Writing is generally assessed internationally using rubric-based approaches, but there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that the reliability of such approaches is poor. In contrast, comparative judgement studies suggest that it is possible to assess open ended tasks such as writing with greater reliability. Many previous studies, however, have failed to provide direct comparisons between these approaches as the reliability measures for rubric- and marking-based studies are not comparable with the internal measures of reliability cited by comparative judgement studies. We investigated the classification accuracy and consistency of a rubric-based approach to the grading of writing with a comparative judgement approach. The writing was gathered from 11-year-olds in low stakes settings in England. We present evidence that the comparative judgement approach has twice the classification accuracy of the rubric-based approach and is perfectly viable in terms of its efficiency. We discuss the limitations of the comparisons and consider what a national system for assessing writing based on a comparative judgement approach could look like.


We describe the past and future of the Janus project. The collaboration started in 2006 and deployed in early 2008 the Janus supercomputer, a facility that allowed to speed-up Monte Carlo Simulations of a class of model glassy systems and provided unprecedented results for some paradigms in Statistical Mechanics. The Janus Supercomputer was based on state-of-the-art FPGA technology, and provided almost two order of magnitude improvement in terms of cost/performance and power/performance ratios. More than four years later, commercial facilities are closing-up in terms of performance, but FPGA technology has largely improved. A new generation supercomputer, Janus2, will be able to improve by more than one orders of magnitude with respect to the previous one, and will accordingly be again the best choice in Monte Carlo simulations of Spin Glasses for several years to come with respect to commercial solutions.


Aims Forest fire plays a complex and important role in affecting forest regeneration, tree growth, and stand development. Despite the importance of forest fire in modulating forest dynamics, researches on the response patterns of trees of different age-classes to fire disturbances are scarce. This study was conducted to determine the growth patterns of surviving trees of different age-classes in an alpine pine (Pinus densata) forest in the southeastern Xizang Plateau, where a moderate surface fire occurred in 2005. Methods We collected tree-ring samples of P. densata in the Gong-Zi-Nong valley in Nang County, Xizang Autonomous Region, in western China. Based on the diameter at breast height (DBH), the sampling trees were divided into saplings (DBH < 10 cm) and mature trees (DBH ≥10 cm). The tree-ring samples were subsequently polished, measured, cross-dated, and detrended to produce sequences of tree-ring width indices. The detrended tree-ring sequences were averaged using bi-weight robust method to develop chronologies for saplings and mature trees separately. Pearson correlation coefficients and response coefficients between the sequences of tree-ring width indices and climate factors (air temperature and precipitation) were calculated for examination of the responses of tree-ring sequences to monthly mean air temperature and monthly total precipitation both before and after the fire event. Indices of growth resistance and growth recovery were calculated based on the relative changes of trees' raw ring width before and after the fire event, for trees in different age-classes. These indices were then compared between the trees in different age classes to assess the impacts of fire on trees. Important findings Before the fire event, the radial growth of saplings showed a significantly negative response to the monthly mean minimum temperature of the preceding November, whereas the radial growth of mature trees ©植物生态学报 Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology 李宝等: 西藏朗县地区不同龄级高山松林木径向生长对火干扰的响应 437 doi: 10.17521/cjpe.2015.0440 showed a significantly positive response to monthly mean minimum temperature and monthly mean temperature of current September; following the fire event, radial growth of both the saplings and the mature trees showed a significantly negative response to monthly mean temperature and monthly mean maximum temperature of January of the tree-ring formation year. Based on the ratios of mean tree-ring widths of 5 post-fire years to those of 5 pre-fire years, the mature trees were significantly more fire resistant than the saplings. Moreover, the mature trees also showed greater ability in post-fire recoveries than the burnt saplings. Our results demonstrated that moderate surface fire stimulated the radial growth of both saplings and mature trees, and that the mature trees better recovered from the fire event than the saplings. The changes in growth-climate relationships following the fire event may attribute to changes in understory vegetation and microenvironments.


Abstract Hydrodenitrogenation of dilute solutions of North Gujarat Crude oil(an Indian Crude) has been carried out in a packed bed flow reactor. The reactions have been studied at a temperature range of 573K-723K and pressure 5.6 - 10.2 Mpa over commercial hydrotreating catalyst. From the analysis it was found that the denitrogenation rate is first order with respect to nitrogen concentration and the total pressure of the system.


How do we know when a translation is good? This seemingly simple question has long dogged human practitioners of translation, and has arguably taken on even greater importance in today's world of fully automatic, end-to-end machine translation systems. Much of the difficulty in assessing translation quality is that different translations of the same text may be made for different purposes, each of which entails a unique set of requirements and constraints. This difficulty is compounded by ambiguities in the source text, which must be identified and then preserved or eliminated according to the needs of the translation and the (apparent) intent of the source text. In this talk, I survey the state of the art in linguistics, computational linguistics, translation, and machine translation as it relates to the notion of linguistic ambiguity in general, and intentional humorous ambiguity in particular. I describe the various constraints and requirements of different types of translations and provide examples of how various automatic and interactive techniques from natural language processing can be used to detect and then resolve or preserve linguistic ambiguities according to these constraints and requirements. In the vein of the "Translator's Amanuensis" proposed by Martin Kay, I outline some specific proposals concerning how the hitherto disparate work in the aforementioned fields can be connected with a view to producing "machine-in-the-loop" computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools to assist human translators in selecting and implementing pun translation strategies in furtherance of the translation requirements. Throughout the talk, I will attempt to draw links with how this research relates to the requirements engineering community.


In a study of female orgasmic functioning, hypotheses derived from Weiner's (1974) achievement‐motivation model of attribution theory were contrasted with those from a model of self‐serving attribu...


Among all methodologies to support multi-criteria decision making, the Analytics Hierarchy Process is widely used in the most diverse situations. Different authors treat it as one of the best alternatives when there is a need to introduce subjective criteria within the decision-making process, in addition to having adaptability to situations with a high number of alternatives using ratings. In this work, a comparison was made between the ranking results of 30 areas for replacing the network infrastructure with fiber optic networks through numerical criteria and reordering by decision makers and through a model using AHP with ratings. As a result, a similar final ranking can be seen, which enables the use of AHP as a tool to improve the decision-making process for this situation.


3 About tetrachloroethylene 7 I Study materials I-1 Study sample lots, etc .. 14 I-2 Identity, stability of study sample 14 I -2-1. Identity 14 I-2-2 Stability 14 I-3 Laboratory animals 14 II Study methods IIL Administration II-1-1 Administration route, administration method, and administration period 15 II-1-2. Administration concentration and reason for establishing the same 15 II-1-3 Method ofgenerating and adjusting concentration of study sample 15 II-1-4. Determination of concentration of study sample 17 ll-2 Animal management II-2-L Grouping and individual identification methods 17 II-2-2 Rearing conditions 17 II-3. Observation and test items and methods II-3L Observation of general stahrs of animals 21 II-3-2. Body weight detennination 21 II-3-3. Food consumption detennination 21 II-3-4. Hematological tests 21 II-3-5 Blood chemistry tests 21 II-3-6. Urinalyses 21 II-3-7 Pathological tests 21 II-4 Numerical treatment and statistical methods (1) Handling and representation of numbers 22 (2) Handling and representation of parameters 22 (3) Statistical methods 23 III Study results III-I Carcinogenicity studies using rats (1) Observation of animal status 24 (2) Hematological tests, blood chemistry tests, urinalyses 25 (3) Pathological tests 29 III-2 Carcinogenicity studies using mice (I) Observation of animal status 33 (2) Hematological tests, blood chemistry tests, urinalyses 34 (3) Pathological tests 38 IV.. Discussion 46


The objective was to analyze the chemical charcoal quality, density and anatomy of the wood of three forest species from urban pruning residues in the municipality of Alta Floresta - MT: Oiti L icania tomentosa ; Bajao P arkia multijuga and Ipe H androantthus sp. The samples were collected in the form of discs, in a local charcoal of the city and had their dimensions diminished in laboratory. The technological parameters of the wood were determined according to norms established in the literature.It was possible to verify that the species presented statistical differences among themselves for the technological parameters analyzed. In general, the residues of forest species can be used in the form of charcoal production, being an economic source of the municipality.


Novel biopharmaceutical products, such as vaccines and viral vectors, are a challenging task for downstream processing. Alternative purification strategies that can improve the purification yield, such as continuous chromatography, are regarded nowadays as enabling technologies to overcome the capacity bottleneck in biomanufacturing. This paper reviews the current state of the art in (semi-)continuous chromatographic processes and equipment for purification of bioproducts. Particular focus is given to the recent multicolumn processes developed for virus purification, for which the chromatographic media selection, predictive models, and process design principles are illustrated.


Industrial Clusters (ICs) are companies that are active in the same commercial section in adjacent geographical area. Several articles have investigated the mathematical structure of ICs under different business rules and objectives. However, There is a dearth of research in mathematical relationship between Supply Chain Management and ICs. To bridge this gap, we propose a multi-echelon supply-distribution model that optimize collaborations of different echelons. The two considered objectives are minimizing the total incurred logistics costs, and maximizing the service level of customers. We solve this problem using the intelligent water drops (IWD) algorithm. We also compare IWD with reference-point based non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-III) and non-dominated ranking genetic algorithm (NRGA). Finally, we illustrate the validity of the proposed approach through experimental results.


