AbstractSeasonal water insecurity is a social and climate-related problem of growing concern in many urban areas. From 2000 to 2050, the global urban population affected by seasonal water shortage is projected to increase from 312 million to 1.3 billion. This increase is due to a combination of drivers, including population growth, urbanization, and climate change. To advance understanding of the social dimensions of this problem, this study uses qualitative methods—archival research, informal interviews (N = 7), and in-depth interviews (N = 15)—to explore how gender and assets relate to water insecurity in the rainy and dry seasons in three urban neighborhoods in Baguio City, the Philippines. Analytic methods include memo production and qualitative text analysis. Key findings are that households manage complex water portfolios that change seasonally or more frequently; women and men have gendered roles in managing water portfolios, providing versus managing income for water purchases, and physically carr...


We have searched for the hypothetical small comets proposed by Frank et al. [1986a, b] and Frank and Sigwarth [1993] using the world's most powerful radar in terms of gain-aperture product. The Naval Space Surveillance System can detect most space objects in low Earth orbit with radar cross sections (RCSs) of 0.1 m 2 or larger; at higher altitudes of the order of 10,000-20,000 km the radar can detect objects with RCSs of 1 m 2 . We carried out detailed first-principle calculations of the RCS of spherical comet using the properties proposed by Frank and Sigwarth [1993]. We find that 8-12 m diameter comets have an average cross section of 0.4 m 2 at the radar frequency (217 MHz), with peaks reaching 1 m -2 . Therefore the Naval radar system has sufficient sensitivity to detect many small comets, especially as they approach low Earth orbit. We estimate that at least 800-5000 small comets should have been detected by the radar during the 37 day search period during fall 1997. None of the more than 12,000 unidentified detections can be explained by small comets. The lack of detection of small comets by the radar can be explained only if small comets have RCSs <0.1% of their assumed physical size (which is unrealistic, given that human technology can match this value only by tailoring a design for a specific radar) or if their impact rate with Earth is some 4 orders of magnitude less than proposed by Frank et al. [1986a] and Frank and Sigwarth [1993].


Ecovillages have become a phenomenon as communities focused on shared goals of sustainable living and ecological engagement grew worldwide. Within ecovillages sustainability is not meant just in material terms, but also as a spe-cific way of interacting with nature, involving an ethics of closeness and care. The natural environment is considered as an active agent of intimate emotions. On this basis, this article focuses on the connection between multispecies ethnography and the human/non-human encounter that takes places within these communities, pointing out how it contributes to the production of new relational subjectivities.


Optical coherence tomography is a technology which supplies the tomographic image using the optical interference. It uses the 1.31 μm wavelength for dental applications. Resolution problems of such a technology can be improved by using supercontinuum light sources as low coherent broadband light is achievable from optical supercontinuum. Photonic crystal fibers have the ability to generate the supercontinuum light even with moderate input power levels. Only thing to consider is to ensure zero or nearly zero dispersion of such fibers at the target 1.31μm wavelength. This paper presents design of a high nonlinear photonic crystal fiber with near-zero dispersion around 1.31μm wavelength based on the finite difference method. Robustness of the design is confirmed numerically by generating wideband supercontinuum.


The important thought of the "Three Represents" is a scientific theoretical system with rich connotations and good organization. Its theoretical marrow ireludes maintaining the spirit of keeping pace with the times, retaining the Party' s progressiveness and upholding the principle of governance for the people. And its establishment and formation have marked a new development stage of Marxism that has been localized in China.


Energy-loss studies of hard particle probes produced in heavy ion collisions have often been used to get information on the interactions within the medium of a quark-gluon plasma (QGP). However, with the study of in-medium energy-loss of individual particles alone, it remains still ambiguous, whether the occured decrease in particle energy is caused by predominantly radiative or collisional energy-loss mechanisms. Focusing on the in-medium energy-loss of hard jet-partons, we propose additional studies of the angular jet-structure as a means to further constrain the energy-loss mechanisms.


New anthracycline antibiotics, designated as obelmycins A, D, E, F and G, were isolated from the culture broth of a variant strain of /?-rhodomycin-producing Streptomyces violaceus A262, identified as /?-isorhodomycinone glycosides and y-isorhodomycinone glycosides and assayed for their in vitro cytotoxicities against murine leukemic L1210 cell culture and the antimicrobial activities in comparison with some known anthracyclines.


The objective of this correlational study is to analyze the effect that rotating shifts have on Nursing Staff in order to ascertain anxiety and self-perceived psychological health, compared with personnel working in the same category but on a fixed shift basis. For this two questionnaires that included the variables to be tested were administered to a sample of 140 nursing professionals who work at hospitals in the province of Granada. The results showed that there is no significant evidence between anxiety and the self-perceived psychological health of shift workers, with no relevant differences with those on a fixed shift. It was concluded that there is a tendency to suffer more anxiety disorders among health care providers that have spent more years in the profession.


The plant dynamics of rotor/magnetic bearing systems are parameter dependent on the rotation speed due to gyroscopic effects. This paper introduces a novel robust gain-scheduled H? controller design method based on LMI techniques which allows the formulation of multiple design objectives in one unified framework. In particular, hard/soft control design is considered, and the importance of achieving performance over the whole speed range is addressed. If speed dependence is ignored in the controller design, system instability might occur. However, the LMI based approach is shown to maintain closed loop stability over the full speed range.


ABSTRACT V2O5 has been recently reported for its promising adsorption capability. However, the desorption using V2O5 at room-temperature is not possible. The commercial TiO2 is well-known photocatalyst; however, it shows negligible adsorption under dark. Herein, four different TiO2-supported V2O5 samples with 10, 20, 30, and 40 mole% V2O5 loadings were fabricated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy confirmed TiO2 and V2O5 phases in all the samples. All TiO2-supported V2O5 samples showed 100% adsorption of methylene blue (MB) dye during the adsorption experiment; however, the desorption was only observed in 10% V2O5 sample. Moreover, TiO2-supported 10% V2O5 sample also possessed the significant photocatalytic activity. TiO2-supported 10% V2O5 sample showed 15% improved performance in the removal of MB dye than that of pure TiO2 during adsorption followed by photocatalysis cycle. Thus, TiO2-supported 10% V2O5 sample possessed promising dual properties of adsorption and photocatalysis.


Surface relief accompanying Widmanstatten ferrite formation in an Fe-0.37Calloy was investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). It was discovered that the surface relief due to Widmanstatten ferrite formation appears to be of tent-shaped type, or complex type.The evolution of surface relief of Widmanstatten ferrite can be more interpreted by ledgewisegrowth mechanism rather than by displacive mechanism. The height of relief is 70-450 nm, and the maximum shape deformation is ca. 0.36.


The main objective of this study was to determine the importance of nutrient return in litterfall (LF) to forest nutrient cycling. Therefore, we investigated the quality and quantity of LF in relation to the above-ground tree biomass (AGT) and determined the turnover rates. The study was carried out on seven Norway spruce (Picea abies) and six Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) plots. LF was sampled during 1996-2003, and AGT in 2005-2006. The studied nutrients were N, Ca, K, Mg, P, S, Mn, Zn, Fe. Overall, the results indicated that there are quality, quantity and spatial differences in LF and AGT compartments. In general, both concentrations and mass of LF and AGT were higher on the spruce plots; 2% of the AGT biomass returned to the forest floor as LF on the plots. Magnesium turnover rate was higher on the spruce plots. The turnover rates of other nutrients were slightly higher on the pine plots, indicating faster nutrient cycling via LF. More litter needles (kg ha -1 ) ended up on the forest floor in relation to living needles on the spruce plots.


Objective:To investigate the underlying neural mechanisms of facial emotional recognition in stroke patients.Method:The ERP of 19 channels were recorded in 19 patients(stroke group) and 25 healthy subjects (control group) while they performed an implicit schematic facial emotional recognition task. The reaction time and accuracy rate were recorded. The difference of ERP between groups was presented with statistical parametric mapping technique.Result:Both amplitude of N170 component and accuracy rate of behavioral performance of the stroke group decreased significantly than those of the control group.Conclusion:There is general dysfunction in facial emotional recognition in stroke patients. Author′s address Dept. of Neurology,Nanfang Hospital,Southern Medical University,Guangzhou,510515


Cell wall preparations of the ectohydric forest mosses, Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt. and Hylocomium splendens (Hedw.) B. S. G. contain polymerized lipids consisting of hydroxy acids, dicarboxylic acids, fatty acids, fatty alcohols and unidentified components. The finding of polymerized lipids in ectohydric mosses, which have highly permeable cell walls, indicates that the polymers do not form an effective barrier against water and nutrients, at least not in the cell walls of these mosses. The youngest parts of P. schreberi and H. splendens contained 2.0 and 1.6 mg polymerized lipids, respectively, on a dry cell wall weight basis. In the senescent, greyish-green parts of P. schreberi and in the one-year-old shoot tissue of H. splendens the corresponding amounts were about 1.5-fold. In both species the increase was due to increases in hydroxy acids, particularly dihydroxyhexadecanoic acids, dicarboxylic acids, unknown components and, in the case of H. splendens, also an increase in fatty acids. The increase may be related to the maturation of the cell walls. In still older shoot parts the amounts of polymerized lipids decreased in both species, and remained low until final decay of the tissues into small particles. A slight increase in the amount of the polymerized lipid monomers was found in the oldest and most decomposed parts of H. splendens, probably indicating a better resistance to decay than for other cell wall components. These findings are discussed in relation to what is known from the ectohydric peat-forming Sphagnum mosses.


Through a fieldwork study of the practice of methadone substitution at a French addiction clinic, the classic 'theory of action' is criticized and an alternative one proposed. A sketch of the debates among French drug specialists, drug users and legislators shows the pertinence for these practitioners of such a theoretical question; further, the ethnographic data suggest that they can be seen as actually trying out an alternative to this 'theory of action'.


