SUMMARY & CONCLUSIONSOne of the most adopted strategies by the industrial sector for asset management is the monitoring of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which contribute to determine whether an organization is achieving its predetermined objectives. Amongst the most widespread, availability is an important KPI in the management of an asset, since it expresses its percentage of actual uptime relative to the total service hours. There are several factors that can affect the availability of an asset, such as its design characteristics, the mode of operation, the medium in which it is used, and the quality and agility of the maintenance actions practiced in it.Several techniques have been developed over the years to estimate asset availability. Among them, the Reliability Block Diagram (RBD) has become one of the most used, as it manages to determine, through a simple graphical representation, the reliability, availability and maintainability of repairable systems. However, this tool has a number of limitations regarding the dynamic behavior of the system under study, as it does not allow factors such as the size and workload of the maintenance team to be taken into account, nor the presence (or absence) of spare parts in stock.With this in mind, this work aims to use Stochastic Block Diagram (SBD), which combines the graphic representation of RBD with Monte-Carlo simulation, to estimate and evaluate the availability of a dynamic system. In the proposed method, factors such as the supply and stock of spare parts, as well as the size and workload of the maintenance team, are taken into account for a more precise estimate of the availability of the system under study.As a case study, the method is implemented in a hydroelectric plant. The results obtained from the plant model allow the optimization of the size of the maintenance team and the number of spare parts in order to improve system availability. The proposed method proved to be capable of assisting maintenance management regarding decision making to increase maintenance performance.


An oxygen sensor control apparatus comprising: deterioration degree determination means for determining a degree of deterioration of a detection element; Sensor output determination means for determining a sensor output; Internal resistance detecting means for detecting an internal resistance of the detection element by causing a temporary accommodation change between electrodes of the detection element; Target resistance value determining means for successively determining a corresponding to the internal resistance target resistance value by means of the degree of deterioration and a first sensor output that is a value of the sensor output, which is determined at a time before or after a period during which the Transient change occurs; and heating power control means for feedback-regulated supply of the heater such that the internal resistance to the target resistance value.


First novels The first novel is not exactly a genre, but it proves a fascinating site of engagement with new authors. Ever since reading Anne-Marie MacDonald's (1996) Fall on Your Knees, every other piece of fiction has waned in comparison. For me, MacDonald still rules the realm of `the first novel', despite impressive tomes from Sri Lankan-Canadian, Shyam Selvadurai (Funny Boy, 1994) and the widely acclaimed Arundhati Roy (The God of Small Things, 1997), as well as Zadie Smith's (2001) touted but dense postcolonial novel,White Teeth. For better or worse, the `Oprah edition' of MacDonald's book debuted in January 2002. `̀ They're all dead now.'' Here begins MacDonald's controversial work of art. Fall on Your Knees is a book about transgression and the secrets it cultivates. Without falling into the category of epic the book is a dark yet witty saga of multiple generations and permutations of the Piper family. Kathleen, the eldest daughter of a very mixed marriage, `̀ sang before she talked'' (page 36). Then comes Mercedes, `̀ a good baby, following everything closely with her brown eyes, sleeping when she ought, wanting to hold the cup and not spill a drop. Frances [the third daughter] laughs at seven weeks'' (page 64). It is little wonder why Frances was the favorite among the cult of fans that emerged around this story. Because this is a book of secrets, the novel develops around their keeping and revelation, with a plot that is less about the lives of the Piper family than about the genealogies they keep. Set in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and New York City, the unusual characters to which the reader is introduced traverse well-established norms of ethnicity, race, and sexuality on North America's East Coast in the early-20th century. MacDonald's feminist sensibility is clear. She blurs Old World ^New World boundaries by introducing Materia, the mother of the Piper girls, who is born in Lebanon and speaks Gaelic before she speaks English upon arriving in Canada. Rural ^ urban identities also cross the Canadian ^US frontier, inculcating a fascinating cultural corridor. An asynchronous plot emerges in small doses, not unlike a literary Pulp Fiction. The weaving of tragic and sublime on top of this anything-but-linear story leaves one marveling at the possibilities of the first novel. This is a story about desire for the things one should not have but seeks nonetheless: desires that break taboos and laws, written and unwritten. Depending on the character, the novel either celebrates hybridityöat times naivelyöor warns of the dire consequences of miscegenation. New York is never as anonymous as one might think. By the end of the book, the patrilineal family tree has been reworked: highly guarded secrets are mapped more as a network of official and unofficial liaisons across time than as a temporal progression. MacDonald wears many hats, all impressively. When she is not an author she doubles as an actor (in films such as Better than Chocolate), a screenplay writer [Good Night Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) ], and occasional television host at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Despite my penchant for first novels, I await her second piece of fiction.


With the evolution of knowledge economy times, the marketing concept has developed into the depth marketing era.The depth-marketing concept means focusing on "depth",going into the midst of the customers and selling the concept and products to them.It also means the deep understanding of customers and establishing the staff-enterprise mutual understanding mechanism.It calls upon the enterprises to transfer ideas, pay more attention to the foundation construction and the import of talents.


In many situations, an expert must visually analyze an image arranged in grey levels. However, the human eye has strong difficulty in detecting details in this type of image, making it necessary to use artificial coloring techniques. The pseudo-coloring problem (PsCP) consists of assigning to a grey-level image, pre-segmented in K sub-regions, a set of K colors that are as dissimilar as possible. This problem is part of the well-known class of NP-Hard problems and, therefore, does not present an exact solution for all instances. Thus, meta-heuristics has been widely used to overcome this problem. In particular, genetic algorithm (GA) is one of those techniques that stands out in the literature and has already been used in PsCP. In this work, we present a new method that consists of an improvement of the GA specialized in solving the PsCP. In addition, we propose the addition of local search operators and rules for adapting parameters based on symmetric mapping functions to avoid common problems in this type of technique such as premature convergence and inadequate exploration in the search space. Our method is evaluated in three different case studies: the first consisting of the pseudo-colorization of real-world images on the RGB color space; the second consisting of the pseudo-colorization in RGB color space considering synthetic and abstract images in which its sub-regions are fully-connected; and the third consisting of the pseudo-colorization in the Munsell atlas color set. In all scenarios, our method is compared with other state-of-the-art techniques and presents superior results. Specifically, the use of mapped automatic adjustment operators proved to be powerful in boosting the proposed meta-heuristic to obtain more robust results in all evaluated instances of PsCP in all the considered case studies.


We describe a new algorithm for robot localization, efficient both in terms of memory and processing time. It transforms a stream of laser range sensor data into a probabilistic calculation of the robot's po- sition, using a bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network (RNN) to learn the structure of the environment and to answer queries such as: in which room is the robot? To achieve this, the RNN builds an implicit map of the environment.


Bakery nutrition labeling has been implemented in the company, but most consumers have no idea about it due to lack of promotion of the product nutrition labeling information or do not have a big interest in it. As a result, various studies based on the forecast about changes in consumption patterns of the bakery market due to nutrition labeling information are needed. Especially nowadays, when buying bakery products the involvement of consumers in health and nutrition is growing. So, we need to understand that nutrition labeling information makes any causal relationship between consumer attitude and confidence, purchasing behavior in bakery products. It can be said to be a very important research. For that reason, I think this research will help to settle and activate the nutrition labeling information system for the rational purchasing decisions of consumers in the bakery market. In addition, this research could be a base material for various marketing strategies.


INTRODUCTION: The superiority of laparoscopic approach for a ventral and incisional hernia has been well documented over the traditional open repair. However, there is a paucity of literature comparing the outcomes of laparoscopic repair of primary ventral hernias versus incisional hernias. The objective of our study was to compare the operative variables and short-term outcomes of laparoscopic repair of primary ventral hernia as compared to incisional hernia in our setup. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the clinical data of 159 patients who underwent laparoscopic ventral and incisional hernia repair from January 2014 to December 2015. Demographics, operative variables, and short-term outcomes were compared between the two groups. Comparison of outcome variables was done using independent sample t- test for continuous variables and Chi-square test for categorical variables. RESULTS: Of 159 patients, 90 (57%) had primary ventral hernia repair and 69 (43%) underwent incisional hernia repair. Both groups were similar in terms of age, body mass index, comorbid conditions, and high preponderance of females. The number (P < 0.006) and size (P < 0.000) of the hernia defect were significantly higher in the incisional hernia group. The operating time (P < 0.000) and extent of adhesiolysis (P < 0.011) were significantly higher in patients with incisional hernia. There was no statistically significant difference in intraoperative and postoperative complications in the two groups. The duration of postoperative hospital stay was longer in the incisional hernia group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The patients in the incisional hernia group had higher frequency of complex and large hernias. Laparoscopic repair of incisional hernia was associated with extensive adhesiolysis, longer operating time, and longer hospital stay as compared to primary ventral hernias.


Source code, for example Source code written in C or C++, Correspondence Address: typically includes comment lines in header files. Comment SMART & BIGGAR P.O. Box 2999, Station D 900-55 Metcalfe Street Ottawa, ON K1P 5Y6 (CA) lines are included in Source-files by developers to assist in the comprehension of the code by a perSon reading the code. However, the comments have no bearing whatsoever upon the function of the code. It has been found that when the overall build proceSS is considered, the amount of time that (21) Appl. No.: 10/662,464 is taken to process a comment line can be significant. According to the invention, in order to reduce build time, the comments are removed from the included header files prior (22) Filed: Sep. 16, 2003 to the compilation process


Parkinson's disease is a serious neurodegenerative disease with complex pathogenesis. There are many western medicines for the treatment of PD in the world, but they do not achieve a complete cure. At the same time, adverse reactions are becoming more and more obvious, and the number of cases is rising. Based on this status quo, this article will review the pathogenesis and treatment of Parkinson's disease from the following four aspects, that is, the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease in Chinese medicine, Chinese medicine compound treatment, Chinese patent medicine treatment, Traditional Chinese medicine treatment, etc. The advantages of using traditional Chinese medicine to treat diseases will lay a foundation for further clarifying the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease and its complete cure.


