The U.S. Navy is incorporating composite materials into the fleet due to the many advantages of composite construction compared to steel and aluminum construction. These advantages include the reduction in life costs, corrosion resistance, high strength- and stiffness-to-weight ratios, ability to tailor, and improved stealth. Of particular interest to the Navy are weight reduction and non-magnetic and damping characteristics associated with composite construction. Increased payload and range and improved ship stability can be achieved with weight reduction while nonmagnetic and damping characteristics help reduce magnetic and acoustic signatures. Many challenges still remain including issues related to design and analysis, fabrication, environmental effects, repair/joining, and fire, smoke, and toxicity. This paper includes a review of recent composite naval applications and a discussion on technical challenges associated with composite construction of naval ships.


It is argued that from the start interactionist sociologists were concerned with the problem of social order and sought new ways of conceptualizing social structure. Special emphasis is placed on the interactionists' predilection for a logic of inquiry sensitive to the objective indeterminacy of the situation. An argument is made that the failure of interactionist sociologists to address head-on the issues of power and inequality reflects not so much their uncritical reliance on pragmatism as their failure to follow consistently pragmatist tenets and to fulfill the political commitments of pragmatist philosophers. There is a solid consensus among present-day commentators about the profound impact of pragmatist philosophy on social interactionism. This consensus breaks down, however, when it comes to spelling out the exact nature of this impact. Some critics, mostly outside the interactionist perspective proper, charge interactionism with an astructural, subjectivist and status-quo bias and lay much


Abstract In a modern urban organization, mobility is an important issue for society. Traffic congestion of urban roads undermines mobility is a real problem in major cities This article shows the development and implementation of a centralized traffic control system in the city of Cali Valle (Colombia) applied to control traffic lights located to the east of the city (Simon Bolivar and Ciudad de Cali highways), allowing the central operators directly influence the traffic flow, know and display the status of the lights and generate statistics about the events of the online equipment. Particular real benefits of proposed new system of traffic lights are reflected in green times at each intersection allocated in accordance with the present traffic volumes on the road network at any time of day and in every sector of the city in particular, which of course increases the efficiency of each light installed at each intersection. As demonstrated in this article case study, the congestion scheme has been improved, and the project has opened up vast opportunities for innovative network management strategies for the optimization of network performance. Many of these strategies are developed to give a coordinated high-level control across different traffic control platforms based on real time traffic condition and performance on site.


Provision of artificial water points to large herbivores leads to range deterioration and degradation, especially in semi-arid and arid ecosystems. This is a cause for concern in both protected and private lands in Namibia and elsewhere. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the impact of large herbivores on soils and vegetation around water points in the Waterberg Plateau Park (WPP). Five artificial water points were selected for the study. Four line-transects starting as close as possible to, and radiating away from the water points were surveyed at each water point, and five 20 m x 20 m plots at distances 0 m, 100 m, 200 m, 300 m and 500 m from the water, on each transect were used for sampling trees and soils. The nested plot design was used for sampling: 1 m x 1 m plots in which grasses and forbs were sampled, were nested within 5 m x 5 m plots used for sampling shrubs and saplings, which were nested within the 20 m x 20 m plots. All trees were identified, counted and their heights as well as basal circumferences were measured. All shrubs and saplings were identified, counted and their heights measured. Woody vegetation cover was estimated using the line-intercept method. Forbs and grasses were identified and their total cover was visually estimated. Forbs were also counted. Density was presented as individual trees, shrubs and saplings, and forbs per 400 m, 25 m and 1 m, respectively. Basal area was calculated with the assumption that all stems were circular, using the formula: BA= c/ (4*π ). Plant species diversity was calculated for each plot using the Shannon-Wienner diversity index. The results indicated significantly lower plant densities, cover, basal areas, diversity and richness close to water points, than further away from the water points. These were a result of high degradation by large herbivores through trampling and over-utilization of vegetation around water points. To determine basal area and height distributions, the basal area and height values at the different distances from the water points were arranged into classes. Height class and basal area class distributions generally portrayed a similar trend, with a high proportion of shrubs and saplings corresponding to a high proportion of plants with smaller basal areas. Stunting of woody vegetation through browsing and a reduction in fire frequencies and intensities through controlled burning may have contributed to the establishment and therefore the high frequency of small, short woody plants at the four distances further away from the water points. The HCA classified the vegetation plots into 10 main clusters based on species presence/absence data. The DCA indicated a complex interaction of gradients which influenced the patterns in species composition. The CCA indicated that soil phosphorus, CEC and clay accounted for significant variation in species composition. Phosphorus has been introduced into the soils by large herbivores through dung and urine, while clay content was lower due to the removal of vegetation around the water points by large herbivores. It was concluded that trampling and over-utilization of vegetation by large herbivores negatively influence vegetation structure, composition and diversity around water points in the WPP.


This investigation was carried out to study the effect of storage time and growth regulator, Furolan (the extrinsic factors) on the contents of protein fraction composition and amino acids (the intrinsic factors) of three varieties of winter wheat grains namely Batko, Diya and Krasnodar 99. The determination of mass fraction of amino acids and fractional composition of protein complex was respectively carried out by capillary electrophoresis and Osborne methods. During harvest, Furolan-treated varieties of Diya (42.9%) and Batko (41.7%) were found to differ from Furolan-treated Krasnodar 99 (48.3%) variety by their low content of albumin and globulin and the high content of alcoholic-and alkaline- soluble fractions of protein (protein gluten) due to the genetic potential of these varieties. During storage there was a decrease in the albumin and globulin contents and an increase in the protein gluten content of Krasnodar 99 variety in the control. It was observed that, during 12 months of storage the contents of cyclic amino acids in all the varieties studied decreased. Similarly, there was a decrease in monoaminomonocarboxylic amino acids (glysine, alanine, serine, threonine, valine, leucine) content of the average-ripening (Diya and Krasnodar 99) varieties.


The increase of new energy penetration and load fluctuation level has brought new challenges to power system frequency regulation. The Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) has been proved to have broad application prospects in frequency control recent years. The use of BESS in primary frequency modulation can effectively improve the condition of frequency deviation. But how to control the BESS operating parameters to make power system more economical and stable is still a problem to be solved. A timer trigger parameter tuning method based on rolling optimization and genetic algorithm is proposed. The primary frequency regulation parameters of BESS are dynamically adjusted by proposed method periodically, which can guarantee both smaller frequency deviation and more economical operation of BESS. The result of case study based on MATLAB/SINMULINK demonstrates the effectiveness and advantage of the strategy compared with fixed parameter control method.


The purpose of the work is to study the pale-flowered licorice (Glycyrrhiza pallidiflora Maxim.) of the legume family (Fabaceae) herb amino acid composition and forage value, introduced in the Kuzbass. Eighteen proteinogenic amino acids were identified in the raw materials of the third and fourth years of introduction. Eight of them are irreplaceable and ten of them are replaceable. The amino acids total content differed significantly by years and amounted to 6.266±0.89% in the third year and 12.541±0.51% in the fourth year. The content of tryptophan, arginine, leucine+isoleucine, valine, histidine, aspartic acid, and serine varied more strongly from year to year. The content of proline, tyrosine, and methionine varied less. Amino acids with polar negatively charged radicals (acidic) prevail. Their part of the total amino acid content averages 36.20%. Amino acid's part with non-polar radicals (neutral) is slightly less – 31.80%. The smallest specific weight had amino acids with polar positively charged radicals (basic) 11.85%. Aspartic and glutamic acids, leucine+isoleucine, arginine, serine, proline were characterized by a larger part of the total amino acids.
The crude fat, protein, ash, Barnstein protein, nitrogen-free extractive substances and phosphorus content reached the highest values in the third and fourth years. The crude fiber and calcium amount decreased with increasing plant age. Metabolic energy and energy feed units for raw nutrients for cattle averaged 8.98 MJ/kg and 0.90, respectively. The highest values were reached in the third and fourth years of cultivation. Thus, pale-flowered licorice grass is a promising plant as a fodder crop and for the preparation of feed additives.


Flooding in the riverfront area is a danger for pedestrians without appropriate information and facility during the event. This research aims to analyze the principle design of the evacuation route for the pedestrian in Borgo Village. This village is located in Minahasa regency, North Sulawesi Indonesia. Many experiences of flooding followed by a landslide, Borgo Village has faced many destruction and victims during such an event. Therefore, creating a principle design can help improve access for evacuation for the pedestrian. The method of this research is field study with record area using photos and videos. Interview with the community in the area is conducted to support field data. Potential identification data is used to establish an area of evacuation and safety temporary location during evacuation. The result shows that several factors need to be implemented in the region. Such the factors are access from the river to the temporary evacuation building or area. The other one is the symbol and sign of evacuation that needs to be installed to the location, and the facility for the pedestrian pathway need to be constructed based on the standard design. Lastly, regulation for building setback in the riverfront area need to be applied to improve the city for water flow during flooding and flash flooding. There should be more attention to activity in the area as well as understanding land use for the riverfront and other waterfront areas for future research.


The purpose of this paper is to describe and position the state-of-the-art of text and image mining methods in business research. By providing a detailed conceptual and technical review of both methods, it aims to increase their utilization in service research.,On a first stage, the authors review business literature in marketing, operations and management concerning the use of text and image mining methods. On a second stage, the authors identify and analyze empirical papers that used text and image mining methods in services journals and premier business. Finally, avenues for further research in services are provided.,The manuscript identifies seven text mining methods and describes their approaches, processes, techniques and algorithms, involved in their implementation. Four of these methods are positioned similarly for image mining. There are 39 papers using text mining in service research, with a focus on measuring consumer sentiment, experiences, and service quality. Due to the nonexistent use of image mining service journals, the authors review their application in marketing and management, and suggest ideas for further research in services.,This manuscript focuses on the different methods and their implementation in service research, but it does not offer a complete review of business literature using text and image mining methods.,The results have a number of implications for the discipline that are presented and discussed. The authors provide research directions using text and image mining methods in service priority areas such as artificial intelligence, frontline employees, transformative consumer research and customer experience.,The manuscript provides an introduction to text and image mining methods to service researchers and practitioners interested in the analysis of unstructured data. This paper provides several suggestions concerning the use of new sources of data (e.g. customer reviews, social media images, employee reviews and emails), measurement of new constructs (beyond sentiment and valence) and the use of more recent methods (e.g. deep learning).


