This article examines three approaches to the study of nations, nationalism, and ethnic identity: primordialism, instrumentalism, and constructivism. The discussion relies primarily on qualitative methods consisting of documentary and explanatory research to consider the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. More importantly, an attempt is made to understand Thai nationalism and ethnic identity. Applying each theoretical framework to explain the Thai nation, nationalism, and ethnic identity, this article finds that each approach has both pros and cons. This article thus proposes the mechanism of the political entrepreneur to discuss how Thai political leaders define and utilize Thai (or 'Thai-ness') as well as Thai nationalism.


During cutting processes, due to the multiple causes which they have their error sources into the technological system, appears a series of processing errors. Depending by the source of influence, the radial deflection error will affect the accuracy of work piece processed. This paper proposes an experimental study under the aspects which follow the elimination of the radial deflection of a processed work piece. For that, it will be applied the principle of removing the excess material, by multiple processing passing over the processed surface, in order to eliminate the radial deflection. This research supposes that the radial deflection could be studied by measuring the relative distance between a transducer and the considered work piece, considering the machine tool as experimental stand.


The crankshaft gears of diesel engine,which are interference assembled,suffer working stress from the root as well as the original interference assembly stress.The working stress contains pulsant impact loading from fuel pump and valve powertrain,and sustaining loading from water pump,sump and dynamo.The bending stress and safety factor can be determined by integrated calculation of the stress at the gear root under static and dynamic loading condition,and it provides a general design method and calculation gist for engineering design of the crankshaft gear.


A system and a method for controlling a flash memory using a descriptor array are provided to minimize overhead of a processor, by preventing the processor from controlling the flash memory directly. A descriptor array receiving part(310) receives a descriptor array including more than one descriptor corresponding to more than one work form a processor(301). A flash memory control part(320) checks a descriptor included in the descriptor array, and performs a flash memory control command included in the checked descriptor. The flash memory control part performs the flash memory control command independently of the operation of the processor. The flash memory control command includes an erase command, a program command or a read command.


Ad-hoc networking is a model in wireless device interactions, which represent that users wanting to communicate with each other form a temporary network, without any form of centralized administration. Each node participating in the network acts both as host and a router and must therefore is willing to forward packets for other nodes. For this purpose, a routing protocol is needed. This means that the routing protocol should try to minimize control traffic, such as periodic update messages. Cluster formation in Ad-hoc network is an important issue; Clustering in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) has many advantages compared to the traditional networks. But the highly dynamic and unstable nature of MANETs makes it difficult for the cluster based routing protocols to divide a mobile network into clusters and determination of cluster heads for each cluster. In recent years, several routing protocols and Cluster based protocols have been proposed for mobile ad hoc networks and prominent among them are DSR, AODV. This survey paper provides an overview of these protocols by presenting their characteristics, functionality, benefits and limitations and then makes their comparative analysis so to analyze their performance and compare some of existing works on clustering in MANETs. We categorize the works as Location based, Neighbor based, Power Based, Artificial Intelligence Based, Mobility based and Weight Based. We also present the advantages and disadvantages of these techniques and suggest a best clustering approach based on the observation. The objective is to make observations about how the performance of these protocols can be improved.


A holomorphic mapping f from a bounded domain $\Omega$ in C$\sp{\rm n}$ to a bounded domain $\Omega\sp\prime$ in C$\sp{\rm N}$ is proper if and only if (f(z$\sb\nu$)) tends to the boundary b$\Omega\sp\prime$ for each sequence (z$\sb\nu$) that tends to b$\Omega$. If the domains are balls B$\sb{\rm n}$ and B$\sb{\rm N}$, Forstneric has proved that if f is sufficiently smooth up to the sphere bB$\sb{\rm n}$, then it must be rational, and Cima and Suffridge have shown that it then extends to be holomorphic past bB$\sb{\rm n}$. We prove the more general result that if (i) $\Omega$ lies on one side of a real analytic real hypersurface M in C$\sp{\rm n}$, (ii) F maps $\Omega$ holomorphically into the ball B$\sb{\rm N}$, (iii) in some neighborhood of a point p of M, F is the quotient of a holomorphic mapping by a holomorphic function, and (iv) if for each point q of M sufficiently near p, (F(z$\sb\nu$)) tends to bB$\sb{\rm N}$ as (z$\sb\nu$) tends to q within $\Omega$, then F extends to be holomorphic past M at p. We prove this extension result also for certain other target domains, e.g., generalized ellipsoids $\rm\{\sum\sb{j}\ \vert w\sb{j}\vert\sp{2m\sb j}< 1\}$ in $\rm C\sp{N}.$
We also investigate some properties of a certain variety associated to a proper holomorphic mapping and compute it for several mappings that are of importance to the study of proper mappings invariant under fixed point free finite unitary groups and to the classification of polynomial proper mappings between balls.


A sub-orbital, high altitude communications system comprising at least two ground stations and at least one high altitude relay station. Each of the ground stations including means for sending and receiving telecommunications signals. The relay stations include means for receiving and sending telecommunications signals from and to said ground stations and from and to other relay stations. Means are provided for controlling the lateral and vertical movement of the relay stations so that a predetermined altitude and location of each of said relay stations can be achieved and maintained. Means are provided for receiving the relay stations so that they can be serviced for reuse.


Parking lots are among the most difficult areas for successful cultivation of trees and shrubs. At the same time, there can be situations where large amounts of water are wast ed due to the frequent need of irrigation demanded by the plants used in these narrow beds. Another problem is the high pH of soils associated with the use of limestone in parking lot construction, ranging from 6.7 to 8.3, averaging 7.6. There are plants which grow naturally in regions of this country as well as other countries that tolerate high pH, drought and cold weather. Selections could be made from those plants for these difficult situations. Some plants native to areas such as South ern Texas, Northern Mexico and Southern California are also cold tolerant to the West Central Florida climate. They are tol erant to high temperatures, high pH and high humidity. After the plants were established, water was turned off and the


A simple technique adopted in the laboratory is able to attach flexible, long-chain, aliphatic, fatty acid moiety on the surface of reinforcing carbon black N330. Modified blacks show less bound rubber by comparison with the control, but their better dispersibility effectively outweighs any reduction in polymer–filler interaction resulting from the smaller available surface area. When subjected to strain sweep, compounds containing modified blacks show a slower reagglomeration rate of filler aggregates compared with the control. The lower viscosity of compounds containing modified blacks indicates improved processability.


The kinetics of propagation in the polymerization of propylene oxide proceeding by the activated monomer (AM) mechanism is studied. Propagation in this system involves addition of a protonated monomer molecule to the terminal hydroxyl group of the growing oligomer. A kinetic analysis of the reaction allowed the determination of the equilibrium constant K, governing the distribution of protons between monomer and HO- groups, which in turn enables to calculate the propagation rate constant kp. This composite value has been further separated into the rate constants of four reactions, involving two different modes of ring opening in reactions with two different types of hydroxyl groups, viz. primary and secondary ones. The corresponding values are (all rate constants in mol−1 · L · s−1 and for CH2Cl2 at 25°C):

K = 5,3; k1,1 = 0,170, k1,2 = 0,190, k2,1 = 0,105, k2,2 = 0,135


AbstractTwo years ago, the Belgian Ministry for Social Affairs asked the departments of Operational Research (SMG) and Applied Economics (DULBEA) of the Universite Libre de Bruxelles to develop methodological tools aimed at helping to understand health care budgets consumption. The first step of this research concerns the identification of "pathological channels" defined from mathematical programs and through the correlation between cares expenditures time series. The paper will deal with the second step, which is dedicated to the construction of a multicriteria fuzzy assignment procedure of the insured to these channels. The multicriteria sorting problematic, also called P.β problematic (in contrast to the P.α choice problematic and the P.γ ranking problematic), consists in assigning a set of alternatives, described by their profile of performances according to k criteria, to some predefined categories characterised by one or several reference point(s), also called prototype(s). The assignment to a category is based on the type of relation existing between the action to be assigned and the category prototype(s). When applying these concepts to the analysis of Belgian health care budgets, the concordance and non-discordance aggregation functions of the available methods and software (mainly inspired by the crisp or valued outranking approach, and more precisely by the ELECTRE methods) did not seem appropriate to solve the problem. Therefore, inspired by the particular characteristics of our application, we investigate the definition of multicriteria weighted operators aggregating a valued non compensatory (conjunctive) measure of similarity in the case of non ordered categories for which the criteria rather look like assignment constraints.


Current algorithm-based fault tolerance (ABFT) approach for one-sided matrix decomposition on heterogeneous systems with GPUs have following limitations: (1) they do not provide sufficient protection as most of them only maintain checksum in one dimension; (2) their checking scheme is not efficient due to redundant checksum verifications; (3) they fail to protect PCIe communication; and (4) the checksum calculation based on a special type of matrix multiplication is far from efficient. By overcoming the above limitations, we design an efficient ABFT approach providing stronger protection for one-sided matrix decomposition methods on heterogeneous systems. First, we provide full matrix protection by using checksums in two dimensions. Second, our checking scheme is more efficient by prioritizing the checksum verification according to the sensitivity of matrix operations to soft errors. Third, we protect PCIe communication by reordering checksum verifications and decomposition steps. Fourth, we accelerate the checksum calculation by 1.7x via better utilizing GPUs.


