Korea's Paleolithic sites are primarily located in riverine environments and the margins of alluvial fans. More than 100 Paleolithic excavations have been conducted in the Korean Peninsula, but the relationship between the locations of these sites and past climate change has received little attention. In this study, we investigated this relationship at a Paleolithic site in Wonju city, Korea, that contained two cultural layers and yielded a total of 336 stone artifacts. The lithological units present at the site indicate that the sedimentary environment changed from a riverine sandy channel to an alluvial plain owing to channel migration at the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4. The alluvial plain sediments deposited during MIS 4–2 are characterized by low sand content (<5%) and two soil wedges. Most Paleolithic artifacts were excavated from the upper soil wedge, deposited during MIS 3 under relatively warm and wet conditions associated with global climatic changes (as indicated by sea level or continental ice volume) and the East Asian summer monsoon. The number of Paleolithic cultural layers increases in late MIS 3 in other regions, suggesting that climate conditions are an essential factor in the development of Paleolithic cultural layers.


Two novel quinoline alkaloid beta-D-mannopyranosides, named dictamnine-7-beta-D-mannopyranoside (1) and 8-methoxydictamnine-7-beta-D-mannopyranoside (2), were isolated from the whole plant of Solidago canadensis. Their structures were identified on the basis of a spectroscopic analysis.


A case of evident bilateral relapsing auricular polychondritis is presented. The literature published on this subject is reviewed and the possibility of oligosymptomatic clinical presentations is considered.


This paper briefly examines the evolution of the jihad doctrine within Sunni jurisprudence. More specifically, the paper analyzes the most recent manifestation of the jihad doctrine by Islamist organizations and jurists, and the considers the question of whether or not this interpretation of jihad warrants protection under the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Through the tests as enumerated in Stevens and Yoder this paper argues that the jihadi Islamist doctrine of self-annihilation is a secular geo-political militant ideology shrouded in religious, specifically Islamic, doctrine that does not rise to the level of First Amendment protection under the Free Exercise clause.


A 58-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital due to shortness of breath. An examination showed that no breath sounds from the left lung were audible. Chest computed tomography revealed a 13-mm mass in the left main bronchus (Picture 1). Bronchoscopy showed left bronchial stenosis with extraluminal compression, suggesting that the tumor had originated from the submucosa (Picture 2A). To resect the tumor, surgery was chosen instead of bronchoscopic treatment. The tumor was completely excised using videoassisted thoracic surgery. The tumor was round, white, and


Quadrotor control is an exciting research area. Despite last years developments, some aspects demand a deeper analysis: How a quadrotor operates in challenging trajectories, how to define trajectory limits, or how changing physical characteristics of the device affects the performance. A visual interface development platform is a valuable tool to support this effort, and one of these tools is briefly described in this Chapter. The quadrotor model uses Newton-Euler equations with Euler angles, and considers the effect of air drag and propellers' speed dynamics, as well as measurement noise and limits for propeller speeds. The tool is able to test any device just by setting a few parameters. A three-dimensional optimal trajectory defined by a set of waypoints and corresponding times, is calculated with the help of a Minimum Snap Trajectory planning algorithm. Small Angle Control, Desired Thrust Vector (DTV) Control and Geometric Tracking Control are the available strategies in the tool for quadrotor attitude and trajectory following control. The control gains are calculated using Particle Swarm Optimization. Root Mean Square (RMS) error and Basin of Attraction are employed for validation. The tool allows to choose the control strategy by visual evaluation on a graphical user interface (GUI), or analyzing the numerical results. The tool is modular and open to other control strategies, and is available in GitHub.


Perhaps the most defining characteristic of modern society is its ever-increasing pace. New technological capabilities, such as computing and telecommunications, are making people more efficient. While these advances increase our standard of living, they also place new demands on our lives and make it all the more important that we maintain the pace of technological change. Of course, we sometimes wonder whether this rate of change will slow down. More specifically, what is the ultimate speed limit in our world? At what point will our computers and communications devices reach fundamental physical limits? And how close is our technology to reaching this ultimate speed limit?


Writing Superheroes: Contemporary Childhood, Popular Culture, and Classroom Literacy. Anne Haas Dyson. New York: Teachers College Press, 1997. 250 pp.


In the current Chinese style music works, most of the tunes originate from folk songs which originate from Chinese dialects. However, these works have always been composed based on western compositional grammar, such as structure, tonality, harmony, etc. My research focuses on the visualization analysis of one of the well-know Chinese piano piece Lan Huahua composed by Wang Lisan to explore the relationship between Chinese dialect elements and Chinese contemporary music practice(composition, performance and hearing) . Firstly, using the software "praat6036" to process the outline frame of the Shanxi(a province of China) dialect which the topic of the piano piece's melody originates from, in order to set forth the creative combination of the folk source and the western techniques. Secondly, I used a software on the online program vmus.net to analysis more than 20 performance versions of Wang Lisan's piano piece Lan Huahua recorded from 1953 to now. Finally, I chose two typical different performances for visualization method analysis, and compared the relationship of the rhythmic elasticity between performance and dialect pronunciation. I found that although most of the performances showed similar timing tendency, there were obvious differences: the differences in speed ratio of fast passage to slow passage; the differences in time ratios of actual performing length of tones to standard length; the differences in time ratios of actual performing length of the tones to corresponding tones of the dialects' tune which the melody originate; etc. These differences of ratios were closely related to performer's age, training background, cultural background, etc. Thirdly, I studied how people's perception of the different performance editions by let students hearing these two performance editions and completed questionnaires about their hearing feeling. The students come from different majors, such as piano, Western orchestral music instruments, Chinese orchestral music instruments, etc. The questionnaire results displayed not only there were very different feelings between different majors, but also there were some unexpected matches between evaluations and majors. This phenomenon may closely related to the way of music training and the contemporary music environment in China.


Other security module used in the other apparatus using, or screen means which is used to pay -TV is subjected to contact should be replaced with the development. To facilitate the replacement of the old version to the new version, the process according to the invention - transmitting by an alternate Fram prompt command including the minimal characteristics of the security module in the new version of the Control Center, the flux data, - and compared with the minimum characteristics defined in the received to identify the characteristics of the security module commands that are used, and - Based on the results of the comparison, to initiate soft Fram cycle by sending an alert appears on the screen, It includes more steps.


ABSTRACT This study compares mental health problems among Social Work students at Spanish and Mexican universities during confinement due to COVID-19. A total of 1,252 undergraduate students completed an online survey, including demographic variables, related to COVID-19, perceived social support and levels of depression, anxiety and stress. Students from Spain, compared to those from Mexico, reported statistically higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. Analyzing the associated risk and protective factors, differences were found between students from Spain and Mexico. Notably, social support was a significant protective factor in both countries during the COVID-19 crisis to improve their mental health levels.


Dietary guidelines for complex carbohydrates/dietary fibre complex carbohydrates and the food label - an FDA perspective dietary fibre properties and health benefits of non-digestible oligosaccharides suggested alternatives to the term complex carbohydrates complex carbohydrates - the science and the label the role of dietary fibre in the prevention of lipid metabolism disorders health benefits of complex carbohydrates worldwide dietary fibre intake -recommendations and actual consumption patterns the chemistry of complex carbohydrates complex carbohydrates - definitions and analysis determination of complex carbohydrate fractions in foods In Vivo techniques to quantify resistant starch a sensitive and reproducible analytical method to measure insulin and oligofructose as dietary fibre - analytical, nutritional and legal aspects determination of insulin and oligofructose in food products ( modified AOAC dietary fibre method) polydextrose as soluble fibre and complex carbohydrate progress in the certification of five new food reference materials by AOAC, Englyst, and Uppsala methods of dietary fibre analysis high performance anion exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAE-PAD) - a powerful tool for the analysis of dietary fibre and complex carbohydrates NIR analysis of dietary fibre definition and analysis of dietary fibre estimation of psyllium content in ready-to-eat cereals food sources and uses of dietary fibre chemical and physical modifications of dietary fibre production of resistant starch effects of processing on dietary fibre in foods application of complex carbohydrates to food product fat mimetics patent literature review on complex carbohydrates as aft mimetics the application of complex carbohydrates to functional food development. Appendices: perspectives on dietary fibre definition total carbohydrates and total dietary fibre content in grain based foods.


INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 296 I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A PRIMER .................................... 300 A. The Difference Between Algorithms and AI .................. 301 B. Historical Context ........................................................... 302 C. Artificial Intelligence Today ........................................... 304 II. CRIMINAL RISK ASSESSMENT ................................................. 307 A. Background ..................................................................... 307 B. AI-enabled Risk Assessment: A Spectrum of Approaches ...................................................................... 311 III. DUE PROCESS AND INFORMATION USED AT SENTENCING ...... 314 A. Accuracy and Admissibility of Information Used at Sentencing .......................................................... 315 B. Secrecy of Information Used at Sentencing .................... 322 C. Scientific Validity ........................................................... 328 D. Consideration of Impermissible Factors.......................... 331 IV. ALGORITHMIC RISK ASSESSMENTS: SOME KEY CASES .......... 333 A. State v. Loomis ................................................................ 333 B. Malenchik v. State ........................................................... 337 C. People v. Younglove ........................................................ 338 V. AI AND CRIMINAL RISK ASSESSMENT: THREE GUIDING PRINCIPLES ............................................................... 339 A. Principle #1: Auditability ................................................ 339 B. Principle #2: Transparency .............................................. 343 C. Principle #3: Consistency ................................................ 347 D. The Three Principles and Due Process ............................ 350 CONCLUSION .................................................................................. 353


In 1910, Horacia Quiroga published El hombre artificial (The Artificial Man), a periodical novel in which three scientists use their different areas of expertise to create a new man. Through these characters, Quiroga develops the Greek myth of Prometheus. Although this myth has been used throughout history in other novels, poems and plays, Quiroga's new myth offers a new glimpse into Prometheus, incorporating culturally varied mythological elements. This novel is an example of mythopoesis, which Harry Slochower defines as a reaction to crisis. However, El hombre articifial is the first novel in which the main characters become the vessels through which Hindi mythological characteristics are added to the Greek myth. This synthesis of myths acts as an example of Carl Jung's collective unconscious.


