Abstract : Cyclic inelastic deformation response and fatigue notch factor are presented and discussed for two metals of contrasting stress-strain behaviour (an aluminum alloy 2024-T351 and a mild steel SAE 1015). Thin circular or elliptical notched plates fabricated from these metals were subjected to cyclic straining in a servo-controlled testing machine. Results of these tests are discussed in terms of cyclic stress and strain concentration factors and related to notch plate deformation through a parameter derived fron Neuber's rule. The results indicate that the deformation analysis employed, rather than a material 'size effect' is responsible for values of K sub f less that K sub t. (Author)


Due to the reduction of petroleum reservoir and deeper extraction, the crude oil is heavier and poorer in the world, and the light products in the oil is becoming decreased. In order to enhance the yields of light products, meet the demands of excellent quality motor fuels and petrochemical materials, it is essential to convert heavy oil to light product. Delayed coking and FCC are main processes for heavy oil to convert to light product, but most products obtained by them have poor color, high impurity content, and poor storage stability, which could not meet the lowest product specifications. In recent years, in order to control environmental pollution, reduce harmful emissions, more stringent product specifications of motor fuel were proposed. A new process is needed to be developed imminently to convert heavy oil to light product to meet the existing and future market demands. Hydrogenation technology is an important process for heavy oil upgrading with the characteristic of a wide range of feedstocks, available high-quality distillates, and flexible operation. Processing various feedstocks with different process by using hydrotreating and FCC synergy has been demonstrated that refinery economics has been improved and production of high-quality clean distillates has been increased.


This paper wastewater aniline reaction solution, the first reaction was added H2O2 degradation, changing the initial concentration of aniline were simulated wastewater, amount of H2O2, reaction time, pH value, investigate the effect of aniline degradation efficiency, the experimental results show : degradation rate of aniline in the 5.0mg/L-30.0mg/L concentration range as the initial concentration of aniline wastewater temperature increased, the pH value of 6:00, aniline degradation rate could reach 82.7%, with the H2O2 increased dosage, increasing the lead degradation of aniline wastewater, and then decreased significantly, with time, the degradation rate of aniline gradually increased, reaching 79.2% in 40min time. Aniline is one of the substances most representative of aromatic amines, is a colorless, oily liquid with a fragrant odor (1) . Aniline as an important organic chemical raw materials and chemical products, widely used pesticides, printing and dyeing, military and other rubber industries. Aniline dyeing industry is one of the most important intermediates in the dye industry can be used in the manufacture of various organic dyes; in the pesticide industry, aniline is used to produce a variety of insecticides, fungicides (2) ; also be used as medicine NZ


Questions: How does average male investment in ejaculates vary with changing population density (and thus with the risk of sperm competition) in a promiscuous species? Do individual male investment strategies vary with population density? Data studied: Total testicular mass, somatic mass and annual population density for wild-caught male deer mice, Peromyscus maniculatus , collected by snap-trapping over a 23-year period in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Search methods: We analysed the relation between mean testicular mass and mouse population densities across years. To investigate individual investment patterns, we compared the relation between total testicular mass and somatic mass among males for years differing in population density. Conclusions: Average investment in the testes was positively correlated with annual population density. An individual's investment in testes depended on both the abundance of rival males and on relative body size, a trait associated with social rank.


Tongue constriction features can be estimated from sagittal x‐ray pictures of the tongue surface and vocal tract wall. However, such records cannot be obtained in quantity, making them unsuitable for testing models such as Stevens's quantal theory. The x‐ray microbeam allows larger data sets, but records flesh points rather than surfaces. This paper presents an algorithm for relating the two representations. The vocal tract wall is estimated from whole‐head scans and a palate trace. Pellet positions are then "warped" into a Cartesian space where location along the tract and distance from it are the x and y values. The algorithm has been applied in a replication of Perkell and Nelson's test of quantal theory using principal component analysis. Quantal theory predicts that the pellet closest to the constriction site will show least variability, and that the most precision will be in the dimension perpendicular to the vocal tract wall for "quantal" vowels such as /i/. In the warped space, then, the principal component of variation for the relevant pellet for these vowels should be parallel to the x axis. This prediction is borne out. [Work supported by the NSF.]


What are the effects of environmental pollution on health? Many are uncertain, but - as their patients become better informed on environmental issues - doctors are expected to provide good advice and information. This book sets out the facts.


: The term "audience development" is entangled with a number of definitions that differ in their meaning. While working with the audiences was considered to be primarily a marketing tool to ensure an increase in the number of spectators and lead to the economic stability of cultural institutions, in several European countries and, particularly, at the level of the cultural policies of European institutions, the perspectives of working with the audiences gradually developed into a more inclusive approach and people began to talk about access to culture for all. In this study, the author zooms in on a number of definitions of audience deve  lopment formulated by theoreticians and culture managers prevailingly in English-speaking countries (Steven Hadley, Nobuko Kawashima) and national and European cultural policy ma  kers. Based on the identification of several aspects of audience development, she also ponders whether discussions about audience development are taking place in Slovakia just like in other European countries, what direction the issues of audience development follow in the field of theatre culture in Slovakia, and who is their initiator.


Objective
To analyze the clinical features of renal damage and the risk factors of impaired renal function in patients with malignant hypertension.

Methods
A total of 103 patients with malignant hypertensive nephropathy admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from 2016 to 2018 were selected. All patients were diagnosed by clinical and renal biopsy. The clinical data of them were retrospectively analyzed. Pathological types of renal damage included primary malignant hypertension (group A), IgAN with malignant hypertension (group B), and other secondary malignant hypertension. The differences between group A and group B were analyzed. The clinical and pathological features of renal damage in malignant hypertensive patients were analyzed. Logistic regression equation was used to analyze the influencing factors of renal impairment.

Results
Of the 103 patients, 71 patients were in group A, 21 patients in group B, and 11 patients were secondary to malignant hypertension. The 24-hour urinary protein quantification [M(QR)] in group A was lower than that in group B, 1.91 (1.58) vs. 3.18 (3.65), z=-2.061, P=0.039. Left ventricular posterior wall thickness in group A was higher than that in group B, 12.92 (2.00) vs. 11.72 (3.00), z=-2.176, P=0.030. The ischemic contraction in group A accounted for 97.2% (67/71), and that in group B accounted for 61.9% (3/21). The difference between group A and group B was significant (χ2=17.337, P<0.01). The proportion of mesangial cells and stromal hyperplasia and small arterial thrombus in group A were lower than those in group B (χ2=15.139, 5.748, P<0.01, P=0.017). Two-variant Logistic regression analysis showed that anemia β=1.509, OR=4.521, 95% CI 1.333-15.332; uric acid β=0.008, OR=1.008, 95%CI 1.003-1.013; plasma albumin β=-0.155, OR=0.856, 95% CI 0.752-0.975.

Conclusions
Primary malignant hypertensive nephropathy is characterized by glomerular ischemic contraction, and IgAN with malignant hypertensive nephropathy is characterized by hyperplastic sclerosing glomerulonephritis. Anemia and hyperuricemia are risk factors for impaired renal function.

Key words:
Malignant hypertension; Impaired renal function; Glomerular nephritis


The invention relates to petroleum gas processing technology and can be used in the oil and gas processing industry. A multitonnage petrochemical cluster for processing oil-refinery hydrocarbon gas into a petrochemical product by using a pyrolysis process, uniting at least more than two petroleum refineries and, for refineries having a different set of technological processes and different processing of limit gases and olefin-containing oil-refinery gases, collecting same-type oil-refinery gases into at least two streams, one stream uniting oil-refinery gases referred to as off-gases, which contain the limit components ethane, propane, butanes and no more than 1% of pentanes, subsequently cleaning same of undesired impurities and separating same into desired fractions and feeding, directly into a pyrolysis furnace, at least one fraction containing a mixture of propane and butanes, and a portion of another fraction containing ethane, and feeding, into a refinery fuel system, a separated fraction containing methane throughout the entire volume thereof and a remaining portion of a fraction containing ethane, necessary for sustaining the adequate calorific value of the gas in the fuel system, and the other stream uniting fractions containing propane and propylene, which are the products of the processes of thermal and catalytic cracking and coking, which stream, after being cleaned of undesired impurities, is fed for fractionation together with the products of pyrolysis.


This study uses qualitative descriptive method for this study aimed to get an overview and information about theright strategies used by Business development service (BDS) to produce modules appropriate strategy for thedevelopment and cultivation of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the city of Padang. The key informants are 10 BDS inSentra Rotan 60 SMEs BDS, BDS with assisting consultants and related institutions, by interview and observation. The results of thisstudy explained that appropriate and effective strategies that should be implemented by the BDS in assisting SMEs are: 1) Strategyto Increase Market Knowledge Executors of SMEs; 2) Infrastructure Preparation Strategies And Technology To Support Implementationof SMEs; 3) Service Delivery on Strategy Consulting Enterprises To SMEs; 4) Supplier Information Provision Strategy To SMEs;5) Organizing Training on Strategies And Techniques To Help SMEs; 6) Provision Strategy Capital Loans to SMEs by facilitatingcapital loan.


The thermal conductivity and specific heat from 0.1 to 100K and the inelastic neutron scattering spectrum has been measured for an epoxy resin Araldite MY 750 which has been hardened with primary diamines. These have the form H2N(CH2)nNH2 and specimens were made with n=2, 3, 4 and 12. The specific heat results indicate that the density of the low-lying two-level state (TLS) increases for the specimens with a longer length of cross-link (i.e. for n=12) and if phonons are scattered by the TLS this should lead to a lower thermal conductivity for these samples than for those with smaller values of n. In fact the thermal conductivity is higher. The problem can be resolved if one assumes, as other workers have suggested, that the phonons are scattered primarily by those excitations which are responsible for the excess T3 term in the specific heat. This term is much smaller for the specimen with n=12 than for those with n=2, 3, 4 and it would appear that these excitations (whatever they are) do have a much stronger influence on determining the thermal conductivity than do the ordinary TLS. The inelastic neutron scattering measurements do not show any significant differences between the various specimens.


