Abstract. Source optimization is one of the key techniques for achieving higher resolution without increasing the complexity of mask design. An efficient source optimization approach is proposed on the basis of particle swarm optimization. The pixelated sources are encoded into particles, which are evaluated by using the pattern error as the fitness function. Afterward, the optimization is implemented by updating the velocities and positions of these particles. This approach is demonstrated using three mask patterns, including a periodic array of contact holes, a vertical line/space design, and a complicated pattern. The pattern errors are reduced by 69.6%, 51.5%, and 40.3%, respectively. Compared with the source optimization approach via genetic algorithm, the proposed approach leads to faster convergence while improving the image quality at the same time. Compared with the source optimization approach via gradient descent method, the proposed approach does not need the calculation of gradients, and it has a strong adaptation to various lithographic models, fitness functions, and resist models. The robustness of the proposed approach to initial sources is also verified.


This study seeks to validate the hypothesis that takt production can be used as a driver for implementing several lean construction concepts together and for making them work as a system. This is done by studying a single case project where takt production with a 4-hour takt time was a core element of the operating system. In studying the case, a set of lean construction concepts found present in the project are extracted and analysed. It is concluded that takt production and in particular the short takt time worked to integrate the stakeholders and enabled the individual lean construction concepts to work in a tight relationship. Future case studies could be more explicitly designed to further validate the hypothesis.


It is required to resignify the teaching from the implementation of innovative strategies for the development of scientific thought in primary school students. From this point of view, the objective of the article is to describe the transformations in classroom practices from the implementation of the teaching framework for understanding, in the development of the powers of inquiry and explanation of phenomena in students of first and fifth education primary basic. The study is a qualitative approach with a descriptive scope and with the design of the Pedagogical Action Research. It was possible to document the changes in teaching that occurred with the planning and implementation of didactic units to strengthen the investigation and the explanation of phenomena. In conclusion, he highlights that classroom dynamics directly influence learning, by incorporating new pedagogical strategies, students are protagonists of knowledge when investigating their surrounding world.


Terrence deacon, author of Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter, proposes that constraint understood as constitutive absence is a necessary factor in the emergence of life from nonlife, mind from matter. by "constraint" he means "the property of being restricted or being less variable than possible."1 by "absence" he means that constraint is a negative property qualifying a collection or ensemble of constituent parts or members: "it is a way of referring to what is not exhibited, but could have been, at least under some circumstances" (193). by "constitutive absence" he means what is the case "irrespective of whether this is registered by any act of observation" (192). so constraint thus understood is metaphysically grounded in something constitutive of the way nature works. This kind of constraint is not externally imposed by some outside agency but internally by reason of "the dynamical organization of a somewhat diverse class of phenomena which share in common the tendency to become spontaneously more organized and orderly over time due to constant perturbation" (237). deacon cautions that these processes of internal organization have been called "self-organizing," but that in fact there is no self to do the organizing of their inanimate components (e.g., molecules) (237–38). instead, what is thought to be self-organizing is in fact due to persistent coincidences in nature's mode of operation ("micro-configurational particularities") that become over time habitual patterns ("macro-configurational regularities"). These habitual patterns together constitute the corporate reality of a physical system with internally generated constraints on its normal mode of operation. "This centrality of form-begetting form is what justifies calling these processes morphodynamic" (261). i applaud deacon for his willingness to move beyond scientific description to account for the way in which higher-order systems emerge out of the dynamic interplay of lower-order systems within physical reality. his resulting metaphys-


The paper presents a model of thermal transients in induction motor controlled via a variable frequency drive, which takes into account the operation of the motor at speeds different than the rated one. Experimental recording of motor heating curves at different angular speeds has been done, to verify the model.


You're courageous to seek information about your family member's drinking. For many people, recognizing and talking about alcoholism can be difficult. Your family may not like for you to see your granddad when he's intoxicated because of the embarrassment and shame that is often connected with alcohol-related issues. There are a number of different strategies that you might consider in order to help your granddad (including groups that you can refer him to as well). While you consider these strategies, it might be helpful to remember that although you may offer help, your granddad is the one that has to choose to seek support. His drinking isn't your fault, and whether he decides to be sober is ultimately up to him.


Motivated by the increasing importance of knowing which operating systems are running in a given network, we evaluated operating system discovery (OSD) tools. The results indicated a serious lack of accuracy in current OSD tools. This thesis proposes a new approach to OS discovery which addresses the limitations of existing tools and leads to a more flexible, less intrusive, and much more accurate tool. Moreover, unlike existing OSD tools which are completely ad hoc, our approach is formal and follows the principles of diagnosis problem solving. This formalism allows us to: (a) characterize the complexity of OSD; (b) use well-tested algorithms and (c) benefit from numerous possible extensions. To fully address the needs of OSD, we generalize the theory of diagnosis with a query-based extension. This extension leads to a spectrum of test selection algorithms to solve each query.


This article gives a specific analysis to the trouble causes which commonly appear in the hydraulic brake system of a specific model wheel loader and also puts forward a trouble elimination conclusion.


Several business companies implement electronic processes to do business online and to exchange with their clients. These electronic businesses affect the ways that small firms exchange goods and services with suppliers and clients. Digital markets are multiplying every day and small companies need to implement a supply chain model to do cost-effective business with their partners. Using models from the literature, this study will highlight that a virtual value chain performance model integrated to open business systems is needed to provide effective services to business partners. In this paper, the author of this research will demonstrate that a virtual value chain performance model is needed to achieve operational effectiveness and efficiency for small businesses.