For solving the interoperability during current certificate validation process of different CAs,the new system DNS-OCSP was proposed by incorporating DNS-style referral,which can construct a unified certificate validation mechanism between different CAs.The architecture of DNS-OCSP was presented,and the workflow of DNS-OCSP was illuminated.It has been shown that the DNS-OCSP is more accessible and scalable.


This research assesses impacts of climate change in agriculture and livelihood at Sirdibas village, Gorkha district. Apart from the review of literature, analysis of climatic and socioeconomic data, field data were collected using some selected participatory tools techniques and household survey. The analysis revealed an increased trend on mean annual temperature at the rate of 0.05°C/year while annual mean rainfall is increasing at the rate of 0.995 mm/year while the winter rainfall was in decreasing trend. Increased dry spell and rise in temperature have reduced cropping period both for summer and winter crops. An increased productivity of maize, wheat and millet over years has shown a decreasing trend in the recent years, due to intense off season rainfall followed by water logging. Shifting of farming communities to other businesses also decreased crop yield. Out-migrations have caused decreased crop yield. Along with climate change impacts change, government policy and shifting peoples' livelihood options have impacted agriculture.


I n addition to trisomy 21 (mongolism or Down's syndrome) with its rather typical manifestations, two less common autosoma1 trisomic syndromes are now recognized. These two involve trisomy of chromosome 17 or 18 [lo] and trisomy of one of the chromosomes in the 13-15 group [22]. Also, mongolism has been observed in some patients to be associated with a total number of 46 chromosomes and a translocation between an extra no. 21 and another chromosome [l, 6, 12, 15, 17, 24, 251. Each of these chromosomal aberrations seems to interfere in a serious and specific manner with development, and the patients usually present a rather characteristic combination of malformations. The present case is that of an infant who has multiple congenital anomalies, including hypotonia, retarded growth and development, marked hydrocephalus, lowset malformed ears, micrognathia, macro-


Recent developments in direct three-nucleon transfer reactions induced by protons and ..cap alpha..-particles are reviewed. Measurements of analyzing powers in (p vector,..cap alpha..) experiments, and application of microscopic approaches in describing three-nucleon transfer are stressed. 58 references.


AbstractIn this study, chemical sludge was recycled by using a coagulation process to improve phosphate removal from wastewater. A pilot experiment was conducted to investigate the appropriate ratio of recycled sludge, the appropriate operating conditions, and the mechanism involved in the enhancement of phosphate removal by return chemical sludge. The results showed that, with sludge recirculation, the process of coagulation for phosphate removal was enhanced by up to 12% compared with no sludge recirculation. Those effects were primarily attributed to the removal of relatively fine particles with a size of 100–310 μm. The sludge settleability was also improved by the addition of chemical sludge, which was mainly attributed to the increase in floc size. The appropriate ratio of recycled sludge was determined to be around 15–20%. Mixing and the aging time of recycled sludge had a significant effect on phosphate removal. Based on these findings, sweep flocculation and/or physical adsorption are expected to...


uterus is a prepregnancy injury to uterine vasomotor nerves affecting both the placental bed and extra-placental myometrium, caused primarily by physical efforts during defecation, and uterine evacuation, but also previous hypertension (Figure 1A, C, D). Different patterns of perivascular hyalinisation around narrowed arterioles indicate different patterns of injury to the arterioles, including that from prior hypertension (Figure 1C). Release of cytokines and growth factors from injured nerves leads to regenerating nerve fibres and hyperplasia of denervated arterioles that express abnormal purinergic, P2X3, 'stretch' receptors (Figure 1B), though not in their terminal branches (Figure 1D). Importantly, these 'stretch' receptors are also found in extra-placental myometrium, which we believe may account for the development of 'late-onset' pre-eclampsia (Figure 1B). Stretching these purinergic channels activates a renal, corticomedullary vascular shunt that results in hypertension and proteinuria, among other cardiovascular adjustments. Stretching injured tissues may release many maternal proteins, e.g. s-flt-1, placental growth factor and tyrosine kinase, which may bear some relationship to disease activity but are not central to the mechanism of pre-eclampsia. Many of the cardiovascular changes in pre-eclampsia may result from autonomic adjustments through viscerovisceral mechanisms, e.g. uterorenal, cardiorenal, hepatorenal, lienorenal, etc. described by Professor KJ Franklin, FRS in the 1950s that are readily demonstrable using standard, Doppler techniques. The nature and extent of the cardiovascular changes suggest that we may need to deliver pre-eclamptic women sooner to avoid fixed injuries to renal arterioles that precede hypertension in later life.&


In ten clinics run in Guatemala Trinidad and Tobago Hong Kong Jordan Nepal and Kenya interviews with clinic administrators and staff and new clients were conducted between August 1984 and February 1986 to examine continuation rates of various contraceptive methods and of the family planning clinics to identify the leading reasons for discontinuation and to determine acceptability of several methods. In all countries the IUD had the longest continuation of use rate at 12 months. It was highest in Jordan and Guatemala (77% and 75% respectively) and lowest in Trinidad and Tobago (58%). Use-continuation of oral contraceptives (OCs) was at least 50% in Guatemala Trinidad and Tobago and Kenya and 46% in Hong Kong. Guatemala had a restriction of 1-2 contraceptive injections per client at which time the client had to switch to another method. Thus the 12 month use-continuation rate for injections was only 31% compared to 68% in Kenya and 51% in Nepal. The restriction in Guatemala no longer exists. Side effects were the most common reason for discontinuation in all countries (35.2-76.1%) except Hong Kong (16.1%) in which the greatest desire for children was encountered (33% vs. 2.8-25.9%). Hong Kong also had a high percentage of single clients (51.1%) and of women who have never been pregnant (40%). Further Hong Kong had the highest percentage of women who were counseled for side effects (81%). Continuation of those still using clinic services at 12 months ranged from 46% in Hong Kong to 56% in Guatemala. In almost all countries the main reasons for not returning to the clinic were lack of time and obtaining supplies from another source. The factors most positively associated with continuation of a method included: personal motivation; obtaining the method that the client had intended to use before coming to the clinic; and knowing that her partner would agree with the use of the chosen method. The local family planning associations have used these findings to develop recommendations to improve quality of care.


An audio power amplifier comprises a direct-current stabilized power supply, a dual-channel audio pre-amplification circuit, a tone control circuit, a digital volume control circuit, a digital channel selection circuit, a functional low, middle and high register display circuit and a dual-channel and low pitch power amplifier circuit. A dual-channel main power amplifier circuit TDA2030A and a peripheral circuit form an OCL power amplifier, an STC89C52 single-chip microcomputer controls a multipath analog switch CD4051 to control volume and select channels, a low, middle and high register instruction displays functional states of the circuits through a liquid crystal display, tone is controlled through a capacitance-resistance filter circuit, and the direct-current stabilized power supply supplies power for the whole circuit, so that the whole circuit can stably run. The audio power amplifier has the advantages of small distortion, fewer peripheral components, high stability and fidelity, wide frequency range and the like.


We derive an exact expression for the one-loop free energy of the canonical ensemble of type I strings in the form of a high temperature expansion, integrating out the explicit dependence on worldsheet modulus. The precise O(T e −T) numerical corrections to the leading T 2 growth are evaluated in the high temperature expansion. We can therefore give a first principles formulation of the microcanonical ensemble of open strings, deriving the density of states as an inverse Laplace transform of the open string canonical partition function. The growth with energy is slower than an exponential, giving definite proof that there is no Hagedorn phase transition in type I string theory. The low energy finite temperature supersymmetric gauge theory limit of our results provides the normalization of the density of states of the massless gas of short open strings. We give a first principles derivation of the normalized Wilson-Polyakov-Susskind loop expectation value in the finite temperature gauge theory.


By using the methods of literature and mathematical statistics,this paper makes dynamic analysis and comparison on date of primary and middle school student's physical fitness investigation during 1995,2000 and 2005 in Shanxi province.The result shows that during the 10 years from 1995 to 2005,the indexes on body shape of primary and middle school students in Shanxi province have a certain extent improved in all indexes except the female student's chest circumference,but the indexes on function and physical fitness tends to decrease,and there is significant difference among them except standing long jump of middle school male students.Based on it,some suggestions and countermeasures are put forward for improving fitness in primary and middle school students.


Surveys of academic staff in six universities in the UK provide insights for publishers into scholarly article and book reading patterns of academics and differences based on personal characteristics of readers. These surveys were part of the 2011 UK Scholarly Reading and the Value of the Library Study funded by JISC Collections and based on studies conducted by Tenopir and King since 1977. Scholarly articles, especially those obtained from the library's e‐journal collections, are a vital part of academic work. Reading patterns of books are quite different than articles; books most often come from personal print collections. Book readings are still important for research and teaching, however, especially for humanists. Academics come into contact with multiple sources of information every day and therefore, convenience and easy access are important factors. Knowing more about academic reading patterns helps publishers and librarians design more effective journal systems and services now and into the future.


