature T (dn/dT) respectively from the expressions, the dependence of (dn/dc) on temperature and that of (dn/dT) on concentratio...


Abstract A new definition of power factor, which is suitable for an arbitrary waveform of voltage and current in a single‐phase system, is presented according to similarity between voltage and current waveforms. The similarity is described in infinite dimensions real vector space, and the power factor is defined as the multiplication of rootmean‐ square (RMS) value factor λ RMS and phase factor λϕ. The new definition is compatible with IEEE Trial‐Use Standard 1459–2000, and can be a useful reference for power factor measurement, power factor correction and power compensation.


In this paper,in order to explore the main factors affecting grain production in China systematically,we use the methods of fuzzy clustering analysis and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation to make an empirical analysis on the main factors. The weight of each influence factor is given respectively,and the results on how to improve food production provide a reliable theoretical basis.


We have investigated by means of optical microscopy and magnetic measurements the first-order thermal spin transition of the [{Fe(NCSe)(py)2}2(m-bpypz)] spin-crossover compound under various shining intensities, far from the light-induced spin-state trapping region. We found evidence of photo-heating effects on the thermally-induced hysteretic response of this spin-crossover material, thus causing the shift of the thermal hysteresis to lower temperature regions. The experimental results are discussed in terms of the apparent crystal temperature and are analyzed theoretically using two evolution equations of motion, written on the high-spin (HS) fraction and heat balance between the crystal and the thermal bath. A very good qualitative agreement was found between experiment and theory in the stationary regime, explaining the experimental observations well and identifying the key factors governing these photo-thermal effects.


We present here a simple three P-type MOSFET-based grounded memristor emulator model. The model is designed to achieve zero static power dissipation and is done so by eliminating the external DC supply i.e., no DC bias. The proposed memristor emulator model has extremely low dynamic power dissipation as well which comes to around 175 nW i.e., $\sim ~67\%$ improvement compared to recent work. A mathematical analysis is carried out to present the relevance of this design. Simulations were done on Cadence Virtuoso 90 nm technology node and fingerprints of the proposed memristor emulator were obtained. The layout area occupied by the model is approx $1154.69~\mu \text{m}^{2}$ and an external capacitor is connected to add tunability to the circuit. Furthermore, Monte Carlo and corner analysis validate the robust nature of the design. Besides, simulations have been experimentally verified using CD-4007 CMOS integrated circuit (IC) to make the design practically feasible. Furthermore, the design offers advantages such as extremely less overall power consumption and smaller chip area that could possibly pave the path for fabrication using standard CMOS technologies. At last, an application of the proposed model depicting in-memory computation through a memristor emulator crossbar array is presented in brief.


Accurate tumor segmentation of tumor images can assist doctors to diagnose diseases. However, achieving very high precision in tumor segmentation requires a large amount of annotated data, which is not easy for medical image data. In this paper, we present a novel double noise mean teacher self-ensembling model for semi-supervised 2D tumor segmentation. Concretely, the network is serialized by two groups of student-teacher networks. We design an auxiliary student-teacher module to learn the consistency regularity between the unlabeled image feature maps. In order to improve the robustness of the network, we add the random Gaussian noise to the student model every time the teacher model is updated. We test our model on the small cell lung tumor dataset and CVC-ClinicDB, and our model achieves the performance of nearly fully supervised segmentation. Moreover, the performance of our method outperforms the existing semi-supervised methods in four indicators.


The article presents a comparative analysis of formal-substantial components in the stories "the White ship", "Early cranes", "spotted dog running at the edge of the sea" by Ch. Aitmatov. There is the analysis of the characters-teenagers, which shows the peculiarities of these characters, the psychology of actions with the aim of realizing the "inner self" of the character. The conclusion is made about the evolution of children's themes in the works of the writer. Identifying the uniqueness of issues Ch. Aitmatov, the author of the article needs make excursions into literature, the characters of which are teenagers.


We construct a panel data model to explain the cross-section of individual stock returns, using monthly data for 1,144 large US flrms for 1985{2002. Model specifl- cation is geared towards multiple explanatory variables, poolability across industries, al- ternative forecast horizons, and the efiects of unobserved heterogeneity among flrms. We flnd that combining multiple flrm characteristics increases the predictive power. High ex- pected returns are mostly related to size, cash∞ow-to-price and liquidity, and somewhat to earnings revisions and momentum. Diversifled portfolios sorted on expected returns have moderate risk exposures and generate signiflcant risk-adjusted returns over all horizons. Longer forecasting horizons drastically reduce portfolio turnover.


Along with a development of the industry, wearable devices are spreading. These devices often have a problem of a battery exhaustion. Biomechanical energy harvesting is one of the methods to solve this problem. As methods of biomechanical energy harvesting, the shoes which attached piezoelectric elements and the system which attached a generator to the knee were researched.This paper focuses on the surplus energy when walking down a slope. In order to determine the amout of the surplus energy, a passive walking model is utilized. Additionally, a method to recover surplus energy while maintaining walking stability is introduced. Finally, PI control of the boost chopper is utilized to adjust a braking torque and the amount of the generation. The validity of the proposed method is confirmed by simulation.


