Studies of identical and fraternal twins suggest up to 80% of variation in height is genetic. But the genes responsible have largely eluded researchers. Now, by amassing genome data for 4 million people—the largest such study ever—geneticists have accounted for a major share of this "missing heritability," at least for people of European ancestry. In this group, they9ve identified nearly 10,000 DNA markers that appear to fully explain the influence of common genetic variants over height. If the missing genetic contributors to other traits and diseases can be identified, and extended to other ancestries, the results could reveal new biology and bolster personalized medicine. But the study leaves some scientists dissatisfied because it identifies only markers linked to genes that sway height, not the genes.


Pultruded fibre reinforced plastics are widely used in civil engineering. The connection problem of composites is one of the key problems on the design of composite structures. There are three main connection methods for FRP: bonded connection, bolted connection and hybrid connection. In this paper, through the comparative analysis of these three connection methods, it can be seen clearly that because hybrid joints incorporate the advantages of the bonded and bolted connections, hybrid joints have larger stiffness, better ductility, and reasonable stress distribution. In addition, there is an increase in carrying capacity than that of bolted connections. Moreover, for a hybrid connection joint, the main influence factors are studied by experiments for its failure mode and carrying capacity, such as the end distance, the number of bolts, the lap length and the diameter of bolts.


This necrology is devoted to Gerard Radnitzky, the distinguished and widely renowned philosopher of science and political philosopher, who died, aged 84, in March 2006. It focuses on two things: firstly, on Radnitzky's gradual change from a Hayekian-type classical liberal to a strict libertarian in the style of Anthony de Jasay, and secondly, on the reasons that might have lead him finally to give priority to ordered anarchy over spontaneous order. Against this background, the obituary tries to sketch Radnitzky's development as political philosopher and argues that this process is the result of an interplay, namely an interplay of his endless endeavour to promote knowledge based on a precise problem analysis on the one hand and his collisions with collectivism of all sorts that he had experienced in his lifetime as a "learned displaced person" on the other hand.


Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a special form of multicarrier modulation scheme, which divides the entire frequency selective fading channel into many orthogonal narrowband flat fading sub channels and a high-bit-rate data stream is transmitted in parallel over a number of lower data rate subcarriers. So in OFDM signal may exhibit a high instantaneous signal peak with respect to the average signal level which can give a large peak-toaverage power (PAP) ratio. The clipping is one of the simplest distortion based technique to reduce the PAPR by clipping the signal to the desired level and to limit out-of-band radiation iterative clipping and filtering scheme is used. In this paper, we analyzed PAPR reduction technique, based on repeated clipping and filtering, and its SNR performance. It is shown that we can achieve both PAPR reduction from the ICF technique as well as error performance improvement from the channel coding(Convolution Coding) with no loss in data rate from the transmission of side information. Keywords— OFDM, PAPR, Convolution coding


In a previous paper we have developed an axiomatic characterization of approximation operators defined by the classical diamond and box operator of modal logic. The paper presented contains the analogous results of approximation operators which are defined by using the concepts of fuzzy rough sets.


ONE of the sharpest religious controversies of the present time centres round the movement known as Moral Re-Armament, and it is not easy to form a calm and dispassionate opinion of it. Between the extravagant and often heated claims from both sides an impartial observer, wanting only to make an honest and fair appraisal of the matter, finds himself in difficulties, because he meets more with strong personal feelings than objective facts.


Global observations of ocean swell, from satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar data, are used to estimate the dissipation of swell energy for a number of storms. Swells can be very persistent with energy e‐folding scales exceeding 20,000 km. For increasing swell steepness this scale shrinks systematically, down to 2800 km for the steepest observed swells, revealing a significant loss of swell energy. This value corresponds to a normalized energy decay in time β = 4.2 × 10−6 s −1. Many processes may be responsible for this dissipation. The increase of dissipation rate in dissipation with swell steepness is interpreted as a laminar to turbulent transition of the boundary layer, with a threshold Reynolds number of the order of 100,000. These observations of swell evolution open the way for more accurate wave forecasting models, and provide a constraint on swell‐induced air‐sea fluxes of momentum and energy.


This study applies Elzaki Adomian Decomposition Method (EADM) to solve the Logistic Differential Model (LDM) of different forms and coefficients. Illustrative examples are considered, and the obtained results are in good agreement compared to those already in the literature. This study, therefore, recommends the proposed method (EADM) for application in other aspects of applied mathematics for real-life problems.


ObjectiveTo study the prescription and quality assessment of Eugenol Acne Gelata.MethodsCarbopol-940 was used as base,and trithanolamine as neutralizer,Eugenol was added into the hydrogel;UV spectrophotometry and gas chromatography was used to measure the drug content of hydrogel.ResultsThe gelata was homogenous,transparent and stable.The drug released quickly,and the determination of content was simple and rapid.ConclusionThe formulation of the gelata is reasonable and coincident with the requirement of Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2000.The gelata is suitable for remedy of acne.


Automation in education has become a major factor shaping a direct relationship between the offered automated services and the academic performance of students in universities. In this paper, we discuss a toolset that features several services aimed at improving the overall experience of students during their stay at the Computer Science and Engineering Department in the American University of Sharjah. The toolset is an attempt to replace many processes that were still, until recently, dependent on paper and pencil. The proposed transformation includes services that affect, on daily basis, the performance of students in their classes. In particular, the toolset automates services related to academic advising, course registration (planning for course sections, availability of courses and handling of waiting lists), exam scheduling (detecting conflicts), tracking attendance in courses, helping students find the proper internship program, and monitoring student progress in their study plans (admission for the second year). The toolset is made accessible through a mobile friendly web portal. Our initial evaluation, based on conducted surveys, shows appreciation from the part of students of the provided services.


In this study a PV system will be simulated using virtual reality software for PV system simulations -called VR4PV - to show the effectiveness of the modelling of PV systems on buildings which are placed in the tropics. The PV system used for this study has been installed in Papua, Indonesia and includes a monitoring system which measures among others the power output and weather variables. The power output of the PV system is simulated based on (i) minutely locally measured weather data, and (ii) hourly publicly available weather data measured in the region. The results are compared with the measured power output in order to evaluate the performance of the VR4PV. The RMSE is found to be in between 437 – 679 W for a PV array of 12 kWp, corresponding to 9% and 16% of the average power output for May 2013 – April 2014, based on the minutely measurements. The hourly weather data is found to be more suitable for the estimation of the monthly energy production. The accuracy makes VR4PV extremely appropriate for assessing the performance of PV systems added to buildings in the tropics, before installation and during use


. There is a case which gets very near to this, in Is 5415, where LXX gives a very wide translation of the Hebrew in t'Sov' 7rpou§hvToi 7rpouehe£uovTal Qoc, proselytes will pass through thee, where it may be the religious sense appears, but even there, it is the political sense that is the stronger. 7TPOaf¡ÀVTOS appears only once in the Apocrypha, in Tob 18, in a quotation from Deuteronomy. Philo uses the word in the sense of religious convert, but he seems to prefer 17rqhvg which is the classical word for a foreign client. Josephus refers to persons such as Fulvia and Helena, who were in fact proselytes, but he does not use the word ~rpoQ~javTOs. So that, although we can see the word changing in meaning in the last period of the Old Testament, LXX and in Greek books of Jewish origin in the New Testament period, yet the New Testament is, in fact, the earliest book to use 7rpou§hvTog in the sense of a convert to Judaism from a foreign faith, when that foreigner lives permanently outside Palestine. That is clearly the meaning in Acts, and is probably the meaning in Mt 23'5, unless indeed we have a case of hyperbole in the sense of you move heaven and earth to win


Most present face recognition approaches recognize faces based on still images. We present a novel approach to recognize faces in video. In that scenario, the face gallery may consist of still images or may be derived from a videos. For evidence integration we use classical Bayesian propagation over time and compute the posterior distribution using sequential importance sampling. The probabilistic approach allows us to handle uncertainties in a systematic manner. Experimental results using videos collected by NIST/USF and CMU illustrate the effectiveness of this approach in both still-to-video and video-to-video scenarios with appropriate model choices.


The present invention provides methods of using various antibody-immunostimulatory fusion proteins as adjuvants for antigen protein vaccination to elicit humoral and / or cellular immune responses in vaccinated subjects. Compositions comprising these fusion proteins and endogenous and / or foreign antigen proteins are also provided.


Background: ESR1 mutations are known as a major mechanism of resistance to antihormonal therapy in breast cancer. ESR1 mutation frequency is high in metastatic disease when the tumor is refractory to aromatase inhibitor, in contrast to nonmetastatic setting. We tried to detect ESR1 mutations (Y537N, Y537S and D538G) in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). Method: Patients who had hormone receptor-positive breast cancer were enrolled in this study. Plasma samples were collected and ctDNA was analyzed by ddPCR and digital targeted DNA panel. Primers and probes for ddPCR were designed for Y537N, Y537S and D538G mutations using sequences of wild-type normal human DNA. Results: A total of 40 patients were enrolled. Histologic type was invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) in 32, invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) in 4 and others in 4. Thirty-four patients received endocrine treatment and 6 patients had no prior exposure to endocrine treatment. Using ddPCR, overall mutation rate was 52.5% (n=21). D538G was the most frequent mutation (n=16), followed by Y537N (n=9), and Y537S (n=6). Nine patients showed multiple ESR1 mutations. In patients without endocrine exposure (n=6), 2 patients showed ESR1 mutations (Y537N, Y537S). The mutation detection rate was higher in patients with prior use of aromatase inhibitor (AI) than in prior use of tamoxifen (TMX) only (prior AI, 17/29=58.6%; prior TMX, 2/5= 40%). In 9 cases, we conducted both ddPCR and targeted DNA panel assay using ctDNA at the same time. Overall concordance rate between two platforms was 55.6% (5/9). Among discordant cases (n=4), ESR1 mutations were detected by ddPCR in 3 cases, which were not found in DNA panel assay. Conclusions: ESR1 mutations can be robustly identified with ctDNA analysis. Overall mutation detection rate was comparable to other previous reports. However, there is a significant discordance between clinically available NGS panel assay and ddPCR method in detection of ESR1 mutations. Further study will be needed for clinical implementation of ESR1 mutation analysis using ctDNA. Citation Format: Sung Hoon Sim, Su Yeon Jeon, Kyoung Hee An, Sun Young Kong, Min Jung Kwon, Keun Seok Lee, In Hae Park. Circulating tumor DNA analysis for ESR1 mutations in patients with hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5537.


