Abstract : Many nations maintain armies whose ultimate responsibility is to defeat other nations combat formations on the battlefield. In order to accomplish this, nations indigenously develop, maintain, and improve a variety of ground combat systems or purchase them from other nations. Ground combat system development and improvement is informed by existing and emerging technologies and budgetary factors as well as observations from current land conflicts. As this process is also intended to address potential future battlefield threats, beliefs as to what the future combat operational environment will look like, as well as what future technologies might be available for military use, also influence a nations developmental efforts. The U.S. Armys current fleet of main battle tanks (MBTs), tracked infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), tracked self-propelled (SP) artillery, and multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), which constitutes the nucleus of the Armys armored ground forces, were developed in the 1970s and fielded in the 1980s to counter the Soviet Unions and Warsaw Pacts numerically superior ground forces. The combat performance of these vehicles against Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 reaffirmed for many the role these systems would play in future Army ground operations. U.S. Army leadership notes for the first time since World War I, that the Army does not have a new ground combat vehicle under development and at current funding levels, the Bradley and Abrams will remain in the inventory for 50 to 70 more years. Regarding armored vehicle development, the Army suggests our enemies, and even our friends and allies, have not remained static and, in fact, even our allies are modernizing to such an extent that they have outpaced us in some areas. This comment raises the possibility that in the not-too-distant future, foreign armored vehicle design and capabilities could surpass existing U.S. systems.


Abstract Objective: The goal of this study was to characterize the light curing characteristics of a new oligomer PEM-665 designed to be used as an alternative monomer to BisGMA. Materials and methods: PEM-665 (P) and BisGMA (B) solutions were prepared with triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (T) diluent in different weight proportions (70/30 and 50/50). Solutions containing 70% P and 30% T were designated as 70PT, 70%B and 30%T as 70BT, 50%P and 50%T as 50PT and 50%B and 50%T as 50BT. The initiators were CQ (EDMAB was used as amine accelerator for CQ) and DPO in 1% concentration. Eight solutions were prepared in a factorial design: 70PT/DPO; 70PT/CQ; 50PT/DPO; 50PT/CQ; 70BT/DPO; 70BT/CQ; 50BT/DPO; 50BT/CQ. BISCO VIP visible light was used to cure the monomer solutions using 30 s exposure time and 400 W power setting. TA Instruments Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC 2910) was used to determine the heat of cure (J/g) during polymerization at 37 °C, from which molar heat of cure (kJ/mole) and %Conversion values were estimated. Results: Range of mean values as a function monomer selections were: heat of cure (J/g): 161.7 for 70PT/DPO system to 198.6 for 50BT/CQ system; molar heat of cure (kJ/mole): 67.3 for 70BT/DPO to 78.86 for 50PT/CQ; % conversion: 59.9 for 70BT/DPO to 70.3 for 50PT/CQ. Analysis of variance and Tukey HSD pairwise contrast showed statistically significant differences between % conversion means of PEM and BisGMA mixtures, with PEM mixtures showing significantly higher mean values. Conclusions: The results suggest that PEM-665 is a promising candidate material for dental polymer applications.


A textbook is an important teaching and learning material. Evaluating a textbook is essential to ensure educational goals are met. In the present study, the Malaysian English Language Textbook Evaluation Checklist (MELTEC) is developed for the purpose of materials adaptation. The lack of validity and reliability of previous textbook evaluation checklists reported by researchers in the field of ELT textbook evaluation has resulted in the need to establish the validity and reliability of the checklist developed in this study using the Rasch Measurement Model (RRM). One hundred and ten ESL secondary school teachers from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, had participated in this study. Rasch analysis was used to examine the item fit, polarity, reliability, separation index, and unidimensionality of the checklist. As a result, the finalised version of MELTEC comprises of 78 items. A total of 63 items were dropped as these items were not deemed to be suitable. The analysis performed using Rasch Measurement Model proved that the checklist has high validity and reliability. The checklist is found to be suitable to evaluate ELT secondary school textbooks in Malaysia. On that account, future researchers can consider using Rasch Measurement Model to establish the validity and reliability of the instruments developed to ensure their integrity and quality.


Nowadays, the design of tourism cultural and creative products based on regional cultural characteristics has gradually occupied the market. On the basis of ordinary cultural and creative product design, shoe mountain cultural creation can also cover certain cultural value, artistic value, commercial value and inheritance value. This paper is based on Hukou shoe mountain as a tourist resort, combined with the local historical background, customs, cultural heritage, geographical features and other elements to start, the unique characteristics of shoe mountain, Design and research of electronic cultural and creative products through computer aided means.


We report 2 cases in which patients were misdiagnosed as having fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) due to the finding of standing arterial waves on lower extremity angiography.

#### Patient 1

A 40-year-old woman with a 3-year history of chronic fatigue, as well as bilateral exertional upper and lower extremity pain, was referred to our center for suspected FMD due to the finding of diffuse beading noted in multiple arterial segments on lower extremity angiography performed at another institution (Figure 1). Her vascular examination was unremarkable except for nonpalpable pulses at the anterior tibial and dorsalis pedis arterial bilaterally, which likely represented an anatomic variant. Ankle-brachial indices were normal at rest and after treadmill exercise was terminated due to bilateral leg pain. Plethysmographic tracings of the toes were dampened and toe-brachial indices were mildly reduced, findings that were attributed to mild vasospasm. Magnetic resonance imaging performed at the outside facility showed normal renal arteries. Repeat arteriography demonstrated no significant stenoses or beading pattern in the …


In spite of extensive knowledge on the structure and function of ascidian blood cells, little is known about their embryological origin. In the present investigation, the developmental fate of trunk lateral cells (TLCs) was explored using a specific monoclonal antibody. TLCs comprise a group of undefined embryonic cells of the ascidian Halocynthia roretzi, which arise from the A7.6 blastomeres of a 64‐cell embryo. The antigenicity first appeared at the middle tailbud stage in a pair of TLC‐clusters situated lateral to the brain stem of the bilaterally symmetrical embryo. The position and number of stained cells did not change during later embryogenesis until hatching. After hatching, the stained cells were found in the entire trunk region of the swimming larva. After metamorphosis, cells that expressed the antigen were present within the coelom and within the tunic layer of the juvenile. In addition, the antibody stained adult basophilic blood cells. These observations suggest a relationship of this group of embryonic cells with the prospective blood forming mesenchymal cells.


Narcolepsy is linked to a widespread loss of neurons containing the neuropeptide hypocretin (HCRT), also named orexin. A transgenic (TG) rat model has been developed to mimic the neuronal loss found in narcoleptic humans. In these rats, HCRT neurons gradually die as a result of the expression of a poly-glutamine repeat under the control of the HCRT promoter. To better characterize the changes in HCRT-1 levels in response to the gradual HCRT neuronal loss CSF HCRT-1 levels were measured in various age groups (2–82 weeks) of wildtype (WT) and transgenic (TG) Sprague-Dawley rats. TG rats showed a sharp decline in CSF HCRT-1 level at week 4 with levels remaining consistently low (26% ± 9%, mean± SD) thereafter compared to WT rats. In TG rats, HCRT-1 levels were dramatically lower in target regions such as the cortex and brainstem (100 fold), indicating decreased HCRT-1 levels at terminals. In TG rats, CSF HCRT-1 levels significantly increased in response to 6 h immunoreactive (HCRT-ir) neurons were present in the lateral hypothalamus (LH), even in old rats (24 months) but some HCRT-ir somata were in various stages of disintegration. The low output of these neurons is consistent with a widespread dysfunction of these neurons, and establishes this model as a tool to investigate the consequences of partial hypocretin deficiency.


Abstract While civic participation is a crucial component of healthy and sustainable democracies, young adolescents may perceive or experience barriers that limit their civic action. This study draws from focus groups and surveys during a week-long summer civics camp to explore ways in which 47 young adolescents entering Grades 6–9 described barriers they perceive to civic action in their schools and communities. Findings reveal that participants entered camp believing they were capable of making a difference in their communities. Their ideas for youth civic action in schools and broader communities typically represented personally responsible and participatory notions of citizenship. Key obstacles to civic activities included partnerships with peers/adults, peers' reluctance to exercise civic duty, social-emotional factors, and lack of resources.


In this paper we deal with a variant of non-convex data envelopment analysis, called free replication hull model and try to obtain their anchor points. This paper uses a variant of super-efficiency model to characterize all extreme efficient decision making units and anchor points of the free replication hull models. A necessary and sufficient conditions for a decision making unit to be anchor point of the production possibility set of the free replication hull models are stated and proved. Since the set of anchor points is a subset of the set of extreme units, a definition of extreme units and a new method for obtaining these units in non-convex technologies are given. To illustrate the applicability of the proposed model, some numerical examples are finally provided.


The sputtering yield of Mo honeycomb walls was compared with the yield of fiat walls in a d.c. Ar glow discharge. Under the experimental condition where the mean energy is approximately 1 keV and the angle of incidence of primary ions strongly distributed around normal, the yield is reduced by a factor of 20 to 30. Before and after the bombardment, the surface topography of the honeycomb targets was observed by a scanning electron microscope.


A sustainable, reagent-less and one-pot ultrasonic methodology has been developed to transform amorphous tannic acid into regularly shaped crystalline ellagic acid particles. Multiple and consecutive reactions have been performed on tannic acid, in aqueous solution without the addition of any external reagent. The size, morphology and bio-activity of ellagic acid micro-nanocrystals can be finely tuned by choosing appropriate ultrasonic parameters.