Degradation models are widely explored in Super-resolution (SR) field. The traditional degradation model, which mainly involves blur and downsampling degradation, cannot well simulate the degradation in real-world scenarios. Although some degradation models have made good progress by using a series of complex degradation types, they ignore some simple cases in reality. They, therefore, cannot cover the various degradations of real images. To address this problem, we propose a novel random degradation model. Specifically, our degradation model consists of various degradation types, including blur, noise, multi-step sampling, rotation and JPEG compression. Moreover, a novel random and dropout strategy is employed to generate the degradation sequence of different lengths to simulate various real-world degradations better. Based on the random degradation model, we extend the powerful ESRGAN to a practical super-resolver (namely, RDGAN). To verify the effectiveness of the new degradation model, we have made extensive comparisons on synthetic and real datasets. The results have shown that the new degradation model helps to improve the ability of the super-resolver significantly, thus benefiting existing deep super-resolution networks in practical use.


The invention relates to a brightness of a display control system (36) head-up of a vehicle, said display (36) being configured to display an image, said system comprising means (32) of the brightness evaluation connected to means (34) for determining a brightness set to the display (36). The system is characterized in that said means (32) for evaluating the brightness are adapted to evaluate the brightness outside the vehicle forward and beyond the image displayed on said display (36), and in that that said means (34) for determining are adapted to determine the brightness set according to the external brightness measured and transmitted to the display (36).


The invention relates to an arrangement for a vehicle seat, comprising an inner element (11c, 11d), an outer element (9, 16a), which has an opening (16b) having an edge (9c, 16c) and receives the inner element (11c, 11d), and a weld seam (20) which connects the outer element (9, 16a) to the inner element (11c, 11d). The arrangement is characterized in that the edge (16c) of the opening of the outer element (9, 16a) is interspaced from the inner element (11c, 11d) over the largest part of its circumference and defines a radial gap (G) having a defined maximum width, the weld seam (20) being introduced into the gap (G).


Considering the difficulty in determining the weights of attributes of complex systems in multiple attribute decision-making,this paper makes analysis and sets up model with Catastrophe decisionmaking method.The method employs the inherence mechanism of the normalization formula to determine the importance of the decision-making goal,therefore has no need to consider the weight of each attribute.Firstly,the multiple attribute decision-making thinking by Catastrophe decision-making method was introduced;Secondly,the basic steps for choosing logistics virtual enterprise using Catastrophe decisionmaking method were presented;Finally,a numerical example was used to illustrate the rationality and feasibility.


doi: 10.5694/mja15.c0202 Economics and health — how does 2015 look? The current discussion about copayments illustrates how hard it is to make sense of the interplay of the health and economic systems, especially when political wheels are engaged. When the copayment was proposed it was said to be necessary because the health service was unsustainable. Its purpose changed on the night of the presentation of the 2014 federal Budget, to funding medical research. Later it became a price signal, despite already obvious price signals in the form of private health insurance premiums and the Medicare levy.


The analytical dependences for onedimensional
temperature field determination and
numerical model of two-dimensional temperature
field in the heat pipe cross sections for heating
and condensation zones are presented.
Obtained calculation results are compared with
experimental data for aluminum axial grooves
heat pipes, filled with ammonia


I discuss audience responses to a children's soap opera, Junction Juniors, produced and broadcast in Kenya. The soap takes a child's perspective life in their small rural community. Many of the storylines address controversial topics concerning rights, conflict and democracy. I discuss the principles underlying Entertainment-Education and Communication for Social Change in development contexts and apply them to child audience responses to this soap opera. By shifting from a focus on the 'message' to one that prioritises child engagement, the programme challenges notions of the passive child and of 'rights' being externally determined. I draw on the notion of 'refraction' to explore how children's rights are reframed and enacted in the contexts of development practice (Reynolds, Nieuwenhuys & Hanson, 2006) and the ways in which media can be a vehicle for this refraction. At a time when the focus is on new mobile communications technologies Junction Juniors is a reminder that television still plays a powerful role in children's lives.


HE most encouraging feature in this year's (1948-49) archaeological picture of Greece is the reconstitution of its MUSEUMS. Excavations on a large scale have not yet begun although permission has been granted by the Ministry of Education to the French School to continue their work at Thasos, Delos and Delphi, and to the American School for work in the Agora at Athens, and to Professor Lehmann for Samothrace. The E.C.A. Mission to Greece has come to realize that the Tourist Trade is an essential part of the economic recovery of this country and has therefore allotted funds for improving, not only the living conditions for the tourists, but also for the restoration of its ancient monuments and museums. In the Athens region work is proceeding on the Acropolis Museum and also on the Museum at Eleusis which required repairs to its roof. These two should soon be open to the public. The one at the Kerameikos is already open as is also the Byzantine Museum and the temporary Museum at the Agora whose contents had been sent for safekeeping to the National Museum in 1940, where they were buried in deep trenches below the floor. The Agora Museum has now received its treasures back again and will keep them there until a permanent home is ready for them in the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos. The National Museum has still to undergo extensive repairs but the heavy marbles were moved out some months ago and the work of excavating the basement and putting in concrete floors above it has already begun. This will greatly increase the area available for exhibition and storerooms. While reconstruction is being carried out on this older building (facing the gardens on Patissia Blvd.) the annex, built just before the war, houses the offices and workrooms of the staff and also a very fine lecture room and four exhibition rooms with selected objects of sculpture and pottery from the great national collection. Recent arrivals in its rooms were the Aphrodite of Rhodes and several vases and some objects in gold, silver and bronze which had been carried off to Italy and are now on their return journey to Rhodes. Also on exhibition here was the group of Greek antiquities which had been sent to New York for the Exposition in 1939 and since that time had remained under the protection of the Metropolitan Museum. They arrived in Athens in state on an auxiliary ship of the American Navy! The Piraeus Museum which was re-opened two years ago has had presented to it part of the very fine collection belonging to the former Alexander M. Meletopoulos, given by his son. This includes some 114 pieces, of which the inscriptions are the most important: a series of seven bronze tablets of the Heliasts, 2 large marble inscriptions, one of which contains a decree of the sacrificial priests of the cult of the Thracian goddess, Bendis, whose cult was widespread in the fifth and fourth century B.c. and was mentioned by Socrates in the Republic of Plato. In Thessalonika the American Mission has assigned funds for building an archaeological museum to house all the antiquities discovered in Macedonia. They have also helped with the restoration of the Church of St. Demetrios which had an official opening on St. Demetrios' Day, October 26th, 1948, at which the King and Queen were present. The Museum at Volo is open and being put into order by Miss Konstantinou, for-


The alternating-direction collocation (ADC) method combines the attractive computational features of a collocation spatial approximation and an alternating-direction time marching algorithm. The result is a very efficient solution procedure for parabolic partial differential equations. To date, the methodology has been formulated and demonstrated for second-order parabolic equations with insignificant first-order derivatives. However, when solving transport equations, significant first-order advection components are likely to be present. Therefore, in this paper, the ADC method is formulated and analyzed for the transport equation. The presence of first-order spatial derivatives leads to restrictions that are not present when only second-order derivatives appear in the governing equation. However, the method still appears to be applicable to a wide variety of transport systems. A formulation of the ADC algorithm for the nonlinear system of equations that describes density-dependent fluid flow and solute transport in porous media demonstrates this point. An example of seawater intrusion into coastal aquifers is solved to illustrate the applicability of the method.

An alternating-direction collocation solution algorithm has been developed for the general transport equation. The procedure is analogous to that for the model parabolic equations considered by Celia and Pinder [2]. However, the presence of first-order spatial derivatives requires special attention in the ADC formulation and application. With proper implementation, the ADC procedure effectively combines the efficient equation formulation inherent in the collocation method with the efficient equation solving characteristics of alternating-direction time marching algorithms. To demonstrate the viability of the method for problems with complex velocity fields, the procedure was applied to the problem of density-dependent flow and contaminant transport in groundwaters. A standard example of seawater intrusion into coastal aquifers was solved to illustrate the applicability of the method and to demonstrate its potential use in practical problems.


This paper presents a Kaldorian model of growth that incorporates both Kaldor's theory of income distribution and his endogenous technical progress function. Growth is driven by demand‐side forces that induce supply‐side accommodation. The model incorporates Hicksian induced innovation; Goodwin Marxist style labor conflict that affects wage bill division between workers and managers; Tobin inflation effects; and Kalecki monopoly power effects. Unlike the neo‐Kaleckian model, a Kaldorian economy operates at normal capacity utilization. Monopoly power plays a role as a barrier to entry rather than determining the functional distribution of income.


OBJECTIVE To establish a SPE-HPLC method for the determination of 13 central nervous system drugs.METHODS Plasma was pretreated by SPE using WCX cartridge.The separation was performed on an Agilent TC-C18 column with mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile-phosphate buffer solution by gradient elution.The flow rate was 1.5 mL·min-1.The detection was set at 210 nm and full spectra were recorded from 200-364 nm.RESULTS The absolute recoveries of 13 drugs were in the range of 72.60%-110.24% with the precisions 11.55%.The limits of detection(LOD)were in the range of 0.01-0.10 mg·L-1.The method showed excellent linearity(linear correlation coefficient ≥0.998 5).CONCLUSION The method is effective,simple,reliable and could be used for the determination of 13 drugs simultaneously in plasma.


ABSTRACT First Nations, Métis, and Inuit (FNMI) youth experience many health disparities in comparison with their mainstream Canadian peers. Researchers have recommended that interventions developed to enhance health and well-being for FNMI youth apply a strengths-based approach that acknowledges contextual challenges. This article uses a qualitative approach to examine the perceived impacts of a program designed to enhance positive development and leadership in FNMI youth. Semistructured interviews were conducted with front-line staff and participants. A thematic data analysis resulted in three major themes that describe the perceived program effects at the participant, staff, and community levels. Findings are discussed in relation to current research and theory, and recommendations are provided for programming and future research. Leadership programming for FNMI youth may be an effective way to promote development across many levels of stakeholders.