This article presents additional support to the theoretical views of Predrag Piper exposed in his work 2002 focussing some hitherto in the linguistic literature unconsidered ways in which noun items help impaling quantification.


We apply down operators in the affine nilCoxeter algebra to yield explicit combinatorial expansions for certain families of noncommutative $k$-Schur functions. This yields a combinatorial interpretation for a new family of $k$-Littlewood--Richardson coefficients.


Printing electronic components by screen printing with the excellent printing quality, high efficiency, and environmental protection has broad application prospects in additive manufacturing. However, because conductive-ink blocks the screen, printing efficiency and quality decreased in the printing process. Thus, it is pivotal to explore adhesion factors from the interaction of conductive ink and screen. Herein, according to the transfer process of screen printing ink, solid-liquid wetting theory, and adhesion mechanism, we establish a liquid bridge adhesion model between two plates and obtain the functional relationship between the adhesion force and its influencing factors. Fluent software verifies the adhesion force model's conclusion to get the influence trend of the adhesion force on the ink residue. At last, by establishing a liquid bridge tensile fracture test, we gain experimental results consistent with the theoretical model and numerical simulation results. It is demonstrated that solid-liquid contact angle, tensile distance, and liquid volume are the main factors affecting the change of solid-liquid adhesion. The increase of tensile distance and contact angle will affect the adhesion force. The smaller the maximum solid-liquid adhesion during the initial stretching of the liquid bridge, the less the residual amount remained on the solid surface. By means of screen modification, the adhesion between conductive ink and screen can be reduced; meanwhile, the efficiency and quality of printed products can be improved. What's more, it also provides a valuable reference for the modification of screen printing electronics.


Smart meter is an advanced energy meter that measur es the amount of consumption of electrical energy and tran smits data to a database at a utility server. Confidentia lity and no modifying of smart meter readings are important bec ause altered readings from the meter can lead to incorre ct billing and false energy usage approximations. In this paper we provide a pairing-free certificate less signcryption (CLSC) scheme based on elliptic curve for preserving privacy and integrity of data between th e utility server and customer smart meters. CLSC at the same time achieves confidentiality and authentication by comb ining public-key encryption and digital signature. Our pr oposed scheme is capable of preventing different attacks sas Replay, Man-In-The-Middle and Spoofing attacks.


In order to determine the relationships between bird assemblages and forest habitat, we conducted surveys for bird assemblages in different forest habitats in the Khentii Mountain region, Northern Mongolia. A total of 1730 individuals belonging to 71 species from 23 families of 11 orders were recorded. Our findings revealed that passeriformes are the most species-rich order, accounting for 86.2% of the total species. The dominant species were Anthus hodgsoni, Parus major, Poecile palustris, and Sitta europaea in study area. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and permutation multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) showed that bird assemblages were affected by forest habitat types. Our findings also showed significant relationships between bird assemblages and canopy height and ground cover vegetation structure, whereas there were no relationships between altitude and other habitat variables. Thus, maintaining diverse forest habitats or restoring forest would play a key role in bird conservation and sustainable management of forest areas.


The research, resource management and wilderness staffs in Yosemite National Park recently completed the third 10- year cycle of a wilderness campsite impact monitoring program. Initial results indicate an overall improvement in conditions due to a strong restoration program, decreased use and increased visitor education. Lessons learned point to the necessity for ample and appropriate data collection and consistent techniques over time. This paper discusses the methodology and findings of this 28-year project. The lure of Yosemite has resulted in profound effects on both those who visit the park and the natural environments it encompasses. As John Muir said, "the galling harness of civilization drops off…" those who visit, but their very presence has also modified the landscape. Public land man- agers have long recognized that recreational use may pose pervasive and intractable threats to resources, but they have grappled with just how to measure, monitor and man- age those impacts. In the early 1970s, the research, wilderness and resource staffs realized the need to improve their understanding of how recreation affected ecosystems and the effectiveness of management. Over the course of the next 28 years, the staff undertook three wilderness-wide inventory and monitoring studies focusing on campsite impacts. Our objectives in this undertaking were three-fold: 1) Establish a baseline for natural conditions and variation; 2) Determine when, where and why significant change occurs, and track that change over time; 3) Understand the relationship of natural conditions, visitor experience, and wilderness resource management.


Abstract Branching of tetrasporophytes and gametophytes of Ceramium codicola was characterized by the Strahler method of ordering branches and by measuring angles of ordered branches in order to quantify differences in morphology between these 'isomorphic' reproductive stages. Numbers of ordered branches varied between the stages, with female and male gametophytes having more first-degree branches than tetrasporophytes, and male gametophytes having more second- and third-degree branches than females or tetrasporophytes. Males also had more branches and more orders of branching at the site with higher wave action. Ratios of branches of adjacent orders revealed patterns that were more consistent. The ratios of 1°:2°, 2°: 3°, and 3°: 4° branches for male gametophytes and tetrasporophytes were about 2.5, whereas female gametophytes had higher ratios of 1°: 2° and 2°: 3° branches. This indicates that female gametophytes have a greater number of first- and second-degree branches that arise apart from dichotomous branching. The similarity of male gametophytes and tetrasporophytes could be explained by the fact that spermatia and tetrasporangia are produced along the mature branches of thalli of these reproductive stages. Thus, thalli with more first-degree branches would tend to have a reduced production of reproductive cells. In contrast, carpogonia are produced near the tips of first-degreebranches, so having more first-degree branches would result in a greater potential for reproductive production. The angle of branching was somewhat different between reproductive stages, with females having greater angles where second-degree branches meet than males or tetrasporophytes. Female and male gametophytes were twice as wide as tetrasporophytes when comparing segments of comparable length. Thus, gametophyte and sporophyte phases appear to differ in the width of thalli, although this does not appear to be due solely to increased branching angles.


Photo managers and editors recommend educators continue to provide students an education that focuses on writing and storytelling skills, coupled with critical thinking and visual literarcy skills.


Purchasing in the public sector differs in important ways from private sector procurement. Understanding how these differences affect the 'greening' of supply practice is important not just for the public sector itself, but also fir any attempt to develop explanations of how organisations in general make a link between what and how they buy and the impact of such purchasing on the environment. This paper summarises the key ideas in green supply and examines why public procurement has a particular relevance to this issue; analyses the issue of regulation and public accountability in relation to green supply; reviews the use of procurement as a tool for policy and explores the impact of budgeting systems and organisational design. The paper is based on: a review of literature on public procurement, drawn the USA and the UK and case studies of public sector organisations - in local and national government – carried out by the authors as part of a research project on Greening of Supply Chains.


The imagery of "cover, envelop, clothe" in the special sense of "overpower, overwhelm" is well attested in Sumerian and Akkadian literature and has echoes in biblical Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and Talmudic Aramaic. An examination of the relevant passages in Sumerian and Akkadian will illumine the later usages through reference to the historical antecedents of the imagery. I will also deal with the syntactic changes that occurred in certain parallel images in biblical Hebrew when the original image was no longer recognized. I offer this study in grateful memory of our respected teacher whose deep erudition and enthusiasm for comparative philological study enriched all of his students. May his memory ever be for a blessing. The image of "covering like a cloak" in the sense of "overwhelm" occurs often in Sumerian and Akkadian literature, one instance being the Sumerian Eridu Lament, e.g., rU4 te.es.du~l.[ga tUg.gin7 ba.e.dul gada.gin7 ba.e.bur], "the roaring storm covered it like a cloak, spread over it like a sheet." I The king is compared to such a storm; e.g., ur.[sag] tum6.uhl!?gim kur.ra dul.lajur.sag ni.[te .bi uI].iI.gim gur.ra: qarradu sa [p ]u/ublasu Hma ale mali kalm[al], "hero, who overwhelms the enemy land like a storm from the south: hero, whose fearsomeness covers the land like an alu-demon ... 2 Another example is: a.la.\}ul.gal.e.tug.ginx mu.un.dul.la: aW lemnu sa Hma ~ubali ikallamu, "the evil aW-ghost who envelopes [his victim] like a garment. ,,3 Further instances of Akkadian kalamu, "cover," equated with Sumerian dul, with the additional sense of "overpower, overwhelm," are ux.lu lu.[an].dul: aW sa amela ikallam, "the alii-demon which overwhelms a man,,,4 lu.ux(GISGAL).lu pap.\}al.la tug.ginx ba.an.dul: amela mUllallika kfma ~ubali iklalam, "he [the asakku-demon] enveloped the miserable man like a garment,,,5 nig.me.gar.ra tug.ginx ba.an.dul: qUiu kuru Hma ~ubiili iklumsu, "dumbness and dozing have covered him like a garment, .. 6 kalimsuma lesu, "confusion overwhelmed him," 7 aku bel emuqi ikaltam, "the weak


With the vehicle body control system becoming more and more intelligent, the size of the network and the capacity of communication load have increased considerably, the signal transmission delay in network control system of vehicle body has become more and more obvious, which greatly worsens the real-time performance and feasibility of the network. This study designed a reasonable vehicle body CAN network topology by analyzing the communication demand of vehicle body network system. By analyzing the characteristics of the signal transmission in the network control system of vehicle body, we proposed an algorithm called Rate-Monotonic scheduling mechanism suitable for the vehicle body and analyzed the schedulability and real-time performance. Simulation results verify that the real-time performance and feasibility of the networked control system can be guaranteed by applying this method.This design optimizes the networked control system of vehicle body.