In a continuing effort to provide the computational community with a reference work comparing all of the available conformer searching methods, we have exposed the standard set of small molecules to two commonly used stochastic searching techniques. Advantages and limitations of these methods are discussed. © 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


Der fI is a major mite proteinaceous allergen found in house dust. We produced recombinant Der fI (reDer fI) in insect cells using a baculovirus expression system. Based on the molecular mass and N-terminal amino acid (aa) sequence analysis, reDer fI was found to be compromised of a mixture of two proteins, each of which includes a pro-sequence of different length. The reDer fI had IgE-binding activity at only 20% of that of native Der fI. The removal of the pro-sequence in an acidic solution drastically increased IgE-binding activity to almost the same as that of native Der fI, showing that the presence of the pro-sequence is inhibitory to the IgE-binding activity of Der fI.


The article reports the AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) radiocarbon dating results of the Livingstone Tree, a large African baobab on the right bank of the Zambezi, near Chiramba, Mozambique. In 1858, David Livingstone, who discovered the baobab, carved his monogram on the walls of its inner cavity. In 1996, the historic baobab was uprooted when a cyclone struck the area. Several wood fragments were extracted from the remains of the toppled tree. Five samples which originate from these fragments were subsequently dated by radiocarbon. The oldest sample had a radiocarbon date of 1598 ± 17 BP, that corresponded in 1996 to a calibrated age of 1490 ± 35 calendar years. According to this value, the Livingstone Tree at Chiramba becomes one of the oldest known African baobabs, with an age of over 1500 years. The Livingstone Tree had a closed ring-shaped structure, that consisted of 4 fused stems around a false cavity and also 2 additional stems outside the ring.


ABSTRACT The objective of this paper is to extend some weighted inequalities for the Weinstein transform. Especially, we are interesting in the study of the Beckner logarithmic inequality, the Shannon inequality. We give a sharp version of this inequality. Next, we establish different Sobolev type embedding theorems in our context. Finally, we deal with some uncertainty inequalities and a logarithmic uncertainty inequality for the Weistein transform.


This paper analyzes the inappropriateness of the traditional methodology which leads to "Dumb English".It proposes that under the condition that the Ministry of Education issued the new College English Course Teaching Requirement.The communicative teaching approach should be adopted so that students' listening and speaking abilities get improved as well as their integrated skills.


The following study aims to examine the special mathematical knowledge needed in order to teach mathematics. Furthermore, the study attempts to explore how teachers' views on the knowledge needed i ...


One fascinating aspect of the field of hospital infection control is that the subject appeals to, and involves, so many different people from the health sciences. Clinicians, epidemiologists, microbiologists, nurses, administrators, educators, and pharmacologists are but some of those whose combined efforts are crucial for prevention of cross-infection. Effective programs for control may involve all of the persons listed above, and more. In addition, our search for new understanding about the forces and issues involved depend on development of new information both on the ward and at the laboratory bench. A second feature is the international character of the contributors to the field. Interest in this topic has spread to most continents, and investigators from many nations have aided the prevention of this almost-universal concern . 2 3 Enabling professionals from these several areas of expertise and from different areas of the world to get together to share information has been a continuing problem. Each discipline has its own professional and scientific meetings to attend, and the overlap between the groups is not great enough for most to meet together often. Some progress has been made. International Conferences on Nosocomial Infection Control have been sponsored by a number of organizations. For several years, the Association for Practitioners in Infection Control has been holding joint sessions with the Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America (SHEA) at the former group's Annual Educational Conference; members of each organization (and many participants belong to both) are invited to submit their work for presentation and discussion. Joint educational meetings have been held between SHEA and the Hospital Infection Society, whose members reside primarily in the United Kingdom or on the European continent. Of all these groups, however, the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) has perhaps the most enviable record of getting different professionals together. This organization annually provides at least two interdisciplinary meetings that attract many of the persons active in hospital infection control from around the world. Both the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (held in the fall) and the ASM Annual Meeting (held in the spring), attract large numbers of registrants from around the world. The two meetings provide forums for both clinical and other microbiologists to discuss data with others interested in hospital crossinfection. These efforts are spurred by the Nosocomial Infections Division of the ASM, whose members join together with those from other ASM divisions to organize a variety of slide and poster presentations as well as seminars relevant to hospital infection control. The articles that follow were presented at such a seminar at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the ASM in New Orleans in March 1983. The session was organized by Anita Highsmith and Sally Jo Rubin, and focused on Klebsiella pneumoniae, an organism of great concern to all who deal with nosocomial infection. The unique ecological niche occupied by this organism is discussed by Bagley; she highlights the microbiologic mix of organisms that we now find comprises what historically has been regarded as the single species Klebsiella pneumoniae. Rubin then presents an excellent and succinct summary of the various marker methods used for epidemiologic and clinical studies of the organism. Epidemiologic patterns of Klebsiella in the hospital are reviewed by jarvis and colleagues, followed by O'Brien and his co-workers reminding us of the clinical relevance of the antimicrobial resistance of Klebsiella. Highsmith and Jarvis conclude by discussing a number of virulence factors that may contribute to the laboratory and clinical features previously discussed. The seminar is characteristic of those presented at the ASM Annual Meeting in that it deals with clinically important issues and presents basic, clinical, and epidemiologic information at one forum. Highsmith and Rubin have put together a seminar well worth the reading for those who must deal with Klebsiella in the ward or in the laboratory—and this must encompass virtually all readers of this journal.


BackgroundIn patients with acute myocardial infarction and ST‐segment elevation, increased troponin‐T (TnT) on admission implies an increased mortality. ObjectiveTo elucidate the underlying mechanisms of the prognostic value of TnT. Methods and resultsOne hundred and one patients were included and all received thrombolytic treatment. The patients were compared according to TnT level on admission (cut‐off 0.1 μg/l). Elevation of TnT was associated with long‐term mortality and also with longer delay, more episodes of chest pain during the last 24 h and fewer noninvasive signs of reperfusion at 90 min. In the group with elevated TnT, the coronary angiography at 24 h showed a strong trend towards lower patency in the infarct‐related artery. TnT was also associated with increased infarct size if a higher cut‐off level (0.43 μg/l) was used. In univariate analysis, elevated TnT, longer delay, repeated chest pain, Q‐waves on admission and reduced left ventricular (LV) function were significantly associated with long‐term mortality. In multivariate models, only reduced LV function and less than TIMI (thrombolysis in myocardial infarction) grade 3 flow turned out to be significant independent risk factors. ConclusionsThe prognostic value of TnT level on admission regarding long‐term mortality was confirmed and seems mainly to be explained by its association with longer delay and recent myocardial damage, but its association with reduced effect of thrombolytic treatment, larger infarct size and impaired LV function might also be of importance.


In the long term, real estate in Germany and the USA delivers high returns of 5% to 8% per year. However, the path to these average yields differs greatly: total returns on the German real estate markets tend to develop similarly to the gross domestic product with only slight fluctuations. The US real estate markets tend to show high yield fluctuations with a time lag parallel to the stock market. The corona pandemic is a huge exogenous shock with an uncertain outcome for society, the economy and the financial markets. The study of real estate data over the last 40 years and the analysis of two economic crises (2000-2003 and 2007-2009) indicate that the German residential and office markets in particular will also survive the corona pandemic with stable performance. In the USA, stronger price declines are to be expected with a time lag, which will probably recover in subsequent years.


Using the data of NCAR /NCEP monthly reanalysis data from 1961 to 2007,seasonal changes of atmospheric circulation over the Tibetan Plateau and the atmospheric circulation system which has affected by Tibetan Plateau are analyzed, thus proving the reasonability of the seasonal division method. Seasonal changes of geopotential height,wind field,air temperature,and rainfall over Tibetan Plateau,are consistent with seasonal changes which made by plateau universality season division method. Besides,Asia high pressure,subtropic high air pressure and subtropic westerly jet are consistent with seasonal change which made by the seasonal division method too. All of this shows the plateau universality season division method is reasonable. Seasonality of wind field( 500hPa、100hPa) gets close to the equator with geographic height rising. Seasonality of wind field is primarily connected with change of East Asia monsoon. Seasonality of atmospheric circulation proves the seasonal change of general atmospheric circulation,and proves the reasonability of plateau universality season division method.


In this paper, an interaction between multimode graded-index optical fiber parameters with crosstalk and spatial shift in Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) technique is presented. Pulse spreading caused by linear effects in optical fiber due to dispersion is considered in this proposed system. Results show how channel spacing, fiber core radius and spatial shift affect on the crosstalk. Furthermore, the significance of fiber length, chirp parameter and refractive index profile parameter on crosstalk is presented and analyzed in detail.


The crystalline hexane-soluble metal alkyls [Na(μ-R)]∞ (1), [K(μ-R){O(Me)But}]∞ (2), [(pmdeta)K(μ-R)K(μ-R)2K(μ-R)(pmdeta)] (3), [Rb(μ-R)(pmdeta)]2 (4), [Cs(μ-R){O(Me)But}2]∞ (5), and Cs(μ-R)(tmeda)]∞ (6) (R = CH(SiMe3)2, pmdeta = (Me2NCH2CH2)2NMe, tmeda = Me2NCH2CH2NMe2) have been prepared from LiR with an equimolar portion of NaOBut, KOBut, RbOC6H2But2-2,6-Me-4, or CsOCH2CH(Et)Bun and for 2−6 the appropriate neutral ligand. X-ray crystal structures of the metal alkyls 2, 3, and 6 are presented; 1 and 4 were described in an earlier communication. Treatment of 5 with ButCN afforded the cesium 1-azaallyl Cs{N(R)C(But)C(H)R} (7).