The possibility of coupling the ethylbenzene dehydrogenation with water-gas shift, CO2 methanation, and nitrobenzene hydrogenation has been investigated thermodynamically. The chemical equilibria of these reactions have been calculated on the basis of the Soave−Redlich−Kwong equation of state, and the effects of the feed composition, temperature, and pressure upon ethylbenzene equilibrium conversion have been studied. It was found that the equilibrium conversion could be greatly enhanced by the reaction coupling, especially with nitrobenzene hydrogenation. When coupling with water-gas shift, the ethylbenzene equilibrium conversion can be elevated to 82.4% from 25.2% for the single ethylbenzene dehydrogenation at 550 °C. When coupling with nitrobenzene hydrogenation, the ethylbenzene equilibrium conversion can reach 98.5% at 400 °C, compared with the conversion of 3.5% at the same temperature for the single ethylbenzene dehydrogenation. The primary experiments on a series of catalysts also proved that the ...


Most of the population of the Japanese archipelago in the eighth century were farmers, while others had such occupations as fishing, weaving, pottery, armoury and ritual performance. They were ruled by local lords which formed networks of alliances. Some of these rulers were still buried in the centuries-old tradition of kofun, megalithic funerary mounds similar to those on the Korean peninsula and the Eurasian steppe. However, an increasing number of these rulers recognised allegiance to the institution of the emperor and his capital city. Superior authority was built with reference to continental culture. Besides Buddhism and a centralized administration based on that of the Sui and Tang dynasties, the authority of the emperor was also ensured by a coherent myth linking their institution to that of local gods. Kojiki and Nihon shoki fulfilled this role together with a series of prayers and rituals related to agricultural cycles.


The viscosity and surface tension of aromatic hydrocarbon (toluene) and ester (ethylacetate) liquid mixture is reported at 20,25 and 30°C, over the entire compositional range.


In order to solve the problems of missile's safety and arming device identifying missile's overloading, that is the phenomena of "arming movement accumulating" of the untuned runaway escapement in collision experiments, and tooth breaking in impulsion experiments, when adopting setback arming device driven by single mass slider. This paper brings forward a principle of untuned runaway escapement driven by double- slider to identify missile's overloading. Through theoretical analysis, simulation in VisualNastran software and experiments, the results indicate that untuned runaway escapement driven by double-slider mechanism can effectively identify missile's overloading and solve the problems of setback arming device driven by single mass slider.


BACKGROUND: Previously described were three patients with quinine‐ dependent antibodies to neutrophils, platelets, and red cells who had episodic pancytopenia and renal failure. The nature of the antibody‐ drug‐neutrophil interactions was investigated with sera from these patients. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Sera from all three patients were tested against neutrophils in flow cytometry in the presence of several compounds related to quinine. IgG and Fab and F(ab')2 fragments were prepared from the serum of one patient and tested against neutrophils in flow cytometry and immunoprecipitation in the presence of quinine and related compounds. RESULTS: In flow cytometry, sera from all three patients plus quinidine reacted with neutrophils. Sera from Patients 1 and 3 reacted with neutrophils in the presence of cinchonidine (desmethoxy‐quinine) and serum from Patient 3 also reacted with neutrophils in the presence of cinchonine (desmethoxy‐quinidine). None of the sera reacted with neutrophils in the presence of chloroquine or primaquine. Serum from Patient 3 plus quinolinic acid, a tryptophan metabolite, reacted with neutrophils, but sera from the other two patients did not. Patient 3 serum plus tryptophan or another tryptophan metabolite, quinalidic acid, did not react with neutrophils. IgG from Patient 3 serum reacted with neutrophils in flow cytometry in the presence of quinine, quinidine, cinchonidine, cinchonine, and quinolinic acid. F(ab')2 fragments plus quinine or cinchonidine also reacted with neutrophils, but Fab fragments plus quinine did not. In the presence of quinine, Patient 3 IgG immunoprecipitated the 85‐ and 60‐kDa molecules and F(ab')2 fragments immunoprecipitated the 85‐kDa molecule. Patient 3 serum plus quinidine, cinchonidine, cinchonine, and quinolinic acid immunoprecipitated the 130‐ and 85‐kDa molecules, but not the 60‐kDa molecule. CONCLUSION: Quinine‐dependent neutrophil antibodies often react with neutrophils in the presence of quinidine and related compounds. These reactions were mediated by the F(ab')2 domain of IgG.


The megathrust earthquakes in Nankai Trough have been occurring with an interval of 100-200 years. The past earthquakes show various occurrence patterns and we have no exact idea for the occurrence pattern of next earthquake. Thus it is important to understand a possible range of long-period ground motion by considering the uncertainty of source model. In this study, we evaluate long-period ground motions for the Nankai Trough megathrust earthquake, especially for the anticipated largest earthquake, using many scenarios with various possible source parameters including asperity distribution and hypocenter. We also assumed a variation of rupture velocity and source time function for the shallower part of source area. The long-period ground motions were simulated by the finite difference method using characterized source model and 3D velocity structure model of Japan. We used the GMS (ground motion simulator) for the 3D finite difference simulation. The simulation results at selected sites show that deeper part of source area has larger contribution to long-period ground motions for the anticipated largest earthquake than shallower part of source area. The asperity distribution on the deeper part of the source area and hypocenter location cause variation of the peak ground velocity (PGV) by a factor of two and a factor of up to five, respectively. The simulated PGV values show a large scattering compared to those for smaller earthquakes in the Nankai Trough which we have already simulated.


Abstract Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients are at high risk of developing to CKD and progressing to adverse outcomes vs Nondiabetics. The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of gliclazide MR switched from glimepiride in combination with linagliptin considering their associated potential benefits in albuminuria reduction and delaying progression of adverse renal outcomes in T2DM patients with kidney disease as shown in previous data. Methodology: The medical study database of the author's hospital identified T2DM patients with stage 1–3 CKD with mean eGFR of 50.4 ± 8.56 ml/min/1.73 m2 and were inadequately controlled with glimepiride (mean dose 3.24mg) for the last 3 months. These patients were switched to gliclazide MR with appropriate equivalent dose while DPP-4 inhibitors like linagliptin (5 mg OD) (79%), sitagliptin (14%), vildagliptin (7%), were continued as background therapy. About 59.35% of subjects were on glimepiride 2 mg, 21.93% subjects on glimepiride 3 mg and 18.7% on glimepiride 4 mg. The gliclazide dose was up titrated by 30 mg every 15 days to achieve a target post-prandial glucose (PPG) ≤180 mg/dL. The average dose of gliclazide MR during the study was 44 mg; approximately two-thirds of patients 61% were on 60 mg, 22% on 90mg, and 7% on 30 mg. Patients were counselled to recognize the symptoms and record the hypoglycemic episodes. The statistical analysis included the analysis of changes in glycemic control, risk of hypoglycemia & renal function parameters. The patients were followed up for 24 weeks duration. Results: A total 218 eligible patients (110 female & 108 male) with CKD (stages 1–3) were included. The mean age, body weight, baseline HbA1c, FPG, PPG levels, mean eGFR, and UACR (urine albumin creatinine ratio) were 62.94 ± 8.72 years, 67.9 ± 9.33 kg, 8.51 ±0.81%, 148.53 ± 16.72, 202 ± 18.45 mg/dL, 50.49 ± 8.56 ml/min/1.73 m2 and 154.34 mg/g respectively. Gliclazide MR was initiated substituting glimepiride with appropriate dosing determined by the physician. Two subjects discontinued the therapy due to intolerability. At 24 weeks follow up, HbA1c, FPG, PPG level was reduced by -0.63, -10.33, -30.04%, respectively (p< 0.001). There was a significant reduction in events of overall hypoglycemia (22.25%). Improvement in renal function with respect to eGFR level (+1.77 ml/min/1.73 m2) and albuminuria reduction (-45.56 mg/g) were also observed in patients. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the clinical effectiveness and safety of gliclazide MR with the combination of DPP-4is like linagliptin as an alternate option to glimepiride in diabetes patients with chronic kidney disease.


The overwhelming significance of brands for the consumers' decision making is uncontested both in everyday practice and scientific research. In the field of international academic and non-academic research, a wide variety of models to conceptualize and measure "brand equity" have been developed over the past few years. To explain how brand equity is generated in the consumer's mind, some detailed investigations of individual influencing factors as well as several synoptic approaches examining the influence of different variables on brand equity are available (cf. D. Aaker 1992a, 1992b; Kapferer, 1996; Keller, 1993). We see a strong need for an integrative model which will: 1. provide as comprehensive an overview as possible of the various influencing factors and 2. put them in relation to the psychological process taking place in the mind of the consumer. The present paper proposes such a model based on a conceptualization of brand and brand equity. Starting with sixteen input variables, the paper a paths which lead to the output variable of living and wealth customer-based brand equity, with strategic role to lift the society standard of living and wealth. These path involves several interacting variables. Extensions toward deriving social value of customer-based brand equity are discussed.


To date, efforts to quantify presence using subjective time estimation have met with mixed results. In this paper we present experiments investigating the relation between reported levels of presence and prospective time estimation, defined as self-termination of a given task after a perceived elapsed time. We conducted a study with 58 healthy subjects performing four motor tasks with putatively different levels of presence. Our results show that more engaging tasks yield higher reported levels of presence and lead to slower perceived passing of time (i.e. longer elapsed time with respect to actual time passed). Tasks which involve higher levels of ownership also elicit longer real elapsed times. Prospective time estimation is affected by the degree to which a task is goal-oriented, and by the order in which successive tasks are performed. Our results support the use of prospective time estimation as a measure of presence and/or task involvement. Keywords--Presence, immersion, prospective time estimation, involvement, ownership


In the industrialization process, countries' transition from unplanned industrial plants to planned industrial plants has taken quite a long time. Planned industrial zones which are began to seen in the next year after the World War II, has begun to play a major role at industrialization strategy and economic development of countries. Organized Industrial Zones, the examples of planned industrial zones, have become an indispensable policy of the countries with some features at the industrialization process with a ready infrastructure, providing a balanced industrial distribution and giving the idea to entrepreneurs about what, where and how they will produce etc. In addition, Organized Industrial Zones influence many parameters of its around located settlement like socio-economic and cultural. The aim of this study is to make an empirical analysis the effects of Kahramanmaras Organized Industrial Zone (KOIZ) to neighborhood settlements which are surrounding it. For this purpose, five neighborhoods were selected as study area. For determining study sample, purposive and quota sampling methods were preferred and the study was carried out sets of data gathered with survey which conducted on neighborhood resident. The most important results, which are given in the results section with descriptive, chi square, variance (ANOVA) and correlation analysis, are neighborhood residents were most affected about socio-economically by KOIZ and some geographical parameters are other effects. Moreover, some socio-demographic significant differences between neighborhoods sourced from KOIZ was determined at the end of analysis results.