A strategy is put forward to achieve the variable frequency starting for diesel locomotive of AC with traction inverter.Three different kinds of methods,including starting controlled by 120°square waves with velocity sensor,starting controlled by directional magnetic field with velocity sensor and opening starting of rotate speed without velocity sensor,are separately simulated and tested by practical test.At last,a starting equipment with an inverter,which uses traction inverter of voltage source,synchronization motor and accumulator,is developed.It is tested practically and works well.


The Kuroshio valley is one of the most active air-sea heat exchange oceanic regions in the global oceans,and the heat carried by it plays an important role in the local air-sea interaction.The early studies in 1950-1960s found the relationship between the winter Kuroshio sea surface temperature and the summer precipitation over the Yangtse River valley.A 2.5-layer oceanic model is employed to investigate the influences of the Kuroshio seasonal variation on the oceanic sub-circulation from a dynamic view.Under the forcings of the heat source in winter as well as the heat sink in summer,the peak of the thermocline temperature anomaly is in the spring,lagging one season behind that of the heat source.The seasonal peak of the mixed-layer temperature anomaly is also in the spring.The anomalies of the mixed-layer temperature are positive from the winter to the summer and are negative in the autumn,which is consistent to the results of observational data.The mixed-layer temperature anomalies are generally equal to the thermocline temperature anomalies in the spring and are higher than those in the others seasons.The sub-circulations of the thermocline and mixed layers present the anticyclones in the winter shifting to the cyclones in the summer.These situations are conductive to the heat transfer to the seas nearby the eastern China in the summer.


The High Court of New Zealand, in Ruscoe and Moore v Cryptopia Limited (In Liquidation) had to decide an interesting question about whether cryptocurrencies traded on the exchange in this case have the legal status of property. If yes, there was also a subsequent question about whether such property is capable of being the subject matter of a trust. The court decided in the affirmative with regard to both these questions. This comment will focus on the former issue. After a discussion of the judgement inasmuch as the legal status of cryptoassets is concerned, this case comment will consider the implications of the decision and highlight some future areas of interest.


Previous research has found evidence of relationships among sleep states and memory sources. However, the use of text-analysis of dream reports limits the validity of measures of emotion. In order to determine whether dreams reflect emotionally significant memories, a new technique for measuring the emotional significance of dream imagery to the dreamer was designed (using a modified emotional Stroop task). Results support the idea that sleep mentation imagery (most likely from REM) may reflect emotional memory, and suggest that modified cognitive tasks (such as the Emotional Stroop) may serve as novel methodological approaches for studying sleep mentation.


In this paper, I discuss the function of voiced stops in the phonology of Modern Greek, in light of new theories of marginal contrast. I argue that the complex phonetic realizations of voiced stops can best be explained with reference to multiply-linked phonological structures. I propose to enrich the underlying structures available for the representation of Greek segments, so as to include sequences of [+Nasal] and [-Nasal] linked to the same skeletal position. These new representations imply the existence of eight classes of segments, formed by single and multiple combinations of features and skeletal slots. Six of these combinations are demonstrated to exist in Greek, and the other two are shown to be excluded by universal constraints. On the basis of these configurations, predictions are made about the possible range of dialectal variations in the treatment of voiced stops. All the predicted treatments are shown to exist in the various Greek dialects.


Meristic characters, such as the number of fin rays or scales, form an important group of taxonomic characters used to distinguish species and subspecies of fish. The variability of such characters and the factors that determine their numbers have been important fields of investigation for over 70 years. Excellent reviews of the voluminous literature pertaining to the variability of meristic characters have been presented by Hubbs (1934, 1940) and T'aning (1952). More recently Bailey and Gosline (1955) have examined the problem of variability in the number of vertebrae in the family Percidae. In general the consensus of opinion has been that the variability and variation observed have a direct environmental origin, although certain workers (Schmidt, 1918; Heuts, 1947, 1949) have presented evidence that the observed variation may well have a genetic origin. If the variation observed and reported in many species is actually due to direct environmental effects on the developing individual, quite possibly many subspecies may in reality be "ecophenotypes" and unworthy of taxonomic recognition. The above conclusion has been reached in respect to subspecies of certain minnows and darters by Bailey and Gosline (1955) and Bailey, Winn and Smith (1954). The present problem was undertaken to determine the amount and nature of the intra-specific variation of certain meristic characters in the bigmouth shiner (Notropis dorsalis).


TaS2 is a transition metal dichalcogenide material with a layered two-dimensional crystal structure and physically interesting behavior. 1T-TaS2 in particular exhibits a complex interaction between electron–electron and electron–lattice, as well as unique two-dimensional charge density wave characteristics with varying phase transitions depending on the temperature range. However, few reports exist on the synthesis of TaS2 crystals, and a relatively long time is required for the synthesis of TaS2 nanostructures. Here, we present an efficient method for 1T-TaS2 synthesis by chemical vapor deposition using iodine as a transport agent. We successfully synthesized 1T-TaS2 nanocrystals or thin films in a short processing time of a few hours, and their structural and chemical properties were characterized.


The purpose of this study was to describe the improvement of student learning outcomes in social studies learning with the use of cooperative learning model type STAD Devisions Student Team Achievment  in fourth grade elementary school. This research is a classroom action research using qualitative and quantitative approaches. The subjects were the authors as a class teacher and fourth grade students are about 20 people enrolled in the second semester of academic year 2011/2012 in the fourth grade students of SD Negeri 65 Manggopoh utara has increased. From the research cycle I encounter I can know the percentage value is 62.75% cognitive, affective and psychomotor is 63% of 65.5%. While the second meeting in the first cycle can be determined percentage of the cognitive value is 69.25%, the percentage is 68% affective and psychomotor 69%. Second cycle of research analysis meetings I can know the percentage value is 73% cognitive, affective percentage is 73% and psychomotor 74.3%. While in the second cycle II meeting to know the percentage of the cognitive value is 77%, the percentage is 77% affective and psychomotor was 79.3% Kata kunci : hasil belajar siswa; pembelajaran IPS; model STAD.


Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) suspensions (concentration 1.0 g/L) in synthetic sweat solution were applied on Franz cells for 24 h using intact and needle-abraded human skin. Titanium content into skin and receiving phases was determined. Cytotoxicity (MTT, AlamarBlue® and propidium iodide, PI, uptake assays) was evaluated on HaCat keratinocytes after 24 h, 48 h, and seven days of exposure. After 24 h of exposure, no titanium was detectable in receiving solutions for both intact and damaged skin. Titanium was found in the epidermal layer after 24 h of exposure (0.47 ± 0.33 μg/cm2) while in the dermal layer, the concentration was below the limit of detection. Damaged skin, in its whole, has shown a similar concentration (0.53 ± 0.26 μg/cm2). Cytotoxicity studies on HaCaT cells demonstrated that TiO2NPs induced cytotoxic effects only at very high concentrations, reducing cell viability after seven days of exposure with EC50s of 8.8 × 10−4 M (MTT assay), 3.8 × 10−5 M (AlamarBlue® assay), and 7.6 × 10−4 M (PI uptake, index of a necrotic cell death). Our study demonstrated that TiO2NPs cannot permeate intact and damaged skin and can be found only in the stratum corneum and epidermis. Moreover, the low cytotoxic effect observed on human HaCaT keratinocytes suggests that these nano-compounds have a potential toxic effect at the skin level only after long-term exposure.


In this study, uncertainty of a towed underwater stereo Particle Image Velocimtery (PIV) system was assessed with uniform flow measurement. Wake field of a ship model was measured with the system and the results were compared with other experimental data. For the uniform flow measurement, the measurement plane was perpendicular to flow direction. Time interval of the PIV system and flow speed were varied, and mean and fluctuation in flow speed were measured. Following the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) standard for test uncertainty, random and precision uncertainty were assessed. Wake measurement results were compared with five-hole Pitot tubes, hot wire anemometer.


Peripheral tolerance induction is critical for deterrence of autoimmunity. Most self-reactive T cells are developmentally deleted in the thymus. This deletion process is not absolute and self-reactive T cells can escape. These T cells must either be deleted or regulated in the periphery to prevent autoimmunity. To study these processes, we generated mice in which SIINFEKL expression can be tightly controlled in small intestinal epithelial cells or dendritic cells by administration of doxycycline. Our system provides the unique ability to examine endogenous T cell responses to tissue-specific and developmentally regulated self antigen. Importantly, the transgenic mice are ignorant of antigen prior to induction. Antigen induction in either the small intestine or dendritic cells caused tissue-specific activation of transferred TCR transgenic OT-I T cells. Antigen induction also resulted in activation and expansion of endogenous SIINFEKL-specific CD8 T cells that expressed PD1, but did not express KLRG1 or CD127. Antigen induction impaired a SIINFEKL-specific CD8 response to concomitant VSV OVA infection. However, in the absence of antigen induction, SIINFEKL-specific effector and memory CD8 T cell responses were generated, but the resultant memory CD8 T cells did not respond to subsequent self antigen induction. Characterization of immune responses in these antigen-inducible mice will provide key insights into mechanisms controlling tolerance versus autoimmunity.


Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) is one of several practice-based approaches that provide a robust framework for analyzing professional work practices, including social service provision (Julkunen, 2011, 2013). By offering a multi-dimensional, systemic approach that includes both psychological motives and all kinds of tools, as well as the always-present dynamics of power, money, culture, and history, CHAT enables researchers to analyze complex and evolving professional practices and practitioners to engage in reflective research. This article provides an overview of CHAT as a framework for practice-based research in social work.