The concept of total rewards embraces everything employees value in their employment relationship. This holistic concept is driven by the changing perspective of employees and what they value. This concept integrates four major categories of rewards: 1. Compensation 2. Benefits 3. Development 4. Work Environment. Compensation encompasses pay, incentives (both short term and long term, including equity) and monetary recognition programs. Benefits include health and welfare, retirement and capital accumulation programs, as well as a wide variety of specialty programs such as child-care resources, fitness centers, concierge services and everything in between. Development relates to programs that promote learning TolRew ardsinn:Developing aotalR Today, the term "total rewards" is common, but that wasn't always the case. In fact, as few as ten years ago, many people would not have recognized the terminology. The challenge of attracting and retaining talent amid changing demographics and intense competition has led employers to finally recognize what employees have been saying for awhile—It's not about pay only. It's the total offering that attracts, retains and motivates workers today. This discussion focuses on developing a total rewards strategy which, when linked to an overall business strategy, can help your organization achieve its goals.


The present invention relates to compositions and methods for treating and / or preventing biofilm and biofilm-associated diseases. The present invention includes at least one therapeutic agent and therein nanoparticle carrier (NPC). NPC binds within the biofilm, and attached to the surface of the potential for the formation and accumulation of biofilm and induced the to release at least one therapeutic agent is released from one NPC said at least therapeutic agent locally when persistent, are delivered enhanced and controlled. In one embodiment, NPC is local environment, if accurately therapeutic agent when most needed indicates that must be delivered, including pH- responsive elements to specifically deliver therapeutic agents .


As business-to-business customers increasingly use online channels, sellers must reconsider strategic investments in at least two areas: the salesperson channel, which faces the threat of substitution, and customer-specific discounts, which may be more precisely targeted. The authors draw on communication theory to posit that a customer's search and purchasing in the seller's online channels interact positively with both salesperson contact and customer-specific discounts to drive the seller's customer-level sales and profit return on these investments. A multimethod approach using a complex data set from a large industrial seller provides broad support for hypothesized effects. Two post hoc experiments reveal how online and salesperson channels are complementary, together improving customer–seller communication such that the seller is better able to fulfill customer needs and reduce customer perceived risk. This research advances the multichannel and pricing literatures and offers actionable insights for business-to-business marketers, revealing how online channels can complement traditional seller investments in salespeople and customer-specific discounts.


The papers published in this issue of Balgarski ezik are unified by the idea of
presenting the peculiarities of the language varieties spoken by Bulgarian communities that live outside the state borders of present-day Bulgaria. In these new
studies, one can trace the influence of the scientific ideas, theoretical views and
remarkable teaching activity of an eminent Bulgarian scholar, Prof. Ivan Kochev, to
whose 85th anniversary this issue is dedicated. He was the first of a generation of
scholars succeeding the classics of Bulgarian linguistics such as Lyubomir Miletich,
Stefan Mladenov and Benyo Tsonev to turn the study of the Bulgarian language
throughout its historical territory, both within and outside the contemporary borders
of Bulgaria, into his "symbol of faith". In addition, some of the articles discuss the
current state of the language spoken by the Bulgarian diaspora.
The first two papers present recent lexical and phonetic data from the dialects of
two Bulgarian villages in the Prizren Region that provide further evidence on the
geographical position of the western boundary of the Bulgarian language continuum. The material has been collected by the authors of the articles in recent years
as a result of personal field research.
Luchia Antonova-Vasileva's study On the Distinction of Dialects of Closely
Related Languages at the Lexical Level explores the dialectal differences between
Bulgarian and Serbian on the basis of lexical data from a recently studied Bulgarian
dialect spoken in the Republic of Kosovo. Revealing the dialect-specific, common
Bulgarian and common Slavic tiers of the vocabulary of the dialect of the village of
Rahovets in the Prizren Region, the author undoubtedly proves its Bulgarian nature.
In her paper The Reflexes of the Proto-Slavic Combinations *tj, *dj, *kt' and
Palatalisation Changes in the Plosives т, д, к and г in the Phonetic System of the
Dialect of the Village of Rechane, Prizren Region – New Data, Iliyana Garavalova
adduces authentic, although not very abundant, dialect material which corroborates
the existence of one of the most typical diagnostic phonetic features of the
Bulgarian language – the reflexes шт, жд – in the dialect of the Prizren village of
Rechane.
Georgi Mitrinov studies The Bulgarian Immigrants' Dialect of the Village of
Musabeyli, Edirne Region in comparison with the Rhodope dialect of the village of
Vievo, Smolyan Region, where the inhabitants of Musabeyli hail from. The author
discusses the linguistic data in light of historical, geographical and demographic information about the village over a period spanning more than 100 years and continuing into the present day.
Based on material from the dialect of the residents of seven villages in the Tsaribrod Region collected by the author himself, Kiril Parvanov analyses the dialect's
most significant archaic features in the domain of morphology. Pointing out the
symmetrical bilingualism observed in the dialect of the population of the Western
Outlands, he provides linguistic data that clearly prove its Bulgarian character. An
intriguing addition to the analysis are several recipes revealing unknown folk medicine practices and experience.
Daniela Andrei's paper The Bulgarian Ethnic Minorities in Oltenia, Romania.
The Language of the Inhabitants of Sviniţa as an Ethnographic Group within the
Bulgarian People is a contribution to the study of the language and culture of Bulgarian minorities in Romania. The author discusses archaic and recent phonetic features of the ancient dialect of the village of Sviniţa in Mehedinţi County, which shares common features with the dialect of the village of Novo Selo, Vidin Region.
She goes on to make an overview of the rich bibliography on this topic, concluding
that the language and culture of the Bulgarian minority in Oltenia merit further research.
Ana Kocheva adds new details To the Characterisation of the Mixed Language
of Second-Generation Viennese Bulgarians. As noted by the author, the language of
Viennese Bulgarians preserves major features of the Bulgarian language, but bilingualism of a subordinate type is also observed. The variability between Bulgarian
and German typical for the first generation of Bulgarian emigrants is gradually
being replaced through the natural stabilisation of the German elements.
Katerina Usheva traces the interesting Historical Development of the Old Bulgarian Etymological Vowel А (Я) in the Dialects of the Southern Part of the Э Isoglottal Zone (the regions of Razlog, Sandanski, Petrich, Gotse Delchev, Drama,
Serres and Thessaloniki) and emphasises on the archaic nature of the umlaut in the
Razlog and Thessaloniki Regions.
Simeon Stefanov studies A Peculiarity in the Description of the Local Traditional Clothes Made by the Administration of the Shumen Region in 1888 (On Material from Archive 427 l. 68a-80a). The author analyses the lexis and style of hitherto unexplored documents from the late-19th century which provide data on the
way different social and ethnic groups dressed in post-Liberation Bulgaria.
The featured articles by established and younger scholars are a contribution to
the study of the language of Bulgarian communities abroad that undoubtedly show
that even today, whether spoken in or outside the boundaries of the Bulgarian language continuum, these language varieties preserve the most important characterristics of Bulgarian.


References 1. CHARPIN J. Une cause rare d'asthme allergie professionel. Presse Med 1953;61:1676. 2. NAKAZAWA T, INAZAWA M, FUEKI R, KOBAYASHI S. A new occupational allergy due to frogs. Ann Allergy 1983;51:392±394. 3. ARMENTIA A, MARTIN-SANTOS J, SUBIZA J, et al. Occupational asthma to frogs. Ann Allergy 1988;60:209±210. 4. HOLTZ J, FREÂ CHELIN E, NOEE L, SAVOLAINEN H. A case of frog allergy: antigenic skin protein. Int Arch Allergy Immunol 1993;101:299±300. 5. STEURICH FGT. A case of allergy to frog's legs. Allergy 1996;51:852±853.


Objective: To identify predictors of cesarean section in a term nulliparous women presented in labour. So that we can avoid unnecessary primary cesarean section and in the same time avoid, as much as we can, obstructed labour. Methods: This was a cohort study of 216 nulliparous patients presenting in labour at term with singleton vertex fetuses who were followed till delivery either vaginally (n = 144) or by cesarean section (n = 72). Multiple logistic regression was used to identify independent demographic and clinical predictors for cesarean delivery. Results: Increased maternal weight, advanced gestational age, change in cervical dilatation & cervical effacement after two hours of admission and finally change in fetal head station after two hours of admission remained independently significant in a multiple logistic regression model for cesarean delivery. Conclusions: The use of demographic and clinical criteria early during labour in nulliparous women with vertex presentation may reduce the potential morbidity associated with prolonged labour or second stage cesarean delivery.


This paper presents the design of two dichroic mirrors intended for application in large-reflector beam-waveguide antennas for deep space observation. The former mirror is a huge screen perforated periodically with rounded crosses, transparent in the X band and reflecting in the S band. The latter is a plate perforated with rounded rectangular holes, transparent in the Ka band and reflecting in the S and X band. The design tool, the fabrication techniques, and the measurement results are discussed.