Since the 1970s, birth history data have become widely available, thanks notably to the Demographic and Health Surveys program. Despite their wide availability, these data remain under-exploited. Computation, even of simple indicators (fertility rates, total fertility rates, mean age at childbearing) and their standard errors, is not direct with such data, and other types of analysis (fertility differentials, reconstruction of fertility trends et cetera) may also involve reorganization of data sets and statistical modeling that represent a barrier to the use of birth history data. This paper presents a Stata software module (tfr2) that was prepared to analyze birth history data in a user-friendly and flexible way. It is designed to be used primarily with DHS data, but can also be used easily with birth histories from other sources. Three types of analysis are performed by tfr2: (1) the computation of age-specific fertility rates and TFRs, as well as their standard errors, (2) the reconstruction of fertility trends, and (3) the estimation of fertility differentials (rate ratios).The tfr2 module is composed of two parts: (1) a Stata command to transform birth history data into a table of births and exposure (tabexp), and (2) A Poisson regression model to compute fertility rates, fertility trends and fertility differentials from a table of births and exposure (produced by tabexp). Standard errors are also computed by tfr2. One can obtain tfr2 free of charge. It will work with Stata 10 and more recent versions of Stata.


Olive oil fluorescence is related to oil composition. Here it is shown that the natural clustering of different types of commercial Spanish olive oils depends on their fluorescence excitation-emission matrices (EEMs). Fifty-six commercial samples of olive oil (29 virgin olive oils, 20 pure olive oils, and 7 olive-pomace oils) were used. The clustering method was hierarchical agglomerative clustering using the Euclidean distance as a similarity measure and the average linkage. Two spectral ranges were considered (which either contained the fluorescence peak of the chlorophylls or did not), and various methods for preprocessing the fluorescence spectra were compared. The oils were clearly distinguished using the unfolded EEMs measured between lambda(ex) = 300-400 nm and lambda(em) = 400-600 nm. The optimal preprocessing was normalization of the unfolded spectra followed by column autoscaling. Also shown are the advantages of using second-order data (EEMs) instead of first-order data (a single fluorescence spectrum) for each sample.


The curvature ductility factor, which is generally defined as the ratio between the section ultimate (maximum) curvature Φ u and the curvature Φ y at the onset of steel yielding, governs the rotational capacity of the plastic hinges and the moment redistribution, as well as the energy dissipation. The ductile behaviour of a section depends on several parameters, with the ultimate strains and stresses in the concrete and in the reinforcement playing a leading role The concrete behaviour is strongly affected by the stirrup-induced confinement, which increases both the ultimate strain and the ultimate stress attainable by the concrete In the present paper the curvature ductility factor is evaluated for doubly-reinforced rectangular sections, on the basis of the stress-strain model developed by Mander et al (1988 a) for the concrete. The analytical approach takes into account the effects of the confinement on the concrete and also steel hardening The curvature ductility factor is evaluated as a function of the steel ratio for two typical R C. Tectangular sections, with different stirrup spacing (b x b = 60 x 30 cm and 30 x 60 cm) The results show that the stirrup closeness has by far more than linear effects on the ductility factor (Figs 8 and 9) Furthermore, the analytical solution of the problem can be achieved only if a specific approximation is introduced into a parameter (1) which is related to both the secant and the initial moduli of elasticity of the concrete Finally, the ductility factor obtamed with Mander's relationship is generally larger and closer to test results than those obtained with other constitutive laws.


A pot experiment was conducted during 2012–13 at Kanpur for management of Meloidogyne incognita infecting okra (Abelmoschus esculentus Moench). Ten treatments were applied in different combinations of bioagents and oil cakes. Seed treatment with Paecilomyecs lilacinus @ 10 g kg−1 seed alongwith soil application of neem cake @ 100 g pot−1 was most effective in increasing root and shoot length (39.06 and 31.94 cm), fresh and dry weight and reducing number of galls (1467 plant −1), number of female plant−1 (7.0) compared to untreated control. Use of Pseudomonas fluorescens alongwith neem cake was at par with the above treatment in controlling the nematode.


The development,properties of produc ts and technique of high whiteness household china which are well-sold in prese nt market are analyzed and studied.


The Generalized Reduced Gradient (GRG) algorithm available in Excel Solver, and the Constrained Artificial Bee Colony (CABC) algorithm were utilized to optimize the design of plate girder for minimum weight, given the span and grade of the material of the girder. The cross sectional areas of the girder and stiffeners were minimized subject to the provisions of the Code of Practice BS 5950: 2000, as well as the Steel Designers' manual provisions. A typical example in the Steel Designers' manual was used to test the design models (excel spreadsheet model for GRG and a Delphi program for CABC). The results obtained include curves of optimal pairs of web depth and web thickness, web depth and flange thickness, and flange width and flange thickness. A curve was also obtained which for a given web depth, gives the optimal cross sectional dimensions of the girder and the stiffener. Although the results obtained using the GRG and the ABC algorithms were very close, the GRG algorithm was slightly superior, giving a 7.44% reduction in area compared to the initial design.


The African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ACLARS) has come a long way – literally and metaphorically – since its establishment in Ghana in 2013 for an inaugural symposium under the leadership of Professor Kofi Quashigah, then Dean of the Law School at the University of Accra. It subsequently reconvened in South Africa (2014), Namibia (2015), Ethiopia (2016) and Morocco (2017). The proceedings of the Morocco meeting, Religion, Law and Security in Africa, have just been published. The 2018 conference in Nigeria was an ambitious affair. It was preceded by an intensive study programme at Nile University, also in Abuja, hosted by the West African Regional Center for Law and Religion Studies (WARCLARS), under the direction of Professor Akin Ibidapo-Obe, from the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos. The pioneering work of WARCLARS in creating a curriculum for law and religion studies from a uniquely African standpoint was warmly welcomed, and this was presented as part of a separate symposium held at Nile University in the days immediately preceding the ACLARS conference. Religious leaders were well represented, including Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Nigeria, and I was privileged to bring greetings from Anglican Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, Primate of All Nigeria, following a private meeting on the Feast of Pentecost. While the focus of the various contributions was on the position within the wide and diverse continent of Africa, there were a number of high-level international contributions, particularly the keynote speech of Jan Figel, EU Special Envoy for the Promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief outside the European Union. The Nigerian judiciary was similarly well represented, with papers delivered by several justices of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals and the Federal High Court.


New Schur stability checking method of the polynomial matrices whose coefficient matrix are interval matrices is presented in this paper. In the suggested method, the interval Markov matrices of the interval polynomial matrix are used to assess its stability. The validity of the suggested methods is illustrated through numerical examples. The main contribution of the suggested method is that it is algebraically simple and requires light computational load, but the result is not so conservative. Index Terms Interval polynomial matrix; Schur stability; Markov matrices. I. I NTRODUCTION It is considered a tough problem to examine the stability of discrete interval polynomial matrix. Although the stability problems of the interval matrices and interval polynomials have been well examined in [1], [2], and the Hurwitz stability of the interval polynomial matrix systems has been treated in [3], the Schur stability of the interval polynomial matrix has not been studied completely. In some existing results, the Kharitonov theorem was used by the way of the polynomial matrix's determinant in [4], [5] for continuous-time systems and by [6] for the discrete-time case. Using linear matrix inequalities (LMI), the robust D-stability of interval polynomial matrix was investigated in [7], [8]. However, the huge amount of computation is indispensable in the method of [7], [8]. In this paper, we try to develop a new Schur stability checking method, which is more analytical, simple, and requires less computational amount. Particularly, the Markov matrices of the polynomial matrix are exploited by using the Prepared for submission to IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control as a Technical Note. Corresponding author: Prof. YangQuan Chen, Center for Self-Organizing and Intelligent Systems, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 4160 Old Main Hill, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-4160. T: (435)7970148,F: (435)7973054,W: www.csois.usu.edu


Abstract Objective To revise HIV-1 vertical transmission (VT) rates in the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, from January of 2006 to December of 2014. Methods Descriptive study of a prospective cohort of HIV-1-infected pregnant women and their children, monitored by the Maternal and Child HIV/Aids Research Group of Research Group at Faculty of Medicine of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil. Results The VT general rate was 1.9% (13/673; confidence interval [CI] 95%: 1.0–3.3). The extensive use of combined highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) (89.7%; 583/650) strongly impacted the reduction of VT during this period. Maternal viral load (VL) higher than 1,000 copies/mL showed significant association with VT (OR:6.6; CI 95%:1.3–33.3). Maternal breastfeeding was described in 10 cases in this cohort (1.5%; CI 95%: 0.7–2.7), but it was not associated with VT. Conclusion The present cohort data were coherent with the low VT rate described in other global populations, and it was considerably lower in comparison to the results of the same cohort during the period of 1998–2005, when the VT rate was 6.2%. These data confirm the efficiency of the National Guidelines, and emphasize the importance of adopting the international recommended procedures for prevention of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV.


