For stone fish culture of Baiheliang, though a legend that stone fish being above the water means a good harvest year, its further analysis reveals that ancient people in Fuzhou paid highly attention to weather forecasting and the building of water conservancy project, and that people looked forward to a good harvest year. It was the summary of the wisdom of ancient people in Fuzhou who made use of , conquered and remade the nature. It also reflects ancient people抯 technological achievement, technological and rational spirit. It still has technological value for reference.


In 2020, the National Museum of the History of Moldova received a hoard of bronze items, presumably found in a forest near the Răzeni village, Ialoveni district of the Republic of Moldova. The main feature of the Răzeni hoard is the deliberate fragmentation of all items, without exception, by hand, without the help of special tools. Judging by the characteristics of the fragments, it is unlikely that the task of the master was to obtain fragments of a certain mass or size. Therefore, if we exclude the pragmatic interpretation of the Răzeni hoard (as a collection of bronze scrap), we can assume that we are dealing with some kind of social practice of deliberate fragmentation, "mortification" of the object, followed by hiding in the ground. Taking into account the composition of the hoard, the presence of a sickle of the Heleşteni type, a significant number of fragments of sickles of the Ghermăneşti and Ruginoasa variants, characteristic of the early Noua, the most probable intervals for collecting hoard items seem to be the BrD period. At the same time, the presence in the hoard of sickles of the Ilişeni variant, as well as a socketed axe of the Middle Danubian type, the upper date can be raised to HaA1, which is not contradicted by the presence of a sickle, presumably of the Dičevo type of the late BrD — the early HaA1. Apparently, it is this dating that is the most probable for the time of fragmentation of the items and their further deposition.


This study investigates the relevance of interorganizational networks for the international performance of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in relation to the foreign market entry mode (FMEM) selected. We distinguish two groups of internationalized SMEs: exporting firms and micromultinational enterprises (mMNEs). Drawing on insights from the network theory, our study accounts for the role of intermediate outcomes (innovative behavior and foreign market knowledge). Structural equation modeling is conducted in a sample of U.K.‐based internationalized SMEs. Our findings suggest that interorganizational networks have an indirect influence on international performance but differences are found among the two groups of internationalized SMEs.


Parasitic water borne diseases have become a source of concern to the people due to continued contamination of water from different sources as a result of human activities. This study was carried out to assess the parasitic contamination of water sources in Dutsin-ma Local Government Area, Katsina State Nigeria. A cross sectional study was conducted using 204 water samples collected from various water sources and processed by centrifugation, Calcium carbonate floatation and modified Ziehl Nelson techniques before microscopy. Among the samples examined, pond water had the highest contamination (100%), followed by Dam (63.3%), well (22.9%), tap (10%) and boreholes (0%). The major parasitic protozoans detected from the samples in their cystic form are E. histolytica and G. lamblia with mean prevalence of 13.7% and 7.8% respectively. The prevalence of of E. histolytica and G. lambia in the dry season was 8.8% and 6.9% respectively. While that of the wet season was 18.6% and 8.8% respectively. The results of this study indicate the need for continuous monitoring and protection of water sources against waterborne parasites and people should be encouraged to inculcate the habit of consuming treated water to reduce the chances of contracting the diseases.


book lacks an index or even a collective bibliography, making it difficult for the interested scholar to locate a particular reference or to see how certain themes and figures might overlap among and between the various essays. This puzzling absence of something so obviously necessary might well diminish the book's utility, and that would be unfortunate; there is much of value here for historians with an interest in the early modern Netherlands. Its varied and thoughtful essays provide a colourful window on a time and place that undeniably deserves further scrutiny from historians of art, of science, and of Netherlandish culture.


A procedure was developed to prepare test specimens of porous cordierite to determine the fracture toughness of this material by the double-torsion test method. 300-μm thick test specimens were obtained from the walls of diesel particulate filters through a sequence of dry cutting/grinding operations using diamond-impregnated wheels. The fracture toughness of porous cordierite was found to be 0.46 ± 0.03 MPa√m and it was found that the fracture process was strongly influenced by the microstructure of the material. The procedures for test specimen preparation and fracture toughness testing are discussed in detail.


Objective To study the stress distribution and the elasticity of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) rat by opening angle along the aorta, calculate rupture risk of AAA clinically.Methods Perfusion of the Wistar rats infrarenal aorta with porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE) induced the fusiform infrarenal AAA models. The creep velocity and residual strain of the aorta ring between the AAA and the control group were measured and compared. Residual strain, inner radius and wall thickness of different parts in AAA were compared.Results 90% animals developed AAA in PPE induced group. The creep velocity of AAA was higher than that in the control group. In the inlet and outlet of AAA, the residual strain was highest,inner radius the smallest and wall thickness the most thin.Conclusion The residual strain could quantitate the elasticity of AAA and calculate the rupture and growth way of AAA.


It has for long been said that the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher served to do no more than provide a variety of skilful theatrical thrills designed specifically for sophisticated audiences of the kind which attended the Blackfriars Theatre. There has recently been some attempt to show that beneath the surface glitter lay some concern with contemporary affairs, but in Philaster it can be shown that Beaumont and Fletcher gave much deeper and more serious consideration to the political affairs of their time than has so far been admitted. Some years ago Miss M. G. M. Adkins pointed out the importance of the role of the citizens in Philaster, in supporting Philaster's claim to the throne and in disposing of Pharamond.' She attributed this " power of the people and the fallibility of the sovereign " 2 to Beaumont and she discussed his part, in this respect, in a number of other plays. Miss Adkins compared the King's claim in Philaster to absolute power with James I's claims, quoting Philaster IV. ii. 117, 8 and 128-131 and that famous passage from James's speech to the Parliament of 1610 which


The aim of present research was focused on the antifungal activities of Prunella vulgaris L and Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews via in vitro approach through agar well diffusion assay at three concentrations (25 uL, 50 uL and 75 uL) against fungi causing diseases in tomato and brinjal. All the concentration of plant extracts showed antimycotic activity against tested pathogenic fungi. Antimycotic activity increased with the increased concentrations of plant extracts. However, higher concentrations proved more effective than lower concentrations. It was revealed from the present study that the ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Prunella vulgaris L showed maximum antimycotic activity against Rhizoctonia solani and least inhibitory effect against Penicillium chrysogenum. It was further revealed from the present study that the ethanolic extract of Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews showed maximum antimycotic activity against Penicillium expansum and least activity against Mucor plumbeus. Whereas the aqueous extract of Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews showed maximum antimycotic activity against Rhizoctonia solani and Penicllium expansum and least inhibitory effect against Mucor plumbeus.


In a recent paper, Crompton, Elford, and Robertson (1970; hereafter referred to as CER) considered certain questions concerning the steady-state distribution of electrons moving in a neutral gas under the influence of a uniform electric field E. The present communication comments on some aspects of the error discussion in the Appendix of the paper by CER. The analysis will be restricted to the case of isotropic scattering.


In this work a method is proposed for modeling and simulation of multibody mechanical systems with multiple lubricated revolute joints with the aid of CAD and dynamic simulators softwares. The hydrodynamic forces produced between joint components due to lubrication are obtained by integrating Reynolds' equation that is used for evaluating the fluid pressure distribution in the journal–bearing joint. The resulted force equations are combined with Hertz contact model to make a complete model for lubricated revolute joints. This model is used with the aid of SolidWorks/CosmosMotion software package to simulate multibody systems with multiple lubricated revolute joints and a computational algorism is developed in the frame of multibody dynamics methodology. A slider–crank mechanism with two lubricated revolute joints is used as an application example to demonstrate the efficiency and versatility of the proposed method. The simulation results point out that the introduction of a lubricant at the joint clearance makes the performance of the mechanism so close to that of the ideal mechanism that does not suffer from the clearance problem, as well as improves the overall system performance.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


[Objective] To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of measles in Gongyi from 2005-2007,and control the incidence of measles control and further reduce the incidence of measles providing a scientific basis.[Methods] The cases of measles in Gongyi from 2005-2007 were analyzed with National Notifiable Disease Report System(NNDRS) and Measles Special Report System(MSS) by descriptive epidemiological analysis.[Results] In 2006,the incidence of measles was 1.74/10 000 in 2005,the measles incidence rate was 14.2 /10 000,the incidence of measles in 2007 was 16.12/10 000,and these were significantly excess the average level of Henan Province,up to 1 times.In East and West of Gongyi,the incidence of Central area has been in a high level recently.The peak season of measles was in 3-6 months.Cases concentrated in the small age group.Children below 8 months with measles were more than the average level.8-month old to 1 year old people accounted for 12.3% of the total cases.75.09% of the cases were without immunization history or unclear accounted for and the history of immunization.The incidence of floating population accounted for 8.17%,and mainly concentrated in urban and suburban.[Conclusion] New married couples should be tested against the prophylactic inoculation,and check leaks and replant to decrease the incidence of measles among adults and children less than 8 month olds.When the measles increased in the surrounding region and district,the Government should improve the income of staff salaries,invest the special funds into the crowd to ensure that the Census and universal vaccination,so as to control the spread of the epidemic.