Wind turbines are known to be the most efficient method of green energy production, and wind turbine blades (WTBs) are known as a key component of the wind turbine system, with a major influence on the efficiency of the entire system. Wind turbine blades have a quite manual production process of composite materials, which induces various types of defects in the blade. Blades are susceptible to the damage developed by complex and irregular loading or even catastrophic collapse and are expensive to maintain. Failure or damage to wind turbine blades not only decreases the lifespan, efficiency, and fault diagnosis capability but also increases safety hazards and maintenance costs. Hence, non-destructive testing (NDT) methods providing surface and subsurface information for the blade are indispensable in the maintenance of wind turbines. Damage detection is a critical part of the inspection methods for failure prevention, maintenance planning, and the sustainability of wind turbine operation. Industry 4.0 technologies provide a framework for deploying smart inspection, one of the key requirements for sustainable wind energy production. The wind energy industry is about to undergo a significant revolution due to the integration of the physical and virtual worlds driven by Industry 4.0. This paper aims to highlight the potential of Industry 4.0 to help exploit smart inspections for sustainable wind energy production. This study is also elaborated by damage categorization and a thorough review of the state-of-the-art non-destructive techniques for surface and sub-surface inspection of wind turbine blades.


A volumeter suitable for the bulk volume measurement of solid, regular or irregular specimens of natural or man made materials is described. It resembles a well-type manometer. By means of a piston-cylinder system a volume of mercury equal to that of the test specimen is displaced. A direct reading of the solid specimen volume can be made. Results of swelling tests on wood, sandstone and shale are given. The construction, operation, standardization and precautions to be taken are described. The results are accurate to plus or minus one tenth millilitre. (TRRL)


The electrical conductivity of clay-free sandstones is customarily assumed to have negligible surface conductivity contribution. The Fontainebleau sandstone, a clean sandstone with relatively coarse (∼250 μm) and well-rounded silica grains and silica cement, exhibits surface conductivity along the electrical double layer coating the surface of the grains. A recently developed volume-averaging model for the electrical conductivity was used to determine intrinsic formation factor and surface conductivity from electrical conductivity measurements performed at seven salinities with NaCl solutions. The bulk tortuosity of the pore space influenced the surface conductivity in a predictable way. Formation factor and permeability can be determined as a function of the porosity using the equations developed by Archie for the formation factor, and Revil and Cathles for the permeability. In both the cases, the data emphasize the existence of a percolation threshold of about 0.02 (2%) in porosity. Once corrected for the effect of this percolation threshold, the porosity exponent of Archie's equation was approximately equal to 1.5 as predicted from the differential effective medium theory for a pack of spherical grains suspended in an electrolyte. We illustrated that permeability can be predicted, within one order of magnitude, from surface conductivity, porosity, and formation factor. Spectral-induced polarization data indicated that the in-phase conductivity was nearly frequencyindependent (in the frequency range from 1 to 10 kHz) whereas the quadrature conductivity displayed a relationship between the surface conductivity and a peak frequency likely related to the pore throat size determined from mercury porosimetry measurements.


The diagnosis of acute mountain sickness (AMS) continues to pose problems to altitude sojourners, physicians, and researchers because of its subjective nature relying essentially on a subject's appreciation of the presence and severity of symptoms (Roach and Kayser, 2007). Even though AMS is characterized by an ensemble of symptoms (Hackett and Roach, 2001), headache has been recognized as its key symptom at least since Ravenhill's description in 1911 (Ravenhill, 1913). He described the experiences of ''a majority of newcomers . . . . wake up the next morning with a severe frontal headache . . . . . any attempt at exertion increases the headache, which is nearly always confined to the frontal region.'' This central role of headache was codified in the current version of the Lake Louise Questionnaire (Roach et al., 1993) that states that a ''diagnosis of AMS is based on a recent gain in altitude, at least several hours at the new altitude, and the presence of headache and at least one of the following symptoms: gastrointestinal upset (anorexia, nausea or vomiting), fatigue or weakness, dizziness or lightheadedness and difficulty sleeping.'' All surveys of AMS identify headache as the predominant and most prevalent symptom. Singh et al. (1969) noted from a survey of 1925 soldiers rapidly transported to high altitude that ''Headache was not only the commonest but also the most persistent symptom.'' In a study of 146 trekkers with AMS, Hackett et al. observed the following predominance of headache compared to other symptoms: headache (96%), insomnia (70%), anorexia (38%), nausea (35%), dizziness (27%), excessive breathlessness on exertion or at rest (25%), headache unrelieved by analgesics (26%), reduced urine (19%), marked lassitude (13%), vomiting (14%), incoordination (11%) (Hackett et al 1976). And finally, in a large survey at moderate altitudes, Honigman et al. confirmed the importance of headache in AMS with 62% of 3158 conference attendees reporting moderate to severe headache, and the next most common complaint being sleep disturbance at 31%, and anorexia at 11% and vomiting at only 3% (Honigman et al., 1993). Thus it seems clear that for AMS the cardinal symptom is headache in all studies, in all populations, and at a wide range of altitudes. Our position is that from a research perspective there are important advantages to defining AMS as a collection of symptoms that includes, always, a headache. The same is obviously not true for clinical management of altitude illness. This contrast between the needs for research versus best practice in clinical care forms the basis of our stance. In spite of several decades of sustained research efforts, the basic pathophysiology of AMS still remains elusive. We believe that a focus on high altitude headache will help unravel the puzzle of the pathophysiology of AMS. By stipulating for research purposes that headache be included in the definition of AMS, scientists seek to increase signal-to-noise ratio in AMS subjective symptom reporting. Unfortunately, subjective perception and reporting of symptoms is currently the only way to diagnose and quantify AMS. An example of excess noise is that without obligatory headache, a research subject who had a very bad night sleep and is dizzy at the time of completing the questionnaire could have a ''severe'' AMS score. Yet we know from several studies that poor sleep at altitude is not necessarily related directly to AMS. And dizziness can be secondary to hypoxemia, or to hypohydration, a common, non-AMS-related phenomenon at high altitude. Similarly, nausea and vomiting can be associated with the onset of AMS, or secondary to a bad headache of any cause, especially migraine, and in the field can also be secondary to gastrointestinal infection. Thus, obligatory presence of headache in the research scoring of AMS symptoms serves an important role by increasing the likelihood that the central symptom of AMS, first reported so clearly by Ravenhill, remains the focus of research studies. It should be noted that


The method of combining Chromatography and spectrum is used to prove that traditional Chinese medicine Evodia rutaecarpa contains chlorogenic acid composition.Using different chromatographies and different columns,on the conditions of a variety of mobile phases or flow rate,the chromatogram of Evodia rutaecarpa was produced.Using the chemical workstation of the instruments,the spectrum of constituents of chlorogenic acid was produced.With the same method the chromatogram and the spectrum of standard reference substances chlorogenic acid were produced.Comparison between the two was made to draw the conclusion: in the two kinds of chromatography,two columns and a variety of mobile phases or flow rate,the chromatograms and spectrum of chlorogenic acid composition in Evodia rutaecarpa and thoes of standard reference substances chlorogenic acid were the same,which indicated that Evodia rutaecarpa contained chlorogenic acid composition.It shows that traditional Chinese medicine Evodia rutaecarpa contains chlorogenic acid composition.The method of combining of chromatogram and spectrum for qualitative analysis is simple,fast,accurate and reliable.


Simple Summary Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphocytes that play a key role in the anti-tumor response by their ability to recognize and kill transformed cells. Their relevance in anti-tumor immune surveillance is demonstrated by the various strategies that tumor cells develop to switch off NK-mediated responses, often aimed at diminishing activating NK receptor function. In this review, we describe the expression and role of the main activating NK receptors displayed by circulating NK cells and/or tumor-infiltrating NK cells in patients with solid tumors of the gastrointestinal tract that affect the pancreas, stomach, and colon-rectus. These malignancies are characterized by high incidence and low survival rate at advanced stages, thus novel therapeutic approaches are urgently needed. We suggest that the most promising immunotherapies are those aimed at restoring activating NK cell receptors dysfunction and overcoming immune suppression exerted by the tumor microenvironment. Abstract Human NK cells can control tumor growth and metastatic spread thanks to their powerful cytolytic activity which relies on the expression of an array of activating receptors. Natural cytotoxicity receptors (NCRs) NKG2D and DNAM-1 are those non-HLA-specific activating NK receptors that are mainly involved in sensing tumor transformation by the recognition of different ligands, often stress-induced molecules, on the surface of cancer cells. Tumors display several mechanisms aimed at dampening/evading NK-mediated responses, a relevant fraction of which is based on the downregulation of the expression of activating receptors and/or their ligands. In this review, we summarize the role of the main non-HLA-specific activating NK receptors, NCRs, NKG2D and DNAM-1, in controlling tumor growth and metastatic spread in solid malignancies affecting the gastrointestinal tract with high incidence in the world population, i.e., pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), colorectal cancer (CRC), and gastric cancer (GC), also describing the phenotypic and functional alterations induced on NK cells by their tumor microenvironment.


The retrospective study of the treatment of the injured colon in Chaoprayayomraj hospital was reported between June 1989 and May 1994. Sixty four cases were reviewed. Primary repair, including suture repair and resection with anastomosis, was performed in 57 patients (89%), colostomy in only 7 patients (11%), and no exteriorized repair in any patients. There were 9 (14%) septic-related compIications; this included one intra-abdominal abscess, two fecal fistula, and six wound infection. Five patients died.