The present invention relates to a target distinguishing probe (TD probe) and its use or application. The TD probe hybridizes to the target nucleic acid sequence through both the 5′-second hybridization site and the 3′-first hybridization site. When the TD probe hybridizes to a non-target nucleic acid sequence, both the 5′-second hybridization site and the split site do not hybridize to the non-target nucleic acid sequence, and these two sites form a single strand. This is due to the low T m value. As described above, the TD probe clearly shows a different hybridization pattern for each of the target nucleic acid sequence and the non-target nucleic acid sequence, which has higher specificity between the target nucleic acid sequence and the non-target nucleic acid sequence. Can be distinguished. [Selection] FIG.


Discusses an algorithm of moving object detection on the basis of algorithmic feasibility and demonstrates how to realize the real-time motional object detection.The algorithm detects the changing or moving images by difference method with the image background rebuilt.Then combining the continual characteristics of a motional figure array timely and contentedly,the algorithm sets up the historical records of motional foreground images.Processing further the images,the motional direction and speed of objects are calculated to realize the marking and segmented track of motional region.In addition,this algorithm is also suitable for the multiple occuring sometimes.It lays a sound foundation for image follow-up processing and pattern recognition in video technology with high robustness.


In the late '90th, there were widespread reconstruction projects. But, the promotion of the reconstruction is very difficult because the regulation become tight nowadays. So, remodeling rises as an alternative of reconstruction. But, it is very difficult for the owner to make a decision between reconstruction and remodeling. In common sense, reconstruction is superior to remodeling in the aspect of function, remodeling is superior to reconstruction in the aspect of economics. But it needs to establish a resonable evaluation method to deal with this situation. In this study, it is tried to establish a synthetic evaluation method composed of functional and economic criteria through literature survey and domestic and overseas examples. To synthesize the evaluation method, it is used AHP and multi-criteria decision method.


A study on seismic retrofit and repair techniquesof the existing RC (reinforced concrete) rectangular bridge columns lap spliced at the plastic hinge zone is presented. The design and construction of the study to simulate the worst case scenario in Taiwan prior to 1987 is presented.


Fifteen patients with aortic valve disease have been investigated at St. George's Hospital by thoracic aortography and cineradiography without complication. Their ages ranged from 8 to 56 years. The object in most cases was to assess the amount of aortic incompetence. With combined aortic stenosis and aortic incompetence, there may be doubt as to the degree of aortic incompetence even after clinical and routine radiological examination and study of the phonocardiograms and arterial pressure tracings. The pressure gradient across the aortic valve is particularly misleading. Similar gradients are encountered in severe aortic stenosis and in mild to moderate aortic stenosis with incompetence if there is a large forward strorke flow (Wood, 1958). This is because the gradient across a stenosed valve depends not only upon the cross section of a valve but also upon the blood flow through the valve. Unfortunately, it is not possible to measure the forward stroke flow in these cases of aortic stenosis with appreci...


Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) cannot provide adequate discrimination among efficient decision making units (DMUs). To discriminate these efficient DMUs is an interesting research subject. The purpose of this paper is to develop the mix integer linear model which was proposed by Foroughi (Foroughi A.A. A new mixed integer linear model for selecting the best decision making units in data envelopment analysis. Computers & Industrial Engineering 60 (2011) 550-554) to present new alternative mix integer programming DEA (MIP-DEA) models which can be used to improve discrimination power of DEA and select the most BCC-efficient decision making unit (DMU). We will demonstrate that proposed model is able to select DMU throughout the real data sets.


Wang Z‐Y, Paris LL., Chihara RK., Tector AJ., Burlak C. Immortalized porcine liver sinusoidal endothelial cells: an in vitro model of xenotransplantation‐induced thrombocytopenia. Xenotransplantation 2012; 19: 249–255.. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.


- The present work aimed to evaluate the spatial variability of the soil texture in two areas of the "Saline Desert", in the alluvial plain of the Apodi/Mossoró River region, RN, Brazil, by using geostatistical techniques. Areas were georeferenced in satellite images (LandSat TM-7) using a portable GPS. The sampling outline was a random (irregular grid) with 60 sampling of 1 dm 3 volume, collected from 0 to 5 cm in the soil. Most of the variables presented spatial dependence, and the models adjusted to the semivariograms were the spherical and the exponential. The nugget effect had small contribution in total variance of th data and the variables presented strong spatial dependence. There was large variation in the distance up to where the variables presented spatial dependence (reach), within and among the studied areas, for most of the variables. This fact indicated that the use of the same sampling outline is not appropriated when many variables are used. Based on the kriging maps, similar patterns of spatial distribution were identified for some physical characteristics as a function of the water dynamics.


Objective:To investigate glandular odontogenic cyst's (GOC)clinical and pathological features.Method:Nine cases of GOC specimens were observed by light microscopy and their clinical features were analysed.Result:All cases occurred mostly in young male patients,and showed a predilection for maxillary.Histological studies indicated that the epithelial lining consisted of straed squamous epithelium with glandular or crypt-like structures.In some areas,the epithelial cells were arranged into plaques or spherical structures.Conclusion:These findings suggest that GOC is clinicopathologically distinctive from other cysts and may be odontogenic cyst .


We give explicit formulas for the geodesic growth series of a Right Angled Coxeter Group (RACG) based on a link-regular graph that is 4-clique free, i.e. without tetrahedrons


Past visitors to the iconic lighthouse at Wilsons Promontory will be sorry to learn that the managers, Chris and Ailsa Richter, have decided to resign from Parks Victoria. They finished their duties just as the Prom was hit by the disastrous storm and flood in March this year.


In this paper a local condition of single-valuedness of an analytic function in its natural domain of existence is obtained. The condition is formulated in terms of rational approximations. Bibliography: 9 items.


An interpreter for the Inductive Fuzzy Classification Language is presented. This thesis explores the advantages offered by by fuzzy set theory over over crisp sets for modelling sets without sharp cutoffs. How fuzzy logic is can be used to model uncertainty is equally analysed. this thesis investigates a practical application of this in the form of fuzzy classification of customer data. The Inductive Fuzzy Classification Process is presented. The induction step is based on deriving fuzzy restrictions from data whose membership functions are inferred from normalised likelihood ratios of target class membership. In the context of this master thesis, an interpreter for the Inductive Fuzzy Classification was developed. This interpreter aims to support the inductive fuzzy classification process in its different stages.


Silicon photodetectors with a spectral response defined by design are described. Micromachining technologies in general and two properties of an integrated silicon photodetector in particular are used for that purpose. Firstly, the wavelength dependence of the absorption coefficient is exploited. Secondly, use is made of the fact that a multi-layer interference filter on top of a pn-junction comes with silicon wafer processing. The silicon complex index of refraction, n* = n – jk, is wavelength dependent in the visible part of the spectrum due to the indirect bandgap at 1.12 eV and the possibility for a direct transition at 3.4 eV, which causes the material to strongly absorb UV light and to almost behave like a transparent material for wavelengths beyond 800 nm. This mechanism enables the design of color sensors and photodiodes with an IR or UV selective response. The transmission of incident light through a surface stack of thin films into the bulk silicon is wavelength dependent. The required compatibility with standard microelectronic processing in silicon limits the range of suitable materials to the silicon-compatible materials conventionally used for integrated circuit fabrication. Accurate data on: crystalline Si, thermally grown SiO2, LPCVD polysilicon, silicon nitride (lowstress and stoichiometric) and oxides (LTO, PSG, BSG, BPSG), PECVD oxynitrides and thin-film metals are provided to improve the predictive quality of simulations. In case of a complete microspectrometer, micromachining steps are usually applied for the realization of a dispersion element. Devices operating in the visible or IR spectral range and based on a grating or a Fabry-Perot etalon are presented.


The scope of administrative inaction litigation has a bearing on the private party's rights which can be relieved from judicial procedure. This article defines administrative inaction, discusses some issues on the scope of administrative inaction litigation and analyses the exclusion of it. The proper comprehension of the scope has positive significance to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of private party and supervise legal administration and administrative efficiency.


Flavor constituents of green tea flower produced in Korea were analyzed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. 56 compounds in sample were separated and indentified as 22 hydrocarbons, 14 alcohols, 6 aldehydes, 5 esters, and 9 others. Higher concentrated substances were heneicosyl formate, -phenyl ethyl alcohol, and acetophenone. Germacrene D as a sesquiterpene were also identified.


