Introduction Head immobilization using pin fixation is a common practice in neurosurgery during cranial surgeries. Various complications have been associated with the use of three-point skull clamps, including depressed skull fractures, middle meningeal arteriovenous fistulas, venous air embolisms, and epidural hematomas. Case Report In this case report, we conducted a posterior fossa tumor resection without any complications. Immediate postoperative CT scans revealed a large epidural hematoma resulting from a head pin fracture. The patient underwent hematoma evacuation but subsequently developed a brainstem hematoma and remained comatose, ultimately passing away two months later. Discussion Skull fractures and associated intracranial hemorrhages are rare in normal adult patients but can occur in the pediatric population due to the relative thinness of their skulls. Patients with intracranial pathologies causing sustained increased intracranial pressures and hydrocephalus may also have thin skulls, putting them at risk for pin fixation-related injuries. Therefore, it is crucial to establish proper pin placement, avoiding fracture


An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate effects of replacing fish meal (FM) with black soldier fly larvae meal (BSF) on growth performance, feed utilization, and plasma parameters, for juvenile yellow catfish, Pelteobagrus fulvidraco. Six isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets were prepared substituting the FM protein with BSF protein in the following amounts: 0 (control group), 10% (BSF10), 15% (BSF15), 20% (BSF20), 25% (BSF25) and 30% (BSF30). Three replicate groups of juvenile yellow catfish (initial weight of 1.20 ± 0.01 g) were stocked in circular tanks at a rate of 30 fish per tank. The results showed that 20% of the FM in the control diet could be replaced with BSF without significantly reducing weight gain, feed conversion ratio, or whole body and muscle proximate composition. Apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) of dry matter, crude protein, crude lipids, gross energy, or amino acids were not affected by 10% FM replacement. 30% FM replacement in the BSF30 diet significantly increased the concentration of cholesterol (CHO) and nitric oxide (NO) in the plasma, and significantly reduced the inhibition of superoxide radical anion formation. In conclusion, it appears that up to 20% of the FM in conventional yellow catfish diets can be replaced with BSF, and thus account for up to 8.9% of the total protein in the diet without causing a significant reduction in growth performance. The IJA appears exclusively as a peer-reviewed on-line open-access journal at http://www.siamb.org.il. To read papers free of charge, please register online at registration form. Sale of IJA papers is strictly forbidden.


Single\|phenyl\|ring Cl\|substitution pattern index was adopted to describe the molecular structure of polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs),and a quantitative relationship model between the lg K OW value and the molecular structure index of PCDFs was established by forward stepwise multiple linear regression.The results of significance test are quite satisfying ( n=51,R adj =0 871, SE= 0\^173 34,when α=0 05,F=38 647,p=0 000 ).Compared with the reported MOD model based on the thermodynamic computing,this method showed better ability in distinguishing the difference among PCDFs' molecular structures.With the established model,the lg K OW values of the other 85 PCDFs not belonging to the modeling sample set were given.These values have not been reported in literatures.


The invention relates to a device (1) for changing the relative angular position of a camshaft (2) relative to a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine, wherein the device (1) comprises a from the crankshaft via a gear (3) driven drive element (4) which is opposite to the camshaft (2) is rotatably mounted, at least two hydraulic chambers are formed between the drive member (4) and the camshaft (2), which are acted upon by a pressure fluid to a defined relative rotational position between the input member (4) and the camshaft (2 adjust). In order to produce an axial bearing of the camshaft in weight and cost-optimal manner, the invention provides that the toothed wheel (3) forms a bearing surface (5) for the axial stop of the camshaft (2) or with this non-rotatably connected component (6) ,


A micromachined omnibearing level posture sensor has been proposed in this paper.The octagonal sensing organ fabricated by the micromachined technique is used to sense the omnibearing level posture;the signal processing circuit is composed of a pre-signal circuit and a digital circuit to pick up the voltage signal and synthesize the omnibearing signal as well as compensate the resolution of the omnibearing tile signal.It is testified that the resolution is less than 0.1°,the scope of azimuth is 360°,and the scope of tile angle is 20°.The sensor is not only small in size but also is compact and simple in fabrication.It is good in sensitive organ's output consistency,and suitable for mass production.


While many researchers have studied teacher leaders, a corresponding field of research on teacher leadership has been slow to develop. This narrative account charts our strategic efforts to build a community of scholars capable of strengthening teacher leadership as a field of study. It documents the parallel development of two entities, the Teacher Leadership Congress, a grassroots movement, and Division K, Section 2, a formal, institutional structure embedded within the American Educational Research Association. Using a community of practice lens (Wenger, 1998), we examine the ways in which these two entities complemented each other and galvanized a collection of individuals into a research community. We found that coordination between the Teacher Leadership Congress and Division K has resulted in a professional community that has facilitated co-construction of new understandings and identities, furthered teacher leadership research, and enhanced researchers' capacities to guide practice in ways that are urgently needed.


Abstract When a soil is flooded, iron (Fe) reduction and methane (CH4) production occurred in sequence as predicted by thermodynamics. The dissolution and precipitation of Fe reflected both soil pH and soil redox potential (Eh). The objective of our experiment was to determine both CH4 production and Fe reduction as measured by Fe in solution in a flooded paddy soil over a wide range of closely controlled pH and Eh conditions. The greatest release of CH4 gas occurred at neutral soil pH in combination with low soil redox potential (‐250 mV). Production of CH4 decreased when soil pH was lowered in combination with an increase in the soil redox potential above ‐250 mV. Highest concentration of ferrous‐iron (Fe2+) under reducing conditions occurred when soil pH was lowered. Thus Fe reduction influenced CH4 formation in the flooded paddy soil. Results indicated that CH4 production was inhibited by the process of ferric‐iron (Fe3+) reduction.


Based on the analysis of current problems in control of the investment to construction of municipal works, it is proposed that modern investment management be incorporated with the market economy in current China, and the advanced experience from abroad be learned to establish a pricing mode of the bill of work quantities. In practice, that method of pricing is a point cutting into the engineering pricing reform after China joined WTO.


In many real-time control applications, the task periods are typically fixed and worst-case execution times are used in schedulability analysis. With the advancement of robotics, flexible visual se...


The concern about teacher productivity is considered crucial because of its apparent direct relationship with the standard of education and eventual long-term effect on the future labour force. Literature is replete with teacher's workload and how it affects productivity, few however, are related with the impact of gender on teacher productivity in public secondary schools. This study therefore investigated the extent to which teacher's workload combined with gender will determine teacher productivity in public secondary schools in Oyo State, Nigeria. The study revealed among others that the average class size in Oyo State public schools was 30 while the teacher workload was 15 periods per week. Both workload level (


Artificial insemination results in a transient uterine inflammatory response whose function is to remove the sperm, the volume inseminated is what determines the intensity of this response. The time of uterine inflammation after artificial insemination is 6 to 12 h and few inflammatory changes remain in 48 hours, it is uterine inflammation persists may be susceptible to a persistent inflammation. Is to decrease the inflammatory response protocols are managed in order to address these uterine disorders. The aim of this review is to determine the factors that result and how to reduce the intensity of uterine inflammatory response in donor mares and possible treatments.


Aim Pneumomediastinum (PM) is associated with several etiologies and mechanisms. Although it has been described more than 100 years ago, the literature is limited to small retrospective studies. This study aimed to follow patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that developed PM during hospitalization and describe their clinical and radiological evolution. Methods A prospective cohort was developed with patients with PM, excluding those with aerodigestive trauma, inside a hospital COVID-19 dedicated hospital. Clinical variables including onset of symptoms, hemodynamic instability, associated complications, the need of interventions, and disease course were all recorded. Also, radiological findings such as the presence of the Macklin effect, extension of lung involvement by COVID-19, and characteristics of the PM were analyzed. Results Twenty-one patients with non-traumatic PM were followed, resulting in an overall incidence of 0.5% during the study period. Seven (33%) patients had associated pneumothorax and malignant/tension PM was observed in three (14%) cases. The Macklin effect could be found in 11 patients (52%) and the majority of them had more than 50% of lung involvement due to COVID-19. The mortality rate was 49%; however, no deaths were directly related to the PM. Conclusions PM incidence is probably increased in the severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by COVID-19, especially in those with greater involvement of the lungs, and the Macklin effect may be an important underlying mechanism of this complication. Usually, PM has a benign course, but complications like tension/malignant PM may occur requiring prompt detection and intervention.


In the over 30 years since reform and opening,the economy of China changes immensely.In general,the living standard of rural residents has been significantly improved,which lays solid foundation of stepping forward to well-off society.But the urban-rural income gap is widening continuously.Measurement model is established by applying Eviews to demonstrate the hypothesis that the urban-rural income gap is enlarged by the change of export structure based on SS theory and using the time series data from 1981 to 2009.Combined with theoretical analysis,it is illuminated furtherly that the production efficiency disparity of labor force is the essential reason of income gap in China.


The Relevance of the Wheat Boom in Canadian Economic Growth. The wheat boom was regarded as the most convincing demonstration of the usefulness of the staple theory in Canadian economic history but Chambers and Gordon (1966) demonstrated that in 1901-11 it contributed at most only 8.4 per cent of the growth in per capita income. On their own grounds, because of empirical errors, the contribution was actually 20 per cent. Other factors, ignored in their model, raised the contribution of the wheat boom both in the shorter period, 1901-11, and in the longer period, 1901-20/2.1, to between 24 and 30 per cent.