This paper presents a nurumum hop routing algorithm for the multihop cellular CDMA network. A mechanism to update routing paths in case of network topology change is also developed. Mobile terminals will be separated into two groups and each group will only transmit on one of two timeslots so that terminals do not have to transmit and receive simultaneously on the same frequency band. The routing algorithm in this paper is designed in order to optimize criteria including SNIR, delay, power consumption, and network lifetime. Simulation is used to evaluate these criteria for the multihop cellular network and its performance is compared with the traditional cellular network. Simulations show that the total power consumption in the multihop cellular network is much lower than a traditional cellular network with a capacity that is nearly as high. Simulations also show that the network lifetime of the multihop cellular network is much higher than that of a traditional cellular network.


In this study, coconut leaves were used as a starting material for the production of activated carbon by thermal carbonization using FeCl3-activation method. The characterization of coconut leaves-FeCl3 activated carbon (FAC) were evaluated by bulk density, ash content, moisture content, point-of-zero charge (pHpzc) analysis, iodine test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and elemental (CHNS-O) analysis. The effect of the adsorbent dosage (0.02-0.25 g), initial pH (3-11), initial dye concentrations (30-350 mg/L) and contact time (1-180 min) on the adsorption of the methylene blue (MB) at 303 K was performed via batch experiments. The Pseudo-Second Order (PSO) describes the kinetic model well whereas the Langmuir isotherm proved that adsorption behavior at equilibrium with maximum adsorption capacity (qmax) of 66.00 mg/g.


Total vapor pressures of As2Se3 and As2Te3 were measured by the torsion-effusion method, and their temperature dependences were found to fit the following equations:  As2Se3(s), log(p/kPa) = (12.20 ± 0.20) to (9170 ± 130)/(T/K) and As2Te3(s), log(p/kPa) = (10.45 ± 0.20) to (8185 ± 150)/(T/K). Considering the complex mode of vaporizing of As2Se3, the mean second-law enthalpy and entropy values associated to the sublimation of 1 mol of the vapor mixture at the mid-point temperature, ΔH°(587 K) = (175 ± 3) kJ·mol-1 and ΔS°(587 K) = (233 ± 4) J·K-1·mol-1, were calculated from the temperature dependence of its vapor pressure. As2Te3 dissociates upon sublimation yielding As4(g) and Te(s). Both As4(g) and Te2(g) are present in the vapor over Te-saturated As2Te3, where the Te2(g) partial pressures are considered equal to the vapor pressure of the pure element. On this basis, treating the pressure data by second- and third-law methods, the standard sublimation enthalpy associated to the sublimation reaction, As2Te...


For the third year running, the Office of the Chief State Law Adviser (International Law) ('the Office') has the privilege to share with the readers of SAYIL some highlights of the past year. As in previous years, 2008 has been a busy and exciting year for the Office.
In 2008 the Office has worked on a number of wide ranging issues from environmental issues to criminal matters. While many issues did not attract much media attention, others featured prominently. In the course of our work we continued to walk the tightrope of providing policy relevant legal advice which is, at the same time, theoretically sound.
As in previous years, this contribution adopts as its framework, the strategic priorities of the South African government and, in particular, the International Relations, Peace and Security Cluster. These are the consolidation of the African Agenda, South-South Cooperation, Global System of Governance, Political and Economic Relations, and North-South Cooperation. Furthermore, while the work covered is much broader than in previous contributions, it is limited to issues that can be considered highlights from the perspective of international law and international law-making.


A child, especially a small one, who is suspected to have been the victim of physical abuse can be referred immediately to a paediatric hospital even if the injury is mild.


Fractal modifications of Fick?s laws are discussed by taking into account the electrode?s porous structure, and a fractal derivative model for diffusion-reaction process in a thin film of an amperometric enzymatic reaction is established. Particular attention is paid to giving an intuitive grasp for its fractal variational principle and its solution procedure. Extremely fast or extremely slow diffusion process can be achieved by suitable control of the electrode?s surface morphology, a sponge-like surface leads to an extremely fast diffusion, while a lotus-leaf-like uneven surface predicts an extremely slow process. This paper sheds a bright light on an optimal design of an electrode?s surface morphology.


Abstract A simple energy balance model with two parameters, an effective heat capacity and an effective climate sensitivity, is used to interpret six GCM simulations of greenhouse gas–induced global warming. By allowing the parameters to vary in time, the model can be accurately calibrated for each run. It is found that the sensitivity can be approximated as a constant in each case. However, the effective heat capacity clearly varies, and it is important that the energy equation is formulated appropriately, and thus unlike many such models. For simulations with linear forcing and from a cold start, the capacity is in each case close to that of a homogeneous ocean with depth initially 200 m, but increasing some 4.3 m each year, irrespective of the sensitivity and forcing growth rate. Analytic solutions for this linear capacity function are derived, and these reproduce the GCM runs well, even for cases where the forcing is stabilized after a century or so. The formation of a subsurface maximum in the mean o...


An oral composition, comprising: A sensitive mucoadhesive polymer to the cations; and a cation-releasing compound; wherein the cation-releasing compound is encapsulated in a rupturable capsule.


AbstrcatFor the distortion of accounting information caused by the immorality of the accountants, it is imperative for us to structure the security system of the morality of the accountants which are suitable for our national conditions.This measure is very important that it guarantees normal work of the accountants and even the operation of national economy.The authors try to make come preliminary discussion on structuring the security system by discussing the responsibility subject of their obligation.


The QTLs associated with cassava yield traits were detected by two-QTL model (unconditional and conditional QTLs) approaches after planting for 90 d, 180 d and 270 d in the present study. A genetic linkage map was constructed with a segregating F1 population derived from a cross of 2 heterozygous parental plants from the cultivars South China 6 and Mianbao, and analysed with 39 SSR markers. The constructed linkage map of cassava consisted of 12 linkage groups covering a total length of 694.59 cM with a mean distance of 17.81 cM between two markers. The F1 population was evaluated for components of yield including fresh root yield (FRY), harvest index (HI), and starch content in dry root weight (SC) at 90 d, 180 d and 270 d. The identification of QTLs for yield traits at three growth periods explained 56.4% for FRY, 16.3% for HI and 27.3% for SC, suggesting characterization of yield components. The work made a step closer to understand the persistence of quantitative genetic variations of cassava in different development periods.


In light of escalating rates of infection, hospital admissions, and rising sickness absence rates, the UK government should reconsider the end to free covid-19 testing


For multi-dimensional 0-1 knapsack problem,series of algorithms have been studied such as simulated annealing,genetic algorithm,ant algorithm and some other heuristics. In this paper,we propose a kind of new intelligent optimization algorithm-Artificial Fish-Swarm Algorithm(AFSA).The algorithm tends to reach the global optimum through the separate behaviour of local searching of the individuals.The detailed procedures of the algorithm are described and coded.By typical experimental test of examples,the satisfactory results show that the AFSA can be a promising algorithm for multi-dimensional 0-1 knapsack problem.


Amorphous silicon nitride films have been deposited on single-crystal silicon from the gas mixture of methylsilazane and ammonia at 873 to 1073 K. The films have been characterized by ellipsometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and Auger electron spectroscopy. The Si-C, Si-H, and C-H bonds in methylsilazane can be effectively cleaved and the associated C and H species removed. The structure and composition of the films do not show any apparent dependence on the deposition temperature.


The study is dedicated to the solution of a complex problem – development of an optimal thermal design of the tourist class reusable space vehicle (RSV TC) wing structure. The complexity of the problem resides in the necessity to consider critical factors of the suborbital flight and in a number of nesting tasks,that need to be solved. The authors implemented a multiscale modeling approach covering design of hybrid composite material thermal properties (i.e. mesoscale level), determination of thermal loads and thermal state analysis of a composite wing (i.e. macroscale and structural scale levels). Analysis of thermal fields demonstrated the necessity of thermal protection (TP) application for the wing structure. Consequently, optimal from the weight efficiency point of view TP thicknesses were determined. Summing up, the results of a RSV TC wing structure development are presented in the current paper.


This paper proposes a novel direct torque control with or without duty ratio optimization for induction motors (IM). A proportional-integral (PI) torque controller is utilized to control the rotational angle of stator flux vector during one control period. Then a reference voltage vector (VV) can be derived, which is not synthesized by space vector modulator (SVM). By locating the reference VV in the complex plane, a candidate VV can be determined. For cases with restrictively limited switching frequency, the candidate VV can be directly imposed on motor terminals while producing large torque and current ripples. To improve the drive performance, an easy duty ratio optimization algorithm is introduced to mitigate the torque and current ripples. The simulation results verify the feasibility of the proposed strategy.