The publication of Nan Z. Da's study in Critical Inquiry has triggered a debate about the methodological and conceptual dimensions of digitally assisted inquiry in literary studies. Nan Z. Da's fundamental critique of what she calls "Computational Literary Studies" addresses the work of the international Special Interest Group"DigitalLiterary Stylistics"(SIG-DLS) of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO). Thus we—the five scholars forming the SIG's current steering committee—would like to make a


The effects of displacive, heavy-ion irradiation on the properties of synthetic single-crystals of ZrSiO{sub 4} (zircon), HfSiO{sub 4} (hafnon), tetragonal ThSiO{sub 4} (thorite), and monoclinic ThSiO{sub 4} (huttonite) have been investigated. All four ABO{sub 4}-type orthosilicate materials became amorphous in a process that exhibited a two-stage dependence on temperature when irradiated by 800 keV Kr{sup +} or Xe{sup +} ions in the temperature range of 20 to 1100 K. The critical amorphization temperature above which amorphization did not occur increased in the following order: huttonite, zircon, hafnon, thorite. At temperatures below 500 K, the tetragonal and monoclinic polymorphs of ThSiO{sub 4} required approximately the same ion fluence for amorphization. Monoclinic ThSiO{sub 4} is, therefore, not {open_quotes}more resistant{close_quotes} to radiation damage than the tetragonal-symmetry form, but instead, its amorphous phase recrystallizes at a lower temperature. A model that accounts for the observed two-stage behavior was developed and used to calculate the recrystallization activation energies for both stages. When irradiated with heavy ions above a certain characteristic temperature, an unexpected decomposition was observed in which all four ABO{sub 4} orthosilicates phase separated into the crystalline oxides: ZrO{sub 2}, HfO{sub 2}, or ThO{sub 2} plus amorphous SiO{sub 2}. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital Themore » American Physical Society}« less


The purpose in the research to describe the troublewhich class student experienced by XI SMAN 1 Woha Bima in resolving the mathematical supplylimit material in particular.This type of research is a description qualitative study, the research inapril month SMAN 1 Woha Bima.  Subjek in the research is class student XI SMAN 1 Woha Bima which is comprised of 19 students. The instrument used in the research is tets using a 5 number essay for knowing the layout trouble student  and interview for know what cause trouble student. Based on data analysis and discussion it can be conclusion that (1) the study trouble in tets number 1a the presentation is as much (28,57%)  based on interview  that mots students had trouble with the concept of a mathematical operation wich would have to finish first (2) the study trouble in tets number 1a the presentation is as much (7,14%) based on interview that student trouble in number 1b because trouble in deciphering the number of degrees in algebra, (3) the study trouble in tets number 1a the presentation is as much (14,28%) from a student's analysis of answers that the student's trouble in answering the number 1c is consistent with the trouble experienced in number 1b, (4) the study trouble in tets number 1a the presentation is as much (50%) from a students analysis of answer that the student's and interview the feeling student's trouble in algebra forms, (5) ) the study trouble in tets number 1a the presentation is as much (7,14) from a student's analysis and interview  trouble that what student experienced was two in describing the shape of algebra and the trouble in changing roots.


In the present study, we investigated the adhesive performances of polyacrylamide-based hydrogels intended to be used as dermatological patches. Accordingly, we have prepared conventional copolymer poly(acrylamide-co-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) hydrogels and nanocomposite copolymer poly(acrylamide-co-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) hydrogels filled with poly(butyl acrylate) nanoparticles. We evaluated their adhesive properties when they were applied to different substrates (equivalent human skin, stainless steel) using a probe tack test. The adhesion energy was found to be related to the chemical composition and the rheological properties of the hydrogels which were also measured.


Geometry has shown that the architecture was an expression of man and a basic principle that were always presented on an architectural work. The research was conducted through two steps with the first step was to identified the Tadao Ando's geometry design principle through a content analysis approach. Based on the textual review, Tadao Ando's geometry design principle was tend to select the simple geometric forms as the embodiment of the building shapes. An user spatial experiences were created through inter space relationships and interactions with the surrounding environment through the geometry and shape processing and became the central to his architectural work creation. In other words, pure geometry concept was the instrument to presented all of those. The second step was to compared Tadao Ando's geometry design principles in the monistic architecture to the pluralistic architecture catagories using a precedent analysis approach. The comparisons toward the geometrical principles were more complex and quite varied geometric shapes in pluralistic architecture while simple geometric shapes can be found in the monistic architecture,as well as interlinked circular paths in pluralistic architecture which shaped by the 'direction wall' rather than a simple circulation path in the monistic architecture, and the wall-formed angle was a multiple of 15° in monistic architecture but varying angles in the pluralistic architecture.


In order to show a more accurate value without increasing the exposure dose of the imaging job to the operator, the exposure dose in the method of calculating the X-ray CT apparatus comprising the steps of: Age input (S201, S202) and the inspection area of the object to be inspected; according check the age of the object entered in the input step and the area to be inspected, and according to the human head and chest circumference statistics calculation (S203, S204) the head and chest of the diameter of the object under examination; according to the predetermined X-ray dose plus when the upper mold, applied exposure dose on the mold having a predetermined diameter information previously calculated (S206) exposure dose equal to the calculated diameter of the die head and chest diameter; and displaying (S207) the exposure dose value.


Decreasing stability of power system by voltage instability makes that all power system face with serious problems of stability. That is attributable to the difficulty of controlling the power system. So it is necessary to keep the voltage of load bus in range of the limited level to supply high quality of electric power. Therefore we describe and suggest on this paper that a plan for coordination control between UPFC(Unified Power Flow Controller), Shunt elements(Shunt capacitor & Shunt reactor) and ULTC(Under Load Tap Changer) among compensators and also describe the method to keep or control the voltage of power system in allowable ranges.


Morphological variation within and between the taxa of the Altissimae (Vernonia altissima, V. ovalifolia, andV. flaccidifolia) and Giganteae (V. gigantea) was investigated. The data for these studies were obtained from population samples, herbarium specimens, and greenhouse-grown transplants. The taxa were hybridized in all possible combinations, and F2 progeny were produced fromV. altissima XV. ovalifolia F2's. Fertility in the hybrids was estimated by examination of chromosome pairing at meiosis and by pollen stainability.It is concluded thatVernonia altissima should be regarded as a synonym ofV. gigantea and thatV. ovalifolia should be reduced to subspecific rank asV. gigantea ssp.ovalifolia. The evolution of the two subspecies ofV. gigantea is discussed.Vernonia flaccidifolia is maintained at the species level.


Building on Max Weber's definition of bureaucracy, this chapter questions the extent to which bureaucratization was a shared feature of European polities during the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries and, if so, whether bureaucratization took place in different regions at the same time because of parallel developments or rather owing to mutual influences. The chapter primarily reviews relevant secondary literature in order to outline the historiographical debate, which lies behind my original contribution, and specifically engages with the creation of chanceries and financial offices in England and also at the papal curia between the twelfth and the fourteenth centuries.


Aim\ A program oriented method has been analyzed to the foundry technology drawing and the foundry technology cards. Methods\ Based on the AutoCAD R14. The program of foundry technology drawing and foundry technology cards were developed by using C language with ADS and by DXF file. Results\ Using the software, the foundry technology drawings and the foundry technology cards of some practical castings have been drawn. Conclusion\ This program not only is easy to operate but also can shorten the drawing period from castings to technology drawings and technology cards. It will have an evident economical prospect and a wide range of applications.


A Senate Committee requested assistance from Sandia in determining the adequacy of the investigation of the incident aboard the USS IOWA. This currently unexplained explosion occurred in Turret 2 of the battleship on April 19, 1989, killing 47 crewmen. The investigation included material characterization of debris found after the explosion, ignition experiments to characterize the propellant, and analytic modeling of the mechanics, interior ballistics and ignition. The analytic modeling is described in this paper. The modeling of the incident was concerned with the mechanics of the ramming equipment used to load the 16 inch guns, and the interior ballistic and ignition of the propellant. Many separate analyses were performed to explain the crushing of the propellant grains, the dynamics and location of ignition of the propellant train, and the presence of damage after the incident. The goal of this modeling was to assess the feasibility of the various events in the turret, and to identify the cause of the incident. An item of particular interest was damage to the rammer control handle quadrant. The US Navy conjectured that the blast propelled the rammermans seat into the quadrant in such a way as to suggest low speed ram during the incident.more » The speed of the ram was discovered to be very important in determining the probability of ignition during an overram, and an analysis of the rammermans seat motion was completed. In order to understand how the seat impacts the quadrant, a three-dimensional finite element analysis was completed using ABAQUS/Explicit. The loading of the seat was due to two-phase gas and propellant flow through the bag train and into the turret volume. The results showed that impact onto the quadrant probably first occurred at the rear, dislodging it from its mount. This analysis was pivotal in the examination of the incident, and was the final evidence that the cause of the explosion could not be conclusively determined.« less


With the development of higher vocational education,it has become the main task to investi-gate the establishment of case-simulations based on the work process of Commercial English in Foreign Affairs.The article explores the new idea of investigating case-simulations based on the work process to meet the demand of improving higher vocational college students' practical English capabilities which are essential in their future commercial practice in foreign affairs.


We performed the first simultaneous observational run and the cross correlation analysis with small-scaled Torsion-bar Antennas (TOBAs) at Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan, and established a new upper limit on a stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB). TOBA is the novel gravitational wave detector formed with two bar-shaped test masses. It has a fundamental sensitivity to gravitational waves around 1 Hz even with the ground-based configuration. We used the two smallscaled TOBAs with one 20-cm test mass bar for the simultaneous observation. We successfully demonstrated the process of the SGWB detection with ground-based TOBA detectors and set a 95 % confidence upper limit on a SGWB as Ωgwh 2 0 ≤ 1.9 × 10 between 0.035 and 0.830 Hz. This result exceeds the previrous result established with a single small-scaled TOBA and expands the explored frequency band.


In dynamic interaction graphs, user-item interactions usually follow heterogeneous patterns, represented by different structural information, such as user-item co-occurrence, sequential information of user interactions and the transition probabilities of item pairs. However, the existing methods cannot simultaneously leverage all three structural information, resulting in suboptimal performance. To this end, we propose øurs, a triple structural information modeling method for accurate, explainable and interactive recommendation on dynamic interaction graphs. Specifically, øurs consists of 1) a dynamic ideal low-pass graph filter to dynamically mine co-occurrence information in user-item interactions, which is implemented by incremental singular value ecomposition (SVD); 2) a parameter-free attention module to capture sequential information of user interactions effectively and efficiently; and 3) an item transition matrix to store the transition probabilities of item pairs. Then, we fuse the predictions from the triple structural information sources to obtain the final recommendation results. By analyzing the relationship between the SVD-based and the recently emerging graph signal processing (GSP)-based collaborative filtering methods, we find that the essence of SVD is an ideal low-pass graph filter, so that the interest vector space in øurs can be extended to achieve explainable and interactive recommendation, making it possible for users to actively break through the information cocoons. Experiments on six public datasets demonstrated the effectiveness of øurs in accuracy, explainability and interactivity.


