Like other former Soviet republics, Estonia's budget ( tax and expenditure authorities) was tied to the all-Union budget of the USSR. In 1990, Estonia began the reformulation of its own budget and the restructuring of the tax system. In 1993, the Estonian Parliament passed the Law on Land Tax to go hand in hand with land restitution and ownership reform. The paper begins with a historical overview of land taxation in Estonia leading up to the current (1995) land tax. Next, it offers a statistical model for estimating land tax revenues. The model estimates are then contrasted with actual data obtained from the Estonian National Tax Board. The paper finds that land tax revenues are modest at best, accounting for only 7 percent of local revenues. The results of the analysis indicate that both tax bases and tax rates need to be reviewed annually to enhance the tax capacity of municipal government. Introduction On May 10, 1993, the Estonian parliament passed the Law on Land Tax as a part of a reform agenda dealing with budgetary reform in general and land reform in particular. Before independence, Estonia's budget was closely tied to the all-Union budget of the USSR; the rules governing revenues and expenditures were spelled out in 1941 by newly enacted budget laws and the 1940 constitution. Reformulation of the Estonian budget started well before the re-establishment of independence. In 1990, revenues transferred from Estonia to the budget of the USSR were reduced and then halted in 1991. During 1990–91 the government introduced a new tax system that replaced the Soviet system and the state budget was completely severed from the all-Union budget. Over the next five years, the structure of state revenue was overhauled and budget reform established. This paper provides an overview of land taxation in Estonia and addresses two issues: (1) assignment of tax sources between the state and local governments and (2) the significance of land taxation as a local tax source in meeting the financial needs of local governments. The paper concludes with a few observations on the efficiency of land taxes compared to alternative forms of taxation, particularly for newly emerging market economies. This paper, the third of three dealing with land reform in Estonia, was originally published as a working paper by the Lincoln Institute of land Policy, 113 Brattle Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts; www.lincolninst.edu/lincoln . The statements made or views expressed by authors in Assessment Journal do not necessarily represent a policy position of the International Association of As-


The vessel hydrostatic test is one of the important test means of the nuclear vessel sealing and pressure resistance, and it is an important project in the plant overhaul. Because the vessel hydrostatic test involves many key systems and key vessels, and it belongs to the critical path or time critical path in plant overhaul, how to estimate the vessel hydrostatic test duration in overhaul is necessary. This paper discusses the actual hydrostatic test time of different vessels in pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant overhaul, and divides the test time into three categories, that is long (more than 6 days), medium (3 to 6 days), and short time duration for a project (less than 3 days). This paper also discusses the key factors that influence the vessel hydrostatic test duration and puts forward the optimization suggestions of vessel hydrostatic test duration.


One of the best ways of preventing accidents is to avoid hazards by inherently safer design. As many processes, particularly those in the chemicals, nuclear and oil industries, involve the production, handling and use of hazardous substances, process intensification (PI) apparently offers to the plant managers many benefits such as safer, cleaner, smaller, and cheaper equipments. Process Intensification could lead to a higher process flexibility, increased inherent safety and energy efficiency, distributed manufacturing capability, and ability to use reactants at higher concentrations. These goals are achieved by multifunctional reactors, e.g. reactive distillation or membrane reactors, and miniaturization that can be done by employing micro reactors and/or improving heat and mass transfer. Within the benefits of process intensification with reference to process safety the following can be considered: The use of process intensification can reduce the number of process operations, which leads to fewer transfer operations and less pipework, preventing source of leakages; It can be easier to design a smaller vessel to contain the maximum pressure of any probable explosion; For exothermic reactions, the enhanced specific surface area of intensified plants makes heat transfer, and thus heat removal, easier, minimising the triggering potential of a runaway reaction. Process intensification has thus the potential to be a significant factor in the implementation of inherent safety practices Although safety can benefit from process intensification, it should be ensured that new hazards are not created. This can be obtained applying at a early design stage the reliability and safety analysis that are traditionally used in process risk assessment. In this paper in particular the above techniques are applied to a VOC (Volatile organic compound) treatment plant, comparing the traditional plant (a fixed bed reactor) to the intensified reverse flow reactor. From the results of the application of a recursive operability analysis and the successive fault trees fully quantified, some conclusions are drawn from the point of view of the reliability of intensified processes and from the adequateness of risk assessment methodologies


Abstract Results of a survey of high risk situations of 82 male sex offenders in treatment suggests that there are certain high risk situations which occur more frequently than others. The most frequent high risk situations consisted of those related to unpleasant or disturbing emotions, cognitive distortions, deviant sexual arousal, and planning the sexual offense. The survey supported the Relapse Prevention approach as a viable and useful tool for risk reduction, supervision, and treatment intervention as well as a useful client tool for self-monitoring and behavioral change.


We investigate the fluorescence properties of dye molecules embedded in core-shell plasmonic nanoparticles. The absorption and emission dynamics of the dyes may be modified by engineering the plasmonic resonance of the core-shell structure.


Tenocytes are the principal cells of the human Achilles tendon. In tendinosis, changes in the metabolism and morphology of these cells occur. Neurotrophins are growth factors essential for the deve ...


Recent observational data suggests a high compacticity (the quotient M/R) of some "neutron" stars. Motivated by these works we revisit models based on quark–diquark degrees of freedom and address the question of whether that matter is stable against diquark disassembling and hadronization within the different models. We find that equations of state modeled as effective λϕ4 theories do not generally produce stable self-bound matter and are not suitable for constructing very compact star models, that is the matter would decay into neutron matter. We also discuss some insights obtained by including hard sphere terms in the equation of state to model repulsive interactions. We finally compare the resulting equations of state with previous models and emphasize the role of the boundary conditions at the surface of compact self-bound stars, features of a possible normal crust of the latter and related topics.


The present paper extends anterior pituitary injection work in this laboratory with rats (1) to mice, and stresses the effect upon the male genital system. The work of Evans and associates (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) on rats, of Robertson and Ray (7) on mice, and of Putnam, Teel and Benedict (8) on rats and dogs have shown a stimulation of growth from injected extracts of this gland. Similar influences have also been indicated by other work on hypophysectomized rats (9, 10, 11), on thyroidectomized rats (12), and on castrated rats (13, 14). Evans and Long (2, 3) reported inhibition of oestrus and excessive lutein formation in female rats from such injections and similar results have been obtained by Johnson and Sayles (1). Stimulation of sexual development on the other hand has been produced by transplant methods (9, 15, 16, 17) and by extracts prepared from urine of pregnant women (18, 19, 20). Fertility in male rats appeared at first not to be affected by anterior pituitary injections (21) but later work indicated ...


SUBTITLE: WHETHER CHANGE IS GRADUAL OR SUDDEN, IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO REVIEW YOUR LOGISTICS STRATEGY REGULARLY. YOUR CHANGING NEEDS MAY REQUIRE MODIFICATIONS IN YOUR LOGISTICS NETWORK.


The small granules of barley starch were shown to differ from the large granules both in chemical composition and heat-induced functional properties. The small granules had a higher lipid:amylose ratio and also higher dissociation enthalpy of the amylose-lipid complex than the large granules. This may explain the better stability of amylopectin in the gel of small starch granules as analysed by DSC. The small granules had a 4°C higher gelatinisation temperature than the large granules. During heating up to 90°C, the fraction obtained by aqueous leaching of small granules was mainly amylopectin, whereas the carbohydrate solubilized from large granules was mainly amylose.


Shortage of brides is a consequence of lesser number of females in Haryana over a long stretch of time. If men don't choose to remain unmarried, those who don't get the wife locally buy brides from other states. The men who need to buy brides are typically rural, uneducated, less educated or unemployed. Sufferers of low sex ratio belong to lower socio-economic strata. In rural Haryana, extent of bride buying is reported in 3.18 per cent households, which amounts to a large number. Practice is widespread which continues for a long time. This study reports the cases even upto 45 years and extent of such marriages is growing over time. Average amount the bride's family receives is not very high, just about Rs.40,000/-, out of which nothing goes to the bride. Cross border wives are not well accepted and respected in the community. They are treated with prejudice. In spite of it the practice persists and brides come from all over India. If decline in child sex ratio continues across the country, it will be hard for future generation men in Haryana to buy cross border brides.


The first part of the article provides a theoretical analysis of the study of the problem of PTSD, its impact on the development of various psychopathological reactions, as well as the role in the emergence of aggressive motives and ideas of revenge The results of empirical studies conducted at different times among the population of the Chechen Republic, which revealed the presence of a large number of examined post-traumatic disorders, are described separately. The second part presents the results of our own empirical study of the ideas of revenge and methods for their implementation, as well as the manifestations of various forms of aggressive behavior.


Uranium nitride compounds are important molecular analogues of uranium nitride materials such as UN and UN2 which are effective catalysts in the Haber–Bosch synthesis of ammonia, but the synthesis of molecular nitrides remains a challenge and studies of the reactivity and of the nature of the bonding are poorly developed. Here we report the synthesis of the first nitride bridged uranium complexes containing U(vi) and provide a unique comparison of reactivity and bonding in U(vi)/U(vi), U(vi)/U(v) and U(v)/U(v) systems. Oxidation of the U(v)/U(v) bis-nitride [K2{U(OSi(OtBu)3)3(μ-N)}2], 1, with mild oxidants yields the U(v)/U(vi) complexes [K{U(OSi(OtBu)3)3(μ-N)}2], 2 and [K2{U(OSi(OtBu)3)3}2(μ-N)2(μ-I)], 3 while oxidation with a stronger oxidant ("magic blue") yields the U(vi)/U(vi) complex [{U(OSi(OtBu)3)3}2(μ-N)2(μ-thf)], 4. The three complexes show very different stability and reactivity, with N2 release observed for complex 4. Complex 2 undergoes hydrogenolysis to yield imido bridged [K2{U(OSi(OtBu)3)3(μ-NH)}2], 6 and rare amido bridged U(iv)/U(iv) complexes [{U(OSi(OtBu)3)3}2(μ-NH2)2(μ-thf)], 7 while no hydrogenolysis could be observed for 4. Both complexes 2 and 4 react with H+ to yield quantitatively NH4Cl, but only complex 2 reacts with CO and H2. Differences in reactivity can be related to significant differences in the U–N bonding. Computational studies show a delocalised bond across the U–N–U for 1 and 2, but an asymmetric bonding scheme is found for the U(vi)/U(vi) complex 4 which shows a U–N σ orbital well localised to U
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 N and π orbitals which partially delocalise to form the U–N single bond with the other uranium.