Wednesday, 1 August 2018 14:00-15:00 Afternoon Workshops I Session 1: Religion and Politics Danoye Oguntola-Laguda, Insha Allah (by the grace or power of allah): A critical response to democracy and the rule of law in Nigeria in the aftermath of the 2015 presidential election Abstract: The interaction between religion and Politics in African like other parts of the world cannot be over The interaction between religion and Politics in African like other parts of the world cannot be over emphasised. In Nigeria in particular religion has always been a determinant factor in the electoral processes against the laws of the land. This becomes more prominent during the 4th republic (1999-date). Political actors, especially elected officers of the nation have often brought religion into governance basing their performance or lack of it on God. The term "Insha Allah" in Islam literarily mean" by the power (grace) of Allah (God). This implies that all things shall be done with the power, grace and approval of God. This coming from the leader of a secular State justifies the role of religion in politics and governance of the nation. The critical issue of the rule of law has confronted this current government under President Muhammad Buhari especially with the continued detention of the former National Security Adviser (NSA) Dasuki, who is been tried for corruption, in spite of various courts' rulings that he should be released on bail. This is contrary to any known law(s) of the country. The question therefore arose; Are the leaders of the ruling party All Progressive Congress (APC) ruling according to the laws of the land? Can the power, grace and approval of God be the basis for abuse of the rule of law as in the case of the former NSA? This paper seeks to examine the reality of the interaction between religion and politics in a secular society like Nigeria with regards to the rule of law. The paper adopts historical and critical analysis in pursuance of the thesis that religion have often been used by political elites in Nigeria to "deceive" the electorates and deny people their right to rule of law in governance. Elizabeth Sperber: Relations Among God's Elect(ed): How, why and when African ruling parties attempt to spur the growth and politicization of Born Again Christianity providers? Abstract: This paper draws on original data collected from African religious and political institutions between 2011-2017 to argue that the region's ruling parties have played significant, yet understudied roles in facilitating the growth and, to varying degrees, politicization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity – the fastest growing religious groups in sub-Saharan Africa (Pew 2010). Focusing on the post-Cold War period, I argue political conditions have often incentivized ruling parties to engage in "politicized propagation" of new religious movements, using public resources, political appointments, and other mechanisms to confer status upon supportive and relatively new churches and their leadership. Specifically, I enlist cross national data from over 30 African countries in addition to qualitative and subnational research, and find that in African states where the older established churches (e.g., Catholic and mainline Protestant churches) helped lead transitions to multipartiism, ruling parties typically faced increased political competition and credible Christian "watchdogs" capable of mobilizing opposition. Under these domestic political conditions, ruling parties often allocated public resources (e.g., cash, land plots, television licenses, and even media production subsidies) to newer, locally-run Pentecostal churches, while they simultaneously attempted to withhold resources from the "watchdog" churches. Zambia's strongly pro-democratic Catholic Church, for example, was repeatedly denied a television license by governments that actively subsidized Born Again Christian television. This is not to argue that domestic politics explain all growth of Born Again Christianity, but to note that in addition to commonly cited factors for the growth of African Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christianity, such as "glocalization," socioeconomic crises, and ideological and spiritual appeal, domestic politics have systematically influenced the relative size and public roles that these actors embrace in African states. I conclude by addressing how This paper draws on original data collected from African religious and political institutions between 2011-2017 to argue that the region's ruling parties have played significant, yet understudied roles in facilitating the growth and, to varying degrees, politicization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity – the fastest growing religious groups in sub-Saharan Africa (Pew 2010). Focusing on the post-Cold War period, I argue political conditions have often incentivized ruling parties to engage in "politicized propagation" of new religious movements, using public resources, political appointments, and other mechanisms to confer status upon supportive and relatively new churches and their leadership. Specifically, I enlist cross national data from over 30 African countries in addition to qualitative and subnational research, and find that in African states where the older established churches (e.g., Catholic and mainline Protestant churches) helped lead transitions to multipartiism, ruling parties typically faced increased political competition and credible Christian "watchdogs" capable of mobilizing opposition. Under these domestic political conditions, ruling parties often allocated public resources (e.g., cash, land plots, television licenses, and even media production subsidies) to newer, locally-run Pentecostal churches, while they simultaneously attempted to withhold resources from the "watchdog" churches. Zambia's strongly pro-democratic Catholic Church, for example, was repeatedly denied a television license by governments that actively subsidized Born Again Christian television. This is not to argue that domestic politics explain all growth of Born Again Christianity, but to note that in addition to commonly cited factors for the growth of African Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christianity, such as "glocalization," socioeconomic crises, and ideological and spiritual appeal, domestic politics have systematically influenced the relative size and public roles that these actors embrace in African states. I conclude by addressing how my findings relate to democratic backsliding and prospects for future faith-based advocacy for democratic development. Faith Kabata: Religion and international human rights in Kenya's constitution making process and the Kenya Constitution, 2010 Abstract: The paper will explore the relationship between religion and international human rights. Scholarship on religion and human rights has focused on the nature and scope of the right to religious freedom, conscience and belief and the incompatibility of religion with human rights. Even then, debate on the relationship between religion and human rights remains unsettled. There exists a gap in scholarship on the instrumental function that religion performs in uniting and mobilizing people against internationally recognized human rights. Kenya's protracted constitution making process highlighted the relationship between religion and human rights. Throughout the process, religion was invoked and religious groups united and mobilized to contest constitutional guarantees such as the right to abortion, equality and protection of religious and sexual minorities. Despite a political settlement between the government and religious groups to ensure a 'yes' vote in the national referendum on the draft constitution, religious opposition to certain constitutional guarantees led to a 33% 'no' vote proving the instrumental function of religion in human rights. The paper will trace the 1997-2010 constitution making process in Kenya in regard to the constitutional arrangements on religion and religious freedom and the debates and considerations that informed drafting of constitutional provisions. Postpromulgation of the Constitution 2010, the paper will examine the practical application of the provisions, the continuing religious contestations on abortion, protection of sexual and non-religious minorities' rights and equality and the courts' interpretation. Scholarship suggests that given the centrality of human dignity to both the religious and secular perspectives on human rights, human dignity can be invoked to resolve the existing tension between human rights and religion. Notably, human dignity is the motivating principle in the Kenyan Bill of Rights. This paper will discuss how human dignity could be invoked for constitutional arrangements on religion and guarantees on religious freedom to support protection of human rights. The paper will explore the relationship between religion and international human rights. Scholarship on religion and human rights has focused on the nature and scope of the right to religious freedom, conscience and belief and the incompatibility of religion with human rights. Even then, debate on the relationship between religion and human rights remains unsettled. There exists a gap in scholarship on the instrumental function that religion performs in uniting and mobilizing people against internationally recognized human rights. Kenya's protracted constitution making process highlighted the relationship between religion and human rights. Throughout the process, religion was invoked and religious groups united and mobilized to contest constitutional guarantees such as the right to abortion, equality and protection of religious and sexual minorities. Despite a political settlement between the government and religious groups to ensure a 'yes' vote in the national referendum on the draft constitution, religious opposition to certain constitutional guarantees led to a 33% 'no' vote proving the instrume


Pumpkin belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family. In Ararat valley we are cultivating mainly 3 species: Cucurbita pepo, C. maxima, and C. moschata. Its fruits have many valuable properties. Pumpkin pulp contains minerals, vitamins, starch, sugar. It was envisaged to identify the varietal characteristics of pumpkin, fruit and seed yield in the conditions of the Ararat valley. We studied 6 samples of different types of pumpkins to identify oil productivity of their seeds. Germination of the studied accessions was 91¬–96%. Some of them germinated friendly, while others gradually. Martuni population and Sem variety from the C. pepo have been marked as the earliest flowering and fruiting with vegetation period 103 and 105 days accordingly. The studied varieties differed in the shape and weight of the fruit. The largest fruits were observed in maxima pumpkins (5.5–5.2 kg). The yield of varieties varied from 29.7 to 40.1 t/ha. The purpose of our research was to study varieties of different types of pumpkins for detecting oil productivity of their seeds. Among the pumpkin varieties studied, the varieties Martuni population, Ararati Vardaguin and Sem (1.22, 0.95, 0.92%, respectively) were distinguished by a high quantity of seeds. The largest yield of seeds per hectare was obtained from the Martuni population, Berkanush, Ararati Vardaguin, which amounted to 379.4, 341.9 and 339.0 kg/ha. Among the varieties under study, the Martuni population, Ararati Vardaguin, Sem and Berkanush, which are characterized by high productivity and seed yield, are of great interest. The most promising for obtaining oil is a variety Sem.


The emerging scenario of convergence of mobile and fixed networks, civilian and tactical military networks as well as strategic networks is creating heterogeneous networks with different link performances. The links may have a BER ranging from 10e-2 to 10e-12 and the type of link varies from radio to co-axial to fiber. Tactical communication networks are using COTS technology and civilian intermediate nodes. Collocation of equipments meant to operate in civilian environment along with other MIL standard equipment, electrical gadgets for surveillance and monitoring, weapon control systems, etc. create high level of EMI and hence degrade performance of TCP/IP networks ultimately resulting in congestion and choking. New mechanisms are needed to handle EMI vis-a-vis congestion. This paper describes emerging scenarios, possible BER between various types of links, new coding schemes for performance enhancement and possible solutions.


Children and their well-being are the basic concern of every nation. child nutrition plays a vital role in positive health, functional efficiency and productivity in later stages of life. The School Meal Programme aims to improve not only the nutritional status of school children but also increase school enrolments, attendance, reduce dropout rates of the school children and enhance scholastic performance. One area requiring urgent attention is the cooking of school meals which involves cost and also pollutes the atmosphere. Solar cooker is the simplest technology which has been developed for cooking food without requiring any conventional fuels. Solar cooker can be an appliance for cooking in schools in which there is no smoke and no soot deposition. It saves money and fuel, and preserves the nutritive value of the food.
The present study was undertaken to utilize solar energy for meeting the cooking requirements in the school lunch kitchens. For facilitating the quantity cooking a paraboloid solar cooker which is convenient, cost effective and operationally viable device was used to study the possibility of opting for large scale solar cooking devices for noon meal programmes to conserve fuel and to alleviate the drudgery of women being exposed in the kitchen. The cooking experiment was conducted for a period of four months in Sk23 Paraboloid Solar Cooker using vessel cooking and pressure cooking for noon meal beneficiaries in the selected primary schools.
It was inferred from the study that the introduction of Sk23 paraboloid solar cooker could conserve one third of the fuel cost in the Noon Meal Programme. Sk23 paraboloid solar cooker is an eco-friendly technology in Noon Meal Programme for reducing the drudgery of cooking and solving the problem of environmental pollution due to use of fuel wood.