In this article are introduced the process flow,each process parameters and adopted technical measures in producing 19.4tex slub yarn of 0.89dtex polyester.The quality of the slub yarn keeps stable after optimizing each process parameters and taking quality control.


The recent economic policy debate in Germany emphasizes the impact of globalization of the world economy on the German labor market. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the relationship between trade and the labor market in West Germany for the period from 1970 until German reunification in 1990. Building on the emphasis of trade theory on relative output prices as the major transmission channel of trade effects on the labor market, the empirical analysis first develops a series of empirical regularities characterizing trends in trade, total factor productivity growth, and labor markets. Then building on Learner (1996), a more structural analysis identifies empirically the qualitative effects of trade and total factor productivity growth. The analysis allows for three skill types of labor. The major empirical findings are that, relative to skilled labor, wages were increasing disproportionately both for low- and highskilled labor whereas employment trends were favoring higher skill levels monotonically. Import competition as well as total factor productivity were increasing disproportionately in those industries using low- or high-skilled labor-intensively. These results are consistent with trade effects dominating for low-skilled labor and technology effects for high-skilled labor. At the same time, the wage bargaining institutions were holding up relative wages of low-skilled labor which accounts for the disproportionate increase of unemployment for this group. The empirical analysis merges national account data for 49 industries with the "IAB-Beschaftigtenstichprobe", a 1% random sample from German social security accounts, which has become available only recently.


World-wide commercial distribution of environmental hydraulics software from the Danish Hydraulic institute (DHI) and Water Quality Institute (VKI) through a local agent network (Lawson and Treloar Pty Ltd) is providing Australian problem-solvers with state-of-the-art tools to manage water quality, sediment transport and hydrological problems. The rapid knowledge concentration process which occurs through widespread software distribution and support is widening the technology gap between industry and researchers. This paper describes the evolutionary process which is occurring in the environmental hydraulics field in Australia, the role of researchers, and where such an evolutionary process may be leading.


From the phosphorylation state of a molecule to the volume of a cell, parameters are ubiquitous in systems biology. At the same time, most models involve static or dynamic compartments, for example to separate cells from their environment. We introduce coloured stochastic multilevel multiset rewriting, an expressive formalism for modelling systems with parameters and complex dynamic, multilevel compartment structures, and an extension of both multilevel multiset rewriting and coloured Petri nets. While being very expressive, it allows the direct and natural expression of biological ideas. We give some illustrative examples, demonstrating the use of parameters to handle cell states, position and volume, and variable rates. We further demonstrate the use of rules with complex right-hand sides for reproduction. We regard these examples as paving the way for more biologically relevant models.


The exact controllability to the origin for linear evolution control equation is consid- ered. The problem is investigated by its transformation to infinite linear moment problem of generalized exponentials. The existence of solutions of obtained moment problem is investi- gated for the case when exponentials of a moment problem do not constitute a Riesz basis. The exact controllability of linear control system of neutral type is considered as an example.


The present study was carried out for the assessment and detecting of the Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteriophages and their bacterial host's proteins includes visual inspection and comparison of their molecular weight mass. Systematic methods that use microorganisms (viruses and bacteria) to test samples from the local sewage water have been developed but require some change in the classical culturing of the organism to detect it easily by naked eye through the changes in selective media. We have developed a Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate Ploy Acrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS PAGE) assay for bacteriophage samples preparation that allows the rapid detection of proteins bands of these viruses by using freeze drying technique. We found that the protein profiles of E. coli bacteriophage showed three major bands with molecular weight mass of 47, 35 and 16 kilo Dalton and 34 and 20 kDa for S. aureus phage, the band of 35 kDa was the common shared peak between the phage and the bacterial host due to the bacteriophage lytic cycle. The method is suitable for use with both the bacteriophages and their bacterial hosts. The assay is rapid, sensitive, and inexpensive; requires only small sample volumes; and can be automated.


Perflex has been introduced by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Inc., as a new fluorocarbon‐based technology for protein immobilization. Due to the hydrophobic character of the support, however, significant loss of enzymatic activity may occur upon immobilization of certain enzymes, which appears to be due to a large conformational change of the protein ("inversion"). Pretreatment of the Perflex support with a neutral fluorosurfactant lessened the surface hydrophobicity, thus decreasing the hydrophobic interaction between the support and the protein. Modification of enzymes with a high number of fluorocarbon residues, which forms a hydrophobic "envelope" around the protein, also appears to prevent enzyme inactivation upon immobilization on Perflex support. Moreover, preactivation of the support with either perfluorooctylpropylisocyanate or reactive poly(fluoroalkyl) sugar reagents greatly improves the enzyme particle activity by increasing the amount of immobilized enzyme. Fluorosurfactant treatment of the support activated with perfluorooctylpropylisocyanate improves the retention of activity for sensitive enzymes such as alpha‐chymotrypsin and increases the wetability and ease of handling of the Perflex particles.


A mathematic model for the relationship between the rate of heat transfer per meter borehole and the depth of borehole as well as the flow rate was built.The change of the rate of heat transfer per meter borehole according to the depth of borehole was analyzed.The change of the rate of the heat transfer according to the flow as the borehole depth being 50 meters,100 meters,150 meters and 200 meters was also analyzed.Thus,when designing the geothermal heat exchanger,the depth of borehole and the flow rate and the inlet water temperature of U-tube should be reasonably chosen to guarantee the economy of heat transfer of the borehole.Finally,the cost of the transfer heat rate per unit borehole depth was proposed as the economic evaluation standard of U-tube heat transfer.


A widespread view is that executive perks exemplify agency problems -- they are a route through which managers misappropriate a firm's surplus. Accordingly, firms with high free cash flow, operating in industries with limited investment prospects, should offer more perks, and firms subject to more external monitoring should offer fewer perks. The evidence for agency as an explanation of perks is, at best, mixed. Perks are, however, offered in situations in which they enhance managerial productivity. While we cannot rule out the occasional aberration, and while we have little to say on the overall level of perks, our findings suggest that treating perks purely as managerial excess is incorrect.


Cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) have gain remarkable attention due to its property of stabilizing the planar (P) and focal conic (FC) states. This paper presents the temperature dependent behavior of cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) mixed with appropriate amount of dye. The pitch of sample corresponds to visible region (~1 µm) was adjusted by adding appropriate concentration of chiral dopant. The phase transition and morphological behavior was recorded using polarized optical microscope (POM) from planar state to isotropic state by heating the sample using temperature-controller. Experimental results indicated that increase in temperature impacts the morphology of CLC and strongly affects its electro-optical (E-O) properties. Further, POM studies showed that at room temperature dye doped CLC cell has initial transparent state (planar texture) however, when driving voltage was high (~27V) with lower frequency of 1 kHz, P state switched to FC state. On further increasing the temperature, minor distortion was observed in P state in comparison to P state of dye doped CLC cell at room temperature, however, at higher (~ 45˚C) temperature, low driving voltage was required to achieve the stable FC state. Further, FC state was switched to stable P state on applying high frequency (50 kHz) voltage. Afterward, above 45˚C temperature, the textures showed the sustained FC state of dye doped CLC cell with no switching to P state on applying high frequency (50 kHz) voltage. Thus, temperature dependent dye doped CLC cell showed the bi-stability feature upto 45˚C temperature, however, above this temperature showed the fixed FC state.


The failures and problems of school education today are caused by many factors, stemming from the bias of behaviorism that the teacher is burdened with, as well as being the result of changes in the way of thinking of new generations, often caused by the negative impact of technology – its source is usually in the process of teaching and growth itself. Computational thinking allows us to take complex problems, understand what the problem is, and develop solutions. We can present these solutions in a way that both computers and people can understand.


This lead article in our vintage issue of Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work journal follows our professional journal from its launch in 1965, through several name changes, physical manifestations and numerous editorships, to the present day. Continuity and change are the themes we focus on, together with tenacity and adaptability. We briefly introduce the concept of content analysis as a tool for exploring the story of our journals and thus the Association's history, and end with reflective questions for the future.


Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) present many advantages to generate electricity from natural gas, such as high efficiency, and little noise. However, the most important advantage of SOFC is its ability to operate at high temperatures. Their high operating temperature makes possible to use natural gas as fuel, so external hydrogen is not necessary for operation. In addition, in hybrid systems with cogeneration, the SOFC can be combined with micro gas turbine (MGT) to generate more power for the same amount of fuel. This cogeneration is interesting for power generation, from few kilowatts, for residences and commercial buildings, until megawatts as in plants for electric power generation, or industries. The study presented hear shows the increased efficiency when a MGT is integrated into the system to take advantage of exhaust gases of the SOFC.