Aim of the present study is to investigate how synthetic boehmite alumina (BA) nanoparticles modify the vis- coleastic and fracture behaviour of linear low-density polyethylene. Nanocomposites containing up to 8 wt% of untreated and octyl silane-functionalized BA nanoparticles, were prepared by melt compounding and hot pressing. The BA nanoparticles were finely and unformly dispersed within the matrix according to scanning electron microscopy inspection. The results of quasi-static tensile tests indicated that nanoparticles can provide a remarkable stiffening effect at a rather low filler content. Short term creep tests showed that creep stability was significatively improved by nanofiller incorporation. Concurrently, both storage and loss moduli were enhanced in all nanocomposites, showing better result for surface treated nanoparticles. The plane-stress fracture toughness, evaluated by the essential work of fracture approach, manifested a dramatic increase (up to 64%) with the BA content, with no significant differences among the various types of BA nanoparticles.


Purpose Isolation policies are long-term and strictly enforced in China during the COVID-19 outbreak. Social media might be widely used for communication, work, understanding the development of the epidemic, etc. However, these behaviors might lead to problematic social media use. The present study investigated the effect of stressors of COVID-19 on problematic social media use, as well as the internal mechanisms involved. Methods One thousand three hundred seventy-three Chinese college students (Mage = 19.53, SDage = 1.09) were recruited randomly from four grades who completed Coronavirus Stress Scale, Fear of Missing Out Scale, Problematic Mobile Social Media Usage Assessment Questionnaire, and Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale. Results Stressors of COVID-19 were positively related to problematic social media use. The link between stressors of COVID-19 and problematic social media use was mediated by fear of missing out. Additionally, the association between fear of missing out and problematic social media use, as well as the association between stressors of COVID-19 and problematic social media use were moderated by regulatory emotional self-efficacy. Conclusion The current findings reveal the mechanism that may be used to reduce the likelihood of problematic social media use in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak. To prevent and intervene in problematic social media use during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study stressed the importance of decreasing the fear of missing out and enhancing regulatory emotional self-efficacy.


The strategy of supporting northeast old industrial base to speed up the adjustment and transformation,which was formulated in the 16th National Party Congress,is for the purpose of making this area be the new economic growth pole.Revitalizing northeast old industrial base is another important strategy of coordinating regional development.To realize this,it needs to focus on the support and security of fiscal policy.Only in this way can we provide a financial guarantee for revitalizing northeast old industrial base,speed up the development of this area,improve the competitive strength,and create the new economic miracle.


Introduction. The past decade has witnessed growing interest in spacetimes which asymptotically approach antide Sitter spacetime (AdS) which is the unique maximally symmetric solution of the vacuum Einstein equations with negative cosmological constant. Despite this flurry of activity, motivated mainly by the AdS/CFT duality conjecture, the very basic question "Is AdS stable?" [1] has been rarely raised (cf. [2] for a notable exception), let alone answered. This is in stark contrast to two other maximally symmetric solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations – Minkowski spacetime (with zero cosmological constant) and de Sitter spacetime (with positive cosmological constant) – which are known to be stable under small perturbations [3, 4]. The key feature of asymptotically AdS spacetimes, distinguishing them from asymptotically flat or dS spacetimes, is the presence of a timelike boundary at (spatial and null) infinity where suitable boundary conditions need to be prescribed in order to make the evolution well-defined [5]. For no-flux boundary conditions one gets a Hamiltonian conservative system on an effectively bounded domain [6] from which energy cannot escape (as for waves propagating inside a perfect cavity), hence asymptotic stability of AdS spacetime is precluded while the question of its stability, as we will see below, touches upon the KAM theory for partial differential equations. Model. In this paper we report on numerical simulations which shed some new light on the problem of stability of AdS spacetime. As a simple model of asymptotically AdS dynamics we consider a self-gravitating spherically symmetric real massless scalar field in 3 + 1 dimensions whose evolution is governed by the Einstein-scalar system with negative cosmological constant � < 0


The Z(1/2) center in n-type 4H-SiC epilayers-a dominant deep level limiting the carrier lifetime-has been investigated. Using capacitance versus voltage (C-V) measurements and deep level transient ...


(rieevulo il 18 ('iu/no 1955) Summary.-A new four-dimensional isotopi~ spin formalism is developed for the heavy fundamental particles. All particles (:orrespond to single-valued representations of lhe rotation group and there is complete sym. metry between the isotopic properties of ft~rn-ions and bosons. The re-sultino~ classification is similar to Ge]l-Mann's except that the degeneracy in the classiliea[ion of the K-mesons is removed. The forms of Ihe strong interactions are given explicitly. The physical consequences of the lheory are discussed in detail. In particular it predicts the existence of a neulral K-meson of lifetime ~ 10-19 s. A new experimental technique for de-{eetino this particle is su~'g'ested. PAIS (1) has obtained a classification for the heavy fundamentM particles by considering a four-dimensional isotopic spin space. One disadvantage of his scheme is that it predicts the existence of doubly charged hyperons and these have not been observed. In addition, if the reaction: two nucleons-+-+ two hyperons is forbidden (and it has not been observed) there must


The soil–water potential limit, or permanent wilting point (PWP), of Physalis peruviana L. is not known. Thus, determining the PWP of P. peruviana in different soils is essential to plan crops and manage irrigation in order to optimize the use of water and electricity. The objective of this study was to determine the PWP for P. peruviana in sandy and sandy clay loam soils. In a greenhouse, P. peruviana plants were grown in pots with different types of soil and maintained at 80% of field capacity. At intervals of 10 days, the irrigation of three pots was stopped, and when the plants wilted, they were transferred to a dark chamber without a vapor pressure deficit to verify if they would return to turgidity. When turgidity was not recovered, the PWP was considered, and the soil matric potential was determined by the water retention curve method. In sandy soil, P. peruviana wilted, on average, 1.7 days faster than in sandy clay loam soil. Regardless of the soil, matric potential equivalent to PWP decreased throughout the P. peruviana crop cycle. For sandy soil, the matric potential equivalent to PWP of P. peruviana ranges from −180 kPa (equivalent to 12% of the estimated value with a moisture release curve) to −2266 kPa (151% of the estimated value). In sandy clay loam soil, this matric potential ranges from −665 kPa (44% of the estimated value) to −1611 kPa (107% of the estimated value). The results contribute to water management and calculation of available water for P. peruviana; however, different soil textures do not have a single matric potential equivalent to PWP.


In the logistics industry, if every business know the flow and flow direction of different items and the type of items clearly, it will convenient for the business to make sales plan in time and improve the income. Based on the idea, this paper designs a method, which for carry out statistical analysis on the flow of items, and introduce the specific process. Face with the data which has large quantity, variety of item categories, the article design a program of data preprocessing at first, then calculate items' similarity by corpus-based approach, combined with the K-means cluster algorithm for the classification of items, and analysis of items' category. Analysis flow and flow direction by means of statistical analysis. At last, visualize the analysis result, output to foreground.


The environment and human health are thoroughly entangled and it is tough and difficult to imagine the perfect health of a human without having right environment. Any change in environment leads to adverse health implications both in human and animals, thereby, the economic growth, population growth and all the developmental processes will get fragile. With above conceptual framework, the present study has been carried out to understand the public perceptions and awareness on environment and health risks in and around of Hyderabad industrial areas. Simple random method was used to draw the samples from the universe and the interview schedule is the prime tool used for the collection of primary data. The collected data was analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The results are: the rapid and rampant growth of industrialization and urbanization and the uncontrolled spread of urban sprawl spur two-fold burden of environmental health. Pollutants have several adversarial health effects from early life to death. Some of them are causing the most harmful effects on peri-natal disorders, infant mortality, respiratory disorders, allergy, malignancies, cardiovascular disorders, increase in stress oxidative, endothelial dysfunction, mental disorders, and various other harmful effects.


Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive inflammatory and degenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS). This thesis focuses on cognition in MS, with special emphasis on long-term magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings and cerebrosterol plasma levels. In study I, the effects of MS on a variety of cognitive aspects were evaluated longitudinally over an eight-year follow-up period in 31 patients who had been diagnosed as having relapsing-remitting MS, secondary progressive MS (SP-MS) or primary progressive MS. A selective pattern of decline was found at baseline in the whole group, with marked decline in information-processing speed (IPS). These deficits in IPS at baseline predicted further cognitive decline over the follow-up period. A differential pattern of cognitive decline over time was noticed in the subgroups, with the most pronounced decline in the SP-MS group; in these patients, the deterioration in visual IPS was clearly more marked than that in auditory IPS. A high disability score (on the expanded disability status scale; EDSS) during follow-up was associated with cognitive decline. These findings indicate that tests measuring IPS are especially strong predictors of cognitive decline over longer periods in patients with MS. In Study II, 25 patients with MS and 25 matched control participants were tested with a picture-naming test (Boston Naming Test; BNT) and a letter-word fluency test (using the letters FAS). In the BNT, the MS patients used less distinct descriptions and substitutions and had significantly more off-target substitutions than the control group. The MS patients were significantly less effective in using strategies for retrieval in the word fluency FAS test than the control participants. These results suggest that language function becomes impaired in MS, with semantically nonspecific naming responses and less effective use of strategies for retrieval in word fluency. In Study III, 22 MS patients were given tasks investigating IPS, covering the following aspects: cognitive (symbol digit modalities test; SDMT), sensory (visual and auditory reaction time tests), motor (finger-tapping speed test) and auditory interhemispheric transfer (verbal dichotic listening test; VDL). These parameters were related to the area of the corpus callosum in the brain (CCA), measured with MRI at baseline and at follow-up nine years later. The relative brain volume (RBV) and the T2 lesion load were taken into account. The results showed that the CCA, but not the RBV or the T2 lesion load, was associated with the SDMT score, and that the higher the annual rate of change in the CCA, the poorer the performance in the left ear VDL, with a subsequently more pronounced advantage in the right ear VDL. These results indicate that corpus callosum is related to a clearly cognitive component, rather than a sensory-motor component. Study IV analyzed the relationships between cognitively demanding information processing (measured with the SDMT), clinical status (EDSS), plasma cerebrosterol 24OHC levels, and MRI-normalized measurement of RBV, grey and white matter volumes, and ventricular cerebrospinal fluid volume in a cross-sectional sample of 21 MS patients. The results showed that slow IPS in SDMT was related to neurodegeneration, particularly loss of grey matter volume, and high cerebrosterol plasma concentrations, reflecting membrane turnover in the CNS. Poor EDSS was associated with high plasma cerebrosterol levels, which is hypothetically a biomarker of MS progression. Conclusions: Deterioration in IPS seems to be a central aspect of cognitive decline in MS. Slow IPS occurs already at an early phase in the disease and predicts long term cognitive decline. The MS patients have less effective strategies for lexical substitution and retrieval than healthy persons. The poor lexical processing in the MS patients could putatively be due to slow IPS, especially in the markedly speed demanding word fluency test. CCA in contrast to RBV and the T2 lesion load, appears to be exclusively related to a cognitively demanding IPS task but not to sensory-motor speed tasks, which suggests that CC is especially important for cognitive speed processes. Slow IPS seems to be primarily associated with low grey matter volume and high plasma concentration level of cerebrosterol while disability appears to be related to high plasma level of cerebrosterol. Since there were no interaction between cerebrosterol and the neurodegenerative predictors, it is putative that the cytotoxic properties of the cerebrosterol independently could cause neuronal cell death and thereby affect IPS independently of neurodegeneration. LIST OF PUBLICATIONS I. Bergendal G, Fredrikson S, Almkvist O. Selective decline in information processing in subgroups of Multiple Sclerosis: An 8-year longitudinal study. Eur Neurol 2007;57:193-202. II. Tallberg IM, Bergendal G. Strategies of lexical substitution and retrieval in multiple sclerosis. Aphasiology 2009;23:1184-1195. . III. Bergendal G, Martola J, Stawiarz L, Kristoffersen-Wiberg M, Fredrikson S, Almkvist O. Callosal atrophy in multiple sclerosis is related to cognitive speed. Acta Neurol Scand 2013;127:281-289. IV. Bergendal G, Stawiarz L, Fredrikson S, Karrenbauer VD, Almkvist O. Information processing speed in Multiple Sclerosis is related to grey matter volume and plasma levels of cerebrosterol. Manuscript CONTENTS ABSTRACT LIST OF PUBLICATIONS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 1. GENERAL BACKGROUND................................................,..............1 1.1 Multiple sclerosis: Introduction...........................................................1 1.2 Epidemiology................................................................................1 1.3 Etiology.......................................................................................1 1.4 Pathophysiology and biochemistry of MS...............................................2 1.5 Diagnosis of MS.............................................................................4 1.6 Clinical presentation.........................................................................5 1.7 Clinical measures of disease progression.................................................6 1.7.1 Clinical evaluation of disability..........................................................6 1.7.2 Radiological measures in MS............................................................7 1.7.3 Cognitive impairment in MS............................................................9 1.7.4 Cognition in MS in relation to MRI characteristics.................................10 1.7.5 Cognition in MS and functional MRI (fMRI).......................................11 1.7.6 Cognition in MS in relation to neurochemistry......................................12 1.7.7 Cognition in MS in relation to genetics..............................................12 1.7.8 Cognition in MS relation to demographic variables.................................12 1.7.9 Cognition in MS in relation to disease variables....................................13 1.7.10 Cognition in MS and fatigue.........................................................13 1.7.11 Cognition in MS and depression.....................................................13 1.7.12 Cognitive functioning and pharmacological treatment...........................13 1.7.13 Cognition in relation to cognitive training and rehabilitation....................13 1.7.14 Cognition in relation to daily living and quality of life...........................14 2 AIMS OF THE THESIS.....................................................................15 3 MATERIAL AND METHODS.................................................15 3.1 Subjects........................................................................ .15 3.2 Procedures – Study I-IV..................................................... .19 3.2.1 Clinical neurological examination.........................................19 3.2.2. Neuropsychological assessment of cognitive functions................19 3.2.3 Magnetic resonance imaging and analysis................................21 3.2.4 Biochemical analysis.........................................................22 3.2.5 Statistical analysis............................................................22 3.3 Ethical considerations..........................................................23 4 RESULTS..........................................................................24 4.1 Study I...........................................................................24 4.2 Study II..........................................................................25 4.3 Study III.........................................................................26 4.4 Study IV.........................................................................27 5 DISCUSSION.....................................................................28 5.1 The focus of this thesis........................................................28 5.2 Study I...........................................................................28 5.3 Study II..........................................................................30 5.4 Study III.........................................................................31 5.5 Study IV...............................................................................................34 5.6 Methodological limitations and strengths...................................37 5.6.1 Sample selection and representativeness..................................37 5.6.2 Concluding remarks.........................................................38 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6 REFERENCES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ANCOVA Analysis of covariance ANOVA Analysis of variance ARC Annual rate of change ART Auditory reaction time BBB Blood brain barrier BDNF Brain-derived neurotrophic factor BNT Boston Naming Test CCA Corpus callosum area CIS Clinically isolated syndrome CNS Central nervous system COWAT Controlled Oral Word Association T


While historians and numismatists agree in dating the first appearance of a comitatensian mint—a mint that follows the emperor and the comitatus in their movements—to Valentinian's reform of 367, this article asks if it would be possible to admit a certain continuity with the previously attested Republican mobile mints. In order to do so, the history of the mints of Trier, Milan, and Sirmium is examined along with the imperial presence in these locations, and set in the context of what is otherwise known about the monopoly of gold minting in the Later Roman Empire.


In this article, we will discuss the game design process and the structuring of the business model for mobile game RockFlickz (Sioux 2016). Created by Brazilian studio Sioux, the game is a casual experience that combines indie music, social network and entertainment in its interface. We intend to present the different creative stages of this game: the main concept, the wireframes and prototypes, the qualitative approach for the beta test sessions, the discussion on how to monetize the experience and the features of the final version, available for smartphones and tablets. We highlight the importance of establishing a business model for this game and how its theme could be a strategic component to advertise and build partnerships with companies and brands of the musical market. We also emphasize the importance of using social networks to launch the game and keep a community of players engaged with this experience.


We report non-destructive measurement of the diameter of submicron air-clad waveguides to nanometer precision, based on parametric amplification of a broadband seed signal. Ultrashort pump and seed pulses allow the diameter to be longitudinally resolved.


The transported entropy of oxygen ion, S~2-, in yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) has been determined from measurements of Seebeck coefficients of the cell (T1, p)(Pt)O2(g){YSZ{O2(g)(Pt)(T2, p). The value obtained, 51 J K-' F -1, is substantially different from results for YSZ which can be calculated from other investigations. The value does not vary with oxygen pressure, in accordance with results obtained for calcia-stabilized zirconia. The results indicate that the sintering temperature for YSZ is important for obtaining uniform temperature conditions in fuel cells.


ABSTRACT This article focuses on the role of embodiment in learning spatial phenomena in virtual reality in the context of geospatial education. We conducted an empirical study on the geovisualization of global earthquake locations in immersive VR and desktop VR. We asked students to visualize cross-sections of the geometry of earthquake locations in subduction zones and answer pre- and post-experience questions. The degree of the sense of embodiment in immersive VR versus desktop VR was researched. We defined the sense of embodiment based on two embodied affordances: (1) embodied relative reference frame and (2) bodily engagement. We found that immersive VR has a significantly higher sense of embodiment than desktop VR. Additionally, students showed a significantly higher level of reflective thinking in immersive VR. In terms of learning performance, students significantly gained knowledge in both conditions when comparing their pre- and post-knowledge. However, we could not find any significant difference between immersive and desktop VR. The lower level of embodiment in desktop VR seemed sufficient to improve students' grades. These results encourage more research studies on the effect of the sense of embodiment on learning in the geospatial and earth sciences.


In order to guarantee and improve the teaching quality in university, we should draw on the favorable experiences of the concepts, organizations and policies of the reform of teaching management and quality guarantee, strengthen the management of teaching quality and construct guarantee system of teaching quality.


SUMMARY Analysis ofmitochondrial DNA frompatients withLeber's hereditary optic neuropathy andtheir relatives showedthatthepreviously reported mutation atbasepair (bp) 11778, shownbyloss ofarecognition site fortherestriction endonuclease SfaNI, waspresent in onlyfouroutofeight families. Thismutation was associated withapoorprognosis forvisual recovery,whereas fouroffiveaffected maleswithout the11778 bpmutation followed forfour yearsor more hadregained useful vision. Allbutoneofthesubjects showing theSfaNI site loss hadavariable mixture ofmutantandnormalmitochondrial DNA inperipheral blood, andthe relative proportions appeared tobecorrelated withtherisk ofdeveloping ortransmitting Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy. Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON)gives rise toacuteorsubacute blindness, usually inyoung adult males. Lossofvisual acuity isgenerally severe (6/60 or less) andpersistent, although limited improvement issometimes observed.' 2LHON is transmitted exclusively through thematernal line; in contrast toX linked inheritance, thedescendants of affected males are never affected. Between70and 100%ofthedaughters offemale carriers transmit thedisease totheir sons,and50to100%ofthesons ofcarriers develop LHON.About85%ofpatients withLHON aremale,and18%offemale carriers areaffected.2 3 Theseobservations are compatible withthehypothesis thatthedisease may becaused bymutation ofmitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).34 Humanmt DNA isa closed circular molecule 16569basepairs (bp)inlength, whichisonly transmitted by females; ithasbeenentirely sequenced andisknowntocodefor13polypeptides ofthemitochondrial respiratory chain andoxidative phosphorylation systemr.9 Defects ofthemitochondrial genome havebeendescribed insome patients withmitochondrial myopathies, a heterogeneousgroupofdisorders thatexhibit an excess of maternal transmission.""k2


This paper describes a recently completed project conducted to identify functional requirements and software features of a Procedure Software Tool (PST) to be used as an aid in the preparation of written maintenance procedures in nuclear power plants. Results discussed include an overview of functional requirements and software features that address problems in procedure use and the process of procedure development. An overview of the recommended PST development process is also provided, along with a summary of the estimated benefits of PST development. Finally, potential applications in the nuclear industry, as well as other industries, are discussed.


