The continuous growth in the use of engineering software in the practice of engineering has impacted engineering education. Graduates are increasingly expected to be familiar with several engineering software packages. Although the use of engineering software has allowed for the removal of some course content, there is still not adequate time to teach the use of software in the classroom. The use of asynchronous computer based training provides an effective means of instruction of engineering software that is self paced and does not take away from class time used to cover theory and fundamentals. Students react positively to the computer based instruction since it can be accessed on their schedule, at their own pace, and repeated as necessary. Obstacles to the development of materials have been overcome through the use of inexpensive screen capture software that is easy to use and can be produced in minutes. Such software has been used in Mechanical Engineering to teach Pro-Engineer in a Freshman Engineering Graphics course, MathCAD and Working Model in a Kinematics and Dynamics course, LabView in a Measurements and Instrumentation course, and is being developed for teaching Visual Nastran in a Finite Elements course. The initial impact of introducing asynchronous computer based training in each course is discussed in addition to the methods used to develop materials. A web-based faculty development resource is described that is available to assist in the development of like materials and as a repository for developed materials. INTRODUCTION Engineering education faces a new challenge with the growing power and propensity of computers. Engineering software is readily available that allow for design, simulation, analysis, and control that push the capabilities of a trained engineer to new heights. The power of these new tools has become such that it is hard to imagine the practice of engineering without them. While these new tools have lessened the importance of some engineering content the majority of the engineering curriculum has been unaffected. Although students need to be familiar with the new software it cannot come at the expense of a solid understanding of the fundamentals of key topics taught in the classroom. If significant time cannot be diverted for the teaching of software in the classroom other methods must be used. Asynchronous computer based training gives a powerful alternative to classroom instruction for the teaching of engineering software. The teaching of core engineering principles requires interpretation and a developed understanding that generally requires discussion with the instructor. The learning of engineering software however is more easily adapted to computerbased training. One of the key advantages of computer-based training is that the training and student interaction with the software occurs on the same platform. The use of asynchronous P ge 849.1 delivery allows students to enter the training at the appropriate level. Students can select additional training in areas of weakness and skip ahead if they are familiar with a topic. Additionally, students can receive training on their own schedule and at their own pace. The materials can easily be delivered through the Internet or on CDs making training available in computer labs or on home computers. Finally, the instruction can be repeated and reviewed if students need repetition to grasp and retain instructions. One of the roadblocks to the extensive development of computer-based training has been the required investment of time. The development of real-time screen capture technology has reduced the investment of time to that of classroom instruction with the advantage that it can be delivered asynchronously outside of the classroom. Four courses were identified in the mechanical engineering curriculum where significant teaching of engineering software was required. Pro-Engineer is taught in a Freshman Engineering Graphics course, MathCAD and Working Model are used in a Kinematics and Dynamics of Mechanisms course, LabView is taught in a Measurements and Instrumentation course, and material is being developed for teaching Visual Nastran in a Finite Elements course. Under funding from a NSF CCLI grant, instructional materials were developed which incorporates screen capture movies for use in asynchronous computer-based training. SCREEN CAPTURE The development of instructional materials for the teaching of engineering software has been made possible through the use of real-time screen capture software. Although several screen capture programs exist, Camtasia by TechSmith was selected for its compatibility with other software, minimal impact on the processor, ease of use, and compression of output files. The program operates like a simple tape recorder. A record button starts the screen capture and a function key stops the movie and saves to a file. The program can be configured to visually display mouse clicks, highlight the cursor position, and record audio and screen activity in real time. The screen is relatively static for most instruction, which significantly reduces the size of the screen capture movies. Most movies were recorded at a screen resolution of 600x800 with eightbit color. The audio format was set to eight-bit mono sampled at 11kHz using PCM compression. With these settings and typical screen activity for teaching software applications the movies require about 1.0MB per minute. It is therefore possible to record several hours of instruction on a CD, which can easily be distributed to students. The files can be saved as AVI files that can be played with the Windows media player or any application that plays AVI files. The Real One Player plays movies back full scale by default, which is a distinct advantage when trying to read small text such as menu items in pull down menus. The choice of 600x800 resolution for screen captures gives sufficient screen size for most applications and gives room for the Media player controls when viewed. Although the movies can be played back using fullscreen mode the students are encouraged to jump back and forth between the application and the movie. This is most easily accomplished when both the application and the movie are visible on the screen. ENGINEERING GRAPHICS P ge 849.2 Figure 1. A tutorial movie used to walk students through the homework step by step. The screen capture movies were first developed for the engineering graphics course out of a tremendous need for individual assistance in the lab. The diversity of student backgrounds and abilities made the group teaching of CAD software very ineffective even with the use of lab assistants. After an hour of classroom instruction some students had retained all of the instruction and were ready to progress while others were stuck on the first set of instructions. In an effort to keep everyone in the class productive a number of screen capture movies as shown in Figure 1 were made that walked the students through the homework assignments. The movies were simply recordings of the instructor doing each homework assignment. The first set of instructional movies comprised of approximately 10 hours of instruction used over a fifteen-week period. The materials were delivered on a web site with access to lecture notes, games, and quizzes as described in an article by Crown (1999). The use of the instructional movies in the lab significantly changed the pace of the course. Students that caught onto material quickly would watch the movie in its entirety and then do the homework on their own using the knowledge they had gained through watching the movie. These students were not impacted by the development of the movies and had been successful with classroom instruction. The majority of students, however, would watch a portion of the movie


The Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS) are promising solutions for the production of lighter automobiles which reduce fuel consumption and increase passenger safety by improving crash-worthiness. Transformation Induced Plasticity Steel (TRIP) are part of the advanced high strength steels which offers a high strength and toughness combination with excellent uniform elongation. However, the higher alloying content of these steel limits their weldability and the thermal cycle of a welding process destroys the carefully designed microstructure which results in inferior mechanical properties of the weld. The aim of this work is to improve our understanding of the response of the material to welding by (i) studying the microstructural evolution during weld thermal cycles of specific joining processes generally employed in automotive manufacturing, (ii) the use of specific heat treatments and (iii) the influence of thermal cycles on the final properties of the welded material. The experimental investigations on the microstructural evolution during welding showed that the presence of strong oxidizing elements such as aluminium and silicon lead to the formation of non-metallic inclusions in the fusion zones. The partitioning of aluminium to the solidifying fusion and grain boundaries in the fusion zone leads to the stabilization of ferrite in aluminium containing TRIP steels. The magnetic, dilatometric and synchrotron X-ray diffraction analyses described the phase transformation kinetics and lattice parameter behaviour during heating and cooling thermal cycles representative of typical welding conditions. Experiments also indicated ambient temperature transformation of austenite after cooling. The mechanical properties of the welded TRIP steels were affected by the distribution of retained austenite in the weld zone and its stability at room temperature after welding. Based on the findings of this research, recommondations were made to the welding industry to avoid inherent metallurgical problems that may arise during welding of TRIP steels in practice.


The controllers for H/sub /spl infin// generalized regulator problem exist if and only if two given Riccati equations have solutions and the product of the solutions meets the restrictive condition of spectral radius. Then the controllers can be generated with these data. Up to now, the existing algorithms could only be used to solve Riccati algebraic equations and compute the corresponding optimal H/sub /spl infin//-norm, which arise from the infinite horizon H/sub /spl infin// control problem. The precise integration method, which is developed on the basis of the theory of analogy between structural mechanics and optimal control, can be employed to solve both Riccati differential and algebraic equations. Therefore, the finite and infinite horizon H/sub /spl infin// regulator problems can be solved using the same method. The paper presents the procedure of solving the Riccati differential equations and computing the optimal H/sub /spl infin//-norm combined with the extended W-W algorithm. It is the essential step in synthesizing controllers for the finite horizon H/sub /spl infin// generalized regulator problem.


Geographers have, in recent years, attempted to develop an anti-racist research and teaching agenda. Critical to this endeavour has been an engagement directly with the theories and philosophies of key activists and scholars, such as W. E. B. DuBois and Richard Wright. Contributing to this effort, I provide a study of Malcolm X. As an activist and outspoken member of the African American Civil Rights Movement during the 1950s and 1960s, Malcolm X re-articulated Black radical thought in significant ways. In particular, Malcolm X placed a territorial dimension at the heart of the Civil Rights Movement and in so doing re-conceptualized the theoretical and practical linkages between the African American movement and other 'Third World' movements. The immediate purpose of this paper therefore is to delineate the territorial dimensions of the revolutionary thought of Malcolm X. Heuristically, this paper is situated within four broad areas of inquiry: revolutions and social movements; the thinking of space; anti-racist geographies; and the imbrication of gender and revolutionary thought. More broadly, however, this paper reiterates the call for a more sustained engagement by geographers on the theories and philosophies of Black radical intellectuals.


Abstract Although acute myocarditis and coronary vasospasm are common differential diagnoses in the case of young patients with persistent ST elevation, the association of coronary vasospasm and acute fulminant myocarditis is a rare situation1,2,3. We present the case of a 21 year-old male who presented with chest pain, ECG changes and biomarker levels initially interpreted as ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), in which severe coronary vasospasm was identified. Shortly after, he developed cardiogenic shock and fulminant acute myocarditis was suspected.


A number of ice vest manufacturers offer cooling garments containing gelled coolant rather than pure water. No data has been provided on the heat storage capacity of gelled coolants, however, or on product-specific guidelines for the use of these ice vests. An experiment was designed to compare the heat storage capacity of three commercial ice vests containing gelled coolant materials to the heat storage capacity of a water-ice vest. The experimental data show that the gelled coolants tested have significantly lower heat capacities than water. The potential effect of reduced heat storage capacity on stay times in hot environments is discussed.