The ten features of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics are as follows: it answers the questions of what is socialism and how to build it;it correctly understands the basic conditions of the primary stage of socialism as well as the principal contradictions;liberating the mind,seeking truth from facts and advancing with the times are the essence of the system;it is successive and innovative and aims at common prosperity and all-round development of human beings;with the nature of people-oriented,it evolves dynamically;the structure of the system is integrated and scientific;the reforms and opening up in China are its driving force and the ways of its implementation is to develop scientifically and harmoniously under the leadership of CPC.


This paper presents a direct data-driven approach for computing robust control invariant (RCI) sets and their associated state-feedback control laws for linear time-invariant systems affected by bounded disturbances. The proposed method utilizes a single state-input trajectory generated from the system, to compute a polytopic RCI set with a desired complexity and an invariance-inducing feedback controller, without the need to identify a model of the system. The problem is formulated in terms of a set of sufficient linear matrix inequality conditions that are then combined in a semi-definite program to maximize the volume of the RCI set while respecting the state and input constraints. We demonstrate through a numerical case study that the proposed data-driven approach can generate RCI sets that are of comparable size to those obtained by a model-based method in which exact knowledge of the system matrices is assumed.


Web pages routinely incorporate JavaScript code from third-party sources. However, all code in a page runs in the same security context, regardless of provenance. When Web pages incorporate third-party JavaScript without any checks, as many do, they open themselves to attack. A third-party can trivially inject malicious JavaScript into such a page, causing all manner of harm. Several such attacks have occurred in the wild on prominent, commercial Web sites.A Web sandbox mitigates the threat of malicious JavaScript. Several Web sandboxes employ closely related language-based techniques to maintain backward-compatibility with old browsers and to provide fine-grained control. Unfortunately, due to the size and complexity of the Web platform and several subtleties of JavaScript, language-based sandboxing is hard and the Web sandboxes currently deployed on major Web sites do not come with any formal guarantees. Instead, they are routinely affected by bugs that violate their intended sandboxing properties.This article presents a type-based approach to verifying Web sandboxes, using a JavaScript type-checker to encode and verify sandboxing properties. We demonstrate our approach by applying it to the ADsafe Web sandbox. Specifically, we verify several key properties of ADsafe, falsify one intended property, and find and fix several vulnerabilities, ultimately providing a proof of ADsafe's safety.


The geology of the Jingyu basin (north Tibet) provides constraints on the relationship between localized E‐W extension in the Qiangtang block and strike‐slip motion along the Kunlun fault. Eocene to Oligocene SW‐NE compression formed topographic relief in the present western Kunlun Shan. Pull‐apart basins started forming in the western Kunlun ranges around 15 Ma, possibly coincident with the initiation of subduction of the Tarim‐Qaidam lithosphere under the Kunlun Shan. Extensional tectonism is still active, and the Jingyu basin is extending, as a normal fault connected with the Kunlun fault was recently active. Localized extension allows Tertiary and Quaternary shoshonitic magmas to reach the surface from crustal depths of 50 to 60 km. Miocene strike‐slip faulting indicates that the initiation of the Kunlun strike‐slip fault is early Neogene in age and that the total amount of horizontal movement that occurred along the fault has to be reconsidered.


An on-line underwater scattering turbidimeter is designed for on-line environment inspect system.The turbidimeter bases on the scheme of scattering light measurement focuses on underwater probe of turbidimeter,data acquisition circuit,control section using MSP430 micro controller and PC application program.It has the functions of on-line underwater measurement,turbidity standardization,serial communication and data storage.The resolution is 0.1 NTU and the measurement accuracy is within 2 %.The requirements of turbidity measurement for on-line environment inspect system are achieved.


The author surveyed the instructions for authors in 110 botanical journals to assess how widely italic is used to represent the Latin binomial names of plants. Except for one journal that eliminated italic from the reference list, all of these journals published articles that used italic in the text and reference list for Latin binomial names of plants. However, in their instructions for authors only 48% of these journals explicitly requested the use of italic to denote the Latin binomial names of plants.


Weed control is generally the first major decision to be made once alfalfa has germinated. Managing weeds in a timely manner is necessary to provide maximum production of high quality alfalfa hay. A poor weed management decision can lead to stand loss, poor quality hay, unacceptable weed control, alfalfa injury and a loss of money. Herbicides are applied to 75% of newly planted alfalfa in California and considered an integral part of a weed manage system that compliment cultural practices. In the last decade several new post emergence herbicides, imazethapyrPursuit, imazamox-Raptor, clethodim, and sethoxydim Prism and Poast have significantly changed weed management systems from preplant applied herbicides to post emergence herbicides expanding control of many broadleaf weeds and grasses. Roundup Ready alfalfa became commercially available in 2005 offering a new weed control system using genetically engineered glyphosate tolerant alfalfa. The impact that herbicide tolerant crops have had on other commodities is remarkable. In 2004, an estimated 70 percent of the cotton acreage, 90 percent of the soybean acreage, 65 percent of the canola acreage, and 40 percent of the corn acreage in the United States were planted with varieties genetically altered for herbicide tolerance.


In today's world, the interconnections among objects in many domains are often modeled as networks, with nodes representing the objects and edges the existing relationships among them. A key feature of complex networks is the tendency of entities to group together to form communities. The detection of communities has been receiving a great deal of interest by researchers. In fact, the knowledge of how objects organize allows a better understanding of a network, and gives a deeper insight of interesting characteristics, that could not be caught if considering the network as a whole. In the last decade, evolutionary computation techniques have given a significant contribution in this context. The aim of this paper is to present the approaches based on evolutionary computation to uncover community structure. Especially, the representation schemes with the genetic operators apt for them are described, and the most popular fitness functions employed by the methods are discussed. The survey covers the most recent proposals optimizing either a single objective or multiple objectives for different types of network models, such as signed, dynamic, and multidimensional.


Low public support for government interventions in health, environment and other policy domains can be a barrier to implementation. Communicating evidence of policy effectiveness has been used to influence attitudes towards policies, with mixed results. This review provides the first systematic synthesis of such studies. Eligible studies were randomized controlled experiments that included an intervention group that provided evidence of a policy's effectiveness or ineffectiveness at achieving a salient outcome, and measured policy support. From 6498 abstracts examined, there were 45 effect sizes from 36 eligible studies. In total, 35 (N = 30 858) communicated evidence of effectiveness, and 10 (N = 5078) communicated evidence of ineffectiveness. Random effects meta-analysis revealed that communicating evidence of a policy's effectiveness increased support for the policy (SMD = 0.11, 95% CI [0.07, 0.15], p < 0.0001), equivalent to support increasing from 50% to 54% (95% CI [53%, 56%]). Communicating evidence of ineffectiveness decreased policy support (SMD = −0.14, 95% CI [−0.22, −0.06], p < 0.001), equivalent to support decreasing from 50% to 44% (95% CI [41%, 47%]). These findings suggest that public support for policies in a range of domains is sensitive to evidence of their effectiveness, as well as their ineffectiveness.


A new type of smart material namely magneto-thixotropic gel is proposed in this study. To investigate its rheological behaviour, an experiment is designed to predict the interaction among the shear strain rate, shear stress, magnetic induction and viscosity. By theoretical analysis and interactive processing on the testing data, compared with magneto-rheological fluids, the experimental results indicate that the magneto-thixotropic gel possesses better linear magnetization property and higher shear yield stress, with the shear strain rate changes, the shear stress keeps relatively stable trend when exposed to certain magnetic field, meanwhile, the computational viscosity will rise with the decrease of the shear strain rate and increasing of magnetic induction and keeps linearly increase with the increasing of magnetic induction under the same shear strain rate.


Current research shows discrepancies in the gait pattern of patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). Some studies suggest a change in gait pattern after the manifestation of claudication pain while others found patients with PAD already show a pathological gait, even before the intermittent claudication arises, and no change once the pain manifests. This exploratory research examines what change in gait pattern can be detected once claudication pain arises with the help of an accelerometer embedded in a smartphone. This study aims to contribute to the development of a process to remotely collect accelerometer data in a mobile health application, which then can be used to analyze gait pattern in patients with PAD on a larger scale. The findings of this exploratory study show that processing and analyzing accelerometer data from smartphone for gait analysis is viable and establishes a methodology for collecting and analyzing PAD patients' data. The major limitation of this study is the small sample size that do not provide the necessary reliability of the findings, about gait pattern changes. Further gait data should be collected to help understanding the gait pattern of PAD patients and build an extended dataset to be analyzed at a larger scale.


While appeals are relatively rare in Canada, they have significant outcomes in a juvenile justice system where dispositions are determinate and either the offender or prosecution can appeal the severity of a disposition. Examining the outcomes of ten years of appeals in one province produced two noteworthy findings. First, youths initiate most appeals in Canada, but few are successful in reducing the severity of their dispositions. Second, prosecution-initiated appeals are comparatively rare but almost always result in substantial increases in the severity of a youth's disposition. Despite the importance of these due process protections, however, Canadian youths do not have the right to state-funded counsel for appeals, reducing their ability to redress errors or modify unusually harsh dispositions.