Transient absorption studies of intramolecular photoinduced charge separation and thermal charge recombination were carried out on a molecule consisting of a 4-(N-pyrrolidinyl)naphthalene-1,8-imide donor (PyrNI) covalently attached to a pyromellitimide acceptor (PI) dissolved in the liquid crystal N-(4-methoxybenzylidene)-4-butylaniline (MBBA). In the isotropic phase, just above the nematic to isotropic phase transition, ordered microdomains exist that give rise to solvation dynamics that consist of collective reorientational motions of the microdomains and relatively faster reorientations of molecules within the domains. The different temperature dependence of these responses permits the assignment of collective or molecular solvent motions as mediators of the charge separation and recombination reactions. We find for PyrNI−PI in MBBA that charge separation is adiabatic and controlled by the collective microdomain reorientations, whereas the charge recombination is nonadiabatic and controlled by the fast...


The present invention relates to a sheet (1) comprising a fibrous substrate (2) and at least one strip (3) defining at least one region of reduced opacity (4), the sheet (1) having at least two security elements ( 5, 6) complementary respectively located on either side of said at least one strip (3) and whose complementarity is observable in transmitted through the region of reduced opacity (4).


This paper presents a modified binary multiplier using Vedic mathematics. The paper proposes a modification in the previously published Vedic multiplier circuit. The suggested modified Vedic multiplication technique is more efficient in terms of delay and area. The proposed circuit is implemented in VHDL. The Mentor Graphics ModelSim tool is used for HDL simulation, and the Xilinx ISE Design Suite 14.1 is used for circuit synthesis. The simulation is done for 4-bit, 8-bit, and 16-bit multiplication operations. In this paper, the simulation waveforms are shown only for 4-bit multiplication operation based on the modified Vedic multiplication technique. The proposed method can be extended for a larger bit size. The performance evaluation in terms of speed and device utilization is compared with the previously reported Vedic multiplier architectures. The proposed design exhibits a speed improvement compared to the multiplier architectures available in literature.


Recently, frugal innovations, i.e. affordable, 'good-enough' product innovations, have created a huge demand in emerging markets as they meet the requirements of a large amount of resource-constrained people. Frugal innovations are fundamentally different from advanced, western product innovations designed for developed markets with respect to their architecture, development, as well as business model and organizational implementation. Due to these differences, Western multinational enterprises (MNEs) struggle to design strategies and organizational structures which allow the simultaneous pursuit of both types of innovations. In this article, we therefore investigate how Western MNEs organize their research and development (R&D) to develop both types of innovation simultaneously. Based on multiple case studies in large Western MNEs from the medical equipment industry, our findings show that firms have designed dual R&D structures where advanced product and technology innovations are conducted in the central, Western R&D headquarters while frugal product innovations are developed in the R&D units located in emerging markets. The empirical findings improve our understanding of innovation in emerging markets and yield significant implications for management practice.


An underwater simultaneous localization and mapping(SLAM)navigation algorithm based on random beacons is studied.At present,beacon navigation is extensively studied in the field of navigation,but it often needs to locate the beacon's positon in advance.In this paper,we propose a navigation method based on random beacons that does not need position calibration,that is,when beacons are randomly dispersed,we use the SLAM method to estimate the position of the random beacons,thus to navigate the autonomous underwater vehicle(AUV)by observing the distance and orientation between the beacons and the AUV.We also analyze the navigation accuracy under different beacons density and different observation errors.Simulation results show that the algorithm performs well in both convergence and precision.


This paper presents an approach for teaching computer architecture as an online course, using simulation and peer assessment. The design of the course builds upon the social-constructivist pedagogy...


This paper focuses on the control of quadrotors under external wind disturbance during actual flight. To this end, a dynamic model of the quadrotor is established, and the Dryden wind model is used to simulate wind disturbances. The controller is divided into two subsystems: the position subsystem and the attitude subsystem. Because the wind field can affect the control of the quadrotor, the outer loop controller needs to stabilize the position of the quadrotor, while the inner loop controller needs to quickly and stably adjust the attitude of the quadrotor to respond to external disturbances. Hence a PID controller is proposed for the outer position loop, and an adaptive sliding mode controller is proposed for the inner attitude loop, and its stability is proven by Lyapunov theory. Through the coordinated work of the inner and outer loop controllers, stable control of the quadrotor can be achieved. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is evaluated through simulation experiments that study the quadrotor stabilization performance during hovering under wind disturbance. The simulation results demonstrate the control performance of the proposed controller.


In this paper we analyze the effects of a stage-structured
predator-prey system where the prey has two stages, juvenile and
adult. Three different models (where the juvenile or adult prey
populations are vulnerable) are studied to evaluate the impacts of
this structure to the stability of the system and coexistence of the
species. We assess how various ecological parameters, including
predator mortality rate and handling times on prey, prey growth rate
and death rate, prey capture rate and nutritional values
in two stages, affect the existence and stability of all possible
equilibria in each of the models, as well as the ultimate bounds and the dynamics of the populations.
The main focus of this paper is to find general conditions to ensure the presence and stability of the coexistence equilibrium
where both the predator and prey can co-exist
Through specific examples, we demonstrate the
stability of the trivial and co-existence equilibrium as well as the dynamics in each
system.


Schools in many countries are facing intense and elevated levels of criticism, with much debate over whether the criticism is merited. Much of the criticism embodies a view that things used to be better years ago, when schools were not prey to the many defects they are alleged to show today. Recollections of the past may hide a mixed reality. In this article, criticisms of education from 1957 are compared with contemporary criticisms. Some issues have remained important across forty years, while a few new issues have emerged. Criticisms of forty years ago centered on the dominance of "professional educationists," progressivism, the life adjustment movement, the waning "spirit of competition," lax discipline, the lack of emphasis on classical and modern foreign languages, avoidance of science and math, the neglect of gifted children, the lack of training of children in moral and spiritual values, and low academic standards. Today's debates introduce the alleged test score declines, poor performance on international achievement comparisons, the supposed enormous increase in funding without positive results, the problem of high dropout rates, and the need to connect schooling and work. In addition, modern critics point to economic concerns, whether in terms of funding for education or in regard to the contribution of schooling to economic development.


Electronic waste is one the fastest growing waste streams in the world, and printed circuit boards (PCBs) are the most valuable fraction of this stream due to the presence of gold, silver, copper, and palladium. Printed circuit boards consist of approximately 30% metals and 70% non-metals. The non-metal fraction (NMF) is composed of 60–65% fiberglass and 35–40% organics, in the form of surface-mount plastics and epoxy resins in the printed circuit board laminates. The organics in the NMF provide a potential alternative source of energy, but hazardous flame retardants contained in epoxy resins and the presence of residual metals create challenges for utilizing this material for energy recovery. This research provides an evaluation of the energy content of printed circuit boards. Density-based separation was used to separate various components of the NMF to increase the energy content in specific density fractions while reducing the metal content. The result showed that the energy content before and after the removal of the metallic fraction from PCBs was 9 and 15 GJ/t, respectively. After the density-based separation of the NMF, the energy content in the lightest fraction increased to 21 GJ/t, while reducing the concentration of the hazardous flame retardants. The contents of the hazardous flame retardants and residual metal were analyzed, to evaluate the harmful effect of emissions produced from utilizing the NMF as an alternative feedstock in waste-to-energy applications.


Essay received on April 16, 2013, and approved for publication on May 12, 2013. [1] Department of History at Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO) – Rio de Janeiro (RJ) – Brazil. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Pelo Prisma da Escravidão. Trabalho, Capital e Economia Mundial. This is the title of Dale Tomich's book, recently translated and published in Portuguese by Editora da Universidade de São Paulo. It is a collection of texts written by the author, who is also a professor of Sociology and History at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Tomich is well-known in Brazil and has been to the country numerous times. He is also involved in several studies by Brazilian researchers, which brings him to the country often. Pelo Prisma da Escravidão was released in English in 2004. The book gathers articles published between 1987 and 1997 and is divided in three parts. The first is entitled "A Escravidão na Economia Mundial" ("Slavery in World Economy") and is subdivided in three chapters. In this review, I will focus on chapters one and three contained in the first part. These chapters provide a prospectus of the analysis that unfolds in the subsequent two parts of the work, "O Global no Local" ("The Global in the Local") and "Trabalho, Tempo e Resistência: Mudando os Termos da Comparação" ("Work, Time, and Resistance: Changing the Terms of Comparison") in which Tomich analyses the French, English, and Spanish Caribbean between the end of the 18 century and the first half of the 19 century. The key concept that organizes the book in its entirety, and which is also the title of the third chapter, is that of second slavery. It a revised version of one of the chapters contained in the 1988 collective work Rethinking the


This article extends previous research on network industries by analyzing the role that firm strategy plays in markets where network effects are important. The authors postulate that firms can benefit from the existence of network effects through their strategic choices. The main premise of this article is that companies, by influencing expectations, coordination, and compatibility, can leverage network effects and network value. The authors empirically test their hypotheses in the mobile telecommunications industry, a paradigmatic example of a network industry. This study not only seeks to understand the impact of firm strategy on network value but also analyzes the impact of the latter on firm performance.


2. o f the nature o f institution building and the process for so doing; o f the factors that make institutions grow and prevent old age in institutions; o f the life-cycle o f institutions. 3. o f the crucial nature o f leadership that is necessary i n such institutions, i n particular the leadership development o f presidents, deans, boards and chairmen. 4. o f how to resource institutions and have the confidence to engage i n resource development. This summary synthesizes the many contributions made b y participants i n short presentations and plenary discussions. I t does not cover a number o f major presentations that have been published separately i n this issue.