Incubation of Spheroplats of Anabaena variabilis (Cyanobacteria) with 22 the 2,6-O-dimetyl-s-cycoldextrin complex of 2,3-dimethyl-5-phytylhydroquinone (11), revealed the presence of a hitherto unknown enzyme which catalyzes the cyclization of th substrate 11 to give enantiomerically pure γ-tocopherol (3) in ⩾ 93% yield.


Java Ginseng (Talinum paniculatum Gaertn.) is a succulent plant from the family Portulacaceae which can be consumed as vegetable. There were three main objectives for the research. Firstly, to evaluate the growth of plants Talinum paniculatum (Jacq.) with the different levels of nitrogen and harvesting times. Secondly, to understand the level of nitrogen fertilizer on the largest biomass production. Thirdly, to know the harvesting weeks for the largest biomass production with the best quality. The combination treatment between the harvesting times of 8 wk and the manure 150 kg N ha-1 has effects on the plant height, the numbers of branches and leaves. The highest protein content was reached at 4 wks harvesting age with fertilization of 150 kg N ha-1 with significant difference in all treatments.


Incoherent Doppler wind lidar measures the wind by detecting the frequency shift of the laser backscattering from aerosol and atmosphere molecules. The wind measurement sensitivity of edge detection technology like iodine vapor filter depends on the aerosol load of probe volume. The current Direct detect wind lidar system has to obtain the measurement sensitivity from the independent measurement or prior atmosphere aerosol data before accurate wind retrieval. Otherwise, the variation of aerosol mixing ratio would introduce great uncertainty in the wind speed measurement, which is unacceptable on airborne and space-borne Doppler lidar. This paper proposes a new method to achieve real-time wind speed calibration by three adjacent frequency laser pulses alternately transmitted. Three laser pulses are frequency locked to the middle and two wings of the iodine filter absorption line. Because the frequency of triple pulses is changing rather fast, it can be approximately regarded as a synchronous measurement of both aerosol mixing ratio and wind speed. By this way, we can not only ensure the wind measure accuracy, but also achieve the reliable wind field measurement on a mobile platform.


In this paper, we propose a framework called application concentrator, which enables interconnection of multiple closed networks at an application level. Because of rapid development and deployment of advanced networking technologies, various social activities have been shifting onto a network, thus necessitating a technology for providing closed networks for real/virtual groups. In particular, interconnection of multiple closed networks is the key for realizing those social activities on a network. In this paper, we therefore propose an application-level gateway called application concentrator, which enables interconnection of multiple closed networks for various types of application protocols. In the application concentrator, interconnection of multiple closed networks is realized by multiplexing/demultiplexing the content of communications. For demonstrating effectiveness of the application concentrator, we design example implementations of the application concentrator for three typical applications such as Web, e-mail, and remote desktop.


The day-to-day advancements have brought the biggest challenge to network providers as it has become difficult to keep up the traditional networks with the ever-advancing technologies for them. It also result as a motivation for vendors to grow by developing, innovating, deploying, and migrating in their services, upgrading to new hardware and infrastructure, as well as hiring newly trained people, which requires a large amount of money and time to implement. It results to a need of a new network architecture who has a capability of supporting future technologies along with solving all sorts of issues known as the network proposal by software. For meeting highly increasing demands, various proposals of load balancing techniques come forward in which highly dedicated balancers of loads are being required for ever service in some of them, or for every new service, manual recognition of device is required. In the conventional network, on the basis of the local information in the network, load balancing is being established.


The effects of temperature dependent viscosity and thermal conductivity on a two dimensional unsteady laminar MHD free convective flow over a vertical plate immersed in a porous medium with viscous dissipation and heat generation have been studied in the current work. The governing boundary layer equations are converted into a system of coupled nonlinear ordinary partial differential equations by using non - dimensional parameters and then solved numerically using finite difference method. Effects of variable viscosity, variable thermal conductivity, and the other parameters engaged in the study on the velocity, temperature and concentration profiles are investigated graphically. Skin friction and Nusselt number profiles have been also illustrated graphically. Keywords: MHD, Porous plate, Variable viscosity, Variable thermal conductivity, viscous dissipation, Heat and Mass transfer.


Cheese brine regeneration treatments in a dairy factory. In the dairy industry brine is very important technologically, and for a cheese factory it can be considered a patrimony, thus it must undergo constant monitoring and adequate regeneration. The present work was aimed at monitoring, for approximately 18 months, different brines employed for soft and semi-hard cheeses in a medium sized dairy factory, situated in Valtellina (North Italy). Evaluations were made of the microbiological characteristics (Standard Bacterial Count, coliforms, Escherichia coli, yeasts and moulds) and of the effectiveness of the purification treatments adopted for the brine i.e., first, its filtration and then its microfiltration. The microbiological analyses revealed that the brines were relatively free of a high degree of contamination, except for a few sporadic cases. Both the physical regeneration methods, filtration and microfiltration of the brine, were effective purification systems, although microfiltration was found to be more advantageous from the point of view of system management. In experimental brines we also tested the use of chemicals, hydrogen peroxide and sodium hypochlorite, two disinfectants chosen their antimicrobial activity, and assessed their effect on the aspect and taste of the cheeses. The addition of hydrogen peroxide in a single step was effective against alotolerant microorganisms, coliforms, and E. coli but not against moulds and yeasts, while sodium hypochlorite, added every day at low concentration, resulted in a progressive reduction of all the microorganisms. The obtained data confirm the importance of monitoring brines and the importance of brine regeneration treatments, particularly microfiltration.


Objective: To determine risk levels for the development of cirrhosis in Australian men who consume alcohol and to compare this risk with that of Australian women.


The application and form of electronically stored medical knowledge has a direct impact on the design of any healthcare delivery system. For those who plan for remote medical care or who work at the disaster relief level, there are specific requirements which will dictate the type of knowledge required and the vehicle best suited to deliver that information. I-~ The PC based multimedia biomedical library developed for NASA was originally intended for long-term space missions where complete isolation from earth support was a distinct possibility. The library is a combination of traditional references and secondary databases structured within a primary care physician's workstation. The integration of the library and a paint-of-care system allows optimal use of both resources and provides a basic building block for telemedicine networking.


Review(s) of: Global Media Governance: A Beginner's Guide, by O Siochru, Sean and Girard, Bruce with Mahan, Amy, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, 2002, ISBN 0 7425 1566 4, 101 pp., A$40. Distributor: DA Information Services.


The present invention relates to a gear mechanism unit for an automobile actuator. The gear mechanism unit has a gear mechanism housing (1), the axle is securely connected to the gear mechanism housing (2), and a worm wheel (5). The worm wheel is a tooth (6) is provided at the outer peripheral portion. In the axial region provided for mounting the worm wheel, has an axial area (2a) having a larger diameter than the other axial area (2e).


The present work introduces the first anatomical and systematic study of a fossil wood found in the Northern Pampa. The diagnostic anatomical features of the fossil wood are common in the Proteaceae family and Roupala genus. This fossil wood can be included within the organ genus Scalarixylon, Pujana. This family is considered a relict group from Gondwana because of its disjunct modern distribution in Australia, Africa, Central and South America, and limited places in Asia and the Pacific Isla. This finding is particularly significant for future paleobiogeography interpretations about this region and for the occurrence of Proteaceae fossil in the Parana Basin over the Pleistocene.


Summary When leading spectroscopists in Europe and America were engaged, during 1897, in exploring the recently-discovered Zeeman Effect, they were overtaken by a relatively obscure phsicist working in Dublin. Thomas Preston had previously been known only for his excellent textbooks. His achievement in discovering the Anomalous Zeeman Effect was immediately recognized, but his untimely death has deprived posterity until now of a full account of his life and qualities.


Reverse post-consumer logistics is a process that consists of returning certain goods to the production chain. There is to provide an appropriate and sustainable destination for a series of items that would most likely be discarded inappropriately. Since the sanction of the National Solid Waste Policy in 2010, it has been mandatory for companies to structure reverse logistics programs and communicate to their consumers about what to do after the end of their products. Four Brazilian companies in electric bicycle manufacturers have become the object of this study. We did research through the consumer's view of this good to diagnose the communication of reverse logistics programs of the chosen companies. In addition, the study was complemented with an analysis of the potential market, identifying whether reverse logistics is a competitive advantage. The results show that the four studied companies are not in accordance with current legislation. Through the questionnaire results with 238 people, we conclude that it is a competitive advantage for the company to disclose the destination of its post-consumption product.