Community participation in the management of village allocation fund in the Village of Mata Air is still far from the required standards. At the planning stage, the management of the fund is deemed as too "technocratic" in which only village elites are involved, while the poor segment of the village residents as well as women are not involved. At the implementation stage, the fund management has neither been institutionalized nor determined by the mobilization of government instruments and village administrative personnel. So far the community participation only goes in a spontaneous way and as such has reduced the degree of inclusiveness. As a result, the continuity of villagers' initiatives is cut off and therefore it does not nurture the sense of belonging in the whole village development. At the supervision level, the fund is controlled in a structural-hierarchical way without involving the village residents. The residents are not given access to the village fund management. The village head, village finance technical executive, and the village treasurer are still considered the most responsible persons in the management of village allocation fund.


Life history of Zelotes asiaticus (BOSENBERG et STRAND) was estimated by means of laboratory rearing and field investigation. This species is likely to mature after 8 molts during more than a year after emergence from an egg sac. It seems that this species has a two-year life cycle as follows: Eggs are deposited by the overwintered adult females from spring to early summer; spiderlings emerge from the egg sacs in summer and develop to 2nd-5th instar by winter; juveniles which hibernate their first year develop to penultimates in summer and mature in autumn; and adults overwinter. Possibility of copulation between two populations in which the generation cycles differ from each other is discussed.


Readers go to the country to see a year full of work, play, and rewards on a family farm. Full-color illustrations.


Although this book was published in Spain, it clearly was 'made in France'. It originated in Paris, under the auspices of the Forum International des Sciences Humaines and with Francois-Xavier Guerra, of the Universite de Paris I, providing the conception and directing force. Several of its twenty-five chapters, particularly by authors based in France, operate within Guerra's interpretive framework. And some of the eleven essays contributed by historians in Latin America are at least touched by his vision. The book's central themes are the transition from the colonial period to independence and the construction of 'modern' nations in the nineteenth century. Those authors who directly address the transition from the traditional to the modern polity tend to do so within a definitional framework previously laid down by Guerra in various publications. In this volume, however, that definitional framework remains implicit and is never expressly or systematically laid out. After three chapters on colonial state and society (by David Brading, Ramon Maria Serrera, and Horst Pietschman), five essays treat changing notions of the imperial system in the Bourbon era and the ideological 'mutation' occurring between 1808 and 1815. Guerra's chapter on this later period is central to this segment, and to the book as a whole, both because of its interpretive assertions and because it sets terms of analysis found in some subsequent chapters. Guerra rejects the' teleological' interpretations of Spanish American independence found in patriotic national histories, which, he asserts, assume the existence of an implicit nation or proto-nation before the end of colonial domination. Guerra instead presents an 'unedited' (i.e. presumably less teleological) historical account, which emphasises the continuance of traditional notions (e.g. defence of king and religion) and traditional modes of political representation (communities rather than individuals) in the initial phase of the imperial crisis (1808-1809). Only later (1810-12?) did there occur a radical 'ideological mutation' in Spanish America, from a traditionalist mental universe to the beginning of 'political modernity'. Further, this impulse towards modern political notions emanated from Cadiz with criollo leaders still apparently the colonial recipients of ideas issuing from the metropolis.


A unique example of topology tailoring in a uranyl–organic system is provided by the three-pronged Kemp's tricarboxylate ligand. While unexceptional one-dimensional polymers are formed with uranyl alone under solvo-hydrothermal conditions, addition of Ni2+ ions yields the nanotubular species [(UO2)2Ni(L)2(H2O)4]∞, with a hydrophilic inner cavity lined by hydrated Ni2+ ions, and a hydrophobic outer surface. The further presence of 2,2′-bipyridine brings about the trapping of Ni2+ ions into counterions and formation of the octanuclear pseudocubic cage [(UO2)8(L)6(H2O)6]2–.


In view of some problems of construction mechanics in underground engineering,the characteristics and research topics and contents are expounded systematically.The problems which needs further studies are pointed out.New theories and new methods are effectively used to solve the problems of construction mechanics in underground engineering.This study will be helpful to improve the design and research of the problems of construction mechanics in underground engineering.The more deeply research and engineering application of construction mechanics will be promoted.


Dyspnoea, a subjective experience of breathing discomfort, is a debilitating symptom which impacts quality of life in patients with pleural effusions. It consists of a number of perceptions, including a sense of work/effort, tightness in the chest and air hunger. Dyspnoea affects up to 80% of patients with malignant pleurisy [1–3], and an even higher percentage of those with heart failure-associated effusions [4]. Pleural effusions can have a large impact, not only on breathing and quality of life [5], but also on sleep [6] and exercise capacity [7]. Combining history taking and a bedside ultrasound may be the best way to predict symptomatic relief after thoracentesis in patients with pleural effusions http://bit.ly/2xwTJ9z


Many software-related degrees exist, and a diversity of programs makes it difficult for candidates to choose where they wish to study. Selecting the wrong program costs students time, money, and considerable effort. Though several institutions have created curriculum guidelines for data science related programs, an overall consensus on program content does not exist at either the undergraduate or graduate levels. This paper examines the most common course requirements, such as data mining, machine learning, mathematics, software engineering, data analysis, and data visualization. We then compare the requirement analysis against the specifics of data science related programs offered at the Universidad de Lima, the Universidad Pacifico, and the University of St. Thomas. The results show that all three universities have active programs worth consideration and give students a model of what to look for when selecting their programs.