Critics who were sceptical of the particular fusion of law and history in natural jurisprudence launched their assaults in the later eighteenth-century from within established religious denominations, or asserted the view that the anticipated reforms would fail, being insufficiently grounded on an accurate portrayal of human nature. The latter approach has been especially associated with Jeremy Bentham, who for many scholars has become the most prominent opponent of rights-based theories. This chapter reconsiders this view, charting Bentham's view of natural rights from his earliest writings to the summary Constitutional codes developed for post-Napoleonic Europe. The Bentham who emerges, rather than being a consistent enemy of the kinds of declarations of rights that marked the American and French Revolutions, was instead building upon much of the jurisprudence he condemned in his rhetoric. The chapter revises the commonplace view of Bentham and his intellectual origins in consequence.


: This study aims to determine the effect of post-stroke fatigue on motor function as seen from dynamic balance in the elderly. The results of this examination are considered because they are an important component of stroke recovery. The research was conducted at the Sri Mulyani Physiotherapy Clinic, West Jakarta for approximately 1 month, from January to March 2023. The measurement instruments in this study were the FAS to see post-stroke fatigue in the elderly and the Time Up and Go Test (TUG) to see dynamic balance function in the elderly. The results of the study were based on examining post-stroke fatigue using FAS before and after the intervention. There was a significant effect (p value = 0.0001****) in the examination group I


Augmented Reality (AR) has become an emerging educational technology in classroom practice and science education. While most research and contemporary meta-analyses reveal benefits with regard to knowledge acquisition and motivation of Augmented Reality–based learning environments, most of the studies lack a clear and fair control condition. In this research, we compared an AR-based learning environment with a paper-based learning environment for self-directed learning about the human digestive system. In an experiment, we examined the effects of these two conditions for knowledge acquisition, cognitive load, and experience of flow and immersion. Results reveal significantly higher outcomes in favor of the text-based instruction with regard to conceptual domain knowledge and mental representation of the human digestive system and its involved organs. Positive effects of the AR learning environment are limited to a higher experience of immersion.


ABSTRACT This content analysis provides an overview of articles on collaboration between counselling professionals and school personnel published in the 21 American Counseling Association (ACA) journals over the last 15 years. In addition to the number of collaboration-specific articles published each year during this time period, other content areas such as authorship and institutional contributors; type of article, methodology of empirical research, and application settings; target populations; and topics of focus are identified. Recommendations for counselling scholars are provided.


Recent research has generated conflicting findings regarding the role of employment and earnings versus criminal justice sanctions in reducing crime. Further disagreement exists over the relative effectiveness of increased certainty versus increased severity of punishment as deterrents to crime. This paper uses a large data set containing criminal and labor market histories of a broad sample of young male arrestees to estimate an economic model of crimes. Deterrence, incapacitation, and criminal human capital effects are measured, and the effects of employment and earnings on criminal activity are estimated. The results largely reconcile the conflicting findings from previous research. Copyright 1991 by Oxford University Press.


David Barsamian: What are the regional implications of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq? Noam Chomsky: I think not only the region but the world in general perceives it correctly as a kind of an easy test case to try to establish a norm for use of military force, which was declared in general terms last September. Last September, the National Security Strategy of the United States of America was issued. It presented a somewhat novel and unusually extreme doctrine on the use of force in the world. And it's hard not to notice that the drumbeat for war in Iraq coincided with that. It also coincided with the onset of the congressional campaign. All these are tied together. This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


This paper analyzes the factors affecting students' writing ability and proposes to improve the understanding of writing teaching, to choose and integrate the current teaching materials, to reform teaching methods and to arouse students' interest in writing.


Plans are at an advanced stage to build a Gemstone centre at Voi in Taita Taveta County by the National government. This is a major development that will transform the gemstone industry forever. This Gemstone Center will address the thorny problems of the industry that have been arresting its breakthrough once and for all. This Gemstone Center will provide a wide range of services including gemstone banking, state of the art gemstone laboratories, gemstone buying centre, gemstone cutting and polishing laboratory, among others. This will enable the Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners access international markets within their locality. Consequently, it is likely to eliminate a number of players along the value chain and cut out the current cartel of landlords and brokers ensuring more income to artisan miners. Since Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners (ASM) have been informal they often form partnerships with brokers who act as 'supporters or sponsors'. This was evident at Mkuki, Kasigau and Alia gemstone mines. The brokers would provide the miners with food, water, mining equipment, contingency funds and any other relevant item critical to the process of mineral exploitation. Most of these brokers are exploitative as they get a large portion of the sales from the gemstones, since they are accorded the rights to sell the gemstone leaving only a small percentage to the actual hands-on miners. The benefit-sharing between the miners and the brokers in most cases is tilted towards the later. Hence this study seeks to examine the possible impacts of the Gemstone Center to the gemstone industry in the county with regards to the value chain and commercial interactions. The information provided was collected in the month of November 2014which involved interviewing a number of the stake holders.


An APPLE-II type variably polarizing undulator was installed in the SAGA-LS storage ring in 2008. We investigated the influence of the undulator on the electron beam. Based on the beam test results, we developed a feedforward correction system that minimizes the effects of the undulator. This correction system successfully compensates for closed orbit distortion, betatron tune shift, and variation in betatron coupling when the pole gap and phase are changed.


Thermal energy storage is widely employed in waste heat recovery. Phase change materials (PCMs) are a type of promising thermal storage (TES) approach featuring high energy stored or released during melting and freezing. In this study, a latent heat storage system is designed to collect the waste heat from hot air while its efficiency is experimentally investigated. The system consists of five cuboid chambers to store PCMs and six air channels to deliver the exhausted gas. Paraffin wax is selected as the tested PCMs and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is applied to calibrate its melting range and latent heat. In the experiments, the effects of average air velocities and inlet air temperature on the performance of the latent heat storage unit are experimentally investigated. The experiments show that the designed TES unit can store maximally thermal energy for near 4510 kJ within 250 min, while the latent heat occupies 15 % at fan speed 25 RPM and the heater power with 2 kW. It is indicated that increasing of air mass flow rate and increasing of air inlet temperature can improve the heat transfer performance. It is found that the temperature profiles in the freezing process are smoother than those in the melting process.


Taking the bridge project in JHTJ-3 bid section of Jinghu High-speed Railway as an example.the paper summarizes the construction method to gunite polyrea water proofing layer on bridge surface,introduces construction process in detail,puts forward construction quality standard,presents measures to mend common quality defect,and summarizes problems that need careful attention in construction


Unlike spin ice on pyrochlore lattice, the spin ice structure on kagome lattice retains net magnetic charge, indicating non-negligible dipolar interaction in modulating the spin ice states. While it is predicted that the dipolar spin ice on kagome lattice exhibits a ground state with magnetic charge order and √3 × √3 spin order, our work focuses on the magnetization plateau of this system. By employing the Wang-Landau algorithm, it is revealed that the lattice exhibits the fantastic three-step magnetization in response to magnetic field h along the [10] and [01] directions, respectively. For the h//[1 0] case, an additional √3/6Ms step, where Ms is the saturated magnetization, is observed in a specific temperature range, corresponding to a new state with charge order and short-range spin order.


Our laboratories have been characterizing the interactions between exercise and pain‐like states in rodents. The present set of experiments characterized the effects of monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) on hind limb weight bearing in rats that were either sedentary or had access to running wheels. Rats were given intra‐articular saline or MIA (3.2 mg) into the left hind knee. Rats were divided into two groups. Group 1 had 24 hr voluntary access to running wheels for 42 consecutive days (21 days acquisition followed by 21 days post‐MIA). Group 2 had no access to running wheels. Weight bearing was measured on post‐MIA days 3, 7, and 21. In sedentary rats, MIA produced shifts onto the uninjured hind limb on PD 3, 7 only. In rats with access to running wheels, MIA produced weight asymmetry on PD 3, 7 and 21. To determine potential causal mechanisms behind the differences between sedentary and exercised rats, ex vivo microCT imaging analysis was performed to assess architectural changes to hind limb distal femur/proximal tibia and knee. Data indicated that MIA runners had greater lateral (but not medial) subchondral total volume loss relative to MIA non‐runners. Data for trabecular region are currently being analyzed. These results suggest that within the specific parameters of this study, voluntary wheel running exacerbated the effects of MIA‐induced OA on both behavioral and bone biology measures.


The stereochemistry of the new chiral centre C7 in the title galactosyl α-aminoester diastereomer product, C25H37NO7, has been established as S. The pyranose ring has a twist-boat conformation due to the presence of the two isopropylidene ketal moieties. The molecule contains no intramolecular hydrogen bond.


