Federal funding for transit projects is available through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) programs and the Urban Circulator grant program. In order to qualify for these funds, however, a project proposal must pass the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts/Small Starts approval process. For 2011 not one streetcar project been approved because the requirements are inherently difficult for streetcar projects to meet. The Community Streetcar Coalition has proposed reforms to these requirements such as a reduction of emphasis on cost effectiveness and switching focus from commute trips to one that looks at the broader picture of the benefits provided by streetcars.


In this study, the types of faults have been examined in the inductionmotors, which are the most important elements of the industry. Induction motorsare very important part of the industry especially in terms of their ability tooperate smoothly under very heavy working conditions and to adapt quickly tovariable motor loads. Although various types of motors have been developed inrecent years, Convenience of manufacturing and the cost make induction motorsstill more indispensable. Nevertheless, the detection and analysis ofsituations before failing in induction motors are important in terms of labor,production losses, energy costs and efficiency. Therefore, predicting anddetecting faulty in the industry plays an important role in preventing suddenfaults, especially in large powerful and critical motors, reducing maintenancecosts and improving the quality of products. For this reason, it would bebeneficial to know the types of faults that occur in induction motors forusers.


If any person/firm or company wants to make profit for himself he has to satisfy the consumer's needs first, by providing quality goods and services. If only there is a win win situation for the seller and buyer, the quality of products or services improve. Consumers are conscious about their needs now and they get the best from the market because of the competition. For surviving in the market for longer duration, the sellers appease the consumers by giving quality products, services at competitive prices. Advertisements, publicity given through media, satisfied consumers etc only take the companies to newer peaks. Hence consumer is definitely the king. Corporates who have understood this funda satisfy consumer needs and also increase their kitty. Consumer is really the king in the world because the companies are giving most important to the consumer. Before lunching a product they do the market research regarding customer preference then they introduce in market. Moreover the consumer forum in the western part are well developed and maximum number of consumer aware of integrity of consumer forum. In case of India up to certain extent consumers are the king.


The catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) is a very promising process with respect to large scale production of different kinds of carbon nanostructures. By modifying the deposition temperature, the catalyst material and the hydrocarbon nanofibers with herringbone structure, multi-walled nanotubes with tubular structure and single-walled nanotubes were deposited. Furthermore, layers of aligned multi-walled nanotubes could be obtained on oxidized silicon substrates coated with thin sputtered metal layers (Co, permalloy) as well as onto WC-Co hardmetals by using the microwave assisted plasma CVD process (MWCVD). The obtained carbon modifications were characterized by scanning (SEM) and transmission (TEM) electron microscopy. The hydrogen storage capability of the nanofibers and nanotubes and the electron field emission of the nanotube layers was investigated.


The article presents the analysis of semantics and word-building patterns of adverbs of time, and refl ections of environment perception in the dialects of Oryol region.


Objective: To explore the clinical effect of subconjunctival injection with 5-Fu DEX for anterior membrane ofintraocular lens.Methods: After transplantation of intraocular lens, 10patients(10 eyes) with anterior membrane were administeredsubconjuntival injection with 5- Fu DEX.Results: The melt absorption of membrane occurredin one week after the management. Follow- ups were performed and recurrences were not observed in 3 months.Patients' vision were all above 0. 7.Conclusions: Subconjunctival injection with 5 - Fu DEX is a secure,efficient means to patients who suffer fromanterior memlerane after transplantation of intraocalor lens.


We report the design and synthesis of catalyst for electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide, where the high geometric current of metal electrode and the excellent selectivity of molecular catalysts are combined. This was achieved by the construction of molecularly defined interface, here we term as MDI. Specifically, porous polymer networks (PPNs) based on tetrakis-5,10,15,20-(4-aminophenyl) porphyrin (H2TAPP) were directly synthesized by electrochemical oxidation deposition on electrode. The thickness of this polymer layer was precisely controlled from 20 to 120 nm by the number of voltammetry cycles. The formation of MDI, composed of the amine linked polymer and Au electrode, was evidenced by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR). This interface was endowed with abundant amino groups and Au atoms, which provided excellent catalytic performance for electrochemical reduction of CO2 (CO2RR). Specifically, 95% of...


Voxelotor (previously GBT440) is a haemoglobin (Hb) modulator that increases Hb‐oxygen affinity, thereby reducing Hb polymerization and sickling of red blood cells (RBCs), being developed as a once‐daily oral drug to treat sickle cell disease (SCD). This first‐in‐human study evaluated the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of voxelotor in healthy volunteers and SCD patients.


This paper proposes and evaluates a model-driven performance engineering framework for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The proposed framework, called Moppet, is designed for application developers to rapidly implement WSN applications and estimate their performance. It leverages the notion of feature modeling so that it allows developers to graphically and intuitively specify features (e.g., functionalities and configuration policies) in their applications. It also validates a set of constraints among features and generates application code. Moppet also uses event calculus in order to estimate a WSN application's performance without generating its code nor running it on simulators and real networks. Currently, it can estimate power consumption and lifetime of each sensor node. Experimental results show that, in a small-scale WSN of 16 iMote nodes, Moppet's average performance estimation error is 8%. In a large-scale simulated WSN of 400 nodes, its average estimation error is 2%. Moppet scales well to the network size with respect to estimation accuracy. Moppet generates lightweight nesC code that can be deployed with TinyOS on resource-limited nodes. The current experimental results show that Moppet is well-applicable to implement biologically-inspired routing protocols such as pheromone-based gradient routing protocols and estimate their performance.


The Multi-Mode Resource Constrains Project Scheduling Problem (MRCPSP) tries to find the best sequence of activities in a manner that involves more than one type of operating mode and in the presence of resource constraints, project's precedence constraints must be satisfied. In each execution mode, the amount of resources and execution time are specified and different. In The Preemptive multi-mode Resource Constraints Project Scheduling Problem (P-MRCPSP), each operating mode activity can be interrupted and restarted at any time without any extra cost. In this paper, minimizing the completion time along with maximizing the current net value of the project in the P-MRCPSP are considered. After solving the problem by using Epsilon limits method, according to NP-hard problem and multi-objective model, multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) has been developed to achieve optimum scheduling. In order to evaluate the proposed method's efficiency, results have been compared to non-dominance genetic algorithm sorting (NSGAII) based on designed indicators. The Taguchi method has been used in experimental design, to adjust these two algorithms' parameters. The results of the model solution show the strength of MOPSO algorithm.


The invention relates to a kind of dairy product, specifically a lactobacillus beverage containing gamma-propalanine and its production method. The product comprises 0.1-0.5% of gamma-propalanine and the other percentage of lactobacillus beverage by weight. The raw material includes the lactobacillus beverage produced by natural pollution-free fresh milk and gamma-propalanine produced by physical process; the unique adding process promotes effective combination and cooperation effect of gamma-propalanine in lactobacillus beverage, so that the lactobacillus beverage has abundant nutrient as well as special health-care function, and mainly has physical fatigue alleviating function.


Introduce the electroshock penetration,mechanism of vacuum induction furnace,analysis the reasons of it and put forword the methods to pvevent electroshock penetration.


As device shrink, there are many difficulties with process integration and device yield. Lithography process control is expected to be a major challenge due to tighter overlay and focus control requirement. The understanding and control of stresses accumulated during device fabrication has becoming more critical at advanced technology nodes. Within-wafer stress variations cause local wafer distortions which in turn present challenges for managing overlay and depth of focus during lithography. A novel technique for measuring distortion is Coherent Gradient Sensing (CGS) interferometry, which is capable of generating a high-density distortion data set of the full wafer within a time frame suitable for a high volume manufacturing (HVM) environment. In this paper, we describe the adoption of CGS (Coherent Gradient Sensing) interferometry into high volume foundry manufacturing to overcome these challenges. Leveraging this high density 3D metrology, we characterized its In-plane distortion as well as its topography capabilities applied to the full flow of an advanced foundry manufacturing. Case studies are presented that summarize the use of CGS data to reveal correlations between in-plane distortion and overlay variation as well as between topography and device yield.


A study examining the effect of artificial tear instillation on contrast sensitivity found that, in patients with dry eye a temporary loss with initial use disappears as the treatment is continued. Further investigations are evaluating if the finding reflects a benefit on the tear layer.


The author describes how radar, radio control and inertial-guidance systems helped improve the accuracy of both offensive and defensive weaponry during World War II. The inaccuracy of Britain's bombing efforts at the beginning of the war, as well as the need to attack ships and submarines, and to aim and control antiaircraft guns on land, at sea, and in the air motivated these technologies. A sketch of their development, beginning in 1940, is provided. Guided-missile technology that began during the war is discussed.