This paper examines the inclusivity and legitimacy of elections in Nigeria's Fourth Republic amidst, concerns continually expressed over the zero-sum nature of Nigerian politics, which manifests in the rising tide of contentious elections.   Issues such as logistical failures and delays, misconduct and irregularities, violence, challenges of internal party democracy, corruption and a biased judiciary, have almost become permanent features of electioneering in the country. The paper explores the value mechanisms and processes that can enable an electoral process that guarantees transparency and accountability based on Nigeria's electoral laws and regional instruments, such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, provides a credible opportunity for broad based participation, enables significant roles for the judiciary, anticorruption bodies, civil society organisations, and political parties as well as provide the strategic tools to ensure the credibility and integrity of each stage of the electoral cycle. The context of the 2019 elections, which recorded the participation of only a third of the 84 million eligible voters, will provide a barometer to measure the overall health of Nigeria's electoral democracy, drawing extensively from secondary sources.


The performance of a glass used for immobilization of high-level nuclear waste (HLW) is generally quantified by its resistance to chemical degradation, or durability. The durability of a HLW glass is dependent on its composition. If crystalline phases form within a glass during cooling, the composition of the residual glass network is altered, therefore affecting the durability of the glass. Crystallization of nepheline (NaAlSiO{sub 4}) has been shown to adversely impact the durability of HLW glasses since it removes glass forming species (in this case, Al and Si) from the glass network. The propensity for nepheline crystallization in a HLW glass increases with increasing concentrations of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} and Na{sub 2}O in the glass. Nepheline crystallization is therefore of concern for processing of HLW at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) since the sludge waste streams at the Savannah River Site (SRS) can contain high concentrations of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} and Na{sub 2}O. Currently, a 'nepheline discriminator' is included as a process control constraint at the DWPF. The nepheline discriminator relates the concentrations of SiO{sub 2}, Na{sub 2}O and Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} (as weight percentages in glass) to a critical value of 0.62. The discriminator defines a boundary linemore » on the SiO{sub 2}-Na{sub 2}O-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} ternary diagram above which (or toward the SiO{sub 2} corner of the ternary) nepheline is not predicted to crystallize in the glass upon quenching or slow cooling. The current equation uses only the concentrations of the SiO{sub 2}, Na{sub 2}O and Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} components in the glass in predicting whether or not nepheline is likely to crystallize. However, several other components have been shown to impact the propensity for nepheline crystallization, including B{sub 2}O{sub 3} and CaO among others. Therefore, the potential exists to further refine the nepheline discriminator to include these components. In addition, recently studied HLW glasses with relatively high Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} compositions of 25 wt % or greater and nepheline discriminator values well below 0.62 have been shown to be free of nepheline crystallization upon quenching and slow cooling. Thus, the current nepheline discriminator equation also appears to be conservative for some HLW glass compositions. Refining the nepheline discriminator to include other important components and to reduce conservatism may provide access to high Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} concentration glass compositions for the DWPF, which could in turn allow access to higher waste loadings, decreased washing and improved waste throughput. The objective of this study was to develop and characterize a series of HLW glass compositions based on a projected composition of Sludge Batch 5 (SB5), the next sludge batch to be processed in the DWPF. The selected glass compositions all had nepheline discriminator values below the current limit of 0.62. They cover a range of locations on the SiO{sub 2}-Na{sub 2}O-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} diagram. They also include varying amounts of B{sub 2}O{sub 3} and CaO to support an evaluation of the impact of these components on the propensity for nepheline crystallization. The results described in this report confirm that some conservatism exists in the current nepheline discriminator. Several glass compositions, particularly compositions that target higher Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} concentrations, were shown to be very durable (i.e., PCT responses that were more than an order of magnitude better than that of the Environmental Assessment benchmark glass) while their nepheline discriminator values were well below the current nepheline discriminator limit of 0.62. Increased concentrations of B{sub 2}O{sub 3} and increased concentrations of CaO were shown to improve durability responses and suppress the formation of nepheline. This provides incentive to revise the nepheline discriminator to reduce some of this conservatism and incorporate the influence of B{sub 2}O{sub 3}. The revised nepheline discriminator could potentially change from a constant line on the SiO{sub 2}-Na{sub 2}O-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} ternary diagram to a sloped line, where the slope varies with B{sub 2}O{sub 3} concentration, thus allowing access to higher concentrations of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} in glass. Additional data will be required to support development and possible implementation of this revision. A Phase II study will be required to provide the necessary data, and recommendations for a Phase II study are included at the end of this report.« less


multifractals. However, the approach may be found rather sophisticated by those more concerned with applications. and their singularities: the characterisation of strange sets', Phys. Rev. Non-commutative probability theory, or 'quantum probability', is the generalization of classical probability in which the commutative algebra of random variables is replaced by a non-commutative algebra of observables. Clearly, one of its main motivations comes from quantum physics, but it has also turned out to be a source of interesting mathematical problems. It might seem that, in principle, one could take any part of probability theory, and ask for a 'quantum analogue'. But good mathematics does not work so simply: just taking away a vital axiom from a successful theory is like playing a 'music minus one' record, in which the part of the soloist is left out for practice purposes. Finding the right questions for quantum probability is rather a matter of careful judgement, and often it takes several years for concepts to emerge which are well founded in physical intuition and also lead to interesting mathematics. Perhaps the best way of finding the right concepts is to take the best known examples and analyse these in depth. The book under review deals with a topic in quantum probability which is very much in this development stage, namely the theory of dynamical entropy, whose classical antecedent is the Kolmogorov-Sinai dynamical entropy of a measure-preserving transformation. It is clear that at this stage no authoritative textbook on quantum dynamical entropy can be written. Instead, the author aims at supporting the development of the theory, by providing the graduate student or researcher, mathematician or physicist entering the field, with sufficient background material, and many worked examples, to develop an intuition of 'deterministic quantum chaos'. This is especially helpful since one of the seminal papers in the subject, in which the so-called Connes-Narnhofer-Thirring (CNT) dynamical entropy was introduced [3], offers very little motivation, and is very hard for a beginner to read. It is the main objective of the book to make the notion of CNT entropy more accessible. It should be mentioned that there is a second approach to quantum dynamical entropy, initiated by Lindblad a long time ago, which was brought to a new flourish by Alicki and Fannes (AF) [1] after this book was written, and so is not represented in the book. The existence of two equally legitimate 'quantizations' of a classical theory …


In our study a matrix configuration along two dimensions, namely affiliation towards Volvo and locus of control emerged. Based on this matrix and the discernible discursive influences it is possible to describe four types of self-identities. These four types of self-identity are discussed and evaluated. Additionally the findings are contemplated against the backdrop of Labour Process Theory which emphasizes the need for a dialectical approach to the discussion of labour processes.