clinical utility in predicting treatment outcomes. Also, it takes subthreshold syndromes and the heterogeneity of psychological problems affecting a sizable number of patients suffering from a medical illness into account [5], such as allostatic overload and demoralization. In DSM-5, these conditions are too vaguely being described as "psychological factors affecting other medical conditions." Second, regarding the differentiation between FSS/BDD and SSD, empirical research has shown that not all patients with FSS fulfil the criteria of SSD. In their study of patients with fibromyalgia, Häuser et al. [6] find that merely 25.6% of a sample of 156 patients met the SDD criteria. Furthermore, a recent latent-class analysis of chronic fatigue syndrome revealed important differences in between-group scores on the Cognitive Behavioural Responses Questionnaire [7]. More precisely, the largest subgroup (33%) mainly reported features associated with FSS, showing the lower scores, and the smallest subgroup (11%) showed high scores particularly on behaviour avoidance and damage beliefs. In keeping with this, the latter group was also more likely to believe that their symptoms were physical in nature. Hence, only a proportion of patients with FSS show characteristics of SSD. Moreover, as Henningsen et al. [1] mention themselves, the number of bodily symptoms is a strong predictor of disability and health care use, but with health anxiety being an additional and independent predictor. Third, in their schematic model of the aetiology of bodily distress, the authors mainly adopt insights from cognitive and behavioural theories and do not include evidence on physiological disturbances in FSS. For instance, chronic fatigue syndrome has been associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysfunction, which seems clinically relevant as it is linked to severer symptoms and/or disability and poorer outcomes to standard treatments [8]. As to irritable bowel syndrome, the evidence strongly suggests that it is a systems disease that not only involves complex individual systems (i.e., the nervous, immune, digestive and microbiota systems and the environment), but also their complex reciprocal interactions [9]. Moreover, it has been pointed out earlier that the so-called unexplained symptoms will eventually stop being unexplained once the underlying pathogenic mechanisms are unveiled [10]. Adhering to the concept of FSS or BDD as a concept excluding somatic explanations does not help research and clinical practice further, as it hampers taking such developments into account. Thus, an approach that continues to focus on so-called unexplained symptoms misses the opportunity to advance research and clinical care in this domain. Dear Editor, We read the article entitled "Management of Functional Somatic Syndromes and Bodily Distress" by Henningsen et al. [1] with great interest. The authors state that they intend to develop a unifying perspective on the understanding and management of functional somatic syndromes and bodily distress, while also providing an update on current concepts and their aetiologies as well as evidence-based recommendations for treatment, thereby concentrating on developments in the last decade. However, we feel that, for several reasons, rather than offering clarification, the paper creates conceptual confusion. Firstly, it is important to differentiate between functional somatic syndromes (FSS) or bodily distress disorder (BDD) (both mainly characterized by medically unexplained symptoms) on the one hand and somatic symptom disorder (SSD) on the other. In their "terminology, classification and overlap" section, the authors refer to SSD as an arbitrary DSM-5 alternative to FSS (or BDD), thus sharing the view Fink takes [2]. Although this may seem understandable from a historical perspective, considering the poor conceptualization of somatoform disorders in the DSM-IV, we would like to point out that in the DSM-5 the criteria for SSD are based on a very different conceptualization and incorporate an important change [3]. More precisely, the persistent, explained or unexplained, somatic symptoms have to be associated with disproportionate thoughts, feelings and behaviours related to these symptoms. In our view, future DSM editions should adopt a more dimensional approach to the diagnosis of SSD, placing less emphasis on health anxiety and incorporating the Diagnostic Criteria for Psychosomatic Research [4]. This system has merit as it showed its Received: May 21, 2018 Accepted after revision: June 5, 2018 Published online: July 18, 2018


TIROS-N data for 21 October 1979 indicate a stronger jet and cyclone vortex at 250 mb in the eastern Pacific than is suggested by forecast continuity and aircraft winds. NOAA-6 data for 29 January ...


According to the requirements of simulation of aircraft braking system,a monitoring platform based on Visual Basic 6.0 environment is introduced.The structure and function principle of the whole design are discussed in detail.A set of reasonable communication procedure is designed,which has satisfied the aircraft braking system operation timeliness and data prompt refurbishing request.After the actual test,this platform can be used in the aircraft braking system with high practical value.


The modern transition to adulthood spans a long and varied path, and little is understood about what factors may prevent some adults from making important role transitions such as commitment in relationships, independent living, and career stability, or gaining a subjective sense of adulthood. Through an electronic survey, this study measured role transitions, sense of adulthood, self-identification as an adult, and attachment styles in a sample of 469 U.S. adults between the ages of 25 and 35. Overall, it was shown that a higher sense of adulthood was positively correlated with a secure attachment style and negatively correlated with four different styles of insecure attachment. Additionally, self-identification as an adult was also positively correlated with a secure attachment style, and negatively correlated with styles of insecure attachment. These results are consistent with previous research, which has demonstrated that secure attachment is related to achievement of a wide variety of developmental outcomes across the lifespan. Less than 40% of participants reported that they felt they had reached adulthood at the time of taking the survey, which raises the question of whether the emerging adulthood stage is completed prior to age 30. Exploratory analyses of the relationship between adulthood and other variables such as age, gender, and role transitions are included. Clinical implications are discussed with an emphasis on attachment-focused psychotherapy as a potential intervention for adults challenged by making developmentally appropriate role transitions. Degree Type Dissertation Rights Terms of use for work posted in CommonKnowledge. Comments Library Use: LIH This dissertation is available at CommonKnowledge: http://commons.pacificu.edu/spp/473 Copyright and terms of use If you have downloaded this document directly from the web or from CommonKnowledge, see the "Rights" section on the previous page for the terms of use. If you have received this document through an interlibrary loan/document delivery service, the following terms of use apply: Copyright in this work is held by the author(s). You may download or print any portion of this document for personal use only, or for any use that is allowed by fair use (Title 17, §107 U.S.C.). Except for personal or fair use, you or your borrowing library may not reproduce, remix, republish, post, transmit, or distribute this document, or any portion thereof, without the permission of the copyright owner. [Note: If this document is licensed under a Creative Commons license (see "Rights" on the previous page) which allows broader usage rights, your use is governed by the terms of that license.] Inquiries regarding further use of these materials should be addressed to: CommonKnowledge Rights, Pacific University Library, 2043 College Way, Forest Grove, OR 97116, (503) 352-7209. Email inquiries may be directed to:. email@example.com This dissertation is available at CommonKnowledge: http://commons.pacificu.edu/spp/473 i SECURING ADULTHOOD: AN EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTACHMENT STYLES AND SELF-PERCEPTION OF ADULT STATUS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF SCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY PACIFIC UNIVERSITY HILLSBORO, OREGON BY LEAH KAMIN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PSYCHOLOGY