A lead-acid battery module including a lithium battery module and a plurality of lead-acid battery cell comprising a plurality of lithium battery cells, a first sensing unit having a sensor for measuring the temperature and voltage of the lithium battery module, the temperature of the lead storage battery module a second detection unit having a sensor for measuring the voltage, is connected to the first sensing unit and the second detection unit, by a value measured by the first sensing unit and the second sensing unit, and a lithium battery module measuring the remaining capacity of the lead-acid battery module, by comparing the temperature of the lithium battery module and the reference temperature, by comparing the voltage of the lead storage battery module and a reference voltage, and a control circuit for transmitting a control signal, and a lithium battery module lead is connected to the battery module, a lithium battery module or lead power storage in response to a control signal Suggest electric hybrid battery system for a motor vehicle and a charging and discharging circuit including a switch for selectively discharging the module.


An increment in sound velocity at 2 MHz has been observed as the emulsion globule size decreases with time in a water, toluene, and polyoxethylene (POE)—polyoxypropylene (POP) block copolymer system. The observed effect depends on the copolymer concentration and is largest for the block copolymer composed of 50% POE–50% POP moieties. A general acoustical treatment taking into account viscous loss in the emulsions globules as well as surrounding liquid and heat conduction across the interface fails to explain the observed velocity increment. Aqueous solutions of the above copolymer shows association effects as evidenced by a break in the sound velocity versus concentration curve at approximately 15 g/l. [Work supported by ONR.]


In Brief As older adults make up an increasingly larger portion of the diabetic population, the spectrum of diabetes complications will likely expand. In addition to the traditional vascular complications, diabetes has been associated with excess risk for cognitive and physical decline, falls, fractures, and depression. These complications, which are common and can profoundly affect quality of life, will challenge clinicians, health care systems, and public health organizations to identify effective ways of optimizing quality of life among older adults with diabetes.


A depth map upsampling method using depth local features is proposed. Depth discontinuity and depth variance are extracted from a low-resolution depth map and a colour image as the depth local features. They are incorporated into an energy function for the Markov random field (MRF)-based depth upsampling. The high-resolution depth map is obtained by optimising the energy function using belief propagation. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms other depth upsampling approaches in terms of the bad pixel rate.


On the basis of discussion on Hydrological System Model of generic error and problems in application of the BP neural network,a real-time calibration model for hydrologic forecast was built with modified BP neural network in this paper.The function of the model is to predict a calibrated value used to update the forecast out of rainfall-runoff model with observed date of the previous time section.As a case study,the model is employed in daily runoff forecasting at Hongqi gauging station on the Taohe river in Qinghai province.The results shows that this model can improve the coefficient of the model efficiency significantly and daily peak discharge to some extend.


A seven-membered ketolactone, tanshinketolactone (1), was isolated from the root of Salvia miltiorrhiza. Its structure was established by spectroscopic analysis.


Herein, stable resistive switching characteristics are demonstrated in an atomic-layer-deposited SiOX-based resistive memory device. The thickness and chemical properties of the Pt/SiOX/TaN stack are verified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). It is demonstrated that much better resistive switching is obtained using a negative set and positive reset compared to the opposite polarity. In addition, multi-level switching is demonstrated by changing the compliance current (CC) and the reset stop voltage, and potentiation and depression are emulated by applying pulses to achieve a synaptic device. Finally, a pulse endurance of 10,000 cycles and a retention time of 5000 s are confirmed by modulating the pulse input and reading voltage, respectively.


In this paper, wide scanning beam antenna is designed with substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) Technology. This wide beam SIW antenna works as dielectric filled rectangular waveguide slot antenna and has an operating mode at transverse electric ( ). The rectangular slots on the top layer are designed according to rectangular waveguide slot theory, the distribution of electric field in slots are analyzed by equating to magnetic current. The entire design is carried out in XZ-plane and it resonates at frequency of 20.3GHz, with gain of 11.64dBi over a bandwidth of 0.5GHz. The scanning range in elevations plane at φ=0 and φ =90 are -500 to 510, -150 to 130 respectively. The scanning is possible in XZ plane only. To observe beam in different direction of 1x4 array SIW antenna is designed and shifting of beam is observed over the wide scanning range by providing input phase-controlled mechanism. The control mechanism has carried out by using HFSS.


Purpose: This study was done to measure the degree of the hostility, perceived social support and health behavior compliance among patients with coronary artery disease and to identify the relationship among those variables. Methods: The participants were 145 hospitalized patients with coronary artery disease. Data were collected from December 15, 2007 to March 15, 2008 using a questionnaire and medical record. Results: Mean scores for hostility, perceived social support and health behavior compliance were 54.80, 53.03 and 59.38 respectively. Differences in the degree of hostility were significant for marital status and serum total cholesterol. There were significant differences in the degree of health behavior compliance according to body mass index, serum total cholesterol, smoking, drinking, exercise and regular diet. Health behavior compliance was correlated with hostility and perceived social support, and hostility was correlated with perceived social support. Conclusion: Intensive programs to enhance perceived social support but to reduce hostility are warranted to improve health behavior in patients with coronary artery disease.