Objective To investigate the diagnosis and treatment of adrenal cysts.Methods 10 case of adrenal cysts identified by surgical and pathological examination from 1990 to 2002 were analyzed.Results The patients with adrenal cysts had no typical clinical symptoms,and might have waist or abdominal pain,and might be detected when doing physical examination.Ultrasonography and computed tomography were efficient ways of diagnozing adrenal cysts,however,it is quite difficult to differentiate that the cyst was benign or malignant before operation.Conclusion The therapy of adrenal cyst is decided by the patient's symptoms,size of the cyst,with or without complications and the state of primary affection.


This paper is an investigation into the formation and lifespan of a local music scene. A scene is a cultural cluster, a grouping of similarly minded businesses, enterprises and individuals. From Merseybeat in 1960s Liverpool through Punk in late 1970s London to Madchester in the late 1980s early 1990s Manchester, many of the most successful scenes have been documented extensively either by the music press or, increasingly, by academia. Drawing on their work this paper's primary aim is to discover what makes a scene successful. In addition to this aim the study will also look at the role of various structures and agents within music scenes including bands, venues, media and promoters and look at why different scenes develop different sounds. This paper uses the Oxford music scene as a case study, looking at its strengths and weaknesses, at its past, present and future in an attempt to draw wider conclusions on what makes a scene successful.


Telecommunications and the Internet are forming an increasingly integrated system for processing, storing, accessing and distributing information and managing content. Recently the content space is expanding by cognitive and sensory contents, billions of devices are to be interconnected, media convergence is highlighted and an open Digital Ecosystem is being formed. At the same time the identification capacity of the Current Internet is running out, Internet architectures are reconsidered for better managing mobility and quality requirements, security issues as well as for exploiting the opportunities derived from the technological development and the new data handling and cognitive concepts. The future of the Internet became an important research area, supported by the various ICT research funds and especially by the series of Future Internet Assemblies since 2008. The paper summarizes the challenges of the Current Internet, determines the relevant functions and features of the Future Internet, and presents the main research areas defining the chapters of Future Internet research activity in a layered model from basic research on Internet Science through the Internet Engineering up to Future Internet applications and experiments.


Objective To test the efficacy of the Transform-Us! school- and home-based intervention on children's physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviour (SB) and cardiometabolic risk factor profiles. Methods A 30-month 2×2 factorial design cluster randomised controlled trial delivered in 20 primary schools (148 Year 3 classes) in Melbourne, Australia (2010–2012), that used pedagogical and environmental strategies to reduce and break up SB, promote PA or a combined approach, compared with usual practice. Primary outcomes (accelerometry data; n=348) were assessed at baseline, 18 and 30 months. Secondary outcomes included body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) (n=564), blood pressure (BP) (n=537) and biomarkers (minimum n=206). Generalised linear mixed models estimated the interactive effects of the PA and SB interventions on the outcomes. If there was no interaction, the main effects were assessed. Results At 18 months, there were intervention effects on children's weekday SB (−27 min, 95% CI: −47.3 to −5.3) for the PA intervention, and on children's average day PA (5.5 min, 95% CI: 0.1 to 10.8) for the SB intervention. At 30 months, there was an intervention effect for children's average day SB (−33.3 min, 95% CI: −50.6 and −16.0) for the SB intervention. Children's BMI (PA and SB groups) and systolic BP (combined group) were lower, and diastolic BP (PA group) was higher. There were positive effects on WC at both time points (SB intervention) and mixed effects on blood parameters. Conclusions The Transform-Us! PA and SB interventions show promise as a pragmatic approach for reducing children's SB and adiposity indicators; but achieving substantial increases in PA remains challenging. Trial registration ISRCTN83725066; ACTRN12609000715279.


Every organization is interested in finding out how it's doing. But there is no one measure that will provide a meaningful answer. This article discusses the need for a family of measures—and how to arrive at the optimal number and types of measures to make up that family.


It is interesting that the higher rate of public concern and lack scientific research on riding techniques of speed horse race compare with equestrian. In this study, riding postures of different class jockeys were tested under varied speeds by means of simulation horse to explore a simple way of evaluating jockey's posture control ability.


Without sufficient data, consulting experts is a good way to quantify unknown parameters in water resources management which will result in human uncertainty. The aim of this paper is to introduce a new tool-uncertainty theory to deal with such uncertainty which is treated as uncertain variable with uncertainty distribution. And a dependent-chance goal programming (DCGP) model is provided for water resources management under such circumstance. In the model uncertain measure is used to measure possibility that an event will occur which is maximized by minimizing the deviation (positive or negative deviation) from target of objective event under a given priority structure. In the end, the developed model is applied to a numerical example to illustrate the effectiveness of the model. The result obtained contributes to the desired water-allocation schemes for decision-markers.


In the debate over producer preference for price instability, Oi argues that producers prefer price instability to stability using only the case where demand shocks generate instability. In this case, storage hurts producers. We use the classic welfare economic framework to consider the more likely scenario where instability is generated by supply shocks and, in the absence of storage, producers prefer production and price instability. However, producers can increase their profits by storing part of the production in the low-price period and releasing stocks in the high-price period. The strong conclusion is that producers prefer, on net, price stability to instability when the possibility for storage exists. Under profit maximization, producers, not governments, engage in storage. Producers prefer to produce under unstable prices, but to sell at stable prices. On net, producers prefer price stability.


At the economic globalization, it has entered the era of pluralistic diversity of art, a variety of expression forms and artistic style have bloomed, traditional and modern art forms coexist with each other, and different artistic concepts have intersected and developed. The multiple diverse era makes the present situation of art much complex, standards have also became much fuzzy, and the works of art and judgment to artists' category tend to be vague. In the complex situation of art,literary criticism needed more to actively participate in the artistic creation and theoretical thinking on the problems of contemporary art, with its involvement, it should have its characteristics of discipline and responsibility to correct, to guide the audience to appreciate works of art and to understand art.


The basic responsibility for civil defense correctly belongs to local people and local agencies. A philosophy of "self-help" is being forced upon us by the unparalleled seriousness of the world political situation. We realize that in time of disaster remote and higher-level agencies will be able only to help us help ourselves. Our interest here is to evaluate some of the benefits that have resulted from joint local, State, and Federal efforts to develop a water works cixul defense program within the framework of the self-help philosophy.


A six-degree-of-freedom (DOF) model was presented for study on bifurcation of a machine-tool spindle-bearing system. The dynamic behavior of the machine-tool spindle system supported by ball bearings can be described using a set of second order nonlinear differential equations with piecewise stiffness and damping due to bearing clearance. Numerical results showed that when the inner race touches the bearing ball with a lower speed, a grazing bifurcation occurs. The responses of this system evolve from quasi-periodic to chaotic orbit, from period doubled orbit to periodic orbit, and from periodic orbit to quasi-periodic orbit through grazing bifurcations. In addition, period-doubling bifurcation to chaos and tori doubling process to chaos which usually occurs in an impact system were also observed in this spindle-bearing system. These results deepen our understanding chaos and promote investigation of nonlinear dynamics theory for a spindle-bearing system.


The invention discloses a driving power supply of a ballast type LED (Light-Emitting Diode) lamp, comprising a capacitor (C) and a low-consumption inductive ballast (L). The driving power supply is characterized in that a rectifying element (D) is connected between the A end and an input N end of the low-consumption inductive ballast (L); and the LED lamp is connected between rectifying output ends (B and C). The driving power supply has the advantages of less self power consumption, low temperature rise, long service life, fewer elements, high working reliability and less harmonic content. The driving power supply is an ideal driving power supply of the LED lamp.


A procedure for the reconstitution of milk fat globules (MFG) stabilized with milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) was developed. MFG was reconstituted by homogenizing a mixture of 1% MFGM and 25% milk fat at 45°C and at pH 7.0 for 1 min. The emulsifying properties of MFGM were evaluated by emulsifying activity (EA), emulsion stability (ES), whippability and foam stability. Of the variables affecting the reconstitution of MFG, prolonged homogenization decreased EA and ES. About 25% milk fat gave maximal EA and ES, increasing the MFGM concentration increased both EA and ES, which were also influenced by the pH level. Foam disappeared at >30°C.


The non-linear natural frequencies of the first three modes of a beam clamped to a rigid rotating hub and carrying a distributed fluid along its span are investigated. The mathematical model is derived using the Lagrangian method and the continuous system is discretized using the assumed mode method. The resulted unimodal nonlinear equation of motion was solved using two methods; harmonic balance (HB) and time transformation (TT), to obtain approximate analytical expressions for the nonlinear natural frequencies. Results have shown that the two terms harmonic balance method (2THB) is more accurate than the time TT method. Results for the effect and type of distribution, i.e. uniform or linearly distributed, on the variation of the nonlinear natural frequency with the rotational speed of the system and how they affect the stability are studied and presented in non-dimensional form.Copyright © 2003 by ASME


A communication node of the present invention automatically transmits original and duplicate packets over different paths in a communications network to improve delivery reliability of the packet and to decrease packet delivery time. A packet is typically marked for reliable transmission by the application layer of a source node, while a routing agent module within the node IP layer processes the marked packets. The marked packets are transmitted over redundant (e.g., primary and secondary) network paths from the source node to the destination node. The primary path is usually the shortest path between the source and destination nodes, while the secondary path is selected to avoid overlap with the primary path. The application or transport layer of the destination node filters or removes plural copies of received packets.