.. + . Although interest in corporate wellness continues to increase in wor~ laces in var-ious countries, many businesses still consider employee wellness as unrelated to the organisation and its functions. Some continue to .a !Ak.* view wellness as having dittle or no ~ n a n c i a ~ impact on Jxh;x 1"A Br , an o~.ganisation and therefore, do noi consider it to be <+ L part of the overall organisational system. This paper ; ,; :,a. argues that wellzess progrurnrn ing should be analysed as both a fieestandirzg system and also a subsystem of the overalk business. By viewing it through the general systems theoretical lens, the wellness system can jnd its c: place and be ultimately seen as integral within the overall organisationnl system


The steady-state charge densities, electric potential, and current densities are determined analytically in the case of the first dynamo created by Michael Faraday, which consists of a conducting disk rotating between the poles of an off-axis permanent magnet. The results obtained are compared with another work that considered the same problem using a different approach. We also obtain analytical expressions for the total current on the disk and for the dynamo's electromotive force.


As researches on robots and robotic arms going further, human portrait painting robot appears as a typical art creation application. Traditional ways to achieve this goal mainly depend on the geometric and texture features with no semantic information. In this system, to enrich the portrait, key points of human faces are fused with gray scale information. During the process of drawing, different components of the portrait can be distinguished such as hair or eyes by strokes. Besides, sketch pattern is added to line drawing model using cluster algorithm and presents a unique style. The painted results combine outline and sketch characters different from preceding work and each costs less than two minutes to finish an outline portrait and 4-6 minutes with sketch pattern.


The patient is a Caucasian, single 45-year-old man who runs a computer business and spends long workdays before the screen. He smokes 5–10 cigarettes per day, attends after-works and parties with considerable alcohol consumption and does not regularly do physical activity. His father had episodes of chest pain at 75years of age, no family history of type 2 diabetes. During a ski vacation in February 2016, he suddenly experienced episodes of chest discomfort, shortness of breath, and 'tiredness' in the arms and the shoulders. Seekingmedical assistance, he was referred to a regional hospital where he was investigated with suspected acute coronary syndrome. Physical examination (detailed in Table 1) disclosed overweight and increased blood pressure. Laboratory analysis further revealed high cholesterol, as well as fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c, confirming type 2 diabetes, but no release of cardiac troponins. Electrocardiogram (ECG) at admission was normal. The asymptomatic patient was admitted to the cardiology unit for further evaluation and shortly after experienced reoccurrence of chest pain with T-wave inversion on the ECG. Coronary angiography revealed a number of wallirregularities and diffuse atherosclerosis but no significant stenosis in the left coronary artery (circumflex and left anterior descending), whereas in the right coronary artery a tight stenosis just after crux, before the bifurcation was found. Early intervention with percutaneous coronary intervention and stent implantation was performed with optimal angiographical results. A pharmacological treatment in accordance with guidelines for secondary prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD) with antihypertensive, antianginal, antiplatelet as well as lipidand glucose-lowering treatment was initiated. Detailed recommendations for life style changes were also given. At 1-year follow-up in the outpatient clinic of the same hospital, the patient was asymptomatic and reported good compliance to the pharmacological treatment. A reduction of 4 kg in body weight was observed (Table 1).


Take 500 kt /a polypropylene unit of shenhua ningxia coal industry group for example,the Novolen gas-phase polypropylene technology of ABB-Lummus,and its process characteristics and product programs were introduced.


Resource estimation are related to the quality of samples in the field. One of sampling bauxite method is a test pit. However, sufficiently deep deposition conditions become a constraint related to security in retrieval by this method. Therefore, researchers suspect that bauxite sampling can also be done by drilling with results that are not much different from making test pits. the aim of this study was to compare bauxite sampling with with test pits and drilling seen from the engineering work, cost efficiency, time and quality of the sampling produced. The research was conducted at PT. Harita Prima Abadi Mineral Ketapang by observing the sampling process and interviewing workers. It was obtained that the cost of making 1 (one) test pit was Rp. 5.000.000, and the cost of 1 (one) drilling is Rp. 2.000.000. The time fore making a test pit to minimal 3 workers is 6-8 hours and the drilling time to minimal 4 workers is 3-4 hours. The quality of bauxite samples from test pit is very good, the umber of samples can be taken as needed. While the quality of drilling samples is CF cannot be calkulated and bauxite samples obtained have a small size and a little amount.


Conventional rollers used in a heat furnace are called hearth roll. They must be changed very frequently since high temperature of the furnace induces wear on the roll surface in short period. This paper therefore discusses a new roller structure consisting of ceramic sleeve and steel shaft connected by shrink fitting. Although all ceramic sleeve has high temperature resistance and high corrosion resistance, atten-tion should be paid for the risk of fracture due to the thermal expansion of the steel shaft that is much larger than the one of ceramic. Simple double cylinder simulation suggests that thinner structure is useful for reducing thermal stress. The finite element analysis shows that tapered shaft thickness is desirable for the ceramics hearth roller. Finally, an application of ceramic roller to steel manufacturing machinery is considered by changing geometry and material. Since only low shrink fitting ratio can be applied to the new roller, failure analysis is also considered for preventing the coming out of the shaft from the ceramic sleeve.


Dear Readers,This is the third year that we have selected "Top Stories" for Journal Watch Infectious Diseases. For 2010, the most common topic was


For modified lead titanate ceramics, the 90 degrees domain rotation after poling was determined by X-ray diffraction analysis. The domain structure of lead titanate ceramics modified with samarium poled at different electric fields was observed. The results show that the percent of 90 degrees domain rotation during the poling was lower, and there were 90 degrees and 180 degrees domains in all the samples poled at a 0-50-kV/cm electric field. There was not ample evidence to prove the full rotation of the 90 degrees domain. However, the domain wall motion seems to be altered by increasing the poling electric field.<<ETX>>


Based on the field test data, vehicle load are simplified as a semi-sinusoidal rectangular distributed load, the expression of vehicle load are obtained by considering the dynamic component of load caused by pavement roughness. By regarding the flexible pavement structure as a three dimensional multi layered system, the dynamic responses of the pavement subjected to the semi-sinusoidal moving load are studied. The governing equations of motion are solved by employing the potential function decomposition and the Fourier transform technique. Considering the mixed boundary condition at the upper surface, the fixed boundary condition at the lowest surface and that the stress and displacement at the interface of the layers are continuous, the theoretical solutions of the components of the responses are deduced with the exact stiffness matrix method. Numerical results are obtained by using FFT algorithm and the calculation results are consistent with ones of laboratory test. The influence of different parameters such as load speed, pavement structural combination and the properties of base layer and subgrade on the responses are carefully discussed. The theory developed herein may be used as a preliminary reference in flexible pavement engineering design.


This study is to find out the efforts made by the Regional Government in overcoming Land Disputes in the Protected Forest area of Register 45 in the Mesuji Regency, Lampung Province. in the Mesuji Regency, Lampung Province and what are the obstacles in this effort.This study uses a type of empirical juridical research, which is an approach that refers to written regulations or other secondary legal materials. The study was conducted in Mesuji Regency, Lampung Province where land conflicts occurred, the data collection techniques used were observation, interviews, documentation.Efforts to resolve land conflicts that have been taken by the local government of Mesuji Regency are related to the Register 45 Area between PT. Silva Inhutani Lampung with the community has carried out regional control and implemented the Partnership Program. Suggestions: That the government should immediately make efforts in handling agrarian conflicts thoroughly so that it does not spread to other social conflicts, the Police immediately act decisively and immediately arrest thugs/huggers who interfere with partnership and security in register 45, In the long term the central government and local governments seek to relocate residents register by relocating these residents to other areas so that the forest area becomes an appropriate area, considering the economic needs of the community who depend on the land they currently occupy.


A common thread in contemporary research on principal leadership is the ways in which principals take important decisions. These decisions have become increasingly more complex in a system of school-based management. The concept of shared or distributive leadership becomes vital in the process. Distributed leadership implies that leadership is not held by one leader only, but leadership roles are distributed among the rest of the school management team. The idea of leadership as distributed across a group of leaders and situations has proven to be a more useful framework for understanding the realities of schools and how they might be improved. The purpose of this article is to explore how effective distributed leadership contributes to school improvement. The article is based on a qualitative case study in a few South African schools. Ethnographic interviews were conducted with principals from five (n=5) purposefully selected effective or functional schools in a school district in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal to establish the perspectives of participants on the place and role of distributive leadership in school improvement. The five participants described their experiences of the role of distributed leadership in school improvement and how they have focussed their daily routines on the distribution of leadership tasks to ensure improvement. The outcomes of this study show that distributive leadership serves as a significant contributor to school improvement in functional schools and are of importance to all educational managers as they will be able to provide schools with guidelines to increase positive perceptions regarding the role of distributed leadership in school improvement. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p1225