The nuclear level structure of /sup 176/Lu, /sup 170/Tm, /sup 166/Ho, and /sup 160/Tb have been studied by means of the /sup 177/Hf(t,..cap alpha..)/sup 176/Lu, /sup 171/Yb(t,..cap alpha..)/sup 170/Tm, /sup 167/Er(t,..cap alpha..)/sup 166/Ho, and /sup 161/Dy(t,..cap alpha..)/sup 160/Tb reactions and with the use of previously published (d,p) spectroscopy and gamma transitions from the (n,..gamma..) reactions. The (t,..cap alpha..) reactions have been performed and analyzed with 17 MeV tritons and the Los Alamos Q3D spectrometer. Eighty-one new rotational states in excited proton configurations or vibrational excited states are proposed. An independent parameterization of the Coriolis interaction is presented, which leads to satisfactory results in reproducing experimental single-particle transfer reaction cross-sections by theoretical calculations. The anomalous population of the excited neutron configurations (404 reduces to -624 up arrow) in /sup 176/Lu and (411 reduces to +- 512 up arrow) in /sup 170/Tm, and the anomalously low (t,..cap alpha..) cross-sections of the (411 up arrow +- 633 up arrow) configuration in /sup 166/Ho are observed. Qualitative explanation of the anomalies is presented in terms of the mixing of states which satisfy the requirement delta/sub I'/,/sub I/delta/sub K'/,/sub K/. Off-diagonal H/sub INT/ matrix elements are calculated, which show that the residual interaction cannot be more » used to account for the magnitude of the cross-sections observed. « less


CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 his is the first issue of the new quarterly publication of the ATLA Automatic Door Litigation Group. Its purpose is to provide a forum for members, technical experts and other interested parties to present, in written form, material and information that will potentially be of interest to other members of the Litigation Group. This publication is NOT for public dissemination and is intended strictly and solely for the use of personal injury attorneys in their representation of plaintiffs injured by automatic doors. The ATLA Automatic Door Litigation Group was formed by your Litigation Group Chairman, Edson Howard Rafferty and his partner Philip S. Shaw, after a multi-year involvement in an automatic door case against Stanley Magic Door, Inc. of Farmington, Connecticut (installer and maintainer of the door), Stanley Magic Door Division of the Stanley Works of Farmington, Connecticut (the designer, manufacturer, assembler, tester and marketer of the door), The Stanley Works of New Britain, Connecticut (the holding company for the various Stanley subsidiaries and divisions) and Mount AuFEATURE ARTICLE


A study was conducted in Western Maharashtra region to know the perception of farmers towards livestock marketing services delivered by dairy cooperatives with regards to timely availability, amount paid and satisfaction level of the farmers towards the services. The study revealed that 84.66 per cent of the farmers perceived that marketing services were available in time. Most of the respondents (88 %) perceived that marketing services were available free of cost to the farmers while 70.66 per cent farmers were satisfied totally with marketing services. The farmers perceived that they were benefited by marketing services of the dairy cooperative to a great extent with regards to credit facilities, getting more income and access to market facilities. The study concluded that Gokul Dairy Cooperative provided various livestock marketing services for the farmers mostly on time at free or nominal rates. There is an urgent need to improve upon the quality of marketing services so that farmers would be more content and satisfied with the services of dairy cooperatives.


The chemiluminescence reaction of Fe(Ⅱ) potassium permanganate with formaldehyde as an enhancer was investigated. A new method for the determination of iron on the basis of the reaction has been developed. The detection limit is 4 4×10 -10 g/mL Fe, the relative standard deviation is 1 6%(6 0×10 -8 g/mL Fe, n =11), the linear range is 1 0×10 -9 8 0×10 -7 g/mL Fe. This method has been applied to the determination of iron in nature water. The mechanism of this reaction was also investigated.


A latent heat storage tank with a helical coil heat exchanger was developed, built, connected to an evacuated tube solar collector, and tested in this study. 25 kg of paraffin wax was used as phase change material (PCM) in the storage tank. During the charging (melting) process, the storage system was evaluated with varied mass flow rates of hot water as a heat transfer medium (5, 8, 9, 10.5 and 13 L/min). The system was also tested with a constant mass flow rate of domestic water during the discharging cycle (solidification). The results also showed that increasing the flow rate from 5 L/min to 13 L/min reduced the charging time from 218 min to 157 min and increased the system's overall efficiency from 28.4 % to 40.5 %.


Background and purpose: Different concerns in attaining maternal role have negative effects on mother-infant interaction and maternal perception of infant temperament. It also leads to adverse maternal and child outcomes. Therefore, it is important to identify women at-risk, their sources of concern and designing appropriate interventions. This study was conducted to determine the effect of early parental-educational intervention on concerns of primiparous women in performing maternal role. Materials and methods: A pretest/posttest experimental design was applied including a control group. The participants were 55 primiparous women attending Mashhad health centers that were randomly allocated to intervention and control groups. The intervention consisted of face to face training sessions, informative booklet and video and two sessions of telephone counseling, that was based on principles of Bandura's self-efficacy. Cambridge Worry Scale was also completed before and 60 days after child birth. Results: The main concerns were the child's future health (4.01±1.01) and current health (3.81±1.19). There was a significant difference between the intervention (28.0±1.8) and control group (33.5±8.3) in the mean score for maternal worry before the intervention (P=0.017). Analysis of covariance showed that the mean score of worry was significantly lower in the intervention group when the effect of pre-intervention worry score was eliminated (P=0.008). Conclusion: Identifying the sources of concern and designing educational interventions based on self-efficacy would positively influence these factors and reduce maternal worry. Therefore, this approach is recommended as an effective, low cost and non-invasive intervention to reduce psychological problems in primiparous women.


In late 2010, discussions between the Operating Department and Creighton Ground Control revealed an opportunity to evaluate a trial primary-secondary sequence in the west end of the 400 Orebody at the 2340m horizon. With a separate access into the "secondary" panel, personnel access could be restricted on the bottomsill, protecting workers from direct exposure to elevated levels of microseismic activity. The topsill, developed within the slag cemented tailings backfill of the previously mined production front overhead, works well in isolating workers from direct stress effects of wrap around stresses.


based techniques are popular for this problem. However, finding the suitable architecture of an ANN-based CCP recognizer and its training process are time consuming and the obtained results are not interpretable. To facilitate the research gap, this paper presents a simple statistical approach for detecting and identifying control chart patterns. In this method, by taking new observations on the quality characteristic under consideration, the Maximum Likelihood Estimator of pattern parameters is first obtained


The subject innovation is, as being attached to only shade the lifting ring in a form which is added the superimposition unit curtain formed, cloth lifting of the lifting unit of the curtain integral line and; Ball height adjustment member is provided in plurality at the bottom region of the cloth line and the elevated; That is optionally fitted into between the ball member coupled to the relative height compensation for the lower end of the cloth and the lifting bar; Characterized in that it comprises a clamp for mutually detachably connecting the ring portion and the coupling of the bottom of the ring portion provided to the unit curtain. In this way, it is possible to adjust the height of the cloth line of the lifting hooks at the lowermost stage in a simple manner it is possible to easily adjust the horizontal position of the curtain cloth.


Adsorption of H and D on HOPG surfaces was studied with thermal desorption (TDS), electronic (ELS), and high-resolution electron-energy-loss (HREELS) spectroscopies. After admission of H (D) from thermal (2000 K) atom sources to clean graphite surfaces TD spectra revealed recombinative molecular H2 (D2) desorption in a main peak around 445 K (490 K) and a minor peak at 560 K (580 K). After admission of higher fluences the main peak shifts to 460 K (500 K) and develops a shoulder at 500 K (540 K). The saturation coverages were calculated as 0.4±0.2 for H and D and initial sticking coefficients of 0.4±0.2 were obtained. Through leading edge analysis of the TD spectra desorption activation energies for H and D were determined as 0.6 and 0.95 eV, respectively. EL spectra suggest a 16% loss of the sp2 character of the surface carbon 2sp electrons upon D adsorption. HREEL spectra of H (D) graphite covered surfaces reveal in addition to two graphite-intrinsic optical phonon losses vibrational features at 1210 an...


Structure of universal joint mechanism is analyzed,relationship between the angular speed of input and output stalk is obtained.Virtual assembly and dynamic simulation is carried out,which can provide the method and experiences for the design and manufacture of universal joint mechanism.


Summary Purpose: To analyze the association between solid tumors and the occurrence of factor VIII antibodies and the response to treatment. Patients and Methods: Published case reports describing the association of a solid tumor and a factor VIII antibody retrieved from 20 data bases. 40 cases were reported and 27 cases were analyzable. Results: Factor VIII antibodies occurred in a close temporal relationship with the detection of the tumor in most cases. No association with a specific type of tumor could be identified. Immune suppressive treatment with prednisone ± cyclophosphamide was successful in the majority of cases. Conclusion: It is likely that there is a causal association between some solid tumors and factor VIII antibodies, but it is an extremely rare complication of cancer. The immunoglobuline nature of the inhibitor and the good response to immune suppressive treatment suggests that it is an autoimmune phenomenon. The pathogenesis is unknown.


In-doped BaFe11In1O19 particles were prepared by a modified ceramic reaction using In2O3, BaCo3, and Fe2O3 followed by mechanical dispersion. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the formation of pure BaFe11In1O19 phase and scanning electron micrographs showed platelet particles of about 1μm in diameter. This powder was subsequently screen printed on alumina substrate using a suitable binder and oriented under a dc magnetic field of 15kOe. The screen printed films were annealed at different durations to produce dense and thick ferrite materials. The hysteresis loops for the as-prepared and annealed screen printed, in-plane oriented films show a hysteresis squareness ratio (Mr∕Ms) of 0.93, saturation magnetic moment of 4000G, and coercivity of 634Oe. The ferrimagnetic resonance measurements showed a linewidth (ΔH) of ∼860Oe. The g (Lande spectroscopic splitting factor) value deduced from the relation between resonant frequencies versus resonance field for the screen printed films was found to be 1.91.


Objective To investigate the clinical implication of MMP 9, CD44v6 protein expression in gallbladder carcinoma (GBC).Methods The immunohistochemical Envision technique was adopted for detecting the MMP 9, CD44v6 protein expression in 46 cases of GBC and 12 cases of chronic cholecystitis.Results The positive rate of MMP 9 and CD44v6 expression in gallbladder carcinoma was 78.26% and 71.74% respectively. The positive expression of MMP 9 and CD44v6 was correlated with the pathologic differentiation, clinic staging, lymph node metastasis and postoperation survival rate.Conclusion Expression of MMP 9 and CD44v6 might be served as an objective indicator for lymph node metastatic potency, tumor progress and prognosis in gallbladder carcinoma.