A particularly interesting class of modern materials is ferroic ceramics. Their characteristic order parameter is a result of quantum chemistry taking place on a sub-Å length scale and long-range couplings, e.g. mediated by electrostatic or stress elds. Furthermore, the particular subclass of multiferroics possesses more than one order parameter and exhibits an intriguing coupling between them, which is interesting both from the fundamental physics point of view as well as from a technological vantage point. While on a more fundamental level it is desirable to elucidate the physical details of the coupling mechanism, this knowledge could subsequently lead to new and technologically interesting multiferroic materials, which overcome their current drawback that only one of the multiple order parameters is appreciably large while the others stay small. Due to the short and long range nature of the driving forces, one challenge for thoroughly understanding ferroic ceramics is the characterization of material properties within a large interval of length scales from several tens of μm to sub-Å. To that end, it is useful to exploit that all order parameters can be described as macroscopic elds, e.g. electric polarization or strain, which, in turn, can be either directly or indirectly probed with an electron beam such as used in Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Consequently, TEM is excellently suited for investigating ferroic materials, i.e., state-of-the-art instruments facilitate aberration corrected imaging within a large magni cation interval covering the length scales of interest, in particular the atomic regime. A general drawback of conventional TEM techniques is the loss of phase information originally contained in the scattered electron wave introduced by recording only the electron density. Electron Holography is an advanced TEM technique that facilitates the complete evaluation of the complex electron wave, which, in combination with the manifold possibilities of TEM, provides rather straightforward access to static electromagnetic elds within the ceramic. Nevertheless, quanti cation of order parameters such as the electric polarization or minute details in electromagnetic elds still require to correlate the experimentally gained observations to physical models, which combine the details of the microscopic imaging process, the electron-specimen scattering, and solid state physics of the specimen. The goal of this work is to investigate and advance the limits of Electron Holography as a truly quantitative TEM technique and apply the ndings in, e.g., the investigation of ferroic ceramics. In the light of the previously mentioned di culties, the problem has to be tackled from di erent directions: Firstly, the whole holographic imaging process is reviewed and extended, if necessary, in order to provide quantitative measures for systematic and statistical errors inherent to reconstructed waves. In the course of that process, two previously not recognized holography-speci c aberrations are identi ed, rstly, a resolution limiting spatial envelope and secondly, a spatial distortion to the reconstructed wave. Furthermore, several correction strategies have been developed, in order to correct the aforementioned two and other well-known disturbances, e.g. Fresnel fringes from the biprism lament. The previous holographic noise model has been extended to incorporate the important contribution from the detector and consequently to provide realistic statistic error bars of the holographically reconstructed amplitude and phase. Secondly, an investigation of the electron-specimen scattering process itself is conducted, leading to a density matrix description of the holographic measurement. The general laws of quantum electrodynamics provide the framework of that description. Relativistic phenomena such as retardation of electromagnetic elds exchanged between beam electron and specimen and spin-orbit coupling of the beam electron are quanti ed, where the latter is found to be negligible within TEM. The decoherence of the electron wave by statistical coupling to the thermally moving crystal lattice of ceramics is treated by a newly developed algorithm facilitating in particular the accurate quanti cation of elastic scattering on heavy elements. Inelastic excitations in the ceramic, e.g. bulk plasmons or core electrons, are treated in combination with elastic scattering to identify their role in the holographic reconstruction process and to develop methods for an accurate calculation. A new scattering algorithm combining elastic and inelastic scattering is developed and applied to predict peculiar scattering contrasts of dipole transitions and to discuss the long-standing problem of contrast mismatch between scattering simulations and conventional imaging. To provide a user-friendly and continuing use of the ndings, a software package SEMI (Simulation of Electron Microscopy Imaging) has been written, which facilitates the simulation of elastic and inelastic scattering processes and the subsequent imaging within di erent approximations, incorporating the newly developed algorithms. Thirdly, Density Function Theory (DFT) solid state calculations have been employed to identify and quantify structural modi cations and characteristic electromagnetic elds, such as occurring at domain boundaries,


In this paper, we present our work participating in the BioCreative VII Track 3 - automatic extraction of medication names in tweets, where we implemented a multi-task learning model that is jointly trained on text classification and sequence labelling. Our best system run achieved a strict F1 of 80.4, ranking first and more than 10 points higher than the average score of all participants. Our analyses show that the ensemble technique, multi-task learning, and data augmentation are all beneficial for medication detection in tweets.


The inhalant particle has become the main urban air pollutants in China. Prevention of the inhalant particle is not only an important environmental problem in guaranteeing the healthy development of city,it is also a serious social problem of public safety.This paper analyzes current situation,trend and existent problem of particle pollution in urban street based on researching the extensive literature,and research the structure of urban,layout of street,shape of builiding,to come up with the means for the prevention of inhalant particle and framework of response technology in urban planning. The good flow field should be in the street space which includes the intensive human activity to reduce the air pollution new method is provided to solve the air pollution from the viewing angle of the urban planning.


The invention discloses a black powder making method comprising the following technical processes: crushing nitrate, crushing a sulfur and charcoal mixture, mixing the three components, packing a wet powder bag, pressing into pieces, cooling the pieces, granulating, finely screening, packaging a finished product and storing the finished product in a warehouse. The black powder making method has the advantages of simple operation, fine production process, full use of raw materials and cost saving, and the prepared black powder is cheap in price, durable and practical.


OBJECTIVE To investigate the influnce of Altemanthera philoxeroides on the immunized mouse liver damage.METHODS An immunized mouse liver damage model was established through injection of BCG and LPS.ALT,AST,MDA and SOD were tested and liver pathological changes under microscope were observed.RESULTS Blood serum ALT,AST in the model group were higher than in normal control group(P 0.01),the quantity of MDA was higher than in normal group(P 0.05),and the activity of SOD was lower than in the normal group(P 0.01),which proved that LPS injected intravenously had already led to mouse liver damage.The activities of ALT and AST in the APG H and APG M groups were lower than those in the model group(P 0.01).The activity of SOD was higher than in the model group(P 0.01),the quantity of MDA in serum in the APG groups was lower than in the model group(P 0.01).The activity of ALT and AST in APG L were lower than in model group,the quantity of MDA was lower than in the model group and the activity of SOD was higher than in the model group,but without statistics meaning.Under light microscope the liver damage in APG groups were lighter than model group.CONCLUSION This experiment shows that the APG could protect liver damage induced by chemicals and immunity.


858 cance in our present crisis, as Kafka did for Arendt when she recognized that he had torn apart the "fiction that nation states are willing or able to legislate for all on their territory" (34). The invitation is for us, Stonebridge's readers, to do the same, forming an active part of this multiera thought experiment. Placeless People provides a philosophical framework for further mining the voices and contributions of the displaced. Among the subjects of Stonebridge's book, only Arendt, Weil, and Qasmiyeh are refugees themselves. Too often, merely labeling someone a "refugee" writer, Stonebridge notes, may consign their voice to "invisibility" (180). Including Qasmiyeh in the conclusion is an invitation to take his thinking on statelessness as seriously as we do that of his predecessors. They were not so different from him in their own time, as we understand from Stonebridge's historicization. The archive of statelessness contains many more voices who may hold the key to new constructions of rights and citizenship. There were those in the mid-century generation who worked to build nonexclusionary states; others who built institutions to protect rights outside of citizenship. The success of this book will lie in its readers. Whether its subjects succeeded in contributing to a literature capable of imagining a new future will depend on whether we accept their provocative challenge. Stonebridge has created an engaging forum for that encounter, and has herself contributed to expanding the language we use to discuss citizenship and statelessness. Physical displacement may be inevitable, but the loss of rights does not have to be. When one calamity does not inherently lead to the other, then universal rights will exist and the insecurities that produce nationalism will have an opportunity to fade.


The aim of master thesis is create a project of marketing communications for Mocary company. The master thesis includes theoretical part and analytic part. The theoretical part solves theoretical knowledge of marketing communication. The second analytic part desribes results of marketing research, which became the basis for creating a project for marketing communication for Mocary company.


Chemotaxis is the directed movement of mobile species in response to chemical signal in their environment. To model this important process, in 1970s, KellerSegel [15, 16] proposed a classical coupled parabolic partial differential system to describe the mobile cells (with density u) move towards the concentration gradient of a chemical substance v produced by the cells themselves. Nowadays, this system


AbstractSugar-Coated tablets of different core materials were prepared and the degree of distortion of the sugar coat was determined by the laser holographic interferometry of double exposure method. It was found that, as the degree of expansion of the tablet core material increased, the sugar coat became more distorted. By the present method, nondestructive measurement of a minute amount of distortion is possible and thus superior to conventional methods.


Professor Ernest O. Lawrence of the University of California conceived the idea of the cyclotron in 1929 and reported the principle in Science in 1930. The first successful experimental demonstration of cyclotron resonance was by Livingston in a Doctorate thesis completed in April, 1931, using a 4-in. pole magnet and producing H2+ ions of 80 000 ev energy. By late 1931 Lawrence and Livingston completed an 11-in. cyclotron which produced H+ ions of 1.2 Mev, and which was used with others in the laboratory for disintegration experiments. By late 1932 the "27-in." cyclotron was completed and was in service for research experiments; the energy and intensity were steadily increased during 1933 and 1934 and both H2+ and D+ ions of up to 5 Mev energy became available. During these early years many young scientists joined the group to do research on disintegration reactions, neutron properties, and induced radioactivity, under the stimulating leadership of Professor Lawrence.


Dry matter production and seed yields of a range of annual legumes grown in ungrazed swards were measured between 1966 and 1971 on seven sites in the low rainfall wheatbelt of central western New South Wales. Jemalong and Hannaford barrel medics (Medicago truncatula) were the highest yielding medic cultivars tested. Jemalong medic was slightly superior to Hannaford in dry matter production but seed yields were equal. The short season subterranean clovers (Trifolium subterraneum), Dwalganup and Geraldton, yielded much less dry matter and seed than the medics in most experiments. Although the mid-season subterranean clovers, Woogenellup and Clare, persisted for the duration of our experiments, their production was not as consistent as that of the medics, and plant densities decreased. The rose clovers (T. hirtum), Sirint and Kondinin, the cupped clovers (T. cherleri), Beenong and Yamina, and Snail (M. scutellata) and Paragosa (M. rugosa) medics did not produce satisfactory swards.