The work was developed on lands located at the Altagracia vineyard in the state of Lara, Venezuela, were several variety of grapes are cultivated for the wine production in Bodegas Pomar C.A. The study area is characterized for a strong scarcity of both superficial and ground water, which makes necessary to conduct agronomical investigations to avoid the excessive use of irrigation water. In this work, several experiments were performed using the Chenin Blanc variety under trickle irrigation. Five treatments were considered in the experiment, varying the irrigation time and frequency. Treatments T1, T2, T3 had a daily irrigation frequency and irrigation times of 4,5, and 6 hours respectively. T4 has a daily irrigation frequency and a variable irrigation time, which corresponded to the time needed to apply a water depth corresponding to 110 % of the pan evaporation. Treatment T5 has an irrigation frequency of 2 days, which represented the normal irrigation operation. The experimental design consisted in a random block array was evaluated using variance analysis. The results indicated that the most desirable parameters, considering probable alcohol, pH, and total acidity were obtained from the T1 treatment. Treatment T3 obtained the best results with regard to total weight and number of fruits


Let S be a commutative semiring with unity. The singular ideal Z(S) of S is defined as Z(S) = {s ? S | sK = 0 for some essential ideal K of S}. In this paper, we introduce the notion of total graph of a commutative semiring with respect to the singular ideal. We define this graph as the undirected graph T(?(S)) with all elements of S as vertices and any two distinct vertices x and y are adjacent if and only if x + y ? Z(S). We discuss various characteristics of this total graph and also characterize some important properties of certain induced subgraphs of this total graph.


In this paper, I outline the work related to Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method that was done in this semester. The ultimate goal of this work is to perform coupled electromagnetic – thermal analysis of radiometer calibration targets. This report describes the preliminary work that was performed towards this end. Two dimensional Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method was implemented in software along with Total Field / Scattered Field (TF /SF) formulation. The code was numerically validated by estimating the Radar Cross Section (RCS) of right circular metallic cylinder and comparing it with analytical result. The report also contain details of HFSS simulations of electromagnetic wave absorbing pyramids.


Two-dimensional electrophoretic analysis of dog plasma proteins was done by a first-dimension separation in agarose gel (pH 5.4) followed by a second-dimension separation in horizontal poly-acrylamide gel (pH 9.0). Two groups of α1-globulins, designated Pi-1 and Pi-2, were found to be protease inhibitors. Extensive genetic polymorphism of Pi-1 and of another unidentified α-globulin, tentatively designated postalbumin (Pa), was observed. Family data supported the hypothesis that Pi-1 and Pa polymorphisms were controlled by codominant, autosomal alleles. Three Pi-1 alleles and two Pa alleles were observed in 60 breeds (1119 dogs) studied. Each of the Pi-1 alleles gave rise to a single strong fraction while each of the Pa alleles showed a major and a minor anodic fraction. The present study, along with earlier reports, showed that some of the proteins and enzymes (albumin, transferrin, eserine resistant esterase, α1-protease inhibitor and postalbumin) in plasma exhibit considerably more polymorphism than that reported for hemoglobin and some of the red cell and tissue enzymes of the domestic dog.


Two strains of the fast-growing bean rhizobiaPV1 and PV2 and two others of the slow-growing cowpea and soybean bradyrhizobiaCP1 and GM8 respectively, were used to test their in vitro proliferation and in vivo survival. Known amounts of each of the four strains studied were exposed to Cu concentrations in the range:0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 ppm both in vitro and in vivo. It was observed that slow-growing rhizobia are more susceptible to Cu toxicity both in vitro and in vivo than the fast-growing rhizobia.It is important however to assess the effect of copper on nodulation and nitrogen fixing.


Nowadays, semantic integration of data resources is becoming a hot topic. Many techniques have been developed to map XML sources to ontologies, but most of mapping processes are manually accomplished with the help of experts. In this paper, we propose a new method that automatically derives such mappings by using DTD information, i.e. mappings XML fragments to concepts and roles in ontologies. Our algorithm can deal with structural difference between XML documents and ontologies by matching DTD structure with ontology graphs, and then automatically generates the mapping rules in XPath of DTD to the conceptual paths in the ontology. The whole process is automatic with little human intervention, in this way multifarious information integration will become much easier.


An inverse nodal problem consists in reconstructing this operator from the given zeros of their eigenfunctions. In this work, we are concerned with the inverse nodal problem of the Sturm-Liouville operator with eigenparameter dependent boundary conditions on a finite interval. We prove uniqueness theorems: a dense subset of nodal points uniquely determine the parameters of the boundary conditions and the potential function of the Sturm-Liouville equation; and provide a constructive procedure for the solution of the inverse nodal problems. Mathematics subject classification (2010): 47A10, 47A20, 47A45, 47A67, 47B25.


With the advent of heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) [1] the thermal transport properties of magnetic recording media have become a key performance characteristic.


A new approach aimed at a better understanding of the state of pollution of the Black Sea coastal zone is suggested. It consists of the combined use of all available quasi‐concurrent satellite information (NOAA AVHRR, TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason‐1, Terra/Aqua MODIS, Envisat ASAR, ERS‐2 SAR and QuikSCAT) and was first applied during an operational seawater monitoring campaign in the coastal zone of the northeastern Black Sea conducted in 2006. The monitoring is based on daily receiving, processing and analysis of data different in nature (microwave radar images, optical and infrared data), resolution and surface coverage. These data allow us to retrieve information on seawater pollution, sea surface and air–sea boundary layer conditions, seawater temperature and suspended matter distributions, chlorophyll‐a concentration, mesoscale water dynamics, near‐surface wind, and surface wave fields. Such an approach helps in oil spill detection with synthetic aperture radar (SAR), especially in distinguishing oil slicks from look‐alikes. The focus is on coastal seawater circulation mechanisms and their impact on the evolution of pollutants.