A method is proposed which makes it possible to reduce the calculation of energy parameters of a many-level chemical HF laser to an equivalent two-level system. This simplifies greatly the fairly time-consuming procedure of the design of an HF laser with a spherical telescopic resonator. Calculations carried out in the geometric-optics approximation for a diffusion-type HF laser with cylindrical and spherical mirrors confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method, which reduces the computer time by a factor 5–10.


Thrombocytopenia is a common clinical problem with many etiological causes. This may result due to decreased platelet production, increased destruction of platelets and differentiation in distribution of platelets. Although transient bone marrow suppression and marrow infiltration by malignancies are important causes, certain non-malignant condition such as infections and drugs are equally important as their treatment is simple and complete recovery is the rule. Detection of the exact etiology is important for specific treatment and prognostication. In this retrospective study, a total of 120 patients with thrombocytopenia from different departments of hospital were included, graded and evaluated for etiology. 66 patients(55%) were female and 54 patients(45%) were male. The patients' age ranged from 6 months to 80 years. 35 cases(29%) showed Grade 1 thrombocytopenia, 17 cases(14%) Grade 2, 24 cases(20%) Grade 3 and 44 cases(37%) had counts less than 25000/cu.mm, i.e Grade 4 thrombocytopenia. Infections, leukemia, and immune thrombocytopenia represented majority of the cases, and the less frequent causes of thrombocytopenia were found to be drugs, chronic liver disease, multiple myeloma and others. The study concludes that thrombocytopenia has a wide spectrum of causes which can be diagnosed by detailed history and peripheral smear examination supported by bone marrow examination and other relevant investigations. The reasons of thrombocytopenia may differ according to geographic distribution and level of health center. In developing countries, high rate of infections was found to be the main reason for thrombocytopenia followed by malignant diseases encountered in a tertiary care hospital.


In many situations it is impossible to obtain a suitable reference signal which is highly correlated with the offending noise source. In such cases feedforward control becomes ineffective and feedback control may indeed be the only alternative. In this paper, experimental results obtained from the feedback control of noise transmission through a double-panel partition are presented to show its effectiveness. The approach makes use of an acoustic secondary source located within the cavity enclosed by the two partitioning panels and driven by the output from an error microphone via a feedback compensator. In the two cases investigated the first deals with the control of a narrow-band low frequency disturbance below the first resonance of the acoustic cavity bounded by the panels. The result shows that global sound attenuation within this cavity leads to global noise reduction inside the receiving room. In the second instance, the control of a higher frequency noise where the sound field between the panels is dominated by more than one cavity mode is attempted. The experimental result shows that noise reduction inside the cavity does not guarantee global sound attenuation inside the receiving room by the singlechannel feedback control.


Adenomatoid odontogenic tumor (AOT) is a benign, relatively rare and distinct odontogenic tumor that is exclusively derived from odontogenic epithelium. Although being odontogenic in origin, the presence of the so‑called "duct‑like structures" is a unique microscopic feature that gives the lesion a glandular, i.e. adenomatoid appearance. AOT affects young individuals mainly in the second decade with a female predominance, occurring most commonly in the anterior maxilla and is usually associated with an impacted canine. Here, we are presenting a rare case report of an AOT in the mandible in relation to 43, 44, and 45 in 30‑year‑old male patient. The tumor was a well‑circumscribed intraosseous lesion without an embedded tooth. Microscopic examination showed the characteristic histological features of AOT along with calcified epithelial odontogenic tumor‑like areas.


Multi-target tracking in a non-overlapping camera network is an active research field, and one of the important problems in it is the person re-identification problem. In this study, the authors propose an approach to improve the performance of the backbone model in the person re-identification. Their approach focuses on training a fusion model with a shallow model and making hard triplets with relationship matrices quickly and efficiently. The proposed approach is simple, but it improves the performance of the backbone. In addition, the hard triplet mining in their process is much faster than the conventional approach. Experimental evaluation shows that the proposed approach can improve the performances of the backbone model. The proposed approach improves rank-1 and mean average precision (mAP) performance by more than 12.54 and 15.44%, respectively, over the backbone models in the Market1501 and DukeMTMC-reID dataset. The approach also achieves competitive performances compared with state-of-the-art approaches.


This research work uses face recognition to unlock door using IOT. This system is used for monitoring whether unknown person is entering into the house. System was established with communication and electronic devices through face detection with the help of Raspberry Pi platform. The face of authorized persons is then stored in database. It checks whether the person is authorized or not. If the person is authorized then the door opens automatically and if not, the authorized person receives a message that someone is trying to intrude. If the authorized person wants to open the door for the unauthorized person it can be done and if authorized person doesn't want to open the door, then the unauthorized person receives a voice message from the authorized person. This automated door lock system can be widely deployed in homes, educational entities etc.


There are great achievements on the study of constitution, which are mainly about: the constitutional amendment; political civilization and the constitutional government; the jurisdiction of the constitution; constitutional supervisor; the constitutional system aboard. Being surveyed, they are well-defined on the study direction, researched more deeply, and discussed on a wide range; besides more theories are connected with the practice.


Metamaterial and metasurface devices (i.e., meta-devices) have shown tremendous potential for disrupting conventional RF and optical components due to their ability to manipulate the propagation of electromagnetic waves in a tailored fashion. These meta-devices are generally synthesized from building blocks known as "meta-atoms" whose properties are engineered to achieve a specific electromagnetic response. In order to maximize the performance of these meta-atoms, numerical optimization techniques are often employed in conjunction with rigorous full-wave electromagnetics solvers due to their complex behaviors and the lack of established design rules. In this presentation, inverse-design strategies based on multi-objective optimization are introduced and used to realize high performance 2.5D and 3D meta-atom building blocks which can be used to synthesize a variety of meta-devices.


We derive the Lorentz transformation of accelerating system by using the properties of quotient function and obtain the famous Mφller transformation on its basis.


Background. Three metabolic pathways that can function simultaneously are known to be involved in ethanol oxidation in the liver: alcohol dehydrogenase pathway, microsomal ethanol-oxidizing system, and catalase pathway. Though the cytochrome P450-dependent microsomal ethanol-oxidizing system plays an insignificant role in metabolism of small amounts of ethanol, it is induced in case of ethanol excess and becomes essential when ethanol is abused. The main components of this system are cytochrome P450 (CYP) isoforms of smooth endoplasmic reticulum. Objective. To characterize the role of the key isoforms of cytochrome P450 in ethanol oxidation. Material and methods. We carried out an analysis of modern literature data on the role of the main isoforms of cytochrome P450 in liver metabolism of ethanol. Results. Data on the primary role of cytochrome CYP2E1 in ethanol metabolism, as well as on the contribution of isoforms CYP1A2, CYP2B1/2, CYP2C, CYP3A4, CYP4B1 to ethanol oxidation are presented. Conclusions. Ethanol is metabolized by many CYPs of endoplasmic reticulum of hepatocytes. The importance of CYP in biotransformation processes in the liver necessitates the study of the role of individual CYP isoforms in ethanol metabolism for predicting changes in the pharmacokinetics of drugs and metabolism of endogenous compounds under the influence of ethanol.


"Fertility is a team sport," said Dr. Eisenberg, a urologist and the head of male reproductive medicine and surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. A seemingly obvious statement, yet one that could not ring truer. It is universally known that for an embryo to be created, an egg and sperm are required to enable the process. Many assume it is a woman's lack of fertility that prevents her from becoming pregnant. This may be true; however, she is not the sole reason for a couple's infertility. In reality, paternal age is also extremely important in the conception of a healthy child. It was estimated that forty percent of infertility cases are either fully or partially reliant on the male [1]. In addition to environmental factors and teratogens, elements which can disturb the development of an embryo or fetus, the age of the mother and the age of the father affect gamete health. The older the couple, the harder it is to conceive. Along with a mother's advancing age comes health risks to her and her baby, such as gestational diabetes. This same risk is evident with men as well. A male's sperm count and mobility decline with age, thus making it harder for spermatozoa to reach the egg and to fertilize it. Not only do male and female age contribute to the difficulty of a woman becoming pregnant, but a child born from aged eggs and sperm are at a higher health risk proportionate to the age of the parents at the time of conception.


study was conducted to study the prevalence of Fowl adenovirus infections in broilers and Kadaknath birds in Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh during July 2016- March 2017. Overall 2.78% mortality was recorded at 30 broiler farms. Total
 mortality recorded at Kadaknath farms was 6.84%. Age-wise highest mortality in broiler farms was recorded at 3rd week of age and highest mortality was recorded at 1st week and 3rd week of age respectively at Mhow and Jhabua kadaknath farms.
 Disease-wise highest mortality in broilers was recorded due to IBH-HPS (1.6%) followed by colibacillosis. At Kadaknath farm Mhow and Jhabua maximum mortality was recorded due to yolksac infection (2.83%) and coccidiosis (1.90%) respectively.


Rosa damascena Mill. (Rosaceae) commonly known as Damask rose is widely grown in Kashan and Tabriz of Iran which has different therapeutic indications among Iranian traditional medicine practitioners. R. damascena is a rich source of phenolic compounds responsible for its medicinal properties. The objective of this study was to quantify the phenolic compounds present in R. damascena samples. The analytical separation and determination of phenolic compounds were performed using reversed phase HPLC with UV detector. Based on the results obtained throughout this study total phenolic and total flavonoid contents of sample from Tabriz (217.728 ± 0.13 and 22.8 ± 0.18 mg CE/g, respectively) were significantly higher than Kashan (134.568 ± 0.11 and 15.84 ± 0.23 mg CE/g respectively). Also phenolic compounds including gallic acid, syringic acid and quercetin were detected in both samples. The most abundant phenolic compound was gallic acid with amounts of 118.213 mg/g in Tabriz and 86.562 mg/g in Kashan samples (p < 0.05) but there was not any significant difference between two samples in the case of quercetin and syringic acid. The present study represents differences in total phenolics and gallic acid between two studied samples which might be implicated in different antioxidant activity and therapeutic applications of R. damascena from Tabriz and Kashan.