Let T_Sigma be the set of ground terms over a finite ranked alphabet Sigma. We define partial autornata on T_Sigma and prove that the finitely generated congruences on T_Sigma are in one-to one correspondence (up to isomorphism) with the finite partial automata on Sigma with no inaccessible and no inessential states. We give an application in term rewriting: every ground term rewrite system has a canonical equivalent system that can be constructed in polynomial time.


Standardized reference evapotranspiration (ET) and ecosystem-specific vegetation coefficients are frequently used to estimate actual ET. However, equations for calculating reference ET have not been well validated in tropical environments. We measured ET (ET EC ) using eddy covariance (EC) towers at two irrigated sugarcane fields on the leeward (dry) side of Maui, Hawaii, USA in contrasting climates. We calculated reference ET at the fields using the short (ET 0 ) and tall (ET r ) vegetation versions of the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE) equation. The ASCE equations were compared to the Priestley–Taylor ET (ET PT ) and ET EC . Reference ET from the ASCE approaches exceeded ET EC during the mid-period (when vegetation coefficients suggest ET EC should exceed reference ET). At the windier tower site, cumulative ET r exceeded ET EC by 854 mm over the course of the mid-period (267 days). At the less windy site, mid-period ET r still exceeded ET EC , but the difference was smaller (443 mm). At both sites, ET PT approximated mid-period ET EC more closely than the ASCE equations ((ET PT -ET EC ) EC was not the result of water stress or reduced vegetation cover. Use of a custom-calibrated bulk canopy resistance improved the reference ET estimate and reduced seasonal ET discrepancy relative to ET PT and ET EC in the less windy field and had mixed performance in the windier field. These divergences suggest that modifications to reference ET equations may be warranted in some tropical regions.


This paper describes how all organizations have their internal annual budget planning process. They go through the call for capital projects, different department managers submit their requests, projects are prioritized and few projects are funded based on the completeness of the package, past performance history and available funds for the fiscal year, and the rest of the project requests are returned to the submitter rejected. In this paper the author will provide some specific details, if included in your capital project request package, that will put the project on a higher priority level and will increase the project's chances for being funding. It is assumed that there is reasonable amount of money available after funding the past continued projects. This paper will discuss how one markets the services of a department to the organization. Internal requests should be treated with equal seriousness and justification as a typical request for proposal in the outside world.


'The failure of immigrants integration' has put on the Western Europe to adopt a 'civic integration policies.' This has eroded the divergence of immigration policies of respective countries and made the inclination of convergence of Western Europe. The core of civic integration policies is a introduction of obligatory programs to promote and encourage the participation of immigrants into host society. This thesis aims to compare the Western Europe and Korea's civic integration policies, which in case of Korea is similar in goals, intent and instrument with the former. Paper distinguishes difference of the two in the cause of introduction. While Western Europe has begun these policies to respond the failure of integration, Korea has implemented them in the context of multicultural policies. Also the former has strengthened the workfare programs, whereas the latter is rare in vocational education for immigrants. Anti-discrimination policies are only pertinent to Western Europe. However civic integration policies of the two have common implication of assimilation. Rapid increase of foreign migrants will make critical issue in Korea in the near future. This is the reason why the treatise pays attention to experiences of Western Europe. Study on the previous experiences and experiments of Western Europe are useful in setting-up the inclusive immigrants integration policies in Korea.


In this paper we study qualitative properties of the socalled symplectic dynamic system (S) zδA =Stz on an arbitrary time scale T, providing a unified theory for discrete symplectic systems and differential linear Hamiltonian systems . We define dis-conjugacy (no focal points) for conjoined bases of (S) and prove, under a certain minimal normality assumption, that disconjugacy of (S) on the interval under consideration is equival ent to the positivity of the associated quadratic functional. Such statement is commonly called Jacobi condition. We discuss also the solvability of the corresponding Riccati matrix equation and transformations. This work may be regarded as a generalization of the results recently obtained by the second author for linear Hamiltonian systems on time scales.


BACKGROUND: A single 20-mg dose of inhaled laninamivir octanoate is an effective treatment of influenza. However, the efficacy of laninamivir octanoate for the prevention of influenza in children <10 years of age has not yet been established. METHODS: We conducted a double-blind, multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled study to determine whether the efficacy of a single 20-mg dose of inhaled laninamivir octanoate to prevent the development of influenza was superior to that of placebo as prophylaxis for influenza in pediatric (<10 years) household members of index cases. Eligible subjects without influenza, in contact with an influenza-infected index case living in the same household, were blindly randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive 20 mg of laninamivir octanoate or placebo. The primary end point was the proportion of subjects who developed clinical influenza during a 10-day period. RESULTS: A total of 343 subjects were randomly assigned, with 341 subjects included in the full analysis set for the primary analysis. The proportions of subjects who developed clinical influenza were 11% (18/171) in the laninamivir octanoate group and 19% (33/170) in the placebo group (P = .02). The relative risk reduction was 45.8% (95% confidence interval, 7.5% to 68.2%). The incidence of adverse events was similar in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: A single 20-mg dose of inhaled laninamivir octanoate was effective and well tolerated as prophylaxis for influenza.


The exponential growth in dataset sizes necessitates the use of high-performance computing (HPC) for large-scale data science. Furthermore, the sizes of these datasets shift the performance bottleneck from the compute subsystem towards the memory and I/O subsystems. To address this shift, modern HPC clusters are equipped with low-latency and high-bandwidth storage devices, such as non-volatile memory, and, in turn, re-designed I/O subsystems to improve performance. However, an overlooked bottleneck arises due to the size of these storage devices being dwarfed by the storage footprint of large-scale data science applications. For instance, applications that process and store consistent snapshots of incrementally growing data streams require a significant storage footprint that far outstrips the size of the storage devices. To address this bottleneck, we present Privateer, a general-purpose data store that optimizes the tradeoff between storage space utilization and I/O performance. Privateer uses memory-mapped I/O with private mapping and an optimized writeback mechanism to maximize write parallelism and eliminate redundant writes; it also uses content-addressable storage to optimize storage space via de-duplication. We evaluate the effectiveness of Privateer by using it as the data-store management layer of Metall, a persistent C++ data structure allocator. Using a micro-benchmark that incrementally constructs and stores snapshots of an incremental graph data structure, Privateer can reduce the storage space used by approximately 30% while delivering comparable performance to the baseline Metall implementation.


A method of high accuracy and reliability integrated navigation for long-endurance aircraft is researched in this paper. Strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS), star sensor and global positioning system (GPS) are chosen as navigation equipments. In order to match the direction cosine matrix output of star sensor, a special matrix is constructed cleverly by outputs of SINS, and the difference between the above two matrixes is chosen as measurement of SINS/star sensor integrated navigation. Then Kalman filtering algorithm of SINS/star sensor integrated navigation is designed. At the same time, position and velocity outputs of SINS and GPS are taken to construct measurements of SINS/GPS integrated navigation, and its Kalman filtering algorithm is also designed. By designing the federated Kalman filter, local optimal estimations of system states from SINS/star sensor and SINS/GPS local filters are independently sent to the master filter, and global optimal estimations of system states are given by the master filter through global optimal fusion algorithm. Simulation results showed that, attitude accuracy of this integrated navigation method up to ±0.25, position accuracy up to ±2.4m, and the reliability is satisfying when some navigation equipment is out of order.


Studies on water resources in the last few years have had the tendency to encompass larger and larger areas. The increase in size and sophistication of these studies makes the use of computers almost mandatory. To adapt computers to this type of study, the study area must be converted to a schematic representation which is easily manageable by computers. A simple and reasonable way of doing this is to cover the study area with a square grid, which may then be considered as consisting of a matrix of squares. This system can be used to store, process, and retrieve information and may have numerous applications in the fields of hydrology, hydraulic power, economics, etc. The paper presents the application of the square grid system to the estimation of the precipitation, temperature, and runoff distribution in a large area and shows how the use of the system enables efficient combination of the meteorologic and hydrologic information available in assessing the precipitation, temperature, and runoff distribution. An example of such a computation for a 43,000-square-mile area is shown and the advantages of the method over the usual techniques emphasized.


We disentangle the risk of time-varying volatility and return in a consumption-based asset pricing model by introducing stochastic volatility of consumption growth to asset prices moving in volatility units instead of moving in time. This time-change approach yields additional insights to risk premia's composition. We explore stochastic volatility empirically where it eases the risk-free rate puzzle and solves the equity premium puzzle if people are very impatient. As a factor it significantly improves the explanation of returns in the cross-section and is not captured by existing factors. Adding our factor helps to explain the momentum effect among other anomalies.


Soil quality deterioration in Shouguang vegetable fields has become more serious,which directly affects the sustainable development of vegetable production.Variations of soil carbon and nitrogen will influence soil physical,chemical and biological processes,and the objective of this research is to have a better understanding of these influences.The results of this research indicated that C/N ratio,organic matter and total nitrogen in Shouguang vegetable fields were 2.4 unit lower,4.1 g/kg and 0.61 g/kg higher than that in the grain fields,respectively.The increased amount of soil total nitrogen was two times higher than that of organic matter.Dramatic increase in NO-3-N content in protective fields was not the critical reason for the decrease in C/N ratio in vegetable fields.Carbon input in vegetable fields was 1.9 times higher than that in grain crop fields,and nitrogen input in protective fields was 9.9 and 8.5 times higher than that in wheat and grain crop fields,respectively.The ratio of input carbon and nitrogen was 4.2∶1 in protective fields and 9.9∶1 in grain fields,respectively.The lower ratio of carbon and nitrogen input in vegetable fields may be the important reason for the decrease in C/N ratio in those soils.The increase in soil carbon and nitrogen contents and the decrease in C/N ratio obviously induced soil acidification,stalinization and accumulation of soil nitrogen,phosphorus and potassium in vegetable fields.