I want to tell you civilized people about a real true Christmas tree. You should have seen my four native nurses, Elizabeth, Edna, Nomhlatnze and Julia, when I suggested a Christmas Tree. "Oh, Miss MacNeill," they all exclaimed in chorus, "We have wanted one so long." We had just closed our men's ward temporarily so that gave us a big, long room apart from the patients. Dr. McCord had a farm near Durban where most of the hospital help live. That gave us a possible place for finding a tree. Christmas Eve, just after lunch, I took our garden boy and started for the tree. Holly trees do not grow in Africa and fir trees are scarce. There are no pines in this country so we decided to get a branch from a tree called "vemsinsi." This is a large tree with thick foliage and well adapted to the use to which we wished to put it. Margaret and I pulled down all the vines we could carry and quantities of ferns and other green things. Then we started for the hospital. 0, the joy of decorating that tree! The nurses, Mrs. McCord's housemaid and cook and my hospital cook, a few of the almost-well patients and some of the nurses' friends, had all brought their gifts and we tied them on. Dr. McCord brought over his phonograph. The natives know very little about games so we determined to give them some fun. Soon after dinner Mrs. McCord came over and we invited all the natives in. Such delight! That Christmas tree must have seemed wonderful to them. They sometimes have them in the afternoons but I suppose a tree decorated and lighted at night was a new sight to most of them.


In a buyback programme the excess cash flows are distributed among the shareholders by purchasing own shares generally at a premium. The most common reason for this repurchase is that to disclose to the shareholders the confidence level of companies. The impact of Buyback on share price comes from changes in a company's capital structure and more critically, from the signals a buyback sends. But sometimes this signal can be negative as investors can perceive that the management team sees few investment opportunities ahead, suggesting to investors that they could do better by putting their money elsewhere. So this signal can be risky for the company which has gone for buyback. This paper focuses on the risk aspect associated with buyback of shares which directly reduces equity in the firm's capital structure. Buyback may also lead to abnormal increase of prices posing heavy risk to those who value shares based on fundamentals. This may also lead to reduction in investors' interests in the market particularly with de-listing o f good shares.


ones) may appear less significant than this common feature – their reliance on lens-based recordings of reality. According to Manovich (ibid. ), film in the digital age is no longer 'an indexical media technology but, rather, a subgenre of painting'. He describes contemporary cinema as a particular case of animation, one which in the age of the classical, indexical cinema had formed only a marginal genre: Digital cinema is a particular case of animation that uses live-action footage as one of its many elements. ... Born from animation, cinema pushed animation to its periphery only in the end to become one particular case of animation. (Ibid.: ) If film as a media technology has relinquished an indexical relationship with profilmic reality, then there is little point in positing, on the basis of one or another concept of realism, some 'correct' relationship between film image and Manifesto and Modernism 27


In 1982, I arrived in Mahasarakham in Northeast Thailand to undertake a "village study" of agrarian change in this historically poor and environmentally marginal region of the country. I thought the village, as a spatially situated settlement, was an appropriate methodological entry point to understand rural conditions. I expected households to be co-residential, livelihoods to be spatially contained by the village and its surrounding lands, lives to be largely sedentary, and the "peasantry" to be inhabiting a "world unto themselves," as Elson put it (1997, 33). For Amyot (1976), who directed the early (beginning in 1969) "village Thailand" project, the village was a spatially, socially and existentially "intimate universe." While in detail I was significantly wrong in thinking these things, in the generalities I was probably not too far off the mark. Villagers did, indeed, live meagre lives, personal mobility was limited, glutinous wet rice cultivation was at the centre of villagers' lives and livelihoods, and human and animal energy far outweighed that generated from combusting petroleum. Even in the early 1980s, however, it was clear that farming and farm work, for most households, would not be able to deliver a socially acceptable standard of living for very much longer. Farms were too small and there was little land locally onto which cultivation might be extended, terms of trade had turned against agriculture, the costs of living were growing as pressures of needs expanded, and education was enticing and permitting the young – and especially young men – to look further afield in their search for work, an income, and a livelihood. Migration, internal and international, was becoming increasingly important as households sought ways to meet these escalating needs. Like most scholars and policy-makers, I was not sufficiently prescient to see the economic "miracle" just over the event horizon, but I sensed something was afoot. At the end of the 1980s, I undertook a village study in Khon Kaen, around 70 kilometres from my original study sites in Mahasarakham (Rigg 1989). Here large numbers of male villagers were working in the Middle East, remitting sums of money significant enough to build new houses – or baan sao-u ("Saudi house"), as theywere colloquially known – and buy the consumer goods that were fast becoming markers of status. With this, rural livelihoods were "deagrarianising" and the household was being spatially resituated to becomemulti-sited, or trans-local, as sons, daughters, husbands andwives worked beyond their natal homes. While in the early 1980s, it was comparatively rare for young, unmarried women to venture beyond the village for extended sojourns away from home – neighbours might talk – by the end of the decade, it seemed that as many women were mobile as were men. In 2008, I returned to the two villages in Mahasarakham to undertake a follow-up study, with Albert Salamanca (see Rigg, Salamanca, and Parnwell 2012). Not only was the village visually


Diets of two coastal sharks, Atlantic Sharpnose Shark (Rhizoprionodon terraenovae) and Bonnethead (Sphyrna tiburo), were examined along the Texas and Alabama coasts in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Atlantic Sharpnose Sharks were collected from the northwest (n= 209) and northcentral (n= 245) GOM regions while Bonnetheads were collected from two locations within the northwest GOM (Galveston, Texas, n= 164; Matagorda, Texas, n= 79). Dietary analysis was conducted using stomach contents identified to the lowest taxonomic level, which were quantified using the index of relative importance (IRI) and non—parametric statistical analyses. Atlantic Sharpnose Sharks were revealed to be primarily piscivorous, with an overall %IRI of 79.76% for teleost fishes. Bonnetheads were shown to prey primarily on crustaceans (90.94% IRI), mainly crabs (22.06% IRI). Diets for Atlantic Sharpnose Sharks and Bonnetheads were evaluated by region and ontogeny, where variations by ontogeny were examined based on length at 50% maturity (L50) values, delineating mature from immature individuals. Atlantic Sharpnose Sharks and Bonnetheads showed a decrease in dietary prey species richness from juveniles to adults using %IRI. Regional dietary differences existed with Atlantic Sharpnose Sharks from the northwest GOM consuming more crustaceans than conspecifics from the northcentral GOM. Bonnetheads collected from Galveston, TX consumed more crab than Bonnetheads from Matagorda, TX, while Bonnetheads from Matagorda, TX displayed a diet with higher prey species richness. Our results highlight differences in diets of two common shark species at both local and regional spatial scales.


Progress on the on-line texture measurement technology for metal sheets is briefly reviewed. The principle as well as the method of the on-line texture measurement based on X-ray diffraction is introduced. Emphasis has been paid to the fundamental and application research of the on-line texture measurement technology in terms of area detector,and the problems encountered in the on-line texture measurement. Finally,future developments of the on-line texture measurement technology are prospected.


Abstract We prove a theorem (1.7) about partial orders which can be viewed as a version of the Barwise compactness theorem which does not mention logic. The Barwise compactness theorem is easily equivalent to 1.7 + "Every Henkin set has a model". We then make the observation that 1.7 gives us the definability of forcing for quantifier-free sentences in the forcing language and use this to give a direct proof of the truth and definability lemmas of forcing.


Keywords: Saints Martyrs Boris and Gleb; Russian and Byzantine pectoral crosses; Russian medieval history; Boris and Gleb canonization; Kievan Rus'; Russian church. Includes a summary in French by Michaela Spinei.


The costs of current gaze tracking systems remain too high for general public use. The main reason for this is the cost of parts, especially high-quality cameras and lenses and cost development. This research build the low cost based for gaze tracking system. The device is built by utilizing of modified web camera in infrared spectrum. A new technique is also proposed here in order to detect the center pupil coordinate based on connected component labeling. By combination the pupils coordinate detection method with third order polynomial regression in calibration process to determine the gaze point. The experiment results show our system has an acceptable accuracy rate with error pixel 0.39 o in visual degree.


The hydrogen (H{sub 2}) gas generation rate for neptunium dioxide (NpO{sub 2}) samples produced on a laboratory scale using the HB-Line Phase II flowsheet has been measured following exposure to 75% relative humidity (RH). As expected, the observed H{sub 2} generation rates for these samples increase with increasing moisture content. A maximum H{sub 2} generation rate of 1.8 x 10{sup -6} moles per day per kilogram (mol {center_dot} day{sup -1} kg{sup -1}) was observed for NpO{sub 2} samples with approximately one and one-half times (1 1/2 X) the expected specific surface area (SSA) for the HB-Line Phase II product. The SSA of NpO{sub 2} samples calcined at 650 C is similar to plutonium dioxide (PuO{sub 2}) calcined at 950 C according to the Department of Energy (DOE) standard for packaging and storage of PuO{sub 2}. This low SSA of the HB-Line Phase II product limits moisture uptake to less than 0.2 weight percent (wt %) even with extended exposure to 75% RH.


Coalescence of sessile polymeric fluid drops on a partially wettable substrate exhibits a transition from inertial to viscoelastic regime at concentration ratio $c/c^* \sim 1$. Our findings unveil that the temporal evolution of the growing bridge height follows a power-law behaviour $t^b$, such that the coefficient $b$ continuously decreases from 2/3 in the inertial regime ($c/c^*<1$) to an asymptotic value of 1/2 in the visco-elastic regime ($c/c^*>1$). To account for fluid elasticity and characteristic time-scale in the viscoelastic regime, a modified thin film equation under lubrication approximation has been proposed using the linear Phan-Thien- Tanner constitutive equation. The temporal evolution of the droplet has been evaluated by solving the modified one-dimensional thin-film equation using a marching explicit scheme. The initial droplet shapes are obtained by re-sorting to energy minimization. A good agreement between numerical and experimental results is obtained.