To increase the power density of voltage source converters (VSC) usually use parallel structures. However, parallel VSC will easily introduce circulating current, which can cause a power efficiency decline. This paper gives a review of the circulating current and the solutions of it. Through the analysis of the principle of circulating current generation and the detail of the solutions, this paper gives an overview of the current research stage of circulating current. The technology can be divided into hardware solutions and software solutions are then analyzed and evaluated.


We present SpeakUp, a novel way to cast a ballot remotely, using a personal computer connected to the Internet. SpeakUp is resistant to potential malware installed on the voter's machine, addresses voter authentication, and offers some degree of protection against massive coercion. The main idea is that voters are required to read out loud a short text that is associated with the candidate for whom they wish to vote. The voting server identifies the voter by the characteristics of their voice and identifies which text was read. The text, along with the voter's voice, is publicly posted on a bulletin board, and may serve as a receipt for a universally verifiable method of tallying. SpeakUp is based on the biometric characteristics of the voter's voice. Speaker verification is used to authenticate the voters. Similar to voice biometrics, it is assumed that it is difficult for computers to spoof the voter's voice.


There is a pervading speech today, tending to put the blame on North African immigration for the present difficulties in France. Without going into details, let us underline that the problem which the land of welcome has to cope with, also has repercussions and consequences for the immigrant society. Starting from the Kabyle example, we can disclose the hidden face of an emigration, accepted without despair and sometimes with humour. This exile can be said to be culturized by men and women who are inspired by a civilisation of the word. This justifies the fact that oral literature is given a great importance in this article


The growth in the number of vehicles in Indonesia has always increased from year to year. Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency, it shows that from 2018 to 2020 there has been an increase of around 5.62% (2018-2019) and 1.89% (2019-2020). This condition causes the condition of parking lots in every public facility to always be a concern considering the lack of availability of parking spaces accompanied by an increase in the number of vehicles. This causes, in some places, especially for areas such as malls, the parking area is always filled with vehicles. Finally, it caused several visitors to experience difficulties in parking the vehicle. In this study, developing an automatic parking system by detecting, tracking and counting vehicles in real time. The proposed detection system is based on YOLO and to carry out vehicle calculations using calculations by checking vehicles that have crossed a predetermined center line. The system performance results show that the detection results show performance with an accuracy percentage of 85% and the results of counting or object calculations with an accuracy of 77.55%.


Marcos Novak transLAB ̧Twenty three years ago, in 1988, I submitted my first paper to ACADIA. Entitled "Computational Composition in Architecture," it was a pointed critique of the state of computer-aided architectural design (CAAD) at the time. This paper proposed a then radical alternative approach, suggesting that architects needed to use computation in ways that engaged the genuinely architectonic and poetic, the very heart of Architecture, and not the periphery of mere building. To do this they needed to learn as much from artists and composers as from physicists and mathematicians, but, most of all, they needed to remember the distinction between Architecture and mere building, and apply the new tools to genuinely new architectonic possibilities, just as avant-garde composers like Xenakis had done for music. While the tone was certainly civil and constructive, the criticism was quite firm, and I expected that the reviewers would find the content too contentious and would probably not even accept the paper. No one was more surprised than I to learn that it was selected as the keynote paper for that year's conference.


The AAA client generates accounting data, transmits an accounting data transmission request message to the AAA server, and then receives a response message to the accounting data transmission request message from the AAA server. If receiving a transmission failure response message for the accounting data from the AAA server, the AAA client stores accounting data generated after receiving the transmission failure response message, and if an amount of the stored accounting data is increased to a certain limit, the AAA client sets an identifier for a batch accounting application in the accounting data and transmits an accounting data transmission request message, including stored batch accounting data and the session information, to the AAA server. The AAA server confirms the identifier and the transmission request message and searches the accounting record for session information mapped to the session information included in the ACR message.


Abstract : Survivability of an aircraft in combat is achieved by not getting hit, or withstanding the effects of any suffered hits. To assess the latter aspect of survivability of a given military aircraft, live-fire tests are performed on its wings. However, these tests may fail to provide accurate and complete vulnerability assessments, because the static and quasi-static ground loading techniques they currently rely on do not replicate the loads encountered during flight, and do not account for changes in structural stiffness and mass after damage infliction. Furthermore, current live-fire tests do not address the damage-induced changes to the flight mechanics and aeroelastic stability of an aircraft; these changes can lead to the abortive impairment of the ability of this aircraft to accomplish its designated mission, or cause its premature failure. For these reasons, the present AFOSR Grant F49620-03-1-0052, entitled "Methodologies for Predicting and Testing the Effects of Combat Damage on Flight Envelopes," focuses on developing a numerical simulation technology for predicting the consequences of battle damage on the flight and flutter envelopes of fighters, assessing the impact of several contributors to aircraft survivability, and assisting in the development of new dynamic live-fire ground testing methodologies that may remedy the shortcomings of current static ground-testing techniques.


Poverty is a contaminated and dangerous disease which is spread in every socio – economic zone in India. Poverty is mostly rampant in rural as well as in urban areas. Rapid urbanization is the main culprit of creating poverty. The Indian governments have come up with many strategies in eradicating this dangerous disease. One of the strategies created is to attain hundered percent fiancial inclusion. One of the step to acheive financial inclusion is the formation of Self Help Groups. Self Help group Bank Linkage Program is sponsored by NABARD (National Bank of Agriculture and Rural development). It is a successful model striving towards upliftment of poor. Individuals with homogenous social and economic backgrounds voluntarily join together and form a group. They mutually agree to contribute to a common fund and float a small business. These people who pool their resources save small sums of money. They convert their savings into a common fund known as the group Corpus to be used through a common management scheme. The formation of SHGs have benefited its members in numerous ways, not only by eradicating poverty but also empowering the women folk.


Concrete cylinders tested in compression often have irregularities on one or both ends. Therefore, some type of end preparation is necessary. This paper compares the static modulus of elasticity data of 24 pairs of cylinders capped with neoprene pads in steel end caps to an equal number of pairs of cylinders capped with traditional sulfur mortar. The cylinders tested were at design strength levels of 14, 28, and 41 MPa. Several modulus prediction equations were examined as well. Neoprene capping had similar results to sulfur capping in regard to modulus of elasticity, and no practical significance is thought to exist.


Background:
 Sudden in-hospital hemodynamic instability (HI) due to cardiovascular and/or cardiorespiratory distress is a common occurrence. Causes can include hemorrhage, sepsis, pneumonia, heart failure, and others. Due to the body's compensatory mechanisms, heart and respiratory rate, and blood pressure can be late indicators of HI. When detected late or left unrecognized HI can lead to complications and even death. Heart rate variability (HRV) has been demonstrated to reflect the status of the autonomic nervous system with changes in HRV linked to HI. However, to date, HRV has not demonstrated sufficient accuracies in adults to warrant widespread adoption. We have developed a novel nonlinear single lead ECG HRV analytic based on signal processing and machine learning features specific to HI physiology.

 Objective:
 Validate the capability, accuracy, and lead times of the HRV analytic to predict HI in hospitalized patients who were subjects of Rapid Response Team (RRT) activations.

 Methods:
 We retrospectively analyzed 4483 hours of ECG data from 22 RRT patient cases (16 male, 6 female) using the previously developed HRV analytic. A multi-clinician review adjudicated the occurrence of HI and need for intervention. The prediction lead time prior to the RRT call was calculated for these cases.

 Results:
 Of the 22 RRT cases, 13 calls were due to HI requiring a range of life-saving interventions, and 9 RRT cases for reasons not associated with HI and requiring no life-saving interventions. The analytic correctly distinguished between HI vs. non-HI RRT calls with 100% accuracy thus displaying 100% positive and negative predictive values. In the HI cases, the analytic detected HI with a median lead time of 7.7 hours prior to the RRT call with a range of 14 minutes to 38.4 hours.

 Conclusion:
 In this RRT cohort, a novel HRV analytic developed through machine learning based on HI physiology demonstrated its potential to forecast HI well before vital signs and other factors led to RRT activation resulting in life-saving interventions. These substantial lead times, as well as the ability to distinguish HI from non-HI RRT calls, may lead to the ability to reduce HI and improve outcomes while reducing unnecessary RRT activations.


Renal artery pseudoaneurysm is a rare complication following renal interventional procedures or, although it may be spontaneous as described in this case. Clinicians should have a low threshold for early computer tomography (CT) imaging in cases of diagnostic uncertainty.


Molecular simulations were performed to simulate the transport process of biomolecules in parallel-plate nanofluidic channels based on GROMACS program package. Models were built with a series of simplifications and assumptions and simulated the process in the 3.1 nm high channel.Then the simulation results were discussed,such as the RMSD(root mean square deviations),density distribution of water molecules,and concentration distribution of the ions.The following conclusions were drawn:near the channel wall,water molecules delaminate and form compact layers with a density high up to 2 500 kg/m3 while the distribution is smooth in the middle area.The protein molecules pass through the channel along the electric field direction accompanying with rotations and translations due to the function of ions and electric field.The main reason for the charge inversion phenomenon is the electrostatic effect of the channel wall on the ions after comparing the ion distributions under charged and uncharged surfaces.