Abstract. Introduction. Researchers and banking practitioners pay considerable attention to the analysis of the impact of inflation on the banking sector. The statement of the scientists as to the nature of inflation, corresponding to the modern development of the economic processes, is an approach to the origin of inflation based on the imbalance in money supply and demand. Purpose. During 2014-2017, the political and economic crises in Ukraine led to imbalances in the main macroeconomic proportions, which negatively affected the development of the banking system and, as a result, caused rising of the inflation rate, cash outflow, increasing dollarization and declining purchasing power. Inflation processes had a negative impact on the banks' performance, namely, the rise in inflation reduced lending and interest income and increased interest expenses, what, therefore, reduced banks' net interest income. Results. While assessing the impact of inflation on the banks' performance, it was determined that 2019 was a year of the banks' performance record. According to the statistics, when the inflation rate fell to record low of 4.05%, BSU's profit in 2019 reached a historic high: solvent banks received UAH 58.36 billion of net profit, which is 2.7 times higher than the previous year historical record. Thus, the implementation of the NBU's stimulating monetary policy contributes to the achievement of the projected social and economic goals of the society and is an essential factor in ensuring the stability of the banking system, creating the appropriate basis: price stability and low inflation in the long run. Conclusions. According to the results of the analysis, it is possible to state that in 2020 and in the coming years, due to the qualitative monetary policy of the NBU and a decrease in inflation, there is a reason to expect an increase in net profit of the banking system in Ukraine. This positive trend will renew the banking sector in Ukraine, which will lead to its profitability and efficiency. Keywords: inflation, inflation component, inflation targeting, monetary policy, banks' performance, lending.


The syntheses of several kind of natural product skeletal including as ring C aromatic diterpenes, labdane, diterpenoid, purines and tricarbocyclic diterpenes from the diterpenoid (+)-manool are described in this review.


Calcific aortic valve sclerosis (CAVS) causes profound morbidity in our increasingly dysmetabolic and aging citizenry.1 Two to five percent of our elderly population will require aortic valve replacement surgery to mitigate risk of death due to severe CAVS. Once considered only a passive process of dead and dying cells, arteriosclerotic calcification, including CAVS, has emerged as an actively regulated form of mineralized tissue metabolism.1 Preclinical and epidemiological studies reveal that aging; tobacco use; renal failure; bicuspid aortic valve; and the features of metabolic syndrome, hypertension, worsening glycemic control, hypertriglyceridemia, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and obesity,2 are cumulative risk factors for arteriosclerotic valve calcification.1 Although hypercholesterolemia certainly contributes to risk of arteriosclerotic disease, targeting cholesterol via lipid-lowering statin therapy is insufficient to fully mitigate disease progression.1 Seminal histological studies by Otto et al3 indicate that although early valve lesions do exhibit intra- and extracellular lipid accumulation with inflammation, features of active matrix remodeling are present as well, including disruption of the elastic lamina with lamina fibrosa protein accumulation and microcalcification. With advanced disease, remodeling woven bone can be seen in ca. 13% of specimens4 although the molecular fingerprints of active osteogenesis are uniformly present even when amorphous calcium phosphate deposits predominate.1,4 Currently no medical therapies exist for preventing or treating CAVS, and our capacity to identify those at greatest risk for clinical progression is limited.1 In the Japanese Aortic Stenosis Study (JASS), although warfarin use portended worsening disease, treatment of hypertension with angiotensin receptor blockade was associated with attenuated risk of CAVS progression.5 …


As a part of intercultural business negotiation,interpersonal language is viewed as a way to exchange information and emotion.Knowledge of interpersonal language in negotiation helps people communicate effectively by avoiding unnecessary conflicts.This paper focuses on the interpersonal language in different stages of negotiation,in order to show the effects of interpersonal language to negotiation.


Mushaf lipat Abu is a manuscript given by a collector from Jakarta named Abu in 2018. The purpose of this paper is to findi out the contents and describe and introduce the mushaf lipat because of the uniqueness of the manuscripts and to add studies to the Nusantara manuscripts using philological theory. Mushaf lipat Abu was studied using philological theory and translation theory. The method used for data collection is a catalog study method and a field study method with a note-taking technique whose purpose is to find a manuscript whether there are variants. The method used in analyzing the data is the standard method of single manuscript edition and the method of presentation is descriptive analytical method. The results showed that the mushaf lipat is a codex unicus because it is not contained in the catalog that the researcher refers to. Mushaf lipat consists of two main materials, namely wood and paper, mushaf lipat contains four letters in the Qur'an, namely Al-Fatihah as an opening letter, As-Sajdah, Ad-Duha, and Al-Ikhlas.


The objective of the research is to know the relationship between the Teaching Strategies and English Language Learning of secondary school students of a public educational institution. The study was quantitative, the correlational non-experimental design and to correlate the variables with the Pearson Correlation coefficient. The results indicate that there is a direct relationship in a high degree of correlation (0.836) between the independent variable Teaching Strategies and the dependent variable Learning English Language of the students. Conclusions: The Teaching Strategies is directly related to the English Language Learning of the students. The relation refers to the fact that the average score obtained in the application of the Teaching strategies is 4.07 based on a maximum score of 5, which in its valuation scale is equal to "good", and the average marks of the English Language Learning is 14.87, which in its valuation scale is equal to "almost good", that is, there is a high relationship, because there is an application of teaching strategies with a good grade and almost level learning good.


This study summarizes results of a study of the internal, structural quality of 288 business applications comprising 108 million lines of code collected from 75 companies in 8 industry segments. Results are presented for measures of security, performance, and changeability. The effect of size on quality is evaluated, and the ability of modularity to reduce the impact of size is suggested.


Predicting user behavior is the cornerstone of intelligent services and applications for providing and optimizing services over mobile networks. In modern edge computing scenarios, contents and services will be ordered close to end-users and will be highly sensitive to user mobility. Deep Learning models have had significant success in performing prediction tasks. However, providing reliable predictions for real-world networks in scale requires the Neural Architecture Search to be optimized on a user basis. In this work, we present an LSTM-based mobility predictor to improve the trajectory prediction accuracy. To speed up the model convergence rate, we employ a reinforcement learning technique to automate the selection procedure of the best neural network architecture. To further accelerate the reinforcement learning environmental search procedure, we transfer the architecture knowledge learned from a teacher LSTM to a student LSTM via a transfer learning framework. Furthermore, we showcase the possible improvements of edge-computing enabled networks, in the form of a predictive handover algorithm that applies the prediction information to reduce the handover-failure rate, as well as handover-triggered service migration in edge computing layer of the network. Experiment results prove the efficiency of the proposal, its impacts on improving ping-pong handover, and the service migration.


Hydrotalcite-like compounds containing different metal ions were synthesized using co-precipitation method at a constant molar ratio 2∶1 of divalent cations to trivalent cations. Metal chloride was used as raw materials and ammonia as precipitator except for Cu-Mg-Al-HTlc,which was precipitated by NaOH. The structure and the chemical composition of samples were determined by X-Ray powder diffraction and automatic X-Ray fluorescent spectrometric analysis,respectively. SO_4 2- was used to exchange Cl - and OH - in the gallery and determine the anion exchange capacity of HTlc samples. The results of chemical analysis show that the amount of Cl - in the interlayer increased and the amount of OH - decreased when different divalent or trivalent metal ions substituted partial metals in the host layer,and the exchange capacity of Cl - increased and the exchange capacity of OH - decreased also. The value of exchange ratios indicated that Cl - in the gallery could be more easily exchanged than OH - by sulfate anion. The anion exchange capacity of HTlc was mainly determined by Cl -,and the value increased because of the metal ion substitution in the samples.


In this paper, the compaction of a multilayer copper powder medium by punch impact is analyzed by a pseudo-viscosity method: equal thickness layers of lower (L) and higher (H) initial densities are arranged alternately. In the early stage of compaction, reflection and transmission of induced shock and elastic waves occur at the interfaces in the medium. As a result, the L layers are selectively compressed at first until the density distribution in the medium is uniform. Compaction then continues by the shock waves propagating through the medium. The final mean is influenced greatly by die wall friction. The influence is less in the L-H type arrangement where an L layer is in direct contact with the punch than in the H-L type arrangement for a given number of layers, because energy loss due to wall friction is smaller in the former. Separation of the punch from the medium and subsequent reimpingement was found to occur in some of the H-L type compactions.


Let $f : X \to S$ be a family of smooth projective algebraic varieties over a smooth connected quasi-projective base $S$, and let $\mathbb {V} = R^{2k} f_{*} \mathbb {Z}(k)$ be the integral variation of Hodge structure coming from degree $2k$ cohomology it induces. Associated to $\mathbb {V}$ one has the so-called Hodge locus $\textrm {HL}(S) \subset S$, which is a countable union of 'special' algebraic subvarieties of $S$ parametrizing those fibres of $\mathbb {V}$ possessing extra Hodge tensors (and so, conjecturally, those fibres of $f$ possessing extra algebraic cycles). The special subvarieties belong to a larger class of so-called weakly special subvarieties, which are subvarieties of $S$ maximal for their algebraic monodromy groups. For each positive integer $d$, we give an algorithm to compute the set of all weakly special subvarieties $Z \subset S$ of degree at most $d$ (with the degree taken relative to a choice of projective compactification $S \subset \overline {S}$ and very ample line bundle $\mathcal {L}$ on $\overline {S}$). As a corollary of our algorithm we prove conjectures of Daw–Ren and Daw–Javanpeykar–Kühne on the finiteness of sets of special and weakly special subvarieties of bounded degree.