This paper presents a study of the thermophysical properties of electric motors and of the structure of the robots used by ITAndroids' Very Small Size (VSS) team. To perform the modeling of the robot structure, the General Lumped Capacitance Analysis was used, assuming that the motor's internal temperature can be considered approximately uniform. This hypothesis was validated by means of Biot's Number, and the heat source term was evaluated in order to define which energy dissipation sources would be considered in the modeling. The obtained model was evaluated through numerical simulations to analyze the motors' temperature profile for different current values. We compared the obtained results with similar experiments found in the literature, concluding that the model could predict the system's behavior in a satisfactory manner. Therefore, this work contributes to the research area by providing a model able to predict the temperature of the electric motor under different workloads, thus, allowing the team to anticipate its overheating and prevent its premature burnout.


A preliminary lattice design of a muon collider ring with the center-of-mass (CM) energy of 6 TeV is presented. The ring circumference is 6.3 km, and the beta function at collision point is β* = 1 cm in each plane. The ring linear optics, a local non-linear chromaticity compensation in the Interaction Region (IR), additional IR non-linear correction knobs, and the effects of non-linear fringe field are discussed. Magnet specifications are based on the maximum pole-tip field of 20 T in dipoles and 15 T in quadrupoles. Careful compensation of the non-linear chromatic and amplitude dependent effects provides a sufficiently large dynamic aperture for the momentum range of up to ± 0.5% without considering magnet errors.


The "congenital cystic eye" is a rare ocular malformation due to an arrest of normal development with complete or partial failure in the invagination of the primary optic vesicle between the third and fifth week of embryonic life. A coincidence of maternal varicella infection and congenital cystic eye is described and the possibility of a causal relationship is discussed.


Bulk high temperature superconductor magnets (HTSMs) have a higher flux-generating capability compared to conventional permanent magnets (PMs). These materials potentially can be used in high temperature superconducting (HTS) linear synchronous motors (LSMs) as superconducting secondary magnets, what will result in a reduced volume and weight as well as in higher force density and efficiency of these devices when compared to conventional PMs. The focus of this paper is on the effect of size of the secondary HTSM on the static performance (thrust force and normal force) of a LSM. In order to obtain high-field HTSM as the secondary, single grain bulk GdBCO-Ag superconductors of diameter 20 mm, 30 mm and 40 mm, which have higher Jc and trapped fields than YBCO superconductors, were used in this device for the first time following application by the same optimized magnetization condition. It was found that both thrust and normal forces increase and saturate with the increasing size of the HTSM secondary at the small size range, and then potentially distort when the physical size of the HTSM secondary approaches the pole pitch of the linear three-phase primary windings of the LSM. Furthermore, more experiments of a larger-sized multi-seeded HTSM secondary, confirmed that the relationship between the HTSM secondary size and the pole pitch of the primary is an important factor for achieving higher thrust and normal forces. It is suggested that the multi-pole HTSM secondary will be more beneficial to future HTS LSM designs since the single-pole HTSM secondary size should be equal to or smaller than the stator pole pitch in the paper.


The structures of Middle Caspian basin differ from folded ones of South Caspian. The paper presents the researches of geodynamic processes in Middle Caspian basin and the types of traps formed due to them. Five structural types characteristic for the Middle Caspian basin, which can play a role of traps for hydrocarbons, are described. The significance of concept of formation process of each structure type for the specification of direction of exploration surveys in this region is shown as well. The most interesting of them in the context of geodynamic development are the inversion structures and monocline on the north-east slope of the Great Caucasus. The first structures are the great anticlines occurred due to the inversion of triassic grabens. The combination of lake sediments in the grabens favorable for the formation of parent rocks and giant traps over the last ones reduces the risks of exploration works. The formation of the monocline on the north-east slope of the Great Caucasus may be justified with the salt accumulation in the marginal lakes bordered with barrier reefs in the Upper Jurassic stage. These reef structures may serve as traps for the hydrocarbons.


This contribution takes its inspiration from the recent book by Pierpaolo Donati La matrice teologica della societa (Rubettino, 2010) to discuss more general problems regarding the return of religions in the public scene. This return is not only a social phenomenon of vast and ever growing proportions, but is open to cause even more severe consequences. These last ones come in particular from underestimating, intellectually and culturally, the transformations and changes brought about by the intertwine between theology and politics, which appears to be able to deeply modify the cultural and institutional structure of the society of our time.


The invention discloses an improved method for synthesizing a 2-mercaptobenzothiazole derivative. The method comprises the following steps of: putting relatively simple raw materials consisting of a phenylamine derivative, carbon disulfide and sulphur in a reaction kettle; introducing N2 till the reaction pressure is kept in a range of 6-15 MPa; raising the temperature to 200-260 DEG C; reacting for 2-5 h; dissolving the product by using alkali; filtering and removing side-effect impurities; and acidizing and separating the product, the content of which is above 99%. The reaction yield can be increased to 90-100% by optimizing a reaction condition. The method disclosed by the invention has the advantages that: the cost of reaction raw materials is saved; the reaction time is shortened; furthermore, the reaction purity and the yield are increased; and the method can be popularized for large-scale industrial production.


Background and AimsMammalian sperm activation and hyperactivation is regulated by protein phosphorylation. Although tyrosine phosphoiylation is considered very important, several studies have investigated whether serine and threonine phosphoiylation are also associated with sperm activation and hyperactivation, and that was also the aim of the present study.MethodsProtein phosphorylation of hamster spermatozoa was detected by Western blotting using antiphospho-amino acid monoclonal antibodies after tricine sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Amino acid sequences were analyzed using a peptide sequencer.ResultsFour proteins were phosphorylated at serine residues during hyperactivation via activation and their approximate molecular weights were 90, 38, 32 and 10 kDa, respectively. Five proteins were phosphorylated or dephosphorylated at threonine residues and their approximate molecular weights were 90, 70, 65, 35 and 10 kDa, respectively. The 10-kDa protein corresponded to a previously reported 10-kDa tyrosine phosphoprotein. N-terminal sequences of the 10-kDa protein were similar to carcinustatin, which is a neuropeptide.ConclusionsDuring hyperactivation, four serine phosphorylation and five threonine phospho- or dephosphorylations occurred, which suggested that the 10-kDa protein was phosphorylated at tyrosine residues when spermatozoa were activated and then dual-phosphorylated at the serine and threonine residues during hyperactivation.


We report for the first time a CMOS-compatible silicidation technology for surround-gate vertical MOSFETs. The technology uses a double spacer comprising a polysilicon spacer for the surround gate and a nitride spacer for silicidation and is successfully integrated with a Fillet Local OXidation (FILOX) process, which thereby delivers low overlap capacitance and high-drive-current vertical devices. Silicided 80-nm vertical n-channel devices fabricated using 0.5-μm lithography are compared with nonsilicided devices. A source-drain (S/D) activation anneal of 30 s at 1100°C is shown to deliver a channel length of 80 nm, and the silicidation gives a 60% improvement in drive current in comparison with nonsilicided devices. The silicided devices exhibit a subthreshold slope (S) of 87 mV/dec and a drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL) of 80 mV/V, compared with 86 mV/dec and 60 mV/V for nonsilicided devices. S-parameter measurements on the 80-nm vertical nMOS devices give an fT of 20 GHz, which is approximately two times higher than expected for comparable lateral MOSFETs fabricated using the same 0.5-μm lithography. Issues associated with silicidation down the pillar sidewall are investigated by reducing the activation anneal time to bring the silicided region closer to the p-n junction at the top of the pillar. In this situation, nonlinear transistor turn-on is observed in drain-on-top operation and dramatically degraded drive current in source-on-top operation. This behavior is interpreted using mixed-mode simulations, which show that a Schottky contact is formed around the perimeter of the pillar when the silicided contact penetrates too close to the top S/D junction down the side of the pillar.


A new type unattended automatic control system in small-sized hydropower stations mainly using PLC is presented. The components, functions, communication and programming of PLC are introduced, and the implementation principle of communication between components is discussed in detail.


In the years since 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA's) electric power operations have passed through three phases. The first, lasting from the early days until 1941, was characterized by the construction of multiple-purpose dams, a quest for power markets and consequent battle with private companies, and innovative experiments with utility rate structures. The gamble of very low rates paid off, and well served both the goal of raising the standard of living in the Tennessee Valley and of demonstrating the possibilities inherent in sliding-scale prices. The TVA's second phase, lasting roughly from 1941 to 1961, witnessed immense growth of its power program, in response to demands imposed on the system by external conditions. WorldWar II created an emergency situation, with the Tennessee Valley an important area because of the presence of such aluminum firms as Alcoa and Reynolds, whose production facilities were largely turned over to the fabrication of aluminum for warplanes. After the war, the demands of the Cold War prompted the Atomic Energy Commission, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and elsewhere, to expand its uranium plants, and with them its demands on the TVA. The Authority thus turned to coal, and ultimately to nuclear generation, which brought about criticism from environmentalists and successive problems involving the cost of fuel. The entire story demonstrates how an institution is inevitably a volitional actor in history, and a prisoner or victim of it, as the TVA has been in its third phase, which began in 1961.


In this paper, an Uplink Link Adaptation in LTE for CAT M1 users is designed using machine learning algorithms in varying channel conditions. Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS) and Repetition Level (RL) values are estimated based on past data using K-Nearest Neighbor (K-NN) and Support Vector Machine Algorithms (SVM). Accuracy test for K-NN algorithm is performed to find the optimal value of k (number of neighbors), used to classify test data. As the accuracy of SVM with RBF kernel depends upon regularization parameter (C) and spread of kernel (gamma), cross-validation over different values of C and gamma is performed to find the value, which gives the best accuracy. To validate the effectiveness of machine learning algorithms, we performed throughput simulation analysis in varying channel conditions using live and real-time eNodeB (eNB) data. This data is then fed to our python-based simulator. Simulation results show that machine learning algorithms with dynamic RL adaptation can improve performance up to 15% in the case of LTE CAT M1 users as compared to conventional link adaptation algorithms.