Abstract Liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection has become an established technique for the determination of catechol-amines, indoleamines, precursors, metabolites, and related enzymatic activities in tissues and fluids. Previously available instrumentation, however, has limited the number of individual species readily and simultaneously accessible with reasonable throughput to only a few. Determinations of other species required either extended amounts of time per individual chromatogram or the use of an entirely separate chromatographic setup employing different columns and eluting solvents. Using reversed-phase columns packed with 3 micron particles, we have been able to produce the separation of 16 different catecholamine and in-doleamine related species and two different internal standard compounds in 5 or 7 minutes. Samples may be analyzed directly after only homogenization, centrifugation, and clarification by filtration. No further purification steps are required. The enzymatic activ...


It is humanization trend of product design that has be studied in the paper ,then pointing out the coordinated development of product and man which means solving the living needs and stimulating affects for people, summing up detached feelings entertainment and interactiveof product innterest.


Employment of fault‐tolerant techniques is necessary for the operability and reliability of very large scale integration (VLSI) arrays. Moreover, fault tolerance must be obtained at high speed on real‐time embedded systems. In this paper, a novel abstract model, based on the abstraction technique, is proposed to accelerate the reconfiguration of degradable VLSI arrays with low fault density. Given an m × n physical array with faults, the proposed technique extracts some physical rows including faulty elements to construct an abstraction array, ignoring the physical rows without faults, such that the size of original physical array can be significantly reduced to speed up the reconfiguration of VLSI array. In addition, we conclusively demonstrate the preservation of properties between the abstract array and the physical array to guarantee that the proposed technique is correct. Experimental results show that for a 128 × 128 physical array with 0.1% faults, a 15 × 128 abstract array can be constructed and the compression is more than 88.20%. This abstraction technique is bound into a reconfiguration algorithm cited in this paper. Simulation results show that the running time can be improved by more than 66.79% for a 128 × 128 physical array with 0.1% faults. © 2017 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


The notion of constraints is a central one in evolutionary biology. That limits may exist in the patterns resulting from diverse evolutionary processes, and the possibility that these limits can be discovered and explained mechanistically, suggests that much of evolution may be interpretable through an integrated theory of constraint. Phylogenetic constraint has been invoked in a variety of contexts but as yet there is no consensus on its definition. It is defined here as any result or component of the phylogenetic history of a lineage that prevents an anticipated course of evolution in that lineage. Hypotheses of constraint can be tested within a phylogenetic framework;


Many procedures continuously in aquaculture and scientific research like tagging and vaccinating cause pain, involving damaging tissue and also cause stress responses in fish. Stress responses in fish influence liver because liver have vital role to supply energy and metabolism. Histology alteration in liver is caused by stress response like changes of vacuolation hepatocyte and characteristic colour. Triterpenoid was known had hepatoprotective activity. One of marine organism contained triterpenoid was sea cucumber. Result of research showed that liver tissue in fish with injected acetic acid 5 % (in upper lip) as pain stimulus have histopathology damages such as pyknosis (medium damage level) and oedema (heavy damage level) after 8 hour injection. Injected Lidocaine 1mg/fish as analgesic drug have histopathology damages such as oedema (heavy damages level), necrosis and pyknosis (low damages level). Injected acetic acid 5 % (in upper lip) and ethanolic extract of sea cucumber Phyllophorus sp. dose 5 mg/50 gr body weight shown histopathology damages such as necrosis, edema (medium damage level) and pyknosis (low damage level).Many procedures continuously in aquaculture and scientific research like tagging and vaccinating cause pain, involving damaging tissue and also cause stress responses in fish. Stress responses in fish influence liver because liver have vital role to supply energy and metabolism. Histology alteration in liver is caused by stress response like changes of vacuolation hepatocyte and characteristic colour. Triterpenoid was known had hepatoprotective activity. One of marine organism contained triterpenoid was sea cucumber. Result of research showed that liver tissue in fish with injected acetic acid 5 % (in upper lip) as pain stimulus have histopathology damages such as pyknosis (medium damage level) and oedema (heavy damage level) after 8 hour injection. Injected Lidocaine 1mg/fish as analgesic drug have histopathology damages such as oedema (heavy damages level), necrosis and pyknosis (low damages level). Injected acetic acid 5 % (in upper lip) and ethanolic extract of sea cucumber Phyllophorus sp. dose 5 mg/...


Domestic violence does harm to family harmony, physical and mental health of family members,so that it has drawn extensive attention from the society. The female as the main victims in domestic violence,their psychological problem has become one of the focus. Recent study that female victims of domestic violence are easy to form the sense of self-problem, emotional problems and related risk behavior, interpersonal withdrawal, suicidal behavior and violence in four kinds of psychological problems, putting forward the telephone consultation and advisory network, individual interview and family counseling, group conseling intervention of several typical psychological intervention methods. Meanwhile, in a large number of studies on the basis of review, discussing the relevant research direction in the future.


Shortages in therapists, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, have created a gap in care for people with cerebral palsy, stroke, and many other conditions requiring rehabilitation. Socially assistive robots and telehealth are two tools which could help fill this gap and may be able to work together, in socially assistive robot-augmented telerehabilitation, to create meaningful telerehab encounters. We present results from a survey completed between Jun 31, 2020, and Dec 31, 2020, asking 379 therapists in the United States for their opinions on features which may be useful for a telerehabilitation platform and for their general feelings towards robots. We explore their answers and reduce the response space by identifying six factors underlying the answers. We show that therapists want high quality video, control over robots, and more regulations. We also find that they are positive about the features which could be used in socially assistive robot-augmented telerehabilitation.