This study examines trends of web query types and topics submitted to NAVER during one year period by analyzing query logs and click logs. There was a seasonal difference in the distribution of query types. Query type distribution was also different between weekdays and weekends, and between different days of the week. The log data show seasonal changes in terms of the topics of queries. Search topics seem to change between weekdays and weekends, and between different days of the week. However, there was little change in overall patterns of search behavior across one year. The implications for system designers and web content providers are discussed.


This document considers two different approaches dealing with secure location claims. The first protocol is called ECHO [1] and handles with the secure verification of a location via ultra-sound. The second procedure increases the robustness of location determination protocols like RADAR [2]. Those are using standard IEEE 802.11 equipment. The document gives an introduction, overview, analysis and potential directions of both protocols. It focuses mainly on the security advantages or flaws.


I would like to begin by thanking the editors of Statistics in Medicine for providing this forum to discuss my recent review of propensity-score matching in the medical literature. I would also like to thank Drs Hansen, Hill, and Stuart for their discussion of issues raised by my article and of other issues related to propensity-score matching in general. Hopefully, this focus on propensity-score matching will lead to improved practice in applied research and to the identification of areas of future research. My response to the discussants' comments is structured as follows: First, I will discuss issues concerning the comparison of balance between treated and untreated subjects in the propensity-score matched sample. Second, I will address issues relating to estimating the treatment effect and its statistical significance. In my initial review [1], I described the need to assess the degree to which matching on the estimated propensity score resulted in a matched sample in which measured baseline covariates had a similar distribution (were balanced) between treated and untreated subjects. This allows one to assess whether matching on the propensity score has reduced or eliminated observed systematic differences between treated and untreated subjects. Matching on the true propensity score eliminates systematic differences between treated and untreated subjects. However, in nonrandomized settings, the true propensity score is not known and must be estimated using the data. Balance tests can function as a test that the propensity-score model has been specified correctly. In my review, I asserted that the use of significance testing is inappropriate for assessing balance, as the resultant p-values are confounded with sample size. The matched sample is invariably smaller than the initial sample. This can result in the appearance of better balance in the matched sample solely due to the lower statistical power to detect imbalance. Both Drs Hill and Stuart concur with this proscription against the use of significance testing. Furthermore, both Drs Hill and Stuart suggest that rather than only examining means of continuous variables between treated and untreated subjects, applied researchers also examine balance in squared terms and interactions. Examining the variances of baseline variables between treated and untreated subjects can complement the comparison of means. In practice, examining all interactions between baseline variables could prove cumbersome. Further research is required into what constitutes acceptable balance in measured covariates between treated and untreated subjects in the matched sample. Currently, there are two options when researchers are faced with imbalance in the propensity-score matched sample. Researchers can modify the propensity-score model by including additional variables, higher order terms, or interactions. Alternatively, researchers can change the caliper width used in matching. By using a narrower caliper for matching, researchers may be able to achieve better balance in the matched sample. Arguably, each of these approaches could result in improved balance in the matched sample. The relative advantage of each approach requires further examination. Furthermore, there is a paucity of research into the relative strengths of different methods used in the medical literature for forming matched pairs. In a recent study, I have compared, both


Collaboration is a crucial skill for the improvement of educational outcomes in adolescents. Culture affects the way people collaborate to solve problems, share challenges, and make decisions. Yet, there are only a few studies conducted in the African context that investigate local understandings of the concept of collaboration. This article aimed at investigating the concept of collaboration in the East African context and how this resonates with the local culture. The approach used to develop this study is the qualitative comparative method. One of the most relevant results from these analyses is working together or staying together as frequently used definitions of collaboration. The local definition of collaboration underscores a dimension related to being with another person; for the East African population, collaboration can be described as a way of living and facing reality in a community while being accompanied by others.


Microalgae technology can play important roles in wastewater management, carbon dioxide fixation and production of biofuel feedstock if managed properly. However, harvesting microalgae biomass from treated wastewater remains costly, troublesome, energy-intensive and has been the main culprit that hinders full-scale application of microalgae technology. Another option is by aiming non-fuel end-product, such as for aquaculture feed.


Poor Law History The early poor laws were, at least partly, police measures designed to prevent insurrection and lawlessness. The drift of large numbers of men to London in search of work or alms made the City Corporation the first secular authority in England to organize public relief of the poor. In 1532 the Court of Aldermen decreed and arranged voluntary collections at church doors. These proved inadequate and in 1547 the Common Council of the City levied the first compulsory taxation on its inhabitants to provide money for the poor. A Statute had been passed by Parliament in 1535 urging local relief of the poor by locally raised voluntary funds. Here was the first seed of national poor law. The abolition and closure of religious institutions by Henry VIII between 1536 and 1539 reduced the number of places of refuge for the poor and eliminated church funds hitherto available for their relief. In 1552 an Act placed the onus of relieving the poor on parish councils. A plea by the City of London in 1544 to Henry VIII led to the refounding of St Bartholomew's Hospital, one of the suppressed religious institutions, to provide for the accumulating sick and disabled poor in the City. Eight years later the Corporation successfully negotiated with King Edward VI for the purchase of St Thomas's Hospital, which was thus refounded under municipal management. These institutions and the few in the provinces could only provide for a very small proportion of the sick poor. Those who could not avail themselves of hospital facilities, sought help from whom they could. In 1572 a House of Lords Bill codifying poor laws enacted in its provisions the creation of 'Overseers of the Poor'. The historic importance of records maintained by these officials justifies the starting date of this review. They were appointed by mayors and justices to collect from the local inhabitants what now became a compulsory weekly poor rate, and to disburse the money to those they recognized as needy. The Poor Law Act of 1597 provided the first complete code of poor relief and this was to subsist with only minor subsequent amendments for the next 240 years.


Abstract In petals of Silene alba plants of Armenian populations, vitexin 2″-O-xyloside was demonstrated to be present. The enzyme, catalyzing the transfer of the xylose moiety of UDP-xylose to vitexin, has its optimal activity at pH 7.8. Mg2+ and Mn2+ stimulated the reaction. The Km values were 2 × 10-5 M for vitexin and 3 × 10-5 M for UDP-xylose.


The purpose of this study is to find out the distribution of underground biomass and its soil stabilizing effects. Bamboo and grass were examined and compared. 1. Thirty 'soil & root' samples were collected to the depth of 30cm with Impact-corer, and then divided into three sections(0-10cm, 10-20cm, 20-30cm). Each piece had a volume of and the underground biomass was separated from the soil particles by washing with flowing water. The average underground biomass rates of bamboo and grass were 10.8% and 4% of each sample, respectively. The rate of grass root biomass declined with depth, but the bamboo root biomass was at peak at around 20cm depth. 2. The shear strength was measured with con-penetration tester at each sample collecting site. Three measurements were made at each depth(0-10cm, 10-20cm, 20-30cm) and were compared with the impact counts needed to insert the corer to the depth of 30cm. The shear strength has clear correlations with underground biomass. The more underground biomass, the higher shear strength. The shear strength of bamboo was about three times larger than the grass.


Natural killer/T cell lymphoma (NKTCL) is a rare lymphoma subtype of peripheral T/NK-cell lymphoma with highly aggressive behavior and poor prognosis. Moreover, it exhibits a predilection for the nasal cavity and upper aerodigestive tract (UAT), which is often mistaken for reactive disease processes, such as chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Notably, gut microbiota represents a promising non-invasive diagnostic biomarker for a broad suit of diseases. However, the signatures of gut microflora in NKTCL patients have never been reported


The deep inelastic collisions produced at HERA provide and ideal environment to search for new particles and physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) and three such analyses performed by the H1 experiment are presented here. A search for bosonic stop decays in R‐parity violating SUSY finds no significant deviation from the Standard Model (SM) and sets competitive limits, excluding the existence of stop quarks at 95% CL with masses up to 275 GeV for a Yukawa coupling λ′ of electromagnetic strength. Secondly, a search for light gravitinos in events with photons and missing transverse momentum sets the first constraints from HERA on SUSY models independent of the squark sector, ruling out neutralino masses up to 112 GeV at 95% CL for λ′ = 1. Finally, a model independent general search for new phenomena finds good agreement between the H1 data and the SM, the most significant deviation found being a previously reported observation.


Purpose. Improving the efficiency of abrasive water jet cutting by choosing rational process parameters and abrasive material.
Methods. Full-scale tests within the program of a full-factor experiment on cutting a high-pressure barrel into building structures, statistical data processing.
Findings. Experimental data on the time of the high-pressure cutting barrel into building structures made of various materials have been obtained.
Application field of research. The research results can be used by fire rescue units in emergency response.


The paper introduces dynamic simulation design applied in Independent-Multi cycle refrigerator,the design provides dynamic thermodynamic parameter of refrigerator,and that optimize design by used the parameter,provides a way for saving-energy and cost control,also provides guarantee of product quality control.


Abstract Cryptogenic organising pneumonia (COP) is a rare interstitial lung disease with different onset of symptoms, which responds rapidly to glucocorticoid treatment. We present a case of COP which manifested as progressive 3-year dyspnoea that has led ultimately to acute respiratory failure. Moreover, treatment with prednisone for this patient exhibits slow onset of the effect.