The minimum bias estimator was introduced as an alternative to the least squares estimator for approximating response functions by low-order polynomials. Here we show how to obtain an admissible estimator with smaller squared bias.


This paper provides estimates for the relative efficiency of banks in emerging Europe before the recent boom, just before the crisis, and right after the crisis, using a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The results suggest that DEA efficiency scores before the recent crisis were strongly linked to the host country's level of development; were higher for foreign-owned banks; but did not stand out for bank groups with a presence in more than one country. The results also suggest that bank efficiency increased during the precrisis boom, but fell during the crisis. Finally, foreign-owned banks in emerging Europe seem to be less efficient than their mother banks, suggesting that although they may bring some efficiency benefits to their host country, they are highly affected by the local business and operational environment.


One hundred forty‐seven cases of sarcomas of the corpus uteri, including 71 leiomyosarcomas, 30 endometrial stromal sarcomas, 23 mixed mesodermal sarcomas, and 23 carcinosarcomas were treated at Roswell Park Memorial Institute. These tumors represent 6.7% of all cancers of the uterine corpus. Treatment varied from surgery (56 cases) to radiotherapy (37 cases) or combined surgery and irradiation (54 cases). The 5‐year crude survival rate of the entire series was 37% with no significant difference between the 4 histologic groups. The clinical extent of tumor was the most significant prognostic factor. Suggestive evidence of increased survival rates was seen in those treated by combined surgery and irradiation. A significant decrease in the recurrence rates followed this combined approach.


Ventricular arrhythmia (VA) is a disorder in the frequency, rhythm, and sequence of myocardial excitation-contraction caused by an impulse source that is localized below the bundle of His: in the region of the branches of the bundle of His, in the Purkinje fibers or directly in the muscular thickness of the heart ventricles (ectopic focus of excitation). Thus, at first the myocardium of that ventricle in the conducting system of which an ectopic focus of excitation has arisen is excited, then, the impulse passes to the other branch of the His bundle along the anastomoses and causes excitation of the other ventricle. Ventricular arrhythmia (VA) has many causes, and each of them is of significant importance. Often, ventricular arrhythmia (VA) occurs in healthy people, with an accidental ECG recording; as a rule, these are young and middle-aged people. The incidence of this pathology is increasing every year in the world, despite good drug support. Ventricular arrhythmia (VA) is predominantly observed in the developed countries of the world, where there are prerequisites for this (stress, overwork, high workload).


The 1920s were the formative years for A. S. Makarenko, the pedagogical innovator who greatly influenced the mass education practices of his day, and the author of an original educational system that was based on education in and through the collective. In those years, the organization of educational collectives was a statewide problem because the entire system of public education had to be brought into line with the essence of the new [Soviet social] order. Society was confronted with the task of transforming the peoples' habits, which, in V. I. Lenin's words, "for a long time have been defiled and debased by the accursed private ownership of the means of production" (Complete Collected Works [Polnoe sobranie sochinenii], Vol. 41, p. 107).


The Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) is a nationally chartered, voluntary organization that is committed to a strong, innovate, effective Canadian transit industry. Among issues raised during a series of seminars and workshops on transportation for the disabled was the lack of an information exchange and service guidelines. There was strong support for a national body to attend to this need and other operator requirements. Accordingly, CUTA approached the operators of transit services for the disabled in order to seek their views on a proposal to meet their requirements. The top five organization needs identified by the operators included: (1) a strategy for growth; (2) a need for more system capacity; (3) a need for more hours of service; (4) a need for more funding; and (5) training for management and staff. The top ten management needs identified by the operators included: (1) management strategies to cope with growth and change; (2) comparative data from other systems; (3) productivity and performance indicators; (4) training for management and staff; (5) planning guidelines and indicators; (6) computer-assisted scheduling; (7) demand forecasting techniques; (8) lobbying support; (9) guidelines for response to advocate groups; and (10) legislation and trend monitoring.


Aedes aegypti is one of the most dangerous mosquitoes that can cause several deadly diseases, such as dengue fever, Chikungunya, Zika, and jaundice with high mortality rate. For now, no specific drug has been found that can cure the disease caused by Aedes Aegypti. One possible solution for handling this problem is to inhibit the growth and development of Aedes aegypti larvae. This study aims to implement Genetic Algorithm-Support Vector Machine to develop Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship model for identification larvicidal phytocompounds as anti-aedes-aegypti. Hyperparameter tuning was performed to improve the performance of the models. Based on the result, we found that the best model was developed by the RBF kernel with the value of    and  score are 0.64 and 0.64, respectively.


Food and Beverages Manufacturing Firms in Kenya have been exposed to supply chain vulnerability, which has led to uncertainty in matching demand and supply of their products. Supply chain resilience enables Food and Beverages Manufacturing Firms to manage disruptions. As a result, this study focused on examining the influence of supply chain resilience practices on the performance of Food and Beverages Manufacturing Firms in Kenya. The study adopted cross-sectional survey design using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The target population was 102 Food and Beverages Manufacturing Firms in Nairobi City County and the sample size of the study was 50 Firms. Data was collected using questionnaires. Qualitative and quantitative data was coded and entered in SPSS Version 24 for analysis. A pilot study was conducted. Descriptive statistics were generated. Inferential statistics using linear regression and correlation analysis was carried out. The results were presented using tables and graphs. The study findings indicated that, supply chain risk management, agility, supply chain collaboration and supply chain integration significantly influence the performance of Food and Beverages Manufacturing Firms in Kenya. Food and Beverages Manufacturing Firms should embrace supply chain risk management, agility, supply chain collaboration and supply chain integration as supply chain resilience practices.


The optimization of periodic orbits for tracking both stationary and moving targets with two uninhabited aerial vehicles with camera sensors is considered. A natural informationtheoretic metric is defined which takes into account the fact that the orbits are periodic. In keeping with the current literature, the search space of orbits is restricted to circular orbits of constant radius and altitude. However, additional freedom is created by allowing the orbits to be offset, as opposed to centered about the target. Three key results are obtained from the optimization. First, the widely held belief that aircraft in target centric orbits should be separated in their orbits by 90 ◦ is shown to be correct only when the target altitude is known. Second, allowing the orbits to be offset from the target can provide a significant increase in tracking performance. Third, the level of process noise in the target model affects the optimal choice of orbit parameters. These optimization results are used to evaluate the use of approximate metrics that are based on instantaneous information measures. These approximate metrics, though common in the literature, are shown both analytically and numerically to be limited in their range of applicability. Also, simulations of the ScanEagle UAV for stationary and moving targets were performed for various aircraft phase angle commands and orbit offsets. These simulations are used to develop a number of practical guidelines for persistent cooperative geolocation.


The automation of micro assembly is becoming more and more important in micro technology. Especially the demands on handling and process observation of hybrid micro systems with optical and mechanical functions are quite high. Because of this process monitoring is inevitably necessary for a better understanding of what is really happening in the micro world. Process visualisation is very important in (micro electronic and mechanical systems) MEMS but does not guarantee an operative micro system. Therefore, instruments for quality control are required to secure a safe and reproducible assembly. The aim of this article is to give an overview over so far used and new devices for process observation and quality control.


Intent of this paper is to prove the better performance of the XOR Based visual cryptography schemes and traditional VCS on the basis of quality of reconstructed image and type of shares generated for colored images. The visual cryptography scheme (VCS) is a scheme which encodes a secret image into several shares. Here we are working with (2, 2) VCS. XOR-Based visual cryptography is capable to overcome the drawbacks of the visual cryptography scheme (VCS) the small contrast of the recovered secret image.


The essay aims to put forward diverse suggestions on how to restore the urban river ecosystem from the perspective of design, and gives a brief description of eco-design and recommends ways to make long-term ecological management.


Abstract Two global ocean analyses from 1993 to 2001 have been generated by the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), as part of the Ocean Data Assimilation for Seasonal-to-Interannual Prediction (ODASI) consortium efforts. The ocean general circulation models (OGCM) and assimilation methods in the analyses are different, but the forcing and observations are the same as designed for ODASI experiments. Global expendable bathythermograph and Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) temperature profile observations are assimilated. The GMAO analysis also assimilates synthetic salinity profiles based on climatological T–S relationships from observations (denoted "TS scheme"). The quality of the two ocean analyses in the tropical Pacific is examined here. Questions such as the following are addressed: How do different assimilation methods impact the analyses, including ancillary fields such as salinity and currents? Is there a significant difference in interpre...


In this work we study two-dimensional Dirac operators on bounded domains coupled to a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane. We focus on the MIT bag boundary condition and provide accurate asymptotic estimates for the low-lying (positive and negative) energies in the limit of a strong magnetic field.


An investigation of the coupling of shear oscillations of a quartz crystal resonator bounded by a self-affine rough surface with dumped waves in a liquid is performed. Calculation of the roughness effect is achieved in terms of a correlation model for self-affine fractal rough surfaces with analytic form of the associated roughness spectrum G(k)\ensuremath{\propto}(1+${\mathit{ak}}^{2}$${\ensuremath{\xi}}^{2}$${)}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathit{H}}$.