Rapid population growth and the fact that phosphorous is a limited resource implies that the question regarding an efficient use of phosphorus is of great importance, and consequently,that the phosphorous use efficiency should be as high as possible. The view on phosphorous use efficiency, and how this is calculated, has varied over time. This has had great implications on what type of research that has been conducted, which have resulted in an
inconsistency between the academic's view on the subject and recommendations received by farmers. The purpose of this paper is to calculate the phosphorus use efficiency in the Swedish long term fertility experiments. Calculations are made using different methods in order to evaluate which method is most suitable for calculating phosphorus use efficiency. Furthermore, the purpose is to determine at which P-AL you receive the highest efficiency for different soils and crops.

Calculations made using the difference method consequently demonstrate lower phosphorus use efficiency than calculations made using the balance method. This implies that phosphorus is reversely fixed in the soil. The efficiency obtained using the difference method is strongly
dependent on the yield in a references patch left unfertilized. Calculations on phosphorus use
efficiency should therefore be made using the balance method. The highest efficiency achieved was 72 %, after correcting for an increase in P-AL. Nearly all of the sites had a phosphorus use efficiency over 25 %, which is commonly recognized as the upper limit.

Yield in relation to P-AL differs greatly between different soils, differences that cannot be
explained by simple soil parameters, such as content of clay and organic matter. According to
Jodbruksverkets recommendations, replacement fertilizing should be done on soils graded as
having phosphorus class III. The calculations show that the yield-effect of fertilizing
decreases around P-AL 4, which corresponds to the lower regions of phosphorus class III. For
some of the soils, this effect is observed at lower P-AL levels. There are significant
differences between P-AL level required for a certain yield when different crops are
compared. Calculations show that winter wheat is more tolerant to lower P-AL levels than
spring barley and spring oilseeds. This is something that should be considered when planning
phosphorus fertilization.


A simplified system for evaluating distribution transformers is presented which eliminates all parameters contributing less than five percent to the end cost. The consideration of these insensitive parameters has added to the confusion and complexities of utility efforts to reduce energy losses. Those factors, such as regulation, exciting current, and temperature correction, are dropped as negligible, leaving only three factors: excitation loss, load loss, and fixed charges on investment. The formulas for calculating these losses and determining the annual energy loss costs are derived. 1 figure, 4 tables. (DCK)


On wireless ad hoc network (AHN), ad-hoc mode is a method for wireless devices to directly communicate with each other. Since AHNs are dynamic in nature, they require a dynamic routing protocol to send the message from one source node to destination. Several approaches have been proposed for designing multihop routing protocols in wireless AHNs. Flooding is one of them to discover a dynamic routing path. But Flooding of request packet in the route in wireless AHN creates a huge amount of traffic which leads to high probability of packet collisions. Also it causes significant over head in delivering of packet and hence is inappropriate for the dynamic routing. It also causes more time consumption.  In this paper we propose a efficient multi hop routing algorithm to deliver the message using the cache variable for intermediate to reduce a large number of path& hence reducing the traffic generated by normal flooding. We also apply a logic to share the dynamic  routing table between different devices in neighborhood. We also propose a scheme at receiver side to receive only one valid message from the flooded message and discard all other flooded messages.


This paper deals with the protection of perishables in transportation. It reports on some developments in packaging of peaches that seem to defy logic. When peaches were shipped in a fragile container, they were treated more carefully and came out in better condition.


A brief review cannot do justice to the wealth of detail in this study, which in many respects charts new territory, uncovering and disclosing material from church archives heretofore unknown to scholars. For example, Davis found a small notebook in the Sulpician Archives in Baltimore kept by Father John F. Hickey from 1843 to 1845. The journal details the weekly meetings of a black Catholic society numbering from 150 to 200 members that met in the basement of Calvert Hall. Davis acknowledges that much more research needs to be done in local records, but in compiling Black Catholics in the United States he has put down a foundation that others can build on. When asked by students and others for a general survey of black Catholicism, I have in the past had only John T. Gillard's books The Catholic Church and the American Negro (1929) and Colored Catholics in the United States (1941) to recommend. Davis's book supersedes that of Gillard in perspective as well as in scope and substance. African-American and Catholic himself, Davis offers readers a perspective from within the black Catholic community, a point of view that is both critical and appreciative of the church and the tradition.


ABSTRACT This paper describes the development of the Probability Evaluation Game (PEG): an innovative teaching instrument that emphasises the sophistication of listening and highlights listening as a key skill for accounting practitioners. Whilst in a roundtable format, playing PEG involves participants individually evaluating a series of probability terms and then calling out their evaluations amongst fellow players who have done the same. When listening to peers' responses, any difference in evaluation of the same term confronts players with the knowledge that without skilled, reflexive listening conversations are dangerous playgrounds of miscommunication. The PEG presents a valuable learning opportunity where the potential impact of this issue for accounting and business world can be discussed. This paper details how PEG was developed, its format and how it has been used with students and accounting practitioners. Furthermore emergent, and often intriguing, learning points are discussed and related to accounting and the workplace more generally.