This article discusses the significance of Dramaturg in performing arts. Apart from that, this article aims to look into the standardised definition which needs to be modified to define Dramaturg specifically in the context of performing arts in Malaysia. In Malaysia, the term Dramaturg is rarely used by any performing arts researchers. Researchers are more inclined to use terms such as dramatists, directors and publishers to refer to an individual who visualised performances on stages, not realising that the term 'Dramaturg' itself has included all fields mentioned. The limited research resources on Dramaturg in Malaysia caused the involvement of a Dramaturg not being prioritised in any performing art. Due to that, this article chose a comedian, actor, host and director known as Mohd Sabri Yunus or his stage name Sabri Yunus as a research sample in this article. The data and written information in this article were obtained from the approaches practised in G.E. Lessing Dramaturg Model and Berger Humour Theories, which focuses on qualitative analysis to process the findings of this research. The findings of this article summarised the significance of Dramaturg as a highly-impactful essence in comedy performances in Malaysia. Through this documentation, Sabri Yunus' role as a Comedy Dramaturg can be interpreted, hence summarising the role of Dramaturg in helping to deliver values to performing arts through the issues and questions portrayed. Finally, from Dramaturgy, he will give impact on the society's lives and social. Keyword: Dramaturg, Arthur Asa Berger Humour, Humour. Introduction This article justifies specifically on the role of a Dramaturg in comedy performances in Malaysia. The article stresses on a comedian, actor, host and director known as Sabri Yunus. As an individual International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 1 0 , No. 1, Jan, 2020, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2020 HRMARS 163 involved in the filming industry, achieving Best Male TV Comedian award in Anugerah Seri Angkasa in the year 2005 and Popular Male Comedian award in Anugerah Bintang Popular in the years 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 2000, qualifying him to be the best sample for this article. Based on the achievements, the researcher summarised specifically his role as a 'Comedy Dramaturg'. The second purpose of this article is to use the role of a Dramaturg as highly-impactful in performances in Malaysia. In the context of this article, it is to ensure the roles of a Dramaturg in this region are accepted and on par with Western Dramaturgs such as Harley Granville Barker (November 25, 1877 – August 3, 1946), Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (January 22, 1729 February 15, 1781), Bertolt Brecht (February 10, 1898 August 14, 1956) and Kenneth Tynan (April 2, 1927 Julai 26, 1980) and a few other figures (Luckhurst, M., 2006: 2). Therefore, the debates on Dramaturgy in Malaysia needs to be developed firsthand. Hence, this article in general aims to investigate the knowledge corpus on Dramaturgy in Malaysian context. The objectives of this article include interpreting Sabri Yunus' role as a Dramaturg in comedy performances in Malaysia and justifying the need to modify the 'standards' to detail the role of a Comedy Dramaturg in Malaysia. The Background of Drama and Dramaturgy By far, there are only a handful of previous research in relevance to the purpose of this article write up. Previous research on Dramaturgy is investigated comprehensively by Kerkhoven M.V (1988) who stated "...... an attempt to get a little bit closer to the heart of what European Dramaturgy could possibly be at that moment, there was the matter of different artistic points of view, which could be traced in the work of leading European artists of that moment". According to Kerkhoven, every activist in Europe has different artistic opinions. The same can be applied to the artworks from the Dramaturgs. Kerkhoven (2009) in his article, A constant movement worried about the scenario in the development of arts in Europe in that period. The mixture of neoliberal political and economical issues had caused the declining moral values in performances. The article also discussed how the roles of Dramaturgs became important. The increasing tension on the economy, politics, and social with the emergence of rules and birocracy had caused the modifications to take place. There are various research concepts on Dramaturg, where several of them are descriptive and documentative using the Dramaturg model approache as research methodology. Some examples are Library service as theatre: Using Dramaturgy to investigate attitudes to the retail and professional models of service by Cherry and Calvert (2012). The article wrote on the significance of a Dramaturg model in highlighting the attitude and behavior of librarians. It is generally known that librarians are bound with certain ethics in serving the clients. Therefore, through the article, the behavior of the librarians (referring to the chosen professional librarians as respondents in the article) were found to be different when serving the clients. In conclusion, the article analysed that every individual has various levels in attitude and behavior. It happens either consciously or unconsciously. Meanwhile, the article Giving Clients a Backstage Experience: A Case of Dramaturgical Trouble in the Professional Performance of Drug Treatment by Andersen (2011) concluded, based on the International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 1 0 , No. 1, Jan, 2020, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2020 HRMARS 164 Dramaturgical concept in which the professionals who treat in front of the stage (the symbol of an open space) was not successful in approaching problematic teenagers, but the professionals who provide treatment plan from behind the scenes (the symbol of a favourite space or place among teenagers) was successful in changing the teenager's problems. The application of Dramaturgical concept is written in another research entitled Althusser's the Dramaturgy and the critique of Ideology. Balibar (2015) illustrated an ideologist which is Louis Althusser (1918-1990). Louis Althusser's ideology contributes to a very critical ideology. Through Balibar's explanation, Louis Althusser had conceptualised the theatrical ideology as a political agent by instilling the concept of political thinking in his theatrical performances. This is defined as 'materialist theatres'. However, what interests the researcher is to connect Louis Althusser's ideology with the similarities to the roles of a Dramaturg. By referring to an extract in the article written by Balibar, "The "theaters" involved here are theaters of politics, which also very much resemble theaters of war in a generalized sense" (p. 20). Louis Althusser's ideology is referred to as something that opens the space and displays a transformation to the involvement of Dramaturgy in creating ideas for a performance. To investigate on the next previous study, through the article written Peter Eckersall (2012), he sees the important indicator owned by Kris Verdonck through the creation of his works which combine the metaphorical elements with physical materials to quality performances. Verdonck had conducted re-invention on texts and familiarised them in Verdonck's performances. The concept developed by Verdonck can be considered as the work process of a Dramaturg. The study of the concept of dramaturgy was less involved in the production of a drama because usually the director would act as the storyteller. This study provides the opportunity to raise drama as a better guide in the production. The role of the researcher in moving the concept of a dramaturg is not to be seen as the one who triggers the whole idea. Actors need specific guidance to look at the purpose of a drama's idea so that it does not deviate from the dramaturgy concept. This study will help directors, actors, and scriptwriters for better structured guidance. The Instrumentation of the Research 'The Role of a Comedy Dramatrug Sabri Yunus in Karoot Komedia X (KK X) For this part, qualitative method with case study is applied to obtain research data. The findings this research obtained from the answers to the unstructurised questions posed to the KK X' performance makers. Observation was conducted on the research sample which is Sabri Yunus and the performance of KK X. The approaches in Lessing Dramaturg Model and Berger Humour Theory are also applied. Asia Dramatrugy In Asian countries like Singapore, Indonesia, Phillippines, China, Korea, Sri Lanka and India, the roles of a Dramaturg in performing arts are developing further. A lot of Dramaturg experts have knowledge and skills, operating either in groups or separately. They want to develop performance as well as strengthening their roles on a piece or collective performances. This is proven with the symposium "Asean Dramaturg Network". This symposium was represented by Dramaturgs such as Ken Takiguchi (Singapore), Charlene Rajendran (Singapore), Alvin Tan (Singapore), Robin Loon (Singapore), Kok Heng Leun (Singapore), David Pledger (Australia), International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 1 0 , No. 1, Jan, 2020, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2020 HRMARS 165 Lachlan Philpott (Australia), Alyson Campbell (Australia), Eko Supriyonto (Indonesia), Helly Minarti (Indonesia), Giselle Garcia (Phillippines), Li Yinan (China), Lim How Ngean (Malaysia), Max-Philip Aschenbrenner (Korea), Nanako Nakajima (Japan), Shintaro Fujii (Japan), Peter Eckersall (USA), Ruhanie Perera (Sri Lanka), Sankar Venkateswaran (India) and Yair Vardi (Israel). However, the situation is different in Malaysia. The development and understanding on the roles of a Dramaturg are still vague. From a report in Utusan Malaysia, Azman Ismail (2007) reported, "Dramaturg approach is still new in the context of performances in Malaysia, but not in Western countries". It is clear th


Leaf surfaces and root regions are composed of diverse microorganisms including Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria as well as yeasts and fungi. Here we report the relative distribution of the bacterial populations on the leaf surface and root regions of lotus plant. A marked degree of heterogeneous bacterial populations were found on leaf surface and root region. The degree of hydrophobicity was studied and a high variability was observed which could be attributed to differences in arrays of surface molecules of bacterial cells and composition of biofilms.


Aiming at the characteristics of lactic acid waste water,the paper by combining with project examples,introduces the adoption of the new and efficient internal circulation anaerobic reactor to treat lactic acid industrial waste water,illustrates the starting process and operation effect for the project,explores relative problems,and points out the craft has better value by analysis of the project benefits.


Prenatal stress is associated with a high risk of developing adult intestinal pathologies, such as irritable bowel syndrome, chronic inflammation and cancer. Although epithelial stem cells and progenitors have been implicated in intestinal pathophysiology, how prenatal stress could impact their functions is still unknown. We have investigated the proliferative and differentiation capacities of primitive cells using epithelial crypts isolated from colons of adult male and female mice whose mothers have been stressed during late gestation. Our results show that stem cell/progenitor proliferation and differentiation in vitro are negatively impacted by prenatal stress in male progeny. This is promoted by a reinforcement of the negative proliferative/differentiation control by the protease activated receptor 2 (PAR2) and the muscarinic receptor 3 (M3), two G protein coupled receptors present in the crypt. Conversely, prenatal stress does not change in vitro proliferation of colon primitive cells in female progeny. Importantly, this maintenance is associated with a functional switch in the M3 negative control of colonoid growth, becoming proliferative following prenatal stress. Additionally, the proliferative role of PAR2 specific to females is maintained under prenatal stress, even though PAR2-targeted stress signals Dusp6 and activated GSK3β are increased, reaching the levels of males. An epithelial serine protease could play a critical role in the activation of the survival kinase GSK3β in colonoids from prenatally stressed female progeny. Altogether, our results show that following prenatal stress, colon primitive cells cope with stress through sexually dimorphic mechanisms that could pave the way to dysregulated crypt regeneration and intestinal pathologies.


Electrical properties of tissues, macromolecular solutions, and cell membranes are summarized at frequencies from the extra low frequency (ELF) to microwave range. Previously presented dielectric data are supplemented by new results and a more detailed discussion of the physical mechanisms for the observed temperature coefficients of the dielectric properties. The dielectric data are discussed in terms of the interaction mechanisms which give rise to observed relaxational effects. Possible mechanisms for nonthermal weak interactions between radio-frequency (RF) energy and tissues are discussed and evaluated.


Recently I read a long essay on how political authority in Washington has changed in the past half century. What stayed with me was a remark by Senator Moynihan, that when he was a junior aide to New York Governor Averill Harriman in the 1940s, it was a rare and grand event for a governor to go to Washington—"You'd spend time planning how many shirts to take. Going to Washington was a very big deal/' (Heclo, 1978, p. 95) It's the shirts that got to me, that detail, a nugget of trustable truth. It is that kind of nugget that I kept looking for in my historical reading, and I tried to include in The Good Citizen. I mention this with both pride and apology. I think I have a good eye for nuggets. At the same time, someone who lingers over Moynihan's shirts is probably not cut out to be a theorist. And yet we need a theorist here, especially the one who will dare to incorporate the face of actual political life into a theory of desirable political forms. A historian told me soon after The Good Citizen was published that reviewers would fail to recognize the achievement of the book's first 300 pages and would take up the final fifteen pages, either to praise or damn the book accordingly. He was generally quite right. Not always, but often, the reviewer's position on the final few pages colored the whole review. The nuggets of the first 300 pages, that seemed to me so revealing and so worthy of contemplation, were left aside as interesting debris, while the concluding tentative effort at theorizing a new concept of citizenship was picked over in detail. Today I want try to explain why the book's most vital contribution is its first 300 pages and what I take to be the critique there of a serious failure of American historical consciousness. Second, I want


Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) are currently considered 'gold standard' for evaluating psychosocial interventions, including psychodynamic psychotherapies (PDTs). The aim of this review is to summarize all available RCTs involving PDTs. A thorough search yielded 298 studies published between 1967 and 2022. The number of studies has increased over time with 123 (41.2%) published in the last 10 years. Most studies have been conducted in western countries, evaluating PDTs of brief duration (<40 sessions) for adults with mood (k = 67, 22.5%), psychosomatic (k = 38, 12.8%), anxiety (k = 35, 11.7%), or personality disorders (k = 29, 9.7%). The studies have utilized comparative (k = 233, 78.2%), additive (k = 33, 11.1%), parametric (k = 30, 10.1%) and dismantling designs (k = 2, 0.7%) and includes a total of 374 comparisons. Categorization of outcomes suggests that PDTs typically outperforms inactive controls, while comparisons with active treatments, inclugding Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT), typically indicate no statistical difference. While the evidence-base for PDTs is growing, there are still major limitations and many research questions yet to be addressed. There is a pressing need for disseminating the existing research for PDTs to policy makers and the general public, as well as integrating findings in psychodynamic training curriculums.