Writing, one of the four skills which have to be taught by educators in language learning. Starting from classroom observation implied that students confronted the difficulties in writing involving generating ideas, organizing words, and making compositions. This study supposes to explore some effects of pop culture as authentic materials for English language teaching in improving students' writing skill. Due to pop culture relates to students' life and experience, it is considered to be a stimulus for gaining students' ideas, information, motivation, and interest in teaching writing. The students of secondary school were involved in this study and descriptive case study was employed to observe the importance of pop culture in writing class. Also, questionnaires and students' works are the instruments to measure its effects. Both students' works and result of the questionnaires pointed out that significantly improvement obtained after applying pop culture. In line with findings, it can be said that pop cultures have significant effects toward students' writing skill. So, educators need to apply pop culture as their choices in future planning lesson.


The article describes the methodological approaches to teaching the theory investologi in universi-ties in fields and professions, revealed the need to introduce discipline in-vestologiya for dissemination of scientific knowledge in an environment of higher education is offered subject training examples and features of seminars on dis-cipline


This study aimed to analyze the effect of managerial ownership, institutional ownership, board size, independent board size, board size and the size of the value of the company on the companies included in the LQ 45 index in Indonesia Stock Exchange. The sampling method used was purposive sampling. Of the population of firms that  enter  in  LQ  45  during  the  period  of  2009-2011,  taken  nineteen  sampel. Alat  companies  that  meet  the  criteria  of  analysis  used  is  multiple  linear regression analysis by first covering the classical assumption of normality test, multikolonieritas, autocorrelation, heteroskedasticity. is partially managerial ownership. While the variable institutional ownership, board size, board size independent, board size and size has no effect on firm value. Keywords: agency theory, corporate governance, corporate performance


This report describes failures that occurred during Experiment 2032. Stressed conditions caused an increase in backside pressure. The details are outlined and accompanied by recommendations.


The paper discussed a possibility of using new approaches for in-situ diagnosis growth processes of large crystals as well as solving some specific problems of controlling them. They are based on the current monitoring of changes in the differences of electric potential between growing crystals and crystallization medium. It is obvious that this monitoring reflects such important crystallization processes as accumulation of charge at the crystal interface and electric screening of it, growth of concentration of subphase formation at the interface (later, inclusions), current change in the mass crystallization rate, etc. This change in the rate suggests a new concept of automation of crystal growth processes, based on minimization of the difference in the current and initially predetermined change in Δϕ through inversely-related adjustment of the temperature of crystallization medium. We have experimentally substantiated the possibility of using various outer electric potentials for modification of processes in a double electric layer at the interface and extension of growth period under fairly favorable conditions. The system of low-temperature phase of barium metaborate crystal and molten solution as crystallization medium was taken for a model one.


The problem of frequency resolution in non-parametric power spectrum density estimation (PSDE) for noisy signals is considered. In this setting, finite length of data as well as the additive noise, both contribute to a decreased frequency resolution. The existing PSDE approaches offer different forms of averaging and windowing of the available data only to improve statistical properties of the estimates, however, at the expense of reducing frequency resolution. In these approaches, the additive noise and the finiteness of data which are the causes of the original loss of the frequency resolution are not treated separately. In this paper, we suggest a new approach which takes advantages of these two different causes of the problem. Therefore, the new nonparametric approach to spectrum estimation tackles the problem of resolution in two steps. First, the method optimally reduces noise interference with the signal via minimum noiseless description length (MNDL). The new power spectrum estimation MNDL-periodogram (PMNDL) of the denoised signal is then computed via conventional indirect periodogram to improve frequency resolution


Romanusque lyra, plaudat tibi barbarus harpa, Graecus Achilliaca, chrotta Britanna canat. If it is true that the study of English folklore has suffered excessively from the malady of unfounded speculation (Simpson and Roud 2000, vi), any attempt to venture beyond established facts might be regarded as foolhardy. On the other hand, the questions implicit in established facts cry out for answers, and the serious student must on occasion rise to the challenge, afterwards to be judged on the merit of the case he/she makes. Of course one needs to tread carefully, perhaps altogether avoiding the minefields left by decades of theorisation, and concentrating instead on smaller problems at the edges. One such problem is as follows. Over one hundred years ago a contributor to Transactions of the Devonshire Association wrote: We cannot say why the inhabitants of Bradford, near Holsworthy, are called "horniwinks" or "pewits" or "lapwings," although we know it is so, and that the taunt of being a "Bradford horniwink" is a very dire insult (Prickman 1898, 325). Surely the time has now come to go beyond these particular facts, convincingly presented so long ago, and seek an explanation for them. Who can predict where such a search will lead? Our first task will be to adduce parallels within the county. To Bradford horniwinks we may in fact add the nicknames Bradworthy horniwigs and Challacombe horniwinks--Bradworthy, like Bradford, being near Holsworthy, while Challacombe is in the western part of Exmoor (Chope 1930, 71). Since Bradworthy and Challacombe, but presumably also Bradford, were renowned for their lapwings (Wright 1970, vol. 3, 235-6), birds conspicuous for their eerie calls, unusual crests and tumbling flight, we may reasonably assume a joking transference of the bird's name to its human neighbours. It is after all in the nature of blason populaire to fasten on some local peculiarity in this way. Often the name survives where the circumstances have been forgotten. Sometimes, however, these may still be descried, as with, say, Brixham dabs, Moreton tatie-eaters, or Paignton pudding-eaters, all three of which allude to fare for which the respective localities were famous or notorious (Chope 1930, 71-3). The sobriquet Bradford horniwinks and its parallels call for further comment. They will have been occasioned, not merely by the local frequency of lapwings and the apparent oddity of those birds, but also by the nature of the places attracting them. In Cornwall, hornywinky meant "desolate, outlandish, like a moor where 'horniwinks' resort," and an ancient, tumbledown, out-of-the-way dwelling could be described as "an old shabrag horny-wink place" (Wright 1970, vol. 3, 235-6). The nickname Bradford horniwinks will thus have incensed those at whom it was directed not least because of the implication that their native heath was desolate, neglected and god-forsaken. Compare the Lincolnshire designation peewit-ground or peewit-land for poor undrained land such as pewits might frequent. The name pewit is matched in the north by the similarly onomatopoeic teufit, and here teufit-land was cold, damp, bleak and barren land. To speak of "puir teufit-laand" was to impute to the owner a lack of proper management and drainage. A west Yorkshire variant of teufit was tewit, and in Batley and Dewsbury the districts of Hanging Heaton and Earlsheaton were in derision termed tiuit-land. The reference was to the loneliness and barrenness of the places so named, the human inhabitants of which were Tiuiters or Tiuit-landers (Wright 1970, vol. 6, 70, 71-2). Entirely analogously, in the Rhineland the inhabitants of Kleve-Griethe were "Griethe pewits" (Griether Kiwitte), and nicknames given to the inhabitants of other out-of-the-way villages likewise alluded to pewits (Muller 1928-71, vol. 4, 588). The sobriquet Bradford horniwinks thus finds itself in excellent company. All this sheds light on problems not mentioned so far. …


This paper mainly presents preliminary dive results of the YK00-10 Leg-1 cruise which was conducted at the Nankai subduction margin from October 19 to November 11, 2000 by the "Shinkai 6500" manned submersible of JAMSTEC . Four dives were carried out in the Kumano forearc basin, and another four dives were off Muroto. Dive results of the YK01-04 cruise also involved and reported in this paper. Dives in the Kumano basin revealed that the several mud volcanoes are existing associated with cold seeps and biological colonies on the top of them. However, each mud volcano has different activity. We identified the activity and classified them based on the dive results and the pre-dive geophysical survey data. Dives at the large thrust sheets off Muroto revealed that the thrusts are active and discovered some evidences of cold seeps from the cliff. Those observations links surface manifestations of crustal deformation that caused by the Philippine Sea Plate subduction beneath the SW Honshu arc.


A storage device 1 for objects in a motor vehicle comprises a side wall 6 which laterally defines a storage space 3 and an elastic band divider 4 mounted in a pivoted manner in the region of its ends to the side wall 6, the flexible panel being bi-stable and being able to assume first (shown) and second stable positions (see figure 1) which are oppositely curved, the divider panel defining a larger or smaller space / area depending on the assumed stable position. A band moulding/ section 5 on the band/ panel 4 protrudes from the curved plane of the band divider. This section may be an integral bi-stable portion within the band and can snap to a curvature position opposite of the band to define a compartment. Alternatively, a separate side pocket may be attached with hook and loop fasteners (figure 8). Preferably, the partitioning panel is used to segment a mid-console storage compartment in a car.


Serious first transaction,as a violation of "Open,fair and impartial" principle,against the interests of investors of illegal operations,should be incorporated into criminal law system,to the crime.Within the existing legal framework,the behavior in the criminal law can only manipulate the stock market crime in the "stock market manipulation by other means" to identify the situation and should have significant different from the behavior of administrative violations.To constitute the crime of the first to manipulate the securities market transactions must comply with the time sequence of the "recommended stocks" and "transaction",and must meet the perpetrator's behavior relating to securities trading price or trading volume of the important reasons such as changes in the conditions.This content type is correctly identified the need for crime,which also follows the principle of legality imperative.It is an inevitable choice to establish a common framework and pre-legal mechanisms regulating front-running crime.