The compositional dependence of the electromagnetic wave absorption properties of barium ferrite (BaFe 12 O 19 ) in which Ti and Mn were substituted for Fe, was investigated .Single phase M-type structure was obtained for BaFe 12-x (Ti 0.5 Mn 0.5 ) x O 19 sintered samples with composition 0≤x≤4.5 . The frequency dependence of reflection loss (R.L) obtained a minimum value of -21dB for the x-band frequency range (8-12GHz), and give a band width greater than 1GHz in the same frequency range . The grain size of the prepared powder were between ( 7.05-12.06 µm) .Barium ferrite-resin composites with 30,40,and 50 mass% ferrite exhipted a wide band width with R.L<-21 dB .The composite samples with composition x=3.5 and x= 4.5 had wide bandwidth of 2.5 and 1.7 GHz respectively and a R.L of-12.5 and -16 dB respectively it may be concluded that Barium M-type ferrite with substitution by Ti and Mn is a good candidate in the x-band frequency range .


British think tanks play significant roles in opinion-shaping and policy-making both within and beyond Europe by taking advantage of the UK's educational and cultural resources and the country's international influence. Through analysing how the leading British think tanks establish themselves and promote their China-related ideas and opinions, this paper argues that these think thanks are able to effectively shape public opinions and policy processes through close and active engagements with politicians, academics, and the media. In addition, these think thanks also significantly benefit from the cultural legacies of the British Empire, the fact that English is widely adopted as a professional working language, and London's unique position as a global city.


The concept of cumulative effect assessment (CEA) as a theory and tool for the quantitative assessment of cumulative effects (impacts) on multifunctional wetlands was furthered in view of a an inherent and chronic lack of environmental data sets in the vast majority of ecosystems in the developing Asia that is a major stumbling block on the way of CEA. Whereas expert opinion as a CEA method has been long recognized, a participatory rural appraisal (PRA) as another important method was largely overlooked despite its strong validity under the circumstances when the required environmental data sets are not available. The gaps due to the lack of parametric data hence call for further development of PRA to complement with the CEA tool. The need to overcome the shortage of data sets is thought to be particularly important due to the fact that the developing world comprises most of the world's ecosystems, biodiversity and human population.


In the new media society, social media has become an important part of many organizations' daily lives. Organizations, whether public or private, must be where their audience is and many times, the ...


A process in which women challenge the existing norms and culture, to effectively promote their well being is known as women empowerment. The participation of women in Self Help Groups (SHGs) made a significant impact on their empowerment both in social and economical aspects. This study examines women empowerment through self help groups in district Mewat of Haryana. The data required for the study has been collected from both the primary and secondary sources. A multistage random sampling method has been followed. Average and percentage analysis was carried out to draw meaningful interpretation of the results. Garret ranking technique was used to find the reasons for joining the Self help group. Factor analysis was used to measure and to determine the relationship between the observed variables. The results of the study revealed that the SHGs have had greater impact on both economic and social aspects of the beneficiaries.


The occurrence of parietal eyes among lizards (Suborder Lacertilia) was determined by examining museum specimens and noting the presence of a parietal "spot". The parietal "spot" is a reliable indication of the presence of an underlying parietal eye. The parietal eye is absent in Dibamidae, Pygopodidae, Helodermatidae, Lanthanotidae, Anelytrop- sidae, Gekkonidae, and Teiidae. It is present in most members of Xantusiidae, Scincidae, Cordylidae, Lacertidae, Varanidae, Anniellidae, Anguidae, Xenosauridae, Iguanidae, Agamidae, and Chameleontidae.


N-Alkyl-N-tosyl amino acid esters were ionized by fast atom bombardment (FAB) in a nitrobenzyl alcohol matrix through oxidative processes leading to molecular radical cations (M+·). The addition to the matrix of Cu11 salts induces the ionization through proton attachment whereby [M + H]+ are exclusively displayed by the positive-ion FAB spectra. The formation of electron donor–acceptor complexes between the analytes and the matrix lowers the critical energy for the ionization by one-electron removal from the substrates.


The era of the next generation of giant telescopes requires not only the advent of new technologies but also the development of novel methods, in order to exploit fully the extraordinary potential they are built for. Global Multi Conjugate Adaptive Optics (GMCAO) pursues this approach, with the goal of achieving good performance over a field of view of a few arcmin and an increase in sky coverage. In this article, we show the gain offered by this technique to an astrophysical application, such as the photometric survey strategy applied to the Chandra Deep Field South as a case study. We simulated a close-to-real observation of a 500 x 500 arcsec^2 extragalactic deep field with a 40-m class telescope that implements GMCAO. We analysed mock K-band images of 6000 high-redshift (up to z = 2.75) galaxies therein as if they were real to recover the initial input parameters. We attained 94.5 per cent completeness for source detection with SEXTRACTOR. We also measured the morphological parameters of all the sources with the two-dimensional fitting tools GALFIT. The agreement we found between recovered and intrinsic parameters demonstrates GMCAO as a reliable approach to assist extremely large telescope (ELT) observations of extragalactic interest.


Our objective was to describe characteristics of lifestyle medicine (LM) clinicians, use of nutrition in practice, and reported patient outcomes following LM interventions.

 This analysis used data from a closed survey administered to N = 3182 members of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine in the summer of 2019. A total of n = 1,286 respondents began the survey, and the sample of interest for this analysis (n = 612) was restricted to those > 18 yrs, self-identifying as a healthcare practitioner, completing the survey within the US, and indicating that they had observed or supervised patients following LM interventions or lifestyle modifications.

 The sample of interest was 66% female and mean age (SD) was 51 (12). A total of 63% were MDs or DOs. Specialties were as follows: 26% family medicine, 20% internal medicine, 28% other, and 24% not boarded by an ABMS board. Only 24% were certified in LM, but 89% were practicing LM for some or all of their practice. Pillars of LM reported as being regularly incorporated into practice included: nutrition (95%), physical activity (91%), stress reduction (76%), healthy sleep (76%), social support (62%), and avoidance of addictive substances (58%). Total counts of clinicians who reported patient improvements using LM were as follows: weight loss (479), blood glucose (464), blood lipids (437), blood pressure (488), angina (116), atherosclerosis (77), autoimmune symptoms (214), chronic pain (300), and quality of life (497). Total counts of clinicians who reported reduction or discontinuation of medications following LM use were as follows: blood glucose (365), insulin (292), statins (320), high blood pressure (384), and autoimmune (124).

 Results of this survey provide proof of concept that (1) nutrition is the top-used modality among LM clinicians for treatment, and (2) health improvements and medication reductions following lifestyle interventions are feasible and are not limited to a few, individual practitioners. Further research on nutrition-based LM approaches, including calculation of effect sizes, rigorous randomized trials to test effectiveness of recommended lifestyle modifications, and large-scale cohort studies tracking LM patient populations are needed.

 American College of Lifestyle Medicine.


Translation competence has been defined in various ways over the years. This paper tends to observe students' competence of translating into a second language from the angle of target language competence, namely discourse or textual competence. A case that analyses the target texts of a group of non-English major sophomore students in Chinese university translating from Chinese into English as their second language is used in this paper to profile the textual component of Chinese college students' second language translation competence. After studying the case, we may hypothesize that the ability to translate into a second language develops in a systematic way. Target language competence is an important element of translation competence. Keyword—translation competence; second language; textual competence


to find that training 90 rowing and Canoeing athletes republic aerobics for two months,the specific level achievement of the short distance changed not significant,but the coach、athlete and the manager assesses training republic aerobics improved athletes coordinate and psychosis.


At one time the United States may have had the luxury of pretending that technology issues within its own geographical boundaries were the only technology issues of importance. That kind of myopia was never very bright, but it would be particularly dangerous and short-sighted today.


This study attempts to analyse a shift in decision-making approach for Malaysia's local government. Since the 12th general election in 2008, people participation in decision-making process has become very important in order for the government to produce a people friendly public policy. Therefore, this study takes the opportunity to study a model of deliberative democracy which has been introduced through the Temerloh Parliamentary Consultative Council (TPCC) by Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Higher Education, Saifuddin Abdullah. Model that has been introduced by Saifuddin is one of its kinds which has never been practiced before in Malaysia as an agenda for effective governance. The intention of this study is to analyse the effectiveness of the TPCC Model whether it can be the best model for public deliberation in Malaysia.


Introduction: Thyroid cancer incidence rates have been increasing worldwide but the reason behind this is unclear. The only two clear risk factors for thyroid cancer are exposure to ionizing radiat...


An apparatus for separating particles using optical trapping is provided to separate ultra-fine particles in nano sizes, which are difficult to measure with a conventional optical scattering method. An apparatus for separating particles using optical trapping includes a micro channel(10), a plurality of optical tweezers(20), and a plurality of separation channels(15). Particles to be divided pass through the micro channel with viscous fluid. The plurality of optical tweezers irradiate a plurality of laser beams having different predetermined patterns to make speed of the particles as zero at different positions depending on their sizes. The plurality of separation channels are disposed corresponding to the optical tweezers to separate the particles by using optical scattering force.


Donald Davidson finds folk-psychological explanations anomalous due to the open-ended and constitutive conception of rationality which they employ, and yet monist because they invoke an ontology of only physical events. An eliminative materialist who thinks that the beliefs and desires of folk-psychology are mere pre-scientific fictions cannot accept these claims, but he could accept anomalous monism construed as an analysis, merely, of the ideological and ontological presumptions of folk-psychology. Of course, eliminative materialism is itself only a guess, a marker for material explanations we do not have, but it is made plausible by, inter alia, whatever difficulties we have in interpreting intentional folk-explanations realistically. And surely anomalous monism does require further explanation if it is to be accepted realistically and not dismissed as an analysis of a folk-idiom which is to be construed instrumentally at best. Some further explanation is needed of how beliefs, desires, etc. can form rational patterns which have 'no echo in physical theory' and yet those beliefs, desires etc. be physical events. To this end I propose to graft on to anomalous monism a modest version of functionalism.