FURLAN, J. P. R. Molecular characterization of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli isolates obtained from the environment. 2022. 139f. Thesis (Doctoral). Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto – Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, 2022. The occurrence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens has become a threat to the ability to treat infections and the rapid spread of these pathogens at the human-animal-environmental interface causes concern. Escherichia coli remains one of the main pathogens associated with healthcare-related infections and has a great ability to acquire and transfer antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). The environment is commonly affected by pollution resulting from human activities, which favor the selection of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria and the horizontal transfer of ARGs. Thus, this study aimed to characterize E. coli isolates recovered from environmental samples regarding antimicrobial resistance, virulence, and epidemiological profiles. Soil (n=300) and water (n=200) samples were collected in different cities in the Southeast region of Brazil and were used to isolate E. coli. The isolates obtained were submitted to phenotypic and molecular tests to characterize the profiles and genes of antimicrobial resistance, while virulence genes, mobile genetic elements, and typing were determined by molecular methods. Accordingly, 105 MDR isolates were obtained and showed resistance mainly to extended-spectrum cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, and colistin. The typing and subtyping of the isolates revealed a great genetic diversity, highlighting the sequence types (STs) of the clonal complex 10 and the high-risk clones ST10, ST131, ST354, ST648, and ST744. Several ARGs were detected, evidencing the presence of blaCTX-M, blaCMY, and qnrB genes in isolates from soil and water, and mcr-1 (mcr1.1, mcr-1.26) and qnrS in isolates from water. In some isolates, the genes blaCTX-M-2, blaCTXM-14, and blaCTX-M-15 were located on the chromosome and were associated with the Tn21-like element and ISEcp1, while the genes blaCMY, qnrB, qnrS, and mcr-1 were located on plasmids IncI1-ST12, Col(pHAD28), IncR, and IncX4, respectively. IncX4 plasmids were highly similar; however, a new genetic environment attributed by the insertion of the ΔIS5-like (258 bp) in the opposite orientation upstream of the mcr-1.1 gene was evidenced. Differences in the adjacent regions of the mcr-1.26 gene, as well as the underestimation and first description in the world of the mcr-1.26 gene in the environment were determined in this study. Different gene cassettes inserted into the class 1 integron in isolates from soil and the presence of a module of antimicrobial resistance and metal tolerance in isolates from water were observed. In addition, mutations in the resistance determinants to fluoroquinolones (GyrA, ParC, ParE) and to colistin (PmrAB, PhoPQ, MgrB) were also identified. Virulence genes related to diarrheogenic E. coli (DEC) and extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli strains were detected among the isolates, spotlighting the presence of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli and the prevalence of DEC in soils. Furthermore, a hybrid and multireplicon plasmid IncF [F2:A-B1]∆IncQ1 carrying ARGs and virulence genes was detected in a ST131-H22 lineage from water that was also positive for the mcr-1.26 gene. On that account, these results show a high genetic diversity in lineages of E. coli MDR and potentially pathogenic in the environment, which come mainly from contamination of human origin and animals in the food production chain. Therefore, the presence of these lineages in the environment represents a potential risk to public and environmental health, as well as food safety.


Application of age-grading methods to face fly (Musca autumnalis) populations in 7 consecutive autumns provided an estimate of the dynamics of reproduction and diapause. Teneral flies abruptly stopped entering the reproductive phase beginning 10 September, and the relative frequencies of parous flies rapidly decreased while previtellogenic nullipars increased from that date. There was no evidence of a temperature-dependent vitellogenic response in fly populations. Thermal-unit summations showed that face fly ovipositions after the critical 10 September date were increasingly unlikely to produce overwintering adults. The average daily survival rate of parous flies in September was >0.89, consistent with that of summer flies. Flies with hypertrophied fat bodies were first detected in early to mid-September and became common (ca. 25%) by the 4th week.


Performance and lifespan of great project depend on the durability of compacted concrete used in bulky project. The infulence of fly ash on durability of compacted concrete was studied from aspects of impermeability, freeze resistance, impact resistance, carbonisation resistance and chemical resistance. The results are as follows: (1) fly ash can improve late impermeability of compacted concrete; (2) it can enhance freeze resistance of compacted concrete that enlarging fly ash and cementing material content in concrete to lower w/c ratio;(3) if fly ash content is higher than 15%, influence of fly ash on impact resistance of concrete is unnoted; (4) if fly ash content is not higher than 50%, compress strength of cabonisated concrete increased at a certait extent instead; (5) hydrate of compacted concrete long-term stability is preferable and magnesite and sulphate corrasion resistance of the concrete is great since second hydration of fly ash comsume some of Ca(OH)2.


Vigilante groups in the United States and India have used social media to distribute their content and publicize violent spectacles for political purposes. This essay will tackle the spectacle of vigilante lynchings, abduction, and threats as images of vigilante violence are spread online in support of specific candidates, state violences, and election discourse. It is important to understand the impact of not only these vigilante groups, but understand the communicative spectacle of their content. Using Leo R. Chavez's understanding of early 2000s vigilante action as spectacle in service of social movements, this essay extends the analysis to modern vigilante violence online content used as dramatic political rhetoric in support of sitting administrations. Two case studies on modern vigilante violence provide insight into this phenomenon are as follows: (1) Vigilante nativist militia groups across the United States in support of border militarization have kidnapped migrants in the Southwest desert, documenting these incidents to show support for the Trump Administration and building of a border wall and (2) vigilante mobs in India have circulated videos and media documenting lynchings of so-called "cow killers"; these attacks target Muslims in the light of growing Hindu Nationalist sentiment and political movement in the country. Localized disinformation and personal video allow vigilante content to spread across social media to recruit members for militias, as well as incite quick acts of mob violence. Furthermore, these case studies display how the social media livestreams and video allow representations of violence to become attention-arresting visual acts of political discourse.


The starting point of the article is the archive, characterized as a query about the future, and Foucault's call for a discourse that provides a dual articulation of the history of individuals on the subconscious of culture and the historicity of the latter on individual subconsciousness. The archive has not been read as such either by exponents of the Islamic tradition or by modern scholarship in the Orientalist tradition, thus the first ambitious task of applied Islamology is to deconstructively analyse the foundational discourse of an imaginary that, since the Middle Ages, has opposed Arab-Islamic consciousness to a Jewish and Christian consciousness. Applied Islamology also explores the 'universal values' that were invented in the West and then seen as transferable to all cultures worldwide. The public is deprived of the conceptual tools necessary to explore both this imaginary and the West's 'universal' values. The social frameworks of knowledge regarding Islamic studies are in operation as much in the West as in Muslim contexts.


ABSTRACT In 1979, shallow Miocene natural gas was discovered in southwestern Baldwin County, Alabama. Only three years later, Miocene gas was discovered in southern Mobile County as well as the southern portions of Mobile Bay. These events have led to a highly successful exploration program for middle and late Miocene natural gas reservoirs throughout southern Alabama and its adjoining State waters. Since these initial discoveries over 200 Miocene test wells have been drilled in this area resulting in the discovery of 42 Miocene natural gas fields. The abundance of subsurface bore holes and accompanying data form an invaluable database for evaluating the local and regional geology and geologic history of the Miocene and in defining the geometry and reservoir characteristics of its producing fields. To date, over 105 billion cubic feet of natural gas has been produced from the 42 Miocene fields in the study area. This production has been from five formal and informally named sands within the Miocene Pensacola Clay. Miocene traps are principally stratigraphic-structural combination traps involving pinchouts of porous and permeable sands against regional dip or across anticlinal nosing trends.


It is argued that Tertullian's relatively lengthy description of a chameleon in his De pallio serves as a metaphor not so much for the convert to a philosophical way of life in general but for the convert to Christianity in particular. The argument rests on the unusual emphases within this description which recall different features of Christianity or popular beliefs about the same.


The Iranian Islamic Revolution, the only continual regime constituted by a modern fundamentalist movement, shares many of the characteristics of the Great revolutions. The causes of the Iranian Revolution are indeed very similar to those of the classical ones—namely the breakdown of a modernizing autocracy torn by internal contradictions between various processes of economic and social modernization that gave rise to many new modernized economic and professional classes, but denying them any political autonomy, any autonomous access to the political center, at the same time uprooting them from wider sectors of peasant and urban population—very much in a rather typical third world way, pushing them into the slums of the cities. The Khomeini Revolution also developed in the context of the expansion of modernity, and it built on many of the structural and organizational aspects of modernity—especially of course in the use of the media and modern organizational methods for the mobilization of the masses. It was also fully imbued by some of the institutional and ideological premises of modernity. Not only did it adapt such modern political institutions as parliament or presidency—to which there is no reference in any pristine Islamic vision—but it did also emphasize in modern ways such themes as equality and political participation far beyond what could be found in such vision or visions. At the same time the Iranian ulama felt utterly alienated from the Shah's secular regime, and modernizing ideology. Their basic cosmological orientations were radically antimodern, or rather more exactly anti-Enlightenment and anti-Western. It was this distinct combination of modern and anti-Enlightenment and anti-Western cosmological visions; as developed in the framework of new globalizing and inter-civilizational visions; that distinguished the Iranian Islamic revolution from the classical ones, bringing out some of its paradoxical similarities within the different post-modern movements. Thus, indeed, the modern fundamentalist movements, in a way most fully epitomized in the Iranian revolution, as well as in somewhat different mode the communal religious movements, entail an important, even radical, shift in the discourse about the confrontation with modernity and in the conceptualization of the relation between the Western and non-Western civilizations, religions or societies—thus, paradoxically sharing many characteristics with the various "post-modern" movements.


This paper presents a rheological study of the design and development of surface-modification schemes for silica fume particles to improve their dispersion in asphalt and increase the asphalt aging resistance. The nanoparticle surface design involves an optimum balance of the use of inert and active surface functional groups to achieve minimal nanoparticle agglomeration and enhance the reduction in oxidative aging of silica-fume-modified asphalt binder. Silica fume particles with different functional groups, including amine and phosphonate groups, were produced. Agglomeration studies using SEM and zeta potential analysis indicate that modifying asphalt binder with amine-modified silica fume particles can reduce the agglomeration of the silica fume particles. The performance characteristics of functionalized silica fume particles and non-functionalized silica fume particles are compared with those of base asphalt. The following research hypotheses were investigated: silica fume will enhance asphalt's aging resistance; and amine groups will react with a high percentage of agglomerated silica fume particles in asphalt to reduce the agglomeration and increase the aging resistance. A rotational viscometer was used to study the effect of functionalized-silica-fume-modified binder on the high-temperature properties of the asphalt binder. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis was used to determine the chemical compounds of the aminegroup silica-fume-modified binder matrix. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe the surface morphology and analyze microstructure characteristics of materials. Using these surface-modification schemes, fluorescent silica fume particles can be more readily conjugated with asphalt molecules and used as highly fluorescent, sensitive, and reproducible labels in asphalt applications.