This article is built around the autobiographical attempts of Uruguayan-Spanish writerCristina Peri Rossi, who, in 2020, publishes La insumisa, a volume that can be properly calledautobiography although her ouvre at large and her poetical works in particular can be seenas unique autobiographical fictions as Peri Rossi's literary production at large transgressesthe boundaries that divide the literary genders to express her vital experience. This workpays attention to the articulation of lesbian desire and love and, in order to do so, departsfrom the lines that appear in its title establishing a connection, within the "lesbian context,"with other women writers who, in the past and simultaneously, have tried to inscribe inthe symbolic language a lesbian desire unnamed until the end of the 19th century. Thus,this essay provides a little incursion into the scientific discourse that builds up narrativessuch as Virginia Woolf's Orlando (1928) linking this discourse with Cristina Peri Rossi'sautobiographical writing.


A Thesaurus of Modern Chinese is compiled on a categorization system with a taxonomic-hierarchical structure.This paper discusses the word sense clustering at five semantic levels which are the foundation of the lexical system,including the composition units,formative relations,interrelations,adjacent relations,upper-class category and systematic structure.


Configuration and velocity space distributions of ions originating in the neutral particle rings of Galilean satellites are derived under the assumption of radial transport by flux tube interchange diffusion with constant first and second adiabatic invariants. In configuration space the ions from a satellite are found to be confined to a constant thickness disc at Jovicentric distances beyond the satellite (in agreement with the result of Hill and Michel (1976)); the thickness of the disc varies among the satellites. At interior distances the ions are confined to an approximately constant latitude conical disc. The ions from the four satellites occupy well-separated and characteristic regions in velocity space, the details of which are functions of Jovicentric distance. In general, at any distance the perpendicular and parallel components of the thermal velocity (relative to the common corotation velocity) of ions from the various satellites increase monotonically in the natural order from Io to Callisto.


The article proposes to consider criminal activity as an independent type of complex individual crimes, having qualification rules that distinguish it from other types of complex individual crimes. Three types of crimes in which criminal activity can exist are considered, their comparison with ongoing and continuing crimes is made. Attention is drawn to the peculiarity of intent in such crimes, which determines a unified approach to their qualification. A separate place is given to the question of the moments of their actual and legal completion of the crime, as well as the time of commission, the study of which is necessary when applying the retroactive force of criminal law. The possibility of attempted crimes related to each of the three groups is discussed. The rules for the qualification of criminal activity are formulated, which differ from the rules for the qualification of other complex individual crimes, the main one of which is that criminal activity is characterized by an increase in the degree of public danger, which can change the qualification of a crime within one article of the criminal law in the process of its commission.


Methyl benzoquate at 20 ppm or clopidol at 250 ppm in the diet show true coccidiostatic activity in infections with Eimeria tenella in the chick. Lerbek, a synergistic mixture yielding 8·35 ppm methyl benzoquate and 100 ppm clopidol, produced a partially coccidiocidal effect; relapses following restricted periods of medication were less severe, and suppression of parasite development following delayed medication was quicker and more effective than with either component of the mixture used alone.


The paper contains information on the fluctuating asymmetry of the silver birch in the recreational and industrial zones of the South-West of St. Petersburg. It is proposed to use the fluctuating asymmetry of silver birch to substantiate the choice of locations for isolating promising strains - destructors of toxic organic pollutants.


In this paper, a T-S fuzzy model of the NSV (Nearspace Vehicle) kinematic model is established based on fuzzy approximation theory, and a new fuzzy robust tracking control law is designed in reference to the feedforward control of the linear system. In order to account for a case in which no augmented matrix is introduced, the control law is designed as a compound form of feedback and feedforward, and the gains of feedback and feedforward are solved by LMI (Linear Matrix Inequalities). The strategy is applied to the anti-interference control of NSV attitudes, and the convergence of tracking errors is analyzed according to the Lyapunov method. Simulation results based on the NSV demonstrate the validity of the proposed method.


1 Additional data analysis In this section, some additional data analyses are discussed, in particular using datasets from point distribution models. 1.1 Rotationally deformed ellipsoids We first discuss the procedures of obtaining the raw ellipsoid data. To avoid notational confusion , we denote a random vector by X ij and their observed values by χ ij


The pollen morphology of 18 species from 12 genera of Chenopodiaceae native to Mongolia was studied. Plants were collected during field courses and research projects on useful plants and are deposited in the Herbarium of the Mongolian State University of Education. Chemical preparation was carried out in the Palynological Laboratories at the School of Natural Sciences of the Mongolian State University of Education and the Department of Palynology and Climate Dynamics of the University of Gottingen in Germany. The results show, that all investigated species are distinguishable in terms of pollen morphology bases on their pollen grain sizes, exine thickness and number of pores.


We present here a fully computational method for obtaining the dispersion diagrams and the field distributions of electromagnetic waves existing in periodic metamaterial structures. Using a finite-element E-B eigenmode formulation, we solve both for the complex propagation constants (eigenvalues) and the field distributions (eigenvectors) of the periodic structure at each given frequency of interest. As a result, we obtain information about the characteristics of the waves inside passbands and stopbands as well. By these means, the mechanisms of interaction of the electromagnetic waves with the eigenmodes of the metamaterials are revealed.


Digital technology in the 21st century is considered as a powerful tool to support innovation in learning systems. Blended learning is a model that adopts digital technology in the learning process, and if supported by technology-based teaching materials, it will be very efficient and effective. This study aims to investigate the needs of blended learning in high school chemistry to enhance students' metacognitive skills and attitudes towards chemistry. Particularly, the purposes of this study are described as follows: (1) to investigate students' attitudes towards chemistry on High School; (2) to analyse students' digital knowledge and experience; (3) to analyse the needs of students and teachers on High School Chemistry for the blended learning module with Thermochemistry-based Learning Management System (LMS); (4) to analyse the quality of instruments by Rasch Model. Ninety eleventh grade students and nine teachers from three high schools in Surakarta, Indonesia participated in this study. The research instrument was prepared based on the research indicators. Data collection technique used a survey and an interview. The data were analyzed through qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative analysis focused on the teacher's questionnaire and interview, while quantitative analysis was the students' questionnaire using the Rasch model. The study obtained the following conclusions: (1) Indonesian high school students' attitudes towards chemistry were still relatively low (2) High school knowledge and experience of digital technology in learning was high, (3) The need for LMS-based blended learning module to improve students' attitude towards chemistry and metacognition skills was very high; (4) By variable map, the research instrument test met the Rasch model requirements so that it was feasible to use.Digital technology in the 21st century is considered as a powerful tool to support innovation in learning systems. Blended learning is a model that adopts digital technology in the learning process, and if supported by technology-based teaching materials, it will be very efficient and effective. This study aims to investigate the needs of blended learning in high school chemistry to enhance students' metacognitive skills and attitudes towards chemistry. Particularly, the purposes of this study are described as follows: (1) to investigate students' attitudes towards chemistry on High School; (2) to analyse students' digital knowledge and experience; (3) to analyse the needs of students and teachers on High School Chemistry for the blended learning module with Thermochemistry-based Learning Management System (LMS); (4) to analyse the quality of instruments by Rasch Model. Ninety eleventh grade students and nine teachers from three high schools in Surakarta, Indonesia participated in this study. The research...


Loda, Jennifer, "Associations of amphibians with environmental covariates and estimation of the prevalence of the pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in north-central Iowa wetlands" (2007). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. Paper 14861.


CONSCIOUS of the great contribution of her scientists to the fields of medicine and public health, France commemorated last year the centenary of the birth of Dr. Charles Nicolle, one of the noblest and most illustrious of her sons. The contemporary medical student in the English-speaking nations rarely comes across the name of Charles Nicolle. No micro-organism, no agent and no vector of disease carries his name. Yet the impact of his work permeates the fabric of modern medicine, and his concepts have been fundamentals in the knowledge of infectious and communicable diseases. One contemplates his work today and his . . .


The subtyping of bacterial isolates is important for longitudinal epidemiological investigations, as well as for acute outbreak analysis, in order to help guide clinical management of such outbreaks. Although several molecular techniques, including pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE)' and DNA sequence typing,' have been described in the literature, relatively few clinical microbiology laboratories currently employ such techniques routinely, and may refer isolates to specialist laboratories or reference laboratories for subsequent analysis. Instead, when faced with such a typing


Aiming to build the laboratories as important bases,which can be a support for the construction of academic subjects and scientific researches and can cultivate excellent qualified students,Taiyuan University of Technology gets hold of every opportunity and amends the management to make great developments in constructing the laboratory.


In machine learning, the transition from hand-designed features to learned features has been a huge success. Regardless, optimization methods are still created by hand. In this study, we illustrate how an optimization method's design can be recast as a learning problem, allowing the algorithm to automatically learn to exploit structure in the problems of interest. On the tasks for which they are taught, our learning algorithms, implemented by LSTMs, beat generic, hand-designed competitors, and they also adapt well to other challenges with comparable structure. We show this on a variety of tasks, including simple convex problems, neural network training, and visual styling with neural art.


The American Society for Radiation Oncology issued a new clinical guideline for the use of stereotactic body radiation therapy in patients with early-stage lung cancer.


CROUP AND TEMPERATURE IN MASSACHUSETTS. CROUP AND ABSOLUTE HUMIDITY IN MASSACHUSETTS. CONSUMPTION AND TEMPERATURE IN MASSACHUSETTS. SMALL-POX AND TEMPERATURE IN MASSACHUSETTS. DIPHTHERIA AND TEMPERATURE IN MASSACHUSETTS. PNEUMONIA AND TEMPERATURE IN MASSACHUSETTS. SCARLATINA AND TEMPERATURE IN MASSACHUSETTS. TEMPERATURE AND SICKNESS FROM PNEUMONIA IN U. S. ARMIES. SICKNESS FROM CONSUMPTION IN WHITE TROOPS, U. S. ARMY, AND TEMPERATURE. DEATHS FROM CONSUMPTION IN WHITE TROOPS, U. S. ARMY, AND TEMPERATURE. SICKNESS FROM DIPHTHERIA IN MICHIGAN, AND TEMPERATURE.