With a rapidly increasing amount of machine-readable resources being generated and published to the Linked Data cloud, humanreadable representations of those resources continue to serve an important demand. While dereferencing interfaces offer an easy, generalpurpose solution to providing human-readable representations, they are not always well-equipped to support the specific characteristics of a dataset, such as having the ability to render embedded maps for displaying geometries. Another shortcoming to exploring resources via dereferencing interfaces comes from deciding how to handle nodes that belong to remote IRIs. On one hand, a user may wish to leave the current data source and dereference the remote IRI. On the other hand, the user may wish to remain within the current interface and view the dataset's own triples about the given node. This leads to an interesting problem since any such human-readable representation of a remote IRI is no longer the result of dereferencing. Finally and perhaps most importantly, many data providers do not deploy and maintain dereferencing interfaces at all. In this paper, we address these issues by presenting a fully-extensible Web interface for exploring remote RDF datasets by querying their SPARQL endpoints from the client.


An electromagnetic articulography (EMA) system and electropalatography (EPG)have been employed to study five Swedish fricatives in different vowel contexts.Articulatory measures at the onset of, th ...


The design of the intelligent monitoring system based on S3C2440 ARM microprocessor was introduced.It focused on the difficult points of developing the Graphical User Interface(GUI) applications based on Qt/Embedded and the Linux drivers for various types of sensors in the intelligent monitoring system project,achieving the combination of Qt/Embedded and Linux system-driven programming.


Article is devoted to identification of peculiar features of national standards which operate in the tourist industry of Russia today, in it the detailed analysis of some key standards in the field of tourism is given.


To determine the exact reason for the age‐related decline of the myelinated fiber length in white matter, we performed this study. In middle‐aged rats, there was age‐related loss of the unmyelinated fibers with large diameters. The demyelination of the myelinated fibers with small diameters in middle‐aged rat white matter might make the age‐related decrease of the unmyelinated fibers with small diameters in the white matter unnoticeable. However, in old‐aged female rats, the unmyelinated fibers with large and small diameters significantly degenerated together and that the unmyelinated fibers formed from the demyelination of the myelinated fibers could not replenish the age‐related loss of the unmyelinated fibers in the white matter. In conclusion, this study suggested that demyelination of myelinated fibers with small diameters in aged white matter might be the key mechanism of the significant decline of the myelinated fiber length in aged white matter. Anat Rec, 292:528–535, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Background : Experimental trend of the latest aesthetic theory is that premises and conditions about importance of experience has been studied in a context of phenomenology as philosophy. This study researched the Design Aesthetics to establish the possibility of design aesthetics by combining phenomenology and design. The study researched 3 methods based on 1)phenomenology through sense 2)hermeneutics as the relations between idea and material expression 3)Aestheticizing in the relations with a context everyday life gives as the framework of design aesthetics. Methods : This study researched Lα phenomenlolgie de la perception of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Art as Experience of John Dewey as the first literature, and researched Aesthetics of the Imagination in Design of Mads Nygard Forkmann, Grenzgange der Asthetik of Wolfgang Welsch, and The Politics of Aesthetics: The Distribution of the Sensible of Jacques Ranciere as the second literature. In addition, the study researched literature and thesis of Peter-Paul Verbeek as the third literature. Result : Sensible-phenomenological platform gives the present form as 'an abundance of an appearance at the moment' by using the Somaesthetics. About conceptual-hermeneutic platform, a method of meaning and understanding like an idea is suggested as a physical objet, especially utopian vision is suggested. About contextual-discursive dimension platform, aestheticizing is discussed as a sensory style to distributing experience of stimulation by the design media. In addition, about design aestheticizing, the relations between design and reality are deducted through 'experience and existence' of people. Conclusions : This study deducted that modern aesthetics deviate from a boundary of traditional art so expand to everyday design through aestheticizing that sensible phenomenology, hermeneutics of meaning, and context of everyday life give. Therefore, the organized principle of design aestheticizing needs to examine the principle of 'the filtering' in a meaning of diversity to recognize a difference. Design aestheticizing gives the ability to deliberate 'experience and existence' of people, so gives a role to infer the relationship with world reality.


This paper reports the design and development of a self-balancing bicycle using off the shelf electronics. A self-balancing bicycle is a non-linear unstable system similar to that of an inverted pendulum. Experimental results show the robustness and efficiency of a proportional plus derivative (PD) controller balancing the bicycle. The system uses a control moment gyroscope (CMG) as an actuator for balancing.


The 1,2-dihydropyridine derivative (3) was prepared by the sodium dithionite reduction of 1-[2-(3-indolyl)ethyl]pyridinium bromide (2). It is shown that the isolated 1,2-dihydropyridine derivative (3) is a rearrangement product of the initially formed unstable 1,4-dihydropyridine derivative (4)


Series Editor's Preface - Key Debates in Education Policy Foreword by Christopher Winch Part I - Teaching Thinking Skills by Stephen Johnson Part II - On Thinking Skills by Harvey Siegel Afterword by Christopher Winch Index.


The Great Houses, which were residential mansions for the colonial white elites, were regarded as by-products of slavery as they were built with the enormous funds acquired from forced labour in the former British colony of Trinidad. This paper seeks to show what these colonial buildings mean to the modern-day whites who are labelled as abusers and oppressors by the non-white members of society. According to the interviews conducted with the white citizens in Trinidad, although the Magnificent Seven does not hold much significance for them, the Country Club sits at the core of whiteness in Trinidad. The prestigious membership club still works to strengthen the ties amongst the white society in 21st century Trinidad.


For the sixth time the International Symposium on large TPCs for Low-Energy Rare-Event Detection has been organized in Paris on 17–19 December 2012. As for the previous conference, we were welcomed in the Astroparticle and Cosmology Laboratory (APC). Around one hundred physicists from all over the world gathered to discuss progress in the dark matter and low-energy neutrino search. The new results from the LHC were also widely discussed. The Higgs discovery at 125 GeV, without any sign of other new heavy particles, does not provide us with any information on the nature of dark mater. Alternatives to the favored SUSY model, in which the role of the WIMP is played by a stable neutralino, predict low mass candidates below a few GeV. Developing low threshold detectors at sub-keV energies becomes mandatory, and interest for Axion or Axion-like particles as dark matter is revived. We have seen increasing activity in the field and new infrastructures for these searches have been developed. We heard news of activities in the Canfranc laboratory in Spain, Jinping in China, SURF in the USA and about the extension project of Fréjus (LSM) laboratory. We would like to thank the organizing and advisory committees as well as the session chairpersons: J Zinn-Justin, G Wormser, D Nygren, G Chardin, F Vannucci, D Attié, T Patzak and S Jullian. I Giomataris, P Colas and I G Irastorza


Background: There is definite evidence for the involvement of retina in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, a specific pattern has not been clear due to the cross-sectional nature of the majority of the previous studies. Objective: The aim of this work was to study the pattern of changes in the retinal layers in patients with PD on longitudinal follow-up. Materials and Methods: Twelve patients with PD (23 eyes) were evaluated at baseline with complete history, clinical examination, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor part, visual acuity, and retinal imaging with spectral-domain Optical Coherence Tomography. After a mean duration of 3.7 ± 0.46 years, patients were re-evaluated. Results: The Central Macular Thickness (CMT) of the right eye was found to be significantly thicker during the follow-up (P = 0.002). The outer retinal layer in the temporal quadrant at 0.5 centimeters from the fovea of the left eye was found to be significantly thinner (P = 0.001). Conclusion: The serial evaluation of the retinal layers in patients with PD suggests a progressive loss of thickness of the outer retinal layer. The involvement of non-dopaminergic mechanisms, especially glutamatergic pathways, may be responsible for these changes.


The reaction of 2-iodoadamantane (1) with the potassium enolate of acetophenone (2) did not occur in the dark but succeeded under irradiation or in the presence of FeBr2 to give the substitution product 3 in 62% and 88% yields, respectively. The photostimulated reaction was inhibited by p-dinitrobenzene (p-DNB). There was no reaction of 1 with the anion of nitromethane (4) in the dark or under irradiation. However, 4 reacted with 1 in the presence of acetone enolate ion (entrainment reaction) to yield 88% of the substitution product 2-adamantylnitromethane (5). The photostimulated reaction of 1 with anthrone (6), 2-naphthyl methyl ketone (9), and N-acetylthiomorpholine (11) anions afforded the substitution compounds 7 (37%), 10 (32%), and 12 (20%), respectively. There was no reaction of 1-chloro-2-iodoadamantane (13) with 2 in the dark (2 h), but under irradiation (5 min) it yielded 52% of the monosubstitution product α-(1-chloro-2-adamantyl)acetophenone (14). Under longer irradiation time (3 h), the same...


SMEs comprise over 90% of African business operations and contribute to over 50% of African employment and Growth Domestic Product (GDP). SMEs sector has shown positive signs in South Africa, Mauritius and North Africa. In South Africa, SMEs constitute 55% of all jobs. Research of Bowler, Dawood and Page (2007) reveal that 40% of new business ventures fail in their first year, 60% in their second year, and 90% in their first 10 years of existence. It seems that a number of challenges have been identified as contributing to the failure of SMEs in South Africa and worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to identify some of the critical success factors for the SMEs to improve their performance in order to overcome the challenges they are faced within the competitive market environment. The research problem of this study emanates from the current high business failure rate. The research investigates what are the critical success factors that can help these SMEs to be sustainable and have positive growth so to limit the high business failure rate in South Africa. The research established that attracting repeat customers and the performance of the product are the critical success factors that can lead to the sustenance of these SMEs. The study concluded that the resource-constraint SMEs need to focus on critical success factors to build competitive advantage to stay competitive amidst the challenges from globalisation and liberalisation. This study will make further contribution on understanding these critical success factors as they are central to business success, especially in South Africa where it is estimated that the failure rate of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMEs) is between 70% and 80% (Brink and Cant, 2009).