ABSTRACT The present research aimed to investigate the uses of the concept of disavowal (Verleugnung) in scientific productions. An integrative literature review of scientific papers was carried out in the Scielo, Biblioteca Virtual de Saúde and Web of Science databases in Portuguese, English and Spanish. Thirty-nine publications were analyzed. Extrapolations of the concept as circumscribed to the clinic of perversions were found, with the predominance of an analysis of Verleugnung in its inseparable relationship with culture, a general trend. Three predominant forms of its use were observed in the literature: 1) dialogues with the paternal function; 2) dialogues with Ferenczi and his trauma theory; 3) dialogues with fetishism. As for the gaps, there is lack of consistent proposals for intervention at the clinical and political level, as well as lack of dialogue between certain theoretical lines.


This study examines how democracy, government ideology, and globalization have shaped social expenditures in 67 less developed countries from 1975 to 2005. The empirical results show that more democratic nations spend a greater amount on social security and welfare (SSW), while leftist governments spend more on education. This is because, in most less developed nations, SSW programs disproportionately benefit formal-sector workers, who tend to be the decisive voters in the countries, and education spending helps a broader spectrum of people. The article also examines factors related to globalization and finds that a higher level of external debt is strongly associated with reduced SSW spending, which imposes direct costs and burdens to business. The results in this article provide evidence that, even in less developed countries, political leaders' commitment to social expenditures varies according to their electoral, ideological, and economic interests.


Dissertation submitted for the fulfilment of the degree Master of Technology: Public Management in the Faculty of Business and Management at Cape Peninsula University of Technology


The evaporating system consists of the evaporator itself and the steam- heating circuit. These are described. A series of inactive experiments was performed on the evapo rator. The decontamination factors obtainable were calculated, and the results were in agreement with the laboratory-scale research. (J.S.R.)


The LNG tank insulation technology is one of the key technologies in LNG ship building. We developed our own insulation system, called "Kawasaki Panel System", for a large LNG ship with spherical tanks, and applied this system to our first built LNG ship "GOLAR SPIRIT". In her unprecedented cooling test using LN2 and gas trial, it was verified that the performance required for LNG tank insulation was satisfactory and that "No Cold Spot" criterion we aimed at was fulfilled.This paper summarizes the development of our insulation system, describing the outline of the major large scaled model tests carried out to select insulation materials and insulation system and to grasp the thermal efficiency, strength and workability of the system as a whole, and also referring to the specifications of the system determined through these tests and to the outline of the quality control established.


An experimental method of determining the properties of a compliant layer by layer/fluid interface wave methods is investigated. The phase and/or group speed and spatial attenuation of such waves can be used to infer the layer stiffness per unit area (and, hence, material modulus) and the loss factor. An analysis of the propagation of interface and acoustic waves in a water‐filled trough with one lossy‐compliant surface is presented. The analysis is a general One including the case of finite water depth. It is concluded from the analysis and from the experimental results that the experimental setup investigated can give readily interpretable results over only a limited frequency range and is appropriate only for materials with relatively low loss factors.


This study presents the synchronisation problem in 'space-surface bistatic synthetic aperture radar (SS-BSAR)' system. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are considered as transmitters of opportunity. It highlights various important issues of synchronisation, specifically related to SS-BSAR utilising GLONASS as the transmitter. Experimental testing of the synchronisation algorithm is described and verified using the GLONASS satellite. Also, experimental images obtained from GLONASS are presented and briefly analysed.


Increasing evidence suggests that alteration of gut microbiota ('dysbiosis') can lead to a number of diseases, including obesity, which affects a large population in the world and is now a global health issue. The mechanisms of gut microbiota-mediated obesity are just being explored and characterized in recent years. It has been suggested that dysbiosis of gut microbiota contributes to obesity development mainly in three ways: affecting energy harvest, altering host gene expression, and triggering chronic inflammation. Among the factors that determine and influence gut microbiota composition, diet is one of the best characterized in human and animal studies, and has been long linked with weight gain or loss. In this review, we will discuss recent advances of mechanisms through which gut microbiota dysbiosis leads to obesity. We will further discuss the underlying causes of obesity-related gut microbiota, highlighting dietary effects.


Better-interpreted remote sensing images in Zhijin district,western Guizhou Plateau are selected as study object,Landsat/TM data are selected as the main data source to divide stratigraphic units with human-computer interaction technique based on a false color composite image of less correlative TM7,TM4 and TM1.Karst stratigraphy image is characterized by its special karst features such as patched and massive image with poor developed water drainage systems.However,petroclastic stratigraphy is characterized by curved and networked textures as showed by water erosion landform.Stratigraphic image can be compared and determined by interfaces,specific textures,characteristic colors,and typical water drainage systems.As a result,stratigraphic units show distinct image features in spatial structures.Fourteen image stratigraphic units are divided in the study area.The field test shows that stratigraphic unit division by stratigraphic image division technology has close correlation with the traditional division method.


The July-September 1993 issue of Vikalpa had carried a Management Case titled "Kalyan Pharma Ltd." by Abhinandan K Jain, G Raghuram, and Pramod K Agrawal. In this issue, we are featuring diagnoses of this case by Subhash W Bhave; J P Karia, V K Bapat, and Sashi Francis (a team), and Sanal Kumar.


Objective: To compare DDP and CMNa in radiosensitivity and side-effect in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods: Sixty-two patients were randomized into two groups,DDP group and CMNa group.CMNa was used venously with 800 mg/m2 in 30 minutes and radiotherapy was performed in 60 minutes in Monday,Wednesday and Friday for every week from the beginning to the end of the radiotherapy.DDP was used venously with 10mg daily from Monday to Friday in first two weeks and in the fourth and fifth week.Facial-neck field was given with 38GY,then facial-jugular field and anterior-nasal field were given with 30-34GY. Results: In the two groups the CR+PR for local lesion was 93.3% and 84.38% respectively,90.9% and 84.38% respectively for lymph node,and the remote metastasis for the two groups was 16.67% and 18.75%. Conclusion: There was no significant difference in radiosensitivity(P0.05) in two groups but the side-effect in the DDP group was more severe than in CMNa group,And the long term effect needs further study in the future.


ABSTRACT The first complete genome sequence of Lactobacillus curvatus was determined by PacBio RS II. The single circular chromosome (1,848,756 bp, G+C content of 42.1%) of L. curvatus FBA2, isolated from fermented vegetables, contained low G+C regions (26.9% minimum) and 43 sets of >1,000-bp identical sequence pairs. No plasmids were detected.


The utility model provides a laser color plate, which can solve the problem that the conventional coating color plate has a single appearance. The laser color plate comprises a base plate, wherein a chemical treatment layer and a back paint layer are arranged on the back side of the base plate in the direction far away from the base plate; and a chemical treatment layer, a primer layer, an adhesive layer and a BOPET laser film layer are arranged on the front side of the base plate in the direction far away from the base plate. The BOPET laser film is compounded on the treated steel plate and is formed by performing laser radiation on the BOPET film and then performing pretreatment; the BOPET laser film takes on a laser radiation colorful effect under refraction of light; after the BOPET laser film is attached to the treated steel plate coiled material at a high temperature, the coiled material has the laser effect, so the gradually increased requirements of people on appearance differentiation and aesthetic standard are met; and after the BOPET film is subjected to laser radiation treatment and before the BOPET film is subjected to pretreatment, the BOPET film is subjected to intaglio printing fringe treatment to form a printing pattern layer, so the laser radiation colorful effect is combined with the printing pattern and the BOPET film takes on a rich appearance effect.


Hydrogels based on peptide nanostructures are biological entities that can be applied in a wide range of applications, such as scaffolds for tissue engineering, drug delivery, and biosensors. The aim of this research was to study peptide hydrogels based on N-(9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl)L,L-diphenylalanine (Fmoc-FF) in two different media: water and phosphate buffer. These hydrogels were used for encapsulating Leishmania infantun chagasi soluble proteins. The structure of the matrices was investigated in detail through scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The mechanical behavior of the hydrogels were assessed through rheology assays, demonstrating both the physical and chemical stability of the hydrogel scaffolds. The immunogenicity of immobilized antigens was studied using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) detection after the reaction with positive and negative dog sera for Leishmania infantum chagasi. The hydrogel was efficient to encapsulate antigens, and can promote the development of novel devices that requires the storage of biomolecules under moist environmental conditions.


A thesis that aims to identify a supply and demand function of regulating power in Germany, to investigate the factors that influence this market. The main goal is to see what will happen if large scale intermittent power are implemented in the market.