Objective: To investigate the protective effects of Naoerkang(NEK) on Alzheimer disease(AD) mince induced by chronic Al(AlCl3) toxicity involved in regulating protein expression of amyloid precursor protein(APP) and β-amyloid(Aβ).Method: Sixty male mice were randomly divided into normal control group,model group,piracetam group,low-dose NEK group,medium-dose NEK group,and high-dose NEK group,with 10 mice in each group,AlCl3(100 mg·kg-1) were injected into abdominal cavity in mice to establish AD model whereas the normal control mice were injected with same volume of saline for comparisom.The mice in the NEK groups were intragastrically treated respectively with high,medium and low dose(1.36,0.68,0.34 g·mL-1) NEK for 50 days consecutively;piracetam(10 g·mL-1) was intragastrically administered to mice in the piracetam group;and normal saline was applied in the control and model groups.Jumping stand was used to examine their abilities in learning and memory.The positive protein expression of APP and Aβ in cortex and hippocampal region of the mice in each group were detected by immunohistochemistry,and the results were analyzed by gray scale adopting Qwin550CW images and signals cllection and analysis system.Result: Compared with the control group,the Latent Period of memory was shortened significantly(P0.01),while that of learning had been prolonged obviously(P0.05)and the times of mistakes for learning and memory increased significantly(P0.01) for the mice of the model group.Compared with the model group,the Latent Period memory in the groups treatment with drug shortened significantly(P0.01),while that of learning had been prolonged obviously(P0.05)and the Frequency of Error for learning and memory had been increased evidently(P0.01).The expressions of APP,Aβ in cortex and hippocampus had been increased significantly(P0.05 orP0.01) for the mice of the model group,and it had shown a more obvious reduction campared with the group using Naoerkang(P0.01).Conclusion: Naoerkang can ameliorate the AD induced by Aβ,the mechanism maybe involve in regulating APP and Aβ.


The different times involved in heavy-ion collisions around the Fermi energy are discussed in the light of recent theoretical and experimental works. It is shown that temperatures of hot and compact nuclear systems should saturate around 6-7 MeV and secondly that a fast multifragmentation of compressed or Coulomb unstable systems is expected to occur.


The utility model relates to a railway turnout anti-ice-snow solution which is used for automatically melting ice and snow at tight-closing parts of a turnout, in particular to a radial type railway turnout de-icing and snow-removing system. The radial type railway turnout de-icing and snow-removing system comprises an intelligent power supply, an intelligent controller and a radiator. The radial type railway turnout de-icing and snow-removing system is characterized in that the intelligent power supply is connected with the radiator through the intelligent controller and a buried cable, the radiator is arranged inside a stock rail and a switch rail of the turnout after the stock rail and the switch rail are closed, the radiator is tightened at the waist of the stock rail of the turnout by using a clip, and an adopted infrared radiation and heating technique is started according to commands and accumulated snow at the tight-closing parts of the turnout is directly melted. According to the radial type railway turnout de-icing and snow-removing system, the mounting of devices is simple and convenient, the interference with any other electrical system of a railway does not exist, the working time is short, and the efficiencies of heat energy conversion and deicing and snow removing are high; and during the process of working, the reliability in deicing and snow removing of the tight-closing parts of the turnout is ensured, the turnout track of the turnout is ensured to be locked in place, and then, the railway transportation is normal.


In view of the difficulty in managing the training class in Colleges and universities, this paper tries to assist the training teachers to strengthen management from the point of machine learning algorithm. After analyzing the characteristics of the training class, we get 7 characteristic attributes including the training performance, the click of the mouse, the number of keyboards and the number of programs, and then we decide to use the association analysis method in machine learning to analyze the association rules between the characteristic attributes. . Finally, by using three steps of the association analysis algorithm collecting data, preparing data and training algorithms, the frequent item sets of students with good training results {mouse, keyboard and program} are obtained. It can be found out that if the characteristic attribute values of a student are deviate from the trait attribute values of the students with good results during the training process. Too large indicates problems, which can help teachers warn students' abnormal situations and provide reference for evaluating training results. Research Background and Significance In college classrooms, especially in applied undergraduate and higher vocational colleges, training is very important nowadays. So in this background, Offering training class teacher want to several method, especially when the teacher demonstrates the content of the training course. A teacher to face fifty or sixty students, it is impossible to do a small class teaching one to one tutoring, so the effect of their own practical training can not be realized in real time, so there are many problems: students are lazy, do not do practical training, do things like playing cell phones or chatting, and have nothing to do with the classroom. Students are in trouble when they encounter problems, but they are embarrassed to ask the teacher. Students with ability can do fast and poor students do things slowly and not uniformly. The above problems have puzzled teachers in practical training, and they have also thought of several ways: Walking method The so-called walking method, that is the teacher walked in the classroom after the end of teaching content of training, if found to have the above three problems in a timely manner to solve. But the problem is that the teacher can not keep moving. He may be solving some of the students' problems, when other students are not aware of the situation, and the teacher is not small, as long as the students do small movements will not be found by the teacher. Grouping method In order to solve the above 1.2 1.3 problem, the teacher usually divides the students into groups and divides the good and the learning students into one group so that they can form a mutual help group to solve the problem in part, but there will be a problem in the group: for example, the 8th International Conference on Education, Management, Information and Management Society (EMIM 2018) Copyright © 2018, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 250


PT Hutama Karya (Persero) (PT HK), which one of the Indonesian State-Owned Company (SOE) that was assigned to operate the Trans Sumatra Toll Road (JTTS), has implemented Building Information Modeling (BIM) for construction control in terms of Cost, Quality, and Time since 2021. The Indralaya-Prabumulih intersection is one of the projects implementing BIM, which is expected to be a solution for completing this 65 km project. However, there are still inconsistencies in its implementation, as evidenced by the assessment carried out from January 2021 to October 2021, where achievements above 100% occurred in the first five months. However, starting from the sixth month, a decline of 83% began. This condition continued until the 10th month when the scores were below 100%, and some were even below 75%. It is necessary to evaluate the performance of BIM implementation at PT HK and find the alternative to improve performance of BIM Implementation. The cause of the implementation of BIM at PT HK, which has not reached the expected target, is due to several obstacles, namely the making of the DED 3D model image using BIM is slow, the 3D model shop image is not following the development schedule, and the BIM infrastructure cannot be implemented properly. Based on the analysis, several dominant problems must be resolved, namely standard procedures that are not following conditions in the field, a corporate culture that has not placed BIM as important and has not been able to adapt to technology quickly, and a new company has developed a KM system so that the transfer of BIM knowledge has not gone well. The proposed alternative solution is to eliminate Non Value Added Activity by making a Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) for making shop drawings, changing culture with the ADKAR concept and choosing a Knowledge Management System with the Analytic Hierarchy Process. The proposed alternative solution is expected to improve the performance of BIM implementation in PT HK.


For the past several decades, teachers have been continually trying to exploit and manipulate video to enhance classroom teaching and language learning. When captioned technology emerged to the forefront more than 15 years ago, many educators quickly recognized its potential in helping students process language differently via this additional modality: the printed word (Goldman, 1996; Holobow, Lambert & Sayegh, 1984; Koskinen, Wilson, Gambrell, & Neuman, 1993; Parks, 1994; Vanderplank, 1993).


This paper presents an approach to determine a research question that would
enable design researchers to fix their research question as early as possible.
It supports Yin's recommendation that a researcher must determine the research
question first because it will guide him or her on the appropriate research
approach. The author has developed three main constructs for the formation
of a research question—the "how", the "what" and the "who"—that would
lead researchers to develop the subsequent research objectives. They, in turn,
will guide the researchers to formulate their sub-research questions, and the
appropriate research strategies. The author hopes that this approach will
assist novice researchers in unraveling a preliminary design research approach
very early on. Hence, it allows the researchers more time to refine their research
methodologies upon further literature review.


In wireless communication schemes, turbo codes facilitate near-capacity transmission throughputs by achieving reliable forward error correction. However, owing to the serial data dependencies imposed by the underlying logarithmic Bahl-Cocke-Jelinek-Raviv (Log-BCJR) algorithm, the limited processing throughputs of conventional turbo decoder implementations impose a severe bottleneck upon the overall throughputs of real-time wireless communication schemes. Motivated by this, we recently proposed a fully parallel turbo decoder (FPTD) algorithm, which eliminates these serial data dependencies, allowing parallel processing and hence offering a significantly higher processing throughput. In this paper, we propose a novel resource-efficient version of the FPTD algorithm, which reduces its computational resource requirement by 50%, which enhancing its suitability for field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementations. We propose a model FPGA implementation. When using a Stratix IV FPGA, the proposed FPTD FPGA implementation achieves an average throughput of 1.53 Gb/s and an average latency of 0.56 μs, when decoding frames comprising N = 720 b. These are, respectively, 13.2 times and 11.1 times superior to those of the state-of-the-art FPGA implementation of the Log-BCJR long-term evolution (LTE) turbo decoder, when decoding frames of the same frame length at the same error correction capability. Furthermore, our proposed FPTD FPGA implementation achieves a normalized resource usage of 0.42 (kALUTs/Mb/s), which is 5.2 times superior to that of the benchmarker decoder. Furthermore, when decoding the shortest N = 40-b LTE frames, the proposed FPTD FPGA implementation achieves an average throughput of 442 Mb/s and an average latency of 0.18 μs, which are, respectively, 21.1 times and 10.6 times superior to those of the benchmarker decoder. In this case, the normalized resource usage of 0.08 (kALUTs/Mb/s) is 146.4 times superior to that of the benchmarker decoder.