Discussion of limits to ruminant digestion of plant cell walls largely focuses on the lignification and chemical nature of these walls. We examined the anatomical limitations to digestion of thick-walled fiber particles in grasses. Estimates were made of wall surface area to cell wall volume ratio (SA/CWV), rate of bacterial digestion, and accessibility to bacteria for different types of cell walls. The analysis reveals the following: (i) Bacterial digestion of fiber cells can progress only from the interior (lumen) surface because their middle lamella-primary wall region is consistently found to he indigestible. (ii) Because of secondary wall thickness (c. 1-5 μm), we calculate that at best only 0.45 to 0.60 μm of wall thickness (as little as 20% of the wall in some cells) would he digested within the average residence time of fiber particles in the rumen assuming digestion of wall at the fast rate of 0.02 μm h −1 . (iii) This potential rate of wall digestion overestimates that of typical fiber particles in the rumen because these particles are comprised of many hundreds of cells and relatively few will be disrupted by chewing to give bacteria immediate access to cell lumens. (iv) Digestion of thick-walled cells by bacteria is surface-based and sclerenchyma cells have a particularly low SA/CWV ratio. Calculated ratios for single cells are sclerenchyma (1:5) < stem parenchyma (1.9: 1) < mesophyll (6.7 to 13.3:1). (v) During digestion of secondary walls, an accumulation of toxic levels of phenolic monomers in cell lumens and at the digesting surface is unlikely, but more slowly diffusing phenolic-carbohydrate complexes could reach concentrations toxic to bacteria. The structural limitations described are discussed in relation to future research directions


The in situ attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FTIR) [1-3], dating back to the 90s' of last decades, is the most powerful approach to real time character the oxygen-containing group on the catalyst during the electrochemical reduction CO2 reaction. The FTIR offers platform for tackle the greenhouse effect steming form continuous increase of CO2 emissions. Though the monitoring real time the attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of the catalyst and intermediate products separately, we can acquire the information of the intermediate products and variation condition of the reaction system and gain strong evident for further analysis. Therefore, the FTIR possesses the advantages of comprehensive, real-time and high sensitivity [4,5].


With a straight-line growth of construction and network access in new energy plant stations, security threats of power stations also become more and more prominent [1-5]. For the safety inspection of new energy plant stations in Gansu province in 2016 and 2017 [6-9], 21 and 16 internet violations were detected, which brought huge security threats to the plant stations. At the same time, it also ringed alarm bells of safety protection for new energy plant station [10-11]. Therefore, we designed an efficient network boundary security monitoring technology to protect the stations.


Faraday's law (or flux rule) is beautiful in its simplicity, but difficulties are often encountered when applying it to specific situations, particularly those where points making contact to extended conductors move over finite time intervals. These difficulties have led some to challenge the generality of the flux rule. The challenges are usually coupled with the claim that the Lorentz force law is general, even though proofs have been given of the equivalence of the two for calculating instantaneous emfs in well-defined filamentary circuits. I review a rule for applying Faraday's law, which says that the circuit at any instant must be fixed in a conducting material and must change continuously. The rule still leaves several choices for choosing the circuit. To explicate the rule, it will be applied to several challenges, including one by Feynman.


This paper deals with the application of under-deck cable-staying systems and combined cable-staying systems to prestressed concrete road bridges with multiple spans of medium length. Schemes using under-deck cable-staying systems are not suitable for continuous bridges, as they are not efficient under traffic live load and only allow for the compensation of permanent load. However, combined cable-staying systems are very efficient for continuous bridges and enable the design of very slender decks (1/100th of span) where the amount of materials used is halved in comparison with conventional schemes without stay cables. In this paper, the substantial advantages provided by combined cable-staying systems for continuous bridges (such as high structural efficiency, varied construction possibilities, both economic and aesthetical benefits, and landscape integration) are set out. Finally, design criteria are included.


One of the most important problems of probiotics production is the development of non-waste technologies, in particular, usage of microbial cultures fugate. In conventional technology, it must be disposed of after the intensive heat treatment in drains. The fugate does not contain bacteria, but rather products of their metabolism and biosynthesis, which may have therapeutic, preventive and growth-stimulating effects. The above mentioned fact shows the relevance of the development of non-waste technology of feed probiotics of the genus Bacillus and their metabolites. In al-Farabi Kazakh National University, at Biotechnology Department of Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology were obtained experimental samples of probiotic feed additives – SUBACIL. SUBACIL-1 is lyophilized biomass of Bacillus subtilis P-2 containing 9х1012 spores in 1g. SUBACIL-2 is a combined feed probiotic comprising metabolites of B.subtilis P-2 immobilized on sunflower meal with addition of soya flour hydrolyzate. In this study was investigated the impact of feed additives SUBACIL-1 and SUBACIL-2 for growing of broiler chickens, in accordance with the following factors: changes of body weight, average daily gain and safety of the birds. The addition SUBACIL-1 of feeding for broilers increases the productivity of poultry meat by 11%, SUBACIL-2 – 9%. The use of new additives during the growing period is accompanied by the increase in average daily gain. When using of SUBACIL-1 daily gain is by 9.7% more than that of control group and 2.4% while using of SUBACIL-2. The introduction of these additives allows gaining 90% (SUBACIL-1) and 85% (SUBACIL-2) preservation of livestock. The greatest efficiency index was 214.94.


In this study, the important term of "Days in Milk (DIM)", this is equivalent meaning in Turkish terms like "Sagimda Gecen Gun (SGG)" was emphasized in terms of dairy cattle. In this scope, it was expressed that averaged days in milk (  should be 160-170 days in well-managed herds. However, it is emphasized that this value is about 250 days in Turkey dairy cattle breeder's conditions and is in an undesirable level. It is expressed that it corresponds to a calving interval of about 1.5 years in Turkey dairy cattle breeders and that it corresponds to a calving interval of about 1.5 years in Turkey dairy cattle breeders and that milk yields of farms is below what it should be too.


Objective This study aimed to investigate the association between the use of isotretinoin and the risk of depression in patients with acne. Design This was a meta-analysis in which the standardised mean difference (SMD) and the relative risk (RR) were used for data synthesis employing the random-effects model. Setting Studies were identified via electronic searches of PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library from inception up to 28 December 2017. Participants Patients with acne. Interventions Studies comparing isotretinoin with other interventions in patients with acne were included. Results Twenty studies were selected. The analysis of 17 studies showed a significant association of the use of isotretinoin with improved symptoms compared with the baseline before treatment (SMD = −0.33, 95% CI −0.51 to −0.15, p<0.05; I 2=76.6%, p<0.05)). Four studies were related to the analysis of the risk of depression. The pooled data indicated no association of the use of isotretinoin with the risk of depressive disorders (RR=1.15, 95% CI 0.60 to 2.21, p=0.14). The association of the use of isotretinoin with the risk of depressive disorders was statistically significant on pooling retrospective studies (RR=1.39, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.84, p=0.02), but this association was not evident on pooling prospective studies (RR=0.85, 95% CI 0.60 to 2.21, p=0.86). Conclusions This study suggested an association of the use of isotretinoin in patients with acne with significantly improved depression symptoms. Future randomised controlled trials are needed to verify the present findings.


An electrical interlock device, having a rotatable shaft and a locking lever operated grounding switch is operated, the operating shaft facing the movement path of the circuit breaker being erected along the moving direction, one end of the locking lever is fixed in the middle of the operation shaft , when the rotation direction of the ground operating shaft, the other end of the lock lever projecting into the path of movement, the axial direction when the rotational operation of releasing the ground, the other end of the locking lever is withdrawn from the path of movement. The present invention can reliably prevent the circuit breaker is moved to the ON position, and does not affect the life of the ground switch operating mechanism.


Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) injuries to recreationists in national parks have primarily involved campers who were confronted by bears that had learned to associate human presence with available food and hikers who surprised females with young (Mundy and Flook 1973, Herrero 1976). Most hikers were injured by bears that charged. Females with young were involved in at least 28 of the 38 injuries to hikers in North American national parks prior to 1974, and in 10 of the 11 injuries to hikers in Glacier National Park (GNP), Montana, prior to 1975. Females with young comprise only 16-20% of a grizzly bear population (calculated from Craighead et al. 1974:7; Martinka 1974:24; Herrero 1976:124). Lone adult and subadult grizzly bears have also charged and injured hikers in GNP. Ten of 12 injuries to hikers during 1975-1981 involved subadult or lone adult bears. During that time, park managers also became concerned (Glacier Nat. Park 1981) about an increasing number of injuries to humans (Martinka 1982) and less wary behavior by grizzly bears (McArthur Jope 1983). Several authors suggested that the increased number of injuries to hikers may be a direct result of bears' lack of fear of humans (Schneider 1980, Martinka 1982, McCullough 1982). McCullough (1982) believed that frequent, innocuous contacts between people and bears can create "problem" bears without a food reinforcement (Fig. 1). Schneider (1980) considered the solution to be to maintain, or reinstate, this fear without mortally wounding bears. This paper identifies factors that influence the responses of grizzly bears to hikers and


Introduction: School Physical Education presents itself as an interesting instrument in the improvement of physical, motor, and executive functions domains in children. Recent studies indicate the positive relationship of increased motor behavior and physical fitness with gains in executive function capacities, all these capacities can be developed in School Physical Education. It is known about the benefit of School Physical Education in child development, but it is still necessary to investigate whether the number of School Physical Education classes can influence these aspects. Objective: To verify the effect of the number of physical education classes in school on anthropometric, physical, motor and cognitive indicators. Methods: this is a descriptive cross-sectional study. Three random visits were carried out on the school premises to apply the research instruments, divided into three blocks. 1) Attention cancellation test and Test of lanes A and B (collectively applied); 2) Intermittent recovery test - level 1 (Yo-Yo IR1); 3) Anamnesis, body composition and Körperkoordination für Kinder (KTK) test. Results: children who participated in two weekly Physical Education classes at school achieved lower values of body composition and greater motor domains and cognitive flexibility compared to children who attended only one weekly class. Conclusion: the number of physical education classes in which the child is inserted showed to influence body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness, motor coordination and cognitive flexibility. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study, which did not allow extrapolating the results in a situation of cause and effect, but it demonstrated that the number of school physical education classes offered to children can interfere with the capacity of cardiorespiratory fitness, motor coordination and cognitive flexibility and lower anthropometric indices.