Aim: Review of presentation, management and outcome of patients admitted with Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) to an emergency department short stay unit with expedited discharge. Methods: All admitted patients with a discharge diagnosis of "Diabetic Ketoacidosis", were identified by the file auditing section in the Emergency Department. Data obtained from the medical records were collected using an explicit chart review from January 2012 to June 2013. Data included clinical monitoring, investigations performed, the type and amount of intravenous fluids given, the insulin regime, potassium supplementation and outcome. Results: Out of a total of 120 patients labelled as DKA or hyperglycaemia on arrival, hundred patients fulfilled the criteria for DKA. In the population studied the mean age was 25 years with a male predominance. Eighty-two patients suffered from Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) whilst eighteen patients had Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). Sixteen patients were newly diagnosed during the present admission. Seventy-six (76%) patients were on insulin. The insulin regimen and potassium supplementation were followed as per protocol in all patients. All the patients except one were given intravenous fluid according to protocol. Parameters were monitored adequately except fluid input and output monitoring. The median length of stay in the short stay unit was 1.5833 days. There was no return visit within one week of discharge. Conclusion: The median length of stay was short and there were no documented complications or deaths during the stay. There was poor compliance with documentation of fluid input and output. In this population, the short stay model of care appeared to be safe and efficient.


A novel family of composited oxides, Co–RE ferrites (RE=rare earth), has been fabricated on quartz substrates by a sol-gel method. The studies on the microstructure and magneto-optical effects of the Co–RE ferrite films were carried out. It has been found that the doping of Co ferrite with Yb or Lu ion notably enhance the magneto-optical rotations in the spectral range of 350–420 nm, which made them very promising to be used for magneto-optical recording at short wavelengths in the future.


The present work describes and analyses a particular form of civil disobedience emerging amidst the recent expansion of the processes of privatization of knowledge. We refer to "intellectual disobedience" in front of new juridical devices guaranteeing contemporary capitalism's accumulation processes. After revising the economic and political context in which this sort of disobedience appears, we will delve into three examples of its practices: the works of Nina Paley, Aaron Swartz's activism, and the case of the Sci-Hub website. These cases make reference to practices violating intellectual property laws with the intention to make their illegitimacy evident.


In semiconductor packaging, conventional test procedures for evaluating mechanical properties of ball bonded gold wire bonding are well established. However these tests do not provide clear understanding related to the strength mechanism leading to improper reliability data. The nanoindentation approach, uses equipment called nanoindenter, gives advances mechanical (sub-micromechanical) characterization, particularly the combination effect of elastic and plastic deformation. Wire bonding process was prepared using thermosonic-wire bonding technology with 25m diameter gold wire and copper as substrate. To obtain mechanical properties, ball-bonded was cross-sectioned diagonally before indented at various locations. Results show that mechanical properties vary according the locations throughout the surface; at the centre, at the edge and at the area near intermetallics layer. This indicates test location plays important role in determining 'meaningful' mechanical properties.


When radiation therapy centres are equipped with two or more linear accelerators from the same vendor, they are usually beam-matched. This work tested the sensitivity of optically stimulated luminescence dosimeters (OSLDs) across matched linear accelerators. The responses were compared with an unshielded diode detector for varying field sizes. Clinical studies are currently done with thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD), which absorb radiation then emit some levels of light determined by the radiation absorption when heated.


In consideration of energy saving indications of the polished rod dynamometer card(load on suspension point), net torque of crank shaft;root mean square power, cyclic loading rate and overall surface efficiency, comparative analyses are made on the energy saving results of conventional beam pumping units, out phase pumping units and deflecting wheel beam pumping units, the results show that obvious energy saving efficiency is achieved with the deflecting beam pumping unit


Abstract Performance of T2Candida for detecting intra-abdominal candidiasis (IAC) was assessed in 48 high-risk patients. T2Candida sensitivity/specificity and positive/negative predictive values were 33%/93% and 71%/74%, respectively. IAC was present in 100% of cases with concordant positive T2Candida/1,3-beta-d-glucan and absent in 90% of concordant negative results. Combination T2Candida/1,3-beta-d-glucan may help guide treatment decisions.


Todays communication systems are inefficient due to redundant functions in the protocol stack. Multimedia data requires even more effective processing because of the real-time data restrictions for data transmission. The motivation in this thesis is to increase the efficiency of data communication systems by removing the redundant error correction function from the protocol stack, yet preserve the same level of reliability. This thesis is one approach to the Intermediate Storage Node Concept (INSTANCE) project. The goal of this thesis is to study the possibility of integrating Forward Error Correction (FEC) mechanisms into Transport Protocols (TPs) and Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) data storage systems. Both RAID and TP provide error correction for reconstruction of lost data with the help of parity information. In this thesis we consider how multimedia (e.g, video, audio, and text) data behave in integrated FEC in RAID and TP. The data distribution mechanism in RAID, called striping, is described to clarify methods used in this approach. Stripes must be adjusted in such a way that parity calculation products appropriate parity units for transmission. Another area which is addressed is how the striped data and redundant information is adjusted in order to achieve a functional combination in TP. The details we consider in this case basically concern the error coding algorithm. The algorithms for calculating parity information are the same types as in TPs. The tendency of congestion in a channel gives a guideline of how much redundant information is appropriate to store on RAID. In addition, the size of the data units for parity calculations influence disk access and data transmissions. The stored data type indicates the size of each read from the disks. The studies show that the functionality of FEC in RAID and TP depends on the relationship between stripe units and transmission data units. The results from literature studies show that there is not only one appropriate solution to integrate the FEC mechanism to RAID and TP. The methods used depend on many factors like user criteria, transmission channels, types of data, and coding algorithms. In this thesis, we consider possibilities of combining various schemes for RAID and TP to accomplish a feasible integration.


This paper discusses a specific source of noise, which is generated by household waste collection trucks. Two areas in the city of Curitiba were chosen for evaluation, one of them a densely populated residential neighborhood and the other in downtown Curitiba. A noise map was created for each area. The evaluation, which was carried out in the daytime in the residential area and at night in the downtown area, revealed noise levels exceeding the limits established by Curitiba Municipal Law No. 10625. The regular use of utility vehicles that generate high noise levels, such as garbage trucks, during nighttime hours in residential areas is thus not sustainable from the standpoint of noise protection laws. Nighttime hours in Curitiba are 10[Formula: see text]pm to 7[Formula: see text]am, but nighttime garbage collection begins at 7[Formula: see text]pm and goes on until 4[Formula: see text]am. Therefore, changes in this schedule are advisable, given the noise impact caused by garbage collection trucks.