In these lectures we review Generalized Complex Geometry and discuss two main applications to string theory: the description of supersymmetric flux compactifications and the supersymmetric embedding of D‐branes. We start by reviewing G‐structures, and in particular SU(3)‐structure and its torsion classes, before extending to Generalized Complex Geometry. We then discuss the supersymmetry conditions of type II supergravity in terms of differential conditions on pure spinors, and finally introduce generalized calibrations to describe D‐branes. As examples we discuss in some detail AdS4 compactifications, which play a role as the geometric duals in the AdS4/CFT3‐correspondence.


An experimental investigation was conducted to examine the feasibility of two kinds of new joint detailing for low to moderate seismic risk regions. Particular attention was paid to beam-column joints cast of high-strength concrete (HSC). Joints without transverse reinforcement (E detail) commonly adopted in low to moderate seismic risk regions have been proven unsatisfactory for strength and ductility requirements under seismic loading, while conventional joints containing transverse reinforcement (H detail) commonly adopted in seismic regions cannot avoid reinforcement congestion. Two kinds of new joint details, i.e. AD (adding diagonal steel bars in the joint) and CD (bending some of the beam longitudinal reinforcement bars diagonally up and down in the joint) are proposed in this study to satisfy the limited ductility requirements for low to moderate seismic risk regions. Four half-scale beam-column joint specimens cast of HSC containing respectively E detail, H detail, AD detail and CD detail were fabricated and tested under reversed inelastic cyclic displacement excursions. The test results showed that, depending on the reinforcement detailing within the beam-column joints, different failure modes occurred. Units E and CD could hardly reach the limited ductility range and the joint suffered severe inelastic damage, while Units AD and H behaved excellently with the joint relatively well intact. It is concluded that the detail of Unit AD is suitable for joints in regions of low to moderate seismicity due to ease of fabrication compared to Unit H.


SALATRIM 23SO lot A026 belongs to a family of structured triacylglycerols with lower caloric availability than corn oil. Male and female minipigs were divided into five groups of four pigs of each sex and fed diets containing 0%, 3%, 6%, and 10% SALATRIM or 10% corn oil, as a reference for the high fat content of the SALATRIM diets, for 28 days. Diets were supplemented with 2% corn oil to ensure adequate essential fatty acid availability. No effects on body weight, feed consumption, clinical observations, hematology, serum chemistry, bone mineral content, serum and liver levels of fat-soluble vitamins, and organ weights were detected. Focal hepatocellular vacuolation was observed in treated and control groups. The incidence was similar among groups


This study tested the effects of price order, price range and number of price points on the average price respondents are willing to pay for selected fmcg and durable products. For each product category (fmcg, household appliances), three factors were tested: order of prices (ascending, descending, random); number of price points (3, 4 or 5); and price range (large: anchor + 100%; small: anchor + 50%). Respondents were presented with price lists based on the 18 possible combinations of factors and levels and, from each list, were asked to select the price that they would be willing to pay for the specified product. Separate regression models were computed for the fmcgs and household appliances to examine the relative contributions of the elements. A notable finding was that, for both sets of products, the models accounted for only about 10% of the variation. For fmcgs, the highest price was obtained by presenting the prices in descending order, using a wide price range, and four price points. For the household appliances, the highest price was obtained using a wide price range and five price points; order was unimportant. While these results demonstrate both range and order pricing effects, further research is required to identify boundary conditions.


GRAND PAQUEBOT WITH PASSENGERS BOOTHS AND SPACES GENERAL USE AND LOCAL SERVICE. THE LINER IS DIVIDED INTO THE UPPER AND LOWER PART 2 1 LATTER EXTENDING TO BRIDGE THE HIGHEST COVERING ALL THE HULL OF VESSEL. THE LOWER PART IS AT LEAST APPROXIMATELY PASSENGER CABIN FREE AND AT LEAST SUBSTANTIALLY ALL CABINS 3 PASSENGERS ARE IN THE FORM OF BOOTHS EXTERNAL, SITUATED IN TOGETHER SEVERAL FLOORS FORMING UPPER VESSEL. THIS SET IS MUCH MORE NARROW THE LOWER PART OF THE SHIP AND IS BUILT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RULES FOR BUILDING LOCATED ABOVE DECK THE SUPERIOR GENERAL OF A SHIP.


We present time-domain THz spectroscopy data of a thin film of the Kondo-lattice antiferromagnet CeCu$_2$Ge$_2$. The low frequency complex conductivity has been obtained down to temperatures below the onset of magnetic order. At low temperatures a narrow Drude-like peak forms, which is similar to ones found in other heavy fermion compounds that do not exhibit magnetic order. Using this data in conjunction with DC resistivity measurements, we obtain the frequency dependence of the scattering rate and effective mass through an extended Drude model analysis. The zero frequency limit of this analysis yields evidence for large mass renormalization even in the magnetic state, the scale of which agrees closely with that obtained from thermodynamic measurements.


Theory, realization and mode characteristics of a helical distributed feedback far-ir gas laser are presented. In this laser DFB is provided by a structure of helical symmetry contrary to standard DFB lasers which are based on linear periodic modulations.


A Sound Event Localization and Detection system is capable of identifying the type and source of an acoustic event in a 3-dimensional space. Typically, such a system is trained using a Multi-Task Learning (MTL) framework, where the loss propagated is a linear combination of individual task losses. However, it has been found that the hard-parameter sharing strategy for an MTL framework can degrade the system performance. In addition, deriving the optimal loss combination can be time-consuming empirically and may not be the best way. This work proposes a cross-stitch network with a novel attention module that improves the feature representations. Further, we propose the use of a loss balancing algorithm to weigh the loss contribution adaptively, thereby eliminating the need to tune the loss weightage empirically. The proposed system is then evaluated on L3DAS22 challenge dataset as a part of our challenge participation and achieves a significant performance improvement of over 20% compared to the state-of-the-art SELDnet. We also note that our system ranked 3 rd in the L3DAS22 challenge Task 2 without any data augmentation or external dataset to increase the training samples.


The SAS 9.1 Intelligence Architecture is a multi-tiered platform consisting of components residing on client desktops, middle-tier web servers, and enterprise-class back-end servers. These components can be spread across multiple systems running on a variety of hardware and integrated with a wide range of third-party products. This multi-tiered design offers tremendous flexibility and configurability but requires careful planning and deployment. In this presentation, platform managers from the Host Systems Division present the top considerations for preparing to deploy the SAS 9.1 Intelligence Architecture throughout your organization. INTRODUCTION SAS 9.1 introduces big changes in the way a SAS release is deployed throughout an enterprise. Early in the development process, several groups in SAS R&D realized the importance of installing, configuring and deploying the new infrastructure properly. This resulted in complementary initiatives from several groups. These projects have different names: Customer Experience Testing (CET), Total User Experience (TUE) and Host User Experience (HUE), but they have a common goal: To improve the customer experience in deploying products based on the SAS 9.1 Intelligence Architecture. In this paper, we will describe some of the lessons that we in Host Systems R&D have learned from our work on HUE, where we focused on deploying the SAS 9.1 Intelligence Architecture in a heterogeneous environment with the clients, mid-tier, and server systems residing on different platforms. THIS IS NOT YOUR FATHER'S SAS "Back in the old days" putting up a new release of SAS was a pretty simple matter. You put the CD (or tape or floppy disks) into the drive on your machine and installed. In less than an hour, you were up and running. Your only options for client/server were SAS/Share and SAS/Connect. The Internet was a dream of folks in some research labs and universities (how many people remember BITNET?). People accessed their systems through terminals like the IBM 3270 and VT100 or card readers. SAS was there, helping you with powerful reporting and analytics. Things have changed a lot since then. We are expected to have up-to-the minute intelligence about our enterprise distributed throughout the enterprise. The volumes of data have grown enormously and the old ways of working are not sufficient for today's competitive environment. The SAS 9.1 Intelligence Architecture was created to meet this challenge. The SAS 9.1 Intelligence Architecture provides a suite of servers and services that deliver The Power to Know throughout the enterprise. Applications developed using the SAS 9.1 Intelligence Architecture can be deployed in multi-tier environments where web browsers, application servers and SAS Foundation Servers operate to create a dynamic and powerful environment to meet today's requirements. SAS FOUNDATION SERVERS The servers in the SAS 9.1 Intelligence Architecture include the following: • SAS Metadata Server The SAS Metadata Server enables centralized, enterprise-wide metadata delivery and management: One metadata server provides metadata to SAS applications across the enterprise. • SAS OLAP Server The SAS OLAP Server delivers pre-summarized "cubes" of data to OLAP clients such as SAS Enterprise Guide using OLE DB for OLAP. The SAS OLAP Server is a multidimensional database server that is designed to reduce the load on traditional back-end storage systems by delivering different summarized views of data to business intelligence applications, irrespective of the amount of data underlying these summaries. • SAS Stored Process Server The SAS Stored Process Server executes and delivers results from SAS Stored Processes in a multi-client environment. A SAS Stored Process is a SAS program that can be called through the SAS Stored Process Server. The SAS Stored Process Server enables users at client workstations to execute parameterized SAS programs without having to know the SAS language. • SAS Workspace Server The SAS Workspace Server provides clients such as SAS Enterprise Guide or the SAS Add-in for Microsoft Office access to the full SAS programming environment. Users at client workstations can then use their knowledge of SAS programming environment to develop ad hoc reports. SUGI 29 Systems Architecture