Many therapies have been recommended for remediation of learning disabilities. Elsewhere in this issue of Pediatrics, Silver1 presents a timely review of current methods of remediation with comments on their effectiveness which provides a valuable reference source for the physician dealing with learning-disabled children. A learning disability is an unexpected school failure in a circumscribed area of performance. The child must have relatively normal intelligence and willingness to learn. A cognitive deficit is presumed. If the child's problem involves reading, a selective reading disability exists. Selective disabilities occur in other areas such as arithmetic, art, and physical education, although these disabilities are seldom brought to clinical attention.


This book details the process of urban planning in Singapore by tracing its early growth on the banks of the Singapore River to its present structure.


This retrospective review with Level-IV evidence represents the experience of a highly skilled and experienced physician group with the Latarjet procedure. They report a substantial 25% complication rate for this procedure, including a 6% infection rate, an 8% instability recurrence rate, and a 10% rate of neurologic injury. The recurrence rate is especially worrisome, given the very short minimum follow-up duration of only six months. Two axillary nerve injuries were persistent at the time of the final follow-up. It should be remembered that complications reported for coracoid process transfer in the early 1990s resulted in that operation falling into some disfavor in the United States1.

It is difficult to compare this candid study with other reports …


Volume One consists of three chapters. The first chapter is a systematic literature review of research on social activity and community integration following traumatic brain injury. The second chapter is a qualitative empirical paper looking at the experiences of friendships of those persons with brain injuries, both pre-and post-injury. The final chapter is a public domain document. This is a summary that has been written with the purpose of sharing the findings of the empirical paper with the services involved in the recruitment of participants. Volume Two comprises of five Clinical Practice Reports (CPRs). The first report details the case of a 39 year-old-woman with a mild learning disability with a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), formulated using cognitive-behavioural and psychodynamic approaches. The second report is an evaluation of a new Single Point of Access (SPA) referral pathway for a community learning disability service. The third report presents the case of a 51-year-old man who received a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) intervention for a diagnosis of health anxiety and co-morbid panic disorder and depression, in a community mental health team. The fourth report is an abstract of an oral presentation of a single-case experimental design of a Trauma-Focussed CBT intervention for PTSD with a 12-year old boy. The fifth and final report is a neuropsychological assessment of a 39 year old woman with multiple sclerosis and anxiety.


A circuit arrangement comprising: - a first logic circuit (S2) comprising a first block with a function and a second block, - a communications interface (KS) - a programmable unused circuit logic (S1) by exactly the first block of the first circuit logic (S2) and the communications interface (KS) is connected and which is performed after programming the function of the first block of the first circuit logic (S2) take over, - a programmer (P), - one with the programmer (P) connected to the programming interface (PS), said programming means for programming the programmable logic circuit (S1) derived from one of the programming interface (PS) appended data stream is formed, - a detection device (D1) for detecting hardware failures, which is connected at least to the first circuit logic (S2).


Objective To build an animal model for Mycobacterium chelonei infection,and to evaluate the effect of chemotherapy on the infection. Methods The painting incisions with suspension of Mchelonei and the subcutaneous injecting with the bacterial suspension was performed. Results We satisfactorily built the animal model by injection,and the effect of chemotherapy in treatment groups had no difference with that in of control. Conclusion It is important to nutrient supporting,enhancing immunity of the infected,and select excision of focus in time.


The aim was to correlate the chewing performance and maximum bite force in children, considering the morphologic characteristics of occlusion and body mass index (BMI). Thirty-six children participated (19 girls and 17 boys, mean age 9.06 years). The occlusal characteristics were evaluated by intra-oral examination. Body weight (kg) and height (m) were assessed using a balance with anthropometrical scale, and BMI determined (kg/m 2 ). For chewing performance the children chewed a round silicone tablet (5 mm thick and 15 mm in diameter, 1.2 g ±0.005 g) with 20 strokes. The particle sizes were analyzed by a software. The bite force was determined with a pressurized rubber tube connected to a sensor element. There was no difference between genders in all variables. Bite force correlated negatively with particles sizes (p<0.001), meaning that high bite forces implicated in better chewing performance, and was weakly correlated with BMI (r=0.410, p<0.05). Children with different molar and canine relationship did not show differences among the variables. It was concluded that chewing performance depended on the maximum bite force, but other factors like the number and area of occlusal contacts, the amount of lateral excursion during mastication and dentition phase also may play a role. The occlusal characteristics did not influence the chewing measurements, whereas body size had a relationship with bite force.


Differentiating secondary headache from primary headache on history alone can sometimes be difficult. Headache "plus" other subtle cognitive features improves prediction. Patients and relatives may attribute subtle cognitive or behavioural changes to other causes (e.g. anxiety, low mood). Sematic verbal fluency - "how many animals can you think of in a minute" is commonly impaired on admission in patients with headache harbouring a tumour. We were interested whether SVFT at point of referral for scan would help predict a tumour and requested GPs report the SVFT on electronic referral for direct access scanning in cases with a history of headache suspicious of cancer. The aim of the pilot study was to establish if the SVFT was a "red flag" for secondary causes of headache. We report the results of a 20-month audit of cases.

 An electronic Protocol Based Referral (PBR) was developed for Headache Suspicious of Cancer to expedite scanning. The PBR sat alongside the routine e-DACI system that had been in use for some years. The GP was asked to complete the SVFT at the time of referral for scanning. Other data were gathered: PMH cancer; other symptoms/signs; co-morbid conditions and medications.

 GPs submitted requests for ePBR scanning in 669 cases over 20 months (62% females; Mean age 53: 60% <60 years). SVFT was completed on the request form in 381 (57%) cases. In these cases median SVFT was 17 animals. 11/381 cases were found to have cancer on scanning (2.9%): 10/188 cases with intracranial tumours had a SVFT <17 (5.32%) compared with one with a SVFT >=17. The median SVFT in cases with cancer was 10 animals. Other possible causes of SVFT <17 were - 53 psychiatric or chronic pain conditions on multiple drugs;12 were not native English speakers; 19 had co-existing dementia; 5 had small vessel disease; 4 cysts; 4 Giant Cell Arteritis ; 2 Chiari 1 malformation; PMH - encephalitis (1).

 A SVFT result <17, at the point of referral for brain imaging, in patients with headache suspicious of cancer was associated with intracranial cancer in more than 1:20 cases, whereas a SVFT of >=17 was associated with cancer in 1:200 cases. SVFT may be an additional useful "red flag". The most appropriate SVFT cut-off requires more research in a larger study. Low SVFT in headache patients may inform Cancer Referral Guidelines, improve the identification of secondary headache and help expedite cases.


SUMMARY: The authors present a technique to perform nerve conduction study in armadillos (D. novemcinctus) and suggest that 66.17 m/s could be the mean normal nerve conduction velocity for the sciatic nerve, a parameter that could be used for assessment of the peripheral nervous system in this animal, considered the choice for experimental development of leprosy neuropathy and even in other peripheral neuropathies.


The Saccharomyces cerevisiae amino acid transceptor Gap1 functions as receptor for signalling to the PKA pathway and concomitantly undergoes substrate‐induced oligo‐ubiquitination and endocytosis. We have identified specific amino acids and analogues that uncouple to certain extent signalling, transport, oligo‐ubiquitination and endocytosis. l‐lysine, l‐histidine and l‐tryptophan are transported by Gap1 but do not trigger signalling. Unlike l‐histidine, l‐lysine triggers Gap1 oligo‐ubiquitination without substantial induction of endocytosis. Two transported, non‐metabolizable signalling agonists, β‐alanine and d‐histidine, are strong and weak inducers of Gap1 endocytosis, respectively, but both causing Gap1 oligo‐ubiquitination. The non‐signalling agonist, non‐transported competitive inhibitor of Gap1 transport, l‐Asp‐γ‐l‐Phe, induces oligo‐ubiquitination but no discernible endocytosis. The Km of l‐citrulline transport is much lower than the threshold concentration for signalling and endocytosis. These results show that molecules can be transported without triggering signalling or substantial endocytosis, and that oligo‐ubiquitination and endocytosis do not require signalling nor metabolism. Oligo‐ubiquitination is required, but apparently not sufficient to trigger endocytosis. In addition, we demonstrate intracellular cross‐induction of endocytosis of transport‐defective Gap1Y395C by ubiquitination‐ and endocytosis‐deficient Gap1K9R,K16R. Our results support the concept that different substrates bind to partially overlapping binding sites in the same general substrate‐binding pocket of Gap1, triggering divergent conformations, resulting in different conformation‐induced downstream processes.


Objective:To assess the clinical value of bedside echocardiography for critical cardiovascular diseases and sum up its operate tips.Method:The clinical data from bedside echocardiography in 271 patients with critical cardiovascular disease from January to December in 2010 in the hospital were retrospectively analyzed by using LOGIQ (GE) bedside ultrasound instrument or IE33(PHILLIP) ultrasound instrument.Result:There was 44.3% positive rate in the bedside echocardiography results,including 94 patients who had abnormal segmental motion in left ventricular wall with acute coronary syndroms,six patients with valvular diseases,five patients with pericardial effusion,three patients with arotic dissection,two patients with infective endocarditis,three patients with congenital heart diseases,four patients with atrail masses and three patients with other cardiac diseases.Among them,the first diagnosis of 20 patients was corrected,then therapeutic strategy was changed,even the patients' lives were saved by bedside echocardiography.Conclusion:Bedside echocardiography can evaluate whether the patients with acute coronary syndromes have abnormal segmental wall movement and if their heart function works normally.It can also play a role in differential diagnosis and therapeutic plan for,who were diagnosed acute coronary syndroms firstly since untypical symptom.It can help to confirm the diagnosis and guide the puncture and drainage operation for the patients with large pericardial effusion,who had chest distress or dispnea.It can observe lively whether the emergency treatment was effective for the patients who were suspected highly with acute pulmonary embolism.