1 The relation between the thought of Wittgenstein and that of Marx is an issue that has remained rather marginal in the vast scholarship of both thinkers. Nevertheless, there have been a small but intriguing number of works exhibiting an interest in the issue, especially with regard to the later phase of Wittgenstein's thought, as we can see for example in David Rubinstein's Marx and Wittgenstein: Social Praxis and Social Explanation (1981), Susan Easton's Humanist Marxism and Wittgensteinian Social Philosophy (1983), Gavin Kitching's Karl Marx and the Philosophy of Praxis (1988), and the essay collection Marx and Wittgenstein: Knowledge, Morality…


Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) array is routinely designed in IC chip during process development. Its' high density and addressable structure allows for better defect isolation and faster feedback of process performance. Hence, identification the root cause of SRAM bit failure is very important for process corrections and yield improvement. This paper presented two case studies of threshold voltage (Vt) shift caused by doping defects. The combination of Nanoprobe technique and chemical stain method was proved to be very effective in finding SRAM area doping defects.


The flood of applications that demand massive data has
imposed a challenge for 5G cellular network in order to deliver
high data rates, a better quality of service, and low energy
consumption. Heterogenous ultra- dense networks are one of the
major technologies to address such challenges. HUDNs play a
big role in a cellular system. They deliver cost-effective coverage
with low transmit power and high capacty to face the risen data
and the high expectations of the user's performance. In this
paper, we introduce the impact of small cells on the cellular
system and the technologies the small cells utilize to make the
cellular system faces the subscriber's demands. First, we discuss
the fundamentals of used technologies in small cells. Next, we
studied the small cell management. Then, self-organizing
networks are studied. After that, we have reviewed the small
cell's power consumption, mobility, and handover. Finally, the
real-world experience of mm-waves and MIMO in 5G small cells


We conclude this special issue, not with a summary, but with a forward look. We consider a number of issues related to those presented in this special issue, with the goal of suggesting how we might build upon the tremendous body of work in sports research. We begin with a discussion of the issues surrounding what it means to create interdisciplinarity in a domain of inquiry. Then, we briefly discuss potential ways of adopting methods and concepts from the contributing disciplines. Following this, we discuss notions of self-improvement in learning and integrate this with a continuum of expertise development that is appropriate to the context of the contributions to this special issue. We conclude with a discussion of a set of research directions for interdisciplinary studies of the development of expertise.


This handy monograph from the American Association of Blood Banks presents a state-of-the-art summary of transfusional problems and therapy in the premature and full-term neonate. Although the outgrowth of an American Association of Blood Banks technical workshop, the monograph deserves a much broader pediatric audience, especially among house staff, students, and neonatology fellows who all too frequently do not consider transfusion therapy the science that it is. Approximately half of the monograph is written by expert pediatricians who are involved in direct patient care. The initial chapter provides useful tables of normal values, which change so rapidly during this critical period of life. The unique interactive physiology and pathophysiology of the neonate and of fetal hemoglobin and the erythrocyte are concisely reviewed. Then follows a discussion of the indications for erythrocyte transfusion and a review of the metabolic considerations of anticoagulants, storage, and effects in transfusion into the sick or


A compound of Formula I: ** (See formula) ** wherein R1 is H, C1-6 alkyl or C3-6 cycloalkyl; m is 1 or 2; each R2 is independently halogen, C1-6 alkyl or C3-6 cycloalkyl; n is 0 or 1; X1, X2, and X3 independently are> = N-, -NRXn- or> = CRXc-, provided that at least one but no more than two of X1, X2, and X3 are independently> = N- or -NRXn -; RXn is H, C1-6 alkyl or C3-6 cycloalkyl; and each RXc is independently H, halogen, C1-6 alkyl or C3-6 cycloalkyl; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.


Interpersonal influence episodes typically involve the pursuit of multiple goals, and as the number of goals relevant to a specific episode increases, its goal complexity increases. This study tested the assumption that differences in the goal complexity of interpersonal influence episodes would moderate the way individuals judged the competence of interpersonal influence messages. Seven hundred thirty‐eight participants judged the competence of influence messages, and trained coders rated the messages on three dimensions: Explicitness, dominance, and argument. Results revealed systematic differences in the relationships between the message dimensions and judgments of message competence across levels of goal complexity; however, the patterns of these relationships did not always conform with predictions. The practical and theoretical implications of the goal complexity construct for the study of interpersonal influence are discussed.


SUMMARY Nonprofit organizations face difficulties in attracting financial resources for the maintenance of its activities, given that, every year, there are more such organizations, intensify the dispute between them by resources donated by external stakeholders (donor resources), which are composed of government agencies, financial agencies, companies and individuals. Thus, it is essential to identify the motivations that affect the decision-making process of the donor in order to assist organizations of the third sector in capture effectiveness of resources. The aim of this study is to identify the factors that motivate the individual donor to contribute with resources for social organisations. More specifically, this study aims to describe the individual donor profile. To achieve these goals, data collection was held in the city of Piracicaba/SP, by means of questionnaires via personal interview and electronic mail. The main findings of the study are: donors are motivated to provide resources to meet the basic needs of the population, by the need for achievement and personal satisfaction; do not carry out donations in order to be recognized in front of family, friends or society; and finally, situations that generate increased prestige or status are not considered by donors.


Among the topics discussed are high-speed transport, compressor aerodynamics, environment and pollution, engine performance, computational fluid dynamics, and combustion. Attention is also given to radial flow machines, hypersonic propulsion, engine condition monitoring, cascades and fans, inlets, tribology and materials, and transition and fluid dynamics. Also considered are mixing and mixing control; surge, stall, and flutter; combustion and aerothermodynamics; ram rockets, nozzles; icing and particles; nacelle design; supersonic combustion; scramjet and ramjet; turbines and heat transfer; and energy analysis.


CeRuSn exhibits an extraordinary room temperature structure at 300 K with the coexistence of two types of Ce ions, namely trivalent Ce3+ and intermediate-valent Ce(4−δ)+, in a metallic environment. The ordered arrangement of these two Ce types on specific crystallographic sites results in a doubling of the unit cell along the c axis with respect to the basic monoclinic CeCoAl-type structure. Below room temperature, structural modulation transitions with very broad hysteresis have been reported from measurements of various bulk properties. X-ray diffraction revealed that at low temperatures the doubling of the CeCoAl-type structure is replaced by a different modulated ground state, approximating a near tripling of the basic CeCoAl cell. The transition is accompanied by a significant contraction of the c axis. We present new x-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy data at the Ce L3 absorption edge, measured on a freshly cleaved surface of a CeRuSn single crystal. In contrast to our previous report, the new data exhibit small but significant variations as a function of temperature that are consistent with a transition of a fraction of Ce3+ ions to the intermediate valence state, analogous to the γ→α transition in elemental cerium, when cooling through the structural transitions of CeRuSn. Such results in a valence-modulated state.


Benchmark datasets for table structure recognition (TSR) must be carefully processed to ensure they are annotated consistently. However, even if a dataset's annotations are self-consistent, there may be significant inconsistency across datasets, which can harm the performance of models trained and evaluated on them. In this work, we show that aligning these benchmarks$\unicode{x2014}$removing both errors and inconsistency between them$\unicode{x2014}$improves model performance significantly. We demonstrate this through a data-centric approach where we adopt one model architecture, the Table Transformer (TATR), that we hold fixed throughout. Baseline exact match accuracy for TATR evaluated on the ICDAR-2013 benchmark is 65% when trained on PubTables-1M, 42% when trained on FinTabNet, and 69% combined. After reducing annotation mistakes and inter-dataset inconsistency, performance of TATR evaluated on ICDAR-2013 increases substantially to 75% when trained on PubTables-1M, 65% when trained on FinTabNet, and 81% combined. We show through ablations over the modification steps that canonicalization of the table annotations has a significantly positive effect on performance, while other choices balance necessary trade-offs that arise when deciding a benchmark dataset's final composition. Overall we believe our work has significant implications for benchmark design for TSR and potentially other tasks as well. Dataset processing and training code will be released at https://github.com/microsoft/table-transformer.


Gender, Identity, and Self-Esteem: A New Look at Adult Development, by Deborah Y. Anderson and Christopher L. Hayes. Springer Publishing Company, New York, 1996, 342 pp., no price listed (cloth). Multiple Paths of Midlife Development, edited by Margie E. Lachman and Jacquelyn Boone James. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1997, 490 pp., $52.00 (cloth). The Parental Experience in Midlife, edited by Carol D. Ryff and Marsha Mailick Seltzer. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1996, 679 pp., $39.50 (cloth).


Objective
To explore the effect of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) with helmet or facial mask on clinical efficacy, tolerability, and prognosis in patients with acute respiratory failure.

Methods
Fifty patients with acute respiratory failure according to the inclusion criteria were recruited from January 2018 to July 2018 in Emergency Intensive Care Unit of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. Included patients were randomly allocated into the helmet group or facial mask group. Based on conventional drug therapy, pressure support mode was performed with the interface of the helmet or facial mask. Oxygenation index, arterial carbon dioxide partial pressure, and respiratory rates were measured before and after the treatment, and the data were compared and analyzed by the repeated measures ANOVA. Tolerance score, complication rate, tracheal intubation rate, and mortality rate were recorded at each observation time point of the two groups.

Results
The oxygenation index before NIV, at 4 h and at the end of NIV treatment of the helmet group were significantly increased from (160.29±50.32) mmHg to (249.29±83.47) mmHg and (259.24±87.09) mmHg; the oxygenation index of the facial mask group were increased from (168.63±38.63) mmHg to (225.00±74.96) mmHg and (217.69±77.80) mmHg, and there was no significant difference within the two groups (P 0.05). Patients in the helmet was better tolerated than those in the facial mask group [ratio of good tolerance 96% (24/25) vs 56% (14/25) (P = 0.001) and fully tolerance 80% (20/25) vs 36% (9/25) (P =0.002)] and had less complications (1/25 vs 10/25, P = 0.002). 84% patients in the helmet group and 76% patients in the facial mask group were successfully weaned and discharged after NIV treatment (P =0.480).