In this Paper a detailed study of dynamics of the hermetic compressor is shown. The key point of this study is the well-known issue of compressor reciprocating kinematic unbalance which is the main cause of modern refrigerator structural vibrations and consequently acoustical performance. In this frame-work, the main target of this work is the reduction and redistribution of compressor accelerations along "privileged" axes to reduce the aforementioned phenomena. Starting from the general treatment of Professor Soedel, specific studies on reciprocating kinematic balance are performed. In particular, a detailed model is developed to calculate kinematic forcing terms applying Newton's second law on each component of the reciprocating mechanism. In this model, crankcase reaction forces are equal to kit shaking ones, transmitted to the shell thanks to the suspension springs and the discharge pipe. These shaking forces are redistributed modifying crankshaft mass distribution. To validate the analytical/numerical models, several vibration and acoustics tests are carried out on variable-speed compressors working both at an un-constrained configuration test and in a load stand at CECOMAF standard conditions. In the first case, cylinder head accelerations are detected in terms of both time series signals and averaged data values, while in the last case, vibrations and acoustic emission are measured on the shell surface and particularly near to suction and delivery ducts. Different test ensembles are completed modifying single kit components in the frame of the DOE approach. Experimental results match with theoretical predictions in terms of both vibration reduction and redistribution along reference axes for all the tested displacements, with beneficial effects on compressor acoustics too. Furthermore, the developed software reveals to be a useful research tool for product update, simplification and innovation.


We present the spatial distribution of the lithic and faunal remains from level IV of abrigo de la Quebrada, dated to MIS 3. This deposit corresponds to a palimpsest wherein a detailed study of the finds associated with combustion features reveals significant spatial structure in an occupational context that extends across most of the excavated surface. The activity area recognized is broadly elliptic, with a longer axis of ~10 m. The distributions of those raw-materials, lithic technological data and faunal remains that are least represented in the assemblage confirms the superimposition of separate occupational episodes whose spatial coincidence, dictated by the constrained space available, explains the formation of the palimpsest in a context of low sedimentation rates. The Quebrada evidence is then compared with that from contemporary sites in the region in order to sketch an assesment of intrasite spatial structure among the Neanderthal populations of the central part of Mediterranean Iberia.


This paper considers the problem of finding minimum energy requirements of a single-feed adiabatic distillation column for a given separation task. Over the years, many attempts to understand this problem have been made. This paper presents an approach which is at the intersection of the thermodynamic and geometric points of view. In it, an analysis of multicomponent distillation is carried out via the notion of power of separation, which is akin to compositional exergy. It is shown mathematically that this concept, although taking its roots in thermodynamics, has a strong link with the geometry of liquid composition trajectories in multicomponent distillation and is also related to the traditional McCabe-Thiele diagram for binary distillation. By considering pinch-point curves for adiabatic column sections and their link with reversible column profiles, a characterization of minimal energy requirements of the single-feed adiabatic distillation process is proposed. As a consequence, a shortcut method to determine minimal energy requirements of multicomponent distillation is introduced. Examples validating this approach for multicomponent distillation of ideal, nonideal, zeotropic, and azeotropic mixtures with up to six components are presented. These examples indicate that the new method can, in principle, treat any number of mixture components. All types of pinch behavior are covered, that is, the method can find minimal energy designs associated to feed, saddle, or tangent pinch points. Case studies where pinched minimum energy solutions exist, where pinched solutions can be reduced to nonpinched solutions, and where no pinched solutions exist are presented. In all these cases, the new method can find, if they exist, pinched and nonpinched solutions. In the wake of the current increase in energy prices, the search for tools to gain further insight into the design and retrofit of energy efficient separation processes has gained significant importance. Of such processes, distillation is responsible for a large part of the energy consumption in the U.S. manufacturing sector. 1 Moreover, since distillation is still regarded as offering an advantageous compromise between product purity and throughput and will arguably remain so in the near future, methods aiming to determine the minimum energy demand needed to accomplish a given distillation task hold an important place in both the industrial and scientific communities. Over the years, many methods have been introduced to tackle the aforementioned problem. For an overview of approaches for finding minimum energy requirements for distillation, see the work of Lucia et al. 2 and Koehler et al. 3 Here, a point of view stemming from the concept of power of separation, 4-6 a notion which can be viewed as part of compositional exergy, 7,8 is adopted. While compositional exergy offers thermodynamic insights on the problem considered, the presence of activity coefficients in its mathematical definition makes it hard, at least from the authors' perspective, to rigorously link it with the common geometrical representations of distillation, that is, with the McCabe-Thiele diagram for binary distillation and with composition trajectories for multicomponent distillation. To the authors' knowledge, only numerical experiments hinting at a link between exergy losses on each column tray and the distance


Autonomous through-thickness scratch repair (healing) in coatings requires scratch closure and interfacial molecular sealing. Although qualitative aspects of the first stage of self-healing have been addressed, quantitative description enabling the...


Boolean expressions are widely used to model decisions or conditions of a specification or source program. The MUMCUT, which is designed to detect seven common faults where Boolean expressions under test are assumed to be in Irredundant Disjunctive Normal Form (IDNF), is an efficient fault-based test case selection strategy in terms of the fault-detection capacity and the size of selected test suite. Following up our previous work that reported the fault-detection capacity of the MUMCUT when it is applied to general form Boolean expressions, in this paper we present the characteristic of the types of single faults committed in general Boolean expressions that a MUMCUT test suite fails to detect, analyze the certainty why a MUMCUT test suite fails to detect these types of undetected faults, and provide some extensions to enhance the detection capacity of the MUMCUT for these types of undetected faults.


A youth in college, his older mistress and a melange of old friends. This novel is full of rapidly sketched scenes that glide from everyday reality to the hallucinatory.


More than 122 million people, almost 25 percent of European Union (EU)citizens, are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. The funding and targetingof basic services and of programs to reduce poverty and social exclusiondepend on the availability of detailed knowledge of the disparities in socioeconomicwell-being across and within EU member states. Because the World Bank and the EU have the common objective of building competitive and sustainable economies and reducing poverty and social exclusion and because of the World Bank's extensive experience, the EC and the Bank entered into an agreement to assist EU member states in undertaking expert analysis of census and survey data to create accurate, detailed geographical presentations of poverty. This note highlights the context and main findings of the ongoing European Commission (EC)–World Bank project, Poverty Mapping in the European Union, including the EU goals of reducing poverty and social exclusion and the difficulties of precisely identifying the poor in the EU.This note illustrates fresh goals in the ongoing project, initiatives envisionedon the horizon, and expectations of new outcomes and impacts.The note also offers examples of how povertymapping has been used to inform policy, selected from among the dozens ofnon-EU countries in which poverty mapping has been carried out with theassistance of the World Bank.


The utility model relates to a worm gear self-locking elevator, which belongs to the technical field of hoisting machinery. The worm gear self-locking elevator comprises a transmission part, a rope winding part and a clutch control part; the transmission part comprises two pedals (1) and a main shaft box (9), and the main shaft box (9) comprises a box body (901), a drive shaft (906), a first worm (907), a second worm (908), two gears (909) and an output gear shaft (905); the rope winding part comprises a shell (1), two rope winding gears (5), two pressing wheel devices (7), two springs (3) and a rope guide cover (4), and the two rope winding gears (5), the two pressing wheel devices (7), the two springs (3) and the rope guide cover (4) are arranged in the shell (2); and the clutch control part comprises a first friction plate (904), a second friction plate (902), a disc spring (903), a fan-shaped gear (11), a fan-shaped gear shaft (10), a clutch controller (12), a thrust bearing (13), a control handle (14) and a spring (8). The worm gear self-locking elevator adopts manual drive and has self-locking function. Therefore, the worm gear self-locking elevator has high safety and reliability.


The effect of Ga addition on the microstructure, mechanical properties and weldability of Sn-0.3Ag-0.7Cu (SAC0307) lead-free solder was investigated in this research. It shows that Ga addition has positive impact on refining the microstructure and improving wettability of SAC0307. When Ga addition in SAC0307 accounts for 0.6 wt%, the solder has smaller grain size, more uniform distribution of intermetallic compound (IMC), and higher sheer strength. The results also demonstrate that proper content of Ga could obviously decrease the thickness of IMC on the bond interface between solder and cooper pad. The improvement of mechanical properties of SAC0307 may be related to the refining of IMCs of the solder due to Ga addition.


Summary

Serum alkaline phosphatase inheritance was studied in 126 racing homer pigeons {Columba livid). Discontinuous polyacrylamide electrophoresis was used. Gels were stained with Blue RR salts with alphanaphthyl phosphate as a substrate. Seven pheno-types were found. Inheritance was postulated to be by four codominant alleles. Gene frequencies were: q.ApA, 0.284; qApB, 0.602; qApC, 0.45; and qApD, 0.68.