ABSTRACT Introduction Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) should be administered by inhalation rather than parenterally to improve their efficiency in lung diseases. However, the pulmonary administration of mAbs in terms of aerosol technology and the formulation for inhalation is difficult. Areas covered The feasible or suitable strategies for overcoming the barriers associated with administering mAbs are described. Expert opinion Providing mAbs via inhalation to individuals with lung disorders is still difficult. However, inhalation is a desirable method for mAb delivery. Inhaled mAb production needs to be well thought out. The illness, the patient group(s), the therapeutic molecule selected, its interaction with the biological barriers in the lungs, the formulation, excipients, and administration systems must all be thoroughly investigated. Therefore, to create inhaled mAbs that are stable and efficacious, it will be essential to thoroughly examine the problems linked to instability and protein aggregation. More excipients will also need to be manufactured, expanding the range of formulation design choices. Another crucial requirement is for novel carriers for topical delivery to the lungs since carriers might significantly enhance proteins' stability and pharmacokinetic profile.


1 Department of Informatics Engineering of the University of Coimbra 2 Guarda Polytechnic Institute 3 ESTG – Leiria Polytechnic Institute Abstract This paper presents a new approach to the integration of the promising Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) with Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) for multicast networking environments. Multicast technology has been the subject of special interest in recent years in terms of its applicability to present and future networks, especially by the Internet2 group. Nowadays, an increasing number of applications as, for example, distance learning, virtual reality and distributed simulation, need multicasting in order to be scalable, feasible and effective. This paper proposes a new set of unicast and multicast algorithms for IPv6-over-ATM overlay-models that take advantage of inherent properties of IPv6 and ATM not sufficiently explored in existing models. Additionally, the use of ATM multicast addresses is proposed and evaluated. The applicability of the proposed approach is illustrated in a scenario where the provision of Quality of Service (QoS) according to the DiffServ architecture is supported.


For some patients with advanced heart failure, heart transplantation or mechanical circulatory support may be the only treatment left to improve quality life and survival. The timing of intervention is crucial, as patients should be referred before complications such as pulmonary hypertension, cardiorenal syndrome or liver failure develop.


anyone interested in ideology is to think about it is not pursued. Questions of political faith do not seem to be involved, perhaps because Marxist economics are not Marxist politics. Mr. Gurley adduces one arresting idea: "From the standpoint of the ruling classes, poverty may not be a failure but a prerequisite for their accumulation of wealth, their privileges, and their social, political, and economic domination" (232). He sees peasant misery pre-liberation as due "not only to the inherent difficulty of raising millions of people out of abject poverty during a century of violence but, more important, to the almost complete lack of interest by the Chinese governments and foreign investors in doing any such thing. The peasants remained poor in large part because poverty served a purpose; or at best because it did not prevent the wealthier classes from extracting the economic surplus of the countryside." Is this a new point or merely what one would normally expect of a ruling class? No examples are offered to make the point stick. The neat picture that Mr. Gurley presents of 170 million families forming 5 million teams in 750,000 brigades under 50,000 communes in 2,000 counties would be more significant against an historical background, like the early Ch'ing organization of families in li and chia to perform local state services and in pao and chia for mutual surveillance and responsibility. The Maoist success story comes partly out of China's past where the T'ang, the Sung, the Ming, and the Ch'ing all had their organizational success stories too. But this historical perspective is missing, and we are left with a Maoist triumph that has few ingredients from China's long past and yet basic differences from the Soviet model. Is the Chinese model diffusible? Mr. Gurley discusses the chances, listing many countries by categories, but confesses after all (310) that "the Chinese system of economic development is difficult to identify" because it is an amalgam made by Maoists and anti-Maoists in opposition. In the end, he gives us no grasp of the continuing problems and the forces within the People's Republic that will continue to be locked in struggle as new problems continue to arise.


Street food vending in Jamaica appears to be on the rise despite occassional attempts to repress it. This study was done at the Kingston Freezone, Papine and New Port West with special emphasis on purchasing, storage, preparation and vending of food. These areas were selected as the sampling frame after a mini survey was done. Information was obtained by utilizing a structured interview schedule as well as on the spot inspection by the researcher. A comparison was made between mobile and stationary vendors with respect to compliance with public health requirements. Results were tested statistically and it was found that there was a greater level of compliance to public health regulations by stationary vendors than mobile vendors. It appears as if it is better to find a new positive approach to street side food vending rather than futile attempts at abolition. (AU)


In this letter, we demonstrate using fast current-voltage measurements, low switching slope of 64 mV/decade over a drain current range between 10-3 and 2 × 10-2 μA/μm in staggered-gap In0.65Ga0.35As/GaAs0.4Sb0.6 tunneling field-effect transistors (TFETs) at VDS = 0.5 V. This is achieved through a combination of low damage mesa sidewall etch and improvement in electrical quality of the high-κ gate-stack. Benchmarking our results against experimentally demonstrated TFETs, we conclude that, the staggered-gap TFETs are capable of achieving simultaneously high drive current and low switching slope.


The invention relates to a halogen-free inflaming retarding polymer core material for a fireproof aluminum plastic plate and a preparation method of the core material. The core material comprises the following components in parts by weight: 10-30 parts of polyethylene, 10-30 parts of modified polyethylene, 50-80 parts of halogen-free inflaming retarding agent, 0.1-2 parts of coupling agent, 0.5-3parts of antioxidant and 2-10 parts of other auxiliaries. The preparation method comprises the following steps: placing the prepared halogen-free inflaming retarding agent in a high-speed mixing machine after material preparation, and adding the coupling agent for pre-treating the halogen-free inflaming retarding agent; then adding residual components, evenly mixing, putting the mixture in a twin-screw extruding machine, and carrying out extrusion molding; and carrying out hot cutting, carrying out secondary cyclone separation cooling or cold water stay cooling, and then pelleting, so as to obtain the halogen-free inflaming retarding polymer core material for the fireproof aluminum plastic plate. Compared with the prior art, the preparation method has the advantages that the process is continuous, the operation is simple, and the quality-stable product can be automatically produced. The product has the characteristics of no halogen, low smoke, efficient inflaming retardance and good comprehensive property, and is convenient for processing.


Digital satellite communication experiments in the 11/14 GHz band were performed on a link of 115 km between Eindhoven and Huizen in the Netherlands by means of the Orbital Test Satellite. Equipment was developed and tested via a translator loop. For transmission and reception of RF signals paraboloid antennes of 3 and 8 m diameter were used. Digital transmission tests were carried out via the OTS-A and OTS-B transponders. Spectra of the transmitted and received signals were measured for different Quadrature Phase Shift Keying modulation and demodulation strategies at nitrates of 4 and 8.448 Mnit/s. Videophone and Single Channel Per Carrier digital telephony demonstrations in satellite loop operation were given. Bit-Error Ratio was measured for Quadrature Phase Shift Keying modulation at bitrates of 4 and 8.448 Mnit/s and 32 knit/so Dijk, J. and A.P. Verlijsdonk, J.e. Arnbak DIGITAL TRANSMISSION EXPERIMENTS WITH THE ORBITAL TEST SATELLITE. Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands), 1984. EUT Report 84-E-144 Address of the authors: Telecommunications Division, Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands


Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) belong to a large family of calcium-dependent, zinc-containing endopeptidases, which are responsible for tissue remodelling and degradation of extracellular matrix, including collagens, elastins, gelatin, matrix glycoproteins and proteoglycan. Certain MMPs such as stromelysin-3 (MMP11) and matrilysin (MMP7) are reported to be highly expressed during breast cancer, so they may act as marker enzymes for breast cancer progression. The genetic variation in the gene encoding catalytic domain of stromelysin-3 was investigated in healthy dogs (n=20) and dogs with mammary tumours (n=20), using an optimised non-radioactive polymerase chain reaction–single-strand conformation polymorphism (PCR–SSCP) analysis. Two different SSCP patterns were detected from the 313 bp fragment. Sequencing of the gene fragment revealed a point substitution mutation in catalytic domain of stromelysin-3 in tumour subjects.


Social networks provide a convenient place for people to interact; members in social networks may create new connections or break existing connections, driving the evolution of complex network structure. Dynamics in social networks, such as opinion formation and spreading dynamics, may result in complex collective phenomena. This paper conducts a survey on 495 students from six schools in Shaanxi, Henan, and Zhejiang provinces and discusses the impact of self-presentation on adolescent network altruistic behaviors, the intermediary role of social ability cognition, and the moderating role of privacy awareness. The results show the following: (1) Self-presentation in social networks can positively predict adolescent network altruistic behaviors. The positive prediction effect of network sharing is the largest, and the positive prediction effect of network support is the least. (2) Social ability cognition plays an intermediary role between self-presentation and adolescent network altruistic behaviors. (3) The moderating effect of privacy awareness is not significant.