ABSTRACTKaryotypic study of two sexes of the toad species, Duttaphrynus melanostictus, was carried out using giemsa staining, C- banding and NOR banding methods, from Jammu and Kashmir, India. The basic chromosome number was found to be 2n=22, fundamental arm number (NF) was 44 with all the biarmed chromosomes and no sex chromosome heteromorphism was found. Cbanding and NOR banding was also performed. Paracentric C-band was on the long arm of first homologous pair. Centromeric heterochromatin appeared as darkly stained C-bands on all the chromosomes of diploid complement, whereas Ag-NOR staining showed a pair of nucleolar organizer regions present on pair no. 7 on short arm i.e. 7p in both male and female karyotypes.Keywords: Karyotype, Chromosome, Duttaphrynus, C-banding, NOR, fundamental arm number.INTRODUCTION:Amphibians are first land vertebrates which have evolved from the aquatic vertebrates and all the higher vertebrates have evolved from them. They are thus the link between aquatic and terrestrial life. There are 7211 amphibians in the world out of which 6354 are anurans (www.amphibiaweb.org accessed on Dec. 17, 2013). Anurans include the globally distributed frogs and toads. The Common Indian toad - Duttaphrynus melanostictus belongs to the family Bufonidae (Anura, Amphibia). Presently genus Duttaphrynus is represented by thirty species worldwide. Taxonomic revision of anurans is done simultaneously with the discovery of newer and newer species daily which creates a chaotic condition in the amphibian taxonomy. The common Indian toad is widely distributed throughout India as well as parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. We performed the cytogenetic study of this toad species from Jammu division (327m altitude and 32044'00''N: 74052'00'E) of Jammu and Kashmir, India. This karyotypic study is first report of the species from Jammu and Kashmir. The study was carried out using both conventional staining and banding methods in order to establish the diploid number as well as distribution of heterochromatin and nucleolar organizer regions in the species.MATERIALS AND METHODS:Two male and two female specimens of Duttaphrynus melanostictus were collected from District Jammu (altitude 327m) of Jammu and Kashmir during the monsoon breeding season. Before sacrificing, the specimens were injected intramuscularly and intraperitoneally with 0.5% colchicine solution (@ 1ml per 100g body weight) for 3.5 hours. Then the animals were anaesthesized and dissected to take out the intestine, spleen and bone marrow. The tissues were hypotonised with 0.75M KCl solution for 1hour at room temperature. Fixation of the tissue was done in 3:1 methanol-acetic acid fixative, changing the solution for every 10 minutes. The material was then dabbed on clean slides, air-dried and stained with 2% giemsa stain (pH=7) for 30-35 minutes. C-banding was done using Sumner (Sumner, 1972) technique with some modifications. Ag-NOR banding was done using Howell and Black (1980) protocol with slight modifications. Slides were scanned under Olympus research microscope and the best metaphase complements and meiotic stages as well as C-banded and NORbanded complements were photographed at 100X magnification. Morphometry was done using occulometer.RESULTS:Spermatogonial metaphase complement of male and mitotic metaphase complement of female was selected for preparing karyotypes (Fig. 1 and 2). General chromosome form and type was found to be the same in both and no heteromorphic sex chromosomes were observed in the karyotypes. Diploid chromosome number was 2n=22. Eleven pairs of chromosomes were placed into two groups (Fig. 1 and 2) comprising of Group A of six pairs of large chromosomes and Group B of five pairs of small chromosomes. All chromosomes in both the karyotypes were biarmed and of metacentric and submetacentric type. Three pairs, i.e., Pair no. 2, 4 and 5 of group A was found to be submetacentric while all other chromosomes in both the groups were found to be metacentric type. …


Transportation departments around the world are faced with electric and hybrid vehicles becoming a fast priority. It's up to the government to provide the necessary infrastructure to ensure car makers can sell their vehicles and customers can keep their vehicles charged while keeping accordance with increasingly stringent emissions regulations. But, as more drivers turn to electric and hybrid vehicles, revenues from gas taxes will diminish. There is also the question of how electric and hybrid vehicles will fit into the transportation system as they become more sophisticated. Many believe that the time to address the convergence of electric and hybrid vehicles with internal combustion systems before monumental expenses ensue. Enthusiasm for plug-in technology is growing in the United States (US), although it is largely confined to states on the east and west coasts, with California leading the way. Germany is leading the countries in Europe actively promoting electric vehicles and their associated infrastructure. They are developing an interoperable Europe-wide public charging infrastructure that will enable drivers to access all public charging points throughout the continent. In the future, drivers will have the ability to access the charging structure through a single provider's contract, making electric car charging as simple as using an Automated Teller Machine (ATM).


Caring for seriously ill and dying patients plays a key role in the patient-physician story. The emotional experience, while at times gratifying, can also be quite burdensome. In "The Inner Lives of Doctors: Physician Emotion in the Care of the Seriously Ill," Julie Childers and Bob Arnold (2019) reference this as they discuss the spectrum of physician emotion in the care of seriously ill patients and explore its influence on clinical decision making. They emphasize the impact of physicians' role expectations, both societal and self, that can contribute to the resultant guilt when they fail to measure up to their ideals. Utilizing Elisabeth K€ ubler Ross' work On Death and Dying as a platform, Childers and Arnold converse about the emotional reactions that can be evoked during this process. They also cite that "repeated experience of difficult emotions, without having the skills to deal with them, may lead to burnout and dysfunctional behavior." They conclude by providing four suggestions that focus on the need for skills and tools that will encourage physicians to acknowledge their emotions and aim to provide emotion-centered care. While we agree with these suggestions, we posit that a culture shift has already taken place in the recent decade that has significantly altered the physician experience of caring for this patient population. The ostracization associated with the admittance of negative emotions is slowly being replaced by recognition and attempts at resolution. We also would like bring attention to the strong role for palliative care, benefiting both patients and staff, which has further contributed to this progression. In the past few years, discussions of moral injury and physician burnout have emerged from the shadows and into the forefront. Burnout is a syndrome defined by the three principal components of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment (Maslach and Jackson 1981). There is now a focus on recognizing the link between the emotional perspective and the development of burnout. For instance, a study done amongst medical oncologists demonstrated a positive correlation between a physician culture that includes a stigma around death and dying, viewing emotions as weakness, and suppression of emotion over a patient's death and burnout among the providers in that field (Granek et al. 2017). This phenomenon is increasingly studied in health care, both to further understand its vast reach across the various medical fields and to uncover interventions to alleviate the downstream effects of unmanaged burnout (Shanafelt et al. 2009). Clinical tools such as mindful meditation and debriefing have been increasingly encouraged to be used as dedicated time in the workplace for physicians to process their emotions following adverse events and patient deaths. In particular, the debrief, which was initially developed for firefighters and emergency workers, has become commonplace in medicine. It serves as a forum for emotional and psychological support, allowing for acknowledgement of grief and guilt emotions and promoting learning, as well (Vaithilingam et al. 2008). Though studies have not yet demonstrated a direct impact on the reduction of burnout, the response to the application of debriefing shows it has immense potential. Specifically, it has been shown to provide a sense of comfort and community, leading to a sense of healing and relief (Gunasingam et al. 2015). The current evolution toward identifying and treating burnout is becoming paramount in medical education, as well. The age-old hidden curriculum of stoicism and emotional silence in response to suffering, which had once been inadvertently taught to all burgeoning physicians, is slowly being replaced by lessons on empathy and communication. Childers and Arnold allude to this briefly in their article but don't fully acknowledge the significant paradigm shift that has occurred over recent years. The concept of mortality is being discussed within medical education more readily than it had been in the past, and medical schools now incorporate course work focused on end of life care and the clinical and ethical challenges that can arise when caring for seriously-ill patients. Relatedly, medical curricula have also emphasized the importance of self-care and mindfulness while doing this emotionally-taxing work. Mindfulness is


Objective To observe the clinical therapeutic effects of Buchangwenxin granule for premature beats in the senile patients.Methods80 cases with atrial premature beats or premature ventricular beats in electrocardiogram were administered with Buchangwenxin granules 9 g,three times a day for four weeks.ResultsEffective rate of Buchangwenxin granules was 77.5%.ConclusionsBuchangwenxin granule is an effective antiarrhythic drugs for premature beats in the senile patients with higher safety and lower adverse reaction.


The compact group of galaxies "Seyfert's Sextet" shows irregularly shaped soft X-ray morphology. In order to understand its origin, we have obtained a deep optical ( VR + I ) image of the group. Our image shows that a faint envelope surrounds the member galaxies. We find that optical and soft X-ray images are significantly similar in morphology. This similarity provides direct morphological evidence that the dark matter in Seyfert's Sextet was originally associated with the individual galaxies and is now spreading out around the group.


The invention relates to a single-smart key implementing method, a device and a mobile terminal. The method comprises the following steps: detecting sliding operation information of a single sliding button, wherein the sliding operation information comprises sliding distance and sliding speed; judging whether the sliding distance is up to the default sliding distance threshold value; when the sliding distance is up to the default sliding distance threshold value, further judging whether the sliding speed is larger than the sliding speed threshold value; when the sliding speed is larger than the sliding speed threshold value, taking the detected current sliding operation as quick-sliding operation, or taking the detected current sliding operation as slow-sliding operation; and executing the default triggering task according to the current sliding operation type. The single-smart key implementing method, the device and the mobile terminal can implement multiple functions of the single sliding button and enriches the user experience.


This paper describes the applicability of item re sponse theory to attitude scale development and pro vides an illustration derived from a study of the pro pensity toward jealousy in romantic relationships. The item analysis model used is identical to the factor analysis model, so factor analytic criteria are used to evaluate the scale. These criteria may be used to de cide whether the scale may be scored as a measure of a single variable and whether a simple sum or a weighted sum of the item responses serves as an opti mal test score. Estimates of the reliability of the scale based on the item response model are also described.


The products of the reactions between [(cp)Co(CO)2] and RS·SR (R = CF3 or C6F5) depend upon the conditions used.[{(cp)CoSR}2](R = CF3 or C6F5), [(cp)Co(CO)(SC6F5)2], and [(cp)Co2(SC6F5)3] are described.