Abstract
This chapter proposes moving beyond relying on the dominant logic of multiple regression analysis (MRA) toward thinking and using algorithms in advancing and testing theory in accounting, consumer research, finance, management, and marketing. The chapter includes an example of testing an MRA model for fit and predictive validity. The same data used for the MRA is used to conduct a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The chapter reviews a number of insights by prominent scholars including Gerd Gigerenzer's treatise that "Scientists' tools are not neutral." Tools impact thinking and theory crafting as well theory testing. The discussion may be helpful for early career scholars unfamiliar with David C. McClelland's brilliance in data analysis and in introducing business research scholars to fsQCA as an alternative tool for theory development and data analysis.


Abstract Background Roxadustat is an orally active hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor for the treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) anemia. Methods This Phase 3, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study examined patients with Stages 3–5 CKD, not on dialysis (NCT01887600). Patients were randomized (2:1) to oral roxadustat or placebo three times weekly for 52–104 weeks. This study examined two primary efficacy endpoints: European Union (European Medicines Agency)—hemoglobin (Hb) response, defined as Hb ≥11.0 g/dL that increased from baseline (BL) by ≥1.0 g/dL in patients with Hb >8.0 g/dL or ≥2.0 g/dL in patients with BL Hb ≤8.0 g/dL, without rescue therapy, during the first 24 weeks of treatment; US Food and Drug Administration—change in Hb from BL to the average Hb level during Weeks 28–52, regardless of rescue therapy. Secondary efficacy endpoints and safety were examined. Results A total of 594 patients were analyzed (roxadustat: 391; placebo: 203). Superiority of roxadustat versus placebo was demonstrated for both primary efficacy endpoints: Hb response [odds ratio = 34.74, 95% confidence interval (CI) 20.48–58.93] and change in Hb from BL [roxadustat – placebo: +1.692 (95% CI 1.52–1.86); both P < 0.001]. Superiority of roxadustat was demonstrated for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol change from BL, and time to first use of rescue medication (both P < 0.001). The incidences of treatment-emergent adverse events were comparable between groups (roxadustat: 87.7%, placebo: 86.7%). Conclusions Roxadustat demonstrated superior efficacy versus placebo in terms of both Hb response rate and change in Hb from BL. The safety profiles of roxadustat and placebo were comparable.


In this study, we report a facile synthesis of silver nanoparticle having SERS and antimicrobial activity using bacterial exopolysaccharide (EPS). Bacillus subtilis (MTCC 2422) was grown in nutrient broth and the extracellular EPS secreted by the organism was extracted and purified. The purified EPS was used for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles. The kinetics of silver nanoparticle synthesis was deduced by varying the exposure time and the concentration of EPS. The rate constant (k) for the synthesis of silver nanoparticle was calculated from the slope of ln(A∞ − At) versus time plot. The k value was found to be 3.49 × 10−3, 5.81 × 10−3 and 5.03 × 10−3 per min for particle synthesis using 2, 5 and 10 mg/mL EPS, respectively. The nanoparticles synthesised had an average particle size of 5.18 ± 1.49 nm, 1.96 ± 0.77 nm and 2.08 ± 0.88 nm for 2, 5 and 10 mg/mL EPS, respectively. The synthesised particles were characterised using UV-Vis absorbance spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) attached to EDS (energy dispersive spectroscopy), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and zeta potential analyser. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report SERS activity of microbial Bacillus subtilis EPS-based synthesis of silver nanoparticle. HRTEM images showed silver nanoparticle entrapped in polysaccharide nanocages. Silver nanoparticle showed higher adherence towards the bacterial surface, with good bactericidal activity against Pseudomonas aeroginosa and Staphylococcus aureus.


Abstract Nocturnal temperature is crucial in stability determination, as well as parameterization in numerical models. In the present research, data from four tall towers are used to investigate the temperature oscillations observed in the stable boundary layer, including the 307-m Boseong Tower on the southern coast of Korea, a 100-m tower in a grassland area of northern China, a 70-m tower in a desert area in northwestern China, and the 325-m Beijing Tower. Large temperature oscillations, with amplitudes of about 2 °C and periods of several minutes to tens of minutes, are detected. Using the empirical mode decomposition method working as a high-pass filter, the oscillations of temperature are extracted from the original non-stationary and nonlinear temperature data. The daily variations and vertical distribution of the temperature oscillations are discussed. Generally strong temperature oscillations are found at tens of meters high during nighttime in the coastal area, in the steppe, and in the desert, when stable conditions have formed. Much weaker nocturnal temperature oscillations are observed in Beijing, where the large heat capacity of buildings and streets and artificial heat sources prevent the boundary layer conditions from becoming stable. Static stability expressed by the Brunt–Väisälä frequency is found to be an important factor for such temperature oscillation events, which is worthy of model parameterization.


Cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the XXI century continues to hold the lead as the leading cause of death worldwide and in Ukraine (65.2%). Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading place among the causes of death and disability in working-age people worldwide. In Ukraine, the analysis of mortality from CHD is 491.91 per 100 thousand population. Numerous epidemiological studies have shown that the increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) leads to an increase in cardiovascular disease and mortality. It is known that SNS may participate in the formation of atherosclerosis by activating platelets with the subsequent formation of platelet growth factor and contributes to mechanical damage to the vessel wall as a result of high blood pressure and increased blood flow velocity. There are data on the mechanisms of interaction of SNS the vascular endothelium. Vasoconstrictor effect of endothelin-1 plays an important role in the pathogenesis of various cardiovascular diseases, among which includes the CHD.


Hand placed baits of Rozol (Chlorophacinone, CPN), RamikBrown (Diphacinone, DPN), and Talon (Brodifacoum, BFC) gave excellent control of pine voles in 1977. Vacor (RH 787) did not give adequate control when a meal preparation was hand placed at 10 lbs/A. Talon and Rozol broadcast at 25 and 22 lbs/A, respectively, gave 100% and 96% control of pine voles. Five lbs/A of hand placed Talon gave equivalent control. A second broadcast experiment of LM 637, Rozol and Talon at 15 I~SIA each was followed by rain the next day but gave 21%, 66%, and 93% control, respectively. Ground cover spray of BFC at 5.1 g/ha (or 7.5 gltreated ha) was insufficient for good control and higher rates would be required. A deodorized kerosene formulation of CPN plus a sticker was compared to the Xylene-formulation presently used by the industry for ground cover sprays. Relatively poor control was obtained with both formulations. INTRODUCTION: The performance of new ground sprays and baits for pine vole control need year to year evaluation under field conditions so that a good understanding of many environmental variables, resistance development, and product quality control will result in more reliable recommendations. Any damage control method, must meet certain criteria before it can be implemented, such as: 1) economically practical, 2) elimination of damage under most orchard and weather conditions, 3) rapid treatment of large acreages with a minimum of labor power, and equipment, 4)minimum hazard to non-target species, 5) clearance by government agencies if the method is under federal or state control. Toxic baits and ground sprays have met, to a certain extent, all of the above criteria in the past, and remain the best possible control method for the immediate future. However, any method which would eliminate the need for government clearaxe will be of great value to the fruit industry. We have studied rootstock resistance (2) and cultural changes (3) as well as other alternatives to toxic chemicals. Since these methods have not adequately met the first 3 criteria, they will be covered in other papers. METHODS AND MATERIALS FOR PINE VOLE EXPERIMENTS: Evaluation of pine vole control plots was determined using methods previously described (1,5,6). Randomized complete block designs were used in pine vole experiments which were statistically analyzed. Orchards used for experiments in Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, Table 4, Table 5, and Table 6 had approx. 38, 38, 36, 60, 60, and 80 treeslacre, respectively. All plantings were mature orchards in the vicinity of Winchester, Virginia in the age range of 25-40 years. All experiments utilized 24 sites per plot with 2 sitesltree, except one experiment (Table 6). In this experiment, the 24 sites per plot were established with 1 siteltree. In addition to pine vole studies, a meadow vole experiment was conducted near Vincennes, Indiana, in a 3-year-old orchard planted 10 ft X 20 ft. The trees were cultivated 2 m wide in a tree line strip the previous spring and summer causing voles to reside in the middles. The orchard block consisted of 48 tree rows crossected by 2 crossroads at 28 tree intervals. Each plot consisted of 7 rows wide (6 middles) X 28 trees long. Twenty four sites were established per plot on top of the soil, about 3 ft from the trunk, adjacent to the cultivated strip and in a meadow vole runway at each of 24 interior trees which were in the center row of each plot. Since the voles might invade adjoining plots in a longitudinal fashion, because of the nature of the cultivated strips, plots were not arranged in a standard experimental design. Rather, plots were arranged so that treatments were joined on the end by the same treatment so that invasions of voles would be a remote possibility. Therefore, plots 1-3; 4-6; 7-9; 10-12; 16-18; 19-20; and 22-23 were treated with the same broadcast treatments (Table 1). Plots 13, 14, and 15 were treated with a single hand placed application of Ramik, Rozol, and Talon, respectively, on November 12. In addition, to identify the species, plot 613 was trapped October 21-26 and 37 meadow voles were caught. By November 3, meadow voles from border rows of plot /I13 sufficiently invaded this plot so that it could be treated on November 12. RESULTS OF PINE VOLE EXPERIMENTS: =placement of Ramik-Brown, Rozol, and Talon in a heavy pine vole population gave excellent control (Table 1). The treatments were applied just prior to a misty and light rain period which could have greatly affected control. Baits were placed in runways under shingles and excellent control was achieved. Talon at 5 lbs/A appeared to be the most effective treatment but statistical differences between the 3 materials were not detectable. In the same orchard, two plots of Vacor 2% meal bait was not adequate to control pine voles (Table 2). Previous experiments with pelletized Vacor also has failed to give adequate control (1,3). However, a number of experiments with a 1% apple cube bait have given outstanding control (1,3,4). I therefore believe that a more acceptable formulation will be required. Since broadcast treatments of anticoagulant bait may greatly reduce application costs, skilled labor requirements, reduce total treatment time of large acreages, and may reduce hazards to non-target species, Talon and Rozol were applied with a commercial fertilizer spreader to the tree line strip (Table 3). Application rates are expressed as lbsfacre of orchard. Since only 213 of the orchard floorwas actually treated in these experiments, the rateltreated area (tree line strip) was 50% greater than that listed in the table. Outstanding control was achieved with the broadcast treatments of Talon and Rozol. This orchard had been previously treated with anticoagulants for 3 years and Ramik-Brown in two hand placed applications gave excellent control. T a b le 1 . E ff e c t o f ha nd p la c e d a n ti c o a g u la n t b a it s o n p in e v o le a c ti v it y a nd p o p u la ti o n tr e a te d O ct . 1 4 , 1 9 7 7 . N o. o f R a te % ~ c ti v it y ' V o le s/ p lo t V o le s/ % T re at m en t p lo ts k g /h a lb s/ A O ct 1 3 O ct 2 1 O ct 28 (O ct 30 -N ov 4 ) s it e C o n tr o l C o n tr o l 3 --8 3 a Y 80 a 72 a 47 a 2 .5 4 a 0