Abstract Annealing of a polyisoprene-based elastomer can resuit in significant changes in its failure properties, the nature of which depends on the deformation of the rubber during the annealing. Although a deterioration of properties from low-strain annealing and improved performance from high-strain annealing may be contrary to intuition, the mechanisms which underlie these annealing effects are well known. The behavior described herein simply represents other manifestations of these phenomena. These alterations in performance, moreover, are readily induced at strains within the range of conventional fatigue and crackgrowth experimentation, and thus demonstrate some of the difficulties in relating laboratory characterizations to the performance of materials in other environments.


This report analyzes the limitations of four kinds of design program for PIVAs in hospital, then consider that the quality of design programs for PIVAs are different in different places. Finally the report appeals to build-up of a universal standard that benefits the development of PIVAs in China.


As a researcher, she thrives on collaborations with cross-disciplinary partners in the US, China, Mexico, Haiti, Canada, and the DR Congo. Her publications help to build evidence on youth mental health and early childhood development in low-and-middle-income countries. She has been awarded two Fulbright research grants for her work in China and Mexico, a Stanford Maternal and Child Health grant and a Stanford Global Health Seed Grant.


Standard Free-Form Deformations (FFD) built upon tensor-product B-Splines have been proved useful to model the warp between two views of a deformable surface. In this paper, we show that the standard FFD is the affine projection of a threedimensional tensor-product B-Spline surface. We construct a new tensor-product warp relying on Non-Uniform Cubic B-Spline: the NURBS-Warp. We show that this new warp is an extension of the standard FFD that describes the perspective camera model. We propose algorithms that compute the parameters of a NURBS-Warp from point correspondences. Our NURBS-Warp is compared to the standard FFD warp for both synthetic and real images. These experiments show that our NURBS-Warp gives better results than the other warps, especially when the perspective effects are important.


A process for preparing water dispersible multifunctional polycarbodiimides in for use as crosslinking agents, comprising: A. reacting a mono- and / or polyisocyanate to 80-180 ° C in the presence of 0.05 to 5 weight percent of carbodiimide catalyst, in which a polycarbodiimide or isocyanate functional polycarbodiimide is formed with a mean value of 1-10 carbodiimide functions B. finish and / or extending the polycarbodiimide chain with isocyanate functionality, during or after the formation of the polycarbodiimide chain by the addition of 0.05 to 1.0 equivalent, with respect to the isocyanate functions which are not consumed in the formation of the polycarbodiimide chain, a compound containing a hydrophilic group and one or more amine and / or hydroxyl along with, before, or followed by the remaining isocyanate limiting functions with a compound containing one or more amine and / or hidrox yl, in which the compound containing one or more amine and / or hydroxyl functions may further contain an additional functional group, wherein in Step A from 0.5 to 30 weight percent of one or more mono- and / or polyisocyanates contain one or more additional functional groups, of which the isocyanate group contributes to the carbodiimide formation is present, said additional functional group is a halogen; alkenyl; arylalkene; alkynyl; arilalquino; I alkadiene; aldehyde; dialcilacetal; dithioacetal; ketone; I aldehidoinsaturado; ketone or carboxylic ester; nitrile; imine; alkylalkoxy silane; alkoxysilane; anhydride; mixed anhydride; oxime-protected diisocyanate; diketone; keto ester; tiocetoester; cetotioester; tiocetotioester; or a mixture of one multiple of said reactive groups, and further characterized in that 0 to 10% of an organic solvent and / or 0 to 30% of a plasticizer and / or 0 to 30% of a surface component asset added during, before or after the formation reaction of carbodiimide and / or limiting the reaction and / or the reaction of chain extension.


Background The rapid spread of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae among food handlers is a public health concern and has become a serious world threat. Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli are the predominant ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae. This study aimed to assess the magnitude of ESBL producing K. pneumoniae and E. coli isolated from the stool of food handlers in the Dilla University Student Cafeteria. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted from November to September 2018/2019. A total of 220 stool samples were cultured on MacConkey agar and a series of biochemical tests were performed for the identification of bacterial species. Double-disk synergy method was used for the detection of ESBL-producing strains. Results The rate of fecal carriage of E. coli and K. pneumoniae among the food handlers of the current study was 66.4%, of which 81.5% was E. coli, while 18.5% was K. pneumoniae. Of the total bacterial isolates, 25.3% were confirmed to be positive for ESBL production, of which 19.9% was E. coli, while 5.5% was K. pneumoniae. ESBL-producing fecal carriage showed high resistance to aztreonam, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, cefuroxime, and ceftazidime, with resistance rates ranging from 88% to 100%, while the lowest resistance rate was observed against imipenem accounted <26.3%. In this study, 91.9% of ESBL-producers were co-resistant to β-lactams antibiotics plus at least one of the non-β-lactam antibiotics. ESBL carriers were more common among food handlers who used antibiotics repeatedly, drunk unpasteurized milk, and ate raw meat. Conclusion The magnitude of ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae fecal carriage is alarmingly high and a threat to human health. MDR to third-generation cephalosporins and non-β-lactam antibiotics is more common among ESBL producers. Detecting ESBL-producing organisms has a remarkable importance in clinical decision-making. Hence, a coordinated effort should be implemented for the prevention and control of the disease.


Thermal expansion of seabed pipelinesmay generate excess pore pressure in the surrounding soil. This paper discusses aspects of the excess pore pressure redistribution process and their effects on the effective stresses at pipe-soil interface, and the resulting soil resistance to pipeline axial movement. The discussion is supported by results of finite element analyses using coupled soil models, which allow pore pressure generation, redistribution and dissipation. A first model provides insight into the two-dimensionality of the redistribution process, illustrating why dissipation rates differ from one-dimensional consolidation processes.A second model is used to addresses the effect of (apparent) over-consolidation local to the pipe-soil interface. This provides a plausible explanation for the observation in model tests of positive excess pore pressure in initially dilatant soil at the pipe interface.


ABSTRACT Molecular QED theory is employed to derive a generalised formula for the dispersion potential between two molecules with mixed electric multipole polarisability tensors of arbitrary order at each centre. This expression is used to readily extract the pair energy shift between an electric dipole polarisable molecule and a mixed electric dipole–octupole polarisable one, and that between two mixed electric dipole–octupole polarisable species. This is done to see whether these interaction energies give rise to higher-order corrections to the Casimir–Polder potential, as was found in the previously calculated case of the dispersion energy shift between an electric dipole polarisable molecule and an electric octupole polarisable one. Interestingly, for orientationally averaged species, both of the computed interaction energies are independent of the octupole weight-3 term, are retarded, and may be interpreted as higher-order corrections in the fine structure constant to the leading dipole–dipole dispersion potential. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


ABSTRACT This article gives an exhaustive mathematical analysis of the Gumbel test for additive jump components based on extreme value theory. The Gumbel test was first introduced by Lee and Mykland in 2008 from an economical point of view. They consider a continuous-time stochastic volatility model with a general continuous volatility process and observe it under a high-frequency sampling scheme. The test statistics based on the maximum of increments converges to the Gumbel distribution under the null hypothesis of no additive jump component and to infinity otherwise. Our article presents a moment method based technique that provides some deeper mathematical insights into the convergence and divergence case of the test statistics. In the non-jump case we are able to prove the convergence to the Gumbel distribution under greatly weak assumptions: The volatility process has to be merely pathwise Hölder continuous with an arbitrary random Hölder exponent and we have no restrictions concerning an additional drift term. Therefore, for example, we are allowing for long and short-range dependence. In the case of existing additive jumps, we give divergence results in a general semimartingale setting and investigate the speed of divergence depending on the jump activity. As a by-product of our analysis we also deduce an optimal pathwise estimator for the spot volatility process. Moreover, we provide a detailed simulation study that compares the power of the Gumbel test with the power of the jump test proposed by Barndorff–Nielsen and Shephard in 2006 for Hölder exponents close to zero. Finally, both tests are applied to a real dataset.


Batik write workload is very heavy which is 8 hours per day with a break of 1 hour and 6 working days per week. Besides batik positions that are not ergonomic way of working they are all still use manual way would have caused a lot of complaints or musculoskeletal disorders. During this time the batik is usually overcome by providing the neck pain massage oil, balsam and plaster. The need for physiotherapy modalities that can be applied to the batik example, core stability. Core Stability affect the ability to control and to control the position and movement of the central body include: head and neck alignment, the alignment of the vertebral column thorax and pelvic stability / mobility, and ankle and hip strategies. This study aims to determine the effect of core stability exercises to decrease neck pain Laweyan Surakarta batik employees. Is a quasi-experimental research design, with pre and post test with control group design. The amount of sample is 20 people, divided into 10 groups of treatment that is given core stability exercise and 10 control group that was not given core stability exercise. The samples using total sampling with the terms of inclusion and exclusion. Data were analyzed using Wilcoxon Signed Rank test and Mann Whitney Test.Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test results obtained Zobs value of 2.692 (p-value 0.007) <0.05 then H0 average value of neck pain post test lower than the pre-test (14.20 <17.20), it was concluded that there is a treatment effect core stability to decrease neck pain. Results of analysis Mann Whitney Test Uobs values obtained for 13,00 (p-value 0.004) of <0.05 the average value of neck pain treatment groups were lower than the control group (14.20 <17.60), it was concluded that the treatment proved effective core stability to decrease neck pain.With the results of the analysis, it was concluded that the test results Wilcoxon Signed Rank test and Mann Whitney Test concluded there are significant Core Stability exercises for neck pain reduction in employee's batik


Abstrcat There have been fierce controversies since 1920s on the slave system,the social character of ancient China.The controversies experienced four stages:controversies on Chinese social history;controversies on division of Chinese ancient history;controversies which evolved eight different opinions;controversies which drew a conclusion that China didn't experience slave society.A summary of studies on the social character of ancient China indicates as follows:Academic disagreements should be distinguished from political stands;Revolutionists' ideas should be embraced dialectically and dogmatism should be done away with;controversies over the social characer of ancient China have to be carried on further democratically.