All Browne's lapses from orthodoxy are on the humanitarian side. The heresies of mere enthusiasm do not lead him astray, nor has he any tendency to drift into the arid paths of materialism. " As for those wingy mysteries of divinity and airy subtleties in religion which have unhinged the brains of better heads > they never stretched the pia mater of mine." Yet he likes to contemplate the supernatural, and for a sufficiently quaint reason : "I desire to exercise my faith in the difficultest point ; for to credit ordinary and visible objects is not faith, but persuasion. I would not have been one of those Israelites that passed the Red Sea, nor one of Christ's patients upon whom He wrought His wonders ; then had my faith been thrust upon me ; nor should I enjoy that greater blessing pronounced to all that believe and saw not." He admits that doubts may arise, but says: " I can answer all the objections of Satan and my rebellious reason with that odd resolution I


The oxygen reduction is the cathode reaction in fuel cells and metal/air cells. The development of a new catalyst, which can efficiently progress the cathode reaction, is very important. In this study, Co, Co oxide, Pt and Pt oxide thin films prepared by reactive sputtering were characterized by XRD, XPS, EPMA and X-ray fluorescence analysis and their oxygen reduction activities in a KOH solution were investigated using rotating disk electrode method. CoO thin film could be prepared alone by sputtering Co target in Ar-50%O2 and 100%O2 gas, while Co (OH) 2 was found on the surface of the Co thin film obtained in 100%Ar by XPS analysis. On the other hand, Pt, PtO and PtO2 thin films were obtained by sputtering Pt target in 100%Ar, Ar-50%O2 and 100%O2, respectively. The oxygen reduction on the Co and Co oxide thin films was under mixed control of diffusion and charge transfer, and the charge transfer probably progressed by a 4 electron pathway. For both Co-and Pt-component system, the oxide thin films surpassed the metal one in the activity of oxygen reduction. Moreover, there was a similarity that the activity of the oxide thin film increased with increasing the oxygen/metal atomic ratio. However, it was confirmed that the oxygen reduction activity of the CoO thin film was too low to substitute for the noble metal catalyst.


An industrial method for the synthesis of peptides using a trityl group as the protecting group has been investigated.The derivatives of the amino acids, containing a liophilic group in their side chain, such as γ-methyl, ethyl and benzyl glutamate, β-methyl, ethyl and benzyl aspartate and S-trityl cystein, were N-tritylated directly in good yields with 2-equiv. of trityl chloride in aprotic solvents in the presence of triethyl amine. In these reactions, it was found that the α-carboxyl group of amino acids derivatives was simultaneously tritylated during the N-tritylating process.Using these trityl derivatives, glutathione (GSH), α-aminobenzyl penicilline (ABP) and aspartyl phenylalanine methyl ester (APAM) were prepared in good yields.


Solid‐state lithium batteries will revolutionize the lithium‐ion battery and energy storage applications if certain key challenges can be resolved. The formation of lithium‐protrusions (dendrites) that can cause catastrophic short‐circuiting is one of the main obstacles, and progresses by a mechanism that is not yet fully understood. By utilizing X‐ray computed tomography with nanoscale resolution, the 3D morphology of lithium protrusions inside short‐circuited solid electrolytes has been obtained for the first time. Distinguishable from adjacent voids, lithium protrusions partially filled cracks that tended to propagate intergranularly through the solid electrolyte, forming a large waved plane in the shape of the grain boundaries. Occasionally, the lithium protrusions bifurcate into flat planes in a transgranular mode. Within the cracks themselves, lithium protrusions are preferentially located in regions of relatively low curvature. The crack volume filled with lithium in two samples is 82.0% and 83.1%, even though they have distinctly different relative densities. Pre‐existing pores in the solid electrolyte, as a consequence of fabrication, can also be part‐filled with lithium, but do not have a significant influence on the crack path. The crack/lithium‐protrusion behavior qualitatively supports a model of propagation combining electrochemical and mechanical effects.


The article attempts to identify and provide solutions to a number of problems related to the design features of the criminal law prescriptions of Chapter 22 of the criminal code of the Russian Federation. The methodological basis of this scientific publication is the dialectical method of cognition, taken in unity with instrumental research methods. As a result of the study, the author came to the conclusion that in the text of Chapter 22 of the criminal code of the Russian Federation, it is possible to distinguish structural units, which include the headings of articles, descriptive and thematic elements of criminal law regulations, their compositional and graphic features and notes to articles.


The indifference of Earth's inhabitants towards progressive climate crises raises understandable anxiety for ecologists. Searching for effective forms of education aimed at radical and rapid change in attitudes is implemented in various areas of knowledge. This research combines linguistic, cognitive workshops and personality psychology, together with a selection of statistical tools. The results obtained through empirical research facilitated the construction of the semantic image of remorse and its wider (transcending the lexical) interpretation framework within self-aware emotional states and, specifically, moral feelings. The semantic analyses herein have become the grounds for educational guidelines within the process of attitude changes.


________________________________________ Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 2 General Hospital, Kegalle, Sri Lanka Address for correspondence: Prof F. Noordeen. Telephone: +94772293301 Email: email@example.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2018-0606 Distribution of human metapneumovirus among children presenting with acute respiratory tract infection to a General Hospital in Sri Lanka


In this paper, we focus on the generation of broadband underwater vortex waves carrying multiple OAMs. Based on a wideband underwater antenna, a water-immersed horn antenna array is designed and tested. The experimental results, which are in agreement with the simulation ones, validate that the proposed antenna array can readily generate high-quality vortex waves. To further validate the performance of the proposed underwater antenna array, experimental verifications of 2-D underwater imaging for the targets of two corner reflectors have been carried out, and the result shows that the targets can be distinguished efficiently. Meanwhile, two generation methods and one detection method of the multiplexed OAMs are also presented, from which the multiplexed OAMs can be generated and detected efficiently. And the performances of two generation methods have also been compared and discussed, from which we can know that the first generation method with a smaller structure costs lower and is more efficient.


Purpose: To analyze the clinical presentation, predisposing risk factors, and evaluate the treatment outcomes of Moraxella keratitis. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of 12 culture positive cases of Moraxella keratitis from hospital records between March 2001 and November 2015 at a tertiary hospital to identify and analyze its risk factors, causative microbial organisms, clinical features, and therapeutic outcomes. Results: The mean patient age was 68 years (range, 46–86). The most common cause of keratitis was trauma (six eyes, 50.0%), and half of these patients had diabetes mellitus (three patients, 25.0%). Two patients (16.6%) were previously treated with penetrating keratoplasty. The locations of keratitis involved the central (50.0%) and paracentral (50.0%) regions. Round-shaped corneal infiltration was found in seven eyes (58.3%), and irregular-shaped infiltration was found in five eyes (41.7%). Hypopyon was observed in five eyes (41.7%). All Moraxella isolates were susceptible to aminoglycosides and fluoroquinolones. The isolates from three patients were resistant to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. The mean complete epithelial healing time was 32.4 days. The final visual acuity was 20/1,000 or less in seven eyes (58.3%). Three eyes developed corneal perforations and eventually underwent evisceration. Conclusions: In the Republic of Korea, Moraxella keratitis frequently occurs in eyes with trauma. The treatment response is very slow and has a poor visual outcome; thus, a long period of antibiotic therapy is necessary. J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 2018;59(3):209-216


Restrictive cardiomyopathy Restrictive cardiomyopathy is the least common form of cardiomyopathy and is the end result of several different diseases associated with myocardial infiltration—for example, amyloidosis, sarcoidosis, and haemochromatosis. The most common electrocardiographic abnormality is the presence of low voltage QRS complexes, probably due to myocardial infiltration. Both supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias are common.


University of Porto (www.up.pt) is a public research university in Portugal. By the time of the celebration of its 100 anniversary, its mission is clearly linked to the 'generation of scientific, cultural and artistic knowledge, the high level education strongly anchored in research, the economic and social value of knowledge and the active participation in the progress of communities in which it operates'. U.Porto serves nearly 32,000 students, 2,400 teachers and researchers along with 1,700 non-teaching staff distributed by 14 schools and 60 scientific research units, spread across 3 university campuses located in the city of Porto.


The independence has been one of the most studied peruvian theme. However, too little is known about how was it done in other places beyond Lima, principally, and the south andian peruvian region. This works' interest is to open a so close regard by making a sketch of the north peruvian participation and asking questions that could give a more accurate thinking of the tint wealth of that process in the whole country.


Objective To observe the value of heart rate-time curve in coronary CT angiography(CTCA) and its clinical applications.Methods Four hundred patients who would undergo CTCA were divided into 2 groups(group A and B,each n=200).In group A,scanning started at 5 s after breath-hold.In group B,scanning began at the best heart rate after breath-hold,based on heart rate-time curve during training.Heart rate variations with time after breath-hold were divided into 4 types: Decreased-type,stable-type,increased type,increased and then decreased type.The curves distribution of patients in training and scanning in group B were statistically analyzed and compared,as well as the heart rate and the heart rate fluctuations during scanning in group A and B.The imaging quality of CTCA in groups A and B were evaluated and compared.Results In group B,no statistical difference of the distribution of heart rate-time curves between training and scanning was found(χ2=0.751,P0.05).Heart rates in group B were lower than that in group A(t=3.523,P0.01).Heart rate fluctuations were significantly less in group B than in group A(t=4.417,P0.01).For good and excellent rates of CTCA imaging quality,group A was 82.08%(2134/2600),group B was 88.19%(2293/2600)(χ2=3.82,P0.01).Conclusion Heart rate-time curve in training could be used to optimize the scanning.The use of heart rate-time curve is effective in controlling heart rate during scanning,reducing the heart rate fluctuations and improving the imaging quality of CTCA.