In recent years, Vietnam has recorded as transnational hubs among of complicate region relating human trafficking. The distinguish features of geography shared borderland with three countries, namely Cambodia, China and Laos, making cross-border trafficking in persons more dynamic and even more challenged for law enforcement agencies to prevent and combat this crime. Alongside with internal efforts to anticipate human trafficking, from 2010 to 2020, Vietnam's government implemented officially two national programs on prevention and combating human trafficking with a number of specific projects and its related goals. Amongst, to enhance international cooperation between neighbored countries and regional and international partnerships that is considered as one of the most prioritized strategies of Vietnam. This paper focuses on analysis policies and implications of Vietnam through providing details of the current viewpoints in international cooperation to fight trafficking in human beings. Some main trends and patterns of human trafficking in Vietnam in the past years will illustrate the nature of complex situation. Then, some recommendations call for further research to ensure the effectiveness of international cooperation. Keywords: Human trafficking; crime prevention; international cooperation; Vietnam DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/94-04 Publication date: February 29 th 2020


Background Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae have been recognized as an urgent antibiotic resistance threat for more than a decade. Despite this attention, their prevalence has remained steady or increased in some settings, suggesting that transmission pathways remain uncontrolled by current prevention strategies. We hypothesized that these transmission pathways, and hence targets for improved prevention, could be elucidated through comprehensive patient sampling, followed by integration of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and epidemiological data. Methods Longitudinal KPC+ Klebsiella pneumoniae (KPC-Kp) surveillance cultures were collected from 94% of patients in a long-term acute care hospital (LTACH) during a one-year bundled intervention to reduce KPC-Kp prevalence. WGS of 462 KPC-Kp isolates from 256 patients, and associated surveillance data were integrated using a distance threshold-free approach to identify transmission clusters that grouped patients acquiring KPC-Kp in the LTACH with the admission-positive "index" patients that imported their strain into the facility. Plausible transmission pathways within clusters were identified using patient location data. Findings Transmission clusters (N=49) had between 2-14 patients, capturing KPC-Kp acquisitions from 100 (80%) patients who first acquired KPC-Kp in the LTACH. Within-cluster genetic diversity varied from 0-154 (median 9) single-nucleotide variants (SNVs), with elevated diversity being driven by prolonged asymptomatic colonization and evolution of hypermutator strains. Transmission between patients in clusters could be explained by spatiotemporal overlap in patient rooms (14%), wards (66%), or facility (81%). Sequential exposure to the same patient room was the only epidemiological link for one patient, indicating that residual environmental contamination of rooms after patient discharge contributed little to transmission. Persistent, modifiable routes of transmission were associated with lapses in patient cohorting, transmission between cohort and non-cohort locations and clusters propagating due to false-negative surveillance. Interpretation Integration of comprehensive surveillance and WGS data using a SNV threshold-free approach disclosed specific instances where improved patient and healthcare worker cohorting, reducing exposures to common locations outside of patient rooms, and improved KPC-Kp colonization detection could reduce transmission. Overall, results highlight the potential for WGS to monitor and improve infection prevention and the importance of combining rigorous sampling with appropriate analytical strategies to generate actionable hypotheses.


The dopant concentration dependence of the below band-gap absorption bands at room temperature in n-type (N) 4Hand 6H-SiC are investigated. The occupation of the nitrogen donors are determined from temperature dependent Hall effect measurements. In combination with the strength of the absorption bands the cross sections of these transitions are obtained. It is shown that the below band-gap absorption bands may be attributed to the inequivalent lattice sites of the nitrogen donor, i.e. the transition is defect-like with different initial states of the nitrogen donors and a common final state in the conduction band. Introduction The origin of the optical absorption bands (Fig. 1) of n-type (N) Silicon Carbide (SiC) in the below band-gap region is not fully understood up to now. According to Limpijungmong et al. [1], these absorption bands are due to inter-conduction band transitions, as they correlate the absorption band positions of the Biedermann spectra [2] to conduction band structures obtained from numerical band calculations. Sridhara et al. [3] concluded from temperature dependent absorption measurements that the initial states are both the nitrogen impurity and the conduction band minimum. The final states could be broadened by a Fano-like mechanism, i.e. a resonance of nitrogen impurity level within higher conduction bands [4]. Contrary, Stiasny et al. [5] suggested that nitrogen correlated deep centers form the initial states and the conduction band minimum contains the final states. In this work comprehensive sets of optical absorption spectra are presented in order to give more constraints on the above mentioned theories. It is suggested that the initial states are the states of the nitrogen donors at inequivalent lattice sites and the final states are common higher conduction band states. To draw this conclusion careful analysis of the below band-gap absorption bands are made, i.e. Lorentz fits were performed and the cross sections of the below band-gap absorption bands were determined taking into account the occupation of nitrogen donors at room temperature from temperature dependent Hall effect measurements (see also [6]). It is shown that only a correct mapping of the below-band gap absorption bands to the inequivalent lattice sites of the nitrogen donors leads to the expected dependency of the cross section on the nitrogen donor ionization energies.


This paper investigates hydrological processes and their influence on gravity at the underground Membach station (eastern Belgium), where absolute (AG) and superconducting (SG) gravity measurements have been performed since 1996. Seasonal and short term effects are observed. The 3 μGal seasonal effect reflects long-wavelength component of annual continental water storage variations. The short-term effects consist of fast gravity decrease lasting minutes to a few days. These variations are anticorrelated with rainfall events in 80 % of the cases. The largest decrease was 4 muGal after a significant rainfall (150 mm in 3 days). Apart from rainfall, the Newtonian effect of vertical air mass distribution plays also an essential role (Meurers et al., this session). The gravity station was excavated in low-porosity argillaceous sandstone. Geophysical prospecting showed that the thickness of the weathered zone covering this bedrock can be highly variable between zero and 10 meters. In 2004, soil moisture and temperature probes were installed in the shallow upper 60 cm partially saturated soil, 45 m above the station. Based on a digital elevation model and geological studies, we investigated the soil moisture data and their relationships with high temporal resolution rainfall and gravity time series. This work can be essential to correct local effects that can mask regional effects such as changes in continental water storage. Local effects, indeed, could prevent the combination of satellite data (e.g. GRACE) with ground-based gravity measurements. On the other hand, studying the local seasonal variations also contributes to investigate the influence of the water storage variations in small river basins on the time dependent gravity field.


2 SLP-76 (Src homology 2 domain-containing leukocyte phosphoprotein of 76 kDa) is an adaptor molecule expressed in all hemopoietic cell lineages except mature B cells and is known to play critical roles in the function of T cells, mast cells, and platelets and in vascular differentiation. Although great progress has been achieved in our understanding of SLP-76 function, little is known about the mechanisms regulating its expression. In this study we report the initial characterization of essential elements that control SLP-76 transcription. We identify several DNase I-hypersensitive sites in the SLP-76 locus, with a prominent site located in its promoter region. This site exists in T cells and monocytic cells, but not in B cells or fibroblasts. Using transient transfection assays, we identify a 507-bp fragment containing the 5 (cid:1) -untranslated region of the first exon and the immediate upstream sequence that confers transcriptional activation in T cells and monocytic cells, but not in B cells. Analysis of the 5 (cid:1) ends of SLP-76 transcripts reveals differential regulation of SLP-76 transcription initiation between T cells and monocytic cells. Mutational and gel-shift analyses further indicate a critical role within this region for a binding site for Ets family transcription factors. The present study provides the first data to address the mechanisms controlling SLP-76 transcription by providing evidence for several key cis regulatory elements in the promoter region. The Journal of Immunology, 2003, 171: 6621–6629. end-labeled with [ (cid:1) - 32 P]ATP using T4 polynu- cleotide kinase (New England Biolabs, Beverly, MA) according the manufacturer's instructions. Probes were purified using MicroSpin G-25 columns according to the manufacturer's instructions (Amersham Pharma-cia Biotech, Piscataway, NJ). Binding reactions were conducted for 30 min at room temperature in a 20- (cid:4) l volume containing 50,000 dpm of labeled probe, nuclear extract containing 2.5–5 (cid:4) g of protein, 1 (cid:4) g of poly(dI-dC) (Roche), 10 mM Tris (pH 7.5), 40 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM 2-ME, 4% glycerol. Competing oligonucleotides, anti-Ets1 (Santa Cruz Bio- technology, Santa Cruz, CA), and anti-PU.1 Abs (a gift from C. Simon, University of Pennsylvania) preincubated at room temperature 15 min before addition of radiolabeled size-frac-tionated using a 6% polyacrylamide gel 0.5 (cid:5) TBE electrophoresed


Phyllosphere and rhizosphere are unique and wide‐ranging habitats that harbor various microbial communities, which influence plant growth and health, and the productivity of the ecosystems. In this study, we characterized the shared microbiome of the phyllosphere and rhizosphere among three plants (Ipomoea pes‐caprae, Wedelia chinensis, and Cocos nucifera), to obtain an insight into the relationships between bacteria (including diazotrophic bacteria) and fungi, present on these host plants. Quantitative PCR showed that the abundances of the microbiome in the soil samples were significantly higher than those in the phyllosphere samples, though there was an extremely low abundance of fungi in bulk soil. High‐throughput sequencing showed that the alpha‐diversity of bacteria and fungi was higher in the rhizosphere than the phyllosphere samples associated with the same plant, while there was no obvious shift in the alpha‐diversity of diazotrophic communities between all the tested phyllosphere and soil samples. Results of the microbial composition showed that sample‐specific bacteria and fungi were found among the phyllosphere and rhizosphere of the different host plants. About 10%–27% of bacteria, including diazotrophs, and fungi overlapped between the phyllosphere and the rhizosphere of these host plants. No significant difference in microbial community structure was found among the tested rhizosphere samples, and soil properties had a higher influence on the soil microbial community structures than the host plant species.


The implementation of a sustainable bio-based economy is today's priority. Lignocellulose is a suitable alternative for the production of high added-value products. Lactic acid is being abundantly used worldwide for industrial and biotechnological applications. Lactic acid can be produced by microbial fermentation and chemical synthesis. The thesis assesses different lactic acid fermentation technologies and downstream processing. Lignocellulosic biomass is promising renewable resource for the production of biofuels and platform chemicals. The present study encompasses the screening and isolation of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), stable in the presence of ionic liquids and lignocellulosic inhibitors and explores them for effective bio-based lactic acid production. A phase partitioning process using n-butanol and a chaotropic salt ammonium sulphate was developed to recover lactic acid from the fermentation broth. The pure lactic acid can further be used for enzymatic synthesis of high value-added product PLA, a biodegradable and biocompatible plastic. Polylactic acid (PLA) is becoming one of the most paramount polymers due to its eco-friendly, biocompatible, and biodegradable nature. Mostly, PLA synthesis reaction uses a metal catalyst (Zn/Sn oxides), which is not safe for biomedical applications as it contains metal contamination. A bioprocess was developed for manufacturing high molecular weight PLA using an enzymatic polycondensation process. This new approach for the synthesis of metal-free degradable PLA would encourage its use for plastic and biomedical products in the future.