The effects of dietary energy source and tryptophan on hormones of the entero-insular axis and glucose in the early weaned pig after an intragastric infusion of glucose. By The concentrations of the insulinotropic hormone gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) are increased in response to glucose (Morgan et al. 1988) after a high-fat compared with a high-carbohydrate diet. High-fat diets also cause insulin resistance (Nagy et al. 1990) and tryptophan-deficient diets impair the disposal of glucose (Wittman, 1976). The present study was designed to investigate the effects of dietary energy source and tryptophan level on the response to a glucose load. Forty-two piglets (seven litters of six piglets) weaned at 10 d were used. Within each litter six dietary regimens were represented. Two semi-purified diets were formulated to be deficient in tryptophan (113 mg/MJ). One high in carbohydrate (CO; 2.4% fat, 15.6 MJ DE/kg) and the other high in fat (FO; 22.6% fat, 18.6 MJ DE/kg). Two further diets were produced from each of the basal diets by the addition of tryptophan to give adequate (160 mg/MJ; C1, F1) and excessive (205 mg/MJ; C2, F2) levels with respect to requirements. The diets were given on the same DE basis in liquid form (feed:water; 1:3) by intragastric catheter. After 13 d, an intragastric load of glucose (3.28 Previous studies with isolated intact rat soleus muscles have shown vitamin E to be protective against muscle damage caused by an elevation of intracellular Ca2+. Results with various related compounds suggest that protection is afforded by the hydrocarbon phytyl chain and unrelated to antioxidant ability (Phoenix et al. 1989, 1990). As mitochondria act as a safety device against toxic increases in intracellular Ca2+, it was of interest to investigate the effect of these compounds on mitochondrial Ca2+ handling. Net Ca2+ movements across the inner membrane were evaluated from extramitochondrial measurements obtained electrode show that a-tocopherol may protect mitochondria from damage by Ca2+ Pi through a non-antioxidant mechanism, which may possibly account for the increased tolerance of myocytes to Ca2+ loads. Quantitative I3C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy: validation and application to studies of metabolism. I3C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 13C NMR) has found wide application in tracing 13C glucose metabolism in animals (Cohen, 1987). Using I3C NMR, we have previously reported qualitative aspects of [I3C]acetate incorporation into human plasma lipids (Cunnane et al. 1989). We now report validation of similar NMR data against results obtained by quantitative capillary gas liquid chromatography (GLC). [2-13C]Na acetate (MSD Isotopes, Montreal) was injected into a 40 g rat (200 mg intraperitoneally) or into a 2 kg rabbit (500 mg intravenously into portal vein). The animals were then killed under carbon dioxide gas and the livers removed (rat, 24 h later; rabbit, 1 min later). A ch1oroform:methanol (2:l) extract of liver total lipids containing about 100 mg lipid was prepared and quantitative 13C NMR spectra obtained (Bruker 7.05; 5000 scans; 10 sec inter-pulse delay; gated-decoupling; NOE-suppression). These spectra were compared to those from the liver lipid extract of a rat or rabbit not injected with [2-13C] acetate (natural abundance I3C). Quantitative natural abundance 13C NMR spectra of total lipid extracts of foods and rat adipose tissue samples were also obtained and the amount of lipid and fatty acid classes (% and mg/g; saturated, monounsaturated, n-6 and n-3 polyunsaturated) determined and compared to results obtained by GLC. Determi-nation of the fatty acid composition of the foods and rat adipose tissue samples by quantitative 13C NMR provided results for individual fatty acids which were highly positively correlated with those obtained by GLC (r 0.94 for mg/g; r 0.98 for % composition; n 48). 24 Full information from a study of the 4 d weighed energy intakes, protein-energy and biochemical iron status is available on ninety-six healthy Asian children aged 4-40 months, and living in Sheffield. Effect of salbutamol on skeletal muscle functional capacity in man. By LUCIE Numerous reports have shown that a variety of P2-agonists (e.g. clenbuterol, cimaterol) rapidly reduce body fat content and increase lean tissue mass in small mammals (e.g. Emery et al. 1984). No published information is available for humans, possibly due to the absence of clinically-approved Pz-agonists comparable to clenbuterol or cimaterol. Salbutamol, a Pz-agonist used clinically, has not been reported to induce physiological or functional changes in muscle of experimental animals. However, we have recently demonstrated that infusion of salbutamol in rats induces the same anabolic effects as clenbuterol (unpublished data). The present study investigated the effects of a sustained-release preparation of salbutamol on skeletal muscle functional capacity in humans. Twelve healthy, male volunteers (1746 years; 62-83 kg) ingested either salbutamol (Volmax, 8 mg; Glaxo UK) or a placebo (ascorbic acid) twice daily for 14 d. Measurements were performed immediately prior to initiation of the treatment, and after 1 and 2 weeks. The strength of the non-dominant quadriceps increased after 7 d in all subjects taking salbutamol (mean (SEM)) (9 (2%); P<0.05), and remained elevated after 14 d (13 (4%); P<0-05). This increase was half that observed after 14 d for the dominant quadriceps (24 (6%); P<0.05). While the strength of the non-dominant hamstrings remained constant in the salbutamol-treated group, the strength of the dominant hamstrings increased after 7 d (18 (5%); P<0-05), but Energy intake and expenditure body-builders. In adults, energy requirements are determined by rates of energy expenditure, which in turn are a function of basal metabolism, thermogenic processes and physical activity. Whilst the prediction of basal metabolism (RMR) can be made with reasonable confidence on the basis of established prediction equations, energy expenditure above basal is more difficult to predict without detailed information of patterns and extent of physical activity. It is also the case that there is increasing concern that the measurement of energy intakes, assumed to equal rates of energy expenditure in adults in balance, may underestimate actual values. We report here studies designed to investigate the relationship between measured energy intake, prediction equations for energy expenditure and actual energy expenditure in a cohort of body-builders. Measurements were made in ten adult body-builders (seven male and three female). Mean body-weights 74 (SD 12) kg, mean age 30 (SD 6) years. Resting metabolic rate (RMR) was measured by indirect calorimetry by means of a ventilated hood, and total energy expenditure was measured by the doubly-labelled water technique. Body composition was determined by densitometry (underwater weighing), by bioimpedance , and from body water estimated from the '*O space. Food energy intake was determined by a 7 d weighed-intake protocol. All subjects were judged to be highly compliant. The body composition results will be reported separately. The ratio of measured RMR to that predicted by the Schofield equations (Schofield 1985) was 1.04 (SD 0.12). The food energy intake was 1.69 times the RMR (SD 0.23) and the protein:energy Resting metabolic rate and body composition of normal and athletic adults. We report here studies designed to determine the influence of body composition on the resting metabolic rate (RMR). We have measured RMR and body composition (fat and fat-free mass (FFM)) in male and female body-builders, elite light- and heavy-weight female rowers, two groups of non-athletic males (differing in age) and one group of younger females. RMR was measured by the ventilated-hood technique, whilst body composition was measured by a combination of underwater weighing, bioimpedance, body water from the lSO space, total body potassium and skin-fold thickness. For the data set as a whole, RMR was more significantly related to FFM than to body-weight (r 0.776 v. 0.713), although for men the difference was smaller (r 0.744 v. 0-722) than in women (r 0.856 v. 0.722). Multiple regression of RMR on fat and lean tissue with zero intercept (according to the model of Garby et al. 1988) indicated values for the regression coefficients for the entire group, men and women respectively, of 113 (SE 4.3), 101 (SE 6.0) and 130 (SE 4-4) kJ/kg per d for FFM and 37 (SE 19.6), 64 (SE 27.8) and -4-5 (SE 19-0) kJ/kg per d fat.


This research article aims to investigate the customs smuggling of intellectual property rights infringing goods in the EU. There is no doubt that it is a phenomenon that has accompanied humanity from the beginning of the development of trade, it cannot be eliminated, but its scale can be limited (D. Matthews, P. Žikovska, 2013). The analysis used data taken from reports on intellectual property right enforcement in the EU in 2009-2020. The results show the scale and new trends in customs smuggling of goods on the EU market, but the analyses carried out do not provide a clear basis lo conclude [hat the EU customs authorities are winning the fight against customs smuggling, despite the observed decrease in confiscated goods or the number of opened proceedings, as these drops are largely related to the lockdown due lo Covid-19 and the placing of goods with high customs risk under customs control.


In this study, the failure mechanism of solder ball connect in chip scale packaging (CSP) utilizing wire-bonded ball grid array was elucidated using finite element analysis. The macro-micro-coupling technique was used in the current model. There exist two contributors to solder ball cracking: shear stress and warpage of the package. It was recognized that shear stress prevailed over warpage of the package in impact on solder ball cracking in the present type of CSP.


Does foreign aid impede or catalyze human development in South and South-East Asia post-1990s? We argue that foreign aid impacts human development negatively in the region overall due to the structural differences in infrastructure development, democratic regimes, patterns of external debt, trading intensity and other macroeconomic factors. Our empirical evidence further justifies that other than aid, improvements in infrastructure sectors and quality of democratic settings beget human development in the region. Considering further angles of external debt and domestic investment into the picture, we find that rising external debt negates, improves domestic investment and accelerates human development. While comparing both regions, we find a noticeable difference in the impacts of macro-institutional factors on human development. However, the impacts of aid on human development remain insignificant.


Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS cell) technology can be used to produce unlimited numbers of functional cells for both research and therapeutic purposes without ethical controversy. Typically, viruses are applied for efficient intracellular delivery of genes/transcription factors to generate iPS cells. However, the viral genomic integration may cause a risk of mutation as well as tumor formation therefore limits its clinical application.


Occupational therapists are increasingly finding themselves working in settings where they are exposed to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). This article explores the epidemiological and clinical background to this area, highlighting some of the most important issues.


The Milky Way's nearby twin is a good place to study galaxy formation. The Milky Way's nearby twin is a good place to study galaxy formation.


We are measuring 36Cl in the upper part of the 1966 Camp Century deep core, using the tandem-accelerator mass-spectrometry facility at the University of Rochester. There are two primary motivations for measuring 36Cl in ice. The first is to look for correlations between 36Cl concentrations and changes in solar activity. Previous studies of 10Be and 14C (Stuiver and Quay 1980, Raisbeck and others 1981, Beer and others 1983) have demonstrated that the production of these radio-isotopes increases during periods of low solar activity. When the sun is active, the magnetic field induced by the solar wind deflects galactic cosmic rays from the inner solar system and thereby lowers the production of radio-isotopes. Our study of 36Cl in ice dating back to A.D. 1550, from Camp Century, Greenland, shows that there was an increase in 36Cl production during the Maunder Minimum (1650–1715). However, climatic variations introduce fluctuations of a factor of 2 or more over short periods and the Maunder Minimum peak is only readily apparent when the data are smoothed mathematically. The second motivation for measuring 36Cl in ice is to test the possibility that the ratio of 36Cl to 10Be will provide a means for dating ice over 50 000 years old (Nishiizumi and others 1983). The dependence on both solar activity and climatic fluctuations mentioned above precludes dating with a single radio-isotope. If, however, the production rates of 36Cl and 10Be are each proportional to the cosmic-ray flux and are transported identically to the ice sheet, these fluctuations would cancel and the ratio of 36Cl to 10Be would provide a radiometric means of dating very old ice. The half-lives for 36Cl (3.0 × 105 years) and 10Be (1.6 × 106 years), combine to give a "half-life" for the 36Cl/10Be ratio of 3.7 × 105 years. Unfortunately, preliminary results from Camp Century, Greenland, show that it will almost certainly not be possible to use the 10Be/36Cl ratio for dating. 10Be and 36Cl have been measured in more than 20 samples; the 10Be/36Cl ratio varied, without any obvious pattern, from below 5 to over 15. Additional evidence comes from Antarctica. We found that the 10Be/36Cl ratio changed significantly within a short depth interval within a single block of ice and that the calculated age of ice based on 10Be/36Cl differed from the age of an embedded meteorite, ALHA82102 (personal communication from K. Nishiizumi). A variation in the 10Be/36Cl ratio may be caused by climatic effects: for example, changes in air circulation between the stratosphere and the troposphere in the polar region, in combination with chemical processes that affect aerosol chlorine and beryllium differently. Also, the 10Be/36Cl ratio is smaller than expected, indicating that there may be additional sources of 36Cl. If there is a source of 36Cl that varies independently from the galactic cosmic-ray flux, this would result in variations in the isotope ratio. Discovery of the cause of the variations may result in a new tool for understanding paleoclimate.