The emergence of parametric generative design tools and prototyping manufacturing technology led to radical changes in architectural morphologies. This change increased the opportunity to develop innovative smart geometries. Integrating these algorithms in the parametric softwares led to variations in building design concepts increasing alternatives and decreasing the repetitive work previously needed in conventional CAD software. The chosen software in this research is Generative Components (GC). It is a software design tool for an associative and parametric design platform. It is tested for using Global Variables with associative functions during the concept creation and form GC comprises features. The results presented in this research may be considered an introduction to the smart geometry revolution. It deals with the generative design which applied in the design process from conceptual design phase, defining the problem, exploring design solutions, then how to develop the design phases. Office building is a building type which encourages new forms that needs computational processes to deal with repetitive functions and modular spaces and enclosed in a flexible creative structural skin. Generative design helps the office buildings to be arranged, analysed, and optimized using parameters in early stages in design process. By the end of the research, the use of the smart geometry in a high rise office building is defined and explained. The research is divided into three parts, first a summary of the basic theories of office buildings design and the sustainable requirements that affect it, and should be integrated. Secondly, the previous experiences in generating office buildings by Norman foster and Sergio Araya. At last, a case study is proposed to test and evaluate the use of the parametric generative methodology in designing an office building with specific emphasis on the function, environmental aspects and form generation using Generative Components (GC) Software.


FIELD: electricity. SUBSTANCE: transformer-type plasmatron has a closed gas-discharge chamber with a system of magnetic conductors with primary windings, a holder for holding the treated material and a power supply. The gas-discharge chamber has a working chamber and one or more identical flat-topped chambers with a smaller inner diameter and a shorter or equal length, each having a system of dismountable magnetic conductors with primary windings, and arranged so as to form a closed path for gas discharge current with the working chamber. EFFECT: considerably higher rate and quality of the process and efficiency of the apparatus. 5 cl, 1 dwg


Abstract In this study the influence of snow on atmospheric seasonal mean variability in the extratropical latitudes during boreal winter was studied. The motivation for this analysis was to understand the characteristics of low-frequency atmospheric variability in the extratropical latitudes, and to assess if the interannual variations in snow could lead to potential predictability on seasonal timescales. The influence of snow on atmospheric variability was assessed from a suite of atmospheric general circulation model (GCM) simulations where snow depth amount was either prescribed to a seasonally varying climatology, or was allowed to evolve during the model integration. Further, the influence of snow variability was contrasted with the influence of interannual variability in sea surface temperatures (SSTs) on the atmospheric flow. A systematic influence of snow variability on the atmospheric seasonal mean variability was found. For example, for the GCM simulations in which snow amount and its extent we...


Inspection of aggressive Optical Proximity Correction (OPC) designs, improvement of usable sensitivity, and reduction of cost of ownership are the three major challenges for today's mask inspection methodologies. In this paper we will discuss using aerial-plane inspection and wafer-plane inspection as novel approaches to address these challenges for advanced reticles. Wafer-plane inspection (WPI) and aerial-plane inspection (API) are two lithographic inspection modes. This suite of new inspection modes is based on high resolution reflected and transmitted light images in the reticle plane. These images together with scanner parameters are used to generate the aerial plane image using either vector or scalar models. Then information about the resist is applied to complete construction of the wafer plane image. API reports defects based on intensity differences between test and reference images at the aerial plane, whereas WPI applies a resist model to the aerial image to enhance discrimination between printable and non-printable defects at the wafer plane. The combination of WPI and API along with the industry standard Reticle Plane Inspection (RPI) is designed to handle complex OPC features, improve usable sensitivity and reduce the cost of ownership. This paper will explore the application of aerial-plane and wafer-plane die-to-die inspections on advanced reticles. Inspection sensitivity, inspectability, and comparison with Aerial Imaging Measurement System (AIMSTM[1]) or wafer-print-line will be analyzed. Most importantly, the implementation strategy of a combination of WPI and API along with RPI leading-edge mask manufacturing will be discussed.


ABSTRACT Background: The concentration of phenol within urine represent accurate biological indicator of benzene exposure on workers. One of chronic effect of benzene exposure is bone marrow disorder that disturbs hematopoesis system, and causes the decrease of blood component count. The aim of this research was to analyze the correlation between phenol urine concentration and haemoglobin (Hb), erythrocyte,thrombocyte, and leukocyte concentration on workers that exposed to benzene in CV Laksana. Methods :This was an explanatory research. Observation and interview were done with a cross sectional approach. The data include respondent's characteristics (age, job, work periode, body mass index, the use of personal protection equipment), phenol urine, Hb; erythrocyte; thrombocyte; leukocyte concentration. The data were analyzed by univariate and bivariate with Rank-Spearman correlation test. Results: This research showed that the mean of phenol urine concentration was 20 (± SD 4,519) mg/l and prevalence of benzene toxicity 57,1%. The result of haematological examination shows that the mean of Hb concentration was 14,8 (± SD 0,7) mg/dl, leukocyte 8.072,99 (± SD 1.627,9) cells/ųl, thrombocyte 282.857,1 (± SD 64.389,5) cells/ųl and erythrocyte 4.651.428,6 (± SD 25.403,5) cells/ųl. Most of respondents (60%), age between 21-50 years old, work period 3-25 years, mean of body mass index was 23,4. There were 51,43% respondents who didn't use personal protective equipment and 97,14% respondents who didn't use gloves as personal protection equipment. Based on Rank-Spearman correlation test, there was a significant correlation between phenol urine concentration and erythrocyte concentration with p value 0,030 and correlation coefficient -0,368. It means that there was a negative correlation between those two kinds of variables. Other statistical tests for the other variables have no significant correlation. Conclusions: Benzene toxicity levels based on phenol urine concentration still in low  exposure category, erythrocyte count was decreased under normal value, but haemoglobin (Hb); thrombocyte and leukocyte concentration were still normal. Workers, company, and worker department need to handle and prevent of benzene toxicity furthermore. This research should be continued with cohort design. Keyword: phenol, benzene, Haemoglobin (Hb), erythrocyte, thrombocyte, leukocyte


A radio data acquisition and management system based on MODBUS agreement is introduced in this paper,which is ap-plied to data acquisition and management in oil-filed consociation stations.It realizes the data centralized management for geographi-cally distributed location,overcoming time-consuming and inaccuracy of making copy by hand.


Dislocation structures at the seed/grown-crystal interface in PVT-grown 4H-SiC crystals are investigated. The dislocation density is found to show a sharp increase at the interface and its main contribution is probably ascribable to TEDs which stem from BPDs generating at the interface through the structural transformation. Intense TEM observations reveal an intriguing in-plane distribution structure of the interface BPDs; the BPDs form a two-dimensional dislocation network comprising of {-1100} partial dislocations associated with expanded areas of stacking faults at the nodes of the network.


In article it is considered definition and monetary policy theories, ways of determination of efficiency of influence of a monetary policy on the state economy, actual problems and prospects of development of a monetary policy of the Russian Federation on 2013-2015.


Here: more evidence that with the proper tools and motivation, health and wellness are attainable goals—even within the constraints of MS.


Attention is given to the design parameters of the LH2/LO2 system in a description of the development of the external tank for the Space Shuttle Main Propulsion System (MPS). Design and functional changes for the MPS are reviewed, including: improvement of the vibroacoustic environment through the adaptation of a two-stage pilot to the existing basic valve design, a redesign of the GH2 vent line to accommodate increased deflections and loads, and the minimization of ice formation through slide joint insulation. The anti-geyser splash plate for the LO2 system is outlined in terms of fuel flow parameters under varying conditions of temperature and pressure, and test results for individual components are presented.


Background: Transtympanic myringoplasty is an alternate technique that allows graft placement medial to tympanic membrane
remnant through the perforation without the need for tympanomeatal flap elevation.
Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and compare the results of transtympanic myringoplasty
without tympanomeatal flap elevation with the usual method of graft placement by the elevation of a tympanomeatal flap.
Materials and Methods: This is a prospective study done on fifty patients divided into two groups, each consisting of
25 patients. Group I patients underwent transtympanic myringoplasty without elevation of tympanomeatal flap and group
II patients underwent tympanomeatal flap elevation myringoplasty. Both the procedures were done by underlay technique
through transcanal approach using only tragal perichondrium as graft material.
Results and Observations: Graft uptake was successful in 88% and 92% ears while hearing improvement was seen in
84% and 91.3% in the group I and II patients respectively. The mean hearing gain was 15.04 dB and 15.57 dB in group I
and II respectively.
Conclusion: Transtympanic myringoplasty is a simple and less traumatic yet equally effective approach for the repair of
tympanic membrane perforation. It has the added advantages of minimal post-operative pain, cost-effectiveness, no potential
risk of injury to chorda tympani and results comparable to conventional techniques of myringoplasty.


The author realized that in the acknowledgements section one part of the text was missing.