This paper investigates the fundamental limits for compressing data on graphs, exploiting dependencies due to community structures in the graph. The source model, referred to as the data block model (DBM), is a mixture of discrete memoryless sources determined by the community structure of a stochastic block model (SBM). The main result gives the optimal expected length of a lossless compressor when the community signal is strong enough, a condition on the edge probabilities and the data distributions, which can take place below the exact recovery threshold of the SBM. This is derived in part by obtaining the threshold for exact recovery in SBMs with strong side information, a result of independent interest, which extends the CH-divergence threshold. Finally we discuss compressing data with almost exact recovery algorithms.


Organic farming, fundamentally different from conventional agriculture provide a healthier diet, with many advantages for the human body that are correlated with environmental conservation, with nature and its laws. In Romania, this evolving upward in recent years, both in the plant and animal sectors but far from the level achieved in other European countries. To know better the progress which is currently in organic farming, we have made a SWOT analysis highlighting the strengths and weaknesses, the opportunities and threats that may help to promote well based and much more determined solutions on future development.


The fungus Pachymetra chaunorhiza Croft and Dick causes a root rot in sugarcane (Saccharum interspecific hybrid). Suspension-cultured sugarcane cells prepared from cultivars Q114 (P. chaunorhiza resistant) and Q90 (P. chaunorhiza susceptible) were inoculated with a heat-derived elicitor preparation from P. chaunorhiza and the cellular responses monitored by measuring phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and perexidase (POD) activity and the production of additional phenolic compounds. Introduction of the P. chaunorhiza elicitor induced marked changes in the biochemistry of both sugarcane cell lines. Both cell lines produced additional phenolic compounds not present in untreated cells and different compounds were produced by each cell line. Induced enzyme activities also differed between the cell lines with Q90 (susceptible) showing a large and transitory increase in PAL activity that was far greater than that observed for Q114 (resistant). POD activity increased more in Q114 than in Q90, although the differences between the resistant and susceptible cell lines were not as great as for PAL.


The aim of this work is to write a new program (or system of programs) that can handle as much of a grain-size analysis as possible, that can be used on a common personal computer and that is versatile enough to be used by many workers. (Author/TRRL)


Because of an expected imposition of stricter limits on wastewater discharges greater emphasis must be placed on how to meet such demands cost effectively. At the Käppala wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) two different unit processes have been proposed to improve the treatment of the plant cost effectively with a low environmental impact; degasification of mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) or a fixed-film activated-sludge process. The degasification technology presents a way of increasing the hydraulic and organic capacity with only minor changes of the existing process. By subjecting the MLSS of the biological tanks to a vacuum before it enters the secondary clarifiers the sludge settling characteristics are greatly improved. With improved settling characteristics the solids loading rate can be increased which allows for higher concentrations of MLSS in the biological tanks. The organic capacity is thereby increased without changing the existing process configuration. The degasification of the mixed liquor is performed in a vacuum tower placed between the biological tanks and the secondary clarifiers. In order to achieve the necessary pressure drop of 0.95 bar the water is lifted 9.5 m above the water surface where it is degassed. The degasification technology has been implemented to several WWTPs world wide but is still fairly unknown in the Nordic countries. The effect on the settling characteristics depends on a large number of parameters. The process performance must hence be tested in a full scale test which will be conducted at the Käppala WWTP during 2012. The second unit process proposed is a fixed-film activated-sludge process which will enhance the activated sludge process by providing a greater biomass concentration in the tanks and increase the capacity of a given volume. By calculating the capital, operational and maintenance costs for both of the unit processes the vacuum technology has proven to be the most cost effective way for the Käppala Association to increase the capacity and meet stricter limits on wastewater discharges. In this paper the two technologies are compared economically in a scenario where stricter limits have been imposed. The results show that stricter discharge limits will likely lead to a large increase of the marginal treatment costs, i.e. the cost for the extra amount of nutrients removed. However, the total costs per inhabitant will decrease at the Käppala WWTP as an effect of large investments already having been made and an increasing number of inhabitants in the connected municipalities.


This paper presents the results of an experimental analysis performed on a renewable hybrid system in order to evaluate the power quality of its electrical power network, which can be influenced by three factors: the variations in the power supplied by renewable energies due to the meteorological conditions, the adopted inverter and its control strategy, which is very meaningful for the performance of the whole system, the presence of non linear loads, which in recent years have dramatically increased. The results of the experimental analysis of the power quality parameters are presented in detail and investigated also with regard to European technical standards. The main parameters which have been investigated are: voltage and current total harmonic distortion, respectively THDV and THDI, voltage variations at fundamental frequency, the effect of insertion/disconnection (tripping) of inverters and flicker. They have been explained and compared with the requirements reported in the European power quality standards.


This paper studies the temperature deformity size of the cement concrete pavement. First, it regards the cement concrete pavement as a 4side freely rectangle sheets on elastic foundation. When the temperature along the thickness direction in a concrete pavement is not identical, the deformity of the pavement is very similar to a rear sphere. The deflection formulae are deduced, the size of the pavement′s corner deformity is calculated, and the deformity of the pavement as gravity and wheel load is studied. The roadbed settlement size is calculated in accordance with that the concrete pavement′s center cannot lose contact with roadbed. With equivalent method, the approximate elastic rebound modulus of the roadbed is deduced. The calculation result shows that in the structure of the cement concrete pavement, the exceptional hard roadbed is unfit for guaranteeing that the center of the pavement not lose contact with roadbed. This paper finally suggests defining a suitable volume of the elastic rebound modulus of the roadbed in the rules.


The smart city proposed by government is providing better infrastructure with possible automated device. Every smart city proposes to provide smart transport through automated traffic management .The peak hours face the congestion road and many traffic irregularities. The congested road aids in poor Travel experience, environmental pollution and health hazards by vehicular fuel. The solution to aforesaid issues leads to traffic Automation in urban communities. To implement the traffic automation need access to real time traffic congestion information, best possible route and alternate strategy with online traffic information applicable to specific traffic stream. An more suitable site visitors manipulate and MF has been mentioned to finish short information transmission and their corresponding motion performed via artificial intelligence. The VANET scenario, congestion manage algorithm executed through mobile agent controller uniformly organizes the traffic glide by way of heading off the congestion at the smart visitors zone ,The law-enforcement bodies ,the fire opponents and the clinical and/or paramedical teams consciousness on elevated quantity of crime in addition to lifestyles losses through site visitors irregularities. The benefits of adopting the internet of things(iot)provide a new prospect for intelligent site visitors improvement.


200 words maximum). Include the topic of each presenter. Biographical Information. ____________________________________________________ ________________________________ Signature Date I am also interested in participating as:  Chair  Discussant  CME Evaluator  Paper Session (to be read)  Paper Session (to be discussed) 5 Name of presenter: Address: Email: Phone: Title of paper: Learning objectives: By attending this presentation, participants will have the opportunity to improve competence or performance in: Suggestion(s) for discussant: Please list one published reference pertaining to the content of your presentation. Please check the need(s) this presentation is designed to meet.  To learn about development of therapeutic alliances; transference and countertransference; the handling of challenging situations; and practical applications of psychoanalytic theories.  To learn about complex pathologies, neuroscientific advances, pharmacological treatments, and medical conditions and their implications/ramifications for psychodynamic psychotherapy.  To learn new ways of engaging residents and training them in the complex theories and techniques of psychodynamic psychotherapy.  To foster learning of complex theories and techniques of psychodynamic psychotherapy by early career psychiatrists.  Signed Financial Disclosure Form is attached. IMPORTANT information regarding audiovisual needs: The Academy provides LCD projectors for PowerPoint presentations, but not computers or laptops. Please note any other AV needs here and include a justification of need:  Check here if no audiovisual equipment is required. Abstract (200 words maximum).200 words maximum).


On a basis of multimode resonator (MMR) using SIRs‐loaded tapered‐line (SIRTL),novel quad‐ and sext‐band bandpass filter are investigated and fabricated. Due to some merits like existing accurate analytical technique, simplicity in construction and excellent matching behavior, parabolic tapered‐line are selected as the building block of MMR. In addition, with SIRs loaded at different points of tapered‐line, quad‐ and sext‐band responses can be obtained. Moreover, relationship between parabolic tapered‐line and profile of microstrip is set up. Accordingly, circular‐profile microstrip has been chosen to realize parabolic tapered‐line. Therefore, designs of quad‐ and sext‐band bandpass filter become available. Good agreement between simulated and measured results validates the design method.


We propose and demonstrate a novel and effective supervisory scheme to monitor the optical-path routing at the optical cross connects in all-optical transport networks. Any error in optical-path routing due to failure in the cross connect can be detected without tapping off the power at the data wavelengths, and no dedicated monitoring light source is required. The scheme supports in-service surveillance. It can facilitate the network management in the optical layer of all-optical and reconfigurable transport networks.