After cleaning, four 19 century cast busts of illustrious men decorating a Parisian façade revealed severe deterioration. A network of large cracks 0.5 cm wide gave the appearance of a broken up puzzle, although each individual piece maintained good general cohesion. In order to determine the cause of the intense decay and to propose an adequate conservation protocol, the composition of this artificial stone was thoroughly investigated. Sample analyses showed that the material was composed mainly of crushed and probably sieved limestone aggregate bonded with hydrocerussite and an amorphous silica gel containing a small amount of potassium. The binder surrounded and linked calcite aggregates together. Analytical results were consistent with artificial stone recipes from the 19 century. In this paper, we report the results of analyses performed on those strange objects. We also will discuss two hypotheses of composition based on potassium silicate and propose an explanation for the peculiar degradation patterns.


Gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues represent the gold standard treatment for precocious puberty. Allergic‐type reactions in children due to this type of treatment are very rare. However, caregivers should be aware of the potential GnRH analogue systemic reactions.


Zinc base alloy with additional chemical compostions of Al(3.57%), Cu (3.42%) , and Mg(0.05%) is selected and processed by means of refining and deoxidizing in crucible. Then the punch for cold forming is formed by direct casting, resulting in a good mechanical properties to meet the requirements of punch operation for cold forming.


A seamless spectrum handover considering differential frequency channels is proposed to reduce the number of inter-cell handoff and to reduce the blocking/dropping probability of unlicensed secondary users (SUs). A two-dimensional markov chain model is proposed to evaluate the performance of the proposed handoff spectrum scheme. The proposed scheme can reduce the blocking rate and dropping rate of real-time and non-real-time SUs in order to enhance service quality with seamless spectrum handover in multi-cell cognitive radio networks, thereby improving overall system performance.


A fine structural analysis of fetal mouse ovaries reveals the presence of intercellular bridges between developing oocytes. These bridges, which connect two or more oocytes, are most frequently seen prior to the dictyate stage of meiotic prophase. The intercellular connections are limited by a tri‐laminar membrane which is continuous with the oocyte plasmalemma. A characteristic feature of all bridges is the presence of an electron‐dense material on the cytoplasmic side of the limiting membrane. Since this dense material is a constant and conspicuous component of the entire bridge, identification of these connections is possible in all planes of section. In cross section, the bridges are usually cylindrical, while in longitudinal section, a variety of configurations are observed. Oocytes connected by intercellular bridges exhibit a highly developed Golgi complex which is frequently localized in the region of the cytoplasmic continuities. Vesicular elements, apparently derived from the Golgi, are routinely observed within the boundaries of the bridges. Other cytoplasmic organelles, including rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum, free ribosomes and mitochondria, are also seen in these bridges. The presence of these vesicles and organelles within intercellular bridges suggests that these connections may provide a means for transfer of organelles and other substances from one oocyte to another. It may be, therefore, that intercellular bridges are important for the nourishment and maturation of certain selected oocytes as well as for the synchronization of meiotic events.


The idea of using caesium 137 for teletherapy was put forward independently and almost simultaneously at Oak Ridge and Harwell (Brucer, 1951; Eastwood, 1952). The Atomic Energy Authority decided in 1952 to prepare a single experimental source of 1,000 c and considerable thought was given to the methods of its preparation. This paper gives a brief review of some of the problems encountered in the design of caesium 137 sources for use in teletherapy. Caesium metal itself was rejected as being too reactive; in any case there is a greater concentration of radioactive caesium in the salts than in the metal. Caesium chloride and caesium sulphate were both considered. The chloride has a slightly greater activity per unit volume but was thought more likely to yield corrosive products if decomposed by its own radiation. This point was checked by bombarding compacted discs of the chloride and sulphate with electrons produced by a Van de Graaff accelerator, when it was found that the chloride reacted with the nickel...


)Summary Extended-cycle process is the term used for a processor in which the processing time has been prolonged usually to approximate 210 seconds. It has been known that the extended-cycle process of some single-emulsion films as used for mammography may enhance film contrast and increase film speed. _So the speed was increased in lower speed and higher resolution system than conven tional systems by means of using the extended-cycle process in this paper. We investigated how much the resolution of the system was kept. A single screen-single emulsion combination, Konica M-I00/CM-H was employed as a low speed and high resolution system. This film after exposure was processed in the different combinations of developing temperatures, 30, 32 and 34°C, and processing time of 210 seconds. On the other hand, Konica M-200/CM-H was employed as a high speed system. This film was processed in the standard-cycle processing (34°C, 90 seconds). Those systems were compared on contrast, speed, screen-film blur and noise by a characteristic curve, MTF (modulation transfer function) and WS (wiener spectrum). Furthermore, the RMI 165 phantom was used to evaluate visibility of mammographic details of these systems. As a result, in the extended-cycle process at the developing temperatures of 32 or 34°C and processing time of 210 seconds for M-I00/CM-H, it was possible to increase the speed as much as the higher speed system, M-200/CM-H. Then the contrast, the MTF and the visibility were also improved as compared to the higher speed system. Furthermore patient dose could be reduced at the developing temperature of 34°C and processing time of 210 seconds in M-I00/CM-H.


Synthesis software for user-programmable logic that relieves designers of complex design fitting, placement, and routing is examined. The program, called a device fitter, manipulates a designer's generic logic description until the best possible fit with a particular field programmable gate array (FPGA) or complex programmable logic device (PLD) is obtained. The characteristics of the newer FPGAs and PLDs, for which the software is intended, are described.<<ETX>>


Some fundamental limitations on radiation pattern nulling inherent in any multiple-beam antenna system are derived. The specific case of a satellite multiple-beam antenna at synchronous altitude operating over the earth field of view is considered in detail, although the general results are presented so as to be applicable to an arbitrary planar aperture such as a phased array. The multiple-beam antenna offers the large aperture needed for good nulling resolution, while keeping the number of signal ports utilized in any nulling algorithm at a tractable number. Two specific modes of operation are considered: an earth-coverage mode, in which one desires to null a number of interfering sources while realizing the best possible earth-coverage communications link over the remaining earth field of view; and a maximum signal mode, where one desires only to maximize the signal to a specified number of users while nulling the interfering sources. Both cases are treated in detail. Optimum results are derived for an arbitrary planar aperture and compared to what can be accomplished with a fixed set of beams (the case of 7 and 19 beams are considered). For the earth-coverage mode, the quality of the earth-coverage radiation pattern versus beam position must be traded off with the optimum beam position for good nulling-i.e., it will be shown that the set of beams which gives the flatest earth-coverage radiation pattern with no prescribed nulls is not optimum when nulls are to be formed. The optimum beam positioning is determined using the results of two-dimensional sampling theory. Furthermore, the earth-coverage constraint is seen to severely limit the gain available to a signal source near the null, relative to the maximum signal mode. The maximum directivity available to a user in the maximum signal mode is also shown to be a function of beam position. For signal sources close to the edge of the field of view, the directivity available to the source can be significantly less than optimum.


An engineering simulator of HTR-PM is developed by embedding THERMIX code into the vPower simulation platform.The double reactor cold start-up and shutdown processes are simulated on the engineering simulator,to analyze the changing of the critical data such as the reactor power,helium mass flow,inlet/outlet parameters of steam generator and inlet vapor parameters of turbine in these two conditions.The operation features of the double reactor cold start-up and shutdown processes are summarized.The results show that the two reactors influence each other during the operation and the parameter changes in the secondary loop are the combined results from two reactors.


Most nurses in Scotland do not believe the country's new two-week patient discharge target will help reduce delays, a survey has found.


Abstract Beginning in the mid-1930s, Western Hemisphere nations turned to social insurance legislation—guided by the new concept of social security—in response to the economic crisis of the Great Depression. Supported by the International Labor Organization (ILO), national-level policy makers introduced a range of measures in recognition of the 1935 US Social Security Act. As Europe descended into a war, inter-Americanism served as way to maintain regional economic, and later military, security. This article describes an era of social welfare diplomacy in the Americas, one in which countries south of the US border projected their own distinct visions of social policy. Regional solidarity served as an integral step in the development of ideas concerning international social and economic rights. Placing President Franklin Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy in a wider frame, this analysis of ILO inter-American activities reveals an intriguing moment in history, when leaders from several nations saw economic development, trade, future growth, social security, and labor rights as integrally bound together.


Despite their propensity to project both narrators and readers into the future, a fixation on the moral certitudes and strengthening legacy of the past is of central importance in many American utopian formulations. Sometimes futurism and nostalgia coincide with eerie simultaneity, as they did in Ronald Reagan's 1984 "Morning in America" commercials, which offered a vision of the future's promises safely housed and protected in the neighborhoods and values of the (Eisenhower era) past. More often, however, when backward- and forward-looking impulses converge they do so in a less deliberate and more noticeably conflicted way. If, as historian Michael Kammen puts it, Americans are locked into a "relentlessly dialogic relationship between the values of tradition and progress (modernism),"' we should not be surprised that our informants' recollections of the good old days represent their closest approximation of the same utopia that more deliberate minds have shaped out of their projections onto the future. Since the past appears to be a world from which we have safely divided ourselves-a bounded and self-contained realm-our carefully framed memories of it can offer security in troubled and unpredictable times. Indeed, the desire to articulate such recollections, as oral historian Vieda Skultans observes, can be understood as part of a larger, "universal human attribute," -the drive to "see lives as stories" which "can make sense of a disrupted past."2 I


The paper uses a small analytical model of two regions, the United States and the Rest of the Industrial World, to analyze three topical issues concerning international economic interdependence and macroeconomic policy coordination. They are: (1) What should be the monetary and/or fiscal response in the Rest of the Industrial World to a tightening of United States fiscal policy and what should be the United States monetary response? (2) What should be the monetary and/or fiscal response in the United States and in the Rest of the Industrial World to a 'collapse of the United States dollar?' The paper highlights the importance of determining the causes of such a 'hard landing' for the United States dollar, as the appropriate policy responses are very sensitive to this; (3) What should be the macroeconomic policy response in the Industrial World to a disappointing real growth performance? Again the correct identification of the reason(s) for the disappointment is shown to be crucial. The final section discusses and qualifies the activist policy conclusions derived from the formal analysis.