This study aimed to investigate how the quantitative methodology has been employed in research on "the inherent characteristics of entrepreneurs." Specifically, we analyze the Brazilian production exposedat the National Meeting of Anpad( EnANPAD ) over 10 years, since 2003, year of the creationof aspecific space for production in entrepreneurship, by 2012. Among the 279 articles on entrepreneurship published in EnANPADin these 10 years,a purposive sample of 28 articles was analyzed. At first abstracts, introductions and objectives were analyzed for the classification of subjects and subsequently proceeded to the detailed analysis of the employedmethods in the studies.In order to provide an analysis that indicates how to characterize the entrepreneurshipstudies on in Brazil in present, the moreaddressed issuein the field of entrepreneurship were investigated to evaluate the use of quantitative methodology, also justified, as target of this investigation, by being the main method used in the studies on the subject . The study allowsto identify methodological tools which are suitable to investigate the inherent characteristics of entrepreneurs and how these resources were used. The level of quality required for publication in EnANPAD collaborates to say about the viability of the search strategies outlined in this study. There is also a contribution to the delimitation of the object of research in the field of entrepreneurship, especially in Brazil.


A tale of border warfare, military and erotic, set in the Ettrick Forest in the 23rd century. Wat Dryhope, son of the Ettrick chief, is unhappy with his clan's violent and permissive lifestyle. Only when challenged by the seductive Delilah Puddock does he learn to embrace the traditional values.


Correction for 'Enzyme and voltage stimuli-responsive controlled release system based on β-cyclodextrin-capped mesoporous silica nanoparticles' by Yu Xiao et al., Dalton Trans., 2015, 44, 4355-4361.


This paper presents functional composition (FC) as a new paradigm for combinational logic synthesis. FC uses a bottomup approach to synthesize Boolean functions, allowing to know the costs of intermediate sub-functions and to explore a larger number of different candidate combinations. These are advantages when compared to top-down nature of functional decomposition. FC presents great flexibility to implement algorithms with optimal or suboptimal results for different applications. Examples include exact factoring, factoring considering also the exclusive-OR operator, synthesis considering only majority and inverter functions. The proposed strategy presents good results for synthesis of Boolean functions targeting very different technologies.


A framework for sensor driven condition based generator maintenance scheduling was proposed in Part I of this paper. In Part II, we extend the previous model by incorporating the unit commitment and dispatch into the optimal maintenance scheduling problem. We reformulate this extended maintenance scheduling problem as a two-stage mixed integer program. We use this reformulation to construct an algorithm that obtains the global optimal solution to the proposed generator maintenance problem. Finally, we test and analyze the proposed model through extensive experiments conducted on IEEE-118 bus system. For every experiment, we present a benchmark analysis against the maintenance models used in current industry practice and power systems literature. Experimental results indicate that the proposed maintenance schedules provide considerable improvements in both cost and reliability.


An electrochemical membrane cell which selectively removes H 2 S from hot gas streams appears close to commercial application. In the present study alternative cathode materials are tested for performance and stability in gases with and without H 2 S. Several candidates show strongly preferential kinetics for H 2 S reduction over other gas-phase reactants pressent in much higher concentrations. Cobalt sulfide is the best of the metal-based materials and, of the ceramic oxides, lanthanum strontium chromium oxide is also promising


Julia Mayer reports from South Korea's reborn film festival, which this year presented an impressive cross-section of films - from fiction to documentary, from the traditional to the experimental, and from the local to the truly International.


--In connection with the status of the social contradictions in China, This article attempts to stage the evolution of the social contradictions in the positioning of both quantitative and qualitative (disappearance and transformation). Through the analysis of the evolution of social contradictions, the process of evolution will be divided into five stages (embryo, development, turbulence, intensification and disappearance and transformation), and thus determine the characteristics and critical point of each stage as well as the standards of evolution. Eventually build a description of the evolution of mechanism of social contradictions. Key wordssocial contradictions; group events; evolution model; evolution stage; evolution mechanism At present our country is in intense economic and social transition period, such as institutional transition、rapid economic development、 social stratification and so on, which cause a variety of social contradictions highlighted [1]. Dramatic changes in social structure, leading to new social contradictions have emerged. In recent years the number of mass emergencies is increasing rapidly, and it's scale constantly expanded, also the area of occurrence is spreading. At the same time, a part of the social contradictions have the tendency of non-economic benefits demands of transformation, such as political demands. In the social development process, the contradictions of accumulation highlighted. On the one hand, the old structure and institutions left over from conflict did not resolved in time, on the other hand, under the new situation emerging conflicts are also increasing. Because of the distinct formation of various social contradictions and its underlying causes, so the solution of the contradiction is not the same, showing different patterns. Contradictions are bound to have its common discipline, it's necessary to have a clear understanding of the evolution stage and mechanisms of social contradiction for solving and mitigating the social conflicts. Differences in the implementation of control measures will be taken in different stages and paths of social contradictions, and even using the positive role of social contradictions to avoid the negative and even harmful stage and path. Taken in advance, going on and afterwards measures to control hazards of social conflicts, and safeguard social stability, in order to lay the foundation for building a 1 According to statistics, the number of mass incidents in 2006 declined than 2005. harmonious society, promote the healthy development of China's social and economy. This article includes three parts. The first part analysis the evolution stages of social contradictions, and the author divided the evolution processes of social contradictions into five stages according the operation rules of social contradictions, then make depth analysis of the specific characteristics of the evolution stages. The second part researches the mechanism of evolution of social contradictions. The last part comes to the conclusion after researching the evolution stages and mechanism of social contradictions. 1、Analysis of the evolution stages of social contradictions Heraclitus first discussed the power of contradictions, forming related concepts of contradictions. Hegel expounded the dialectics profoundly, in particular the law of the unity of opposites, and emphasized the universality of the existence contradiction in the "Logic", beyond the opinion of Heraclitus, and first made the division of contradictions. But, Hegel's deep thought was shrouded by the idealism's mystery cloak. Then Marx amended Hegel's contradiction theory of idealism and stood on the height of materialism to analysis contradictions. On the beginning of last century, Mao Zedong combined with China's national conditions to make a profound contradiction theory, according comprehensive analysis of the contradictions. More than 30 years of reform and opening up, economic and social transformation cause social contradictions showing new features. The social class evolved into the current multiple classes co-exist from the simple "both add a class"(from Lu xueyi's opinions, our country can be divided into 10 classes). Classes are intertwined that form network-like relationships, which make the formation and evolution mode of contradictions diversify [2]. The author divides the social contradictions' processes of existence into five stages through synthesize the quantitative change of evolution process of social contradictions and the qualitative change of disappearance and transformation. For grasping and using the contradictions as well as setting up early warning indicator system, careful analysis of the main characteristics and performance of each stage can provide a theoretical foundation. The following five stages of social contradictions can be analyzed in-depth separately: This paper is the previous research of the "Study on Early-warning Index and Early-warning Mechanism" from the NSTC . We acknowledge the financial support from NSFC. Also thank the members of the discussion group. Certainly, the authors take the responsibilities. 978-1-4244-4639-1/09/$25.00 ©2009 IEEE


Conception of hull form and propulsion design of river-sea ships essentially depends on the restrictions of specific inland waterways. River-sea ships of the Northern Black Sea were historically designed for operation through the locks of European inland waterways of the former Soviet Union. River-sea vessels of the late Soviet Union were designed as simple and technological. After dramatic economical changes the ships of new generation acquired completely different features of general and propulsion design. The vessels had unusually full hull forms and azimuthal thrusters. As is shown in the paper, the full hull forms have sound economic grounds for the considered ship type. However, azimuthal thrusters have controversial features and are not non-alternative. Based on analysis of previous and current propulsion solutions their further development is proposed within the considered ship type. Hull forms designed with specially developed CFD methods are recommended as a further step toward propulsion optimality.


S— Kar I.58 Effect of Streptomycin on Vestibular Function. J. R. Bignall, |. \V. C'rofton and J. A. B. Thomas. ( E s o p h a g u s . . . . . . . . . . 4 5 8 Spontaneous Rupture of the ("Esophagus. T. A. Griinson. Trachea and Bronchi . . . . . . . . 450 Endobronchial Lipoma : Report of Case. John C. Carlisle, William V. Leary and John R. McDonald. Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . 460 Malignancy in Adenomas of the Thyroid. F. H. Lahey and H. F. Hare. For Advertisement space in this Journal apply to : HEADLEY BROTHERS Ltd, 109 Kingsway London W C 2 Please mention The Journal of Laryngology when replying to advertisements


The aim of the invention is to provide a correcting variable for controlling a moment regulator (20) in an electrical vehicle steering system (2) with a high level of precision, and in a more simple manner than known methods and devices. To this end, an actual torque rod moment (MD) is detected, a differential moment is formed from a pre-determined nominal torque rod moment (MD,ref) and the actual torque rod moment (MD), and the correcting variable is determined by means of an output feedback regulator according to the differential moment.


For studing the Tie break situation,In lifting,trolley agency joint start,smooth operation and braking of complex operating conditions on the quayside container cranes rod system,the virtual prototype model of rigid body dynamics and rigid-flexible coupling dynamic simulation,and simulation of the curve after the results are reasonable and effective data analysis.The resultes Provide reference datas for resolving the quayside container cranes rod system's fracture.


We use a random time parameter bivariate probit to estimate individual time preferences using exponential and hyperbolic discounting forms for agricultural producers making an irrigation investment. The standard deviation estimate of the random time parameter suggests that there is substantial unobserved heterogeneity in time preferences across farmers. We control for time preference heterogeneity by making the time parameter a function of farm and personal characteristics. Using multiple irrigation techniques correlates with producers who are less patient for the investment. Education or participation in a government cost-share program for a similar irrigation investment correlates with greater patience by producers.