The spatial distribution characteristics of 10 heavy metals(As,Hg,Mo,Cd,Cr,Zn,Cu,Mn,Pb,Ti) in the soil of Dexing area were studied using geostatistica method.The spatial distribution features were quantitatively described by semivariogram.Basedon the semivariograms,Kriging interpolation was performed,and distribution maps were produced.The results show that except for Cd and Pb,all of heavy metals being studied have good spatial structures,and their semibariograms could be fitted by semivariogram models with nuggets.Cd and Pb have bad spatial structures,and the dominated factors are complex.All the factors affected each other,result in the spatial structure going to complexity.Most elements show some directional features,which are consistent with the same feature in the distribution maps.The distribution maps show that high contents of heavy metal are focus on the Dexing mining area and some small mining areas.The mine exploration is the main reason for the rise of the content of heavy metals and even pollution in Dexing area.


Spinning process of regeneration feather protein fiber is introduced in this text, Physical and chemical properties of the fiber are measured and analyzed, results show: taking the fiber(2.7dtex) for example, its dry breaking tenacity is 2.1cN/dtex, its wet breaking tenacity is 1.8cN/dtex, its moisture regain is 13.8%, so it has excellent tenacity, wet absorption and good affinity to skin. It provides the basis for the development of regeneration feather protein fiber.


The Baizhangyan skarn‐porphyry type W–Mo deposit is located in a newly defined Mo–W–Pb–Zn metallogenic belt, which is in the south of Middle‐Lower Yangtze Valley Cu–Fe–Au polymetallic metallogenic belt in SE China. The W–Mo orebodies occur mainly within the contact zone between fine‐grained granite and Sinian limestone strata. There are two types of W–Mo mineralization: major skarn W–Mo mineralization and minor granite‐hosted disseminated Mo mineralization which was traced by drilling at depth. Eight molybdenite samples from Mo‐bearing ores yield Re–Os dates that overlap within analytical error, with a weighted average age of 134.1 ± 2.2 Ma. These dates are in close agreement with SIMS U–Pb concordant zircon age for fine‐grained granite at 133.3 ± 1.3 Ma, indicating that crystallization of the granite and hydrothermal molybdenite formation were coeval and likely cogenetic. The Baizhangyan W–Mo deposit formed in the Early Cretaceous extensional tectonic setting at the Middle‐Lower Yangtze Valley metallogenic belt and the Jaingnan Ancient Continent. Based on mineral compositions and crosscutting relationships of veinlets, hydrothermal alteration and mineralization, the ore mineral paragenesis of the Baizhangyan deposit is divided into four stages: skarn stage (I), oxide stage (II), sulfide stage (III), and carbonate stage (IV). Fluid inclusions in garnet, scheelite, quartz and calcite from W–Mo ores are mainly aqueous‐rich (L + V) type inclusions. Following garnet deposition at stage I, the high‐temperature fluids gave way to progressively cooler, more dilute fluids associated with tungsten–molybdenite–base metal sulfide deposition (stage II and stage III) (162–360°C, 2.7–13.2 wt % NaCl equivalent) and carbonate deposition (stage IV) (137–190°C, 0.9–5 wt % NaCl equiv.). Hydrogen‐oxygen isotope data from minerals of different stages suggest that the ore‐forming fluids consisted of magmatic water, mixed in various proportions with meteoric water. From stage I to stage IV, there is a systematic decrease in the homogenization temperature of the fluid‐inclusion fluids and calculated δ18O values of the fluids. These suggest that increasing involvement of formation water or meteoric water during the fluid ascent resulted in successive deposition of scheelite and molybdenite at Baizhangyan.


Random walk models driven by GARCH errors are widely applicable in diverse areas in finance and econometrics. For a first-order autoregressive model driven by GARCH errors, let b φn be the least squares estimate of the autoregressive coefficient. The asymptotic distribution of b φn is given in Ling and Li (2003) when the GARCH errors have finite variances. In this paper, the limit distribution of b φn is established as functionals of a stable process when the GARCH errors are heavy-tailed with infinite variances. An estimate of the tail index of the limiting stable process is proposed and its asymptotic properties are derived. Furthermore, it is shown that the least absolute deviations procedure works well under the unit- root and heavy-tailed GARCH setting. This research provides a relatively broad treatment of unit-root GARCH models that includes the commonly entertained unit-root IGARCH scenario.


Robert Alexander Harrison Surtees went to St Edmund Hall, Oxford, as an open exhibitioner and qualified in 1980. Following training at Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham and Manchester he came to the UCL Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital in 1986 and progressed rapidly from Wellcome Trust lecturer to professor of paediatric neurology and honorary consultant and ultimately head of the Neurosciences Unit. His PhD on -adenosylmethionine deficiency and demyelination was the foundation of …


Central venous catheters (CVC) remain one of the frequent means of dialysis access. A large bore double-lumen tunneled catheter (TDC) is the most common access used at dialysis initiation (1). TDC also remains the vascular access in a significant number of prevalent dialysis patients (2). This review article will discuss the common complications associated with CVC placement and recommend strategies to prevent complications. A successful placement of a CVC requires proper training and developing procedural skills. Additionally, availability of proper tools and procedural protocols to minimize the incidence of complications are essential (Table 1).


The impacts on growth of Eucalyptus urophylla × E. tereticornis from three fertilizer treatments(A, B, and C), including base fertilizer and additional fertilizer that provided the same total amounts of key nutrients, were examined in this study. The results showed that the best growth to age 17-months was obtained with organic-inorganic fertilizer treatment A. This treatment proved significantly superior to the other two fertilizer treatments. At age 30-months, treatment A and B proved best with no significant difference between these two, whilst treatment C gave significantly inferior growth. It was concluded that alternative fertilizer formulations can significantly influence growth of E. urophylla × E. tereticornis, and that the inclusion of organic matter in the fertilizer formulation can significantly improve growth.


This article caused the pollution on the vehicle exhaust to the atmosphere the reason,the pollution degree and the harm carries on have analyzed,explained fully the importance of the environmental protection,and proposed some practical and feasible measures of preventing and curing.


The study sought to determine the quality library information resources and postgraduate students' satisfaction in Ignatius Ajuru University of Education library. Two research objectives, two research questions and two hypothesis were formulated to guide the study. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The total population of the study was 412 postgraduate students' registered with Ignatius Ajuru University of Education Library while the sample size was 206 postgraduate students' selected using simple random sampling technique. The study found that that there is a significant relationship between available information resources and postgraduate students' satisfaction with the use of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education library F1, 200=4.730, p<.05. Therefore, the null hypothesis one was rejected at 0.05 alpha level. The study recommended that Relevant information resources to the library users' field, accessibility, adequacy, clarity of language of presentation, authenticity of information resources regular power supply, adequate computers/internet facilities should be considered and made available for the library users; also, Awareness services should be done on regular basis in order to increase users' knowledge on library usage in order to guarantee users' satisfaction of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education library.


Synthesis of some cyclic ketones which include (2E)-3-(2-chloroquinolin-3-yl)-l-phenyl-2propen-1-one, (2E)-3-(2-Chloro-6-methylquinolin-3-yl)-1-phenyl-2-propen-1-one, (2E)-3-(2,7Dichloroquinolin-3-yl)-1-phenyl-2-propen-1-one, (2E)-3-(2-Chloro-6-methoxyquinolin-3-yl)-1-phenyl-2propen-1-one, 2E)-3-(6-Bromo-2-chloroquinolin-3-yl)-1-phenyl-2-propen-1-one were achieved through the condensation of 3-fomylquinolines with acetophenone and 3-acetyl-4-hydroxyquinolin-2(1H)-one with different heterocyclic aldehydes. The synthesized ketones have been screened for insect attractant activities and insecticidal effect against houseflies. All the ketones have shown significant insect attractant properties.


The invention discloses high-temperature metallic luster glaze. The glaze comprises ferric phosphate and ceramic-based glaze in a ratio of 0.5-1:1, wherein the ceramic-based glaze comprises albite, quartz, limestone and kaolin in a weight ratio of 15-35:10-30:2-6:3-10. The high-temperature metallic luster glaze has the advantages of a few varieties of raw materials, wide sources, low cost, preparation process the same as that of the common overglaze, low cost, simple using method, one-time sintering, low sintering temperature and contribution to energy conservation and environmental protection; and metallic luster products with different colors such as golden yellow, silvery white, golden red and black blue can be sintered by adjusting the ratio of the glaze, meet various design requirements, and have wide using range.


A novel self-clamped P-shield design in SiC trench-gate IGBT is proposed. An enhancement-mode (E-mode) PMOS and open-base PNP transistor are embedded at the emitter side by introducing an N-well into the P-shield region. In OFF -state, the P-shield is clamped at a low potential via the conduction of E-mode PMOS, maintaining a strong electric field shielding effect for trench gate oxide. In ON-state, the P-shield is floating electrically via the deep hole barrier formed by the N-well, enhancing the injection-enhancement (IE) effect. Under high collector-emitter voltage conditions, the P-shield is clamped via the punch-through of the open-base PNP transistor, effectively reducing saturation current. Furthermore, the self-clamped P-shield reduces the Miller capacitance and suppresses the negative gate capacitance during the switching transient, achieving low switching losses and high switching speed. As a result, the self-clamped P-shield SiC IGBT provides a new design solution to improving ON-, OFF -, and switching performance simultaneously.