UiO-66 is one of the most chemically stable metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) available. However, little is known about its stability in organic solvents. In this study, we synthesized a highly defective...


The coccyx is the last bone of the spinal column that is usually made of 3-5 separate or fused vertebrae attached to the sacrum. This attachment is variable and may be synovial, fibrocartilaginous, or ossified [1, 2] . This bone is an important structure in the pelvis the serves as an attachment for ligamentous (sacrospinous, anterior, posterior coccygeal, and lateral sacrococcygeal ligaments) and muscular structures (external anal sphincter, levator ani, and coccygeus muscles). These components prevent the sagging of pelvic contents and are responsible for bowel continence [3] .


We examine, with a three-dimensional hydrodynamic computer code, the behavior of rotating, isothermal gas clouds as they collapse from Jeans unstable configurations, in order to determine whether they are susceptible to fragmentation during the initial dynamic collapse phase of their evolution. We find that a gas cloud will not fragment unless (a) it begins collapsing from a radius much smaller than the Jeans radius (i.e., the cloud initially encloses many Jeans masses) and (b) irregularities in the cloud's initial structure (specifically, density inhomogeneities) enclose more than one Jeans mass of material. Gas pressure smooths out features that are not initially Jeans unstable while rotation plays no direct role in damping inhomogeneities. Instead of fragmenting, most of our models collapse to a ring configuration (as has been observed by other investigators in two-dimensional, axisymmetric models). The rings appear to be less susceptible to gragmentation from arbitrary perturbations in their structure than has previously been indicated in other work. Because our models, which include the effects of gas pressure, do not readily fragment during a phase of dynamic collapse, we suggest that gas clouds in the galactic disk undergo fragmentation only during quasi-equilibrium phases of their evolution.


We study the renormalization of the field theory that describes the Lifshitz point (LP). Our motivation was an old controversy on the order-${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}^{2}$ values of critical exponents for this multicritical point. First we analyze the Green functions at the LP where some simplifications occur. The primitively divergent diagrams are identified and renormalization prescriptions that eliminate ultraviolet divergences to all orders of perturbation are found. The Green functions in the neighborhood of the LP are expanded in terms of the Green functions calculated at the LP. This enables us to derive the renormalization-group equation satisfied by the renormalized Green functions and by analyzing its solutions we find expressions for the critical exponents that hold to all orders of perturbation. Finally, we obtain generalized scaling relations for the exponents associated with the LP.


Objective: To observe the effect of Salvia miltiorrhiza (SM) on the apoptosis and the production of superoxide anion (O(superscript – subscript 2)) and nitric oxide (NO) in peripheral blood neutrophils (PMN) from patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods: The PMN taken from UC patients at the middle active stage were cultured in vitro, then the apoptosis of PMN was determined with flow cytometry and the production of O(superscript – subscript 2) and NO in PMN were tested with cytochrome C reduction method and colorimetry, respectively. Results The percentage of apoptosis of PMN in UC was obviously lower than that of control but the production of O(superscript – subscript 2) sod NO were higher than those of control. SM injection solution promoted the apoptosis of PMN and inhibited the release of O(superscript – subscript 2) and the synthesis of NO in PMN. Conclusion: SM has the regulatory effects on the apoptosis and the production of O(superscript – subscript 2) and NO in PMN from the patients with UC.


The need for the innovative ideas in the automobile sector is highly demanded. Nowadays accidents are increasing, so safety has acquired a priority. Improper usage of brakes is also one of the problems for accident. The projected idea is to improve the safety parameters regarding to brakes. Sudden recognition of any object in front panics the driver and at situation, even skilled drivers fail to use brakes correctly and this leads to accidents. Taking the driver reaction time into account we developed a working model of Automatic Failure Detection along with the Auxiliary Braking System with which the safety of driver and reduction in accidents can be achieved easily and simultaneously add to the increase in safety of the vehicle. In the system incorporated if the primary braking system brake fails to operate, the secondary braking system can be successfully brought into use with nominal efforts. The entire system is developed taking into consideration the human tendencies, minimum efforts and efficient use of the entire braking system. The system consists of a very few components and requires least amount of space. A buzzer is used to give the indication to the driver in the form of sound and simultaneously alternative braking system start their working with the help of microcontroller unit and apply the secondary brakes. This system is highly cost effective and efficient in purposes in Automobile Industry.


A fundamental principle of evidence law is that an accused is to be tried for what she did, not for who she is. This principle is effectuated by the general rule excluding character evidence offered to prove "action in conformity" with the person's character. The principle, however, is narrow. The same evidence that is inadmissible when offered to prove character may be admitted if it is also relevant on a non-character basis. Because this route to admissibility is open, evidence of a person's other crimes or wrongs-uncharged misconduct evidence-inadmissible on a character basis, is often admitted because of its relevance on an alternative ground. One common way in which the prosecution uses uncharged misconduct evidence is to prove "motive." Though not an essential element in itself, motive is often part of a chain of inferences leading to the identity of the person who committed the crime or to the required state of mind of the perpetrator. The theory supporting admissibility of uncharged misconduct evidence to prove motive is that motive is different from character, and that admissibility on that basis therefore does not violate the ban on trial by character. This paper explores the use of uncharged misconduct evidence to prove motive. A key problem addressed is whether there is, in fact, a difference between "character" and "motive," and whether that difference, if any, is sufficiently meaningful to justify courts in admitting the evidence. Of particular interest is whether a drug addict's propensity to obtain drugs, and thus her motive to do so, is a legitimate non-character theory that justifies proof of her drug addiction or use, evidence that would be inadmissible if offered on a pure character-based propensity theory. The paper concludes that the difference between character and motive is sometimes significant, and sometimes too subtle to justify admission of the uncharged misconduct evidence.


While much i8 known about the educational distribution of individual8 in the United State8, there i8 little knowledge about family pattern8 of educational attainment or of the component8 of these patterns. The pre8ent article examines the extent of con8i8tency of educational 8tatu8e8 within familie8 by comparing the actual di8tributions with what would be expected on the basis of a random di8tribution model. The tendenoy for 8imilar educational 8tatu8e8 within familie8 is found to be great. Both the attraction of marriage mate8 With 8imilar educational attainment8 and the high degree of educational inheritance by ohildren from parents contribute to this con&istenoy of educational 8tatU8e8 within familie8.


The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of music festivals on local comunity and the local hospitality industry. This academic writing will emphasize the impact of music festivals and the local hospitality industry, and in particularly, in Malaysia. In this case, to make people think positively about music festival. Successful festivals involve in most cases an additional income for the organizer body and other stakeholders within the industry, but eventually these kinds of events could cause negative impact especially to the local community that hosts them. That is the reason why the organizers have to focus on local sustainability and in protecting the local community. This is further supported by highliting the positive impact of music.


The evolutionary approach is applied to the problem of radiation of impulse transient electromagnetic field from plane disk with homogeneous distribution of given electrical current. The set of evolutionary equations on time and longitudinal coordinate was received from Maxwell equations. The analytical solution of linear problem of plane disk radiation is obtained by Riemann function method in time domain. It is shown the accounting of a weak nonlinearity of a medium by method of successive approximations.


Environmental and Social System Assessment review finds the Program environmental and social management system adequate for Program-for-Results financing. The national and regional legal framework is comprehensive and the implementing agency, HXB has demonstrated a track record of following applicable Chinese laws and regulations. China has established a comprehensive system for the management of environment, occupational health and safety issues, which consists of laws, regulations, guidelines and specifications and standards. This system provides a reasonable basis for addressing the environmental and social issues that may arise in the proposed investment areas of the PforR Program. The potential negative impacts of the PforR Program will be site-specific, moderate or minimal since subprojects that are likely to have significant adverse impacts have been excluded from the PforR Program during the screening stage. HXB will be responsible for further screening out such subprojects based on the eligibility criteria for subprojects. Potential adverse impacts can be avoided, minimized, mitigated or compensated through the early screening, consultation, alternative comparison and mitigation measures that are fostered in the system for environmental and occupational health and safety management in China.


This paper presents an efficient subverted symmetric encryption scheme, which outputs a random initialization vector (IV). Compared with the available scheme of the same kind in the literature, our attack provides a saboteur (big brother) with much faster recovery of a key used in a victim's symmetric encryption scheme. Our result implies that care must be taken when a symmetric encryption scheme with a random IV such as randomized CBC is deployed. key words: subversion, symmetric encryption, random IV


The article discusses the issues of dust suppression on industrial waste storage. The dust-suppressing properties of two chemical polymer reagents in the conditions of an industrial waste storage facility in the Ulytau region are considered. Full-scale studies of the dust-suppressing properties of the claimed reagents have been carried out. Throughout the entire period of the study, atmospheric air was monitored at the border of the sanitary protection zone (SPZ) and at the experimental sites. Fine dust, as a main air pollutan has been identified. The advantages of using these reagents as fixatives for dusty waste storages are described.