This paper will identify beliefs and misconceptions relating to the operation and testing of stationary battery banks, and the problems they present to the battery user. These problems cost millions due to the inability to prevent, diagnose, and/or correct common battery conditions. This paper will also identify how B.W.B. Battery Corp. Ltd. has used the Individual Cell Equalizer (ICE),designed and patented by Ericsson Communications, Inc., Stockholm, Sweden to prevent and correct these problems. The firsi installation of ICE by B.W.B. was in 1988. Since then, we have had the opportunity to identify and study the advantages of this unique device. It has been used as a tool for maintenance, testing, and the prevention of known mherent battery conditions. ICE has provided substantial savings in all aspects of maintenance and testing. Using modern maintenance techniques that have been developed by B.W.B. to complement the use of ICE, it is now possible to identify defective cells, measure operational life and security of battery banks at a fraction of the traditional cost.


The human rights of the Child has been ratified by Indonesia therefore the state is obligated to implement and to maintain the course of the enforcement of the rights of children. Not a few children of Indonesia committed the offense as a whole is not necessarily on their own sense considering themselves still children who are not old enough and qualified in law. However, for any errors or accidents that may inhibit himself even turn off their future because they have to deal with the judicial process. Many of those who have to follow such procedural should be arrested and placed in custody. This kind of procedure is able to cause psychological disturbances against the perpetrators, the criminal child will easily get the stigma from the community around them. the public will be difficult to accept detainees to be in their environment, as well as the condition of the crime of child actors who will also feel less confident they would be desperate, and ultimately make them instead become professional criminals. To that end, the author is interested in researching how the legal protection of the rights of children in conflict with the law, especially with the use of the concept of Restorative Justice to be realized in the juvenile justice process so that the perpetrators of criminal acts that do not need to go through the judicial process that will lead to future impacts.


Variations in the cosmic meson ( mu ) counting rate with direction were observed. It is proposed that this directional variation is indicative of a large anisotropy of the responsible primary cosmic rays arriving at the earth and that this is a result of their interaction with the inner solar system. (C.E.S.)


Abstract : During the late summer seasons of 1962 and 1963 the author traveled to Southeast Asia as a consultant for the U. S. Army and as a representative of Colorado State University. The purpose of these trips was three-fold: (1) to survey and collect meteorological data; (2) to consult with various operational groups concerning meteorological problems; and (3) to work with various national weather services concerning data and research. A fairly comprehensive data survey was obtained during these two trips to Southeast Asia. Information was compiled from three sources: (1) personal communication with personnel associated with the various national weather services of Southeast Asia; (2) personal communication and correspondence with the National Weather Records Center at Asheville, North Carolina; (3) information from Clyde O'Dell, who visited Southeast Asia in 1967. Primarily, the survey indicates what type of meteorological data are available within the respective countries of Southeast Asia, and what are available in the United States.


Soil is normally heterogeneous and non-uniform material since it is made up of diverse types of matter. Understanding of soil parameters is one of the foremost complex assignments in geotechnical design. A few laboratory tests of soil need to carry out for engineering practices. Research facility tests take too much time to achieve and are excessive moreover. There's another elective way to urge soil parameters direct from the soil field investigation report to spare time and fetched. The objective ofthis consideration is to explore the relationships of soil parameters with the most commonly utilized soil investigating apparatuses SPT and CPT and other soil parameters that relate to direct applications in designing practice. In this investigate, four sets of in-situ tests were created in order to study the appropriateness of different existing CPT-SPT relationships to the alluvial silty sand soils. The recouped tests from SPT tests contain a calculable sum of fines (fc) extending from 3.5 to 39.2 percent and mean grain measure (D50) extending from 0.09 to 0.23 mm. Ponder comes about demonstrated that qc/N ratio as a function of D50and fc-based relationships are ineffectively pertinent to the silty sand soils. This paper recommends that q/(N1)60ratio as a function of increasing steadily can be way better related in silty sand soils rather than research facility-based D50or fcrelationships. An exertion has moreover been made to perform a comparative investigation for the compelling point of inside contact gotten from CPT, SPT, direct shear tests, andtriaxial tests.


An electronic exercise book of Czech STYX was built on the top of the data from the Prague Dependency Treebank. In this article we would like to summarize the state of the project and point out some of the difficulties we have encountered during its development, along with suggestions of solutions to these issues.


The invention relates to a glue dipping device for an automatic capsule production line. The glue dipping device for the automatic capsule production line comprises a glue dipping frame, a glue dipping groove, knockout pawls, molds and lifting discs; the glue dipping frame is arranged over the glue dipping groove, the glue dipping frame comprises a top plate and side plates, guide rails are arranged on the inner side surfaces of the side plates, and when the knockout pawls push the molds onto the glue dipping frame, the two ends of each mold are located on the guide rails; the lifting discs are arranged at the front end of the two side plates of the glue dipping frame respectively, and guide slots are formed in the inner side surfaces of the lifting discs; the glue dipping frame can move up and down, when the glue dipping frame moves to the lowest portion, mold heads which are arranged on the lower portion of the molds are dipped into a glue solution in the glue dipping groove, and when the glue dipping frame moves to the highest portion, the front ends of the guide rails are overlapped with the rear ends of corresponding guide slots; volute spiral springs are arranged at proper positions close to the front ends of the side plates, so that when the molds are pushed into the guide slots, the front ends of the molds make contact with the volute spiral springs. By means of the volute spiral springs, the occurrence of the phenomena that the molds slide down and scatter is effectively reduced, and the equipment operation and the product quality are stable and reliable.


The spin Hall effect originating from 5d heavy transition‐metal thin films such as Pt, Ta, and W is able to generate efficient spin–orbit torques that can switch adjacent magnetic layers. This mechanism can serve as an alternative to conventional spin‐transfer torque for controlling next‐generation magnetic memories. Among all 5d transition metals, W in its resistive amorphous phase typically shows the largest spin–orbit torque efficiency ≈0.20–0.50. In contrast, its conductive and crystalline α phase possesses a significantly smaller efficiency of ≈0.03 and no spin–orbit torque switching is realized using α‐W thin films as the spin Hall source. Herein, through a comprehensive study of high‐quality W/CoFeB/MgO and the reversed MgO/CoFeB/W magnetic heterostructures, it is shown that although amorphous‐W has a greater spin–orbit torque efficiency, the spin Hall conductivity of α‐W (|σSHα‐W|=3.71×105 Ω−1 m−1) is ≈3.5 times larger than that of amorphous W (|σSHamorphous‐W|=1.05×105 Ω−1 m−1) . Moreover, spin–orbit torque‐driven magnetization switching using a MgO/CoFeB/α‐W heterostructure is demonstrated. The findings suggest that the conductive and high spin Hall conductivity α‐W is a potential candidate for future low‐power consumption spin–orbit torque memory applications.


The hopping code technology is an encryption and decryption technique that data transfer is of high security,and the hopping code mechanism makes each transmission unique.This paper particularly introduces hopping code theory and sending code format.The paper developes a reliable and security system of auto guarding against theft by using HCS301 encoder and PIC16F688 MCU.


Three features that are unique or almost unique to pelagic copepods among zooplankton may account for their numerical dominance in the pelagic realm of the oceans: (i) the torpedo-shaped body, the sensory armed antennules and the 'gearing' of the muscle motor make pelagic copepods very efficient in detecting and escaping predators. The specific force production and velocities during escape jumps are both about an order of magnitude higher than for other similarly sized organisms. (ii) The capability to remotely detect prey and to either capture these as they arrive in a scanning current, or as they swim through the perceptive sphere of the copepod, releases the copepods from the penalties associated filtering sticky water for prey particles. Scanning currents and active attack jumps are found in only few other zooplankters. (iii) Efficient mate finding in a mate-dilute environment allows for sexual reproduction with actual mating in each generation, otherwise uncommon in the plankton, and yields advantages in terms of deleting bad mutations and promoting 'good genes' through sexual selection. function of his size. The volumetric search volume increases dramatically with size and, thus compensates for the fact that larger copepods are rarer. This leads to a mate encounter rate that is approximately size-independent. The magnitudes of the volumetric search volumes are impressive, several cubic meters per day for a few mm sized male and such that at typical summer densities of adults in the upper ocean, mating is not encounter-limited. The search volumes have been computed from swimming velocities and perception distances using simple encounter models (Kiørboe and Bagøien, 2005). Data compiled from the literature by Kiørboe and Bagøien (2005) supplemented with data from Kiørboe (2007).


According to the principles and characteristics of GIS, the planning design of grain storage silos which have rational layout, advanced process establishments and scientific information management was developed with GIS technology in this paper. After making choices from various schemes, macro-design was optimized to provide technical support for the intelligence and science of the construction of grain storage silos.


ABSTRACT It is widely assumed that the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) plays a dominant role in handling internal security. Yet a comparative study shows that regular armed forces prefer to avoid becoming involved in domestic conflicts—and China's PLA is no exception. Concentrating on Uyghur unrest, the article shows that most of the burden of maintaining internal security in China falls on para-military troops, primarily on the People's Armed Police Force, the Xinjiang Production-Construction Corps and the Militia, and on non-military outfits, such as the Police and internal security units. Maintaining internal security absorbs an increasing share of China's defense budget, so much so that in recent years Beijing conceals the figures.