An upsurge of religious extremism and terrorism in Afghanistan that followed the 2014 withdrawal of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the pessimistic forecasts for the country's future: a far greater number of terrorist attacks and their victims among non-combatants across the country was the most obvious repercussion. The civil war continued unabated, while the negative additional factors—the Taliban that had grown much stronger, as well as the activation of ISIS militants, who had come from Iraq and Syria to continue fighting—contributed to its further exacerbation. All sorts of extremist religious groups in Afghanistan consolidated their positions and even created an unwelcome possibility of their transit to the Central Asian countries. The authors have clearly demonstrated that there is a direct interdependence between the presence of ISAF under U.S. command and the degree of violence of the Taliban, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant—Khorasan Chapter, and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan operating in Afghanistan. They have also analyzed the impact of the statement made by the U.S. regarding the signed agreement with the Taliban that envisaged the removal of U.S. troops from the country in the next fourteen months and the release of Taliban prisoners. Since the Government of Afghanistan had been left in the cold, many doubted that the agreement would be fully realized any time soon. An analysis of the events that followed demonstrated that the Taliban would not stick to its part of the agreement, while the White House treated the document as an election promise (formally) fulfilled. There are enough extremist organizations (i.e., ISIS) that operate in the provinces and, free from obligations and in pursuit of their own aims, might interfere in the attempts to fulfill the agreement in its optimistic version. An assessment of certain processes suggests that the threats coming from ISIS are somewhat overestimated. The studies are based on the following methods: comparative analysis of relevant literature, statistical analysis of the dynamics of time series to identify the developing trends of terrorist activities of religious extremists in Afghanistan.


Cast austenitic stainless steel have been widely used for primary coolant piping in light water reactors. This material is subject to thermal embrittlement at reactor operating temperature. CF-8M and CF-8A cast austenitic stainless steel is used for several components, such as primary coolant piping, elbow, pump casing, and valve bodies in light water reactors. Thermal embrittlement results in spinodal decomposition of delta-ferrite leading to decreased fracture toughness. In this study, the specimens were prepared using an accelerated aging method. The measurement of ferrite content, Charpy impact test and J-R test were performed to verify the predicting equation for aged material properties. In case of above 25% ferrite content, predicted result of J-R curve might be non-conservative.


Onthebasis ofmutational analyses inyeast, thehighly conserved ACAGAGAsequence ofU6small nuclear RNA (snRNA) andtheadjacent U6-U2helix Ihavebeen proposed tobepart oftheactive center ofthespliceosome. We report herea detailed analysis ofthehumanU6snRNA sequence requirements during thefirst andsecond stepof splicing, using amammalian invitro splicing-complementation system andamutational approach. Positions A53G"4C-" (helix Ib)wereidentified asimportant specifically forthefirst step, butnotforspliceosome assembly. A45oftheACAGAGA sequence andU52ofhelix Iafunction during thesecond step; inaddition, thebulge separating helices Iaandlbappears critical forthesecond step. Incontrast, nosplicing-essential sequences could beidentified inthecentral domain upstream oftheACAGAGAsequence. Insum,ourdatademonstrate for themammalian splicing system that discrete positions within theACAGAGAsequence andhelix IofU6snRNAfunction during thefirst andsecond stepofsplicing, suggesting that these twosequence elements areclosely associated withthe catalytic center ofthespliceosome. Comparison withprevious results inyeast indicates afundamental conservation oftheU6 snRNAfunction inthepre-mRNA splicing mechanism. Nuclear pre-mRNAsplicing involves twosequential trans- esterification reactions, resulting inmature mRNA andthe intron lariat (for review, seerefs. 1-3). Before thetwosteps ofsplicing, thepre-mRNA hastobeassembled into ahighly complex ribonucleoprotein


Objective: To investigate the effect of testosterone on endothelial function and neointimal proliferation after balloon injury in male rabbit abdominal aorta. Methods: 24 male New Zealand white rabbits were divided randomly into three groups: intact control group ( n =8,sham castration ), hypotestosteronemia group ( n =8,castration ) and testosterone replacement group ( n =8,castration +testosterone undecanoate intramuscular injection,14mg/kg). Abdominal aortae were not injured with 3mm PTCA balloon until testosterone undecanoate had been injected for three days . Two weeks after the injury, blood samples were drawn for detection of plasma testosterone,lipids, nitric oxide (NO), superoxide dismutase(SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA), and all the abdominal arotae were excised to be analyzed by computer.Results: The neointimal area in hypotestosteronemia group was significantly increased than that of the other two groups( P 0.01), together with a significant decrease in both NO and SOD plasma level and significant increase in total cholesterol(TC), triglycerides(TG), low density lipoprotein(LDL) and MDA plasma level. No difference was observed between the intact control group and the testosterone replacement group in all parameters.Conclusion: Testosterone, at physiological level, has the effects of inhibiting neointimal proliferation and protecting endothelial function after balloon injury in male rabbit abdominal aorta.


The current residential production in Algeria is diverse, but is relatively
 similar in terms of design. The similarity in design has become inevitable,
 due to the scarcity of realestate, the increasing demand for housing, and
 the rise of the urban population. Because of the aforementioned reasons, we
 notice that the peculiarities of the local communities that structure the
 Algerian societies are not taken into account. The urban design of the local
 communities (Kabyle, Mzabi, Shawi, Targui...) show evident similarities
 overall; however, some details are imposed by the local culture of each
 community. Those details are absent in contemporary residential production.
 Through this study, we aim to identify a number of cultural peculiarities of
 the local Naily community in the region of Djelfa, the ways these
 peculiarities reflect on the local traditional construction, and the set of
 mechanisms for inclusion in contemporary housing production. The study is
 divided in two parts: a theoretical part, in which we highlighted the
 interrelationship between cultural peculiarities, urbanism and the local
 community, and an applied part in which we employed the Delphi technique and
 chose the region of Djelfa as a case study. The results show the following:
 43 answers through the application of Delphi Method by experts distributed
 on the three questions asked which in general provided important pieces of
 information, through which we were able to access the set of cultural
 peculiarities of the local community in the region of Djelfa, the reflection
 of these peculiarities on the local construction and how to include some
 solutions to address the current residential production in a way that
 protects the cultural peculiarities of the Naily community in the region of
 Djelfa.


A growth process has been investigated for the epitaxial growth of silicon carbide. The technique can simply be described as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at high temperatures, hence the name high temperature CVD (HTCVD). The growth process however, differs greatly from that of the CVD process due to the significant sublimation and etch rates at the extreme growth temperatures (1800–2300°C). The grown rates obtained with the HTCVD are in the order of several tens of μm/h to 0.5 mm/h. The purity and crystallinity of the growth layers are outstanding showing strong free exciton related photoluminescence.


Social transfer programs are thought to generate beneficiary groups who will act politically to defend "their" programs from retrenchment. But little empirical research has been conducted to either verify or disconfirm the micro foundations of this hypothesis, which lies at the heart of the "new social risks" thesis as well as many economic analyses of welfare state politics. This article tests empirically whether benefiting from public pensions leads individuals to greater support of the pension system status quo, net of other factors. It uses cross—data set imputation to combine cross-nationally comparable individual-level data on income from public pensions with political attitudes toward proposed pension reforms. The hypothesis that public pension systems create policy feedbacks of self-interested beneficiaries supporting further pension spending is not supported in any of 11 European countries in either 1992 or 2001.


In this paper, a modified adaptive K-means (MAKM) method is proposed to extract the region of interest (ROI) from the local and public datasets. The local image datasets are collected from Bethezata General Hospital (BGH) and the public datasets are from Mammographic Image Analysis Society (MIAS). The same image number is used for both datasets, 112 are abnormal and 208 are normal. Two texture features (GLCM and Gabor) from ROIs and one CNN based extracted features are considered in the experiment. CNN features are extracted using Inception-V3 pre-trained model after simple preprocessing and cropping. The quality of the features are evaluated individually and by fusing features to one another and five classifiers (SVM, KNN, MLP, RF, and NB) are used to measure the descriptive power of the features using cross-validation. The proposed approach was first evaluated on the local dataset and then applied to the public dataset. The results of the classifiers are measured using accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, kappa, computation time and AUC. The experimental analysis made using GLCM features from the two datasets indicates that GLCM features from BGH dataset outperformed that of MIAS dataset in all five classifiers. However, Gabor features from the two datasets scored the best result with two classifiers (SVM and MLP). For BGH and MIAS, SVM scored an accuracy of 99%, 97.46%, the sensitivity of 99.48%, 96.26% and specificity of 98.16%, 100% respectively. And MLP achieved an accuracy of 97%, 87.64%, the sensitivity of 97.40%, 96.65% and specificity of 96.26%, 75.73% respectively. Relatively maximum performance is achieved for feature fusion between Gabor and CNN based extracted features using MLP classifier. However, KNN, MLP, RF, and NB classifiers achieved almost 100% performance for GLCM texture features and SVM scored an accuracy of 96.88%, the sensitivity of 97.14% and specificity of 96.36%. As compared to other classifiers, NB has scored the least computation time in all experiments.


Abstract It is a challenge to produce galvanised dual-phase steels based on lean chemistries and with consistent mechanical properties over the entire coil length. A practical method was developed using hot band annealing (HBA) in the ferrite/austenite two-phase region before cold rolling and intercritical annealing. The HBA brings several benefits to the production of galvanised dual-phase steel sheets. First, a finer and more homogeneous microstructure can be obtained. Second, a higher tensile strength is yielded with a similar ductility to the sheets without HBA. The sensitivity of mechanical properties to the annealing parameters such as annealing temperature and cooling rate can also be reduced. Finally, the effect of the microstructure on the strain hardening behaviour was analysed.


This paper presents a neural network algorithm for data mining in building LV electrical power information. The power information is recorded by web-based power quality monitoring system. Power information is recorded continuously and stored in a central server system. Presently events were identified by power engineers but in the prototype, an expert system will be used to identify events instead. Neural network approach based on the Radial Basis Function Neural Network (RBFNN) was developed to predict power events in the building LV electrical network. The approach provides useful information for facility managers to conduct planning and operation. The proposed algorithm was tested with power data of a commercial building in Hong Kong. The prediction result by using one week of data achieved 75% accuracy. Further works would be conducted to test the algorithm with more data.