Background According to World Health Organization, an estimated 700000 to 1 million new cases and 26000 to 65000 deaths occur annually from Kala-azar. In the countries of South-East Asia region, Kala-azar occurs mainly in three countries- India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The disease occurs in agricultural villages where houses are frequently constructed with mud walls. Even people residing in endemic areas have poor practices for its prevention. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 150 community people of Katahari Gaupalika, Morang. Simple Random sampling technique was used for the selection of three wards among seven wards, probability proportionate was used for the selection of the population from the ward. The desired sample was selected purposively. Data were collected from face-to-face interview techniques using a structured questionnaire. Statistical analysis was done by using SPSS 16 version. Results It is found that nearly two-thirds of the respondents (63.3%) had moderate awareness, more than one-fifth (22%) of the respondents had adequate awareness while (14.7%) of the respondents had inadequate awareness of Kala-azar. Similarly, more than half (55.3%) had moderate preventive practice, (25.3%) had inadequate preventive practice and nearly one-fifth (19.3%) had adequate preventive practice. The mean score for awareness and practice was 16.633 and 5.54 respectively. Conclusion The study was conducted to assess the level of awareness of Kala-azar. This concluded moderate awareness of respondents on Kala-azar which suggested that there is still a need to improve the awareness of the respondents particularly on its causative agent, preventive measures and complication. However, to improve their awareness to an adequate level, awareness-raising programs focusing on preventive practice should be conducted


Mesoporous manganese dioxide (mMnO2) was first synthesized for the loading of methotrexate (MTX), and then dopamine was in situ polymerized on the surface of the MTX‐loaded mMnO2 (mMnO2‐MTX) in an alkaline solution to encapsulate the drug in the mesopores of mMnO2. Both low pH and glutathione (GSH) can result in the degradation of mMnO2 and poly(dopamine) (PDA), and thus the delivery of MTX from the mMnO2‐MTX‐PDA can be triggered by low pH and GSH. Near‐infrared (NIR) light‐responsive delivery of MTX can be achieved owing to the outstanding photothermal conversion capability of PDA; on the other hand, the mMnO2‐MTX‐PDA can be utilized for photothermal therapy under the irradiation of NIR light due to the elevated temperature. The results of cytotoxicity test demonstrate that the pH, GSH, and NIR light tri‐responsive drug‐controlled delivery system has excellent biocompatibility, while exhibits pronounced growth inhibition against murine breast tumor cell line 4T1.


The present invention provides a polymer blend for a lithographic photoresist compositions, particularly chemically-amplified photoresist. In a preferred embodiment, the polymer blend is a deep-UV radiation, that is substantially transparent to radiation of less than, 250 nm including the wavelength of 157 nm, 193 nm and 248 nm wavelength, and has an improved sensitivity and resolution. In addition, the present invention production process and method of use of the polymer blends, as well as provides a lithographic photoresist composition containing the polymer blend.


Ninety-two samples at varying depths were collected from 25 cores. Sample tubes were driven into the ground and segments of soil cores were retrieved at depths from the ground surface to subsurface consolidated material. forty samples of the 92 collected had detectable gamma activities (i.e., > 2 x 10/sup -2/ Bq/g (0.5 pCi/g)) of /sup 137/Cs. However, only four samples, all from the same borehole, were found to have significant amounts of /sup 137/Cs with a maximum of 1.7 x 10/sup 3/ Bq/g (4.6 x 10/sup 4/ pCi/g). These four samples also contained the highest activities of other radionuclides (/sup 60/Co, /sup 90/Sr, /sup 235/U, /sup 238/U, /sup 239/Pu, and /sup 241/Am). These subsamples came from core number 4DD, which was the deepest core collected. Core 4DD was taken at the southwest corner of the site, which is at the lower elevation of the site. Since most of the activity in this core was found below the bedrock (or shale) in the groundwater region, the contamination is probably not from Building 3505. Additional investigation in the area around core location 4DD will be required to determine the extent of contamination.


Abstract Background There are advantages and challenges associated with enteric multiplex PCR testing. Fast turnaround time can lead to prompt pathogen identification and antibiotic initiation, decreased length of stay and decreased time in isolation. Challenges include identification of multiple organisms, carrier state detection, and detection of organisms with uncertain pathogenic potential, which can lead to unnecessary antibiotic use. Methods Two institutions transitioned from stool culture to stool PCR testing for identification of diarrheal pathogens. On February 1, 2016, Center 1 employed the BioFire® FilmArray® GI Panel, which detects 22 organisms and includes targets of unclear clinical significance. Center 2 implemented the BD MAX™ Enteric Bacterial Panel on 3/6/2019, which reports 4 bacterial known pathogens. Fluoroquinolone (FQ) and third-generation cephalosporin (TGC) prescribing in response to positive PCR testing was assessed over a 1 month period. Antibiotics were counted when prescribed within 72 hours of the collection date. Results At Center 1, 332 GI PCR panels were ordered, 94 (28.3%) were positive and 15 (16%) were treated; 4 received an FQ (26%), and 11 (73%) received a TGC. Center 1 organisms included 44 Clostridioides difficile, 27 Norovirus, 8 Enteropathogenic E. coli, 7 Sapovirus, 4 Campylobacter species, 2 Giardia lamblia, 2 Rotavirus, 1 Shigella/Enteroinvasive E. coli and 1 Salmonella species. Of 642 PCR tests ordered at Center 2, 16 (2.5%) were positive and 11 (69%) were treated; 10 (91%) received a FQ, and 1 (9%) received a TGC. Center 2 organisms included 8 non-typhoidal Salmonella species, 5 Aeromonas species, 2 Shigella sonnei and 1 Salmonella typhi. Conclusion Implementation of an enteric multiplex PCR test with targets of uncertain clinical significance is more likely to yield an abnormal result than a PCR test with only known pathogens. However, careful interpretation of results can avoid unnecessary antimicrobial use. Antimicrobial stewardship teams should work in tandem with microbiology laboratories to implement enteric multiplex PCR tests and monitor the impact on antibiotic use. Larger studies are needed to definitively assess the impact of the GI panel on antimicrobial prescribing within the context of patient comorbidities and institutional practices. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.


To assess outcome after fetoscopic laser coagulation (FLC) of placental vascular anastomoses with the 30° fetoscope in mid‐trimester severe twin‐to‐twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) with completely anterior placenta compared with the regular 0° fetoscope in TTTS with other placental locations.


Increase in the number of students and staffs often cause expansion of the university campus and make it obligatory to expand the role of transportation in the entire campus. However, increase in population also increases the automobile use and ownership among staffs and students and heavy traffic movement is gradually becoming incontrollable and shortages of parking spaces in the academic and administrative area is gradually increasing. The objective of this study is to investigate walking and cycling aspect of non-motorized transport in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Skudai campus including policy making and planning for the best ways to make university campus a better place for non-motorized transport usage. It will also investigates various planning and design concepts, and offers contributions to help to implement them and also look into problems confronting non-motorized transport in UTM Skudai campus and as well investigate the state of non-motorized transport facilities such as walkways, crosswalk, sidewalks, bike lanes etc. and recommend facilities improvements to ensure safety, access and providing features to accommodate people with disabilities too. Non-motorized transport traffic law enforcement, education and encouragement programs will be introduced and developed alongside with provision of modern facilities for non-motorized transport usage to improve walking and cycling conditions in the entire campus.


Several different agents cause head-to-head association in mammalian spermatozoa. At least two types of mechanisms may be discerned: 1) One depends on removal of substance(s), provisionally called antagglutin, from the surface of spermatozoa where it is bound to specific sites. The time dependence of association in seminal plasma under the influence of atmospheric oxygen was studied. Sperm associated by oxidation appeared to be dissociated by fumaramide, just as were sperm associated by washingAssociation caused by removal of antagglutin may be reversed by addition of antagglutin or substances with varied basic structures, most of them containing enone structure (a carbonyl group conjugated with a C-C double bond). This dissociating effect of proges- terone and testosterone was blocked by mersalyl, which also dissociated washed spermatozoa although lacking enone structure. Substances studied with respect to the dependence of their effects on the Ca2 + concentration, all showed the same pattern: they induced dissociation of sperm washed at 2 x 106 M Ca2 �, association of similarly pretreated sperm upon simultaneous increase of the Ca2� concentration to 2 X lOM, and dissociation of sperm washed with Tyrode solution (Ca2� concentration, 1.8 X iOM). The mechanism of this association seems to depend on instability of the cell membrane in connection with rebinding of Ca2 + previously washed out. 2) Another type of association induced by ATP, ADP, and catecholamines is thought to depend on formation of cAMP which also elicits this effect. This type was not influenced by mersalyl, except when induced by adrenaline, which it stimulated. Imidazole (2 X 1OM), which dissociates sperm associated by washing, stimulated association induced by exogenous cAMP. Neither of these two actions can depend on stimulation by phosphodiesterase.


Millimeter wave nondestructive evaluation techniques have shown great potential for detection of corrosion under paint in steel structures. They may also provide for detection of other anomalies associated with the corrosion process such as precursor pitting. This paper presents the results of an extensive investigation spanning a frequency range of 30–100 GHz and using magnitude‐ and phase‐sensitive reflectometers. Using 2D automated scanning mechanisms, raster images of two corrosion patches are produced showing the spatial resolution capabilities of these systems as well as their potential for evaluating localized corrosion severity.