This article provides a 20-year retrospective on non-traditional trade marks in Australia. It presents the initial findings from an empirical study on the application and registration of such trade marks in Australia, since the introduction of the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth). It concludes that while the data shows that shape and colour trade marks remain popular subjects of trade mark applications, sounds and scents have yet to live up to the hype or pose the kinds of controversies that these categories of marks were anticipated to present.


The need to innovate and the advances in technology are inescapable issues in terms of meeting the expectations of the public and road users. These expectations are increasingly specific and demanding in many ways, including lower costs, better performance, and contribution to sustainable development, environmental protection, mobility and safety. In the 2004-2007 period, the work of PIARC Technical Committee 4.3 on Road Pavements focused on three main issues: long life pavements, recycling and the impact of road works on the road users and the surrounding environment. This work led to several observations pertaining to the obstacles that must be overcome in order to further the development and introduction of new pavement technologies. Depending on the development status of a product, a process, or a technique, various actions can be taken to support the innovation effort, and to bring winning products up to the practical application stage. A new concept can only be introduced if the client is made fully aware of the various factors related to the innovation. In order to realize the benefits of an innovation, the client must also be convinced that the concept can be replicated on a large scale in practice. In order to gain acceptance, the concept of long life cycle pavements must be supported by clear technical demonstrations that establish that their observed performance and value-per-dollar are advantageous. Many techniques cited in work carried out by TC 4.3 have already proven their worth, including recycling. However, they have not yet attained their full potential. Therein lies the great importance of the need to clearly inform clients and to provide designers and enterprises with technical tools. Although the many steps that have been taken to mitigate the impact of road works are well known, more innovations are required in order to meet the expectations of users and neighbouring residents during construction work. Finally, innovation efforts are more likely to succeed if the largest possible number of stakeholders is involved in the various stages. The client has a role to play in creating conditions that are conducive to technological progress. Meanwhile, engineers and enterprises must display creativity and excellence in engineering in order to develop superior performing new products and processes at attractive costs. For the covering abstract see ITRD E139491.


In robot-assisted orthopedic surgery,the locking of intramedullary nail needs to be operated with high position accuracy.So a calibration method with high accuracy is also needed.In this paper a method based on Kallman filter is presented.It avoideds calculating the coordinate values of vertex on the locating box but treats them as the state variables.The parameters of transformation from the pose of taking photos to the pose of drilling are treated as observation variables.The mapping relationship between the state variables and the observation variables are deduced.With the measuring of the observation variables and using Kalman filter to estimate the real states,the transformation matrix can be obtained indirectly.The experiment results show that the calibration accuracy of this method will not be affected by the abrasion of locating box due to the multiple calibrations,and with a high repeatability.


Description Theories and methods of molecular population genetics, with emphasis on human examples. How DNA sequence variation is analyzed to infer population history and to identity genes recently subject to selection. Laboratory exercises develop elementary programming skills using Python to show how computation is used in research to connect models and data. Satisfies Quantitative Intensive Requirement.


We report an improved method for the selective deprotection of the N-phenylcarbamoyl group, which yields the corresponding alcohol without affecting other protecting groups. Deprotection was performed using di-tert-butyl dicarbonate and tetran-butylammonium nitrite (Boc2O and Bu4NNO2) in pyridine at room temperature. This method is also effective for deprotecting the fluorous N-phenylcarbamoyl group. P groups are essential tools in organic chemistry. Introduction and removal of protecting groups are often key steps in the synthesis of oligosaccharides and polyfunctional natural products. Consequently, demand continues for more varied, robust, economical, and/or chemically differentiable protecting groups. One such protecting group, the N-phenylcarbamoyl (Car) group, is sometimes used to protect hydroxy groups in carbohydrates due to its stability over a wide pH range and its ability to direct stereochemistry during glycosylation (i.e., the neighboring group participating effect) similar to an ester group. Therefore, it would be advantageous if the deprotection conditions for removing ester and carbamate type protecting groups were orthogonal. The N-phenylcarbamoyl group is easily introduced with phenyl isocyanate/pyridine. However, the traditional cleaving method requires reflux conditions such as (i) NaOMe/MeOH, (ii) LiAlH4/THF or dioxane, 7 (iii) Cl3SiH, Et3N, or CH2Cl2 at 25−80 °C, or (iv) strong acid. Accordingly, other functional and protecting groups are often affected as well, except in the case of condition (iii). We previously reported a mild and selective method for deprotection of the N-phenylcarbamoyl group using Ac2O and Bu4NNO2 in pyridine 9 (Figure 1) and its application to the synthesis of partially acylated trisaccharide esters, telephiose A, and oligosaccharides. The deprotection reaction proceeds via N-nitrosation, i.e., activation of the carbonyl group attached to nitrogen. Deprotection is performed by nucleophilic attack on the carbonyl group, whereas nucleophilic attack at the N-nitroso nitrogen atom leads to the starting compound (no deprotection). However, this method has disadvantages such as the need for repeated addition of acetic anhydride and subsequent warming to 40 °C. In some cases, the reaction takes a long time and gives low yields due to formation of acetylated or migrated (migration of Car) side products. Moreover, the fluorous N-phenylcarbamoyl group [Car (CONHC6H4(CH2)3C8F17)], developed by Takeuchi's group, was not deprotected by this method. Thus, an alternate deprotection method is still desired. We report herein an improved method for selective deprotection of hydroxy groups with the N-phenylcarbamoyl group, using di-tert-butyl dicarbonate and tetra-n-butylammonium nitrite (Boc2O and Bu4NNO2) in pyridine at room temperature (rt). This method also deprotects the fluorous N-phenylcarbamyl group without affecting other protecting groups. A major objective in devising a new deprotection method is to prevent the formation of undesired acylated or migrated side products. Thus, we examined the reaction with various acid anhydrides under the previous deprotection conditions using 1,2:5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-3-O-(N-phenylcarbamoyl)-α-D-glucofuranose (1a) as a substrate to compare with the original method using Ac2O. 9 Entry 1 in Table 1 is cited as the reference using the previous conditions. First, strong acid anhydrides, such as trifluoroacetic anhydride, methanesulfonic anhydride, and trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride, were examined (Table 1, entries 2−4), which gave unsuccessful results. Next, the steric effect of the anhydride was examined by using Piv2O (pivalic anhydride (trimethylacetic anhydride)) (entry 5), which gave the corresponding deprotected product 1c in 75% yield. Boc2O (di-tert-butyl dicarbonate) (entry 6) promoted the reaction to give the corresponding product in better yield than the other reagents. Upon consideration of the above results, we examined the reaction with Boc2O in more detail. The results with Boc2O under convenient and mild conditions are shown in entries 7 and 8. Under these conditions, the Car group was deprotected within 2 h to give the deprotected product in better yield. Furthermore, we Received: August 23, 2012 Published: July 29, 2013 Figure 1. Deprotection procedure of the N-phenylcarbamoyl group (Car). Note


The recent development of battery powered applications are improving the need of efficient step up dc-dc converters. Nowadays, step up conversion is widely used in many applications like Electric vehicles, Photovoltaic (PV) system, Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and fuel cell system. By paralleling the converters, the input current can be shared among inductors so that high reliability and efficiency in power electronic systems can be obtained. In this paper, the conventional boost dc-dc converter and interleaved boost dc-dc converter are simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK and MULTISIM software. The converters are tested by varying the input voltage with constant duty cycle in Continuous Conduction Mode (CCM). The performance parameters of the converters are compared. The converters are controlled by interleaved switching signals, which have same switching frequency but shifted in phase. Using interleaved converter we can get improved efficiency, reduced ripple voltage, reduced inductor current ripple, fast switching speed.


This paper describes an approach to create web service-based system, that enables end-users to retrieve medical information using wide range of devices: from small hand-held mobile devices to powerful workstations. Server-side part of the service realizes medical image archives management, preprocessing and rendering of these images in the cloud. Main functions of client-side are interaction with the end-user and visualization of rendered information.


This article summarises a review of geographical studies on migration published in Poland after 1989, as also included in the Report of the Polish Academy of Sciences' Migration Research Committee (Komitet Badań nad Migracjami) (Horolets et al., 2018). The work identifies around 750 bibliographical items from the years 1990‑2017, which it proves possible to assign to the categories of: the theory and methodology of geographical research into migration (including modelling and forecasting), internal migrations, external migrations (emigration and immigration), studies concerning foreign territories, research into migration historically (pre-WW2), and work concerning migration's influence and impact on regional and local development. As is clear, no attention has been paid to issues of daily mobility (commutes to work or school), tourism (be that recreational, or related to business or pilgrimage), or to longer-term matters relating to ethnicity or multiculturalism. The review has also been supplemented to inclde work from the latest (2016‑2020) period. The studies that have been run prove to be of an empirical nature first and foremost, associated with the statistical and cartographic identification and description of observed phenomena and processes. This identification is most often based on secondary data from Statistics Poland – which deals with the ongoing processing of new registrations in the country, as well as deregistration. It seems that these data have been accepted more or less uncritically by most geographers, at least until recently. As the strands of research represented least abundantly are modelling, as well contributions to theory, this needs to be seen as marked regression in comparison with the situation in the 1970s – marking the zenith of Polish geographical work on migrations (or indeed more broadly on the processes of population and settlement). Set against the background of other disciplines, this denotes further a very large number of studies identified as geographical but not equating automatically to progress of a conceptual or theoretical nature. In contrast, a plus-point where the comparison is with typically statistical or demographic research, or partly even that of a sociological and economic nature, is a very good level of" feeling for/sensitivity to the space" (and hence familiarity with local factors), that allows us to avoid over-averaging or generalization in the direction of aggregate territories known to be too heterogeneous (not least the voivodeships into which Poland has long been divided at provincial – latterly provincial/regional – level). Avoided in this way is resort to over-generalised cognitive impacts in essence straying beyond the boundaries of geography into other disciplines. The main and most-original achievements of post-1989 geographical research can be seen to include:•multi-regional modelling of the dynamics to population change that takes account of the complexity of migration processes; •a particularly exhaustive and comprehensive reconnaissance and treatment of the migration-related specifics of the Opole-Silesia region;•work on the role played by migration (and mobility more broadly) in the development of suburban zones and metropolitan areas;•in-depth research into the linkage between migration and local or regional socioeconomic development;•a contribution to the classification, typology, delimitation and indication of migration, as well as the deployment of indicators in procedures of this type, in a context that is broader where scientific disciplines are concerned;•the empirical indication of population over- or under-estimates in different configurations of space as a reflection of unregistered migrations;•contributions to urbanisation theory including as regards the relations pertaining between migrations and the settlement system.