Diabetes mellitus and cholesterol disorders are a lethal combination that places patients with diabetes 2-4 times more at risk for developing macrovascular and microvascular complications. Risk factors for Diabetes with Hyperlipidemia include age, sex, lifestyle, metabolic conditions that affect the metabolism of plasma lipoproteins, insulin deficiency. This study aims to know determine demographic data (age, sex, and length of stay), to know results of the laboratory tests and to know description of the therapy. The study was conducted descriptive with a cross sectional design, retrospective data collection methods from patients medical records of diabetic with hyperlipidemia at the hospital inpatient installation in January-December 2019, with 130 sample patients medical record. Result presented as a percentage table. The mean results of the study based on the highest patients demographics were at age 51-60 years as 40%, the highest gender was females 56%, based on the highest length of stay was 3 days 54%. Initial fasting glucose examination with the highest percentage >126 mg / dl of 78.5%. Total cholesterol examination with the highest percentage >200 mg / dl was 84.6%, triglycerides with the highest percentage >150 mg / dl was 15.4%, LDL with the highest percentage >100 mg / dl 79.3%. The highest use of oral antidiabetic was 52.30%, long-acting insulin was 40.70% and oral antihyperlipidemia was 77.60%. The statin class has been shown to have an effect in preventing complications in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus


We study the parity effect and transport due to quasiparticles in circuits comprised of many superconducting islands. We develop a general approach and show that it is equivalent to previous methods for describing the parity effect in their more limited regimes of validity. As an example we study transport through linear arrays of Josephson junctions in the limit of negligible Josephson energy and observe the emergence of the parity effect with decreasing number of nonequilibrium quasiparticles. Due to the exponential increase in the number of relevant charge states with increasing length, in multijunction arrays the parity effect manifests in qualitatively different ways to the two-junction case. The role of charge disorder is also studied as this hides much of the parity physics that would otherwise be observed. Nonetheless, we see that the current through a multijunction array at low bias is limited by the formation of metastable even-parity states.


There were a variety of limitations in a study that Stringham et al acknowledge. The Qualtrics Survey had a response of 25 individuals, which indicates a credible response rate of 30-35%. While there were enough responses for the data to be credible, higher response rates are always better. All of the data in this study were self-reported. Precautions were taken to avoid bias, but some bias could still be present. Finally, due to the effects of COVID-19, the course was offered asynchronously for the first time, and no in-person contact was allowed. Interviews for this project and the individual research projects were conducted via Zoom or an alternate technology. While they as a class missed the tactile experiences of analyzing research posters from previous semesters and the community that in-person classes offer, they note that they were successful at completing this project as well as individual projects. In fact, eleven of them presented their individual projects at the Fall Student Research Symposium on campus, and all of them were noted as authors on the poster for the project.


Orbiter and rover data have revealed a complex and intermittent hydrological history in Gale Crater on Mars, where habitable environments appear to have endured for at least thousands of years. The intermittency may be the result of a dominantly cold climate punctuated by geologically brief periods of warmth and active hydrology. However, the time required to establish an integrated hydrological cycle in a warming climate is difficult to ascertain and has not been thoroughly investigated. Here we model the transient evolution of groundwater flow and subsurface temperature, the slowest evolving components of the hydrological cycle, during a warm departure from cold conditions. We find that tens of thousands of years are likely required before groundwater could be a meaningful source for large lakes in Gale. With highly favorable conditions, primarily high permeability, significant flow might develop in thousands of years. This implies that surface water dominates during the beginning of a warm phase. Annual mean surface temperatures in Gale below 290 K would likely leave the nearby highlands frozen at the surface. In that case, deep aquifers beneath a highlands permafrost layer could deliver water to Gale, where low temperatures would have reduced evaporation.


Talus deposit is often seen in hydropower projects in the southwest of China.Its mechanical properties are so complex that the microstructural study is often used to reveal the essence of its deformation and damage.The digital image processing technology(DIPT) is introduced to the simulation of talus deposits.Based on the study of DIPT,a Photo-To-FLAC3D(PTF) auto-modeling program is developed.It is able to realize the whole process: analyzing and processing the digital images,acquiring the information and establishing the micro-model files.A new modeling method is developed for the mechanical behaviors of talus deposits.As an example,some talus deposit data of Gushui Hydropower Station are used.A micro-model for the talus deposit is established fast and correctly by means of the PTF from the field digital photo.The mechanical properties and parameters are studied by the numerical simulation of triaxial tests.The results show that the talus deposit has the feature of "bully" in deformation while that of "Unicom band" under force.A random statistical analysis method for the mechanical parameters is proposed by selecting field multiple photos.The mechanical parameters based on the statistical analysis method are very close to those of experiments in the actual engineering,indicating that the new method of acquiring mechanical parameters is credible.A new way is opened up for selecting the mechanical parameters of talus deposits,which provides a useful supplement for large-scale field tests.


Improving energy efficiency helps to achieve a more reliable energy supply
 and a sustainable environment. In the current study, some observations were
 made in a textile factory to improve the energy efficiency of the industrial
 steam boiler. Deaerator is one of the main points of energy loss in the
 boiler. It is possible to reduce energy loss in the deaerator by using
 today's scientific and technological possibilities. The Failure Mode and
 Effects Analysis (FMEA) method was used in determining and ranking the
 factors causing energy loss in the deaerator. Some improvements were
 suggested based on the data of the FMEA study. The amount of energy loss in
 the deaerator was calculated by establishing mass and energy balances both
 in the current situation and after the improvements. As a result, when
 suggestions were applied, the energy loss in the deaerator, which was 373.6
 kW before, could be reduced to 40.4 kW. Also, the net steam production
 capacity of the steam system will increase by approximately 9%. The payback
 period of the proposed investments was calculated as 2.8 months by
 performing the economic analysis. The study outcomes revealed that the FMEA
 technique, which is used as a risk analysis and failure prevention method
 within the scope of process improvement studies, can also be used to
 increase boiler energy efficiency.


In today's disaster-prone society, using intelligent footed robots to assist in rescue or exploration of the situation is more promising than other types of intelligent robots, as quadrupeds have better terrain adaptation capabilities and application prospects. The main objective of this paper is to design a rescue quadruped robot. The single-leg mechanical structure was designed as a parallel two-degree-of-freedom five-link mechanical leg, and the leg five-link structure was simulated through Matlab simulation to prove the rationality of the structure. The geometry design was then set to a length and width of 800m and 400m, respectively, and the internal structure was modelled through dimensioning and leg motion analysis to obtain a leg size of 220mm for the large leg and 130mm for the small leg of quadrupedal robot. Its rescue quadruped robot can achieve essential gait such as walking, running and jumping. Matlab simulations of the leg structure of the quadruped robot were carried out to obtain a single leg end motion range for a stride frequency of 0.0035 and a step length of 100 mm. The proposed rescue quadruped robot has several advantages: small heavy load ratio, high accuracy, strength, stiffness, and high load-carrying capacity. In rescue and disaster relief situations, it can carry many supplies, which is more suitable for dangerous conditions or narrow spaces. Moreover, the quadruped robot is easy to operate and assist rescuers. The experimental result is a complete parallel quadruped robot adding a regulation and vision acquisition system, which is more suitable for rescue or aid rescue.


The apparatus (10) comprises a turret (50) rotatable about a first axis (B-B '), a slider (52) mounted on the turret (50) and a feeler (30) slideably mounted in the slide (52) along a third axis (C-C ') substantially parallel to the first axis (B-B'). it comprises means (34) for moving the probe to move a contact surface (42) of the probe along the frame (14) during scanning of the frame. The moving means (34) includes means (70) rotating the turret (50) about the first axis (B-B '). The apparatus includes means (82) control means (72 ) of movement of the turret in a plane perpendicular to the first axis (B-B '), capable of moving the turret (50) in said plane when the turret is rotated about the first axis (B-B') when probing the frame.


Properties of the r·vibration in ""Er are examined both in a macroscopic and in a microscopic approach with special emphasis on the anharmonicities of two-phonon states. It is found that in order to account for recent ex perimental evidence it is necessary to assume large anharmonic components both in the collective potential energy surface and in the mass parameters. Points which are not clear in our present understanding of the gamma-motion are described. § l. Introduction The investigation of vibrational anharmonicities was a popular subject about 15'""'20 years ago. Systematic methods for the treatment of anharmonic effects have been developed by many people,1> mainly in connection with low frequency quadrupole vibrational excitations in "spherical" nuclei. The an harmonicities manifest themselves through shifts and/or splittings of the multi phonon levels and through transition matrix-elements for the multipole operators that violate the selection rules implied by the harmonic picture. Roughly speaking, there are two cases in which the anharmonicities are large; either the collectivity of the vibration is so strong that the system is approaching to the instability of the corresponding degree of freedom, or the excitation mode has a single-particle character. The case of low-frequency quadrupole vibrations in "spherical" nuclei belongs often to the former case. Consequently, it is often difficult to make a quantitative analysis of available data in terms of the basic coupling of the vibrational modes to other degrees of freedom, both collective and single-particle. A nice example of low-frequency octupole vib rations in spherical nuclei is the 3- state at 2.6 MeV in 208Pb. Although observed octupole vibrations in the neighbouring odd-A nuclei have been suc cessfully understood2> in terms of particle-vibration coupling8> which is a basic tool in the understanding of vibrational anharmonicities, none of the double octupole-phonon states have ever been detected experimentally in 208Pb. In the case of the octupole vibration in 147Gd (I;,.= 7 /2-) a member with the


We formulate the Lagrangian of the Newtonian cosmology where the cosmological constant is also introduced. Following the affine quantization procedure, the Hamiltonian operator is derived. The wave functions of the Newtonian universe and the corresponding eigenvalues for the case of matter dominated by a negative cosmological constant are given.


(57) Abstract: The improved tape recording devices having information for converting the logical position of the physical location of the written longitudinally in the medium used by the tape drive. Conversion information, the value of the offset and any maximum physical location is stored in one or more locations in the tape recording devices. The application determines the conversion information in the tape recording device also includes instructions for the tape drive to store. Other method of operation, reads the tape drive conversion information, the physical location to be able to convert the logical position. The method can be used both for the central loading media and end loading medium. Rollover numbers possible physical location comprises the values of the differences between adjacent physical position, logical position compared to the upper and lower limits, expressed in wraparound between the top and bottom of the roll-over table is detected by one method among several methods for generating the reference table are.