Significance The degree to which bedrock-floored rivers are shaped by human action is poorly understood in comparison with gravel- and sand-bedded rivers. Yet, bedrock river erosion is thought to set the pace of landscape-scale evolution, and thus any human-induced bedrock erosion has the potential to have a cascading effect and alter both river networks and hillslopes. We show here that artificial dam-burst floods and wood removal in the early 20th century associated with forestry practices caused significant river incision and led to the abandonment of the predisturbance floodplain as a terrace. Although the floods ceased 100 y ago, incision continues in response to decreased wood supply. Short-lived episodes of human action, even in remote mountainous locations, can create long-lasting landscape response. Across North America, human activities have been shown to cause river incision into unconsolidated alluvium. Human-caused erosion through bedrock, however, has only been observed in local and isolated outcrops. Here, we test whether splash-dam logging, which decreased in-stream alluvial cover by removing much of the alluvium-trapping wood, caused basin-wide bedrock river incision in a forested mountain catchment in Washington State. We date incision of the youngest of four strath terraces, using dendrochronology and radiocarbon, to between 1893 CE and 1937 CE in the Middle Fork Teanaway River and 1900 CE and 1970 CE in the West Fork Teanaway River, coincident with timber harvesting and splash damming in the basins. Other potential drivers of river incision lack a recognized mechanism to cause T1 incision or are not synchronous with T1 incision. Hence, the close temporal correspondence suggests that reduced sediment retention triggered by splash damming led to the observed 1.1 mm⋅y−1 to 23 mm⋅y−1 of bedrock river incision and reduction of the active floodplain to 20% and 53% of its preincision extent on the Middle and West Forks, respectively. The development of such anthropogenic bedrock terraces may be an emerging, globally widespread physiographic signature of the Anthropocene.


Major developments in liquid laundry detergent and current situation in formula of liquid laundry detergent were reviewed in this paper.There are lots of shortages for liquid laundry in detergency compared with powder detergent.The trends of liquid laundry detergent are improving detergency and multiple functional formulas.


The chemical vapor-deposited homoepitaxial (111) diamond surface is studied by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). The obtained diffraction patterns showed the presence of anti-phase domain ordering of 2×1 surface unit cells. The anti-phase boundary was determined to be <110>.


Part-time work is one of the most important solutions to the difficulties in life for poor students.As more and more university students take part in the part-time work,the management of this system is in the spotlight among the students' work management in universities.Through the oriented analysis of the management of the part-time work system,the author concludes that moral education and quality education are the basic elements of the part-time work system and tries to give some suggestions on the improvement of the functions of moral education and quality education in the part-time work system in universities.


A number of optical communication lines are now in use at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the transmission of voice, computer data, and video signals. Presently, all of these channels utilize a single carrier wavelength centered near 1300 nm. The theoretical bandwidth of the fiber far exceeds the utilized capacity. Yet, practical considerations limit the usable bandwidth. The fibers have the capability of transmitting a multiplicity of signals simultaneously in each of two separate bands (1300 and 1550 nm). Thus, in principle, the number of transmission channels can be increased without installing new cable if some means of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) can be utilized. The main goal of these experiments was to demonstrate that a factor of 2 increase in bandwidth utilization can share the same fiber in both a unidirectional configuration and a bidirectional mode of operation. Both signal and multimode fiber are installed at KSC. The great majority is multimode; therefore, this effort concentrated on multimode systems.


The problem with which this study is concerned is that of determining the specific stated factors that influenced Nigerian adults to participate in adult basic educational programs of the Nigerian Baptist Convention which lead to the first-school-leaving-certificate. The purpose of the study was to identify and examine the factors that influence Nigerian adults to participate in the adult basic and certificate educational programs of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, and to make recommendations for program improvements based on these findings. The data for this study were collected from questionnaires which included demographic information about the participants and a list of reasons for educational participation and needs-met statements. Questionnaire items were rated on a five-point scale. The researcher mailed 600 questionnaires to both adult basic and certificate education students in the adult education programs of the Nigerian Baptist Convention in Ibadan, Nigeria. The basic education group responded to 126 questionnaires, while the certificate groups responded to 122 questionnaires.


Abstract This aim of this study is to reinterpret optimum currency area (OCA) theory to assess the capacity of a monetary union to produce economic growth. Instead of utilizing OCA criteria to evaluate the costs and benefits of a monetary union, we use Kathleen R. McNamara's framework to assemble them and analyze their interaction and effect on economic growth. First, we show that OCA theory is unable to address the question. Then, we develop a new framework and conclude that a monetary union brings structural deflation, economic divergence, and current account imbalances. Finally, we test these conclusions on the European monetary union. Post-Keynesian works are mobilized to show their concomitance with our framework in the second and third sections of this paper.


This review article tries to provide an insight into how we can improve the quality of primary health-care services provided in a primary health center (PHC) setup. Primary health care is essential health care made universally accessible to individuals and acceptable to them through their full participation and at a cost that the community and the country can afford. Unlike the previous approaches (e.g. basic health services, integrated health care, and vertical health services) that depended upon taking health-care services to the doors of the people, primary health-care approach starts with the people themselves.


A surface femtosecond two-photon photoemission (2PPE) spectrometer devoted to the study of ultrafast excited electron dynamics and photochemical kinetics on metal and metal oxide surfaces has been constructed. Low energy photoelectrons are measured using a hemispherical electron energy analyzer with an imaging detector that allows us to detect the energy and the angular distributions of the photoelectrons simultaneously. A Mach–Zehnder interferometer was built for the time-resolved 2PPE (TR-2PPE) measurement to study ultrafast surface excited electron dynamics, which was demonstrated on the Cu(111) surface. A scheme for measuring time-dependent 2PPE (TD-2PPE) spectra has also been developed for studies of surface photochemistry. This technique has been applied to a preliminary study on the photochemical kinetics on ethanol/TiO2(110). We have also shown that the ultrafast dynamics of photoinduced surface excited resonances can be investigated in a reliable way by combining the TR-2PPE and TD-2PPE techniques.


Prolactin is a polypeptide hormone secreted and released by lactotroph cells in the anterior pituitary gland in response to diverse physiological stimuli, principally via the inhibitory action of dopamine and serotonin. This paper describes a 44-year-old woman with depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) who called the 13-Aban drug and poison information center (DPIC). She was being treated with fluoxetine (80 mg/day) for 10 months until risperidone was added to her regimen for augmentation therapy (0.5 mg/day). Her symptoms improved within less than two months without significant side effects until she experienced painful bilateral breast discharge along with spotting and menstrual irregularity, besides amenorrhea for the previous 2 cycles and serum prolactin level of 33.7 ng/mL, presenting hyperprolactinemia. After discontinuing risperidone, within two weeks, galactorrhea and breast pain disappeared and amenorrhea resolved. Further prolactin level measurement showed the significant reduction. This neuroendocrine effect observed with very low-dose risperidone plus fluoxetine is apparently exerted through both pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic augmentation of this combination therapy.


It is evident that this description is insufficient for the identification of the plant. One can not be sure whether it is an ascogenious or imperfect form. The application of the name, if it is to be retained, must be determined by type or authentic specimens or its application by subsequent authors. We found 3 specimens so labelled in Persoon's Herbarium at Leiden. All have a question mark. We have hiad opportunity to examine only one of these microscopically. This was collected by Chaillet in Switzerland and agrees very well with Persoon's description. Microscopic study shows it to be a species of Camarosporiumn, having spores 21 30 X 12 16,~L, agreeing well with C. sarmenticium Sacc. Fries (Syst. Myc. 2: 539. 1823) transferred what he supposed to be Persoon's species to Sphaeronema with the following description :


Imbalanced classification using deep learning has attracted much attention in intelligent fault diagnosis of machinery. However, the existing methods use individual deep neural network to extract features and recognize the health conditions under imbalanced dataset, which may easily over-fit the mechanical data and affect the diagnosis accuracy. To deal with this problem, this paper takes the advantages of ensemble learning and proposes an ensemble convolutional neural network (EnCNN) for the intelligent fault diagnosis for machines under imbalanced data. In the proposed method, a convolutional neural network with the input of multi-sensor signals is used as the base classifier. Firstly, the mechanical imbalance dataset is first split into balanced training subsets through under-sampling strategy, and each subset is used to train a base classifier. Then the weight coefficients of each trained base classifier are calculated by G-mean score and anomalous base classifiers are screened using classifier selection. Finally, the base classifiers are integrated into EnCNN through weighted voting strategy. The proposed EnCNN is validated by the imbalanced dataset collected from a machinery fault test bench. By comparing with the related methods, the superiority of EnCNN is verified in intelligent fault diagnosis of machines under imbalanced data.


Twelve months ago, when you honoured me by electing me president of your Institute, I expressed my cognisance of the responsibility which you placed on me. During the year which has just passed, this sense of responsibility has in no way abated. probably owing in part to the ever-growing importance of the Institute, and also to the gathering war clouds which we can see on every horizon. After reconstruction from a war just ended, and the manufacture of articles for a short-lived peace, the race for rearmament has commenced, and we will soon be called once again to commence the fashioning of weapons of war.


Background Because of the high prevalence of obesity, there is a growing demand for bariatric surgery worldwide. The objective of this systematic review was to analyze the difference in relation to cost-effectiveness of access route by laparoscopy versus laparotomy of Roux en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). Methods A systematic review was conducted in the electronic databases MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane and Lilacs in order to identify economic evaluation studies that compare the cost-effectiveness of laparoscopic and laparotomic routes in RYGB. Results In a total of 494 articles, only 6 fulfilled the eligibility criteria. All studies were published between 2001 and 2008 in the United States (USA). Three studies fulfilled less than half of the items that evaluated the results quality; two satisfied 5 of the required items, and only 1 study fulfilled 7 of 10 items. The economic evaluation of studies alternated between cost-effectiveness and cost-consequence. Five studies considered the surgery by laparoscopy the dominant strategy, because it showed greater clinical benefit (less probability of post-surgical complications, less hospitalization time) and lower total cost. Conclusion This review indicates that laparoscopy is a safe and well-tolerated technique, despite the costs of surgery being higher when compared with laparotomy. However, the additional costs are compensated by the lower probability of complications after surgery and, consequently, avoiding their costs.