The modulation efficiency and bandwidth limitations of a new type of light modulator, the attenuated total internal reflection modulator (ATRM), are described. The ATRM is based on coupling a light beam to a surface plasmon wave, and its fabrication is compatible with GaAs integrated circuit technology. We demonstrate modulation to 22 GHz (the extrapolated 1.5 dB optical modulation bandwidth is 26 GHz) and show that devices with high modulation index can be built using existing materials.


This report offers a brief overview of recent population figures, types of educational programs, and selected topics of present interest and relevance to educators of blind and visually impaired students in the U.S.A., Canada, and the Caribbean. While not intended to be comprehensive or statistically exacting, it is hoped that this discussion will be useful in informing our colleagues in other areas of the world about some of the current concerns of professionals in the North America-Caribbean region.


Using the correlative method of unsymmetrized self-consistent field we study equilibrium atomic properties of anharmonic crystals. Here we calculate dynamical characteristics of a weakly anharmonic crystal with the body-centered cubic lattice, namely, the quadratic correlation moments between atomic displacements and the mean square relative atomic displacements. Taking into account the nearest neighbour interactions in this lattice, the second order of the method enables one to calculate the correlations between the nearest, second, third and fifth neighbours. An influence of more distant interactions is discussed. Results are also correlated with those calculated early for the simple and face-centered cubic lattices.


This article explores what religious frameworks and institutions have to contribute to college-in-prison. We first provide an historical overview of higher education programs in American prisons. Then, we limn the role religion can play in motivating people to commit themselves to educating incarcerated people. Because this work is so thorny, we document some of the generic challenges programs must face and show how religious languages can be an asset in navigating these challenges. Next, we present the pedagogical practices and educational philosophies expressed among the programs in our study. We conclude with some broader reflections about teaching incarcerated people, and, after wrestling with objections, we encourage our colleagues in religious studies—those with faith commitments as well as those without them—to get involved.


This paper proposes an innovation diffusion model for Chinese electric vehicles(EVs)based on the extension of generalized Bass model considering infrastructure and price reduction effects.Genetic Algorithm was adopted to estimate the parameters using the diffusion data of Hybrid Electric Vehicle in United States.The developed model forecasted the sales of EVs in China from 2012 to 2020 under the three different scenarios.The result shows that the purchase decisions of EVs innovators are more likely affected by the construction of infrastructure rather than the price.In the ideal scenario,the EVs sales is expected to reach the peak in 2019 and the accumulative amount will achieve 6.35 million in 2020.


This paper describes a low-loss ridge gap waveguide (RGW) to groove gap waveguide (GGW) transition. Transitions from RGW to GGW and viceversa can be advantageously combined leading to very compact feeding networks. Interestingly, these transitions circumvent the 180 deg phase difference in E-plane power splitters, facilitating in-phase corporate feeding networks based on such dividers. Using these transitions a first prototype of a 4×4 single-layer slot array antenna is presented. This antenna exhibits several appealing features for contemporary applications: single-layer, compact, symmetrical, and both radiation pattern bandwidth and impedance bandwidth greater than 14 % at V-band (57–66 GHz).


This paper mainly focuses on synthesizing high resolution profile for stepped-frequency radar signal. A novel method based on correlation coefficient is presented. Compared to traditional methods, the limitation of the frequency step size is relaxed. It means that the same range resolution can be achieved with less pulse number, thus reducing the complexity of the system design. Finally, the simulation data is used to demonstrate the performance of this proposed method.


Nevirapine, the ninth approved anti-HIV drug, is the first of a new class of pharmaceuticals developed for HIV treatment. A non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), nevirapine targets the same HIV enzyme as AZT, ddI, ddC, d4T and 3TC. A three-drug treatment including AZT and ddI was shown to be significantly better than an AZT/ddI combination in patients who had received no prior treatment. The drug has a long half-life, which means that it can be administered less often.


Crotalaria rosenii (Pax) Milne-Redh. ex Polhill, an endemic species of the mountains of Ethiopia, is reported for the first time as an ornamental species. This taxon has been identified as C. agatiflora Schweinf. since 1952 in Colombia and 1982 in Ecuador, countries where it is continuously cultivated in parks, gardens and even in rural environments, which increases the propagule pressure and promotes a naturalization of this species. Crotalaria rosenii is easily recognized by the presence of bracteoles 1.0–1.2 × 0.2–0.3 cm, standard 5.0–5.5 × 4.0–4.6 cm, with the callosities glabrous, keel 5.8–6.0 cm length, with apex hooked, and ovoid slightly compressed seeds. I present a key to distinguish these two taxa, and comments related to the possible naturalization, distribution, and ecology of C. rosenii and C. agatiflora.


A deconvolution filtering design is proposed for the 1/f fractal signal transmission systems, with its design philosophy being based on multiscale Kalman deconvolution filter bank equipped in the analysis/synthesis wavelet filter bank, The role of wavelet transformation for 1/f fractal signal process is exploited as a multiscale whitening filter for removing the properties of self-similarity and long-range dependence from the fractal signals.


Objective
To investigate the association between RhoA and cardiomyopathy in type 2 diabetic rats and the intervention effect of fasudil.

Methods
The type 2 diabetic SD rat models were established by feeding with high-fat, high-sucrose diet and intraperitoneal injection of low-dose streptozotocin (30 mg/kg). The type 2 diabetic rats (n=30) were randomly divided into two groups: diabetic group (n=15) and fasudil group (n=15). In addition, 10 SD rats were set as normal control. The rats in fasudil group received fasudil at a dosage of 10 mg · kg-1· d-1 by intraperitoneal injection for 4 weeks. The rats in diabetic group and control group were given injection of saline simultaneously. At the end of the study, the weight of heart was measured and the heart/body weight index (HWI) was calculated. The histological changes in left ventricle were observed by light microscope and electron microscope. The protein and mRNA expression of RhoA in myocardium were examined by immunohistochemistry staining and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively. The comparison of data between the groups were done with t or t' test.

Results
HWI of diabetic group was higher than that of control group(0.006 0± 0.000 4 vs 0.003 0±0.000 3, t=-21.121, P=0.005). HWI of fasudil group(0.005 0±0.000 4) was lower than that of diabetic group(t=4.523, P=0.008). The histological changes of myocardium in diabetic group were severe and changes of those in fasudil group were moderate. The protein expression of RhoA in the diabetic group (70±10) was 2.89 times of that in the control group (24±3), and it was (53±6) in fasudil group. The expression level of RhoA mRNA in diabetic group was significantly higher than that in control group (1.43± 0.16 vs 0.42±0.06, t=-33.437, P=0.012). And the expression of RhoA mRNA in fasudil group (0.73±0.13) was significantly lower than that in diabetic group(t=8.145, P=0.038). The expression level of RhoA protein and mRNA were both positively correlated with HWI(r=0.94, 0.85, both P<0.05).

Conclusions
RhoA involves in the pathogenesis and progression of diabetic cardiomyopathy. Fasudil protects the diabetic myocardium by lowering the expression of RhoA.

Key words:
Diabetes mellitus, type 2; Diabetic cardiomyopathy; Fasudil; RhoA


Objective To explore the preventive measures for preventing the infection of respiratory tract infection after general anesthesia.Methods Two hundred and forty patients who were to undergo general anesthesia in our hospital were randomized into 2 groups: control group and experimental group, with 120 subjects in each group. Patients in the experimental group were asked to rinse their mouth before and after each meal (three meals a day, 7 times each day). On the first day after the operations, the mouth was cleaned with gargle in nursing care. In the control group, patients did not rinse the mouth before the operation and on the first day after the operations, the mouth was cleaned with gargle in nursing care. Nasopharyngeal cultures were performed before each rising and on the first day of the operation. Results There was a significant difference in the incidence of respiratory tract infection between the two groups (all P0.05). The incidences and lasting time of cough and sputum-coughing in experimental group were significantly lower than those in control group (all P0.01).Conclusion Preoprative mouth-rinsing has bacteria inhibitory and bactericidal effects in the patients undergoing general anesthesia, thereby minimizing the opportunity of respiratory tract infection.


In this study, we constructed a minimal model to clarify the role of the animal body and motor neurons in the generation of synchronized periodic motions. The novel contribution of this study is the analysis of the phenomenon of adaptive muscle synchronization that occurs only by inter-muscular interaction through the body dynamics. The proposed model is based on the primitive local feedback in animal muscles, which is called the stretch reflex. We conducted theoretical analysis and simulations using a single muscle model and its combinations (an antagonistic muscle pair and a limb model). The results of the theoretical analysis revealed the necessary and sufficient condition for limit cycle generation with resonance frequencies. Without any explicit neural connection between the muscle modules, the proposed simple model suggests that musculoskeletal systems can automatically generate resonant oscillation. Moreover, the resonance behavior is adaptive to changes in the body parameters of these systems.