The complete acknowledgement is …


The goal of experiments carried out at GSI with high intensity laser system PHELIX is the investigation of mechanisms leading to effective production of photons with energies above 20 keV required for monochromatic backlighting of Warm Dense Matter (WDM). In experiments, 1ω, 500fs, 100J laser pulses were used for irradiation of 3 mm thick Ag targets and thin foils deposited on Al and plastic substrates. The laser intensity was varied between 10 and 4 × 10 W/cm by changing the laser focal spot size. In this report we present a comparison of numerical simulations of the silver Kα-photon yield with experimental results obtained by means of a single-hit CCD technique [1]. In simulations, the Kα-photon yields from Ag foils in given direction into a unit of solid angle per laser pulse energy, Nk, were calculated according to the model [2], which takes into account dependencies of the conversion efficiency of laser energy into hot electrons η(IL) [1] and average energy of hot electrons Th(IL) [3] on the laser pulse intensity IL(r, t), as well as a self-absorption of 22.1 keV Kα photons in a foil of arbitrary thickness. In the case of Gaussian laser pulse, IL(υ) = I0 exp(−υ), υ = r/r 0 + t /t0, we get


In this paper, we propose a new method to extract and analyze appendicitis from abdomen ultrasonographic image in order to measure the thickness of appendix and change of inflammation correctly. Since the ultrasonographic image has environmental effect in nature, we standardize the image first and the process of extracting appendicitis then extracts the bottom facia which has the critical role to find appendix area. The experiment with real appendicitis patient verifies that the proposed method is more effective than current field expert`s naked eye inspection.


Enthalpy equations are employed to consider how pressure influences the state of natural gas. It was shown, that the analysis of a gas compressor working under typical conditions that occurs in natural gas transportation systems must be based on a thermodynamic real gas relationship. Comparing the results of the calculations of the work of the compressor with the experimental results of the work done by the compressor, shows very good correlation. This method can be also applied to the case of expansion turbines used in the gas industry for reducing high pressure to an intermediate level.


Author(s): De Vore, Amy Marie | Advisor(s): Haskell Smith, Mark; Winer, Andrew | Abstract: SUSPENDED IN BEDLAM is a coming-of-age novel set in coke addled, yellow sapphire pinky ringed, gun toting, do-it-all-for-the-money 1980's Hollywood, California. The narrator recalls one intense year in a childhood of cigarettes, her beaver fur-coat wearing grandfather, Porsches, her philandering father, and her alcoholic mother. During this year, her large and bejeweled, nose-jobbed family enter the deal of deals in Henderson, Nevada. As the business deal spirals out of control, so does her family, leaving her to question everything and, perhaps, grow up too soon.


We examined recovery of bryophyte diversity during forest restoration by the framework species method (FSM), as a component of overall biodiversity recovery—one of the defining indicators of restoration success. The epiphytic bryophyte communities in FSM trial plots (13 and 21 years since tree planting), were compared with those of old-growth forest in the upper Mae Sa Valley, northern Thailand. Bryophytes were surveyed in June 2019, on the bark of 3 framework tree species: Archidendron clypearia, Erythrina subumbrans and Sarcosperma arboreum. Fifteen species were recorded, representing 14 genera and 12 families in 3 morphological groups: acrocarpous mosses 4 species (27%), pleurocarpous mosses 5 species (33%) and leafy liverworts 6 species (40%). Within 13 years after restoration initiation, bryophyte species richness had increased to the same level as that recorded in old-growth forest. Furthermore, the bryophyte community species composition of the older restoration forest was more similar to that of natural forest than was the bryophyte community species composition of younger forest. We conclude that the FSM effectively recovers bryophyte diversity and directs the successional trajectory of the bryophyte community towards that of old growth forest within an acceptable time span. The use of bryophytes as indicators of forest restoration progress is discussed. Keywords: Conservation, Framework species method, Liverwort, Moss, Species richness


Orthopedic (Ort), is a surgical on health care that not is common in Rural Hospital (RH). Only in countries with Australia with largest number of case (10%) around patients on trauma that to need Ort. We describe our experience on RH in San Luis Potosi. Method: In retrospective, observational, descriptive, study, all patients with Ort surgery on trauma were admitted to the Emergency Service in one


Bryophytes are sensitivity to the changes in the environment, exhibit high degree of adaptability and ability to reproduce, and play an important role as bioagents in monitoring of the ecological environment and ecological restoration. In the present study, the relationship between species composition and environment variables was elucidated by the canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), regression analysis and Hongfeng river field survey. Partial CCA was used to calculate the gross and net effects on species richness to each environmental variable. The number of bryophytes and composition similarity of species increased along with the increasing area and height of islands (Yejipo, Gantianbian Island1, Xinzhuang Island1, Hongfeng river island1, Yuanyang island1, Yuanyang island2, Hongfeng river island2, Xinzhuang island2 and Ganbiantian island2 with less human disturbance) but declined with increasing island shape index and the closest distance of island from land. Eight environmental variables totally explained 35.6% of total variation in species composition, of which the net effects of matrix, slope, herbcov, aspect, canopy, human disturbance, moisture and altitude on species composition were significant (P<0.05), however, the intensity of their effect decreased successively. Eurohypnum leptothallum is the most dominate species with little impact from environment, emerge in 77.7% of samples and coverage of at least 19.2%.


We present a quasi-linear algorithm to compute isogenies between Jacobians of curves of genus 2 and 3 starting from the equation of the curve and a maximal isotropic subgroup of the l-torsion, for l an odd prime number, generalizing the V\'elu's formula of genus 1. This work is based from the paper "Computing functions on Jacobians and their quotients" of Jean-Marc Couveignes and Tony Ezome. We improve their genus 2 case algorithm, generalize it for genus 3 hyperelliptic curves and introduce a way to deal with the genus 3 non-hyperelliptic case, using algebraic theta functions.


Sinoatrial node (SAN) is the primary cardiac pacemaker, characterized by the highest autorhythmicity in the conducting system of heart, which is based on automatic depolarization originating from the coordinated activity of different membrane ionic channels. There has been much recent study of the development of engineered cardiac biopacemakers mimicking the function of SAN; in-depth understanding the physiological pacing mechanism of SAN has played a key role. This article describes ionic current and the corresponding ionic channels involved in the process of automatic depolarization of SAN.


In current,the innovations of ideological and political education work contain the followingsome aspect:the first is the sense innovation,the second is content innovation,the third ismethod innovation,the fourth is education means' innovation,the fifth is mechanism innovation.


Ami Schattner and Natasha Kozack describe and illustrate a unique and unfamiliar physical sign.[1][1] Better-known differential diagnoses for enlarged supraclavicular fossae include obesity and Cushing's syndrome. The one time that I observed such enlargement unilaterally was in an obese woman who


Character projection (CP) is a high-speed mask-less exposure technique for electron-beam direct writing (EBDW). In CP exposure of VIA layers, higher throughput is realized if more VIAs are exposed in each EB shot, but it will result in huge number of VIA characters required for arbitrary VIA placement. We adopt one-dimensional VIA array as the basic CP character architecture to increase VIA numbers in an EB shot while saving the stencil area by superposed character arrangement. CP throughput is further improved by layout constraints for VIA placement in detail routing phase. Our experimental results give estimated EB shot counts less than 174G shot/wafer in 14nm technologies.


In this paper, we study the dynamic behavior of a one-dimensional linear thermoviscoelastic system with Dirichlet boundary conditions. A remarkable characteristic is that the system operator is not of compact resolvent. Using the asymptotic analysis technique, it is shown that there are three branches of eigenvalues: two of them are along the negative real axis approaching-∞ and another branch, distributing on the negative real axis, converges to a negative real point which is the unique continuous spectrum. Moreover, the set of generalized eigenfunctions forms a Riesz basis for the energy state space. Consequently, the spectrum-determined growth condition holds true, and an exponential stability is concluded. Finally, some numerical simulations are presented.


This article describes possible solutions to this problem using recycled building materials. Three approaches to choosing an optimum organisational and technological solution are presented, compared, and analysed. A chart is given for choosing the organisational and technological solution to erect a building. The most promising approach to finding an optimum is highlighted. It is modelling of the construction of buildings, structures, and complexes as the most effective and justified approach incorporating the best aspects of the first two and offering an opportunity to accomplish the task in the most objective way.


The paper is devoted to the problem of creation and development of effective and perspective control means and methods for correction of voltage and current level and harmonic spectrum by means of active and hybrid correction systems. The main types and topologies of active and hybrid correction systems on the base of active and passive filters are presented and analyzed. The advantages and disadvantages of the main existing theories and methods of harmonic detection and compensation are presented and analyzed. The universal control algorithm and control system structure for active and hybrid correction systems are proposed. The proposed control system structure and algorithm are based on existing theories of harmonic compensation and power decomposition, current physical components, and p-q theory. The efficiency of proposed algorithm and control system is proved by results of mathematic modeling and computer simulation.


Statistical thinking will be an emphasis of statistics course teaching that developing students'statistical thinking.Therefore this paper deals with how to cultivate students' statistical thinking for research purpose and achieve it through the innovation of educational idea,the reform of teaching content,changing teaching patterns and methods in the teaching process.


Objective:To explore the effect of the rehabilitation nursing to the diseases progress in vascular dementias of communities. Method:Seventy-two vascular dement are randomly recruited in study group and control group. For the study group, in addition to medicine treatment, a systematic and long-term nursing for rehabilitation of neurological function fit with each case is delivered simultaneously, in comparison with that of only medicine treatment in control group. Assessments on defects of neurological function as well as ability for dealing with daily life are respectively made before and after 1 year of treatment. Results:The two criteria assessed show an obvious improvement of both neurological function and ability for daily life in patients of the study group, a significant difference with that of the control group(p0.01).Conclusion:The rehabilitation nursing for vascular dementias in community plays an important role in improving the symptorns and ability for daily life of patients.