We report on a 12‐year‐old boy with the myopathic form of phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) deficiency, and unique kinetic and physical characteristics of the mutant enzyme (PGK North Carolina). A G‐to‐T substitution at the 5′ end of intron 4 was identified in the PGK gene of this patient. The mutation destroys the consensus sequence GT at the 5′ splice junction of the intron. Activation of a cryptic splice site within intron 4 causes the insertion into the transcript of a 30‐bp fragment at the 5′ end of intron 4. This insertion results in ten additional amino acids within the "nose" of the PGK molecule, but does not generate a frameshift or a premature stop codon.


A numerical three-dimensional simulation model of a fluidized bed refuse incinerator, which is based upon the lateral dispersion model and two-phase model, was developed. Separating refuse into three components, moistrure, ash and combustibles, combus tion characteristic was formulated by estimating the diameter of combustibles, ignition temperature and transition temperature from reaction to diffusion in the controlling region. Temperature distribution of the emulsion phase and oxygen concentration distribution in the fluidized bed from the calculation were compared with data obtained from the experiment. The calculated results coincided well with the experimental results. The method of modeling and basic and experimental equations in this model were confirmed to be accurately applicable to the numerical calculation. Moreover, the relation between the scale of the fluidized bed and the performance of the incinerator was discussed on the basis of simulation by the mathematical model.


This paper presents ideas for creating and developing Interactive Navigational Structures (IANS) by using satellite systems. The author of the present paper introduced the concept of IANS into the literature in 2004 (Czaplewski, 2004). The paper presents the possibility of adapting the contemporary methods of robust estimation that are used in geodesy for the purpose of performing selected marine navigation tasks. IANS utilise modern M-estimation methods. Interactive structures can assist human beings in carrying out special tasks at sea, for example, in identifying objects at sea and on land without the need to approach them. Moreover, these structures can also be used in the process of navigation carried out by underwater vehicles or unmanned watercraft. This paper presents the mathematical methods that are essential for creating IANS. The theoretical assumptions are illustrated with an example of how IANS can be used while performing a typical navigation task. The paper closes with information about research studies which deal with the practical aspects of using this set of mathematical methods.


Peas in the Garden Dan Drost Summary Peas require full sun and fertile, well drained soil for maximum yield. Incorporate plenty of organic matter and a complete fertilizer into the area before planting. When soils are above 40oF, space rows 12-24 inches apart and plant seeds 1 inch deep and 1-2 inches apart in the row. Plant peas until April 1 in warm areas and until May 1 in the cooler areas of Utah. Peas require regular watering particularly at flowering, so maintain soils near field capacity during this time period. Hot temperatures and water stress will reduce yields and pod quality. Organic mulches help conserve water, supply extra nutrients, and reduce weeding. Control insects and diseases if they occur. Harvest snap peas when pods are plump and garden peas when the pods are full but before seeds mature. For dry peas wait until pods are yellow and the seeds are dry. Use fresh peas immediately for best quality.


Fuzzy Model are various implication operators for applying to different practical problems and properties of Pairwise Fuzzy -continuous mappings, pairwise fuzzy semiopen sets and pairwise fuzzy dense sets are studied.


Closed-form generalizations of Zener's binary solutions to the diffusion equations in one and two semi-inifite dimensions are found for the case where unstable dilute precipitation accompanies directed ternary diffusion. It has been argued elsewhere that instabilities caused by fine precipitates, subject to local conservation of the independent diffusion species and capillarity in a semi-infinite ternary medium, are evidenced by the appearance of a negative determinant of the effective diffusion matrix and a negative eigenvalue as in spinodal decomposition. In the unstable directed-diffusion planar case the eigenfunction corresponding to the negative coefficient is a spatially periodic Kummerian function of the parabolic coordinate . In the important asymptotic limit λ → ∞ this solution implies the exact Jablczynski-scaling relation for the time-independent position of the periodic precipitate bands, which is a well-known characteristic of the Liesegang phenomenon. This contrasts with the Belousov–Zhaboti...


A theorem on Nemitsky operators between Sobolev spaces, contained in a 1973 paper of Marcus and Mizel, is extended to Orlicz-Sobolev spaces.


Anterior crown fractures are common dental injuries among children. Reattachment of fractured crown fragments has become popular as it is conservative and cost effective. The fracture resistance determines the bonding ability of the materials to resist re-fracture following fragment reattachment. To evaluate the fracture resistance of reattached teeth using newer adhesive restorative materials (Composite Resin, Resin Modified Glass Ionomer cement, Compomer and Giomer) with techniques (simple reattachment and internal dentinal groove) used to reattach fractured tooth fragment. 90 extracted human permanent incisors were selected. 10 teeth were kept as control and 80 teeth were divided randomly into two groups (n=40) based upon the techniques. Further each group were divided into four sub-groups (n=10) based on material used for reattachment. The specimens were fractured and reattached using different adhesives materials after different preparations techniques. All specimens were subjected for test in Universal Testing Machine at cross-head speed of 1mm/min. The load at which the reattached fragment debonded was recorded. This load represented the fracture resistance. Analysis of Variance followed by Tukey HSD test. When different reattachment technique were compared, the highest fracture resistance shown by Internal Dentinal Groove group followed by Simple Reattachment group. Whereas, when different materials were compared, the highest strength was shown by Compomer followed in descending order by Composite, Resin Modified Glass Ionomer cement and Giomer. Reattachment of fractured crown fragments using newer materials and technique aids in better results. Experimental article (J Int Dent Med Res 2021; 14(1): 46-53)


With the rapid development of China's industrial automation field such as electric power, oil, coal and so on, China's industrial automation has made brilliant achievements. Due to the large amount of industrial production real-time data and fast data access time, industrial real-time database (RTDBS) system, as a professional RTDBS system for real-time collection and storage of industrial real-time data source, has been widely used in information system. In this paper, based on the advantages of RTDBS and configuration software (SCADA), combined with the mechanical optimization problem, the mechanical optimization design software of RTDBS and SCADA is put forward. Mechanical optimization designmethod is an important means to seek optimal design in the process of modern mechanical design. Using RTDBS and SCADA as the development platform, based on commonly used optimization calculation methods, develop optimization software suitable for the mechanical design process, and use this software to meet the optimization requirements in the mechanical design process.


Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with a single-mode single-polarization emission at a wavelength of approximately 763 nm have become attractive for oxygen sensing. Up to now, VCSELs used for this application are single-mode because of a small active diameter which correspondingly leads to small optical output power. Employing the surface relief technique and in particular the surface grating relief technique, we have increased the single-mode output to more than 2.5 mW averaged over a large device quantity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest single-mode power ever reported for VCSELs in this wavelength range. Through the grating relief simultaneously, we were able to stabilize the light polarization.


UNLABELLED
Isolation of various phosphorylated forms of DNA-PKcs by SDS gel electrophoresis is difficult because of the same molecular weight. By isoelectric focusing (IEF), we confirmed a de-phosphorylated (pI 9.0) and a phosphorylated (pI 6.9) form of DNA-PKcs. When cells were damaged by X-irradiation (5 Gy), an additional tyrosine-phosphorylated (p-Tyr) DNA-PKcs form (pI 6.3) appeared in both nuclear and cytoplasmic fractions, after 30 minsutes.

CONCLUSION
IEF in combination with Western blotting of p-Tyr-DNA-PKcs results in an appropriate separation of the p-Tyr form from other phosphorylated forms of DNA-PKcs, which may permit an indirect measurement of changes in DNA-PK activity in irradiated cells.


Stefanutto et al. in this issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia continue the long quest to develop an optimal anesthetic induction protocol. A technique that assures good-to-excellent conditions for tracheal intubation upon loss of consciousness, yet assures that if "can't intubate, can't ventilate" (CICV) conditions are encountered, then adequate spontaneous ventilatory exchange will recover before significant arterial oxygen desaturation supervenes. In healthy patients, apneic intervals of 5 to 7 minutes may elapse before desaturation ( 90% arterial saturation) following preoxygenation in the presence of a patent airway, although in patients with decreased functional residual capacity or venous admixture, this interval may be significantly shorter. The protocol of Stefanutto et al. was designed so that their subjects retained the greatest chance of maintaining oxygenation during propofol/opioid-induced apnea: they received optimal preoxygenation (end-tidal oxygen 90%), and a tightly fitted facemask with insufflated oxygen flow at 6 L/min was kept in place. Assuming a patent airway, the authors' subjects thus benefited from some degree of "apneic oxygenation." The authors chose to avoid the use of succinylcholine to facilitate intubation because there is convincing evidence that significant arterial hemoglobin desaturation may take place before recovery of adequate respiratory mechanics occurs after a traditional "intubating dose" of this relaxant. For example, Heier et al. were able to demonstrate that, after induction with thiopental and succinylcholine (no opioid), spontaneous recovery from succinylcholine-induced apnea frequently did not occur quickly enough to prevent arterial desaturation. The present authors hypothesized that perhaps substituting a short-acting opioid in lieu of succinylcholine might result in a shorter apneic interval. In the present investigation, they studied an induction dose of propofol (2.0 mg/kg) combined with 2 different doses of remifentanil. The first dose they selected, remifentanil 2 g/kg, resulted in arterial hemoglobin saturations 80% in one-third of subjects, although it offered acceptable intubating conditions in 11 of 12 subjects. This time course of respiratory depression and resulting arterial desaturation is consistent with remifentanil's pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic profile. In another session, they reduced the dose of remifentanil to 1.5 g/kg and successfully shortened the apnea time by approximately 1 minute, but 4 of 12 subjects had unacceptable conditions for tracheal intubation. The present study thus demonstrates the limitations of a relaxant-free intubation technique using what are certainly only modest doses of propofol and remifentanil. As pointed out by Sneyd and O'Sullivan, in the absence of a good clinical reason for doing so, "attempting tracheal intubation without a neuromuscular blocking agent represents substitution of an inferior technique for one with greater efficacy." In the "real world" of unexpected CICV, a patent airway by definition would not be present, and the adequacy of preoxygenation may be questionable. Thus, the study by Stefanutto et al. probably represents a "best case" scenario. Nevertheless, the arterial O2 saturations in 14 of 24 subjects decreased to 90% at some point. Actual patients would likely experience a faster onset of arterial oxygen desaturation during apnea than the present authors observed. An induction sequence designed to facilitate tracheal intubation ideally should do more than simply induce hypnosis and abet mechanical placement of the endotracheal tube. It should also ensure reflex suppression and cardiovascular stability. Thus, significant reductions in the authors' doses of propofol/opioid may not be realistic. In young, healthy subjects, perhaps the propofol dosage could be decreased to 1.5 mg/kg, but doses less than remifentanil 1.0 g/kg or fentanyl 2 g/kg are unlikely to suppress the hemodynamic response to intubation. Thus, it appears that muscle relaxant-facilitated intubation is here to stay. An ideal neuromuscular blocker used for intubation should have fast onset and either rapid elimination or the potential for prompt and complete antagonism of its effect. Succinylcholine is still the "gold standard" in this regard. After a 1 mg/kg dose, succinylcholine establishes complete block at the adductor pollicis in 70 20 seconds and first twitch (T1) height recovers to 10% of control in approximately 6 minutes and to 25% of control in 7 minutes. Diaphragmatic recovery takes place approximately 2 minutes earlier, and 50% recovery of this muscle's strength is seen in 5 to 6 minutes. These data correlate nicely with From the *Department of Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York; and †Department of Anesthesia, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.