SUMMARY This paper investigates the role of social support and acculturative stress in predicting depressive symptomatology among Korean Americans. Results of data analysis confirm that: (1) Lack of social support is strongly correlated with high levels of acculturative stress; (2) Depressive symptomatology is correlated with lack of social support and with high levels of acculturative stress; (3) Social support alleviates acculturative stress; (4) Social support moderates stress, resulting in less depressive symptomatology. However, there is no significant difference in the moderating effect of social support on stress among Korean men and women. Social work practice implications are also discussed.


FIELD: medicine. SUBSTANCE: group of inventions concerns medicine area. A kit for treating the nail area affected with fungal infection contains an antimycotic agent in the composition and an apparatus. The apparatus comprises an active electrode facilitating introduction of the antimycotic agent into the finger area affected with onychomycosis by passing electric current into said area, a counter electrode that ensures loop closing with the active electrode, a power supply for current and pressure maintenance connected through conducting environment to the active electrode and the counter electrode, and a bearing element serving to support the active electrode, the counter electrode and the power supply. The active electrode can be arranged on the finger area infected with onychomycosis. The counter electrode can be arranged on the uninfected area. And the apparatus is properly shaped as a part of at least one finger. EFFECT: invention allows for local application of the preparations able to penetration through the nail barrier and are effective in treating fungal diseases of nails. 37 cl, 10 dwg


Context. Establishing the importance of circumstellar disks and their properties is crucial to fully understand massive star formation. Aims. We aim to spatially resolve the various components that make-up the accretion environment of a massive young stellar object (≲100 AU), and reproduce the emission from near-infrared to millimeter wavelengths using radiative transfer codes. Methods. We apply mid-infrared spectro-interferometry to the massive young stellar object CRL 2136. The observations were performed with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer and the MIDI instrument at a 42 m baseline probing angular scales of 50 milliarcseconds. We model the observed visibilities in parallel with diffraction-limited images at both 24.5 μm and in the N-band (with resolutions of 0.6" and 0.3", respectively), as well as the spectral energy distribution. Results. The arcsec-scale spatial information reveals the well-resolved emission from the dusty envelope. By simultaneously modelling the spatial and spectral data, we find that the bulk of the dust emission occurs at several dust sublimation radii (approximately 170 AU). This reproduces the high mid-infrared fluxes and at the same time the low visibilities observed in the MIDI data for wavelengths longward of 8.5 μm. However, shortward of this wavelength the visibility data show a sharp up-turn indicative of compact emission. We discuss various potential sources of this emission. We exclude a dust disk being responsible for the observed spectral imprint on the visibilities. A cool supergiant star and an accretion disk are considered and both shown to be viable origins of the compact mid-infrared emission. Conclusions. We propose that CRL 2136 is embedded in a dusty envelope, which truncates at several times the dust sublimation radius. A dust torus is manifest in the equatorial region. We find that the spectro-interferometric N-band signal can be reproduced by either a gaseous disk or a bloated central star. If the disk extends to the stellar surface, it accretes at a rate of 3.0 x 10 -3 M o yr -1 .


Aiming at the problem that the prominent measurement is not fully utilized in the process of the track before detect (TBD) method, an improved particle filter implementation method for tracking acoustic source is proposed. The proposed method introduces the spectral peak information of the steered response power (SRP) to the process of particle evolution, and improves the speed of particle's convergence to the true position. The method has the advantages of TBD when dealing with weak source signal, and can combine the prominent measurement at the same time, which provides a solution for accurate source tracking. The experimental results show that the proposed method has better tracking performance than the traditional TBD methods under indoor conditions.


To date, the classi®cation of antihistamines into older, or ®rst-generation, drugs and the newer, or secondgeneration, drugs has been made on the basis of H1 as opposed to muscarinic selectivity combined with a much-reduced tendency to cause sedation. Many second-generation antihistamines are available today, and, at ®rst glance, there appears to be little to choose between them in terms of safety and ef®cacy. However, the second-generation drugs have very different chemical structures (1), with variations in therapeutic pro®le, side-effects, half-life, tissue distribution, metabolism, and degree of antiallergic ef®cacy. Thus, with the passage of time, it has become apparent that the newer antihistamines in fact represent a heterogeneous group of compounds. There has also been a great deal of concern regarding the possible cardiotoxic effects associated with some of the newer medications (2). This review will summarize recent progress in the study of the cardiac actions of second-generation antihistamines. We will also review some of our recent data which investigated the effects of astemizole, cetirizine, loratadine, and terfenadine on a speci®c class of potassium (K) channels (hERG) which is involved in the repolarization process of the cardiac action potential. This membrane protein regulating K homeostasis has been studied by means of heterologous expression in Xenopus oocytes and mammalian cells; furthermore, in some experiments, we took advantage of the constitutive expression of hERG K channels in human neuroblastoma cells such as the SH-SY5Y cells. Cardiac tolerance of second-generation antihistamines


A search for the reaction d + d yields He/sup 4/ + pi /sup 0/ was conducted to test the validity of isotopic spin (I-spin) conservation. A result based on data analysis sets an upper limit for the differential cross section of this reaction, in the center-ofmass system, of (d sigma )/(d OMEGA ) (d + d yields He/sup 4/ + pi /sup 0/) < 1.5 x 10/sup cm/sup 2//sr. It is concluded that I-spin is at least 99.6 conserved. An upper limit for the reaction d + d yields He/sup 4/ + gamma was also obtained. The upper limit obtained for this reaction is (d sigma /sup cm/)/(d OMEGA ) (d + d yields He/sup 4/ + gamma ) < 3.5 x 10/sup -34/ cm/sup 2// sr. (J.R.D.)


Solar radiation is an important input for various land-surface energy balance models. Global solar radiation data retrieved from the Japanese Geostationary Meteorological Satellite 5 (GMS-5)/Visible and Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer (VISSR) has been widely used in recent years. However, due to the impact of clouds, aerosols, solar elevation angle and bidirectional reflection, spatial or temporal deficiencies often exist in solar radiation datasets that are derived from satellite remote sensing, which can seriously affect the accuracy of application models of land-surface energy balance. The goal of reconstructing radiation data is to simulate the seasonal variation patterns of solar radiation, using various statistical and numerical analysis methods to interpolate the missing observations and optimize the whole time-series dataset. In the current study, a reconstruction method based on data assimilation is proposed. Using a Kalman filter as the assimilation algorithm, the retrieved radiation values are corrected through the continuous introduction of local in-situ global solar radiation (GSR) provided by the China Meteorological Data Sharing Service System (Daily radiation dataset_Version 3) which were collected from 122 radiation data collection stations over China. A complete and optimal set of time-series data is ultimately obtained. This method is applied and verified in China's northern agricultural areas (humid regions, semi-humid regions and semi-arid regions in a warm temperate zone). The results show that the mean value and standard deviation of the reconstructed solar radiation data series are significantly improved, with greater consistency with ground-based observations than the series before reconstruction. The method implemented in this study provides a new solution for the time-series reconstruction of surface energy parameters, which can provide more reliable data for scientific research and regional renewable-energy planning.


In order to achieve sustainable development opportunities,the branch of a vocational institute must establish the correct development strategy.The leap-forward development strategy of the automotive department was analyzed in this paper,based on the SWOT analysis model,combined with the Analytic Hierarchy Processes.The results show that the importance of the opportunity of the department is far greater than the strengths,threats and weaknesses.At the same time,the impact of external threats and internal weakness on the department is also crucial.The most important sub-factors in the four strategic factors are: the booming opportunities in the automotive industry,the support strengths from the government,the competitive pressures from sister institutes,and the weaknesses in the academic team.The leap-forward development strategy of the automotive department should be positioned in the SO pioneering and growth strategy,specifically speaking,is to struggle for the "six first-class goal",such as first-class academic team,first-class professional,first-class training conditions,first-class school-enterprise cooperation,first-class international cooperation and student quality.


In this interesting article, Kan and Dong 1 describe for the first time the mutual relationships between PD-L1, APE-1 and p-53 expressions, and between their expression and clinico-pathological characteristics in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HCC represents the fifth most common cancer worldwide and the second leading cause of cancer-related death 2-4 . Despite the high incidence, treatment options remain limited and unsuccessful for advanced HCC, resulting in a poor prognosis. Major risk factors for HCC include HBV, HCV, diabetes mellitus, obesity, excess alcohol consumption and metabolic diseases. All these factors contribute to a perpetual state of inflammation and fibrogenesis, leading to fibrosis and cirrhosis, preneoplas-tic conditions promoting the development of HCC 5 . In particular, many patients with chronic hepatitis will develop liver cirrhosis and eventually HCC in a progressive and dynamic process, thanks to an altered liver microenvironment characterized by the generation of highly reactive oxygen species and a constitutively active inflammatory milieu. Improving our knowl-edge about immunological mechanism during hepatocarcinogenesis could ultimately lead to novel and better treatment strategies for this deadly disease. According studies, tumor-specific cellular and humoral immune responses occur in patients HCC. induce tumor and/or inhibitory duration and extent of immune responses in peripheral tissues. immune checkpoint the


Channel noise enhancement due to MOSFET scaling and its influence on phase noise estimation of fully integrated VCO have been studied. The channel noise of MOSFET increases due to the hot electron effect of small geometry MOSFET is obvious. The channel noise coefficient, γ, of NMOS is 3.5 for 40‐nm gate length, 2.0 for 90‐nm gate length in spite of being ⅔ for long channels MOSFET. Simultaneously, calculation of phase noise of fully integrated VCO shows large difference using γ=⅔ because the part of noise performance of VCO gain‐cell depends on channel noise of MOSFET. Calculated phase noise showed good agreement with measured data when the optimum value of channel noise of MOSFET was adopted. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Automated grading allows for the scalable assessment of large programming courses, often using test cases to determine the correctness of students' programs. However, test suites can vary in multiple ways, such as quality, size, and coverage. In this paper, we investigate how much test suites with varying properties can impact generated grades, and how these properties cause this impact. We conduct a study on artificial faulty programs that simulate students' programming mistakes and test suites generated from manually written tests. We find that these test suites generate greatly varying grades, with the standard deviation of grades for each fault typically representing ∼84% of the grades not apportioned to the fault. We show that different properties of test suites can influence the grades that they produce, with coverage typically making the greatest effect, and mutation score and the potentially redundant repeated coverage of lines also having a significant impact. We offer suggestions based on our findings to assist tutors with building grading test suites that assess students' code in a fair and consistent manner. These suggestions include ensuring that test suites have 100% coverage, avoiding unnecessarily recovering lines, and checking test suites using real or artificial faults.