Measurements of the a.c. and d.c. field effects were made on the conductance of the germanium surfaces cleaned by Joule heating up to about 800°C in ultra-high vacuum. In the measurements of the a.c. field effect on the cleaned surface, the minimum of conductance showing the surface was slightly n -type was observed and the density of fast states was estimated at 1.7×10 13 /cm 2 ·volt. When the surface was exposed to oxygen, the fast state density decreased down to 2.4×10 12 /cm 2 ·volt and the surface potential decreased by 0.03 volts. These results suggest that the fast states are dangling bonds at the surface. In the measurements of the d.c. field effect on the cleaned surface, the slow decay of the changes in conductance was not recognized. The slow decay appeared when the surface was exposed to air. These results show that the slow states are attributed to adsorbed gases on the outer surface of the oxide layer of germanium.


3 The paradigm shift from cash-based to accrual accounting in the public finances of Austrian municipalities as of 2020, together with the availability of uniform spending data from Austria provides an ideal environment to research the potential of Wikidata for improving awareness of public finance information. The importance of publicly available municipal finance information is of significant interest for citizens to ensure trust in public spending and governance at a local level. It is all the more surprising that such spending data is hardly available. The present paper is a first push towards integrating comparable municipal finance data into Wikidata. Our analysis reveals a lack of joint, standardized representation of common public spending data. Thus we have begun seeding Wikidata with a unified corpus of finance data from 379 Austrian municipalities by batch uploading, re-using already existing properties. Our approach is a first step towards the question whether and how Wikipedia and Wikidata could serve as spaces for information on public finances.


Families with complex needs are families where a parent has a mental illness, children have a behavioural disorder, and the family experiences tension arising from appearances before a Family Law Court. The submission proposes that families with complex needs require ongoing access to 18 sessions of therapy per year under the Better Access scheme to address the range of issues that arise. The submission argues that current shortcomings arise from deficiencies in state services that are better remedied by providing direct access to skilled therapists rather than by introducing a new group of case-coordinating administrators.


A study was made of the influences of three kinds of header configurations under different Re numbers on the flow distribution at outlet and resistance loss of the plate-fin heat exchangers. The result shows that the ordinary headers made a serious maldistribution in the flow distribution of plate-fin heat exchangers, the perforated plate headers could efficiently drop the maldistribution parameters and the ratio of the maximum velocity, improve the result of flow distribution, increase the resistance loss and friction coefficient of heat exchangers; the staggered perforated plate headers could improve the flow distribution of heat exchangers and inhibit the increase of resistance loss, their configurations were most reasonable.


Feed costs are the largest expense in mink production systems. Therefore, improvement of feed efficiency (FE) is the best way to use limited resources efficiently and increase the mink industry's sustainability. The objectives of this project are to 1) identify the genetic relationships among different FE measures and their component traits, and 2) discover the genetic architecture of FE and implement genomic selection for FE traits to increase the genetic gain in American mink. Final body weight (FBW), final body length (FBL), daily feed intake (DFI), average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), residual feed intake (RFI), residual gain (RG), residual intake and gain (RIG) and Kleiber ratio (KR) traits were measured based on the phenotypic records on 1,088 American mink from the Canadian Center for Fur Animal Research (Nova Scotia, Canada). Univariate models were applied to test the significance of sex, color type, age, and nested Row(Year) as fixed effects and random maternal effect. Genetic parameters were estimated via bivariate models using ASReml-R 4. Estimated heritabilities (±SE) were 0.38±0.10, 0.36±0.10, 0.25±0.10, 0.34±0.09, 0.38±0.08, 0.37±0.07, 0.29±0.10, 0.32±0.10 and 0.34±0.10 for FBW, FBL, DFI, ADG, FCR, RFI, RG, RIG and KR, respectively. RFI showed non-significant (P >0.05) genetic correlations with component traits such as FBW (0.00±0.17) and FBL (0.30±0.16) but significant (P < 0.05) high genetic correlation with DFI (0.74±0.09), indicating that selection based on RFI will reduce the feed intake without any negative effects on the size and growth. The estimated genetic parameters for FE traits suggested the possibility to implement genetic/genomic selection to improve the FE in American mink. Consequently, the ongoing project on genetic mapping and genomic selection will enhance the knowledge of FE and improve the efficacy of selection for more feed-efficient mink.


As software development practices evolve, toolsmiths face the continuous challenge of getting developers to adopt new practices and tools. We tested an idea with industrial software developers that adding game-like feedback to the development environment would improve adoption of tools and practices for code navigation. We present results from a pre-study survey of 130 developers' opinions on gamification and motivation, usage data from a study with an intact team of six developers of a game on code navigation practices, and feedback collected in post-study interviews. Our pre-study survey showed that most developers were interested in gamification, though some have strong negative opinions. Study results show that two of the six study developers adjusted their practices when presented with competitive game elements.


Cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) is the most established non-pharmacological therapy for patients with advanced heart failure in the last decade. It is a device-based treatment modality which involves the implantation of an additional left ventricular lead through the coronary sinus to reach the free wall. This allows the simultaneous pacing of the septal wall with the use of the right ventricular lead, which can either be a pacing or defibrillator electrode. The right atrial lead will help to maintain atrioventricular synchrony, unless patients are having persistent atrial fibrillation. There has been compelling evidence from a number of multicentre clinical trials that CRT improves symptoms, exercise capacity and cardiac function as well as reduces heart failure hospitalisations and cardiovascular mortality in patients with advanced congestive heart failure. In the current American College of Cardiology/ American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) and European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines for heart failure and device-therapy, CRT in the form of pacemaker alone (CRT-P) or combined with implantable cardioverter defibrillator (CRT-D) is a class I recommendation (means absolutely indicated as supported by clinical trials) with level of evidence A (means good evidence from multicentre clinical trials) for patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class III or ambulatory class IV heart failure symptoms despite optimal medical therapy, with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤35%, with sinus rhythm and QRS duration ≥ 120ms. However, the beneficial effects of CRT have recently been demonstrated in some selected subgroups of patients who may not fulfil the aforementioned criteria. The ESC 2010 updated guideline has recently included patients with mildly symptomatic heart failure, permanent atrial fibrillation (AF) and standard pacemaker indication which will be elaborated below.


The importance of sustainable design for achieving sustainable development goals (SDG) has become increasingly prevalent. Agility for sustainable design development is a project management approach that aims to provide a flexible and efficient way of developing new products. However, the application of agility for sustainable design development is not well-defined, with unknown processes and benefits. To address this, this study aims to explore the benefits of theoretical research and the application of agility in sustainable design. The study critically examines the application of agility in sustainable design development through a literature review. The results identify eight integration directions of agility that contribute to sustainable design, providing a better understanding of agility and enabling its implementation in the development of new products. This study seeks to create a more coherent and rigorous system of theory and practice for sustainable design.


s:Objective To study the effect of rhubarb on the changes in cholinergic nerves in colonic myenteric plexus for the chronic slow transit constipation rat.Methods Slow transit constipation model of rat was reproduced by feeding diphenoxylate.The changes in cholinergic nerves in colonic myenteric plexus were studied by histochemical technology.Results In the colonic myenteric plexuses of rats with slow transit constipation,cholinergic nerves and cholinergic cells were significantly decreased with denser immunostainning,but its volume increased.After treated by rhubarb,cholinergic nerves and cholinergic cells tended to be normal(positive cells were 25.71±5.36 vs STC model group 14.32±4.60,P0.01;the ratio of nuclei/cytoplasm was 0.71±0.218 vs STC model group 0.58±0.19,P0.01).Conclusion Dysfunction of colon transit is related with the changes in cholinergic nerves of colonic myenteric nerve plexus in rats with slow transit constipation1.Rhubarb can adjust the cholinergic nerve supply in STC rats,which maybe a mechanism of treating STC.


Objective To study the mechanical changes in cage-endplate interface between titanium mesh cages with or without augmentation of internal end ring system after anterior cervical corpectomy by finite element analysis. Methods Based on the intact finite element model (FE/Intact) ,two models were generated by simulating anterior cervical titanium mesh fusion cage and plate after C5 corpectomy according to the applied titanium mesh cage conditions ;? 10 mm titanium mesh cage without internal end ring (S-) and ?10 mm titanium mesh cage with internal end ring (S + ). von Mises stress of seven parts on the superior and inferior cage-endplate interface was comparatively analyzed between model with S-and model with S + after loading of each model being simulated using multidirectional moment loads of 1.8 Nm combined with a compressive preload of 80 N in compression, flexion and extension. Results The stress on the superior (7.61,8.23,9.97) Mpa and inferior cage-endplate interface (5.43,5.74,6.88) Mpa in the model with S-was bigger than that (10.65,11. 59,14. 27 and 7.46,8. 12,10.04) Mpa in the model with S + under the three loading conditions. Conclusion A titanium mesh cage with internal end ring produces a significant decrease of the cage-endplate interface stress and lower incidence of titamium mesh cage subsidence after anterior cervical corpectomy.

Key words:
Cervical spine; Corpectomy; Endplate; Titanium mesh cage


After 40 years development, Liaohe Oilfield's resources situation has become more and more serious. This paper studies the hydrocarbon generation conditions in the deep zone, including the conditions of source rock, the reservoir, the capping rock, the trap and the collocation of hydrocarbon transportation and accumulation. Favorable hydrocarbon accumulation conditions, low exploration level and abundant resources together demonstrate that the deep zone is the most tangible prospecting area for Liaohe Oilfield to realize sustainable development in the present adverse situation. The stratigraphic and lithologic reservoirs in the hydrocarbon generation depression are the most favorable exploration objects.