Birds sing to communicate. Male birds use song to advertise their territories and attract females. Each bird species has a unique song or set of songs. Song conveys both species and individual identity. In most species, young birds learn some features of adult song. Song develops gradually from amorphous to fixed patterns of vocalization as if crystals form out of liquid. Learning of a song proceeds in two steps; birds commit the song to memory in the first stage and then they vocally reproduce it in the second stage. The two stages overlap each other in some species, while they are separated by several months in other species. The ability of a bird to commit a song to memory is restricted to a period known as the sensitive phase. Vocal reproduction of the memorized song requires auditory feedback. Birds deafened before the second stage cannot reproduce the memorized song. Birds change vocal output until it matches with the memorized song, which thus serves as a template. Birds use a built-in template when a tutor model is not available. Exposure to a tutor model modifies this innate template.


The therapy of children and adolescents with cancer has become increasingly successful; more than 70% of all those diagnosed now live 5 or more years after diagnosis, and most will never suffer a recurrence of the original cancer. As these survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer mature, they become aware of issues related to the original diagnosis and treatment of which they may have been unaware during the time of active therapy. These include wellknown quality-of-the-adult-life issues, such as normal reproduction, as well as less widely appreciated concerns; for example, the possible occurrence of second malignant tumors. The Ninth International Conference on the Long-Term Complications of Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Cancer was held in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada from June 9 to 10, 2006. The conference attendees included over 250 professionals, including 106 MDs and PhDs from the United States, 15 from the United Kingdom, 15 from the Netherlands, 14 from Canada, 5 from Australia, 3 from Germany, 2 from Denmark, 2 from Israel, 2 from New Zealand, and 1 from Belgium, Brazil, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland. In addition, the conference was attended by 99 nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, nurses, and other allied health professionals, including masters students, clinical research associates, social workers, etc. from 24 states (Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia, and from Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The conference included 10 invited presentations organized around the theme of the symposium. These talks encompassed the origin and identification of gene polymorphisms, the difference between association of gene polymorphisms with versus causation of diseases, the relationship of gene polymorphisms and drug toxicity, the causes of mortality in survivors of childhood cancer, the relationship between gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to coronary artery disease, leptin receptor gene polymorphisms and obesity, glutathione-S-transferase and XRCC1 polymorphisms and second malignant tumors, genetic polymorphisms and treatment related leukemia, gene polymorphisms and behavior, and the use of gene polymorphisms for disease prevention. The present issue includes all articles prepared by the invited speakers. The comprehensive and thoughtful articles prepared by the invited speakers provide an excellent review of these areas for all who provide care for long-term survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer.


This paper discusses the design of audio-visual sound toys in Cyberdream, a virtual reality music visualization. While an earlier version of this project for Oculus GearVR provided a journey through audio-visual environments related to 1990s rave culture, the most recent iteration for Oculus Quest provides the addition of three audio-visual sound toys, the discussion of which is the main focus of this paper. In the latest version, the user flies through synaesthetic environments, while using the interactive controllers to manipulate the audio-visual sound toys and 'paint with sound'. These toys allow the user to playfully manipulate sound and image in a way that is complementary to, and interfaces with, the audio-visual backdrop provided by the VR music visualization. Through the discussion of novel approaches to design, the project informs new strategies in the field of VR music visualizations.


A B S T R A C T
This study aims to determine the effect of independent variables consisting of exchange rates, leverage proxy by Debt to Equity Ratio, firm size and liquidity proxy by Current Ratio to hedging decision with derivative instrument at textiles and garment sub sector companies that listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange Period 2012-2016. The method used in this research is descriptive method and verification method. The technique of data collection by using literature study, documentation study, and the website. The population in this research is all textile and garment sub sector companies that in Indonesia Stock Exchange. This research using purposive sampling, that consist 13 textile and garment companies, the method of analysis used in this research is logistic regression method. The results showed that partially the partial exchange rate does not significantly affect the decision of hedging. While other independent variable such as Debt to Equity Ratio (DER), Current Ratio and firm size have significant effect to hedging decision making in sub textile and garment sub sector.This exchange rate, Debt to Equity Ratio, firm size, and Current Ratio simultaneously have significant effect on hedging decision making
Keywords: Hedging Decision, Exchange Rate, Leverage, Firm Size, Liquidity
A B S T R A K
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh variabel independen yang terdiri dari nilai tukar (kurs), leverage yang diproksikan dengan Debt to Equity Ratio, firm size dan likuiditas yang diproksikan dengan Current Ratio (CR) terhadap pengambilan keputusan lindung nilai (hedging) dengan instrumen derivatif pada perusahaan sub sektor tekstil dan garmen pada Bursa Efek Indonesia Periode 2012-2016. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode deskriptif dan metode verifikatif. Dengan teknik pengambilan data dengan studi kepustakaan, studi dokumentasi, dan melalui website. Populasi dalam penelitian ini yaitu seluruh perusahaan sub sektor tekstil dan garmen yang terdaftar di BEI. Pengambilan sampel dilakukan secara purposive sampling, dimana terdapat 13 perusahaan tekstil dan garmen yang menjadi sampel dalam penelitian ini. Metode analisis yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode regresi logistik. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa secara parsial variabel kurs tidak berpengaruh signifikan terhadap keputusan hedging. Variabel Debt to Equity Ratio (DER), Current Ratio dan firm size berpengaruh signifikan terhadap pengambilan keputusan hedging pada perusahaan sub sektor tekstil dan garmen. Hasil secara simultan bahwa kurs, Debt to Equity Ratio, firm size, dan Current Ratio berpengaruh signifikan terhadap Pengambilan keputusan hedging


It was experimentally demonstrated that high power irradiation of ions on metal surfaces is possible by using a `Plasma Anode' for electron beam generation. The irradiation power of 600 keV protons was 50 MW·cm-2 which is comparable with the pulse power loading of a CTR tokamak first wall at a strong major disruption. The damage of the 304 stainless steel irradiated in this way was different from that due to usual ion irradiation at lower power levels.


Mortgage underwriting process that sorts heterogeneous borrowers into different risk groups according to observable characteristics of borrowers does not reveal sufficient information to segregate pooling risks in mortgages. Do borrowers always choose rationally mortgage contracts that minimize the mortgage default risks? Why do they want to minimize the lenders default risks, when the mortgage risk premiums are priced upfront based on their observable characteristics? Subject to the upper bound of the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, prime borrower self-select, in some instances, fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) over adjustable rate mortgage (ARMs) to maximize their housing utility function. The interaction of borrower characteristics and mortgage choice decision reveals useful information of risk characteristics of borrowers, and improves the predictability of the default probability of the conventional proportional hazard risk models. This study develops a lifetime utility models to represent borrowers mortgage selection behavior that maximizes their utilities in the consumption of housing and non-housing services. We also test empirically using the Heckmans two-step self-selection methodology jointly with proportional hazard model, and find that borrowers self selection decisions reveal true signals of the default risks embedded in LTV and other observable characteristics of the borrowers. Key words: Heterogeneous borrower characteristics, mortgage type, lifetime utility maximization, self-selection, mortgage choice and mortgage default risks


Cardiac hypertrophy is an adaptive response to physiological and pathological overload. In response to the overload, individual cardiac myocytes become mechanically stretched and activate intracellular hypertrophic signaling pathways to re-use embryonic transcription factors and to increase the synthesis of various proteins, such as structural and contractile proteins. These hypertrophic responses increase oxygen demand and promote myocardial angiogenesis to dissolve the hypoxic situation and to maintain cardiac contractile function; thus, these responses suggest crosstalk between cardiac myocytes and microvasculature. However, sustained pathological overload induces maladaptation and cardiac remodeling, resulting in heart failure. In recent years, specific understanding has increased with regard to the molecular processes and cell–cell interactions that coordinate myocardial growth and angiogenesis. In this review, we summarize recent advances in understanding the regulatory mechanisms of coordinated myocardial growth and angiogenesis in the pathophysiology of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure.


The silage, or even the recently and preserving food is practiced due to the occurrence of climatic diversity, in which carries the visible manifestation of fall in rural production, mainly of cattle in extensive system, in the growth phase, when there is a prolonged dry period. The use of silage becomes convenient and many breeders depend on silage practice, because using this valid and effective technique, the income achieved brings advantageous in creating profits. When it comes to informational factors, research guidance to farmers in need of information about green matter silage, aiming at greater productivity about promoting better performance in double cattle fitness, being at the stage of fattening, recreates the most important moment of the cattle industry, without environmental impact. The ideal development of research in the field, as an extensive work that proposes this project would be to inform and direct rural producers in southern Maranhão, the advantage of diffusion of information disclosure through techniques geared to rural communities like transmission and spread of silage without environmental momentum. Were selected 17 rural properties from Maranhão South mesoregion, for guidance to ranchers on silage of green matter. The expected results were of great value, as the inform and direct to farmers of the diffusion of information through techniques geared to rural communities, such as transmission and spread of silage without haste. All


Abstract The way in which heterosexual couples manage information about infertility and donor insemination within their social networks has not yet been explored in-depth. This study focuses on how parents and aspiring parents manage information about infertility and donor insemination within their social networks. Fifteen Belgian couples were interviewed as part of a parenthood research project. Thematic analysis resulted in the identification of four themes. The first of these reveals how the social context can best be understood as a continuous confrontation with social expectations. A second theme highlights the diverse ways in which couples manage personal information in this confronting context. The third theme stresses how couples manage information about donor insemination so as to be treated as a 'normal' family. The final theme shows how emotional regulation within the context of the extended family plays a role in couples' decisions about how to manage information with relatives. Results are analysed using the concept of 'systemic emotion management' and the importance of being seen by others as a 'normal' family. Study findings signal the importance of managing information within social networks and are of relevance to a range of practitioners.