The authors describe the fundamental characteristics of compact stepped impedance hairpin resonators with parallel coupled lines, and show their application to voltage-controlled push-push oscillators for UHF band operation. The experimental push-push oscillators built using these resonators provide low phase noise and wide tuning operation.<<ETX>>


Computer science programs often use a course with a title such as "assembly language" to meet the objectives of the Curriculum '78 CS3 course. The computer system used for this course has frequently been an IBM System/360 or a descendent of this architecture. Microcomputers are now widely available for instructional use. This paper explores the similarities and differences between teaching assembly language for the System/360 architecture and for the Intel 80x86 architecture.


Preparation of dimethyl dodecanedioate in two steps was studied. The first step is the formation of methoxycyclohexyl peroxide by reaction of cyclohexanone with hydrogen peroxide and methanol in the presence of acid catalyst.The second is the dimerization of the resulting methoxycyclohexyl peroxide through the action of iron (II) sulfate to obtain the dimethyl dodecanedioate. In the first step, sulfonic acid in 0.01010.015 mol per mol of cyclohexanone is used as the catalyst. In the second step, the resulting methoxycyclohexyl peroxide can be used for the dimerization without purification. Various iron (II) salts, such as iron (II) sulfate, iron (II) ammoniumsulfate and ferrous chloride, are effective as the reducing reagents. The reaction can be conducted at a temperature below 10°C. Water should be used in excess in the redox reaction, if it is desired to obtain branched dibasic acid dimethyl esters. Cyclopentanone, cycloheptanone and 2-methylcyclohexanone gave the corresponding dibasic acid dimethyl esters, respectively.


We point out that two of the most important theorems of Quantum Mechanics, the Ehrenfest theorem and the Hellmann-Feynman theorem, lack in their standard form important information: there are cases where non-Hermitian boundary contributions emerge. These contributions actually appear naturally, in order for the above theorems to be valid and applicable (i.e. in multiply-connected spaces), and this occurs for physical quantities that are not represented by well-defined self-adjoint operators (such as the position operator in a periodic potential, or in general Aharonov-Bohm configurations, either in real or in an arbitrary parameter-space, in the sense of Berry's adiabatic and cyclic procedures). In this short note, we report modifications of these two theorems when such non-Hermiticities appear, and we demonstrate how they resolve certain Quantum Mechanical paradoxes (most of them having been noticed in the past as violations of the so-called Hypervirial theorem in Quantum Chemistry). This resolution of paradoxes (essentially the re-establishment of applicability of the Ehrenfest theorem even in multiply-connected spaces) always proceeds through the appearance of certain generalized currents, in a theoretical picture with interesting structure (where a generalized continuity equation with a sink term shows up naturally).


The article highlights the results of histological research of experimental keratitis in rabbits after administration of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells. These research results provide an opportunity for further study of the effect of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells on clinical cases of keratitis in animals.
A decrease in the function of the eye or its biological activity at the tissue level leads to the development of a serious eye disease - keratitis. The causes of keratitis are acute and chronic inflammatory processes in the parenchyma of the eye, ionizing radiation, degenerative changes, surgical operations, and others. Clinical manifestations of keratitis vary from redness to destructive damage of eye tissues. The use of complex stimulating therapy often smoothes the clinical picture of keratitis and for a short time stops inflammatory processes in the eye, which can later lead to a latent state of the eye. All this indicates that it is necessary to investigate the use of stem cells in eye diseases in animals.
Our histological studies have shown that the regeneration of eye tissues with injected allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells is more effective means of treating keratitis than the traditional method of treatment (daily instillation of gentaline 0.4% and cypronorm 4-6 times a day). Specifically, stem cells act as a regulator of proliferation in damaged tissues, activate the synthesis of anti-inflammatory mediators and strengthen their own antioxidant properties.
It was established that with the help of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells, the differentiation of epithelial cells in the layers of the eye and a slight delamination of collagen fibrils were noted already on the 7th day, and on the 14th day the epithelial layer approached normal and there was no inflammatory infiltration of the cornea. Also, on the 30th day of the experiment, almost complete restoration of the structures of the damaged tissue of the eye and the end of the inflammatory process had already taken place. That is, histological studies show that allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells not only restore the function of damaged tissue structures, but also affect the intensity of the inflammatory process, which significantly reduces the time of eye tissue repair at the level of cells and tissues. The obtained data using stem cells can be used for new modern effective methods of treatment of eye pathologies.


We present a sophisticated numerical model for the simulation of thermal oxidation on complex three-dimensional structures. This comprehensive oxidation model takes into account that the diffusion of oxidants, the chemical reaction, and the volume increase occur simultaneously in a so-called reactive layer which has a spatial finite width, in contrast to the sharp interface between silicon and dioxide in the conventional formulation. Our oxidation model also includes the coupled stress dependence of the oxidation process, because the influence of stress is shown to be considerable.


Purpose – The first NHS forensic low secure unit for adolescents, the Westwood centre, opened in 2004. This paper seeks to focus on service utilisation and initial outcomes for the young people admitted in the first 45 months compared with young people accessing a neighbouring open adolescent unit.Design/methodology/approach – In order to understand service utilisation and initial outcomes, the clinical profiles of young people admitted in the first 45 months were evaluated. This included demographics, locality, admission status, length of stay, medication use, presenting problem, diagnosis, previous and discharge destination. The profiles of young people accessing the low secure unit were then compared with young people accessing a neighbouring open adolescent unit. Clinical profiles were ascertained from available healthcare records and service data. These were inspected and analysed using descriptive statistics.Findings – Thirty (54 per cent) of the 56 Westwood young people were male, the mean age at a...


Link estimation is a basic element of routing in low-power wireless networks, and several approaches using broadcast beacons and/or unicast MAC feedback have been proposed in the past years. No netheless, there has been no systematic study on the inherent draw backs of beacon-based link estimation and the subtleties of data-dr iven link estimation. Using a testbed of 98 XSM motes (an enhanced version o f MICA2 motes), we characterize the inherent errors in predicting unicast properties via broadcast beacons, and we show that data-driven lin k estimation and routing achieves higher event reliability (e.g., by up t o 18.75%) and energy efficiency (e.g., by up to a factor of 1.96) than beacon -based approaches. Through mathematical and experimental analysis , we examine the accuracies of different data-driven link estimation methods and their impacts on routing performance. We discover, counterintui tively, that two representative, seemingly similar methods of data-dri ven link estimation differ significantly in performance: in our testbed, for instance, data delivery reliability differs by 25.18%, and energy efficiency differs by a factor of 3.75. These findings provide new insight into the su btle design decisions in link estimation that significantly impact routing performance in low-power wireless networks. Keywords—Low-power wireless networks, sensor networks, link estimation and routing, data-driven, beacon-based


Yield and economic benefit of Sankang 8,a sweet potato variety with virus-free,was tested under different planting density by the field experiment method to determine the optimum planting density and provide a basis for its popularization.The results showed that the yield could be up to 2 577.9 kg/667m2 under the density of 4 600 plants/667m2 and its input/output ratio was up to 2.37.Therefore,the optimum planting density for Sankang 8 should be 4 600 plants/667m2.


We present a framework for generating trajectories of the hand movement during manipulation actions from demonstrations so the robot can perform similar actions in new situations. Our contribution is threefold: 1) we extract and transform hand movement trajectories using a state-of-the-art markerless full hand model tracker from Kinect sensor data; 2) we develop a new bio-inspired trajectory segmentation method that automatically segments complex movements into action units, and 3) we develop a generative method to learn task specific control using Dynamic Movement Primitives (DMPs). Experiments conducted both on synthetic data and real data using the Baxter research robot platform validate our approach.


In this paper we argue that substantial weaknesses in corporate governance structures may be responsible for the pervasive failure of family firms to survive into the next generation. Aiming to improve extant knowledge on governance of family-owned enterprises that might boost their prosperity and longevity, we advance an integrative conceptual model which builds on boundary theory premises and accounts for the interdependencies among multiple governance arrangements. In particular, we suggest that the choice of an optimal governance configuration is dependent upon the way family firms manage the boundaries between their family and business identities. By combining contractual and relational devices of family firm governance into a single study, our model seeks to contribute to the ongoing debate in the literature regarding the existence of substitution effects and complementarity between alternative governance mechanisms.