Abstract Background: Cochlear implant extrusion as a result of infection is an uncommon, but serious complication, which can lead to implant removal as the ultimate solution. Objectives: (1) to identify the incidence of cochlear implant extrusion and its causes, (2) to report our management of patients presenting skin complications after cochlear implant surgery (3) to propose new therapeutical options with hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). Materials and methods: A retrospective analysis of medical documentation of 1250 patients who were operated on with cochlear implants in our department between 1993 and 2015. The medical charts of 25 patients were selected due to reported skin flap complications resulting in CI extrusion. Five of those patients were subsequently removed from the study because of no infection signs. Results: Non-traumatic cochlear implant extrusion occurred in 1.6% of implanted patients, and secondary treatment was effective in 90% of all cases (18 of 20 patients). HBOT as additional treatment was applied in 9 patients. Conclusions: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be considered as safe adjuvant treatment option in individual cases of proceeding with cochlear implant extrusion with signs of wound infection. Significance: HBOT may contribute to reducing the need for cochlear implant explantation due to infectious skin flap complication.


By means of discussing causes and hazards of disease damages of rail joints in railway lines,the paper presents methods preventing rail joint diseases including reasonable setup of joint gap value and control of joint gas variation,as well as specific rectifying measures from aspects of "eliminating,welding,replacing,backing,sieving,pounding and adjusting".


The paper introduces the importance,and points out that it is necessary to extend the utilization of intermediate water by working out the law and regulation,and improving technology,and strengthening drumbeating.


An obstacle to the analysis and synthesis of dynamically loaded structures is the difficulty of measuring the lumped mechanical circuit constants over a sufficiently wide frequency band. This article describes a technique for measuring the wide frequency band mechanical impedances of small structures utilizing a Hopkinson pressure bar. One of the difficulties in using a Hopkinson pressure bar is to obtain absolutely plane contact between the plane ends of the impacting bars. Effective means of achieving this are described.


Over the past few years, the Internet of Things has been noticeably developed. The access devices number of the Internet of Things has exploded. In this scenario, numerous Internet of Things services exhibiting similar functions appear in the platform. Accordingly, when selecting the services of the Internet of Things, the non-functional requirements are started to be considered more (e.g., service quality). Though a considerable number of methods for Quality of Services-based services selection are available, they exhibit certain defects and do not form a standard. Some emphases are only placed on the wishes of the user, while others stress is given only to the relevance of service quality. A feasible method is required to consider the mentioned two aspects. In this study, the service selection algorithm is investigated based on the minimal deviation, a method adopted to combine weights based on subjective and objective weights of Quality of Services. Such method is capable of evenly arranging the advantages of subjective and objective weights.


Abstract : The major objectives of this program were to characterize the microstructure, strengthening, deformation and fracture modes of aluminum -- lithium -- X alloys with emphasis on determining the relationships between alloying elements, processing parameters, microstructure, deformation modes and fracture behavior. The following tasks were undertaken. (A) The literature on Al-Li alloys was reviewed and major problem areas were identified. (B) A study was conducted on the dependence of the modulus on the various types of precipitates that occur in these age-hardenable alloys. (C) One major problem area associated with Al-Li alloys has been their low fracture toughness in the short transverse direction. The low fracture toughness and ductility in this direction also appears to cause delamination along the high angle grain boundaries which are parallel to the processing direction. The effects of texture, deformation mode, and precipitate free zones on this phenomenon at both room and cryogenic temperatures were examined. (D) In order to maximize the strength-fracture toughness properties of Al-Li-X alloys, cold working prior to aging is necessary in order to provide nucleation sites for the strengthening precipitates, to accelerate aging and to minimize the detrimental grain boundary precipitates and associated precipitate free zones. One alternative method of accomplishing the same result is to add trace alloy additions. The role that the trace addition plays on the precipitation in age-hardenable aluminum alloys was examined.


Arising naturally in mechanical design, these shapes are easier to analyze and use in solid modeling systems than the more general quadric surfaces.


The hydrogen peroxidase is called catalase(CAT) again. It decomposes hydrogen specifically. It dissolves to water, nearly not dissolve to ethanol, chloroform, ether. Traditional methods, such as the selectivity precipitate method, buffer extraction method and chromatography etc., are applied to extract catalase from red cell, liver of beef, horse and human. This paper represented the researches on the extraction conditions of catalase from pig liver. The catalase possesses activity in pH5.3~8.0 and dissolves to water, its optimum pH is 7.0. According to above properties, the method of lixiviating with water to extract catalase from pig liver was used. First choose the main factors, namely extraction time, extraction temperature, the ratio of pig liver to water, to carry on the gradient test as single factor respectively, to make sure the scope of each single factor. Then further design the orthogonal experiments of L9(33) to acquire the most suitable combination conditions of extraction. Then synthesize the request handled behind to obtain the optimum extraction conditions of catalase from pig liver as follows: the ratio of pig liver to water 1∶5, extraction temperature 25℃, extraction time 8 h.


California and Michigan strains of Xanthomonas campestris pv. poannua were compared as biocontrol agents for the annual and perennial subspecies of annual bluegrass. Additionally, inoculation frequency was evaluated for improved control of the perennial subspecies in New York. The two bacterial strains were similarly virulent to annual bluegrass in both growth chamber and field tests. When inoculated once per week for 4 wk, the annual and perennial subspecies were controlled 92 and 82% in growth chamber tests, but only 11 and 7% in field tests, respectively. Control of established annual bluegrass in the field was improved to a maximum of about 40% by increasing inoculation frequency to three times per wk for 4 wk, but recovery occurred 2 to 5 wk after inoculations were discontinued. Creeping bentgrass was not affected by the bacterium.


Cyathea atrovirens (Cyatheaceae) is the southernmost tree-fern of Argentina and its presence in the Corrientes province was in doubt after the height of the Yacyreta dam was raised. However, new records confirm the presence of the species in the province and increase the range distribution southward. Comments on the distribution and ecology of the species are now reported.


Mixed results for Australian students in recent international assessments highlight the need for improvement at both ends of the education spectrum, says Sue Thomson.


to penicillin, aureomycin and chloromycetin but sensitive to terramycin. Blood urea nitrogen 19 mgm. X-ray showed at least four stones in renal pelvis, pyelogram showed some increase in size of calyces. I saw the patient again in April 1951. He had no complaints and had every appearance of being in good health. I am deeply indebted to Dr. David Swartz for his co-operation over the years in connection with this patient.


OE yarn is produced through blending of two fibers of reutilization-regenerated polyester and cotton noils so as to realize comprehensive utilization of waste resources.This paper introduces the spinning process of this yarn and analyzes key and difficult problems existing in the production and main technical measures to be taken according to the process flow.The third-party testing result shows that the quality of resultant yarn produced is completely in conformity with requirements.


Key Points Question How is lithium therapy, compared with valproate therapy, associated with kidney outcomes? Findings In this cohort study of 10 946 patients followed up for up to 10 years in Sweden, no significant differences in relative and absolute risk of chronic kidney disease progression, albuminuria, or acute kidney injury (AKI) were found among patients who received lithium compared with those who received valproate. However, high levels of lithium were strongly associated with AKI risks. Meaning Initiation of lithium therapy was not associated with risk of chronic kidney disease, albuminuria, or AKI, but the association between higher lithium levels and AKI calls for continuous patient monitoring and lithium dose adjustment to avoid toxic levels.


Arabinoxylans are an important quality component for which a simple and rapid analysis method useful for plant breeding needs to be developed. Bial's orcinol–ferric chloride colorimetric method was modified to allow simultaneous analysis of at least 24 samples in a single run and in small volumes to measure water-extractable arabinoxylan (WEAX) in wheat meal. The modified parameters were reduction to 6N HCl, increased concentrations of orcinol and 10% ferric chloride, and a total volume of 500 µL. The sample turbidity was reduced by rapid cooling in an ice water bath followed by addition of 500 µL of 95% ethanol postincubation. The WEAX results from this protocol were compared with GC/MS values. The wheat varieties of Alta Blanca, Eltan, and Hatton were overestimated by 4.3, 1.5, and 0.9%, respectively, whereas the varieties of Eden, Darwin, Finley, and Boundary were underestimated by 14.4, 8.9, 11.3, and 3.6%, respectively. The modified procedure is useful to determine a range of WEAX concentrations in w...


Performance of envelop material is the key to equipments sealing technology in battlefield.In order to adapt to different objects the barrier material must be antistatic.The mechanism of antistatic modification of envelop material was analyzed.A kind of typical design of antistatic envelop material was provided.


The investigation of sudden death in England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was constrained by the equivocal status of the coroner and his inquest, and by the lack of provision for the regular admission of medical evidence in both pre-trial and trial procedures. When the office of coroner was established at the end of the twelfth century, coroners were required to act as keepers of the Crown pleas and to collect the revenue due to the Crown in connection with those pleas. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, changes in the local and central administration of justice, including the rise of the justices of the peace, combined to divest the coroners of much of their authority. By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the coroners' loss of authority was accompanied in many cases by a lack of care and diligence in performing their remaining duties. In the seventeenth century, Sir Matthew Hale noted that most coroners' inquisitions were inadequate, and in 1761 Edward Umfreville, one of the coroners for Middlesex, was prompted by the disrepute into which the office had fallen to publish his own private notes in an attempt to encourage 'a general uniform Practice' amongst coroners. From a medico-legal perspective, one of the most significant features of the decline of the coroner's office is the fact that the coroner's jurisdiction to take inquisitions touching the death of a person subito mortuis, super visum corporis was restricted by the belief that only sudden deaths with manifest evidence of violence warranted inquiry.