Background. To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of radiologists with a wide range of experience and training in emergency neuroradiology and other specialty hospitals, as well as the level of inter-experts' agreement regarding CT signs of ischemic stroke.Material and methods. Our study included a retrospective cohort of 100 patients who underwent NCCT, CT angiography (mCTA) and CT perfusion in St. Petersburg clinical hospital. Fifty patients had confirmed middle cerebral artery ischemic stroke. The study also randomly included fifty patients in whom this diagnosis was excluded, including on the basis of dynamic follow-up as part of further clinical evaluation and follow-up CT scan of the brain. All 100 CT were reviewed by 21 radiologists who independently assessed each study for CT evidence of ischemic stroke. Statistical analysis included the Kappa-Fleiss coefficient ( ) calculation of agreement for each sign of ischemic stroke, specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy of detection of these changes.Results. The staff radiologist's mean experience in emergency neuroradiology affects both diagnostic performance and consistency for detection of most CT features of ischemic stroke. At the same time, experience does not affect the diagnostic efficiency of radiologists with no experience in stroke assessment. The most highly specific and reproducible sign of ischemic stroke was the hyperdense middle cerebral artery sign, and the most ambiguous diagnostic sign was the gyral effacement. At the same time, all radiologists, regardless of length of service record and experience in emergency neuroradiology, are prone to over-diagnosis.Conclusion. Further search for tools and solutions is needed to level out interexpert variability regarding assessment of ischemic CT signs, since this problem has high clinical importance.


Abstract In this paper we exhibit two interlocking sequences in order to study the group e(X × Y) of based homotopy classes of based self homotopy equivalences of a product X × Y of topological spaces X and Y. These sequences have complementary features, and the interconnectedness facilitates computation. The sequences give new results about e(X × Y) and unify, generalize, and in some cases correct, existing results in the literature about this group. New results include calculations on the group of self equivalences of a product of suspensions (with applications to a product of Moore spaces, including p localized spheres); some progress in the computation of non-simply-connected rank 2 H-spaces (posed as an open problem in [Ka;problem 5]); and a universal description of e(S m × S n ) for n > m ≥ 1 as a semidirect product. This last situation includes an example that is not a semidirect product when decomposed in the only other way known (see section 4).


China has selectively devolved administrative responsibilities to Hong Kong and Macau while remaining as a unitary country. This is a suitable model for Sri Lanka. Based on this Chinese system, this document describes a political infrastructure, an approach to evolve that infrastructure, and solutions provided by this infrastructure for existing contentious issues.


Chinese character variants have a long history with rich cultural information, and they were produced in different ways. If we just simply change variants into the present normalized characters when reprinting historical literatures, we may have difficulty of cultural understanding or misunderstanding. It is not helpful for historical literatures to play its cultural role. So if the present character system is somewhat open and flexible, it will be of positive significance for the understanding, explanation and inheritance of culture.


Photoluminescent porous silicon (PSi) patterns of micrometer dimension were produced by the Pt-assisted electroless etching of Si in 1:1:2 methanol:HF:H2O2. Pt-containing squares with side lengths ranging from 1.25to20μm were defined by a focused-ion-beam-assisted maskless deposition of Pt from an organometallic precursor, trimethylmethylcyclopentadienyl platinum. The Pt-patterned Si samples were then etched to produce photoluminescent pixel arrays with high fidelity transfer of the Pt deposition pattern into luminescent pixels of varying size. The morphology of the PSi patterns was correlated with the spatial luminescence characteristics at the individual pixel level. Luminescent pixels with feature sizes down to ca. 1μm were largely confined to the areas initially coated with Pt, and the morphologies produced within any one set of equal-sized Pt squares were similar. For 5-μm pads and larger, the morphologies obtained were an admixture of a porous structure coexisting with deeper heavily etched crater regions. Only the porous areas were observed to emit, with the deeper crater areas being dark in a two-photon luminescence. The smaller 1.25- and 2.5-μm pads exhibited a common morphology, in which a brightly luminescent outer ring surrounds a weaker but still distinguishable luminescence in the center of the etched structure. These results are in contrast with the spatial luminescence patterns and morphologies for the millimeter-scale Pt pads [S. Chattopadhyay, X. Li, and P. W. Bohn, J. Appl. Phys. 91, 6134 (2002)], in which electroless etching and, thus, PSi formation is observed in the regions not initially coated with Pt.Photoluminescent porous silicon (PSi) patterns of micrometer dimension were produced by the Pt-assisted electroless etching of Si in 1:1:2 methanol:HF:H2O2. Pt-containing squares with side lengths ranging from 1.25to20μm were defined by a focused-ion-beam-assisted maskless deposition of Pt from an organometallic precursor, trimethylmethylcyclopentadienyl platinum. The Pt-patterned Si samples were then etched to produce photoluminescent pixel arrays with high fidelity transfer of the Pt deposition pattern into luminescent pixels of varying size. The morphology of the PSi patterns was correlated with the spatial luminescence characteristics at the individual pixel level. Luminescent pixels with feature sizes down to ca. 1μm were largely confined to the areas initially coated with Pt, and the morphologies produced within any one set of equal-sized Pt squares were similar. For 5-μm pads and larger, the morphologies obtained were an admixture of a porous structure coexisting with deeper heavily etched crater r...


Many workers are unjustly harmed by the work they do: their confidence in their abilities and even their abilities may be undermined because their work is too simple and they work under constant supervision and command. John Rawls's political liberalism may criticize such work arrangements as undermining the internal psychological resources required for democratic citizenship, invoking values of freedom and equality implicit in democratic culture. Criticism of stultifying work can also be grounded in a view of the human good as entailing development of complex abilities, contribution of human abilities to a larger community, and earning esteem for those contributions. The second, more "perfectionist," approach is superior to the Rawlsian approach: it provides a simpler argument and avoids the impossibility of marrying a market economy to egalitarian principles.


The experiment in this work was preformed at the Titan laser facility (S1) where a short pulse beam at a wavelength of 1053nm delivered up to 350J in 0.5 to 20 ps and a long pulse beam at 527nm, 2{omega} frequency provided energies up to 450J in 1 to 6 ns. Long pulse shaping in this experiment, similar to future capabilities at NIF, was primarily a 4ns long foot with an intensity of 1 x 10{sup 13} W/cm{sup 2}, followed by a 2ns long peak with an intensity of 3 x 10{sup 13} W/cm{sup 2}. A {approx} 600 um phase plate was used on the long pulse beam to moderate non-uniformities in the intensity profile. An illustration of the Thomson scattering setup for this experiment is provided in Fig. 1 of the main text. A nearly mono-energetic scattering source of {Delta}E/E {approx} 0.3% in the 4.5 keV Ti K-alpha line was produced via intense short-pulse laser irradiation of 1.9 x 3 x 0.01 mm Ti foils, creating energetic keV electrons in the process (S2, S3). The nearly isotropic source emission (S4) is produced in the cold solid density bulk of the foil from electron K shell ionization of neutral ormore » weakly ionized atoms, with an emission size on the order of the laser focal spot. By optimizing the laser intensity and pulse width to 4.4 x 10{sup 16} W cm{sup -2}, a total of 2.3 x 10{sup 13} x-ray photons have been produced into 4{pi}. This value corresponds to a conversion efficiency of laser energy into Ti K-alpha x-ray energy of 5 x 10{sup -5}, see Fig. S1. These sources provide {approx}10 ps x-ray pulses as measured experimentally (S5).« less


New data on several COVID-19 infection parameters are slowly beginning to emerge which include the relative frequencies of symptomatic versus asymptomatic individuals positive for COVID-19, individual variation in response to re-purposed drug treatments, prognostic factors for developing severe COVID-19 and genetic risk factors for COVID-19 susceptibility and severity. From a larger perspective, it is our view that these parameters endorse the call for greater efforts in personalised medicine, especially when specific pharmacological interventions (i.e. vaccines or drugs to COVID-19 and other zoonotic diseases) are yet to be developed. Here, the aim of personalised medicine would be to rapidly identify vulnerable individuals and subsequently to design better treatment regimens for them, should COVID-19 or other pandemics appear in future. Application of genomic technology also will continue to be of importance to gain knowledge about the biology of the virus and will facilitate vaccine development and predict markers of resistance and/or susceptibility. © 2021. Penerbit UMT


The present invention features compositions and methods for modulation of the mucosal immune system. The composition comprises a probiotic organisms, the food fermented by Lactobacillus para casei CBA L74 (an international deposit accession No. LMG P-24778). Alternatively, the composition may include L. Paracasei CBA L74 and a physiologically acceptable carrier. In some embodiments, L. Paracasei CBA L74 may be non-replicating. The composition immature immune system, or have a gastrointestinal disorder related infection or disease, may be administered to a subject at risk.