The image in the mind of poets and the totems in external reality forming a confluence, surging and subliming, esthetic image comes into being. Then in complete harmony with esthetic totems, it creates artistic images of poems, which surpass external totems and subjective feelings, surpass space, heaven and earth, everything on earth, history and space-time. As a result, poems are in the bloom of youth for ever.


Abstract : This report documents a program to develop techniques for launching and controlling heterogeneous teams of robots. The key goal is to combine the physical and computational power of a large, sophisticated robot (the Deployer) with the robustness and flexibility of a swarm of distributed microrobots. Under this program, iRobot developed proof-of-concept systems for two objectives. The first objective is the ability to strategically emplace microbots and microsensors. A high mobility platform (the iRobot Urban Robot) is equipped to launch grenade-sized robot mock-ups through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd story windows in urban terrain. The second objective is the ability to command and control the robots once emplaced. This task includes coordinating among the heterogeneous robots to extend the capability of each type, providing the operator with distributed remote presence at a minimized cognitive load, and intelligently collecting, filtering, and presenting a coherent view of the data.


In the chapter on liberation theology, Mansfield sides with scholars who deny that Erasmus was politically naive. His political writings were not the product of a "mere bookworm." The humanist may have tried to ground politics in ethics and theology, but "he was not unaware of the dilemmas this posed, of the exigencies of power and institutional inertia" (42). Mansfield presents a thorough discussion of views on Erasmus's engagement with politics, but why he associates this with liberation theology is puzzling. At the beginning of the chapter, he invokes a comment of Cambridge historian Brendan Bradshaw that the "Utopian preferential option for the poor against the rich" characterized Erasmus's politics (17). Evidence for this anachronistic claim is wanting. Erasmus was neither a sixteenth-century Voltaire nor an early modern Gustavo Gutierrez. At times Mansfield's pace is hurried as he assesses individual publications. Brief criticisms fail to persuade. He rightly singles out Friedhelm Kriiger's Humanistische Evangeliensauslegung: Desiderius Erasmus von Rotterdam als Ausleger der Evangelien in seinen Paraphrasen (1986) as the "first full-length study of the Paraphrases" as well as a "pioneering extended study." Yet the terse comment that Kriiger has "not escaped the trap of oversystematization" is hardly fair when attributed without elaboration to his important book (146). The general tenor of Mansfield's argument is convincing. Nevertheless, he and other interpreters need to be very careful when associating Erasmus with Catholic orthodoxy as distinct from a broad Catholic theological tradition. Orthodoxy is a red herring. Which measure of orthodoxy should scholars apply: the Council of Trent, which met after Erasmus's death; the Index of Prohibited Books, which censured Erasmus's publications and was suppressed in 1966; the Second Vatican Council, which issued no disciplinary canons and did not define dogmas? Mansfield prudently asserts that Erasmus as "an orthodox Roman Catholic" will have a limited, denominational appeal but will not arouse general interest in our times. Today more readers will pay attention to a much more complex Erasmus, someone located between the rival tendencies of individualism and communitarianism, a "devout, practising Christian" possessed, nevertheless, of "a radical kind of openness" (229). His conflicted and ambiguous personality, embracing Christian love and yet capable of transforming a "gentle wit" into bitterness, ensures that he will remain "a figure of never-dying interest and still a man for our anxious and fragmented times" (230). While charting prevailing interpretations of Erasmus, Mansfield avoids triumphalism. Readers of Erasmus in the Twentieth Century will benefit from a comprehensive grasp of modern interpretations while recognizing with Mansfield that a consensus "has remained elusive" (191). An Erasmus whose personality and thought remains open to debate will continue to inspire excellent scholarship in the twenty-first century.


(1994). Quantile Regression Analysis of Censored Wealth Data. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History: Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 149-165.


Uncontrolled cell proliferation, a hallmark of cancer, is associated with activation of CAD, a multifunctional protein that catalyzes the first three steps in pyrimidine biosynthesis. The cell cycle dependent regulation of pyrimidine biosynthesis is a consequence of sequential phosphorylation of CAD Thr-456 and Ser-1406 by the MAP kinase and PKA cascades, respectively. The mechanism that controls the timing of these events is not well understood. Our hypothesis is that timing of the activation and nucleocytoplasmic dynamics of CAD is controlled by signaling complexes with kinases and phosphatases. Interestingly, a consensus sequence for PP1 targeting proteins is located immediately adjacent to Thr-456. Peptides were synthesized corresponding to residues 444-460 of CAD that encompasses both the PP1 consensus sequence and Thr-456 as well as two mutant peptides in which Thr-456 was replaced with Ala or Asp. The wild type peptide and Ala mutant were able to bind to PP1 while the Asp mutant which, mimics phosphorylated CAD, does not.


Saxitoxin (STX) is the most toxic non-protein substance known. STX-producing cyanobacteria have been identified in most continents and are being detected more widely because of global warming, threatening human drinking water supplies worldwide. Removal of these components can be accomplished by adsorption on granular-activated carbon (GAC) but little is yet known about the kinetics of the process. This research investigated adsorption kinetics and diffusion behaviour of a decarbomoyl saxitoxin (dc-STX) and a carbamate toxin (STX) on four coconut shell-based GAC samples with different pore size distribution. It was observed that equilibrium concentration was reached within 24 h and that a pseudo-second-order model best represented experimental data. Of the four GAC samples tested, the example with the largest volume of mesopores adsorbed more STX and with a faster upload rate, while dc-STX was adsorbed equally in all four GAC samples. doi: 10.2166/aqua.2015.140 om https://iwaponline.com/aqua/article-pdf/64/3/344/400555/jws0640344.pdf 2019 Neuma Maria Silva Buarque Water Company of Ceara (CAGECE) Av. Dr. Lauro Vieira Chaves, 1030-Vila União, Fortaleza/CE, Brazil. CEP: 60.420–280 Hugo Leonardo de Brito Buarque Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Ceará – Av. Treze de Maio, 2081, Benfica – Fortaleza/CE, Brazil. CEP 60.040–531 Jose Capelo-Neto (corresponding author) Federal University of Ceara/SA Water, 40 Cheltenham St., Highgate, Adelaide, SA 5063, Australia E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com; firstname.lastname@example.com


A thixotropic grout has been developed for the use of filling a tail void in the shield TBM and as well as various ground voids. The grout developed in this study is a mixture of inorganic substance, cement and some functional additives. Its engineering characteristics was investigated by measuring ...


Abstract Background: The relation between health investment and research has been portrayed previously in several medical fields, showing a positive relation between economic resources and academic yield. Purpose: To assess the relations between various economic and bibliometric parameters in otolaryngology - head and neck surgery (ORL-HNS) of the OECD countries. Methods: Data regarding bibliometric parameters in ORL-HNS; number of publications, citations, citations per document and H index, between the years 1996 and 2019, were gathered from the Scimago Journal and Country Rank source. These data were then analysed in several breakdowns – seldom county, regional and language comparisons, in order to assess variations in ORL-HNS scholar activity. Economic data regarding each OECD country; GDP per capita, total health expenditure as percent of the GDP and GERD as percent of the GDP were gathered from the OECD and World Bank websites. The correlation between economic and bibliometric indicators was analysed. Results: Among 209,949 documents analysed, a strong correlation was found between H index and health expenditure (r=0.734, p=0.000), and a moderate connection was found between H index and both GDP per capita (r=0.459, p=0.005) and GERD as percent of GDP (r=0.579, p=0.000). Health expenditure showed the strongest correlations to bibliometric parameters. Nonetheless, most data showed some degree of positive correlations between economics and scholar productivity. Conclusion: This study emphasizes the positive relation between scholar productivity and economic indicators, mostly health expenditure, in the OECD countries in the field of ORL-HNS, implying the importance of health investment to ORL-HNS research.


Objective Radiotherapy is the first-choice treatment for nasophyngeal carcinoma(NPC),and recent years have witnessed the application of the intensity modulated radiation therapy(IMRT) to its treatment.This study was to evaluate 3.0T MRI in assessing the effect of IMRT on NPC.Methods We retrospectively analyzed the MRI characteristics of 20 NPC patients treated by IMRT,and compared the sizes,signals and margins of the lesions before and after the treatment.Results After IMRT,18 of the lesions decreased in size,1 showed no obvious change,and 1 increased in size,with significant differences from pretreatment(P0.05);the signal intensity of diffusion-weighted imaging(DWI) significantly decreased,while the apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC) remarkably increased as compared with pretreatment(P0.05).The maximum slope(MS) was reduced and the time to peak(TTP) prolonged in 10 cases of dynamic contrast-enchancement(DCE),metastatic lymph nodes became smaller in 8,paranasal sinusitis developed in 6,and mastoiditis in 1 after IMRT.Conclusion 3.0T MRI can desirably manifest the changes in NPC after radiotherapy,and can be applied to the evaluation of the results of IMRT.


Abstract : The objective of this effort was to test and evaluate the durability of recently developed expedient repair materials and to compare their performance to standard commercial materials that have a proven track record of being durable. Testing included freeze-thaw, rapid chloride ion permeability, volume of permeable voids, and a time-to-corrosion test developed by the Florida Department of Transportation. Expedient repair materials, Shotcrete, Air Force Base Civil Engineer (BCE), Airbase Operability (ABO).