Roadside trees play an important role in improving transportation safety and environment conditions such as soundproof,pollutant removal,and positive psychological influence.The distribution of heavy metal concentration in the roadside tree trunks are rarely investigated in wholesome way.To know the distribution of heavy metals in tree rings has important implications for researching on heavy metals enrichment and purification effect of trees.In this study,we measured the concentration of seven heavy metals including Pb,Cd,Cr,Cu,Zn,Ni and Mn in the tree trunks of Populus tomentosa Carr.growing along Beijing Capital Airport expressway,Beijing,China,by using the Inductively Coupled Plasma( ICP).The distribution was analyzed according to the tissues,directions,and growth of the tree trunks.The influence of major climate variables on the distribution was also studied by using correlation analysis.The result showed that the average concentration of each heavy metal was different in different stem parts.The concentration ranking from high to low was ZnCuCrMnNiPbCd in xylem and ZnMnCrPbCuCd Ni in bark,respectively.Heavy metal concentrations in bark were signifcantly higher than that in xylem.Moreover,the heavy metal concentrations in the tree stem near the lane side were higher than the ones farther from the lane side.The concentration of Cu,Cr,Mn,Pb,and Cd in the northfacing tree stem was higher than that in the southfacing stem.We found there were temporal variations of the heavy metal concentration level in tree stem by measuring the concentration of heavy metals in each five year tree ring segment from thetree center to the bark.The concentrations of cadmium,lead,zinc and copper had a general downward trend,but manganese,nickel and chromium an upward trend.We concluded that the tree growth and the environment influenced the distribution of heavy metals in tree rings.When tree grew slowly,the stem xylem could absorpt and deposit more the heavy metal element and vice versa.There was a significant positive correlation between Zn,Pb,Cd and Cu concentration and climate factors including annual precipitation,annual strong wind days,annual rain days and annual minimum air temperature.The estimated content of heavy metals in stem were Pb( 2822.69mg),Cd( 1407.55mg),Cr( 21482.56mg),Cu( 17255.19mg),Zn( 98123.60mg),Ni( 1726.46mg) and Mn( 15063.84mg),respectively,on the basis of trunk biomass.The current research provided an insight for assessing the capability of Populus tomentosa to curb the heavy mental pollution under a heavy urban transportation condition.


Objective:To study the correlationship between stem cell factor(SCF) and transforming growth factor βl(TGF-βl) level in the serum and follicular fluid with the polycystic ovary syndrome(PCOS) pathogenesis and in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer(IVF) outcome in PCOS patients.Methods: All the seventy-nine infertile patients who underwent IVF were divided into three groups:the groups of long-term protocol(31 cases)and mild-stimulation protocol(23 cases) in polycystic ovarian syndrome patients and the control group(25 cases,long-term protocol in non PCOS patients).The age,duration of infertility,basal hormone levels of natural menstrual cycles and the cycles after taking in oral contraceptives,IVF/ICSI-ET outcome and SCF,TGF-βl levels in the serum and follicular fluid were compared among the 3 groups.SCF,TGF-βl levels in the serum and follicular fluid also were compared between the pregnancy group and the non-pregnant group.Results: 1.The levels of basal LH,LH/FSH and T were significantly higher in the first two groups than the last group(P﹤0.05);The levels of LH,LH/FSH,T in the groups of PCOS patients decreased obviously after the use of oral contraceptives,there were no significant differences between the PCOS groups with the non PCOS group.2.SCF,TGF-βl levels in follicular fluid and serum in the PCOS groups higher than control group,the difference was statistically significant(P0.05).3.In PCOS patients,SCF,TGF-βl level in pregnant group was significantly higher than non pregnant group(P0.05).in non PCOS patients,SCF and TGF-βl level was also significantly higher in pregnant group than non pregnancy group(P0.05).Conclusions:1.Oral contraceptives improve PCOS patients endocrine environment.2.SCF and TGF-βl may play an important role in the pathogenesis of PCOS.3.High levels of SCF and TGF-βl in follicular fluid may be beneficial to the oocyte maturation,embryo development and blastocyst implantation in IVF patients.


A better understanding of the relationship between kernel milk line and whole-plant moisture, yield, and forage quality of corn (Zea mays L.) silage would improve producers' ability to time harvests. This study was conducted to validate the use of the milk line for predicting whole-plant moisture of corn under conditions in the northeastern USA and to evaluate the effect of harvest timing on yield and forage quality. Experiments were conducted in 1986 and 1987 using four cultivars that were harvested at full dent (FD), half milk (HM), and black layer (BL). Whole-plant moisture, kernel moisture, whole-plant yield, and forage quality were evaluated at each stage (...)


Abstract. In this paper we consider the weighted reward Markov decision process, with perturbation. The "weighted reward" refers to appropriately normalized convex combination of the discounted and the long-run average reward criteria. This criterion allows the controller to trade-off short-term costs versus long-term costs. In every application where both the discounted and the long-run average criteria have been proposed in the past, there is clearly a rationale for considering the weighted criterion. Of course, as with all Markov decision models, the standard weighted criterion model assumes that all the transition probabilities are known precisely. Since, in most applications this would not be the case, we consider the perturbed version of the weighted reward model. We prove that in most cases a nearly optimal control can be found in the class of relatively simple "ultimately deterministic" controls. These are controls which behave just like deterministic stationary controls, after a certain point of time.


Biofuels certification is a response to the concerns related to the biofuels sustainability. There are several existing certification schemes related to sustainability in other fields, varying considerably in scope, as were developed for a wide range of products as a result of various concerns (Van Dam et al., 2007, BTG, 2008). Some systems cover one of the areas in biomass production, such as agriculture, forest and fair trade. They provide insight into the structures of certification systems (design, implementation constraints, cost-benefits...) as well as operational experience and effectiveness. Some schemes include sustainability criteria that could be adapted for bioenergy and biofuels certification, and provide a useful experience for the development of a biofuels certification scheme, or for benchmarking. The report analyses the status of implementation of several European and Non-European certification schemes in connection with the EU current legislative framework. Several of these schemes are undergoing the recognition process, but none of them has been already recognized at the moment.


In this study, we propose a hybrid method for face pose normalization, which combines the 3-D modelbased method with stacked denoising autoencoder (SDAE) deep network. Instead of applying a mirroring operation for the invisible face parts of the posed image, SDAE learns how to fill in those regions by a large set of training samples. In the performance evaluation, we compare the proposed method to four different pose normalization methods and investigate their effects on facial emotion recognition and verification problems in addition to visual quality tests. Methods evaluated in the experiments include 2-D alignment, 3-D model-based method, pure SDAE-based method, and generative adversarial network-based normalization method. Experiments performed on Multi-PIE dataset show that the proposed method produces visually reasonable results and outperforms the others in facial emotion recognition. On the other hand 2-D alignment is sufficient in the verification problem where the detailed face characteristics should be preserved in the normalization process.


The structure of triclinic crystals of K-bichromate is fully determined. The structure was separated from the three-dimensional P(uvw) Patterson function by using the strong (multiple) peaks of the latter. The carefully worked out algorythm allowed the separation of 16 points of the fundamental set from the vector set (eight K atoms and eight Cr atoms). The remaining (light) atoms of the structure were localized at the second stage by reference to these latter. For the structure with 66 independent coordination parameters the divergence factor R over the entire volume of the sphere of 2500 non-zero reflections hk0-hk7 and 0kl-3kl is equal to 0138.

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Symbiotic interactions are widespread in nature, but the relationship between life history, fecundity, and habitat specificity has been underexplored. This study investigated the life history strategies of foliose saxicolous lichens relative to their surrounding communities. Macrolichens were collected from 39 transects in Manitoba and Ontario. Frequency and percentage of ground cover of macrolichens, environmental variables, and numbers of apothecia and ascospores were recorded. Lichen assemblages were characterized using species similarity in a cluster analysis and ordination methods and were defined into communities using analysis of variance of the biotic variables among assemblages. Lichen life history strategies were inferred from community features, lichen fecundity, and morphological features. The general linear model determined which environmental variables may have influenced fecundity. The 81 species of macrolichens present in three lichen communities differed in species richness, with low spec...


During the last 10 years, 35 cases of perforation of the small bowel were treated. 16 cases (45.7%) were due to post operative adhesive ileus, 10 (28.6%) to abdominal trauma and 4 (11.4%) to inguinal or femoral hernia. Operative mortality was 17.1%. Thirty-six hours after operation, mortality was 4.3%, but over 36 hours mortality was elevated to 41.7%. In cases of small bowel perforation due to abdominal trauma and hernia, operations were undertaken sooner than in cases of perforation, due to adhesive ileus. In these cases, prognosis was good. On the other hand, all cases of small bowel perforation due to malignant tumor and mesentery arterial thrombosis died within 30 days of operation; thus the prognosis of these cases was extremely poor. Abdominal free air, leucocytosis (over 10, 000) and muscular defense were decisive factors in undertaking operation. Leucocytosis was found in 51.4% of all cases, and abdominal free air in only 34.3%. On the other hand, muscular defense was found in 85.7%, so that it was necessary to observe the patient's condition, espcially abdominal signs, carefully.


In knowledge society the utilization of social media as a communication channel between people, groups and even companies is increasing. Current innovation and social media research has already shown the potential of crowdsourcing in the business-to-consumer (B2C) markets. The authors argue in this paper, however, that crowdsourcing has a great and yet partly undiscovered potential also in the context of business-to-business (B2B) markets. In order to get the full potential, a more detailed understanding of the logic of value creation in crowdsourcing activities between multiple stakeholders in B2B context is needed. This paper presents an exploratory study that is carried out as an empirical netnography-based multiple case study. The study opens up potential future research avenues by starting the discussion of value creation logic in B2B crowdsourcing. Practical implications are created through cases revealing what kind of value companies have already been able to gain from crowdsourcing in B2B context.