Optimization of immobilization conditions was carried out for covalent binding of Aureobasidium pullulans fructosyltransferase to a copolymer of butyl acrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate using a glutaraldehyde method. It was found that the highest activity of the preparation could be obtained for the immobilization pH 6.0 and initial protein amount 8.5 g per dm3 of the carrier. Effects of the reaction pH, temperature, and initial sucrose concentration on the activity and stability of the preparation were analyzed. Further investigations involved storage stability and operational stability in a mechanically stirred-tank reactor.


In this paper, we propose LinedCut: a novel method for interactive image segmentation which requires only a single line drawing to identify the object of interest in the image. The handy interaction mode can address the problem of object scale very well. Our approach consists of the following three steps: first, a given image is over-segmented into superpixels using superpixel algorithm; secondly, a merging technique based on bag-of-color feature and k-means is applied to merge similar adjacent superpixel pairs; finally, a graph-cut based approach which exploits user interaction information is introduced to get the final segmentation result. Despite its simplicity, we show that the LinedCut method is able to achieve a performance comparable to the state-of-the-art. The method can be easily developed by replacing any one method among the three steps with other methods.


The summary-data-based Mendelian randomization (SMR) method is gaining popularity in estimating the causal effect of an exposure on an outcome. In practice, the instrument SNP is often selected from the genome-wide association study (GWAS) on the exposure but no correction is made for such selection in downstream analysis, leading to a biased estimate of the effect size and invalid inference. We address this issue by using the likelihood derived from the sampling distribution of the estimated SNP effects in the exposure GWAS and the outcome GWAS. This likelihood takes into account how the instrument SNPs are selected. Since the effective sample size is 1, the asymptotic theory does not apply. We use a support for a profile likelihood as an interval estimate of the causal effect. Simulation studies indicate that this support has robust coverage while the confidence interval implied by the SMR method has lower-than-nominal coverage. Furthermore, the variance of the two-stage least squares estimate of the causal effect is shown to be the same as the variance used for SMR for one-sample data when there is no selection.


Purpose: This study examined the relationship between physical exercise (PE) and prosocial behavior (PSB) and constructed a chain mediation model through the mediating effect of physical education learning motivation (PELM) and emotional intelligence (EI). Methods: Through the stratified random sampling, 1053 students (average age = 14 years, SD = 0.96 years) that complied with the requirements were surveyed from Henan Province in China. PE, EI, PELM, and PSB were assessed using standard scales. For data analysis, Pearson's correlation analysis, structural equation model test, and bias-corrected percentile Bootstrap method were carried out in turn. Results: (1) There was a significant positive correlation between PE and PSB ( r = 0.137), and the direct path between PE and PSB was significant ( β = 0.09, t = 4.73, p < 0.01); (2) PE can positively predict EI ( β = 0.08, t = 5.27, p < 0.01) and PELM ( β = 0.04, t = 2.07, p < 0.05), EI can significantly and positively PSB ( β = 0.67, t = 22.12, p < 0.01), PELM can significantly and positively predict PSB ( β = 0.05, t =2.20, p <0.05); (3) EI and physical learning motivation play a significant intermediary role between PE and PSB. The mediating effect consists of three indirect effects: PE → EI → PSB (the mediating effect value is 0.055), PE → PELM → PSB (the mediating effect value is 0.002), PE → EI → PELM → PSB (the mediating effect value is 0.002); (4) The chain mediation effect is significant in girls, but not in boys. Conclusion: (1) PE can positively predict PSB. (2) EI and PELM had significant mediating effects between PE and PSB, including single mediating effects of EI and PELM and chain mediating effects of EI-PELM; (3) There are gender differences in the chain mediation effect. 5, 28 and 33 are entitled reverse scoring. This scale contains 4 dimensions: self-emotion regulation (eg: "When I'm in a good mood, I know how to prolong it."), emotional perception (eg: "I think it is difficult for me to understand other people's body language."), regulation of other people's emotions (eg, "I try to do my best to impress others."), and emotional use (eg, "I can control my emotions."). Each item is scored from 1 (completely inconsistent) to 5 (completely consistent). A higher score indicates a higher level of EI. In this study, the average score of the Emotional Intelligence Scale represents the level of emotional intelligence, and the internal consistency coefficient α of the scale was 0.81, and the confirmatory factor analysis fitting index was x²/df= 4.35, RMSEA= 0.068, GFI= 0.915, CFI =0.923.


To the Editor: —I have read with interest and, with one exception, approval the "Recommendations of the Subcommittee on Nomenclature" in Radiology. Section 14 of the Recommendations contains the statement that the word "x-ray" should not be used as a verb, as, for example, a request to "x-ray a patient." No alternative verb conveying the same meaning is offered. "To radiograph" implies only a film or plate examination. "To roentgenograph" has the same limitations and is furthermore condemned on other grounds. It seems that the committee has offered no verb to cover the routine of radiologic examination where both films and the fluoroscope are used and it seems to me, therefore, almost certain that "x-ray" will continue to be used as a verb until finally justified by usage, as the only evident alternative phrase, "to make an x-ray examination," is too cumbersome to be followed by other members of the


In this paper the authors prove that as t → + ∞ the temperature distribution of a rotary workpiece tends to a periodic function of t which is constructed by rotating certain stationary temperature distribution with the given angular velocity. The corresponding finite element approximations together with a numerical example are also given.


Review(s) of: The State and Terrorism: National Security and the Mobilization of Power, by Joseph H. Campos II, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007, 169 pp.


This study compares a novel simulation approach to the conventional Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) modeler"s approach for targeting biofuel crop production on marginal lands. In conventional SWAT modeling approach, non-spatial definition of hydrological response units (HRUs) results in the simulation of biofuel crops on both marginal and nonmarginal land. This study provides an alternative approach in which a marginal-land raster was integrated into the land use and land cover (LULC) raster in such a way that the land uses were divided into marginal and non-marginal components. This modified LULC was used for model setup which resulted in marginal and non-marginal HRUs. This approach was evaluated for the L"Anguille River watershed (LRW) by calibrating and validating for total flow, surface flow, base flow, sediment, total phosphorus, and nitrate-nitrogen followed by the simulation of biofuel crops only on marginal HRUs. The results were analyzed for two cellulosic (second generation) biofuel crops: switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) and miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus). Compared to novel modeling approach, simulations using the conventional approach showed an increase in sediments by 20% and 61%, total phosphorus by 17% and 53%, and total nitrogen by 25% and 65% for the switchgrass and miscanthus, respectively. Compared to simulated pollutant losses from a mix of baseline row crops, switchgrass and miscanthus showed 94% and 78% decrease in sediment, 96% and 90% decrease in total phosphorus, and 80% and 67% decrease in total nitrogen, respectively. This study provided a novel approach to incorporate marginal land into the SWAT model and the model outputs suggest that producing perennial grass biofuel crops on marginal lands of the LRW resulted in lower sediment, total phosphorus, and total nitrogen losses than that obtained by conventional SWAT modeling. Pollutant losses from the nontargeted marginal HRUs explained the differences in the sediment, total phosphorus, and total nitrogen losses. The simulation results also suggested that substantial reduction in pollutant losses could be achieved by replacing baseline row crops with perennial grass crops on marginal lands in the LRW. The thesis is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council.


Propellants containing HMX and an energetic binder have a very pressure sensitive burning rate law. Modifications of the burning rate and of the pressure exponent may be obtained by adding lead salts or ammonium perchlorate (AP) to the propellant. In the first case, the additive effect is related to the possibility for the binder to produce efficient finely divided carbon near the combustion surface. In the second case, the effect results from an interaction between AP flame oxygen and binder flame products. This interaction is observed between 20 and 300 bars. Its importance depends on the AP particle size. In parallel with this experimental study, an interpretative combustion model has been developed. This model is based on a sequential combustion concept and allows one to correlate the experimental results and especially the dependence of the burning rate on the HMX mass ratio. Nomenclature A = pre-exponential factor cp = heat capacity D = diameter E = activation energy / = mass fraction M - mass NJ = number of particle of size / in a unit volume | Qc = heat balance in the condensed phase, cal/g rb = burning rate V = volume £ = volumic fraction p = specific mass 0 = heat flux transferred from gas to condensed phase Subscripts


The invention relates to a decorative paper surface gypsum board and a production method thereof, which mainly solve the technical difficulties of the traditional paper surface gypsum board, such as single surface colour, large labor intensity of workers, low production efficiency, and long construction period. The technical scheme of the invention is that: the decorative paper surface gypsum board comprises a paper surface gypsum board which is used as a base body, wherein the decorative paper surface gypsum board also comprises decorative paper and surface adhering glue; the board surface of the decorative paper surface gypsum board is coated with the surface adhering glue, and the decorative paper is pasted to the board surface of the decorative paper surface gypsum board which is coated with the surface adhering glue and bonded with the board surface together. The production method comprises the following steps of: cleaning the surface of the paper surface gypsum board and putting into the feed end of a surface adhering machine, and meanwhile, installing the decorative paper on a bracket of the surface adhering machine; and spreading the surface adhering glue to a glue spreader, uniformly spreading the surface adhering glue to the board surface by the glue spreader, and meanwhile, pasting the decorative paper to the board surface by continuous rolling, and then solidifying for 24 hours to accomplish the glue adhesion of the decorative paper.