•SIK,—In. the GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE for September, you gave us a paper by Archdeacon Pratt, combating M. Delaunay's objection to Mr. Hopkins's method of reasoning from the precession of the equinoxes to the internal fluidity of the earth. There are some errors of inadvertence in that paper, which I do not point out, as no one is better able than the writer himself to discover them. We may agree, however, tihus far with Archdeacon Pratt,—M. Delaunay's objection is not as conclusive as he himself seems to think. The principle of that object is indubitably true. M. Champagneur has proved it so by direct experiment; and it is (as appears to me) selfevident, a priori. If the tendency of the hard crust of the earth to shift on the internal fluid mass be sufficiently small, relatively to the degree of viscidity of the fluid, the «rust must carry that viscous interior along with it in the changes of direction of its rotation. But is the relation such, in the case in question, as to make M. Delaunay's principle applicable ? This question, I suppose, never can be answered. If the crust were even 1,000 miles thick, and if the fluidity of the iaterior were perfect, the pole of the crust would be slipping over the fluid interior at the rate of one inch in about twenty-free minutes (if the crust be as thin as some geologists have supposed, the rate of slipping would have to be nearly a third greater); and this shifting movement would occur all round the great circle parallel, at each moment, to that containing the celestial poles of the equator and the equinoctial points (taking the retrogressive movement of the earth's axis in its mean direction). Now, what amount of viscosity would be necessary to overcome the enormous moment of inertia, rouad its axis, of a globular mass 6,000 miles in diameter (or much more, as some would think), and start it afresh at every instant, in a new direction, at the above rate (or, greater), from a state of relative rest ? And is the actual viscosity sufficient? Certain considerations would weigh for, and others against, M. Delaunay's opinion; but on which side of the scales the preponderance lies we cannot tell, from our ignorance of some of the conditions of the problem. M. H. CLOSE.


The Netherlands will introduce presumed consent for organ donation in July 2020, after a private member's bill passed the Dutch Senate by just two votes, ending decades of debate.

The Dutch Society of Intensive Care (NVIC) was "delighted" with the Active Donor Registration Law, claiming that it would place less of a burden on next of kin. The Kidney Patients' Association described it as a "milestone" that would save lives.

Under the new law all 18 year olds will …


Alluvial plains are a natural response to the dynamic fluvial balance between sediment input and output during floods in the course of the millenniums playing a key role in the fluvial dynamic during floods. Despite the important physical function they perform in river systems and the high risk of flooding, floodplains have been important sites of human activity and economic development over the years. These human activities have introduced important and irreversible modifications in the fluvial dynamics of streams and floodplains. This paper presents the overall characteristics of the fluvial geomorphology of the Guadalquivir river in the province of Seville, Spain. Human activities conducted over the last fifty years are evaluated in order to understand the spatial and temporal dynamics of the geomorphological changes in the riverbed and inundation zones.