This monograph consists of 15 chapters by various authors, dealing with psychiatric, psychological, pediatric, and allergic aspects of childhood allergies. The authors range from psychoanalysts to research psychologists and from pediatricians to allergists. Some of the chapters are heavily weighted on the psychological side as, for example, the lead, "Psychopathology and Psychotherapy in the Allergies of Children." Other chapters offer detailed and even inordinately specific material of the field of allergy, such as the chapter on "Pollinosis in Childhood." Still others make an heroic effort to balance the presentation to include appropriate aspects of the physical and the emotional. The book deals with various allergic phenomena including those of the skin, the gut, and the nasopharynx, but asthma is given more space than any other syndrome. There is considerable material from The National Home for Asthmatic Children in Denver. This well-known institution has had a wealth of experience with asthmatic


Purpose: This study examines the association between ownership structure and information disclosure using a sample of the listed non-financial firms in Sub-Saharan African countries.
Design/Methodology/Approach: This study employed quantitative methods to examine the relationship between ownership structure and information disclosure. The population was non-financial firms listed in eleven countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Data were sourced from the listed firms' annual reports available online. The regression analysis was done using the fractional probit model. The dependent variable is the disclosure index which was developed using scores of various attributes of information disclosure through analysis of annual reports to identify whether the attributes were included in the annual reports. The firm scored 1 if the attribute was included in the annual report and zero otherwise. Thereafter, the scores were aggregated to obtain actual scores for each individual firm. Finally, the average score was computed by dividing aggregated actual score value by the expected score value.
Findings: Findings indicate that concentrated ownership is significantly negatively associated with disclosure. Furthermore, the findings show government and foreign ownerships are positively and significantly associated with information disclosure. This study shows the effects of ownership structure on disclosure. Overall, the findings indicate that ownership structure is related to information disclosure.
Research Limitation/Implication: This study focused on non-financial listed firms which their annual reports were available online. The interpretation of the results of these studies needs to consider this bias as may affect the generalizability of the results to all firms including those which do provide annual reports online.
Practical Implications: The finding implies reforms should consider the presence of different characteristics of firms, in particular ownership structure, and their impacts on the firm propensity to disclose information.
Social Implications: More specifically, the finding suggests that applying simple policies to specify types and levels of disclosure requirements to all firms may not be realistic because the concept of one size fits all may not be applicable.
Originality/Value/Novelty: The study provides highlights on determinants of information disclosure which is one of the mechanisms for monitoring agency problems resulting from the conflict of interests between internal and external stakeholders of the firm. In this regard, this study extends research on the nexus of ownership structure and information disclosure to developing countries' context and therefore contributes to understanding corporate governance around the globe.


Biologically significant sites in a protein may be identified by contrasting the rates of synonymous (Ks) and non-synonymous (Ka) substitutions. This enables the inference of site-specific positive Darwinian selection and purifying selection. We present here Selecton version 2.2 (http://selecton. bioinfo.tau.ac.il), a web server which automatically calculates the ratio between Ka and Ks (u) at each site of the protein. This ratio is graphically displayed on each site using a color-coding scheme, indicating either positive selection, purifying selection or lack of selection. Selecton implements an assembly of different evolutionary models, which allow for statistical testing of the hypothesis that a protein has undergone positive selection. Specifically, the recently developed mechanisticempirical model is introduced, which takes into account the physicochemical properties of amino acids. Advanced options were introduced to allow maximal fine tuning of the server to the user's specific needs, including calculation of statistical support of the u values, an advanced graphic display of the protein's 3-dimensional structure, use of different genetic codes and inputting of a pre-built phylogenetic tree. Selecton version 2.2 is an effective, user-friendly and freely available web server which implements up-to-date methods for computing site-specific selection forces, and the visualization of these forces on the protein's sequence and structure. INTRODUCTION Current protein sequences have been shaped by a prolonged and extensive evolutionary process. Thus, studying a protein's evolutionary history may contribute to the inference of the proteins' properties. Evolutionary conserved sites may be indicative of active sites or of protein–protein interaction domains, while highly variable sites may represent sites subjected to positive Darwinian selection (1,2). Such positively selected sites may be interpreted as being a consequence of molecular adaptation, which confers an evolutionary advantage to the organism. Detecting the level of selection operating on a given protein is enabled by computing o, the ratio between non-synonymous (Ka) and synonymous (Ks) substitutions. Sites showing o values significantly higher than one are indicative of positive Darwinian selection, while sites showing o values significantly lower than one are indicative of purifying selection (2,3). Selecton was first introduced in 2005 (4), and implemented an evolutionary codon model (5) which enabled calculating o at each codon site using a maximumlikelihood (ML) approach. With the advent of sequenced genomes, the comparison of DNA sequences in order to infer meaningful information has become a basic procedure for many researchers. The study of the selection forces operating on a protein, and specifically the attempt to identify positive selection in proteins has been on the rise, and with this rise the number of users of Selecton has increased dramatically. This has motivated us to upgrade the server to include most recent stateof-the-art methods for calculating positive selection. We have thus implemented five evolutionary models (6–8) that enable studying the selection forces operating The authors wish it to be known that, in their opinion, the first two authors should be regarded as joint First Authors *To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: 972-3-640-7693; Fax: 972-3-642-2046; Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


This article deals with the question whether the stylized income tax rate of 35 per cent used up to now by the IDW for valuation of companies has been properly calculated and whether it is still appropriate to use this income tax rate. The stylized income tax rate is an average tax rate, calculated empirically on the basis of 1989 German tax law as well as the personal income distribution in 1989. However, valuation of a company requires marginal tax rates. By the use of micro simulation and group simulation models we empirically demonstrate on the basis of German income tax data that due to the progressive German tax schedule an average tax rate can not serve as a proxy for a marginal tax rate. Therefore it is necessary to use a stylized income tax rate which is determinated by empirically calculated marginal tax rates. As a result of several tax cuts in recent years marginal tax rates in 2006 are considerable lower than in 1989. Therefore the employment of a stylized tax rate by the IDW that is based on dates of 1989 is inappropriate. Furthermore the empirical results falsifies the assertion that effective tax rates are unaffected by tax cuts due to simultaneous extensions of the tax base. Another finding of this article is a considerable variation of the empirical marginal tax rate depending on the group of taxpayer considered.


The risk attributes of emergency occurrence,development and evolution are derived from multiple complicated sources,and their related information is always uncertainty and incomplete.In order to accurately deal with emergency operation risk problems concerning these characteristics,a fuzzy evidential reasoning model is proposed.Firstly,the risk factors are identified under emergency structural description framework and FMECA(failure mode effects and criticality analysis),and some information is obtained as evidence for risk analysis and further is normalized.Secondly,a risk analysis model with fuzzy evidential reasoning is constructed,and the reasonable judgment criterion of the overall risk level is put forward.Finally,a certain CRH bullet train operation is taken as an example to analyze its traffic risk.The study results show that,when people analyze the emergency risk problem,the fuzzy evidential reasoning model concerning with uncertainty and incomplete is feasible and effective;furthermore,it could provide auxiliary support for emergency risk analysis and risk response.


Problem Solved Current means-end analysis problem solvers are not capable of solving problems which have certain kinds of goal interaction. T1e goal interaction problem is described and an example given on a block stacking task. Finally, mention is made of a method of using the information ~ainedby the discovery of goal interactions to guid~ the search for a problem solution. STRIPS further assumes that for the ~oalsnot already true at the time required, the preconditions , which are required to be true for someoper-ator to be applied to achieve the goal, can all be made true immediately before the time the goal is required tc. be true. Again, reversals amon.,:st these preconditions can be made on failure backup. Thus, if the preconditions for some operator to achieve a goal G, are G' l and G' 2' then STRIPS 1. 1. 1. initially assumes an approach as in figure 3 can be taken. A problem is given to a means-end analysis based problem solvzr, such as STRIPS (Fikes & Ni1s-son, 1971) and the p18nning part of the HACKER (Sussman, 1973) syste~) as a conjunctivn of goals e.g. I which must be true for the problem to be solved. Since the individual goals are solyed sequentially, they must, once achieved, hold together for a period of time. The time for which an "achieved goal must remain true will be called the goal's "hold-ing period".


The one-pot synthesis of benzimidazoles (III) involves condensation of o-phenylenediamine with aldehydes, cyclization of the resulting Schiff bases and subsequent laccase-promoted aerobic oxidation of the intermediate benzimidazoline derivatives.


Application of several different experimental techniques (flame‐ion mass spectrometry, microwave cavity resonance, electrostatic probe, and absorption spectrophotometry) reveals that addition of chromium to fuel‐rich atmospheric‐pressure H2/O2/N2 flames seeded with potassium results in formation of Cr‐containing negative ions. The following reaction scheme, equilibrium constants, and enthalpy changes provide a satisfactory quantitative interpretation of the experimental results: e+HCrO3=CrO3−+H, Δ H0,1°=125± 40 kJ mole−1, H2+CrO3−=HCrO3−+ H, Δ H0,4°=78± 40 kJ mole−1 K1=2500 exp(−13 400/T) K4= 1.7  exp(−9900/T). Electron affinities for HCrO3 and CrO3 inferred from this data are 229 kJ mole−1 and 390 kJ mole−1, respectively.


November 1999

It was observed that data relating to certain of the energy commodities in version 3 of the GTAP data base were of questionable reliability (Babiker and Rutherford, 1997). In particular the data on energy commodities seemed to be at variance with the energy statistics of the International Energy Agency (IEA). A project was undertaken at the Center for Global Trade Analysis with the financial support from the US Department of Energy to look into this issue.