Department of Cardiology, Isala Hospital, Zwolle, The Netherlands; Department of Cardiology, St. Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands; Department of Cardiology, Zuyderland Medical Center, Heerlen, The Netherlands; Department of Cardiology, MUMCþ, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Department of Cardiology, Venlo VieCuri Medical Center, Venlo, The Netherlands; Department of Cardiology, Catharina Hospital, Eindhoven, The Netherlands; Department of Cardiology, Medical Center Leeuwarden, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands; Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands; Department of Cardiology, OLVG Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), Maastricht, The Netherlands


Voh winkel's syndrome is a rare disease. Here a case of Voh winkel's syndrome is described with associated icthyosis vulgaris like dermatoses, ectropion and nail changes.


Abstract : One of the limits imposed on experimental measurements of the neutron age of various materials is the size required for the experimental setup if the age is too great. In the case of NaZrF5, a calculation has been made to determine if this is a limiting factor in the measurement of age to indium resonance. In the calculation it is assumed that it is possible to apply the Fermi age theory for the distribution of neutrons.


Deficiency of Cystathionine β-Synthase (CBS) is the most common cause of the homocysteine increase in blood and urine. This is an important autosomal recessive disorder with pleiotropic clinical manifestations in the vascular system, the skeletal structure, the ocular lens, and the central nervous system. Several polymorphisms in CBS gene have been associated with homocystinuria, with consequent premature arterial and/or venous occlusive diseases. The thymine-to-cytosine substitution at nucleotide 833 of the CBS gene (T833C) is the majority predominant mutation in individuals with homocystinuria. Several studies of T833C have been performed on patients where venous or arterial occlusive diseases are an important risk factor. The T833C causes a substitution of hydrophobic isoleucine by a more hydrophilic threonine at codon 278 (I278T) and affects the CBS conformation or the interaction of the CBS subunits. Most occurrences of T833C are known to segregate in cis with 844ins68 insertion polymorphism in the exon 8, duplicating the intron 7 splice acceptor. At the mRNA level, polymorphisms T833C and 844ins68 are skipped next to the use of this alternative splicing site. Therefore, previous studies about 844ins68 produced conflicting results that show a neutral or even effect protective of the insertion against occlusive venous and arterial occlusive disease. Thus, this study aims to describe the genotypic profile of the 844ins68 mutation in CBS gene in Brazilian individuals affect with vascular diseases or patients at risk for genetic variants segregating in the family.

 The study group consisted of 1301 individuals submitted to the identification of the CBS 844ins68 in Grupo Pardini Laboratory. Genomic DNA was isolated from EDTA blood using QIAcard FTA Classic (Qiagen). To detect the insertion, the genomic fragments comprising the intron 7 and exon 8 in the coding region and splicing junctions of the CBS gene were amplified by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).

 Our sampling included 214 men's blood samples (16.4%) and 1087 women's blood samples (83.5%). We found a prevalence of 21.6% individuals with the insertion. Males without the 844ins68 mutation (wild type) predominated 161/214, (75.2%), carriers of 844ins68 heterozygotes were 45/214 (21%), and homozygotes were 8/214 (3.7%). In female individuals, was found 859/1087 (79%) allele without 844ins68 (wild type), 214/1087 (19.7%) carriers of 844ins68 heterozygotes and 14/1087 (1.3%) homozygotes. The number of solicitations for the exam in women is greater compared to men.

 Our findings show that the prevalence of 844ins68 in Brazil is compatible with others studies involving Brazilian women with cardiovascular defects. According to the literature, the insertion is most frequent in females than in males. Considering the possible restoration of non-mutated RNA through preferential splicing of the 844ins68, our study suggest that mutated individuals have the insertion as a protective factor for the development of venous or arterial occlusive diseases. The search of 844ins68 should be evaluated in association with the clinical aspects.


Abstract The extensive application of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) has raised concern about its environmental risks. The present study aims to elucidate TiO2 NP ecotoxicity, by assessing effects on seagrasses at environmentally relevant concentrations. Changes in physiological and structural cell traits of Cymodocea nodosa leaves, treated with TiO2 NPs at 0.0015–1.5 mg l−1 for eight consecutive days, were investigated. Intracellular levels of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) increased significantly, even early during the lowest exposure, despite an up-regulation of H2O2-scavenging enzyme activity. Actin filaments (AFs) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) were affected in a concentration- and time-dependent pattern, while no changes in microtubule organization and cell ultrastructure were detected. The lowest effect concentrations for AF and ER impairment were 0.15 and 1.5 mg l−1, respectively; for cell death, these were 0.15–1.5 mg l−1, depending on leaf age, and for leaf elongation inhibition 0.15 mg l−1. Thus, elevated H2O2 level can be considered as an early warning biomarker for TiO2 NPs, while leaf elongation, AF and ER impairment are also reliable indicators. A risk quotient greater than 1 was estimated; thus, TiO2 NPs might present a significant potential environmental risk. Our findings can be utilized for monitoring pollution levels in coastal environments.


The present invention relates to an electromotive toothbrush and more particularly, to an electromotive toothbrush, comprising upper and lower tooth covers surrounding and covering upper and lower teeth, respectively, and having bristles formed at a surface contacting the teeth; a first driving rod combined with a surface of the upper and lower tooth covers where there are no bristles; a second driving rod combined with a left side of a surface of the upper and lower tooth covers where there are bristles; a third driving rod combined with a left side of a surface of the upper and lower tooth covers where there are bristles; a plurality of sensors independently sensing positions of the first, second, and third driving rods; reciprocation means driving the first driving rod and the second and third driving rods in opposite directions to move the upper and lower tooth covers in opposite directions and thereby clean the teeth, the reciprocation means driven by power supplied from a motor, in response to position information sensed by the plurality of sensors.


The effect of mild hyperthermia on growth kinetics of two human glioma and one mouse fibroblast cell line was evaluated over a 12 h (short-term) or 7 day (long-term) period. All cell lines showed growth enhancement at 38°C, although the effect in C3H 10T ½ mouse fibroblasts was more pronounced and had a more rapid onset than in U87MG or LN71 glioma cells. At 39°C, growth of C3H 10T ½ cells was slightly reduced and glioma cell lines similar to that of their respective 37°C controls. At 40°C, C3H 10T ½ cells showed a more rapid and dramatic growth reduction than glioma cell lines and accumulated in both G0/G1 and G2 checkpoint compartments. In contrast, U87MG cells accumulated only in G2 and LN71 showed no checkpoint accumulation. The findings indicate that cell lines are differentially responsive to small temperature elevations. If similar differences exist between normal and diseased human tissues, local application of mild hyperthermia might offer a noninvasive and cost-effective method to achieve local enhancement of drugs that target proliferating tissue.


The concept of early intervention is a relatively recent perception, it is a term which has officially replaced the of early learning, which in turn replaced the early stimulation, science has been responsible for widely demonstrating the benefits of stimulation for the development of skills and abilities, as well as also demonstrated the negative impact of lack of stimulation for the integral development of the child.

There is large deficits in the teaching of initial education, because children in preschool age are unable to develop skills, this is because you have no basis for such development, because most of the time do not reach the appropriate stimuli in their environment, this tends to worsen with the thought of some parents who believe that they start will only play and do not consider the progress that children may have to apply techniques….


During Japanese colonial rule, Taiwan society adapted every kind of modern policy and thoughts from the colonist. Among them, the colonial government's development of female education and modern art had important effects. Under such a social context, Chen Chin was an important female artist who arose first and kept creating artworks. During her progress toward success, she was encouraged and helped by many "advanced men". However, what prevented her from the superficial judgment from the society and enabled her to win the social acceptance was the official art exhibition from the colonial government. Hence, the compliance with the authority's taste of artworks almost became one of the most critical considerations of Chen Chin's artworks during Japanese colonial rule. This research discovered from all published artworks from Chen Chin during Japanese colonial rule that taking images of women as the major theme of her artworks was her important characteristics as seeking for chances of showing on official art exhibition, and that through the incorporation of skills, sketches, gesture, and metaphorical objects, images of women in artworks gives the audience a sense of "leisure". Besides, the "leisure" revealed continuously in artworks was not the common experience of women then and not the mental reflection of the author. Rather, it is the "leisure" that Chen Chin created under the enforcement and expectation of male artists and the official government. So, these "leisure" artworks showed the audience the harmless images of women under men's ideal, satisfying the colonists' imagination of wonderful foreign land and their desire of victory. Through the creation process of Chen Chin's artworks with images of women and picture discussion, this research discovered the true nature of feminine hidden behind "leisure" and, at the same time, revealed the imagination of "leisure" under the rule of masculine and politics, further enabling readers to comprehend Chen Chin's presentation of agency and creativity boundary under given limitations.