Objective To observe fibrinolytic enzyme the clinical curative effect of and Cinepzide Maceate treatment of cerebral infarction.Methods 84 cases of acute cerebral infarction were randomly divided into two groups: treatment group in 42 cases,fibrinolytic enzyme 100 U+0.9% physiological saline,100 ml ivdrip qd×14 d,to give at the same time the Cinepzide Mceleate 240 mg,+0.9% physiological saline,250 ml ivdrip qd ×14 d,and the control group,42 patients were given Danhong injection 20 ml injection+0.9% physiological saline,250 ml ivdrip qd ×14 d.Observed the clinical curative effect of two sets and laboratory indexes to change. Results the treatment group was 90.48 %,efficient compared with 59.52 % differences were significant(P0.01).The treatment group laboratory index and fibrinogen etc were significantly lower than in control group(P0.01).Both groups had no obvious adverse reactions. Conclusion Using fibrinolytic enzyme and cinepzide Maleate treatment of patients with acute cerebral infarction have apparent curative effect.


As a lesbian couple working in academia, you might imagine that the authors have similar experiences. However, once you add race and ethnicity to the mix, the equation changes beyond measure. This chapter will focus on the different paths that two lesbians take to leadership positions in academia. Often referring to ourselves as "professionally gay," the authors tell their stories from "slightly" different lenses: the White woman with a PhD who moved to a rural town for a tenure-track position and the Black woman with a Master's degree who took positions such as "assistant to the administrative assistant."


In line with the development of information systems and technology today, which has entered the era of the industrial revolution 4.0, the learning process in high schools also develops by utilizing information systems and information technology platforms by developing electronic learning systems or often called e-learning. For the successful implementation of e-learning, it is important to know what factors and indicators can be used to build a performance evaluation model., so that the implementation strategy can be determined in a future that is sustainable and superior in competition. The method used to process data is a factor nalysis method, whereas to construct an evaluation model of a number of factors obtained, the regression mpdel is used. The results of the analysis produced 5 (five) new factors, namely a culture of change, a knowledge management system, the latest information, the dissemination of knowledge, and the development of teaching materials.


Time of flight (TOF) distributions of evaporated particles from the surface of GaAs have been measured in order to determine its maximum temperature during femtosecond irradiation (100 fs, 620 nm). A quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) provides the TOF distribution of a given particle mass after laser excitation.


when humans and other animals run and hop, they operate with muscle efficiencies nearly twice those observed during cycling ([2][1], [4][2]). This "free energy" is due to the storage and return of elastic energy in muscles and tendons during the stretch-shorten cycles of landing and takeoff ([1


In this paper, we investigate the backstepping controller design for achieving global chaos synchronization of identical Arneodo chaotic systems (1980). First, the control problem for the global chaos synchronization of identical Arneodo systems without unknown parameters is investigated. Next, the backstepping controller design is extended to the synchronization problem for the identical Arneodo systems with two unknown parameters. Numerical simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed chaos synchronization schemes.


: Education is basic instruments for overall development of a country. It plays an important role in the active participation of the people in the process of development. This paper tries to define the relationship between imitation and economic burden of the students. Earlier empirical results reveal mixed results about the relationship between student expenditure and educational cost in the Indian context. Education considered has a main filler of the growth and development, but in recent year the cost of education is increasing rapidly due to over-imitation and its cause to economic burden of them with educational unemployment. The present study foucesed on empirical relationhip between over-imitation and economical burden to the students in study area, to find out the nature of Imitation and cost of education in study region. The present paper it is depended on primary and secondary sources of information.


In view of the fact that the land feature of the stopl of an open-pit mine assumes ladder–shaped distribution of the earth surface and the methods of general DEM establishment can't describe the surface of open-pit mine,the method is given with which fine DEM of open-pit mine is established.The peper elaborates the methods of extracting elevation data from maps of DWG format,establishing fine DEM of open-pit by adding sidestep attribute to original data and adding restriction conditions to build delaunary triangle net,thus realizing the precision description of three-dimensional surface.


Pd crystals enclosed by (100) facets were prepared in an aqueous solution containing cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the capping agent and ascorbic acid as the reducing agent at 30, 40, and 50°C by a modified seed-mediated fabrication technique. Regardless of the reaction temperature, the absorption peak between 300 and 400 nm assigned to decreased with an increase in the reaction time after the addition of ascorbic acid in the aqueous solution containing CTAB because of Pd deposition. The field emission-scanning electron microscopy images showed that the Pd crystals were enclosed by only (100) facets, and their fractions depended on the reaction temperature. The ratios of the peak current at 0.54 and 0.48 V were 0.60, 0.54, and 0.47 for the samples prepared at 30, 40, and 50°C, respectively, suggesting that the proportion of the (100) facet on the Pd surface was higher at lower temperatures.


Titanium nitride (Ti-N) thin films are electrically and thermally conductive and have high hardness and corrosion resistance. Dense and defect-free Ti-N thin films have been widely used in the surface modification of cutting tools, wear resistance components, medical implantation devices, and microelectronics. In this study, Ti-N thin films were deposited by high power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HPPMS) and their plasma characteristics were analyzed. The ion energy of Ti species was varied by adjusting the substrate bias voltage, and its effect on the microstructure, residual stress, and adhesion of the thin films were studied. The results show that after the introduction of nitrogen gas, a Ti-N compound layer was formed on the surface of the Ti target, which resulted in an increase in the Ti target discharge peak power. In addition, the total flux of the Ti species decreased, and the ratio of the Ti ions increased. The Ti-N thin film deposited by HPPMS was dense and defect-free. When the energy of the Ti ions was increased, the grain size and surface roughness of the Ti-N film decreased, the residual stress increased, and the adhesion strength of the Ti-N thin film decreased.


The purpose of the study is to compare the family adjustment among the physical education professionals of Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh. The main sources of data for the present study are Physical education professionals of Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh. Total sample was 200 (100 each state). Purpose of the study descriptive statistics i


The Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is an accumulationof variety of sensor nodes. All the Remote sensors that are organized by a network are monitored and protected by various lightweight cryptographic schemes. The main focus is to provide a better lightweight encryption system without overloading the pre-existing bandwidth of the network and computational sources of the sensor nodes. Based on both the genetic operations and the chaotic map, a lightweight block cipher is implemented to address these limitations. The communicating nodes are being verified by the chaotic map parameters in this cryptographic scheme and also output the bit sequence pseudo randomly. To encrypt the data blocks, mutation, crossover operations and XOR are used in this sequence. Chaotic map and genetic operations is mechanism used in sensor networks to provide confidentiality and security for data. International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics Volume 118 No. 2


Since edge detection is a field of study used by various disciplines, it is of vital importance to calculate it accuretly. In addition, an edge detection algorithm may be involved in many image processing phases. A recent and contemporary approach, neutrosophy is based on neutrosophic logic, neutrosophic probability, neutrosophic set and neutrosophic statistics. This method yields better results compared to various other optimization methods. Neutrosophic Set (NS) is based on the origin, nature and scope of neutralities. In NS, problems are separated into true, false and indeterminacy subsets. It helps solve indeterminate situations effectively. It has recently been used in the field of image processing as indeterminate situations are also encountered in this field. Chan–Vese (CV) model is one of the successful region-based segmentation methods. The present study proposes a new NS-based edge detection method using CV algorithm. The proposed method combines the philosophical view of NS with successful segmentation characteristics of CV model. Obtained edge detection results are compared with different edge detection methods. The performances of each method are analyzed by using Figure of Merit (FOM) and Peak Signal-To-Noise Ratio (PSNR). The results suggest that the proposed method displays a better performance assessment compared to the used well-known methods.


In Canada, the majority of swine waste is stored in open lagoons and land applied according to crop nitrogen requirements. This practice over-applies phosphorus (P) two to five fold, leading to runoff and a loss of P to the environment. Removing P from liquid hog wastes is an important step in correcting the N:P ratio of manure applied to cropland. Reclaiming this P as struvite (MgNH4PO4) would ease environmental concerns of eutrophication, provide a saleable fertilizer, and help address the limited global supply of phosphate. Most struvite reactors are capital and operationally intensive, making the process too expensive to be implemented by the average farmer. In addition, high calcium levels found in some supernatants compete with Mg and struvite formation is impaired. We have used a low energy, low capital approach to P removal by employing two 400 litre gravity settled batch reactors. Lagoon supernatant with total phosphate (TP) concentration of 190 mg/l and pH of 6.7 was adjusted to pH 8.5 and allowed to settle with no addition of magnesium chloride. Results show TP was reduced by 70%, total suspended solids by half, and soluble P was reduced by 90% (94.5 to 10.3 mg/L). Particulate mineral forms of P were removed from the liquid (reduction from 83 to 26 mg/L), perhaps by flocculation. The dried precipitate had a TP concentration of 5.6%, total nitrogen of 6.3%, and potassium of 3.8%. Struvite content in the dried sludge was estimated at 30% and calcium phosphates comprised the remainder of the mineral P compounds. Half of the precipitate was estimated to be organic solids. These results indicate nutrient rich supernatants with high SS are good targets for P recovery but product purity is a challenge.


The KdV equation can be considered as a special case of the general equation Ut + f( u)xDg( Uxx)x = 0, o > 0, (0.1) where f is non-linear and g is linear, namely f(u) = u2 /2 and g(v) = v. As the parameter D tends to 0, the dispersive behavior of the KdV equation has been throughly investigated (see, e.g., [8], [4], [2] and the references therein). We show, through numerical evidence that a completely different, dissipative behavior occurs when g is non-linear, namely when g is an even concave function such as g(v) = -lvl org(v) = -v . In particular, our numerical results hint that as D--+ 0 the solutions strongly converge to the unique entropy solution of the formal limit equation, in total contrast with the solutions of the KdV equation. PACS. 05.45.-a; 02.70.Bf.