As part of the Project, Christophe Complainville of the OECD Development Center collected information on energy volume (i.e. quantity) flows, and price information were collected by Gerard Malcolm at Purdue University. Gerard Malcolm then went on to 'incorporate' the energy volume and price information into the newly released Version 4 of the GTAP data base. The result was an interim release of a special data base called GTAP-4E in September and October of 1998. This Technical Paper documents the process of integrating energy volume and prices into the standard GTAP data base.


We show that if $Y$ is the boundary of an almost-rational plumbing, then the framed instanton Floer homology $\smash{I^\#(Y)}$ is isomorphic to the Heegaard Floer homology $\smash{\widehat{\mathit{HF}}(Y; \mathbb{C})}$. This class of 3-manifolds includes all Seifert fibered rational homology spheres with base orbifold $S^2$ (we establish the isomorphism for the remaining Seifert fibered rational homology spheres$\unicode{x2014}$with base $\mathbb{RP}^2$$\unicode{x2014}$directly). Our proof utilizes lattice homology, and relies on a decomposition theorem for instanton Floer cobordism maps recently established by Baldwin and Sivek.


Abstract As the number of green consumers increases, many airlines are making a lot of effort to create green images. Since there has been little empirical research on green image in the airline industry, this study investigated the important role of green image in the formation its outcome variables. More specifically, it was proposed that green image has a positive influence on consumer attitudes toward an environmentally friendly airline and desire to take an environmentally friendly airline; (2) consumer attitudes toward an environmentally friendly airline positively affect desire to take an environmentally friendly airline and customer citizenship behavior, and (3) desire to take an environmentally friendly airline has a positive impact on customer citizenship behavior. Based on the proposed hypotheses, a theoretical model was developed and assessed using empirical data from 320 passengers in Korea. The results indicated that green image is an important predictor of consumer attitudes toward an environmentally friendly airline and desire to take an environmentally friendly airline, both of which positively affect customer citizenship behavior.


A technique has been developed to clean used submersible pumps chemically without the expense of tearing down the pump and rebuilding it. After the cleaning process, the pump is tested and its performance is plotted against the manufacturer's catalog curve. More than 70% of the pumps put through this process have been rerun without being rebuilt, with substantial savings to the operator. This paper discusses the process used in cleaning and inspection. The test bench is described, along with the metering accuracy and calibration techniques. Use of the actual pump curve for improving production is covered, along with statistical data on more than 1,200 new and used pumps.


poster examines the resources that had to be developed to allow the programming language SCRATCH to be used to teach Introductory Programming to students enrolled in both the Diploma in Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Bachelor of Information and Communications Technologies (BICT) courses. Challenges met focused on the fact that none of the games programs conformed to any of the programming standards taught by the department and no satisfactory business programming examples appeared to exist.


Taking the hydraulic system of peg-tooth mode hydraulic pusher as research object, pusher hydraulic system model was established by using AMESim software. The dynamic simulation of hydraulic system was made by setting the main parameters integrating with the actual working conditions. The simulation results show that the response speed of system is faster and stable operation meets the demand of actual working condition. Theoretical guidance for performance e-valuation and optimal design of peg-tooth mode hydraulic pusher hydraulic system will be provided.


In alignment with the efforts on miniaturizing the components of electronic devices with enhanced performance, we investigate a dielectric nanocapacitor (DNC) based on metallic borophene electrodes separated with insulating hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) monolayers ( n = 1–5). The capacitive performance of the proposed DNC as a function of applied electric field ( (cid:2) E ) and thickness of the dielectric material is examined by using ab initio methods. The borophene plates and h-BN monolayers are commensurate and coupled only with van der Waals interaction, which constitutes an ideal configuration as a DNC. It is found that a single h-BN layer is not thick enough as a spacer to hinder quantum tunneling effects, and similar to the case with no insulating layer, borophene electrodes are shorted. Being effective from two h-BN layers, the charge separation on borophene plates is attained via (cid:2) E in the vertical direction. The capacitance of the DNC rapidly saturates at (cid:2) E (cid:2) 0 . 1 V / Å and reaches its maximum value of 0 . 77 μ F / cm 2 for n = 2. The capacitance decreases with an increasing number of insulating layers as the distance between electrodes enlarges and shows a similar trend that is expected from the classical Helmholtz model. Our results suggest metallic and lightweight borophene and insulating h-BN monolayers as ideal constituents for the DNC design.


The article focused on the development of information technology for the optimization of control over complex dynamic systems at the stage of their design that should realize possibilities of modeling of linear and nonlinear dynamic systems, the analysis and synthesis of such systems, their optimization on various quality criteria. The purpose of this article is to develop the structure and elements of information technology to optimize the control of complex dynamic systems, including automated control systems. The general structure and functional model of information technology of the analysis and synthesis of control systems includes modeling of dynamic systems in the form of systems of differential equations and transfer functions, integration of systems of differential equations, calculation of system quality criteria, methods for solving various optimization tasks on solutions of optimization problems of dynamic systems is offered.


The objectives of this research are: (1) produce a synthetic crude from coal at a cost lower than $30.00 per barrel; and (2) produce a fuel which is low in aromatics, yet of sufficiently high octane number for use in the gasoline-burning transportation vehicles of today. To meet this second objective, research was proposed, and funding awarded, for conversion of the highly-aromatic liquid product from coal conversion to a product high in isoparaffins, which compounds in the gasoline range exhibit a high octane number. Experimental coal liquefaction studies conducted in a batch microreactor in our laboratory have demonstrated potential for high conversions of coal to liquids with low yield of hydrocarbon (HC) gases, hence small consumption of hydrogen in the primary liquefaction step. Ratios of liquids/HC gases as high as 30/1, at liquid yields as high as 82% of the coal by weight, have been achieved. The principal objective of this work is to examine how nearly we may approach these results in a continuous-flow system, at a size sufficient to evaluate the process concept for production of transportation fuels from coal. A continuous-flow reactor system is to be designed, constructed and operated. The system is to be computer-operated for process control and data logging, and is to be fully instrumented. The primary liquid products will be characterized by GC, FTIR, and GC/MS, to determine the types and quantities of the principal components produced under conditions of high liquids production with high ratios of liquids/HC gases, hydrogen consumption for the conversion to primary liquids will be calculated. Conversion of the aromatics of this liquid product to isoparrafins will be investigated, to examine the potential for producing a transportation fuel from coal with satisfactory octane rating but low in aromatic content. Progress to date is described.


Increased numbers of tuberculosis (TB) cases coupled with a rise in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) are a significant public health problem--as well as an economic threat--in Ukraine. TB rates more than doubled in Ukraine between 1992 and 2002 a result of the economic and social challenges that came with independence stabilizing by 2004 at 82 notified cases per 100000 population the eighth highest rate of 53 countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region. This represents an estimated 40000 TB cases per year. Ukraine faces a number of challenges in TB control: strategies inconsistent with international recommendations and resource use that is not cost-effective. Ongoing use of mass photofluorography and annual tuberculin screening of children for active case detection multiple BCG (Bacillus of Calmette and Guerin) re-vaccination mandatory and lengthy hospitalization of smear-positive patients TB diagnosis restricted to specialists (even in cases confirmed by a laboratory) and long-term follow-up of patients after completion of treatment contribute to inefficient and ineffective TB control. All of these activities illustrate the underlying issue in TB control in Ukraine: namely that there has been a strong commitment to Soviet-style TB practices among both policymakers and providers and hence significant resistance to adopting the internationally-recommended TB control strategy (DOTS). It was in this context that international donors and partner organizations began work to support Ukraine in modernizing its TB control system in 2000. (excerpt)


Summary An intra prediction method that uses neighbor pixels within current picture has been adopted for improving coding efficiency, but the intra prediction having a large number of prediction modes increases the implementation operation at the encoder side. In order to reduce the operation, we first investigate the usage distribution of the intra prediction modes according to the coded picture characteristics. Then a simplification method of the intra prediction modes is proposed. The prediction modes that are utilized more than 8% are considered important but the others are excluded in the intra prediction operation. The exclusion modes are updated on a picture by picture basis after the scene change detection. From the simulation results, we can verify that approximately 50% reduction is possible in operation complexity for the intra prediction through the simplification of intra prediction modes without significant losses in picture quality.


PURPOSE: A nourishing agent composition including alpha-glucosidase inhibitor and alpha-amylase inhibitor substantially without lipase inhibitor is provided. The composition can include a touchi extract and phaseolamin as alpha-glucosidase inhibitor and alpha-amylase inhibitor, respectively. It is administered to an individual prior to consumption of carbohydrates to limit the absorption of carbohydrates contained in a foodstuff and also to promote weight loss when administered over a period of days. CONSTITUTION: The nourishing agent composition contains an effective amount of alpha-glucosidase inhibitor, an effective amount of alpha-amylase inhibitor and acceptable carrier. The alpha-glucosidase inhibitor is selected from the group consisting of voglibose, acarbose and touchi extract. The alpha-amylase inhibitor is selected from inhibitors extracted from wheat and phaseolamin. The nourishing agent composition contains about 7 to 35% by weight of the touchi extract and about 15 to 48% by weight of phaseolamin and is administered to an individual about 1sec to 30min prior to the consumption of carbohydrates.


Objective To evaluate the expression of p53 and their relationship with VEGF and angiogenesis in human lung cancer. Method Expression of p53,VEGF and angiogenesis in 63 cases of human lung cancer were examined using immunohistochemical methods.Monoclonal antibody against CD34 was used to identify intra-tumoral micro-vessel density (iMVD). Anti-VEGF165-Ab3 was used to detect VEGF expression and anti-p53 pAb was used for p53 expression. Result Angiogenesis was observed in all lung cancer samples and iMVD was found to vary from 4 to 138.7 (44.5±29)/×400. p53 protein immuno-reactivity was detected in 34 out of 63 cases (54%).Positive staining for VEGF was observed in 32 of the 63 cases (50.8%). Frequency of p53 mutation and VEGF expression were independent on their TNM stages,sex and age. Regression analysis showed no correlation between the iMVD and the expression of VEGF and p53. Conclusion There was no association between p53 expression and VEGF and iMVD. There was a correlation between an overexpression of p53 and the development of lung cancer.