Relatively little is known about the profile of employees in small businesses in developing economies or how to track a lending programme's poverty outreach. Poverty outreach is considered one useful indicator of social performance. To shed more light on this issue, this study surveyed over 1,000 small business customers of BRAC Bank in Bangladesh and their over 7,000 employees. These businesses received average loans of just under $7,000 with a loan term of 21 months. Using a poverty scorecard, the study found that 17 per cent of the small business employees were poor according to the $1.08 per day purchasing power parity standard. Using standard regression techniques, the study derived a firm-level scorecard that can estimate the poverty rate of these firms' employees based on five indicators: the firm's economic sector, its rural or urban location, the portion of unskilled workers, whether the firm employs any women, and the total number of workers. Standardized reporting of these indicators contribute...


Formalin is used in shrimp industry to eliminate ectoparasites and as a disinfectant. However, the effect of formalin on shrimp's defense mechanism is unknown. Several biomarkers were used to assess the immune response of juveniles of the shrimp Litopenaeus schmitti exposed to different concentrations of formalin (10, 25 and 50 mg L−1) during 24 and 48 h. Formalin concentrations of 25 and 50 mg L−1 produced a significant reduction in the total haemocyte count at both 24 and 48 h. Peroxidase and phenoloxidase activity did not show variations. The total protein concentration in haemolymph of shrimps was not significantly different between experimental groups. Histological analysis showed hyperplasia in the gills of animals exposed at 10 mg L−1 for 24 h; however, the exposure at 25 and 50 mg L−1 caused necrosis in gills, hepathopancreas and the antennal gland.


Over CERN's Long Shutdown 2, the conventional ferrite-loaded cavities of the PS Booster were replaced with wideband Finemet-loaded cavities. The Finemet cavities bring many operational advantages, but also represent a significant broadband impedance source. The impedance is mitigated by servo loops, which suppress the induced voltage, reducing the impedance as seen by the beam. Accurately including the impedance of the cavity and the effect of the servoloops in longitudinal tracking simulations is essential to predict the performance with beam. This paper discusses the results of a measurement cam-paign, which is intended to give a direct measurement of the cavity impedance. Using the detected voltage and the measured beam profile, the cavity impedance can be inferred and used to improve beam dynamics modelling.


When the ducts are in larger structures, it is necessary to seek a technological alternative. This paper describes an adaptation of THASA s technology to satisfy a request to determine the possible existence of voids and defective grout in ducts in a pier cap 49 -5.5" long and 9 -6" thick. Since it is the center of the cap that sits on the pier, the ducts reach their maximum altitude at the center of the cap and the section of interest is at this high point where the tendon occupies the lower part of the duct.


The present invention discloses a gripping clamp mechanism. The surgical apparatus of the present invention includes a handle assembly, the handle assembly comprising a handle defining a fixed, movable handle, the actuating shaft and the support housing means to the mode selected in the housing, the mode selection means from the first shaft engaged with the actuator of from a position to the second position from the actuation shaft, the movable handle and the actuation shaft associated with operation of the movable handle causes movement influencing the axial movement of the actuation shaft, wherein when the when said mode selection mechanism is in its first position, the actuation shaft reciprocates along a first axis. With the present invention, a configuration, endoscopic or laparoscopic surgical device having a tool assembly may be between different modes of operation can be quickly and easily handled.


The modern industrial world has undergone a multitude of changes since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the middle 18th Century. The authors present an examination of the historical record which shows that modern product design and manufacturing methods are tending towards those employed by the original craft-based expert for whom the 'voice of the customer' was paramount. This hypothesis is justified by examining the relative influences of both the customer and the manufacturing process in the five key historical periods, namely: pre-industrial revolution craft-based industry; the industrial revolution; mass production; the dominance of Japanese methods; and, finally, virtual crafting.


PURPOSE: A laser projection display having optical switches is provided to control light necessary for a color image, to use a laser beam for a light source, and to implement a light modulating by the optical switches, then to express the color image by using a galvanometer and a polygonal rotating mirror, so as to increase color reproducibility and brightness to enhance resolution. CONSTITUTION: R/G/B laser light sources(1a, 1b, 1c) irradiate R/G/B beams. Optical switches(10, 10', 10'') input the irradiated R/G/B beams, and electrically control lightness and discharge directions of the R/G/B beams. A photosynthesis tube(5) synthesizes beams whose lightness is controlled through the optical switches(10). A condensing lens(7) condenses the synthesized beams. A scanner(8) scans the condensed lights, and projects the scanned lights on a screen(9).


By taking the maximum trading volume and maximum stocks holding volume in contract series of stock index futures contracts as the standard to discriminate the dominant contracts respectively,the difference of dominant contracts conversion dates of stock futures determined by two kinds of standards is studied.The change of market efficiency coefficient of new dominant contracts before and after the dominant contracts conversion is used to study the validity of dominant contracts conversion dates of stock futures.The empirical analysis of consecutive 20 times dominant contracts conversions of China's HS300 stock index futures reveals that the dominant contracts conversion dates determined by stock-holding volume standard are earlier than the dates of the dominant contracts conversion determined by stock trading volume standard,furthermore,the dominant contracts conversion determined by the standard of stock holding volume has more strong validity.


This article examined test papers the difficult question in view ofattorney to transfer the system and the monopoly evidence procuratorial to the entire document has carried on the legal principletheory of law analysis;And proposed in this foundation the entire document transfers the procuratorate and the court "the double unit system",And to safeguarded attorney judicial power of suggestion to propose own view.


and chimps with experimental Lyme disease. 3,6 Thus we are left with the strong assumption that chronic Lyme disease is caused by chronic infection with the Lyme spirochete. As long as the medical community perceives chronic Lyme disease as an untreatable process that will somehow disappear with faith and prayer, patients with the debilitating symptoms of this disease will continue to suffer. Conversely, if the persistent symptoms described so elegantly by Cairns and Godwin are recognized as markers of chronic infection, then treatment of patients with chronic Lyme disease will become a logical approach, and the suffering of patients with chronic Lyme disease symptoms will be alleviated.


Abstract
Imprisonment can severely alter, disrupt, or even terminate mothering. Yet, often seen by society as giving up on or abandoning their children, women in prison tend to invoke less empathy or tolerance than women whose mothering is disrupted through other means, such as illness. Therefore, while many women in prison attach great significance to the role and responsibilities of motherhood, the restrictions of the prison environment impacting the ability to participate in mothering, compounded by a sense of guilt, failure, stigma, shame, and role strain can pose a direct threat to mothering identities of women in prison. Central to the research from which this chapter has developed was the challenge of making sense of the constructed meaning of motherhood for women in prison. Drawing on feminist narrative approaches, significance is placed not only on the content of stories but equally on the social role of the story told (Plummer, 1995). Three key and interrelated narratives are highlighted: "Difficult Disclosures," "Double-edged Sword," and "Negotiating Care." This chapter concludes by considering the implications of the research for policy and practice and how through exploring the stories of mothers in prison we are able to hear about and value a diversity of mothers' lives, so that these mothers do not have to inhabit the margins of motherhood.


This paper introduces a novel, completely automatic, audio-subtitle synchronization algorithm designed to increase the accessibility and comprehension of the hearing-impaired people over the video documents. The major contribution of the paper involves the anchor words matching strategy that can reliably put in correspondence the subtitle document generated by a human transcriber and the automatic speech recognition (ASR) textual file. In addition, we propose a subtitle positioning strategy that automatically determines the optimal location for each phrase on the user screen, with respect to the video semantic content. The experimental evaluation validates the proposed method with average accuracy scores superior to 90%.


James Dingley responds to Robert White's article on sectarianism and republican violence in Northern Ireland. A rejoinder from Robert White will appear in a future issue.


The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has ambitious plans to spur the creation of a new transportation system, centered around technologically advanced, easy-to-use, and affordable small aircraft. NASA envisions tens of thousands of the new aircraft--many self-piloted--flying between the more than 5,000 small general aviation airports across the country. After receiving initial funding for the 5-year Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) program from Congress in 2000, NASA tasked the Transportation Research Board (TRB) with convening a special committee to examine the plausibility and desirability of the SATS concept and to judge the concept's suitability for guiding technology research and development. TRB assembled a 15-member committee for this task and their findings are presented in TRB Special Report 263, "Future Flight: A Review of NASA's Small Aircraft Transportation System." These findings are briefly presented and discussed in this article.


We propose using the forward propagated source wave to create synthetic receiver data on the surfaces of the computational domain where real receiver data is not available as a means of exploiting known information about reflector locations in Reverse Time Migration. The inclusion of synthetic boundary data can make true amplitude imaging possible, and reduce the artifacts associated with the inclusion of multiples. Here, we describe the new method, present synthetic examples, and propose an appropriate imaging condition.


A study on the catch composition and diversity of cast net fisheries was conducted between May and August, 2017 in the New Calabar River, Rivers state, using cast net of varying mesh sizes (1.5mm and 2.5mm). Fish samples were collected from three sampling stations, viz. Station1- Aluu, Station 2- Choba and Station 3- Iwofe. The fish species recorded comprised of 26 species under 11 families, and one decapod crustacean. The three most abundant species were; Coptodon guineensis (25.11%), Coptodon zilli (18.56%) both from the Cichlidae family, and Penaeus nitialis (10.90%) from the Penaeidae family, while the least abundant species was Liza grandisquamis (0.13%) from the Mugilidae family. The diversity indices showed that station 2 recorded the highest number of species (21) while station 1 recorded the lowest with (12) species. Simpson's indexes of diversity, Simpson's reciprocal index, Shannon- weiner index, and Pielou's evenness index, were estimated. This study serves as a base line data which will assist relevant bodies in the management and conservation of fisheries resources in the New Calabar River. It is therefore recommended that for an improved and sustainable exploitation and management of fisheries resources of the New Calabar River, proper monitoring and management for fish stock must be done.J. Biodivers. Conserv. Bioresour. Manag. 2018, 4(1): 19-26