According to the ecology-first scenario presented at the World Energy Council held in 1998, the world energy supply in 2100 will be dominated by new and renewable energy sources, incorporating 40% photovoltaic, 30% hydro and 15% biomass. Major energy organizations also forecast greater dependence on new and renewable energy in the future. Development of Sub-Saharan Africa therefore, requires sharp increases in the supply of energy inputs as well as great improvement in the present abysmally low levels of efficiency in the use of energy. Addressing basic energy needs for cooking and lighting is a key element in improving the living standards of people especially those in rural areas.  Energy is central to practically all aspects of human welfare including access to water, agricultural productivity, health care and nutrition, education, job creation and environmental sustainability, however, just as energy has the potential to instigate development, it can also act as one of the greatest barriers. While the poor can most benefit from improved access to energy sources, they are also the most likely to suffer from the effects of unsustainable energy use such as climate change, deforestation, adverse health impacts and desertification. This study sought to assess rural household energy access, utilization and sustainability in Mbuyu sub-location of Nyandarua Sub-County of Kenya. A sample of 136 households were selected using systematic random sampling to take part in the study. Study data was collected by use of interview guides and observation. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected and analyzed. Statistical quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. From the study findings, there is evidence that criminal behaviour among students under the age of 18 years has a statistically significant influence on school dropout rates. Conclusions and recommendations are made based on the study findings to guide policy makers and implementers on ways of reducing school dropout rates among individual below the age of 18 years.  Study findings revealed that various sources of energy such as firewood, Kerosene, charcoal, LPG, electricity, biogas and solar were used for cooking, space heating and heating water in these rural households. It was also established that adoption and utilization of energy efficient technologies such as improved stoves, solar and biogas were minimal due to lack of information, awareness and financial constraints. Keywords : Rural, Energy Access, Utilization, Sustainability


A method for diagnosis of arteriosclerosis which comprises the steps of: a) measuring the presence or absence of at least one polypeptide marker in a sample from a subject, wherein the polypeptide marker is selected from the Polpeptidmarkern no. 1, no. 2, no. 3, no. 4, no. 5, no. 6 , No. 7, No. 8 or No. 9, which are characterized by the following values for the molecular weight...: Polypeptide markers no. Molecular mass [Da] 1 2,511.8 2 1,864.7 3 2,799.8 4 1,340.6 5 1,422.8 6 5,882.0 7 1,397.4 8th 1,886.6 9 4,642.6 b) determining the probability of the existence of atherosclerosis in the subject.


A new paradigm is presented in which designers, contractors, and suppliers process project information, which is stored in a central project model, by using application routines provided on–line as object–oriented methods instead of stand–alone applications. Commercial project management Web site companies can provide the service through application methods tightly coupled with a project model. The development and use of such "intelligent" object sets is exemplified by the use of intelligent parametric templates (IPT) in three sample applications: for RC slab design, formwork design, and labor monitoring. The research requirements relating to the proposed paradigm are discussed, in light of the experience gained in development of the IPTs. The paradigm offers a technical and economic alternative to the development of industry–wide building project models.


6-Nitrylquinaldine(1) was synthesized by cyclization of p-nitroaniline(2) with crotonaldehyde(3) using I2/KI as the oxidant and toluene as the emulsifier.The structure was characterized by 1H NMR,IR and elemental analysis.The optimum reaction conditions at 100 ℃ for 4 h were as follows: 2 was 8.92 mmol;toluene was 10 mL;mixed acid[V(AcOH) ∶V(HCl)=1 ∶90] was 45.5 mL;n(2) ∶n(I2/KI)=1 ∶1.The yield of 1 can reach 93.1% under the conditions.


Introduction. The current socio-political and economic situation in the Russian Federation requires significant reorientations of the Russian economy towards import substitution, the development of high-tech and social technologies, and a considerable renewal of the service sector. This, in turn, sets priorities for the entire Russian education system. Rapid changes in technological processes, the development of digitalization and artificial intelligence, the rapid obsolescence of knowledge and the need to update it, and the increasing processes of globalization require teachers to constantly advance their professional competences, have stable civic position, understand the vector of government policy and nurture the appropriate educational attitudes in the younger generation, to take part in the formation of a national-cultural consciousness, a conscious sense of national cultural peculiarities and the unity of the Russian people, taking into account the uniqueness and specificity of living in various Russian regions. The article discusses some regional features of staffing educational settings and examples of solving the national tasks of identifying professional deficits within regional educational systems, measures to support teaching staff, and strategies and mechanisms of state regulations in the field of education. The purpose of the study is to reveal the characteristic features of staffing comprehensive schools with employees holding university-level degrees in the regions of the Russian Federation. Materials and Methods. The article presents the results of investigating the representation of teacher education in the regions of the Russian Federation. The study was conducted using a comparative analysis of official statistical data on comprehensive secondary educational institutions ('OO-11' reporting form) and on Higher educational institutions ('VPO-1' reporting form). The research methods also included a sociological survey of Local Educational Authorities within the regions of the Russian Federation. Results. The research has revealed the need for teaching staff identified by Local Educational Authorities, the most common mechanisms for solving the problem of teacher shortage in the regions of the Russian Federation, and the mechanisms used for identifying the needs for teaching staff. The prevailing mechanisms of revealing the interest of children and youth in career in education and teaching are determined. The survey indicated the most common measures of support for teaching and education staff in the regions by Local Educational Authorities, directions for improving the quality of initial teacher education and other aspects related to the provision of regional education systems with teaching staff, and the quality of induction and mentoring systems for newly qualified educators. The results of the survey are selectively presented in the article. Conclusions. The results obtained can be used by the state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation, federal districts of the Russian Federation, and higher educational institutions to improve the efficiency of regional models of teacher education, integrating them into the national educational system of teacher education.


A concept of finless heat exchanger, which is composed of micro tubes without conventional fins, is proposed and assessed for achieving high performance and compactness. In reality, however, the precise assembly of numerous micro tubes leads to high manufacturing cost, and even small deviation of assembled tubes may cause considerable deterioration in heat exchanger performance. To resolve these issues, the micro tubes are connected and fixed in the streamwise direction, so that the manufacturability and quality of the micro finless heat exchanger could be drastically improved. In the present study, the basic characteristics of new tube arrangements, i.e., side-contacted and flat tubes, have been investigated through numerical simulation and experiment. As a result, it is found that the pressure loss of side-contacted tubes is always smaller than the detached tubes for given volume and heat exchange rate. Also, fully flat tubes show comparable performance to the side-contacted tubes. For side-contacted and fully flat tubes, empirical correlations of heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop are proposed. Finally, side-contacted and flat tube finless heat exchangers are fabricated and evaluated through experiment. The measured heat exchange rate and pressure drop show satisfactory agreement with the proposed correlations.


Tinnitus is a real risk for teachers according to research from Denmark. Could you be putting yourself and the children you teach at risk?


Plan recognition is an important task whenever a system has to take into account an agent's actions and goals in order to be able to react adequately. Many plan recognizers, however, are only capable of deriving a set of equally plausible plan hypotheses. This is of little use whenever the system actually has to react, e.g., when an intelligent help system is asked to give advice to the user of an application system or when the user is to be ooered semantic plan completion. In such cases it is crucial to have a way of measuring which allows assessment of the various hypotheses and eventual selection of the \best" one if necessary. In this paper we describe how such a measure can be deened on the basis of Dempster-Shafer Theory and how it can be applied to any plan recognizer.


Sewage sludge is one of the largest contributors of waste material in Malaysia, and it indirectly elevates local environmental problems. The use of this waste material as an alternative fuel can be an effective solution, as it not only contributes as an energy source but also solves environmental issues related to sewage sludge disposal. To support the development of a fuel source from sewage sludge, a characterization procedure for its energy content and chemical composition becomes very important. The preliminary findings reported in this paper, for Malaysian domestic wastewater sewage sludge, found the following properties through the respective experiments: a) proximate analysis (moisture content 12%, volatile matter 48.86%, fixed carbon 19.32% and ash content 31.86%), ultimate analysis (Carbon 33.01%, Hydrogen 4.97%, Nitrogen 5.52% and Sulfur 1.18%) and bomb calorimeter (heating value 15.7 MJ/kg). An earlier developed empirical equation for predicting the heating value of domestic sewage sludge was validated with the experimental results from the current work and found to be in good agreement. The heating value of Malaysian sewage sludge can therefore be predicted with reasonable accuracy for the design of various energy conversion systems.


Despite improvement in diagnosis and management, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause
of death and hospitalization throughout the world. The expansion of digital cardiology presents outstanding
opportunities for clinicians, researchers, and health care administrators to improve outcomes and sustainability
of health systems. Electronic big health data combining electronic health records (EHRs) from diverse individuals
across a wide variety of platforms may provide a real-time solution to questions and problems relating to health.
Very large population studies based on EHR are efficient and cost-effective, and offer an alternative to traditional
research approaches. Indeed, digital cardiology can help researchers to enhance, diagnose, and manage CVD
using dedicated algorithms that allow targeted and personalized CVD treatments


Thracian belongs to the group of languages spoken over the entire period of Antiquity in the areas of south-eastern Europe (mostly the Balkans) and which, like other vernaculars spoken in this and neighbouring areas, had died out by the end of the Roman period leaving but scanty evidence. This chapter provides an introduction into the state of our current knowledge about the Thracian language and epigraphy and the perspectives of research of this language. Since our comprehension and understanding of grammatical system of Thracian is limited, the current knowledge of the language makes any translation of attested inscriptions impossible. It is however expected that the progress in studying development and history of the Greek script may provide us with new and relevant data for interpretation of Thracian.


The objective of this activity is to increase students' knowledge of Relational Dialectics by illustrating dialectic tensions in a tangible way. Relational Dialectics, which focuses on different dimensions in relationships, is an important concept for students to understand because it highlights the messiness of interpersonal relationships. This activity illustrates dialectical tensions through the use of colored stretchy craft string, providing students with a physical manifestation of an abstract concept.