Selection of an appropriate corrosion inhibitor, inhibitor combination or package is an exceptionally cost effective and materials saving measure in various industries. The article reviews recent (2008-2010) patents reported on corrosion inhibitors. Up-to-date developments in the inhibition technology are presented in accordance with the areas of application of inhibitors - industrial cooling water systems, oil and gas fields, coatings, acid pickling, lubricants, vapor phase inhibition, concrete corrosion etc. Nanotechnological advancements in inhibitor technology (in coatings) and novel products employing vapor phase corrosion inhibitors were discussed.


Continuous wave Doppler echocardiography was used to measure pressure gradients (PG) across various aortic valve prostheses [St. Jude Medical (SJM) valve: 55 cases; Björk-Shiley (B-S) valve: 18 cases; Lillehei-Kaster (L-K) valve: 25 cases; and Omniscience (O-S) valve: 49 cases]. Disc-opening angles of the L-K and O-S valves were measured via cineradiography. Pressure gradient across the SJM valve tended to be low. Increase in pressure gradients during exercise tended to be greater in the small valves. There was a significant correlation between the valve area index (VAI) and pressure gradients in the SJM valve (PG = 85.3-40.2 x VAI, r = -0.71, p < 0.005) and in the B-S valve (PG = 64.6-23.3 x VAI, r = -0.89, p < 0.025). To keep pressure gradients below 20 mmHg, SJM valve #23 and B-S valve #25 should be selected for patients with a body surface area of 1.3-1.7 m2. In the L-K and O-S valves, there was no significant correlation between VAI and PG, likely because the disc-opening angles of these valves were suboptimal--averaging 57 degrees in the L-K valve and 47 degrees in the O-S valve. None of the patients with SJM or B-S valves had pressure gradients of 50 mmHg or above. However, pressure gradients exceeded 50 mmHg in 7 cases with the L-K valve (28%) and 10 with the O-S valve (20%), suggesting the necessity of careful follow-up in patients with these prostheses.


Airports across the country are waiting for the federal mandate requiring the implementation of a Safety Management System (SMS). This formal top-down business-like approach to managing safety risk is considered the next significant step in increasing aviation safety. With a system of this magnitude available right now, why not voluntarily implement SMS? After all, the successful implementation of a SMS is not centred on regulatory guidance. Rather, it stands on the Airport Executive's commitment, the SMS Manager's position, and the airport's safety culture. An early adopter's road map should include goals, objectives, policies, committees, hazard reporting, promotional processes and the definition of programme


The magnetic correlations in the charge and orbital ordered manganite ${\text{La}}_{1/2}{\text{Sr}}_{3/2}{\text{MnO}}_{4}$ have been studied by elastic and inelastic neutron scattering techniques. Out of the well-defined charge exchange (CE)-type magnetic structure with the corresponding magnons, a competition between CE-type and ferromagnetic fluctuations develops. Whereas ferromagnetic correlations are fully suppressed by the static CE-type order at low temperature, elastic and inelastic CE-type correlations disappear with the melting of the charge-orbital order at high temperature. In its charge-orbital disordered phase, ${\text{La}}_{1/2}{\text{Sr}}_{3/2}{\text{MnO}}_{4}$ exhibits a dispersion of ferromagnetic correlations, which remarkably resembles the magnon dispersion in ferromagnetically ordered metallic perovskite manganites.


Environment may be considered as our surroundings which includes everything around us. Environment pollution is a big threat to the healthy existence of humankind. Several methods are involve in amelioration however, some of them are not possible in some situations or not economically and environmentally practical in other situation , Thus phytoremediation is a promising green technology to control environmental pollution.


The induced dimension reduction (IDR) method of Sonneveld and van Gijzen [SIAM J. Sci. Comput., 31 (2008), pp. 1035-1062] is shown to be a Petrov-Galerkin (projection) method with a particular choice of left Krylov subspaces; these left subspaces are rational Krylov spaces. Consequently, other methods, such as BiCGStab and ML($s$)BiCGStab, which are mathematically equivalent to some versions of IDR, can also be interpreted as Petrov-Galerkin methods. The connection with rational Krylov spaces inspired a new version of IDR, called Ritz-IDR, where the poles of the rational function are chosen as certain Ritz values. Experiments are presented illustrating the effectiveness of this new version.


We numerically investigated the relationship between the transverse waveguide geometry and the continuous wave Raman gain in SOI rib waveguide Raman amplifiers. By optimizing the transverse geometric size, a Raman gain enhancement can be achieved in silicon rib waveguides with small effective carrier lifetime.


There are very few curricula which are robust enough to succeed in diverse cultural settings over an extended period of time. The Montessori curriculum is an example of one that has - it has been adopted on every continent, it has sustained itself for over a century, and its success has been validated by well controlled scientific studies. Importantly, also, the Montessori curriculum has proven to be very effective when used with equity groups such as the mentally handicapped and those in low socio-economic groups. This paper looks at the curriculum design approach used by Montessori and extracts the key underlying principles used in the design process. The paper then discusses how one can use the Montessori approach for curriculum refinement in a first year university unit.


Intelligent building concrete module is an important part of parametric construction and its self-repairing performance is the premise condition for ensuring the quality of the building. In this paper, some experiments have been done using fly ask, slag, meta-kaolin and silica fume mixed into cement in order to test several performances, including compressive performance, impermeability and self-healing performance. The results demonstrate: the worst healing effect was fly ash, followed by slag, meta-kaolin and silica fume. In the cement-based materials, the self-repair of the cracks mainly concentrated in the early production of cracks, so paid attention to the protection of the early maintenance is the key for self-repair effect.


Leakage is one of the crucial issues to be dealt with in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of water supply and sanitation services. Various techniques have been used to detect leaks from waterworks. Leak detection method based upon DMA approach has been proved to be the economical and simple technique to apply for the practical problem. In this paper, the time series model ARMA has been developed by using the statistical package of SAS for the pattern analysis of measured flow rate and pressure head in water distribution network of DMA. The flow and pressure data in DMA, taken every 10 minutes for the 7 days' period, were used.


Using the staggered roll out of the Indonesian "Conversion to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Program", we show that a switch to the laborand time-saving technology of cooking with LPG increased the labor force participation of exposed women. The program was associated with an increase in household expenditure on food and education and the subjective well being of women. We also show that the policy improves the decision-making power of women in the household, especially in financial matters. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that saving in households expenditure on fuel far outweighed the cost of the conversion incurred by the government. To the extent that intra-household externalities and gender differences in preferences are a reason for the lack of adoption of such cost-effective technology, the results highlight that temporary subsidies that empower women can encourage the adoption and sustained use of such technology. PRELIMINARY DRAFT: DO NOT CITE OR CIRCULATE WITHOUT PERMISSION ∗We are grateful to Rakesh Banerjee, Dan Bennett, Rajeev Dehejia, Peter Drysdale, Dawoon Jung, Jeffery Nugent, Mari Pangestu, Juan Saavedra, John Strauss, participants at the 92nd Annual Western Economic Association International (WEAI) Conference (San Diego, 2017), Bank of Italy-World Bank joint conference on "Human Capital for 21st Century Job" (Rome, 2018), the Energy Innovation Academy (Florence, 2019), Population Association of American (PAA) Conference (Austin, 2019), University of Southern California (Los Angeles, 2019), and the Pacific Trade and Development (PAFTAD) Conference (Bangkok, 2019) for their valuable feedback. All errors are our own. †University of Western Australia Business School. email: firstname.lastname@example.com ‡Department of Economics, University of Southern California. email: firstname.lastname@example.com §Department of Economics, University of Southern California. email: email@example.com


Epidemiological evidence suggests that air pollutants may increase the prevalence of bronchial hyperresponsiveness and exacerbate the asthma. However, the role of the ambient level of NO2 in the induction of allergic disease is still unclear. In this study, we investigated whether exposure of mice to low concentrations of NO2 before or after sensitization with ovalbumin (OVA) enhances an antigen-specific immune response. Sensitization of mice with an aerosol of OVA at 3-wk intervals after initiation of 2 ppm NO2 exposure resulted in suppression of OVA-specific immunoglobulin (Ig)E, IgG1, and IgG2a antibody production in plasma. OVA-specific IgG1 and IgG2a antibody production was also significantly decreased in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid of exposed mice. In contrast, when mice were exposed to NO2 after intraperitoneal immunization with OVA and sensitization with OVA aerosol at 3-wk intervals during NO2 exposure, OVA-specific IgE antibody production in the plasma of mice exposed to 0.5 and 1.0 p...


The barometric coefficient of the Leeds neutron monitor has been determined by the method of successive differences suggested by Lapointe and Rose. The coefficient is shown to have a variation during the eleven-year cycle such that it has a value about 6% larger at solar minimum than at solar maximum. The need to use both the correct value of the barometric coefficient and the experimentally determined mean station pressure is discussed.