This paper demonstrates how strong demand for the Bank of Japan (BoJ) notes emerged from illegal dealers in black markets during the wartime and postwar years 1937-1949. As a consequence of large-scale income leakages into black markets under the strict price control, the formal economy including the government suffered from severe financial shortages. Thus, the newly printed BoJ notes worked as an instrument for the government to finance the war expenditures and the postwar rehabilitation indirectly from black markets, while they served as a means for illegal dealers to conceal illicit income. The scale of such income leakages can be precisely inferred from the statistical discrepancy between aggregate expenditure and aggregate income in the national accounts. Some policy implications for currency reforms are also explored with consideration for the fact that the emergence of black markets necessitated the BoJ's money finance.


The aim of this study was to investigate the possibilities of improving pig meat quality by selection. Therefore, literature is reviewed to determine the meat quality traits to be used and genetic parameters of those meat quality traits are calculated. A method is described to obtain marginal- income functions and economic values of meat quality traits. At last, consequences of including meat quality in the breeding goal for the various tiers of the pig meat production chain are analyzed. It is concluded that there are possibilities to improve meat quality by selection. Three strategies to improve meat quality by breeding are described. Effects of the various strategies on the genetic improvement of both production and meat quality traits are examined. Which strategy has to be used will depend on the current levels of the meat quality traits of the commercial pigs.


Abstract A number of studies have attempted to evaluate the costs of conflict, but few have evaluated the impact of conflict on country growth. An even more limited number of studies have attempted to evaluate the spillover effects of conflict, with those that have finding clear negative effects on primary neighbors and then positive secondary neighbor effects. There are, however, a number of issues with these studies and this paper updates and develops their analysis using a dynamic panel approach. It confirms the negative sign and magnitude of the previous findings for the host country and primary neighbors, but finds no evidence of any positive or negative effects of conflict on secondary neighbors.


Vitamin A is an essential micronutrient that must be acquired from the diet either as preformed vitamin A or as provitamin A carotenoid. By definition, all-trans-retinol is vitamin A, although retinol metabolites, including retinyl esters and retinoic acid, are often referred to collectively as vitamin A. Throughout this chapter, vitamin A is used solely to refer to all-trans-retinol. The term retinoid, which was first coined by Sporn in the mid-1970s, refers to a family of chemicals, both natural and synthetic, that bear a structural resemblance to all-trans-retinol, with or without the biologic activity of vitamin A (Sporn et al., 1976). Thus, the retinoid family of compounds comprises both naturally-occurring vitamin A metabolites and synthetic compounds that bear a structural resemblance to vitamin A. Within the body, the two most abundant vitamin A species are retinol and retinyl esters. Both retinol and retinyl esters are central to the metabolism, storage and delivery of vitamin A to tissues. The great majority of the vitamin A present in the body is stored as retinyl esters, primarily in the liver, but also in other tissues. Dietary vitamin A is also packaged as retinyl esters in nascent chylomicrons and is thus taken into the body. Because of this, retinyl esters are a transport form of vitamin A that can


On the basis of data of comparative planetology in the history of Earth the nine stages are allocated, a part from them is confirmed with strengthening of asteroid and meteoric bombing.


This essay examines the first three terms of the Roberts Court and assesses John Roberts' leadership as Chief Justice. It begins by examining Roberts' appointment to the Court, his constitutional views, and his leadership style. It then turns to examine the Court's major decisions and decision-making trends during its first three terms. It concludes by considering the impact of the recent presidential election on the Court and Roberts' leadership going forward. It contends that although John Roberts has impressive skills as a jurist and a leader of the Court, he is likely to find himself (and thus his ability to lead the Court) increasingly at odds with broader developments in the American politics.


This paper describes work in progress on developing a set of templates that represent common data modelling situations encountered in designing databases, as a teaching resource for undergraduate students.


Rainforests may contain hundreds of tree species, and this poses some special problems for growth modelling. Suitable model designs and construction techniques are discussed with reference to the north Queensland (Australia) rainforests. The North Queensland Rainforest Management (NORM) Model is a dynamic tree-list model based on sub-models for diameter increment, mortality and recruitment. Over 400 tree species are accommodated by empirically grouping species for parameter estimation, but maintaining species identities during simulations. Details of these parameter estimation techniques and the functional relationships comprising the model are given. The paper examines ways in which existing equations may be extrapolated to other species and sites. Lessons learned during the construction of the model are discussed, and implications for modelling other tropical forests are examined.


New nonlinear optical crystal--the octahydrate of aluminium iodate Al(IO3)3 (DOT) 8H2O were grown from multicomponent aqueous solution. Linear and nonlinear optical properties of Al(IO3)3 (DOT) 8H2O crystal have been measured and compared to those of the lithium iodate crystals. The nonlinear optical merits of other iodates have been predicted.


Formulaic language, such as lexical phrases as hot as hell or pass the buck, in English is common in daily usage. Although formulaic language is common, the lexical phrases are often excluded from word lists. Second language learners of English need to use formulaic language to enhance their proficiency level. Beyond incorporating lexical phrases to word lists, other methods should be examined. This study examined the mnemonic benefit of noticing alliterative and assonant phrases with low and high proficiency learners of English. Previous research has shown that highlighting the concepts of alliteration and assonance is beneficial in recalling monosyllabic two-word units such as pet peeve or bite size. This study inquired whether the mnemonic effect is effective with longer lexical phrases beyond two-syllable phrases even when deliberative learning is not involved. Students from two public universities in Japan participated in the semester-long activity. The participants were asked to classify the phrases into different categories, and then recall the phrases over time. The results indicate that the mnemonic effect is not as clear with longer lexical phrases than it is with monosyllabic lexical phrases. Recall for alliterative expressions seemed to be better than for assonant expressions, but similar to non-salient expressions. Lower proficiency learners seem to process the longer lexical phrases similar to higher proficiency learners so the benefit of noticing alliterative and assonant expressions might be equal for both groups.


This paper presents the design and implementation of a generic three-dimension (3-D) cyclic convolution (CC) on field programmable gate array (FPGA). Three CC calculation architectures have been proposed and integrated into the 3-D framework. Architectures using FPGA specific digital signal processor (DSP) and distributed arithmetic (DA) cores have been implemented on Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGAs. Experimental results and performance analysis of the area, power consumption, maximum frequency and throughput are covered in this paper. Finally, an evaluation of the generic CC has been carried out and reveals a significant trade-off of throughput and maximum frequency, whilst the DA implementation exhibits the reduction size of the read only memory (ROM) to store the precomputed values.


We make simulations with 2 flavor Wilson fermions to investigate the nature of the end points of Roberge-Weiss (RW) first order phase transition lines. The simulations are carried out at 9 values of the hopping parameter $\kappa$ ranging from 0.155 to 0.198 on different lattice spatial volume. The Binder cumulants, susceptibilities and reweighted distributions of the imaginary part of Polyakov loop are employed to determine the nature of the end points of RW transition lines. The simulations show that the RW end points are of first order at the values of $\kappa$ in our simulations.


Objective To study the effect of plyrhachis vicina rogher (PVR) on immune function in mice with tumor and the mechanism of tumor inhibition.Methods The BALB/c mice were randomly divided into normal control (NC) group and experimental groups including high, middle and low doses of alcohol extract of PVR. The mice were inoculated with S 180 cell of ascites sarcoma in mice. The tumor model of animal was established. NC group was fed on distillative water. Experimental groups were fed on 0.5,1.0, and 1.5 g·kg -1 alcohol extract of PVR for 10 days. The tumor weight,inhibitory rate of tumor,indexes of spleen, IL-2,activities of tumor killer LAK and NK,proliferation of T,B lymphocytes were used as evaluated indexes.Results Spleen weight, killer activities of the LAK and NK, proliferous reaction of the spleen cell and the level of IL-2 secretion in mice treated with alcohol extract of PVR were significantly higher than those in NC group.Conclusion PVR may promote specific and nonspecific immune function of organism and inhibit tumor cells indirectly.


A new group of subcutaneous, natural killer (NK), NK/T-cell, and other cytotoxic T-cell lymphomas of the skin has been recently described, and some have been included as distinct clinicopathologic entities in the classification of hematologic malignancies recently proposed by the World Health Organization. In the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer classification for cutaneous lymphomas, they would be classified either as CD30- large T-cell lymphoma, small/medium pleomorphic T-cell lymphoma, or subcutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Precise clinicopathologic and prognostic features of all of them have not yet been well characterized. We studied retrospectively 81 biopsies from 50 patients with subcutaneous, blastic natural killer (NK), NK/T-cell, or other non–mycosis fungoides cytotoxic T-cell lymphomas of the skin. Clinical, morphologic, phenotypical, and genetic features and data on Epstein-Barr virus association allowed us to classify our cases according to the following 7 categories: a) subcutaneous "panniculitis-like" T-cell lymphoma (SPTCL): 10 cases (estimated 5-year survival: 80%); b) blastic NK-cell lymphoma: 12 cases (estimated 5-year survival: 0%); c) nasal-type extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma: 5 patients (estimated 5-year survival: 0%); d) epidermotropic CD8+ T-cell lymphoma: 5 cases (estimated 5-year survival: 0%); e) cutaneous γ/δ T-cell lymphoma: 8 cases (estimated 5-year survival: 0%); f) cutaneous α/β pleomorphic T-cell lymphoma: 8 cases (estimated 5-year survival: 0%); and g) cutaneous medium/large pleomorphic T-cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified: 2 cases. Our study shows that these cutaneous lymphomas can be classified according to precise diagnostic categories. With the exception of SPTCL, analysis of follow-up data from our patients showed that these groups of lymphomas are characterized by an aggressive course, regardless of the diagnostic category.