A cost-effective N/S co-doped carbon cloth has been synthesized by pyrolysis of waste facial masks as robust free-standing electrodes with high capacitance for assembling anti-freezing flexible quasi-solid-state supercapacitors with high energy and good adaptability at low temperatures of -20 °C.


My role was to present the paper to the conference. The presentation took place on Oct. 27 around 3:45pm and lasted for about 20 minutes including discussion. One of the feedbacks I received was on the repetition or self-adaptation of resulting ontologies generated from the methodology. Focuses or themes of ontologies should be emphasized. It implied the idea that additional information on themes of ontologies should be added to the metadata.


The paper presents some observations and opinions for a discussion on a possibility of balancing ultra-high power ac arc furnace directly at the furnace terminals, i.e., on the secondary side of the furnace transformer. The negative effects of the furnace unbalance reveal themselves, first of all, in the furnace transformer. Therefore, balancing the furnace directly on its terminals could be beneficial for the transformer performance and, first of all, for reduction of the energy loss. Some technical issues have to be solved and several theoretical questions need to be clarified for that. Some of them are discussed in this paper.


The federal system of government and the principle of decentralization poses problems for the consortia approach to e-journal subscriptions and access at national level in Germany. Solutions have been sought through regional and same-type library cooperation. Further progress may be possible through the efforts of various interdisciplinary, multiprofessional interest groups.


In this paper, we consider the inverse scattering problem of reconstructing a bounded obstacle in a three-dimensional planar waveguide from the scattered near-field data measured on a finite cylindrical surface containing the obstacle and corresponding to infinitely many incident point sources also placed on the measurement surface. The obstacle is allowed to be an impenetrable scatterer or a penetrable scatterer. We establish the validity of the factorization method with the near-field data to characterize the obstacle in the planar waveguide by constructing an outgoing-to-incoming operator which is an integral operator defined on the measurement surface with the kernel given in terms of an infinite series.


In this paper using a q-difference operator, a class of meromorphic univalent functions with fixed second positive coefficients is defined. Coefficient estimates, some distortion theorems and other properties for this class are obtained. Various results obtained are sharp.


There have been 18 breakthrough cases of mild varicella in 240 luekemic recipients of live attenuated OKA varicella vaccine in studies over the past 4 years. To determine why most vaccinees have been protected from illness after exposure but some have not, we analyzed immune responses to varicella-zoster virus (VZV) in: 1)6 normals, years after natural infection, 2) 41 vaccinees before immunization, 3) 23 vaccinees protected from varicella after household exposure, & 4)18 vaccinees who developed varicella. VZV antibody was measured by fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen (FAMA) & cellular immunity (CMI) by lymphocyte stimulation to VZV antigen, expressed as a stimulation index (SI).These data indicate that in general, the higher the VZ antibody titer the better the protection against varicella. Vaccinees with a breakthrough illness, however, have partial immunity that appears to protect them from severe disease.


Dynamic integration methods for unknown data sources and services at system design time are currently primarily driven by technological standards. Hence, little emphasis is being placed on integration methods. However, the combination of heterogeneous data sources and services offered by devices across domains is hard to standardize. In this paper, we will shed light on the interplay of self-adaptive system architectures as well as bottom-up, incremental integration methods relying on formal knowledge bases. An incremental integration method has direct influences on both the system architecture itself and the way these systems are engineered and operated during design and runtime. Our findings are evaluated in the context of a case study that uses an adapted bus architecture including two tool prototypes. In addition, we illustrate conceptually how control loops such as MAPE-K can be enriched with machine-readable integration knowledge.


AbstractThis study aims to describe the application of the singing method in growing children's confidence in TK LKIA 2 Pontianak. The research method used is a descriptive method with a qualitative research form. The subjects in this study were class B teachers and class B children at TK LKIA 2 Pontianak. Data collection techniques used are observation, interviews, and documentation. The results showed that: 1. Teachers at TK LKIA 2 Pontianak had prepared a daily lesson plan (RPPH) every day before learning began, the songs prepared by the teacher were in accordance with the learning theme, the selection of songs that were familiar/familiar to the world of children and easy to sing by children. such as the form of a song that is simple and not too long so that the lyrics are easily memorized by children, 2. The implementation of learning has been carried out quite well in accordance with the RPPH, in carrying out singing activities it is done by teaching techniques repeatedly, singing activities gradually and in groups, the existence of trust and closeness between teachers and children, and giving rewards to children, 3. Evaluation is carried out using a daily assessment instrument sheet in the form of a checklist. Thus, the application of the singing method in developing children's self-confidence in the Kindergarten of the Mother and Child Welfare Institution 2 Pontianak has been carried out quite well.Keywords: Confindence and Singing Method


Uncompleted-right house has been for nearly 20 years in China.Although it has many advantages,it has been reduced and forced-out by the power center.Uncompleted-right house is typical product of the demand-induced-type institution change which was launched by the township government,rural collective economic organizations and farmers from bottom to top.This paper analyzed the obstacles which were encountered by uncompleted-right house in its transformation from "informal institutional arrangement" to "formal institutional arrangement" recognized and imposed by the power center;and explored the reasons why they are originated from the rural land system reform but their fates are greatly different by means of comparing with household contracted responsibility system with remuneration;and put forward route choice of the legalization of uncompleted-right house at present.


PURPOSE: To enable the high resolution processing of a coded digital sampling signal by dividing an inputted sampling signal into at least two parts and filtering each part without regard to the other parts by the digital filter of each to reconstitute an output sampling signal. CONSTITUTION: A digital signal S with a 9-bit code is impressed to a decoder D to select eight highest order digit bits to output a signal S 1 to a first programmable digital filter (PFP) 2 and an adder 4. The adder 4 receives a pit a 0 with the maximum weight of the lowest order digit part of the digital signal S selected by the decoder D at the other input terminal and generates an 8-bit signal S 2 to input as an address signal to the address terminal of second PFP 2. Output from two PFP 2 are added by an adder 5 to correctly reconstitute an output signal. Consequently a signal with a high dynamic range is given high resolution processing. COPYRIGHT: (C)1994,JPO


Li-ion batteries are now used in electric vehicles (EVs), plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) and, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Nanostructured Li(NiyMnzCo1-y-z)O2 is one of the more popular cathode chemistries for automotive Li-ion battery, due to its enhanced properties such as large surface area, short diffusion length, enhanced ionic and electronic conductivity, improved mechanical strength and structural integrity [Pan et al, #y2013]. Recycling of Li-ion batteries helps to mitigate environmental effects of virgin metal extractions along with improper disposal of end of life batteries. To fulfill these objectives of the recycling, recovery of pure streams of the involved metals should be considered. In this study, the batteries were first discharged and dismantled in an inert atmosphere (Ar). The electrodes were then heat treated in a box furnace. This was done in order to break the chains of the adhesive (PVDF) and consequently separate the metallic substrates Cu and Al from the electrochemically active compound. This heat-treatment also helped to simplify the dissolution of the metal constituents in the electrochemically active compound from the cathode in the acid leaching process. Solvent extraction was chosen to achieve separation and recovery of metals with higher purity from these leachates. In the scope of the present work, a complete process from the point of dismantling to separation of constituent metals using solvent extraction was studied.


Objective To study the inducing factors and preventive measures of status asthmaticus. Methods The comprehensive therapeutic measures including aminophylline,hormone( intravenous drip)and spray inhalation of β 2- receptor excitant were given to the patients after admission. Results The remission rate was 100 % within 24 hours. The hospitalization time was from 2 days to 14 days,and the average time was 8.5 days. Conclusion During the status asthmaticus the bronchi were severely blocked, and the comprehensive treatment of the patients with aminophycline,hormone and β 2-receptor excitant could not only have good antispastic and antiasthmatic actions but also relieve status asthmaticus rapidly.


Flashing ratchet is a mechanism which employs noise under isothermal and non equilibrium conditions. Its primary is to transport of small particles, possibly against a load force, under the influence of thermal noise and potential energy landscapes that can be realized locally, near the particles position. In this article we present a dynamic programming based approach to analyze and synthesize optimal strategies in the presence of a non-zero load force and finite sampling intervals. We show that it is possible to obtain an order increase in velocity and stalling force, over open-loop strategies. Besides engineered systems, study of such strategy is also important to gain insights on the intra-cellular transport of motor proteins (such as Kinesin and Dynein) on a microtubular track, and on the role of feedback control on their transport.


In recent years, the usage of plant materials as food supplement and as alternative medicine has increased. Medicinal herbs are a rich source of antimicrobial agents. In this investigation, antimicrobial effects of leaf methanol and ethanol extracts of Artemisia annua against Staphylococcus aureus PTCC 1431, Salmonella enterica PTCC 1231, Klebsiella pneumonia PTCC 1053, Shigella dysenteriae PTCC 1188 and Escherichia coli PTCC 1399 were studied, using well diffusion method. Methanol and ethanol extracts obtained from leaves of A. annua exhibited antimicrobial activity against test microorganisms. The methanol extract of A. annua showed high inhibition of the growth of S. aureus PTCC 1431, S. enterica PTCC 1231 with inhibitory, 16.5 and 15.5 mm, with average 13.7 mm. The results indicate the fact that extracts of A. annua could be effectively used against diseases caused by selected human pathogens.