Virtual Reality (VR) games resurfaces once again as plausible products due to the maturing of computing technologies. However, this technology is still prohibitive in terms of costs, since most devices are more expensive than gaming consoles. Several initiatives attempt to offer minimally viable head-mounted displays (HMDs) at low costs. These consist of goggles endowed with lenses specially designed to be attached to an adjustable helmet. In this work, we investigate about low-cost VR games in a pursuit to unveil elements useful for the construction of cost-effective, but compelling titles. We carried out two sets of evaluations with volunteers by adopting focal group interviews. Representative VR applications were run on a modest Android smartphone model and experimented through a low-cost HMD to determine both key aspects of the user experience and design solutions applicable for assuring the quality of VR games built on top of this platform.


This article argues that Azerbaijan did not display a backlash against the 'colour revolutions' in the post-Soviet space because the primary threat to the regime came from within, and not from below. Thanks to the overlap of power and property in Azerbaijan, the ruling elite's revenues from oil resources, and the failure of international actors to support the opposition, civil society did not pose a major challenge to the regime's dominance during the 'revolutionary' period in the mid-2000s. However, there was a risk that the regime could fragment due to factional in-fighting. President Heydar Aliyev had laboured to consolidate power throughout the 1990s after years of turmoil, and, although Azerbaijan was stable by 2003, his passing did not guarantee a smooth transition. Instead, his successor – his son, Ilham – had to carefully manage rival factions to maintain the political status quo. The article argues that scholars of post-Soviet politics, though usually drawn to formal political opposition as a source of potential change, should also pay attention to the divisions among those in power, and not take a unitary state for granted.


Based on the $\gamma$-ray data of blazars in the third EGRET catalog and radio data at 5 GHz, we studied the correlation between the radio and $\gamma$-ray luminosities using two statistical methods. The first method was the partial correlation analysis method, which indicates that there exist correlations between the radio and $\gamma$-ray luminosities in both high and low states as well as in the average case.
The second method involved a comparison of expected $\gamma$-ray luminosity distribution with the observed data using the Kolmogorov--
Smirnov (KS) test. In the second method, we assumed that there is a correlation between the radio and $\gamma$-ray luminosities and that the $\gamma$-ray luminosity function is proportional to the radio luminosity function. The KS test indicates that the expected gamma-ray luminosity distributions are consistent with the observed data in a reasonable parameter range. Finally, we used different $\gamma$-ray luminosity functions to estimate the possible 'observed'
$\gamma$-ray luminosity distributions by GLAST.


The present invention relates to an inductive power transfer unit, the inductive power transfer unit (1) comprising at least one winding structure (2) and at least one magnetic flux guide means, the inductive power transfer unit (1) comprising at least one antenna. Further comprising an element (10), at least part of the at least one magnetic flux guide means is part of the antenna element (10). The invention further relates to a system and method of communication for inductive power transfer. [Selection] Figure 1


This paper describes an alternative programming system which can be constructed with minimal mechanical and electronic knowledge in an environment such as the FabLab. This system, dubbed GameBlocks, makes use of Tangible User Interfaces to control the movements of a motorised toy robot. No prior programming experience is required to use the system and no reading and writing abilities are necessary either. Such a system is possible because the user interface makes use of icons only and consists of three-dimensional objects that are manipulated in 'constructing' the required code sequence for controlling the robot. An overview of the system components, the design concepts, and experiences in creating the first prototype in the FabLab is provided. The paper concludes with a short description of our subsequent prototypes, highlighting the features we manipulated to incorporate the learning gained from the first prototype.


On the bases of the effect mechanisms of emulsified asphalt on cement mortar,the formation of the strength of hot-mix asphalt mixture and emulsified asphalt mixture,the formation mechanism of the strength of emulsified asphalt cement pavement concrete(EACPC)is disscussed,strength of EACPC mainly results from the "solid-framework" structure made from cement particles and emulsified asphalt particles,the influences of W/C on EACPC is emphasized,the causes of good durability of EACPC is summarized and EACPC has good engineering utility effects.


Perhaps information depends upon patterns rather than binary values. The definition of information given here is that it is that of opposites. This is justified by the use of curves (functions) and basic calculus (continuity). An essential formulae denoting a structure is given. It is very similar to the fundamental equation of dualities in black holes expounded in previous papers. There may not be a more absolute opposite than that of zero and infinity. Taking the inverse of each gives the other so the polarity should be obvious. But what is in the middle? Patterns! There is not anything particularly new in this paper but the main point is to assert that information should be defined as the opposite implicit criteria.


EXISTING LAND USE FORECASTING TECHNIQUES WERE REVIEWED PRIOR TO DEVELOPMENT OF A MATHEMATICAL MODEL FOR ESTIMATING FUTURE DISTRIBUTIONS OF POPULATION, LAND USE AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY FOR THE BOSTON REGIONAL PLANNING PROJECT. A NUMBER OF RELATIONSHIPS DERIVED WITH RESPECT TO THE REVIEWED TECHNIQUES SHOW STRONG EVIDENCE OF GENERAL APPLICABILITY. THESE INCLUDE THE DEPENDENCE OF RENTS AND TRANSPORTATION COSTS ON RESIDENTIAL LOCATIONAL DECISIONS, THE TENDENCY OF RETAIL GROWTH TO FOLLOW FAIRLY CLOSELY BEHIND RESIDENTIAL GROWTH, AND IN GENERAL, THE EFFECTS ON VARIOUS LAND-USE CATEGORIES OF ACCESSIBILITIES TO OTHER LAND-USE CATEGORIES. A NUMBER OF THE CONCEPTS NOTED IN THE REVIEWED TECHNIQUES ARE RECOMMENDED FOR STUDY AND POSSIBLE INCLUSION IN THE MATHEMATICAL MODELS DEVELOPMENT.


The article deals with the creation of a generalized mathematical model of inclinometer that allows more fully than any known prior mathematical model to study its properties under actual operating conditions. The mathematical model of inclinometer considered non-identical electrical parameters of the primary sensors. Mathematical model of a linear single-axis accelerometer is also built, which is part of the inclinometer.


A design approach using pole placement techniques for a class of large flexible space structures is developed. The numerical problems of the pole placement algorithm when used on large-dimensional systems having extremely low-frequency eigenvalues are examined. It is shown that these numerical difficulties may be overcome by properly selecting the sensor/actuator locations and introducing a frequency scaling scheme. The concepts presented are illustrated by computer simulations of the linear feedback control design for a representative large spacecraft consisting of a small rigid core with 10 radial booms (five booms lo00 ft long and five shorter booms 700 ft long) lying in a plane.


This paper presents the modelling and analysis of graphene based monopole antennas for Terahertz (THz) Band communications in micro-networks. Graphene is used as a conductor for radiating patch and ground in monopole antenna structures. Polyimide of thickness 143 µm is used as substrate with relative permittivity of 3.5. Two types of antennas were modelled; one is narrowband resonating at 0.1 THz and the other is wideband operating in 0.030-0.117 THz band. The second antenna has broader impedance bandwidth (>10%) in the band of operation.


The article is devoted to modern composite materials. The article contains the information about various technologies of the production of mechanical and thermal processing of composite materials.


This project is a phase vocoder implementation that uses multiple, synchronized visual displays to clarify aspects of the involved signal processing techniques. The program can do standard phase vocoder operations such as time-stretching and pitch-shifting which are based on an analysis and resynthesis method using Short-Term Fourier Transform. Conventional 2D displays of digital audio including spectrograms, waveform displays and various frequency domain representations are involved as well as novel 3-D visualizations of frequency domain are adopted to aid users who begin to learn digital signal processing and phase vocoder. This application is intend to serve as an open-source educational tool in the near future.


Many current documents include multimedia consisting of text, images and embedded videos. This paper presents a general method that uses Random Forests to automatically extract keyphrases that can be used as very short summaries and to help in retrieval, classification and clustering processes.


(57) Abstract: The present invention, to drugs prepared suitable for oral administration for the treatment or prevention of schizophrenia symptoms, orally active, long acting properties CNS- permeable NK-1 receptor antagonist the use of drugs, provides a therapeutic method and pharmaceutical composition comprising NK-1 receptor antagonist using the NK-1 receptor antagonist.


A method for making payments, in which standardized, identical electronic devices capable of connecting to a control device with a calculator are used as monetary mediums. The transfer of money during a payment can be effected only from one such standardized device to another, thus making it possible to protect said devices from tampering. The required amount is provisionally transferred from a storage device to the temporary issuing memory of the transmitting standardized device, and the receiving standardized device is switched to receive mode. When the two standardized devices come into contact, their identity is verified using a "friend or foe" system and the amount is then transferred from the transmitting standardized device to the receiving device by means of the amount in question being written to the receiving memory of the receiving device. The amount subsequently passes via a taxation element, where a tax is deducted therefrom, to the storage device of the receiving standardized device.


Under the background of accelerating globalization, the advent of the era of knowledge economy, and the concept of sustainable development in the global context , the development of the world economy has become increasingly regionalized. Elements of global resources and the division of rapid changes at different levels, and more and more concentration in the region competitive. In response to this phenomenon, the current academic study of regional economic competitiveness are mostly deployed from the macro point of research, and has achieved many of the conclusions; people also come to realize that these macro research and conclusions, although very necessary, but not sufficient. Micro level to study the regional economic development and competitiveness, at least as important from a macro-level study and, even more important, because the micro-level forms the basis of regional competitiveness at national, provincial, city, etc. From the level of regional economic growth, analyzes the status and role of SMEs in regional economic development and structural adjustment. Regional innovation environment for SMEs were Xitongfenxi, and build a set of regional innovation research environment for SMEs in China. Keywords—Innovation and Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regional Economy, Regional Innovation


Since digital games are becoming more and more diverse and complicated than before, a new typology that represents underlying features of digital games from the players' perspective is needed to be developed as a frame of reference that can be used for future digital game development. Currently, available game typologies are mostly based on either the genre concept or the game producers' perspective. The objective of this study is to identify the attributes of newly emerging digital games by analyzing the personal constructs employed by digital game players in assessing digital games. To explicate these personal constructs, a series of in-depth repertory grid interviews were conducted. The repertory grid technique is an inductive research method designed to elicit underlying personal constructs in the human mind. Twenty-two interviews were conducted using self-selected games as elements. A total of 1,669 statements were produced as a result. After the focus group analysis, four meta categories of attributes surfaced: game state, player structure, physical condition, and game flow, along with 29 dimensions in 12 categories. Out of 29 dimensions, 13 dimensions are new compared to the currently available typologies. The result confirms that the newly emerging digital games have different attributes than the old ones. The dimensions and attributes identified in this study can be used as guidelines in assessing and designing digital games of the future.