Primary Examiner-Sam Silverberg Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Ernest G. Szoke; Wayne C. Jaeschke; Norvell E. Wisdom 57 ABSTRACT The present invention relates to a composition and pro cess for metal finishing involving the formation of zinc phosphate coatings of desired morphology on a ferrous surface. The inclusion of a hydroxylamine agent in the phosphating bath expands the range of zinc concentra tions over which the desired coating morphology is obtained. Zinc and aluminum surface can also be coated with this composition and process.


Following the location of a major steel plant in a rural Utah county, thousands of new people came into the area to seek industrial employment and many more people living in the county migrated occupation-wise into industry. From previous studies in the field of labor mobility, a series of hypotheses were set up and tested to see if this situation showed trends in agreement with other such situations. 1. It was found in this study that the majority of industrial workers came from the local labor market within the county. Following this, workers migrated into the county from contiguous counties in the state. While most of the workers were from Utah, some were from out of state and, contrary to expectations, the majority of workers did not come from contiguous states. Evidently recruiting policies and other factors drew workers to Utah from more distant states than from adjoining states. 2. While it is generally true that it is the younger men who migrate, and this study indicated that only ten percent of immigrant workers were over 45, there was no direct inverse correlation between age and distance of migration. In this case instead of age decreasing as distance increased, there was a positive correlation between age and distance. 3. It was also hypothesized that labor turnover is a function of migratory tendencies, age, and education. It was found as expected that those workers with previous records of termination were most likely to terminate their employment and move on. Also as expected the younger workers had a higher termination record than older workers. In the case of education, three studies had found that the more educated were more likely to be occupationally mobile. This study found that the terminated workers had less education on the average than those who continued their employment. 4. As workers migrated into the industrial area, the trend was to seek residence on accessible roads to the work plant in communities close to the plant with adequate community services. This is in agreement with other studies. It was also evident that workers in the county formerly living in rural areas moved into closer urban communities as they obtained employment in the steel plant. 5. Within the rural county itself there was a marked shift in population composition from rural to urban and a decided change in occupational trends from agriculture to industry. We would expect now the trend of behavior in most activities in the county to be more consistent with urban than with rural life.


In their article "Desperately seeking targets: the ethics of routine HIV testing in low-income countries" published in the Bulletin in January 2006, Stuart Rennie & Frieda Behets explore some of the ethical challenges of routine ("opt-out") HIV testing in low-income countries.1 They argue that such testing policies violate human rights since patients do not have sufficient liberty to say "no". In response, we would like to draw attention to the high unmet demand for HIV testing, share our experiences in providing routine HIV testing and counselling (RTC) and discuss the ethical balance between the right not to know one's serostatus and the rights to care and prevention.

HIV counselling and testing are vital: they provide an opportunity to reduce the risk of individuals becoming infected; while those who are already infected can receive care and be supported to avoid transmitting the virus. After two decades of voluntary counselling and testing, over 90% of the HIV-infected individuals worldwide are unaware of their serostatus. Only 15% of Uganda's population has accessed HIV counselling and testing, although 70% desire to be tested. We must change our approach to challenge this situation.

RTC is not a departure from "voluntariness", because patients can opt-out. In Mulago and Mbarara hospitals in Uganda, we have been providing RTC since 2004. Health-care providers routinely offer HIV testing to patients but emphasize their right to opt-out. Care for HIV-positive patients is initiated at the time of diagnosis. The majority of individuals offered testing (over 95%) accept and receive their results,2 with over 90% reporting that they feel relieved after being tested.

Patients' rights are emphasized throughout Rennie & Behets's article but only in relation to opting-out of HIV testing. While all rights are important, the ethical balance between the right not to be tested and the rights to care and prevention is weighted towards the latter. Many people in low-income countries desire to be tested and would do so voluntarily if an HIV test were offered to them.3,4

Gender-related violence is common in low-income countries. However, HIV counselling and testing programmes are not the root cause of such violence. For example, in Uganda one such programme that implemented testing of couples was not associated with any increases in domestic violence.5

Rennie & Behet stress antiretroviral therapy but do not highlight prevention and other forms of care. For HIV-infected people, knowledge of their serostatus can reduce risky sexual behaviour by 65%.6 Provision of co-trimoxazole (trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole) prophylaxis reduces HIV-related mortality by 50% at minimal cost.

Rather than discouraging use of routine HIV testing and counselling, we should find ways of addressing the issues that Rennie & Behets raise; otherwise, we will miss an opportunity to diagnose, treat and stop the spread of HIV infection. ■


We deal with semantic image segmentation using deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and propose to extent a well-trained model to capture more classes. Because ground truth is very expensive in such a pixel-wise classification task, we avoid the manual annotation of the new classes by using a binary segmentation model to support the class extension. We use soft targets (probabilities), reuse and distill knowledge from the old segmentation model, and fuse information from the binary model to regularize the training of a new model with extended classes. In the experiments, we show that our method outperforms two other methods and improves the accuracy of small object classes. Moreover, our method is robust and more capable of tolerating bad binary models.


Histological and histochemical changes in the livers of 40 adult male albino rats (Rattus norvegicus) were studied at different intervals following methyl alcohol administration. The animates were divided into three groups. Methanol was administrated by oral a intubation in two doses (1m1/Kg. body weight and 2m1/Kg. body weight, respectively) for twenty consecutive days. Then the animals were killed after different periods of time (5, 10 and 20 days). The changes appeared to be time and/or dose dependent. Early signs of hepatic changes were characterized by hydropic degeneration, nuclear pyknosis, erosion of the endothelial lining of the blood vessels, vascular congestion and internal haemorrhage. Degenerative hepatic cells were seen invaded by inflammatory infiltrative cells. Maximum signs of deterioration were detected when 2m1/Kg. body weight was given. The first dose of methanol (1m1/Kg. body weight) caused depletion of liver glycogen, lipids, total proteins, proteins containing NH group, nucleic acids contents, and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH). Also, it caused a significant elevation of alkaline and acid phosphatase activities. The second dose of methanol (2m1/Kg. body weight) showed stronger effects on the 10th and 20th days of administration.


In this research paper, the solar irradiance of flat plate solar collector was evaluated using experimental and numerical analysis. In the experiment, an automatic solar simulator was designed and built to simulate the solar irradiance. The simulator was controlled by an Arduino board. The light source and fabrication of the simulator were used for a wide range of testing and the comparison was made between different cases. The test was performed on a flat plate double glazing solar collector with different base fluids; ethylene glycol (EG), glycerine, and water. To enhance the heat transfer, Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles having a diameter of 20 nm were added. In order to investigate the effect of volume fraction on the heat absorption, three-volume fractions, 0.2%, 0.45, and 0.6%, were used in this study. Laminar flow was considered with a flow rate of 1 L/min. Solar irradiance was measured from 11:00 to 13:00 on September 25 th , 2016. COMSOL 5.2a was used in a numerical analysis of flat plate solar collector. A good agreement between numerical and experimental for all cases was observed. The maximum temperature difference between inlet and outlet was found when the (water/ Al 2 O 3) was used as a working fluid at a volume fraction of 0.6%.


Increased oil prices and a new awareness of the potential detrimental effects of human activity on the environment have shaped the world's priorities in the last few months. This has touched the lives of millions of people, many of whom may not even be aware of the immediate consequences of this new consciousness. As soon as governments announced that food crops such as corn and sugarcane would be used to produce biofuels as an alternative to oil, the prices of these commodities skyrocketed and their availability rapidly decreased. For example, in Mexico, during late 2006 and early 2007, corn prices increased almost 70% within six months. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA; 4), this year the United States is going to use 18–20% of its total corn crop for the production of ethanol, and it is estimated that by 2008 that figure will jump to 25%. As the ethanol industry absorbs a larger share of the corn crop, higher prices will affect not only domestic uses but also exports. This will provide for a more intense competition and demand for basic grains for food and feed production in addition to their use for food ingredient production, i.e., starch and high fructose corn syrup. According to the USDA, U.S. feed corn typically accounts for 50–60% of total corn production, and the United States typically represents 60–70% of world corn exports. In addition, to date, the growth in coarse grain trade is strongly linked to the expansion of livestock production in regions unable to meet their own forage and feed needs. Mexico, along with China, North Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Japan, and South Korea, represent large, mature markets for these grains. Thus, as the use of corn for production of alternative fuels increases, the available corn for food and animal feed production as well as that available for participation in the export market will decrease, greatly impacting the more vulnerable populations whose diets depend strictly on these basic grains. In Mexico, these are not good days. The worst tortilla crisis in modern history is rapidly evolving. The dramatic rise in international corn prices spurred by the increased demand for grain-based fuel ethanol has led to extremely expensive tortillas, the staple for a large segment of the population. Tortilla prices have tripled or quadrupled in many parts of Mexico within the last year. At the peak of the crisis, President Calderón announced an agreement with business leaders to cap tortilla prices at US$0.78 per kg, less than half of the highest reported prices, in an attempt to protect food availability. However, this price cap does not carry the force of the law and cannot withstand the Rebeca LÓpez-GaRcÍa


Often the term "plain English" is equated with "readability, " or the movement to make specialized language easier to understand. While practitioners should indeed strive for an understandable style, this article argues that more compel ling imperatives underlie plain English, especially in business. A genuine belief in honest, responsive communication, for example, needs to be central to a company's values and culture if plain English is to become anything more than a blue-collar version of hype. Beyond that, the company needs to implement carefully considered policies to insure that plain English establishes itself as the mainstay of healthy communication.