Conclusions
Similar clinical efficacy in improving blood gas exchange and relieving dyspnea were observed in the helmet group and the facial mask group in patients with acute respiratory failure. However, the helmet is better tolerant, and had lower complication rate, which is especially suitable for patients with chest trauma combined with facial injuries.

Key words:
Helmet; Facial mask; Noninvasive ventilation; Acute respiratory failure; Chest trauma; Randomized controlled trial


Maria Irene Fornes calls her play, Oscar and Bertha, "an exaggerated close-up, in a way an almost microscopic view of an extremely basic emotional situation." The basic situation is sibling rivalry and the particular exaggeration here, which works to both comic and pathetic effect, is simply this: although Oscar and Bertha are adults, they behave like absolute children. Their mutual suspicion and animosity is so intense and so unchecked by the restraints of mature behavior that every interaction they have quickly devolves into verbal or physical combat. If their mother was around, they would be sent to their rooms. After the typically long gestation period for a Fornes play, Oscar and Bertha premiered at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco in March 1992, on a bill with the curtain-raiser Drowning, Fornes's contribution several years back to Orchards, the anthology of Chekhov short story adaptations commissioned by Anne Cattaneo for the Acting Company. Fornes first worked on Oscar and Bertha at the Guthrie Theatre Lab in 1987. In July 1989, the Padua Hills Playwrights Festival included a workshop production of the play presented outdoors in the courtyard of the Art and Design Center at Cal State Northridge. Padua Hills later published this version in an anthology. The Magic Theatre production represents a revision of the Padua Hills script and no doubt, there will be changes after that: Fornes never truly stops working on a play; she simply puts it aside to concentrate on something else. As always, Fornes has directed the play at every stage of its development, lending the text and its performance a seamless continuity which the playwright finds perfectly natural. "It doesn't occur to me to finish a play and hand it over to someone else to direct," she says in the Magic program. "That's like cooking a meal and then not eating it." This investigation of the "cooking" and "eating" of Oscar and Bertha at the Magic Theatre intends to make clear just how interdependent these processes are and why Fornes's plays can be unwieldy in the hands of a director unfamiliar with her mise en scene. The play takes place in Oscar and Bertha's shared home. As designed by Sandra Woodall, it is at first glance a simple, symmetrical, unadorned space. The main playing area downstage represents a sitting area (left) with two salmon pink armchairs and an eating area (right) with a small table and simple wooden chairs.


Focused on color lexicons,the root of the cultural differences between English and Chinese was analyzed from the perspectives of ethnic psychology,religion and folktale,geographical environment and semantic color,hoping to be helpful to cross-culture communication teaching.


A new species of small, insular, forest floor skink, Sphenomorphus langkawiensis sp. nov. is described from the islands of Langkawi and Singa Besar in the Langkawi Arichipelago, Kedah, West Malaysia. This species is differentiated from all other 35 Sundaland and Malay Peninsula species of Sphenomorphus on the basis of a unique suite of morphological and color pattern characteristics. The discovery of the first endemic reptile in the Langkawi Archipelago and the addition of nine new records of species to Pulau Langkawi underscores the unrealized biodiversity of the herpetofauna of this archipelago. Twelve species (one frog, nine lizards, and two snakes) are reported for the first time from Pulau Singa Besar, a small satellite island off the southern coast of Pulau Langkawi.


We analyze credit watch and rating actions to better understand the role of credit watches in the credit rating process. We find that watch actions are more frequently prompted by specific, publicly known events than are rating actions. The likelihood that a watch action precedes a rating action varies systematically with proxies for investor demand for credit quality information and the adverse consequences of issuing a rating change prematurely. Credit watches occur more often in response to deterioration in credit quality, and issuers make concerted efforts to address the concerns that prompted down watches. Down watches are less likely than up watches to indicate the direction of the subsequent rating change. Watch announcements are associated with abnormal stock returns, indicating that credit watch actions are significant information events. Overall, our results support the hypothesis that credit watches enhance both the information-supplying role of credit rating agencies and the use of credit ratings in contracting.


Particularly high concentrations (966 ◊ 10 −4 cm 3 /kg) of aromatic hydrocarbons are found in the gases of the bituminous argillites of the Bazhenov Formation of West Siberia, which is an oil-source rock. At the same time the enrichment of the arenes by lighter components - by benzol, and among the Cg - by ethylbenzol and as a consequence high values of the ratios benzol/toluol and ethylbenzol/Σ xylol indicate indirectly the presence in this form ation of significant amounts of high-boiling aromatic hydrocarbons that migrated from lower-occurring sediments. These are in addition to the hydrocarbons that were generated in the unit itself. It is characteristic that the oils of the Bazhenov Formation (in the Alym and other areas) are also relatively enr iched in monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The effect of distance of a pool on concentration of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is apparent in the example of the SeveroVar'yegan field of West Siberia. The oil pool here is in Lower Cretaceous sediments at a depth of 2400 m. The concentration of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in gases in Paleogene sediments at a depth of 500 m in the field is considerably higher than t hat in the non-productive Pokrov area. See Fig. 2. The gases of the Paleozoic sediments of the Nogin and Verkhnenimdin areas of western East Siberia were studied. In the first area, where an oil pool was once present in the geologic past but now has been dissipated, there are high concentrations of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the rocks. In the non-productive Verkhnenimdin area, however, only background values o f benzol were found. In the Tunguska basin of East Siberia a clear relationship is found between concentration of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in oil pools and their concentration in gases dispersed in the ro cks. This parallelism can be used as a guide to exploration. © Petroleum Geology: A digest of Russian literature on Petroleum Geology, 2013


In this paper, we establish and perfect the dualities among the Laplace transform (LT), Laplace-Carson transform (LCT), Sumudu transform (ST), and a novel integral transform (NIT). In addition, some novel properties of the NIT are explored and the NIT is applied to solve some partial differential equations (PDEs). c ©2017 all rights reserved.


The interoperability of old and new knowledge in the learning process is very important; it's an established issue in pedagogical literature. However, in the classical pedagogy this issue was discussed unilaterally: the old knowledge was regarded only as a way to more easily assimilate new knowledge (from the known to the unknown), excluding all possible interaction of old and new knowledge, which should be what determines the nature of learning and analyzing the new material. No attention was paid to the flip side either, the development of old knowledge under new conditions to aid new knowledge. This point of view dominates pedagogical and psychological literature to this day. Also, often the interaction of old and new knowledge is considered narrowly, only within one subject, within the range of a single class. Our research has shown that interaction between new and old knowledge goes a long way in combining the learning process into a single system. We found close links in what students learn in science lessons: 5th grade botanics, 7th grade physics, and 8th grade chemistry. This similar software acquired in our aforementioned subjects, basically determines the mental activity students perform by systemizing knowledge. This led us to the conclusion that students' mental development is very important for excellence in all subjects, not an individual subject, because one subject is based on knowledge acquired in other subjects and every subject is a method of learning other subjects. Analyzing the students' ability to systemize knowledge obtained from different sources, we found that this ability is lagging behind the level that would be typical of the program. Often 5th-8th grade students don't realize that that they have individual pieces of knowledge that are pertinent to each other just waiting to be connected. In our opinion, the reason lies in the very process of learning. The experimental material received during the teacher survey demonstrated their "disinterest" in students' old knowledge, which is related to new. Programs and methodologies do not push teachers to go this direction. Therefore, we are often faced with the old knowledge being forgotten over time, and the overall excellence of students does not comply with the knowledge gained in previous classes. Students absorb new knowledge well and forget the old knowledge that is related to the new if that relationship is not pointed out. The absence of a connection between related new and old knowledge, i.e. the absence of "Problematic situations as higher reasoning," gives a formal nature to the knowledge obtained in class; the student does not fully understand the meaning of this knowledge and doesn't systemize it.


Summary from only given. Polymer optical waveguide devices have attracted a lot of attention with regard to applications in the all-optical network, basically, because they have the potential of added optical functionality and because they may be producible at low cost. The combination of a large thermo-optic (TO) coefficient with low heat conductivity results in low electric switching power at ms-response time. Two kinds of polymer waveguide switches, i.e., interferometric-type switches and digital optical switches (DOS), have been reported.


Apolipoprotein‐ε4 (APOE‐ε4) is the strongest genetic risk factor for sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, whether APOE‐ε4 accelerates cognitive decline in AD has not been firmly established. We studied the rate of cognitive decline among early‐ (EOAD) and late‐onset (LOAD) APOE‐ε4 carriers vs non‐carriers on measures of memory, attention, language, and executive function.


Power consumption is the first order design constraint in future many-core processors. Conventional power management approaches usually focus on certain functional components, either computation or communication hardware resources, trying to optimize its power consumption as much as possible, while leave the other part untouched. However, such unilateral power control concept, though has some potentials to contribute overall power reduction, cannot guarantee the optimal power efficiency of the chip. In this paper, we propose a novel Collaborative management approach, coordinating both Computation and Communication infrastructure in tandem, termed as CoCom. Apart from prior work that deals with power control separately, it leverages the correlations between the two parts, as the "key chain" to guide their respective power state coordination to the appropriate direction. Besides, it uses dedicated hybrid on-chip/off-chip mechanisms to minimize the control cost and simultaneously guarantee the effectiveness. Experimental results show that, compared with the conventional unilateral baselines, CoCom is able to achieve abundant power reduction with minimal performance degradation at the same time.