Nursing and humour both contain variables such as physiological, psychological, social-cultural, spiritual and ones of a developmental characteristic. Most researchers in nursing look to the fact that nursing is both a science and an art. «Humour theorists» uphold the same idea, and maintain that humour contains variable from different scientific fields whilst being an art form. The aim of this study is to describe experiences of humour in health service and nursing, as well as to find a possible link between humour and nursing-variables. The study is explorative and is based on a questionnaire survey. The questions requiring open ended answers have been arranged according to their meaning and category. The study covered three groups: patients, employees within health service and nursing and persons with no connection to health service and nursing. Participant (N = 802) were obtained through consecutive choice during a three week period. The question «What do you see as humour?» gave replies which can be divided into the following six categories; jokes, laughter, macabre humour, situation comedy, pun and unexpected situation. The majority, although somewhat lower in the patient group, felt that humour could be used in health service and nursing. Patients were also asked a supplementary question: «Is humour used in the health service?» Only 4 % of the men and 15 % of the women thought this was the case. A majority thought their own sense of humour to be greater than that of other people. Humour is a positive experience, and can be used as protection. The ethical code expressed by ICN must be applied to humour used in nursing.


In the paper, MATLAB is applied to the fuzzy optimization design of crusher rollers, a mathematics model for the reliability optimization design of rollers is set up by using MATLAB optimization algorithm. The results show that the design size of the roller is more reasonable and practicable.


The article is devoted to the analysis of reasons hampering final settlement of the four "frozen" ethnic conflicts on the post-soviet space the conflicts in Abkhazia, Karabakh, Transdniestria and South Ossetia. Having studied the course of the peacekeeping process, A. Bolshakov came to a conclusion that the settlement of "frozen conflicts" is impeded not only by contradictions between their immediate participants, but also by a tough geopolitical struggle. According to his conclusion, the "frozen conflicts" of the post-soviet space will in the nearest future remain "frozen", for in a situation where the interest of geopolitical players competing on the post-soviet space objectively diverge, destabilization of the whole system of international relations could be the only alternative.


This study deeply analyzed a failure case about a RF interconnection fault for a SiP module based on four HTCC multifunctional substrates stacking package. The failure phenomenon was manifested as that the signal gain value of the main RF channel was much lower than that of the power amplifier designed. A serial of experimental analysis technologies were used, such as visual inspection, S-parameter measurements, 3D X-ray inspection, and rework process analysis, which can obtain the information such as the surface circuit diagram of the top HTCC substrate, the RF signal transmission of each port link, the chip bonding connection in the intermediate or the bottom HTCC substrate, failure confirmation and process improvement verification, etc. The results showed that the bonding wire designed between the amplifier output port and the DC blocking capacitor missing in the bottom HTCC substrate was the direct cause of the RF signal transmission fault. The poor interconnection phenomena were related to the bonding pad contamination, which could guide the process rework. And after bonding rework, a reasonable gain value was measured from the main RF channel of the SiP module.


[I]f the writer believes that our life is and will remain essentially mysterious, if he looks upon us as beings existing in a created order to whose laws we freely respond, then what he sees on the surface will be of interest to him only as he can go through it into an experience of mystery itself. His kind of fiction will always be pushing its own limits outward toward the limits of mystery, because for this kind of writer, the meaning of a story does not begin except at a depth where adequate motivation and adequate psychology and the various determinations have been exhausted. Such a writer will be interested in what we don't understand rather than in what we do. --Flannery O'Connor (1) Doris Betts's fiction is about crises of character rather than of action. Her characters are grotesques, sometimes physically such as Violet Karl in "The Ugliest Pilgrim," but more often spiritually like Homer Beam in "The Astronomer" or Mrs. Applewhite in "The Mandarin." They are trying to solve mysteries of faith, trying to make sense out of their lives and their world. They are seeking answers to unanswerable questions. Their questions are rarely philosophical in any existential sense. They do not ask "Why is there something instead of nothing?" Rather, they are asking, "How do I live in the something that is?" They are asking "What must I do to make sense of it?" They are grotesques not because of what they lack but precisely because they are sensitive to the questions at the expense of the easy answers that lie around them. This dilemma is clearest in Betts's long story "The Astronomer," a modern tale of abdication and reacceptance of responsibility. Horton Beam has retired from his job at a weaving mill where he has spent his life doing nothing but passing time. He is alone; his wife has been dead for fifteen years and his sons have died, one in the Korean War and one in a freak accident. Horton has given up trying to make sense out of any of this, and now, without his workday routine, is left to find some way to fill his time. Happening to glance through a copy of Leaves of Grass he comes across the line, "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer ..." and immediately decides to become an astronomer as well. There is no spiritual motivation behind his decision; he only wants to pass time. When a librarian remarks that "The stars are beautiful these summer nights," the Astronomer (as Beam has become known in the story), does not respond to her sense of the beautiful. What did he care for that? No use. No purpose. No beauty, either. He was just learning something for its own sake. He had retired from all the parts of that story; he had even ... even abdicated. "I hadn't noticed it," the Astronomer said aloud. (2) For reasons inexplicable to himself he allows a young man, Fred, and a woman who claims to be Fred's wife, Eva, to rent the upstairs of his home. After he finds out that they are not married and that Eva has run away from her husband and two children and is pregnant by Fred, the Astronomer allows them to stay on, telling himself that he needs the money to buy his telescope. Against all his resolution, he becomes interested and involved in Eva's problems. This dissolving of his resolution to become isolated is also reflected in his study of astronomy. He goes from charting the stars to studying the theories behind his science and finally to studying the mythologies behind the naming of the constellations. He moves from the secure position of pure empiricism to the study of the beliefs and faiths of man; by doing so, he loses the distance he had hoped to achieve--the ability to see himself as an unimportant speck in a giant universe. Eva too has unsuccessfully attempted to abdicate her responsibilities and sensitivities in running away with Fred. In Fred, she believes she has found the sort of unconscious life she is seeking. Fred, a used car salesman, now works the late night shift at a service station, where he spends his evenings reading road maps. …


Wook Song(1925-1980) was the first comparativist in the latter part of the 20th-century literary studies in Korea. He published several major scholarly books on comparative methodology, poetics and criticism in the 1960's and 70's. He approached to literary background and philosophical interrelations between Korean and Chinese thought, East Asian and Western, and Korean and the Western literature in terms of comparative method. His comparative studies did start comparative poetics and thought in literary criticism and literature in Korea. Now we are living in the age of globalization and cosmopolitanism, and we need to learn Song's exemplary comparative method in literary studies for the comparative world literature. The aim of this paper thus is to discuss his pioneering comparative practice in the field of literary and cultural studies. From Song's comparative performance in his concrete critical and literary activities, I will submit several memos to Korean Comparative Literature in the 21st century. First we need to institutionalize comparative literature at undergraduate and graduate level in Korean University. Second, we have to establish the comparative method as the interdisciplinary and consilient approach in the crisis of the Humanities. Third, We'd better form an academic community of Korea, China and Japan to challenge the Euro-centered comparative literary and cultural studies. Fourth, we may start International Association of World literature to promote the cooperation of Non-Western literatures. Fifth, we may develop the close ties between comparative literature and cultural studies in the literary departments. To achieve this long-awaited project successfully, we now must study Wook Song as comparativist in a more detailed and concrete way.


Under some regularity conditions, in the supercritical Smith–Wilkinson branching process it is shown that as k, the starting population size, tends to infinity, the rate of convergence of qk, the corresponding extinction probability, to zero is similar to that of: k–θ, if there exists at least one subcritical state in the random environment space; xkk–α , if there exist only supercritical states in the random environment space; exp , if there exists at least one critical state and the others are supercritical in the random environment space. Here θ, x, α and c are positive constants determined by the process.


Hypo Chrysos (HC) is a work of action art for vexed body and biophysical media. During this twenty minutes action I pull two concrete blocks in a circle. My motion is oppressively constant. I have to force myself into accepting the pain until the action is ended. The increasing strain of my corporeal tissues produces continuous bioacoustic signals. These comprise of blood flow, muscle sound bursts, and bone crackles that are amplified, distorted, and played back through eight loudspeakers. The same bioacoustic data stream excites an OpenGL-generated swarm of virtual entities, lights, and organic forms diffused by a video projector. The work brings together different media so as to creatively explore the processes wherein physicality, adaptive biotechnology, and musicianship (or better, the lack of) collide. This article elaborates on the methodology underpinning the piece. It describes, both conceptually and technically, how the performer's physical strain and the resulting music are integrated using bioacoustic sensing.


Histological and histochemical studies on specimens of skin from four patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria, whose lesions consisted of thickened eczematized plaques on sunlight exposed areas, showed that with hematoxylin and eosin staining large amounts of hyaline material invariably surrounded the blood vessels of the upper corium. Histochemical studies indicated that this material contains an acidic carbohydrate-protein-lipid complex which includes an acid mucopolysaccharide. Skin from a covered area appeared normal clinically and histologically. This material may possibly arise from combination of degradation products of protoporphyrin and components of perivascular connective tissue. When an eruption is present on patients suspected of having erythropoietic protoporphyria, diagnostic help may be obtained by cutaneous biopsy.