In Indonesia Rosella Flowers are used as herbal tea. The process of brewing Rosella Tea is brew 3 – 4 dried rosella petals with 200ml hot water. This brewing process takes a long time from 10 minute or 15 minute. One of way to improved is crushing the rosella flower to little shape with apply PID method. This machine use Atmega32 as controller, speed sensor, laser sensor, and DC Motor as actuator. The working principle of this machine is to stabilize DC motor speed, effective procces is at 900 RPM, in this speed takes 07 minutes 15 seconds to finished the process, and laser sensor has not detected rosella flower to crushing the system will turn off automatically. With percentage overshoot  10.2 %,  settling time 245 seconds, and biggest error of speed sensor is 2.6 % . The reuslt from speed sensor will display at LCD 2*16 to make easily to analysis.


It was shown in Eilenberg-Nagao-Nakayama [3] (Theorem 8 and § 4) that if Ω is an algebra (with unit element) over a field K with (Ω: K) <∞ and if the cohomolgical dimension of Ω, dim Ω, is ≦ 1, then every residue-algebra of Ω has a finite cohomological dimension. In the present note we prove a theorem of converse type, which gives, when combined with the cited result, a rather complete general picture of algebras whose residue-algebras are all of finite cohomological dimension.


In a 68-year-old man admitted in deep shock, prompt echocardiographic diagnosis of postinfarction left ventricular free wall rupture was followed by probably life-saving pericardiocentesis. At emergency surgery a 2 cm linear tear in the anterolateral wall of the left ventricle was successfully repaired with a glued-on pericardial patch, without infarctectomy or placement of sutures in the infarcted area.


To determine the logistics, benefits, and challenges of
developing and implementing an international undergraduate research network, the authors analyzed the
Matariki Undergraduate Research Network (MURN).
MURN attempted to connect undergraduate students
from four countries across two years, with 21 and 23
students respectively. Using mixed methods, the authors
explored faculty and student experiences of MURN.
Although MURN worked well at the local level, it had
limited success at a global level. Teaching across time
zones and academic-year differences posed the biggest challenges. Students and faculty reported a range
of benefits typical of engagement with undergraduate
research but noted weak international connections. A
credit-bearing program with partners in similar time
zones and academic-year systems, as well as a requirement for collaborative projects across institutions, are
recommended.


Abstract Meat quality of Suffolk cross (Border Leicester-Romney cross) lamb carcasses was assefsecl by taste panels and by objective measures of shear force and sarcomere length. In one experiment the quality of meat from lambs raised on pasture was at least as good as that from lambs receiving either barley-based pellets or a diet containing high levels of protected polyunsaturated fatty acids (PPF A) for an ex:ended period (mean of 112 days). The PPFA-fed group produced meat significantly tougher and less juicy than did pasture-fed lambs; its least acceptable characteristic was flavour. Some sets of measurements indicated that barley feeding slightly decreased tenderness, flavour, and juiciness relative to pasture feeding. Carcass fat from the PPFA-fed lambs contained an average of 22.9% linoleic acid; non-carcass fat depots had higher levels. The ratio oleic: stearic acid was higher in fat from lambs fed barley than from those fed pasture. A second experiment showed little difference between meat quali...


This paper looks at the issue of labour market adjustment in the context of expanded international trade of NAFTA economies both within the region and more generally. The study focuses on the period 1990-1998, a time frame that covers several years prior to and after the formation of NAFTA. Trade flows of the member countries are analysed using measures of static intra-industry trade (IIT) and dynamic (marginal) intra-industry trade (MIIT). Inferences are drawn from these results on the basis of the "smooth adjustment hypothesis" according to which IIT entails relatively low factor-market adjustment costs. The paper concludes that for trade flows within NAFTA, less labour market adjustment pressures are being experienced by the US and Mexico in terms of their relationship. A similar observation can be made for US-Canada trade. Trade between Canada and Mexico is seen as causing relatively more adjustment pressure compared to other intra-regional flows. In terms of the trade of NAFTA members with major trading partners outside of the group, the results are mixed.


Background Tumour cells often exhibit altered energy metabolism for tumour progression, but whether long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in this process remains elusive. We aimed to identify novel lncRNAs significantly affecting the development of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (ESCC) and investigate the metabolism-related mechanisms. Methods A siRNA library was established using top 100 lncRNAs highly expressed in ESCC screened from TCGA database and transfected into ESCC cells to identify lncRNAs that significantly affected cell glucose metabolism and proliferation. RNAscope in situ hybridization, qRT-PCR and RNAi assays were performed to investigate the functional role of lncRNA AGPG (Actin Gamma 1 Pseudogene) and clinical relevance. In vivo, cell-based and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models were used to further explore roles of AGPG in ESCC tumorigenesis. RNA pull-down, mass spectrometry analyses, western blot and RNA-binding protein immunoprecipitation (RIP) were performed to identify interaction proteins and related mechanisms. Results We identified that lncRNA AGPG was markedly increased in ESCC and correlated with poor prognosis. AGPG depletion significantly repressed ESCC cell proliferation and glycolytic activity including decreased glucose uptake and increased lactate production. In vivo experiments further showed that silencing AGPG decreased tumours growth in cell-based xenografts and PDX models. Mechanistically, AGPG could interact with 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2, 6-biphosphatase 3 (PFKFB3) in the nucleus, thus enhancing PFKFB3 stability via preventing its ubiquitination and proteosomal degradation. Subsequently, AGPG-PFKFB3 promoted glycolysis and dysregulated cell cycle by suppressing p27 and over-activating cyclin-dependent kinase 1(CDK1), thereby leading to G1/S cell cycle progression. Additionally, TP53 could bind to the promoter of AGPG to negatively regulate its expression. Conclusions We first identified that AGPG, which is regulated by TP53, is playing a pivotal role in glucose metabolism remodelling and cell proliferation through enhancing PFKFB3 stability, thus facilitating the development of ESCC. Collectively, our study suggests that TP53-AGPG-PFKFB3 axis might serve as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets in ESCC.


Because the motor and reducer of the conventional tandem welding robot are installed at the revolute joint, the robot has large rotational inertia and long residual vibration time. However, due to the limitation of workspace and other reasons, the current parallel robot is not suitable for all series welding robots. Therefore, based on the concept of "multi-degree-of-freedom controllable mechanism", a new controllable mechanism welding robot is proposed in this paper. The driving motor and reducer, which have great influence on the main and branch chain of the welding robot, are installed on the frame. The advantage of this design is that the inertia of the robot mechanism is significantly reduced, and its dynamic performance is improved. The position errors of the end members of the welding robot moving along the circle, as well as the angle errors of each joints under the circle movements are analysed.


As one of the important water sources of the desert ecosystem in the Tarim Basin, the largest fishery base in Xinjiang, and the former largest inland and freshwater lake of China, the water quality of Bosten Lake is worthy of government and public attention. To determine the water's hydrochemical composition and the water quality of Bosten Lake, analyses of the spatial distribution, water pollution status and irrigation suitability were conducted with statistical methods, including redundancy and factor analyses, inverse distance weighted interpolation, and water quality assessment and saturation index simulation of minerals in the water from a survey done in 2018. The results suggested that the average total dissolved solids (TDS) of Bosten Lake in 2018 was 1.32 g/L, and the lake is alkaline with a pH of 8.47. The strength of the water exchange capacity affected the spatial distribution of TDS. The spatial distribution of TDS and its value can be significantly changed by restoring the water supply of seasonal rivers in the northwest. The water of Bosten Lake contains sulfate and sodium groups, which are mainly affected by lake evaporation. As the pH increases, the content of carbonate ions increases, while the content of bicarbonate ions decreases. The spatial distributions of other major ions are consistent with that of the TDS. The spatial distribution of potentially toxic elements is more complicated than that of major ions. In general, the spatial distribution of Cu and As is more consistent with the spatial distribution of electrical conductivity or TDS. The spatial distributions of the Zn, Se and pH values are more consistent with respect to other variables. Although the water of Bosten Lake is still at a permissible level for water irrigation, the lake is moderately polluted, and the local site almost has a highly polluted status. The research results are of great significance for lake environmental protection and management as well as watershed ecological restoration.


This article compares campaign literature, official broadcasts and the wider media coverage of Laguiller's and Voynet's campaigns, with particular reference to women's issues, feminist politics and the respective media representation of the candidates as women. It explores the extent to which Laguiller's and Voynet's presence in the elections exerted pressure on mainstream candidates to put the issue of women's representation higher on the political agenda.


Profit Tax Act (Nar. Nov. no. 177/04, 90/05) especially regulates the issue of transfer prices between residents and non-residents are acceptable with the market prices in the same circumstances. In the article, the author analyses the method of transfer price establishing, explaining also the choice of particular methods. He, besides, explains shortly also possible profit tawation with respect to transfer prices.


was writing to her brother at Harvard that "Sarah & Abba are studying Botany and one would think they hold converse only with the flowers for they in a manner seclude themselves from human observation & from communication with animal nature. I dont know what flower they affect to emulate but I dare say they are known to each other under some order or class of the Lin[na]ean system." If the Harvard student should write to his sister, Bradford advised him to "talk about calyx, corolla, & petals & I will engage you will be read."2 Without realizing it, Sarah and Abba were part of a fashionable trend that was drawing many young women into the study of botany. The simplicity of the new binomial system of classification devised by Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)-which categorized plants according to the number and position of the stamens and pistils of their flowersopened the field of botany to amateurs, many of whom made major contributions in describing and classifying plants. Wives and daughters were introduced to the study as helpers of botanist husbands and fathers. Linnaeus's daughter Elizabeth Christina saw her report on phosphorescence in nasturtiums published in the Transactions of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1762.3 In this country, Jane Colden (1724-1766) was introduced to botany by her father, Cadwallader Colden, who wrote the first local flora of New York based on the Linnaean