The book, Monad to Man: The Concept of Progress in Evolutionary Biology, is a detailed inquiry into the influence of the idea of progress on conceptions of biological evolution. By "progress" Michael Ruse means three things: (1) social and political progress (Ruse dubs it capital P Progress), which for the most part consists of ideals, practices, and institutions urged by middle-class reformers (and working-class revolutionaries) against their aristocratic and clerical enemies, usually with the suggestion that something "bigger and deeper" than sheer effort is driving us toward these sorts of improvement; (2) biological progress, which can be absolute or comparative-absolute when someone says, for example, that humans are in some sense better than amoebas, or indeed than other members of the genus Homo; comparative when one believes, with Darwin, that if earlier species were placed in the same competitive environment with recent ones the former "would be beaten hollow and exterminated" (letter to Hooker, December 31, 1858, quoted by Ruse, p, 151); and (3) scientific progress, that is, improvement in understanding the objective nature of the world by way of systematic disinterested inquiry. Ruse's thesis is that, until recently, there has been a high correlation between the belief of prominent evolutionists in Progress (1) and their picture of life as progressing (2) absolutely-too high a correlation, in fact, to inspire much confidence that evolutionary inquiry has been sufficiently buffered from the intrusion of "cultural values" to permit progress in sense (3). I say "until recently" because Ruse claims that things have changed for the better. Scientific progress (3) is now being made in evolutionary work. This is not, Ruse believes, because prominent evolutionists (as contrasted, say, with downbeat contemporary humanists) no longer believe in Progress (1). Ruse reports that they generally do, if only because they are keen on the role of science in bringing it about. Nor is progress being made, Ruse says, because evolutionists have finally shucked off the myth of biological progress (2). Among many evolutionists, Ruse finds a somewhat hidden, but nonetheless real commitment to absolute, as well as to comparative, progress of this sort. No, evolutionary science now makes steady scientific progress (3), Ruse argues, because professional standards of scientific inquiry, and the epistemic values that go with


Objective To explore the therapeutic effect of surgical decompression of peripheral nerves in combination with traditional Chinese medicine in treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Methods A total of 343 patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy in lower extremities were randomly divided into 3 groups. 114 cases in trial group were treated by surgical decompression of peripheral nerves combined with BuYang HuanWu Decoction(BYHWD or SiMiao YunAn Decoction(SMYAD) in order to cure their diabetic peripheral neuropathy,recover the function of their feet and relieve the symptoms of numbness and paresthesia. B) 115 cases in control group were only treated with surgical decompression of peripheral nerves. 114 cases in routine treatment group were only treated with BYHWD or SiMiao YunAn Decoction in order to restore their sensation,relieve pain and prevent ulceration and amputation in diabetes mellitus patients with DPN. The curative effects of these 3 groups were compared and statistically analyzed by using SPSS 12. 0 software. Results The surgical decompression of peripheral nerves combined with BYHWD or SMYAD could relieve the symptom of pain in 94. 7% of patients and restore the function of sensation in lower extremities in 97. 4% of patients. Conclusion Surgical decompression of peripheral nerves combined with BYHWD or SMYAD may significantly improve the therapeutic effect,hence it had been proved its efficacy in treatment of diabetic patients with DPN. Long-term follow-up showed that the course of disease can be changed by combination of surgical decompression of peripheral nerves and traditional Chinese medicine,and the result of treatment is perfect.


Abstract Background: In patients diagnosed with rectal cancer, dose escalation is currently being investigated in a large number of studies. Since there is little known on gross tumor volume (GTV) inter-fraction motion for rectal cancer, a wide variety in margins is used. Purpose of this study is to quantify GTV inter-fraction motion statistics on different timescales and to give estimates of planning target volume (PTV) margins. Material and methods: Thirty-two patients, diagnosed with rectal cancer, were included. To investigate motion from week-to-week, 16 patients underwent a pretreatment and five weekly MRIs, prior to a radiotherapy (RT) fraction of the chemoradiotherapy treatment. To investigate motion from day-to-day, the remaining 16 patients underwent five daily MRIs before each fraction in one week of RT. GTV was delineated on all scans according to guidelines. Scans were aligned on bony anatomy with the first MRI. For both datasets separately, GTV inter-fraction motion was determined based on center-of-gravity displacement. Therefrom, systematic and random errors were determined in left/right (LR), anterior/posterior and cranial/caudal (CC) direction. PTV margin estimates were calculated and evaluated on GTV coverage. Results: Systematic and random errors were found in the range of 2.3–4.8 mm and 1.5–3.3 mm from week-to-week, and 1.8–4.5 mm and 1.8–4.0 mm from day-to-day, respectively. On both timescales, similar motion patterns were found; the most motion was observed in CC whilst the least motion was observed in LR. On the week-to-week data more systematic and less random motion was observed compared to the day-to-day data. Overall, only slight differences in margin estimates were found. Derived PTV margin estimates were found to give adequate GTV coverage. Conclusion: GTV inter-fraction motion, on a week-to-week and day-to-day timescale, can be accounted for using motion statistics presented in this study.


Lee Scott interviewed on the topic of his digital-based web opera, 'The Village'. Interview posted on the ASMR University blog.


The Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria is known for success in business and entrepreneurship. Through an apprenticeship scheme known as Igba-boi, people from this ethnic group have dominated and continued to excel above their contemporaries from other ethnic groups in the country and beyond. This article profiles the "Igba-boi" scheme and comes up with a model on how to improve it. A survey research design grounded on a qualitative method was used. Purposive sampling technique was used to identify individuals with in-depth knowledge about this approach for one-on-one interview and focus group discussion in selected regions of Nigeria. The data analyses were performed using Atlas. ti v8, through thematic approach. Findings reveal the approach involves three main stages: the talent identification, the learning stage and the settlement/start-off stage. The parents/guidance helps identify their children's entrepreneurship ambition and provide capacity building such as sourcing a mentor. The child indicates interest of entrepreneurship and accepts to pursue the career at early stage. Potential mentor/entrepreneur takes the child through the training process and in the end provides support to establish and individually innovation. In light of discrepancies during settlement of apprentices after a successful completion of training, the study recommends legal involvement in the process. It will be appropriate for the government to use the approach as a resource for entrepreneurship capacity building. The approach should be improved as pedagogy in institutions of learning to spur entrepreneurship spirit amongst the youths.


Generative models have made immense progress in recent years, particularly in their ability to generate high quality images. However, that quality has been difficult to evaluate rigorously, with evaluation dominated by heuristic approaches that do not correlate well with human judgment, such as the Inception Score and Frechet Inception Distance. Real human labels have also been used in evaluation, but are inefficient and expensive to collect for each image. Here, we present a novel method to automatically evaluate images based on their quality as perceived by humans. By not only generating image embeddings from Inception network activations and comparing them to the activations for real images, of which other methods perform a variant, but also regressing the activation statistics to match gold standard human labels, we demonstrate 66% accuracy in predicting human scores of image realism, matching the human inter-rater agreement rate. Our approach also generalizes across generative models, suggesting the potential for capturing a model-agnostic measure of image quality. We open source our dataset of human labels for the advancement of research and techniques in this area.


Unfair stock trading strategies have been shown to be one of the most negative perceptions that customers can have concerning trading and may result in long-term losses for a company. Investment banks usually place trading orders for multiple clients with the same target assets but different order sizes and diverse requirements such as time frame and risk aversion level, thereby total earning and individual earning cannot be optimized at the same time. Orders executed earlier would affect the market price level, so late execution usually means additional implementation cost. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme that utilizes multi-agent reinforcement learning systems to derive stock trading strategies for all clients which keep a balance between revenue and fairness. First, we demonstrate that Reinforcement learning (RL) is able to learn from experience and adapt the trading strategies to the complex market environment. Secondly, we show that the Multi-agent RL system allows developing trading strategies for all clients individually, thus optimizing individual revenue. Thirdly, we use the Generalized Gini Index (GGI) aggregation function to control the fairness level of the revenue across all clients. Lastly, we empirically demonstrate the superiority of the novel scheme in improving fairness meanwhile maintaining optimization of revenue.


A rotating machine consists of many components, and the bearing is one of the key components in it. The health condition of the bearing directly affects the safe operation of the rotating machine and also inhibits the catastrophic loss to other components. To receive high-quality goods and services from these machines, their proper functioning requires intelligent and effective bearing diagnosis. Sound signal heard by a human is an important indicator of the faults in various components of the bearing. In the present work, a Head and Torso Simulator (HATS) has been used to capture the sound signal data from various conditions of fault in the bearing to mimic the natural hearing of human beings. After that, the acquired sound signal data was processed to get the Mel spectrogram of different bearing conditions and then put as input to a designed Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for the intelligent diagnosis. The accuracy range of 97.11 % - 99.93 % is obtained in the case of left ear data, and this range for right ear data is 97.43 % - 99.97 %. The obtained results signify the robustness of the proposed method in the intelligent diagnosis of faults in the bearing at different speeds and load conditions.


In the article the author explores a special role of spiritual potential and labor relations. In the context of spiritual po-tential, the article focuses on the concept of spiritual lead-ership necessary for sustainable development of society, provides practical conclusions and recommendations to enhance spiritual potential of our population for the har-monious and sustainable development of our society, the country and the region as a whole.


Introduced in 2005 as a new AI Challenge and Competition, general game playing has quickly evolved into an established research area. More recently it is also gaining popularity as a useful addition to AI curricula at universities around the world. The first part of this paper will survey the research landscape of general game playing, which covers a broad range of classic AI topics, including knowledge representation, search, planning and learning. The second part will argue that general game playing provides a unique approach to teaching a number of different topics such as problem solving by search, logic, logic programming and planning. The inherent competitive aspect also can be used as a great motivator for students to design and implement their own AI systems.