Accounting is a method of financial record that has widely been used in many field of financial management activities. Accounting is also used in goverment agencies better known as govermental accounting. This reseach aim to find out it the Office of Culture and Tourism Sanggau Regency had applied accrual based accounting in the preparation of financial report in accordance with Goverment regulation No. 71/2010 especially PSAP 02 on the budget realization report, and to find out the difficulties encountered in the implementation of accual based accounting. The method use was descriptive qualitative and the data were collected using interview and document review. Research finding showed that the application of Goverment Regulation No. 71/2010 especially PSAP 02 on accrual based budget realization report had not been applied in the 2015 accounting year. It is suggested should implement Goverment Regulation No. 71/2010 especially PSAP 02 in the preparation of its financial report. . Keyword : Govermental accounting, budget realization reports, accrual basis, goverment regulation No. 71/201 0


Two types of catalyst samples were prepared, one sulfated zirconia and the other silica doped sulfated zirconia. The acidity tests indicate that sulfated zirconia doped with silica has higher concentration and strength of acidic catalyst sites than undoped sulfated zirconia. The acidic surface sites have been characterized using FTIR, NMR, pyridine adsorption, TPD, XRD and nitrogen adsorption. Doping with silica increased the concentration of surface Lewis and Brfnsted acid sites and resulted in generation of proximate acid sites.The activity test indicates that doping sulfated zirconia with silica increases both the acidity and catalytic activity for liquid phase dehydration of methanol at 413-453 K. Methanol is sequentially dehydrated to dimethyl ether and ethylene over both catalysts. Significant amounts of propylene are also formed over the silica-doped catalyst, but not over the undoped catalyst.


TWENTY years ago Drs. Seymour Kety and Carl Schmidt first described the inert-gas technic for the quantitative measurement of cerebral blood flow. Conceived and developed in the Pharmacology Labora...


The rise of artificial intelligence in parallel with the fusion of the physical and digital worlds is sustained by the development and progressive adoption of cyber-physical systems (CPSs) and the Internet of Things (IoT). Cooperative and autonomous CPSs have been shown to have significant economic and societal potential in numerous domains, where human lives and the environment are at stake. To unlock the full potential of such systems, it is necessary to improve stakeholders' confidence in such systems, by providing safety assurances. Due to the open and adaptive nature of such systems, special attention was invested in the runtime assurance, based on the real-time monitoring of the system behaviour. IoT-enabled multi-agent systems have been widely used for different types of monitoring applications. In this paper, we discuss the opportunities for applying IoT-based solutions for the cooperative CPSs safety assurance through an illustrative example. Future research directions have been drawn based on the identification of the current challenges.


India do not have access to improved sanitation.1 It is estimated that every death out of ten in India can be attributed to poor sanitation and hygiene. The efforts to increase sanitation coverage in rural areas face the principal challenge of changing long-held open defecation behaviour. An estimated 55% of all Indians or close to 600 million people do not have access to any kind of toilet.2 In rural India, scale of the problem is particularly daunting; around 74% of rural population still defecates in open.3 The women and girls face unique cultural and biological burdens in relation to sanitation. Lack of adequate sanitation in schools is a critical impediment to school education, particularly for girls. With such stark reality, systems often continue to compromise the health, safety, and productivity of girls and women. Within this context, gender-respective sanitation interventions in rural areas have the potential to improve adoption and long-term outcomes for women and their communities through targeted implementation wherein improved sanitation facilities4 should be a priority.


Compared with monolayer culture,collagen gel entrapment culture of hepatocytes was evaluated as a hepatotoxicity model through testing on the hepatotoxicity of acetaminophen.Although both hepatocyte cultures showed concentration-dependent hepatotoxicity of acetaminophen,monolayer hepatocytes were less sensitive than gel entrapped hepatocytes.When exposed to the same low concentration of acetaminophen(2.5 mmol/L) for 24 h,gel entrapped hepatocytes presented much lower viability than monolayer hepatocytes and similar trend existed in urea genesis and albumin synthesis.Moreover,addition of N-acetylcysteine or glycyrrhizic acid together with acetaminophen reduced the hepatotoxicity of acetaminophen,which illustrated the feasibility of gel entrapment culture of hepatocytes as a hepatotoxicity model to reflect the situation of a hepatoprotective drug in vivo.


Based on the basis of the two-stage dynamic game of complete information and purely tactful perfect equilibrium theory, the non-cooperative gaming between the police department and the criminals is analyzed. Dynamic game can be proved to forecast and explain potential tactful choices of the police department and the criminals at various stages, so as to analyze the essence of the law enforcement by the theoretical models.


With the continuous development of modern industry and the difficult-to-machine materials gradually increases, the machining requirements of cutting tools continue to improve and the cutting environment is increasingly harsh. As the coating applies, the efficiency and precision of machining have been effectively improved. Coating on the tool surface can not only extend the service life of the cutting tool, greatly reduce the processing cost, but also reduce the environmental pollution in the process of processing. Excellent coating preparation technology is an important factor for its effective performance. According to different processing requirements, processing costs and processing environment, researchers have been working hard on the road of coating preparation technology. In this work, it summarizes the principle of physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition and the corresponding advantages and disadvantages, and briefly introduces the pulsed DC magnetron sputtering, high power pulsed magnetron sputtering, arc ion plating and a variety of composite magnetron sputtering technologies.


The deep trapping levels present before ion implantation of silicon into the semi-insulating LEC GaAs starting material were investigated using optical transient current spectroscopy (OTCS). MESFET channel current deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) was used for the implanted material. With a silicon nitride layer used t encapsulate the GaAs for postimplantation annealing and with implantation directly into the GaAs, it was found tha of seven or more deep levels seen in the semi-insulating substrate prior to silicon implantation only the level believed to be EL12 remained. On implanting through a thin Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/ encapsulating layer and annealing under Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/, only EL2 was found. With a silicon dioxide layer as an encapsulant, two traps remained and two apparently unreported levels appeared.


Naoya Kaneko and Wen S. Chern (contact author) are, respectively, a former graduate research associate and a professor at the Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, The Ohio State University, 2120 Fyffe Road, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1067. Phone: (614) 292-6414. Fax: (614) 247-7066. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com. This research was supported by the National Research Initiative (NRI) of the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, USDA, Grant # 2003-35400-12883.


Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are metallic systems that "remember" their original shapes. These alloys undergo martensitic phase transformations because of applied thermo mechanical loads and are capable of recovering permanent strains when heated above a certain temperature. What makes SMAs remarkably different from other materials are primarily the shape memory effect (SME) and pseudo elasticity, which are associated with the specific way the phase transformation occurs. SMAs are useful for such things as actuators, which are materials that "change shape, stiffness, position, natural frequency, and other mechanical characteristics in response to temperature or electromagnetic fields". This paper on "shape memory alloys" carries out simplified study of the crystallographic structures/ transformation of SMAs, general characteristics, working principles, commonly used alloys, and applications. The potential uses for SMAs have broadened the spectrum of many scientific fields and the study of the history and development of SMAs can provide an insight into a material involved in cutting-edge technology.


A novel dynamic probabilistic latent variable model with exogenous variables (DPLVMX) is proposed in this article to capture system dynamics with the existence of random noises. The dynamic auto-regressive relations between current and past latent variables are extracted in a Markov state-space form in the proposed model. Furthermore, to strengthen the utilization of valuable information in the collected data, a composite loading index is designed to select some interested variables as the exogenous variables, which is explicitly incorporated into the model relations of DPLVMX. An improved DPLVM based monitoring scheme is also designed, where a new dynamic monitoring index is proposed to detect dynamic anomalies. The Tennessee Eastman process is used to illustrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm.


Experience with the handling of spatial data on a computer led to the identification of a variety of "awkward" problems, including interpolation, error estimation and dynamic polygon building and e...


Executive Summary: The paper suggests a method of deep learning networks U-Net and FPN modification to improve pixel accuracy of semantic segmentation. The use of Sobel operator for additional definition of object edges is justified. The efficiency of the proposed method is experimentally proved.


In the design of optical element for light shaping, a geometric-optics assumption is usually used, where the validity of the assumption is rarely discussed in literature. In this work, the field tracing techniques for modeling light-shaping systems are presented, which reveals the optical element resulted from those geometric-base algorithm is not always accurate enough for the design task. An example is demonstrated with the functional embodiment of the element. The simulation result shows that diffraction effect may occur, especially in paraxial situation. However, the designed result start with the assumption is well-introduced initial guess for further optimization with the iterative Fourier transform algorithm (IFTA).


In this article we will reflect on the evolving focus of research on digital skills over the past 15 years and discuss the outcomes of this research and their implications for policy. Policy issues regarding digital skills have shifted over time. The present focus on media literacy ties digital skills to the broader theme of citizenship and calls for a wide agenda to improve skills, knowledge of media systems and attitudes towards the media. It reaches into policy domains such as education, work and social participation. We will also reflect on the question as to just how far research is able to feed these policy discussions. The argument is organized in four sections, following more or less chronologically the stages of research on digital skills. We begin with the largely descriptive research on digital skills in the context of the digital divide. The second and third sections follow the theoretical turn in the research agenda with a focus on the causes and consequences of differences in digital skills. In the fourth section we discuss a more recent development, where digital skills are included in a broader research agenda of media literacy.


Alignment between strategies with external environment determines the viability and performance of the company. Batik SMEs in the Northern Coast of Central Java have performance and good potential, but yet, these efforts does not applying good strategy moreover lack of obesevation to its surrounding environment. In addition, SMEs North Coast Batik in Central Java are also vulnerable to the impact of economic crisis, because SMEs were less able to adapt to external environmental conditions. This study examines the effect of external environment on performance of the companies and the influence of strategic orientation on firm performance. This study aims to identify and analyze the influence of external environment and the corporate strategy orientation on firm performance in SMEs Batik in Pantura Central Java. Samples were craftsman Pantura Batik in Central Java. As result, the sector external environment (competitors, suppliers, customers and government) had significant influence on performance of the company, included business continuity and development of its batik. Furthermore, strategic orientation (innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking) in the batik business had strong influence on the development of their company's performance in each period. The batik craftsman in Northern Coast of Central Java have strong will to innovate, strong motivation to create different batik products, modify old products into new products to attract customers and prevent losses.


The current status and development of global aluminum industry,including the production,consumption and price of aluminum and alumina in China and abroad,development of aluminum electrolysis technology in China and foreign countries and the measures for technological improvement of aluminum electrolysis are described systematically.