The article analyses some elements of the Andean cosmovision that originated the New Latin-American Constitutionalism, and specially, the right to the water. In this new culture, oriented to the Buen Vivir (well living), the human right to the goods indispensable to the life is seen as a common inheritance, hence projecting itself to all living creatures, as well as to the future generations. This understanding represents a paradigmatic change already present in some Constitutions, as from Bolivia and Equator, assuming the understanding of the community in harmony, respect and equilibrium with life, celebrating the Pachamama (Mother Earth) from which all the living creatures are a part. In this perspective, having the Biocentric Ethics as a fundament, they bound the right to water to the right to the nature, orienting its management to the Buen Vivir . In this context, the political changes and the new social processes of fighting in the Latina-American States gave birth not only to new Constitutions, resulting in new social actors, plural realities and challenging biocentric practices, but, equally, considering the diversity of the cultures from the minorities, the uncontested strength from the indigenous peoples from the continent, the sustainable development policies and the protection of the natural common resources, point to a new constitutionalist paradigm, a Pluralistic Constitutionalism – synthesis of an indigenous, autochthonous, hybrid Constitutionalism.


textbooks until after World War Two! Little exists in English literature on the adoption of relativity in the U.S.S.R. So we all should welcome the contribution by V. Vizgin and G. Gorelik, with much detail on the evolution of Russian scientists' views both before and after the Revolution. An extensive bibliography covers both the Moscow school (Lebedev, Umov and others) and the Petersburg initiates (Khvol'son, Ioffe), particularly those influenced by P. Ehrenfest's short stay. Despite loss of western literature, the Russian physicists and mathematicians embraced Einstein's theory more readily than their American colleagues. One would have liked to read more about popular and philosophical reaction in the U.S.S.R. The same can certainly be said of B. Sredniawa's short discussion of Polish physicists' reactions. T. Kaneko tells the fascinating situation in Japan. Unconcerned with Japanese scientists' reactions, he throws his analysis entirely to the popular resonances of Einstein (much more than relativity) in a rapidly changing and Germanophilic inter-war Japan. Kaneko's English is sometimes difficult to follow (the editor should have intervened), and the conclusions more than occasionally stray from the facts, but here are the reasons for and effects of Einstein's visit to that island nation in 1922 at just the moment that he was awarded the Nobel prize. The award for creativity goes to L. Pyenson's imaginative retelling of the German situation, carrying the injunction of the editor ('treat the reception of relativity as a seamless web, a culture-wide phenomenon') to truly revolutionary extremes. He fashions a closer identity than he can stretch between the German reaction to Einstein and the French revolution of 1789: Planck as Danton of the Berlin Montagnards, Minkowski as Vergniaud of the Gottingen Girondins, and Einstein as a disinterested Robespierre! Caveat lector, but enjoyably so!


Historical review of the organizational structures and organizational designs that have existed at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos and in the Faculty of Medicine regarding the procurement of goods and services. There is an inadequate formulation of the design faculty at the Rectory and the failure to give as a result of supply and financing of students and teachers in procurement. Structural incompatibility, School Governing Bodies impede coordination among them. Implementation is proposed in the organizational structure of the Faculty of the Office of Logistics and the redesign of organizational structures of the Rectory and School. Is recommended to implement and satisfaction opinion surveys and feasibility studies for establishing an Executive Unit


1 To investigate synaptic mechanisms mediating chemosensory signalling in the carotid body, we developed co‐cultures of chemoreceptor type 1 cell clusters and dissociated petrosal neurones (PNs) from 7‐ to 14‐day‐old rat pups and tested for functional connectivity in CO2–HCO3− ‐or Hepes‐buffered medium at ∼35 °C. 2 When cultured without type 1 cells, PNs were almost always quiescent (n= 104) and unresponsive to hypoxia (PO2= 5–25 mmHg) during perforated patch, whole‐cell recordings of membrane potential or voltage‐activated currents; in contrast, many PNs (77 out of 170) that were juxtaposed to type 1 cell clusters in co‐culture displayed spontaneous activity, comprising spikes and subthreshold potentials (SSPs) that resembled synaptic potentials. 3 Additional tests suggested that de novo chemical synapses developed between PNs and type 1 cell clusters in vitro. For example: (i) the spontaneous activity was reversibly suppressed by substituting low calcium‐high magnesium in the bath; (ii) SSPs had variable amplitudes and persisted following action potential blockade with TTX (1 μm); (iii) the interval distribution between successive spontaneous events appeared random; and (iv) the frequency of spontaneous potentials was diminished (reversibly) by the nicotinic antagonist hexamethonium (100 /tM), suggesting contributions from the spontaneous release of ACh. 4 Many complexes of 'juxtaposed' PNs and type 1 clusters were physiologically functional, since exposure to hypoxia caused a reversible depolarization and/or increased spike discharge in ∼30% of such neurones (n= 140). The hypoxia‐induced spike discharge persisted in the presence of the dopamine D2 receptor blocker spiperone (10–50 μm; n= 5); however, this discharge was reversibly inhibited by 100–200 μm hexamethonium, suggesting that it was mediated, at least in part, by ACh acting through nicotinic receptors. 5 The hypoxia‐induced spike discharge and frequency of spontaneous potentials in co‐cultured PNs were reversibly suppressed when the buffer was switched from C02‐HC03∼ to Hepes (10 mm) at pH 7.4;′further, 'functional' PNs that displayed spontaneous activity and/or hypoxia‐induced responses in co‐culture were encountered more frequently in CO2–HCO3− (≥ 40 %) than in Hepes (≤26 %) buffer. 6 We conclude that functional chemical synapses can develop de novo in cultures of carotid body type 1 cells and PNs and that ACh is probably an important excitatory neuro‐transmitter secreted from type 1 cells during hypoxic chemotransduction in the rat carotid body.


In this paper, we study the close relationship between Reed-Muller codes and single-qubit phase gates from the perspective of T -count optimization. We prove that minimizing the number of T gates in an n-qubit quantum circuit over CNOT and T , together with the Clifford group powers of T , corresponds to finding a minimum distance decoding of a length 2−1 binary vector in the order n−4 punctured Reed-Muller code. Moreover, we show that the problems are polynomially equivalent in the length of the code. As a consequence, we derive an algorithm for the optimization of T -count in quantum circuits based on Reed-Muller decoders, along with a new upper bound of O(n) on the number of T gates required to implement an n-qubit unitary over CNOT and T gates. We further generalize this result to show that minimizing small angle rotations corresponds to decoding lower order binary Reed-Muller codes. In particular, we show that minimizing the number of Rz(2π/d) gates for any integer d is equivalent to minimum distance decoding in RM(n− k − 1, n), where k is the highest power of 2 dividing d.


Joanne Gerould was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she benefitted from educational opportunities but suffered emotional neglect, especially from her mother.


In [2] J. Berger and Ishihara proved, via a circle of informal implications involving countable choice, that Brouwer's Fan Theorem for detachable bars on the binary fan is equivalent in Bishop's sense to various principles including a version WKL! of Weak König's Lemma with a strong effective uniqueness hypothesis. Schwichtenberg [9] proved the equivalence directly and formalized his proof in Minlog. We verify that his result does not require countable choice, and derive a separation principle SP from the Fan Theorem, in a minimal intuitionistic system M of analysis with function comprehension. In contrast, WKL!! comes from Weak König's lemma WKL by adding the hypothesis that any two infinite paths must agree. WKL!! is interderivable over M with the conjunction of a consequence of Markov's Principle and the double negation of WKL. This decomposition is in the spirit of Ishihara's [4] and J. Berger's [1]. Kleene's function realizability and the author's modified realizability establish that WKL!! is strictly weaker than WKL and strictly stronger than WKL!.


Vespula squarnosa. A typical mature nest would contain a stack ot four to eight horizontal combs with cells opening downward, these being enclosed bs a multilasered paper envelope. Nest expansion occurs laterally and downward, and the casitv is enlarged by workers as more space is needed. The dorsal surface of the oldest worker comb (left) and the inside of the envelope that covered it (right), which has been folded away from it, clearly show the lighter color and different texture of V. maculilrons paper in the center. This nest is approximatelv the size of a softball.


For years the PC community has struggled to provide secure solutions on open platforms. Intel has developed innovative new technology to enable SW developers to develop and deploy secure applications on open platforms. The technology enables applications to execute with confidentiality and integrity in the native OS environment. It does this by providing ISA extensions for generating hardware enforceable containers at a granularity determined by the developer. These containers while opaque to the operating system are managed by the OS. This paper analyzes the threats and attacks to applications. It then describes the ISA extension for generating a HW based container. Finally it describes the programming model of this container.