This special issue of The Journal of Sex Research (JSR) presents papers that shift the gaze of the researcher and the reader from a narrow focus on the acts of sex to include the context within which people carry out their sexual lives. The place of sex is brought to the foreground so that we may understand the broader social and spatial negotiations that not only permit or repress sexuality but also influence how it is expressed. A small number of studies of sexuality and place have already been published in JSR. This special issue brings together a group of papers to demonstrate the range and importance of the issues that are encountered by looking at people in context. (excerpt)


With a theoretical lens of symbolic interactionism and methodological lens of social constructionism, this paper examines the construction of 'Maharashtrian' identity through its various predominant trajectories. Harnessing purely on secondary data, this paper intends to understand and survey the trends in emergence of identity politics in relation to ethnicity, particularly relating to language as one of the factors influencing it along with region and religion, while keeping independence and thereby reorganization of states on linguistic basis in its backdrop. For this, four major phases or movements in Maharashtra's history are discussed that have dramatically influenced the construction of 'Maharashtrian' identity. The paper concludes by suggesting the uniqueness of Maharashtrian identity, especially for Mumbai, where the socio-economic dynamics have been comparatively different than the others regions in Maharashtra.


The Hadong-Sancheong-Hwagae area in the Jirisan province of the Yeongnam massif, Korea, is mainly composed of Precambrian Hadong anorthosite complex (HAC), Precambrian Jirisan metamorphic rock complex (JMRC), Jurassic ∼ Triassic granitoids which intrude them, and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks which unconformably cover them. Lithofacies distribution and tectonic frame of the Precambrian constituent rocks mainly show a NS trend, unlike a general NE trend of those in the Korean Peninsula. To unravel the geological structures associated with the NS-trend tectonic frame which was built in the HAC and JMRC, we researched the structural characteristics of each deformation phase based on the geometric and kinematic features and the forming sequence of rock structures of the multi-deformed HAC and JMRC. The results indicate that the pre-Late Paleozoic geological structures of this area were formed at least through the following three times of ductile deformation phases. The D1 deformation happened due to the large-scale top-to-the SE shearing, and formed sheath or A-type folds and a regional NE trend of tectonic frame in the HAC and JMRC. The D2 deformation occurred under the EW-directed tectonic compression, and formed a regional NS trend of active and passive folds and Hadong ductile shear zone over 2.3 ∼ 1.4 km width, and transposed most of D1 tectonic frame into D1-2 composite tectonic frame. The extensive Hadong shear zone, which was formed in the mylonitization process accompanying the passive


ABSTRACT Malaysia's 2018 election ended more than six decades of dominant party rule by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). Three questions are paramount. How did the opposition finally achieve victory? What did voters who rejected UMNO actually vote for? Finally, what do the answers imply for reform and democratization? We argue that Malaysia is comprised of four distinct identity-based polities, each with a unique electoral dynamic and vision for the country's political future. Using this framework provides valuable insights into UMNO's defeat, which was achieved by making inroads, largely through elite splits, into two arenas that were previously impenetrable for the opposition. One arena remains electorally pivotal and thus exerts a disproportionately large influence on the new government's reform agenda, entrenching the primacy of identity politics and ensuring the continuity of many policies that address ethnic relations. The case illustrates the extensive impact of divided polities and regionalism on democratization.


Studies on foodborne bacteria in hawked fish (Trachurus capensis) were carried out with 200 flesh and 24 surface swab samples collected at various selling points in Jos and surrounding suburbs. The samples were separately cultured in bacteriological broth and agar media. The isolates were identified and their viable counts determined. The analysis gave the following bacteria species: Escherichia coli, 26 (16.8%); Bacillusspecies, 25 (16%); Shigella species, 22 (14.2%); Staphylococcus aureus, 19 (12.6%);Proteus species, 12 (7.7%); Klebsiella species, 8 (5.2%); Neisseria catarrhalis, 6 (3.9%); Staphylococcus epidermidis, 4 (2.6%); Streptococcus faecalis, 4 (2.6%); Enterobacter species, 4 (2.6%); Pseudomonas species, 2 (1.2%); Lactobacillusspecies, 2 (1.2%) and Citrobacter species, 1 (0.6%). These results show the bacteria load species distribution in the hawked fish. The result is quite informative with respect to public health hazard and calls for urgent improvement in sanitation maintenance of good hygiene by food producers, handlers and vendors in the study area as a possible control measure through the processing chain.

 Key words: Foodborne bacteria, Fish, Trachurus capensis, bacterial load, Public Health.


FIELD: chemistry. SUBSTANCE: present invention relates to a method of producing polyester polyols using a hybrid catalyst, comprising a double metal cyanide complex-based catalyst and a cocatalyst. Described is a method for synthesis of polyester polyols containing ether and ester groups by copolymerisation of at least one alkylene oxide with at least one cyclic compound of general formula , where X is selected from a group comprising C=O and CR 1 R 2 , where R 1 and R 2 each represent H and where Y is selected from a group comprising -(CR 3 R 4 ) m and a group , where D is and E is a bond, where m is an integer from 0 to 5 and where R 3 and R 4 are independently selected from a group comprising hydrogen, methylene and alkyl, and where r and s are each equal to 0, t is 2, and where R 9 , R 10 are independently selected from a group comprising hydrogen and alkyl, in the presence of at least one initiator and at least one hybrid catalyst, where said hybrid catalyst comprises at least one double metal cyanide complex-based catalyst (DMC catalyst) and at least one cocatalyst, and said cocatalyst is selected from a group comprising titanium alkoxides, and where the DMC catalyst is present in amount of 5-2000 ppm, while the cocatalyst is present in amount of 1-1000 ppm, each relative to the total weight of the end product. EFFECT: obtaining polyester polyols containing ether and ester groups with uniform distribution thereof on the polymer chain. 5 cl, 2 tbl, 7 ex


SummaryAt his leave from his professorship at the KTU the former co-editor of Bijdragen F. Tillmans was offered a collection of essays on the sacraments by his colleagues of the department of systematic theology. M. Poorthuis presents and reviews this collection in a critical note.


We discuss the optimization aspects of nanofocusing recording probes. In this paper we also research all of the technological aberrations affecting the nanofocused spots. The probe numerical aperture (NA) has been elevated about threefold from 0.72 to 2.15 optimizing the diffraction functions under the full width at half maximum (FWHM) size of 130 nm. The microlens (ML) physical light efficiency is about nine times higher than the values published in previous works. The nanofocused spot is calculated as 25 nm for a micro-laser beam of 8 µm and the diffraction limit is 150 nm using NA = 2.153 for an entire ML diameter over 13 µm. We have obtained nanofocused spots from 20 nm at the geometrical limit and up to 130 nm at the diffraction FWHM size using anti-reflection coatings on both surfaces of the fabricated GaP ML array. The optical power throughput of the nanofocusing probe has been raised 4.0–4.75-fold applying antireflection optimization.


An angular position signal generator includes a rotor and a stator each having an arrangement of salient magnetic poles. The poles on the rotor are all of the same polarity and are spaced at unequal angles around the axis of the rotor. The poles on the stator are identically arranged so that in at least one position of the rotor all the poles are aligned and in at least two other positions only some of the poles are aligned. As the rotor rotates, therefore, the flux flowing between the poles fluctuates and a winding in the flux path produces pulses of different magnitudes at these various positions of the rotor.


The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has long been studying the essential elements of manned planetary exploration and has held several international challenges to encourage the research works related to it. One of them was the NASA Centennial Challenge Programs which started in 2015. Following the second in 2017, the third is currently going on in 2019. Participating "3D-Printed Habitat Challenge", one of the challenges in the second program, this research team designed and developed the 3D printer extruding module for the Lunar Simulant (Korea Hanyang Lunar Simulant-1; KOHLS-1) and the polymer. For optimizing the modul, a cylindrical specimen of Ø 150 × 300 mm volume and a specimen of 200 × 100 × 650 mm volume were manufactured and their compressive and flexural strengths were tested. The findings can help automatize the space construction in the future.


Low back pain is one of the biggest problems in modern world. Different physiotherapy programs are used for its treatment. Lumbar traction, has been used since the time of Hippocrates, but it is still the object of discussion. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of traditional physiotherapy (control group), and traction therapy with TherapiMaster equipment (research group) on treatment of low back pain. Subjects: 40 patients from 34 to 62 years of age with low back pain participated in the study. Methods: static and dynamic trunk muscle endurance, low back pain intensity (according to Numeric Rating Scale, and McGill pain questionnaire), and functional state (according to Roland-Morris questionnaire, and Oswestry disability index) of patients were evaluated. Patients of control group received 14 procedures of traditional physiotherapy. The patients in the research group received 14 procedures of lumbar traction with TerapiMaster equipment and exercises. Conclusions: Physiotherapy procedures improved static and dynamic trunk muscle endurance in both control and research groups (p < 0.01), reduced low back pain (p < 0.01), and improved the patients' functional state in both groups (p < 0.01). The physiotherapy program with lumbar traction had better effect only relieving back pain assessed by McGill pain questionnaire compared to traditional physiotherapy (p < 0.05).Keywords: low back pain, lumbar traction, physiotherapy, Roland-Morris and McGill questionnaires, Oswestry disability index.


The dynamic mathematical models of six channels of six-axis wrist force/torque sensor for robots are built up by the system identification method based on the experimental data of step-response calibrations. The performance indexes of frequency domain are determined, and the dynamic characteristics of the wrist force sensor are described accurately. In order to speed the dynamic responses of the wrist force sensor, the dynamic compensating devices are designed using the method of functional link artificial neural network, and a digital-signal-processor-based real-time dynamic compensation system is developed, which includes six compensating devices. The experimental results show that the adjusting time of dynamic response of the wrist force sensor is reduced to less than 25%.