Cerebrovascular pathologies including cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) and blood‐brain barrier (BBB) dysregulation are prominent features in the majority of Alzheimer's disease (AD) cases.


This paper describes the design and laboratory testing of novel generation apparatus for supplying an isolated DC load from a self-excited induction generator operable at variable speed. The variable-speed generating apparatus consists of a self-excited induction machine, a controlled Graetz bridge rectifier, a voltage-boost power converter, and a control system. The induction generator supplies the rectifier. The voltage-boost power converter interfaces the variable output voltage of the rectifier to the fixed DC voltage required for the load. The rectifier is operated at levels of average DC current and voltage which control machine voltage to the rated AC voltage and which also draw the necessary power to supply the DC load. Performance is enhanced with respect to earlier apparatus in that both the DC voltage supplied to the load and the AC voltage on the machine are simultaneously controlled to fixed reference levels over broad operating ranges of load and speed. >


Results are presented which contradict previous reports that in the graminaceous genus Puccinellia the root-shoot junction has a high diffusive resistance which severely restricts oxygen transfer from shoot to root. No such restriction was evident in P. maritima, P. festuciformis var. festuciformis, and P. festuciformis var. intermedia (= P. peisonis) and the plants produced well-developed root systems in permanently flooded soils. The evidence obtained supports the view that, whether the root systems are wholly or only partially submerged by soil flooding the shoot is the major source or entry point for oxygen required by the roots; also, that oxygen passes more readily from shoot to root than it does through the wall cells of the root base. It is pointed out that paraffin oil is an undesirable product to employ as a diffusion barrier in studies of root aeration.


After being extracted from blackberry fruits with the mixture of 1% HCl and 80% ethanol (1:99, V/V), the crude pigment was purified with macroporous adsorption resin, and then dried to powder by different processes. Moreover, we conducted the scale-up production experiment of blackberry pigment under optimized conditions. When blackberry pigment in citric acid- Na2HPO 3 system at pH 3.00 was adsorbed by resin LS-300B for 5 h, and then desorbed by 70% ethanol, the best purification was achieved. Compared to vacuum and spray drying processes, freeze drying exhibited the best effect. Results of the scale-up production experiment showed that yield and color value of the blackberry pigment were 0.58% and 45.21, respectively; total anthocyanin content in the blackberry pigment was 12954.987 mg/100 g, and recovery of anthocyanin was 79.47%.


India is a country with an agrarian economy where more than half of the population is involved in agriculture and allied activities. Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about seventy percent of India's population. Of these, rural women cover a wide area. Women in rural India perform a pivotal role both in farm and non-farm activities. They do all the farm work from day to night. But despite all this, they remain deprived in society. They are neglected. They are not given values, wages and dignity despite of their significant contribution in agriculture. In this research article, we have tried to highlight all these aspects and emphasized on numerous challenges that they face in farming. And finally, we have brought out some solutions to overcome those challenges. This study analysed women participation in agricultural production of South 24 parganas, West Bengal, India. In this paper I have tried to discuss the actual role of rural women in agricultural field. This study area maximum no of women laborers is illiterate with no formal educational status which directly informed their participation in agricultural production. Women participation in rural labour markets varies considerably across regions, but invariably women are over represented in unpaid, seasonal and part-time work, and the available evidence suggests that women are often paid less than men for the same work. This paper re-affirms that women make essential contributions to agriculture and rural enterprises across the study area as well as developing world.


Tunable and coherent vacuum ultraviolet radiation is now available over broad regions from 200 to ∼60 nm. It is generated by third harmonic and four‐wave frequency mixing in gases and metal vapors, and is of sufficient intensity for absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. We have recently applied these sources to studies of Xe2, Kr2, and Ar2 produced by supersonic jet expansion. Vibronic spectra of Xe2 and rovibronic spectra of Kr2 and Ar2 arising from transitions between the ground and three lowest (stable) excited states have been recorded at resolving powers of 1 − 5×105. Spectroscopic constants have been derived, potential energy curves computed, and radiative lifetimes measured and compared with theory.


Viability of continued use of antimony oxide is among the topics of broad interest to PVC compound suppliers as well as their end users. Existing and emerging regulatory mandates have continued to drive an industry-wide effort to minimize use of antimony oxide in PVC, while being able to maintain adequate fire performance when formulating the low-smoke compounds for a variety of applications such as construction materials and wire and cable products.


Research has been undertaken to examine the robustness of JPEG2000 when corrupted by transmission bit errors in a satellite data stream. Contemporary and future ultraspectral sounders such as Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI), Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS), and Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES) generate a large volume of three-dimensional data. Hence, compression of ultraspectral sounder data will facilitate data transmission and archiving. There is a need for lossless or near-lossless compression of ultraspectral sounder data to avoid potential retrieval degradation of geophysical parameters due to lossy compression. This paper investigates the simulated error propagation in AIRS ultraspectral sounder data with advanced source and channel coding in a satellite data stream. The source coding is done via JPEG2000, the latest International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Telecommunication Union (ITU) standard for image compression. After JPEG2000 compression the AIRS ultraspectral sounder data is then error correction encoded using a rate 0.954 turbo product code (TPC) for channel error control. Experimental results of error patterns on both channel and source decoding are presented. The error propagation effects are curbed via the block-based protection mechanism in the JPEG2000 codec as well as memory characteristics of the forward error correction (FEC) scheme to contain decoding errors within received blocks. A single nonheader bit error in a source code block tends to contaminate the bits until the end of the source code block before the inverse discrete wavelet transform (IDWT), and those erroneous bits propagate even further after the IDWT. Furthermore, a single header bit error may result in the corruption of almost the entire decompressed granule. JPEG2000 appears vulnerable to bit errors in a noisy channel of satellite transmission, and thus has difficulty to preserve the quality of ultraspectral sounder data. A channel decoded bit error rate (BER) of 10-11 or better may be necessary for a granule error rate of 0.00116 in a compressed ultraspectral sounder data stream that is transmitted in a satellite channel. This work at The Aerospace Corporation and the University of Wisconsin, CIMSS, was under separate contracting from and performed for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), a component of the U.S. Department of Commerce.


Count data in environmental epidemiology or ecology often display substantial over-dispersion, and failing to account for the over-dispersion could result in biased estimates and underestimated standard errors. This study develops a new generalized linear model family to model over-dispersed count data by assuming that the response variable follows the discrete Lindley distribution. The iterative weighted least square is developed to fit the model. Furthermore, asymptotic properties of estimators, the goodness of fit statistics are also derived. Lastly, some simulation studies and empirical data applications are carried out, and the generalized discrete Lindley linear model shows a better performance than the Poisson distribution model.


Abstract:Direct determinations by radioiodinated human serum albumin (RISA) of plasma volume were made in normals, patients with uncomplicated polycythemia vera, and in patients with erythremia associated with chronic lung disease. The results show a moderately severe contraction of plasma volume in both erythremic states, evidently a compensatory consequence of red cell volume expansion. The hematocrit, reflecting both red cell and plasma volumes, may therefore be misleading as to the status of the erythremic condition, and therapeutic maneuvers and responses thereto should be determined on the basis of repeated direct measurements of the red cell volume in erythremia.


Differential equations have been used to describe phenomena in many fields. However, not all of differential equations can be solved in analytic ways so there is some approach being made to solve them numerically. One of the approaches is using Fourier series expansion to approximate solutions of linear and nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The coefficients of Fourier series expansion are estimated by an optimization method using Differential Evolution (DE). In this case, differential evolution will be used to minimize the residual function of the Fourier series that are implemented into the ordinary differential equations. A modification from the original DE is made by putting a simple adaptive scheme into the mutation part of the DE algorithm. The results show good performance of DE in solving various ODEs.


Bologna is an expanding market for the book trade in the second half of the XVI century. The library of the naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605) is one of the most important in the city, both the number of volumes and variety of interests. Relations between Aldrovandi and some leading figures of the Bologna book trade are witnessed by the scientist's handwritten notes, which are kept at the University Library of Bologna. Three large commercial types were identified within which to place the activities of some of these figures. They were examined specific cases: Giovanni Alessi and Jerome Tamburini, as representatives of Bolognese branch of Venetian companies; families Sopranini, Mascheroni, Bernia, example of a well-entrenched dynasties booksellers publishers in the real city; Gaspare Bindoni and Simone Parlasca, not of Bologna, characterized by ambitions and activities, both commercial and editorial. The archive documentation allows the reconstruction of family and professional life of the examined figures, highlighting plots and bonds of a highly endogamous environment. In the text are inserted some family trees, a comparative table with the estimate of capital of books in different Bologna workshops, between 1543 and 1620, and a plant that shows the concentration of booksellers and printers in a particular area of the city, around the monastery St. Prokulus.