This paper is concerned with instantaneous jumps in the state trajectory of a singular system. It is shown that such jumps generically exist at the initial time due to inconsistent initial states. The formula for the jumps is derived, which indicates that the jumps linearly depend on the initial state. Moreover, the set of all initial states which do not cause any state jumps for any output feedback is characterized and is revealed to be a linear subspace. In the meantime, the necessary and sufficient conditions are given for the existence of an output feedback to suppress completely the jumps for a given initial state. Finally, we formulate the problem of designing an output feedback not only to stabilize the plant but also to achieve minimum initial jumps as a minimization problem. >


The present invention relates to a manufacturing apparatus and method for a battery terminal plate, more specifically, electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, solar cells, a terminal plate for a large lithium ion secondary battery in which is applied to a power tool reserved shortest distance by - (feedback one step transfer), - using a forging method not press method, and supplies the processed material, shifting the transfer distance of the transfer feeder for transferring each molding and processing steps return method during processing the outer shape of the work piece molding is completed by punching, advance pre processing so as not to reach the standard designed (primary processing), finishing to fit the standard (secondary processing) battery terminal plate method of manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing. .FIELD 1


Farmland protection compensation policy is based on environmental protection and mobilizes farmers' enthusiasm to protect the ecological environment through economic incentives. Based on the survey data of farmers, this article analyzes the impact of farmland protection compensation policies on the household income, household expenditures, labor supply and non-agricultural labor transfer of the interviewed farmers. Studies have shown that the implementation of farmland protection compensation policies can significantly increase the per capita income and per capita expenditure of beneficiary farmers. Farmland protection compensation policies can increase the input of beneficiary farmers' families in agricultural labor and reduce the transfer of non-agricultural labor from beneficiary farmers' families. The purpose of farmland environmental protection is to encourage relevant stakeholders to cherish and rationally use the land, and to ensure the sustainable and reasonable use of the ecological environment


ABSTRACT In the domain of time series, different dissimilarity measures are applied for comparing sequences, the most successful ones being based on dynamic programming. Such measures include Longest Common SubSequence () and Dynamic Time Warping (DTW). In this article, a novel method is proposed to measure the dissimilarity of time series. We propose a parametric combination of and derivative DTW. The new dissimilarity measure is used in classification with the 1NN rule. We empirically compare our new approach to and DTW used separately and demonstrate its superiority in classification accuracy. In addition, our method is statistically comparable with method proposed by Lines and Bagnall considered so far the most accurate method of time series classification.


1. Introduction 2. Envisioning Social Landscapes of Interconnection 3. Reshaping Difference and Interdependence: The Transformation of Family Life and Divisions of Labour into the Twentieth Century 4. Contemporary Transformations in Gender, Work and Family 5. Disposition and Position: Norms, Attitudes and Commitments to Children, Work and Self 6. Life Course Transitions and the Changing Landscape of Opportunity and Constraint 7. Ethnicity and Contexts of Belonging and Exclusion 8. Difference, Hierarchy and Perceptions of Social Justice 9. Conclusion Endnotes References


The eighteenth chapter of I Kings, describing the trial scene on Mt. Carmel, has probably caught the attention of everyone at some period. My own interest was re-awakened through reviewing a short monograph by Otto Eissfeldt called Der Colt Karmel. In 1952, or thereabouts, Avi-Yonah, one of the foremost Israeli archaeologists of the day, while visiting the museum of the Monastery of Elijah which stands on the ancient traditional site of his triumph on the N.W. spur of Mt. Carmel overlooking the Mediterranean, found a stone foot inscribed in Greek: ~tl cHi\W7TOAEtT?} KapJ1-~AqJ / r. lOVA. EVTVXClS / Koi\(wv) KatlTapEVs-, "To Heliopoleitan Zeus Carmel from Gaius Julius Eutychas, citizen of Caesarea ". This Caesarea lay on the sea-coast some twenty miles south of Carmel, but of course we know nothing more of this Eutychas, though the lettering of the inscription is said to suggest a date about A.D. 200. The weight of the stone foot makes it unlikely that it has been carried very far from its original home in some sanctuary on Mt. Carmel itself. It seems indubitable that this stone foot is not part of a statue, but a votive offering commemorating a successful divine intervention in the votary's affairs2• This find is of importance because of the occurrence in the inscription of the word Karmelos as a divine name. Classical authors such as Tacitus, Suetonius and Orosius have also referred to the existence of a sanctuary on Mt. Carmel, the first named going so far as to state that the name of the deity as well as of his home was Carmel3-a statement which had been rejected by several scholars in the past but which now seems to be proved, since the inscription on the stone foot would indicate that the well-known Zeus Heliopoleites has been identified with the local god Carmel-a very common type of identification, as may be verified from A. B. Cook, Zeus I, pp. 549-576, etc. Already in 1935, however, Albrecht Alt had advanced the theory that the Baal against whom Elijah campaigned on Mt. Carmel in the 9th century B.C. was simply the local deity of Mt. Carmel-the ba'al or "Lord" of the area. The surprising thing is that through the vicissitudes of over a millennium of troubled history the god Carmel somehow managed to preserve his identity.


This thesis project was done in collaboration with Nikolaos Kitsoukis who is a BA Design graduate from Kymenlaakson Ammattikorkeakoulu, University of Applied Sciences. Mr Kitsoukis established the start-up company SmellColorSix during the Patteri Entrepreneurship Society's Summer Camp 2014. At this event participants could pitch their entrepreneurship business ideas to advisors, investors and business angels. The start-up company will develop and publish board games that focus on the development of intellectual facilities through game play. The first two games created focused on helping mentally disabled people or those that suffer from memory loss or dementia. More information about these games can be read in Kitsoukis's thesis 'Wellbeing game innovation' (2014). The aim of this thesis project is to establish the company's presence by creating a corporate identity with a coherent and consistent visual style. A style guide was formed to store and easily display the created rules. These rules include the usage of the company logo, colours and typography, as well as the visual style of advertisements, brochures, business cards and stationery products. A style guide acts as an introduction for graphic designers in order to understand the vision and values of the company; these create a story around a company and the visual style that supports it. This thesis analyses and interprets some existing style guides and investigates what is needed to create a 21st century visual identity for a start-up company. This thesis uses empirical research methods as well as observation and comparison of different style guides available in the public domain. The comparison analysis focuses on the differences between required content in style guides for start-ups and those of existing bigger corporations. The research question aims to scale down the visual rules to only those that are necessary for a new startup.


1. Stock returns: Return data on the value-market index are obtained from the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) at the University of Chicago. We use the NYSE/Amex value-weighted index with dividends as our market proxy, Rt+1. Quarterly returns are constructed by compounding their monthly counterparts. The h-horizon return is calculated as Rt+h = exp(rt,t+h) = exp(rt+1 + . . .+ rt+h) where rt+j = ln(Rt+j) is the 1-period log stock return between dates t+ j − 1 and t+ j and Rt+j is the simple gross return. 2. Portfolio returns: With regard to value portfolios, we form quintiles and use the returns on the High, Medium, and Low portfolios. We measure value using three alternative signals, which gives us a total of nine portfolios. The first measure of value is standard, and it is based on the ratio of the book value to the market value of equity, as in Fama and French (1992). Book values are observed each June and refer to the previous fiscal year-end in December to ensure data availability to investors at the time of portfolio formation. The most recent market values are used to compute the ratios following Asness and Frazzini (2013). Consistent with previous literature, we exclude financial firms: a


Antimicrobial activity of ethanolic extracts from Chromolaena odorata , Mangifera indica , Sida rhombifolia , Equisetum bogotense , Thymus vulgaris , Musa paradisiaca , Phytolacca bogotensis and a propolis sample, was established  by measuring  the critical concentration (CC) in two Gram(-) bacteria, three Gram(+) bacterias, a yeast and three filamentous fungi.  The results showed a high activity of propolis, C. odorata , and E. bogotense against Gram(+) bacteria (CC between 10 and 175 µg/mL). C. odorata and P. bogotensis exhibited partial inhibition of C. albicans and Aspergillus niger respectively


A stable algorithm for a concave programming problem on a feasible polyhedron determined by bounds and a scalar equality condition is proposed. The algorithm is based on the branch and bound scheme, where the tested regions are cut off by successively reducing the size of a hyperparallelepiped that encloses the feasible region.


Human movement analysis is frequently accomplished through multibody optimisation which enforces joint constraints between adjacent segments. Multibody optimisation is a key step in musculoskeletal modelling and is commonly used for kinematic and dynamic analysis with the aim of compensating for the soft tissue artefact and avoid apparent joint dislocations found when using single ? body optimisation. The model ? derived kinematics largely depends on the definition of the joint models. Moreover, the level of validation of the multibody optimisation is not well established. A literature review was performed in order to determine the different lower limb models used in multibody optimisation and their validity. An electronic search was performed (in January 2016) in Embase, Medline, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science. Logical expressions for the search included ?optim* or kalman', ?kinemat* joint', ?subject or human or limb', and ?model* or over*determ*'. The search was based on the title, keywords and abstract. After removing duplicates, the number of articles was 1441. According to exclusion criteria (no English language, conference proceeding, single body or under ? constrained optimisation, no kinematics results reported, predictive simulation, markerless, sensorless or single ? camera motion analysis, application in cadaveric specimens, animal, robots and machines) the number of selected articles was 66. The most current lower limb kinematic chains included spherical hip, hinge knee and universal ankle joints. The universal joint at the ankle was either modelled as concurrent or non ? concurrent axes to account for both talocrural and subtalar joints. Alternatively, spherical hip, knee and ankle joints have been also widely used in multibody optimisation. Parallel mechanisms or four ? bar mechanisms were also proposed for the knee and ankle joints. Other knee and ankle joint models relied on the definition of coupling equations between the degrees of freedom. Additionally, ?soft constraints' that defined deformable ligaments with a penalty ? based method and fully deformable knee joints were also proposed. Only 8 articles reported validation of the model ? derived kinematics against reference data (i.e., intra ? cortical pins, fluoroscopy, and radiography). Some authors used simulated data as reference or performed sensitivity analysis. Most of the studies analysed the residuals errors on the marker positions or compared the kinematics obtained with and without multibody optimisation. When validated against reference data, the typical errors for the model ? derived tibiofemoral rotations were between 1° and 22° during squat, gait and running movements and the errors were maximal for internal ? external rotation. Moreover, 8 studies reported subject ? specific joint constraints based on medical imaging (MRI, fluoroscopy and radiology). Due to the soft tissue artifact, valid joint kinematics cannot be obtained without introducing some joint constraints to prevent from apparent joint dislocation. Thus, model ? derived kinematics obtained with joint constraints that impede or prescribe some of the degrees of freedom may appear more physiological but their validation is not fully achieved yet. The definition of ?soft' and/or subject ? specific joint constraints are promising but needs further validations.