The research project described in this paper is titled "Rethinking Engineering Diversity, Transforming Engineering Diversity (REDTED)," which is part of the National Science Foundation, Revolutionizing Engineering Department (RED) grants. The project is in its first year and therefore what is described in this paper will be a brief overview of the project and some of the work done during the first year. The proposed research is to explore how the representation of women and Underrepresented Minority (URM) students and historically underserved groups will be increased in an engineering department by deploying a multi-pronged approach. Our definition of diverse student populations includes both visible differences such as gender and racial minorities, but also includes invisible differences such as poor, LGBTQ, disabled, veterans, and others. The approach includes curricular and extra-curricular reform, which is targeted at the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department at Rowan and includes: a) Radically changing admission standards to promote excellence; b) Enhancing the perception and understanding of diversity and equality among students, faculty and administrators to create a more inclusive environment; c) Developing Advocate and Allies Mentoring Program for first year, and transfer students; d) Transforming existing engineering curriculum of second and third year from a narrow sub-discipline based approach to a more inclusive, system-based approach; e) Enriching students' aspirations by providing successful and diverse role models from industry and academia; and f) Developing a model for inclusion of diverse students. The study is unique in that the definition of diversity is expanded to include both visible and invisible aspects. It also takes a comprehensive approach in seeking to attract a more diverse population into engineering while also making sure that the diverse students who do choose to pursue engineering find an inclusive and welcoming climate. The first year of the study has included conducting surveys of students and faculty to get baseline data on the attitudes to inclusivity. It will also include faculty workshops to begin the process of modifying our curriculum. In addition, the peer mentoring program and its structure is also being discussed and student workshops will be conducted to develop peer mentoring skills. Introduction The College of Engineering at Rowan University was created through a $100 million gift from Henry and Betty Rowan in 1992 to the then former Glassboro State College (Chandrupatla et al., 1996). Four engineering departments of Chemical, Civil & Environmental, Electrical & Computer and Mechanical Engineering were established originally in 1996. Two additional departments have since been added to the College: Biomedical Engineering (fall 2014) and the Engineering Entrepreneurship Program (to begin fall 2016). The College implements the use of innovative methods of teaching and learning to prepare students for entry into a rapidly changing and highly competitive marketplace (Marchese et al., 1997; Newell et al., 1999; Dahm and Newell, 2001). The major hallmark of our Rowan engineering program is a unique common class known as the Engineering Clinics. The engineering clinic class is integrated throughout the entire curriculum for eight semesters. All five engineering departments of Biomedical, Chemical, Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering have this common clinic class throughout their program of study. The overall learning objectives of the Engineering Clinics are outlined in Sukumaran et al. (2006). After nearly two decades since the College was established, it is evident that our innovative curriculum especially, the Engineering Clinics, was able to meet the demands of stakeholders based on feedback from employers and alumni as well as other external sources. A critical analysis of our performance however indicates that the visible aspects of diversity in our student population such as race, gender, and ethnicity are below the national average while the invisible aspects of diversity, such as socioeconomic status, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity are not addressed nor counted. A detailed assessment of the demographics of the students and faculty will be discussed in the following sections. It is important to note that the University and Department are at the cusp of change and have seen dramatic growth in the last 3 years. The University has been recently reclassified as a research institution in the State of New Jersey and has also acquired two medical schools. The enrollment at the University climbed from about 12,000 students in 2012 to 16,000 students in 2015; the enrollment in the College of Engineering has increased from about 830 to 1307 students during the same time period. Glassboro (Permanent Population 18,897) is located in Southern New Jersey and is considered part of the larger Philadelphia metropolitan area. Camden (population 87,500) is the fifth largest city in New Jersey, and an economically distressed area. It is located in a New Jersey Federal Empowerment Zone (EZ). The city has a predominantly minority population. Southern New Jersey counties such as Cumberland County, Salem County and Atlantic county also have high minority populations. It is thus a shortcoming that the college has been unable to attract and boost its student body in terms of diversity. It is apparent that an innovative curriculum is not enough to attract a diverse student body, but requires a multi-pronged approach, which will be discussed in more detail in the following sections. This proposal describes transformative changes that include curricular and extra-curricular reform, which is targeted at the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department at Rowan University. The department has seen tremendous growth in student numbers. From 2013 to 2015, incoming CEE freshmen saw a growth of 30%. The number of freshmen rose from 58 students to 74 students over these two years. This presents an opportunity for the department to focus on increasing its diversity, since there are an increased number of faculty being hired, an increased number of students enrolling, and a willingness to change how things have been done in the past so that an increased access to a diverse student body can be provided. The department will serve as a test bed for the College of Engineering and has willing faculty and a Department Head who sees this as the top priority. The traditional approach to measuring diversity in engineering involves counting racial and ethnic minorities and women, while measuring gains in representation as reflected by the numbers. We believe that this traditional approach needs to consider other important aspects of diversity, in addition to the traditional approaches, to maximize the inclusiveness within the field. Decades of educational policy and practice have under-considered the existence of groups such as LGBTQ, poor, and disabled, thereby perpetuating exclusionary social patterns (Riley et al., 2014). Our multi-pronged approach to increasing diversity and inclusion begins with expanding the fundamental definition of diversity to include visible and invisible difference. Institutional and Departmental Demographics All data presented in this section was obtained from the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Research and Planning (IERP) at Rowan University (IERP, 2014). Relevant to the need to expand the definition of diversity, we note that institutional demographic data are available only for racial and ethnic minorities, men and women. Women comprise about 19.5% of the CEE student body, which is close to the national average of 20% for Civil Engineering (NAE, 2014). The numbers of Underrepresented Minority (URM) students comprise about 9.5% of the student population in CEE with African Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans at 2.3%, 3.2% and 4.1% respectively compared to 2.6%, 10.9% and 3.5% nationally (NAE, 2014). The retention rates in the 2 to 3 year range from 80 to 100%, while nationwide retention rates average 77% for 1 to 2 year and lower in the 2 to 3 year (IPEDS, 2014). For Civil and Environmental Engineering students, the 2 to 3 year retention rate hovers between 85 to 100% for male students and 100% for female students, which is excellent compared to national averages as stated above. The CEE department does better in retaining women students than male students. The University transfer student retention rates are consistently around 85% to 89%. CEE transfer student retention rates are 100%. With the increased commitment to admitting more transfer students, these numbers should increase during the duration of the grant. The 5-year graduation rates are cumulative rates in that the rates include the students who graduate in 4 years and 5 years. The graduation rate for Rowan University students differs by gender with male students having a lower graduation rate than female students. The 5-year graduation rate for 2009 and 2010 is 59% and 41% for male students who were traditional admits and about 70% for male transfers and 73 to 76% for female transfers. In comparison, CEE has a 5-year graduation rate of 69 to 86% for male traditional admits and 71 to 100% for female traditional admits. The transfer population was too small to make any meaningful analysis possible. The national average 6-year graduation rate is around 55% (IPEDS, 2014; Chronicle of Higher Education, 2014). Data for underserved groups including disability data, LGBTQ and socio-economic status (SES) data is not available through the IERP and hence it is not provided. Graduate data is also not provided because the numbers have been very small until now. Implementation This project uses a mixed-methods cyclical research-action plan grounded in critical theory of education. Critical education theory examines the ways in which educational policies and p


The aim was to study the efficiency of immune correction with Cycloferon and Pyobacteriophage combination in bronchial asthma patients with respiratory tract opportunistic microflora colonization. Object — 44 patients with moderate persistent asthma in the remission phase. Methods — clinical, immunological and statistical. Results. Cycloferon (12,5 % solution, 2 ml (250 mg) i/m QD 1 on day 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23) and Pyobacteriophage (2 drops in each nostril TID for one month) were administered to asthma patients with respiratory tract opportunistic microflora colonization. This therapy led to normalization of WBC indexes, T-cells maintenance and its subpopulation balance, recruitment of monocytes, B-cells and NK cells, normalization of IgM and IgG levels in blood serum and stimulation of circulatory phagocytes metabolic activity. IgE serum level decreased to more degree in comparison with the control group, but didn't reach normal range. Thus, through all treatment period and after its completion it is required to monitor this


The problem of this paper is suppression of the noise component of the useful signal in the researching of factors affecting the coefficient of friction of a new type of machine polymer guide rail. The parasitic component occurs during measurements, due to the vibration sensitivity of the sensor and the specifics of measurements. To suppress this component, a neural network program filter modelling the noise function has been developed. Filtering of the noise component of the signal occurs in real time, so the requirements of the software to the system resources are the determining factor, with the same accuracy characteristics of artificial neural networks. Thus, the topology of radial basis functions is optimal for the problem of modelling the physical noise function. The software implementation of the neural network filter is made in the "G" language of the LabView development environment. Approaching the number of neurons of the hidden layer to the dimension of the training sample increases the accuracy of the function simulation, but at the same time causes retraining. The accuracy of the simulation of the function of the proposed system was 0.142%.


This article explores the custom of post-mortem photography. In nineteenth century America, this was a socially acceptable, publicly acknowledged form of photography. Professional photographers accepted commissions, advertised the service, and held professional discussions in their journals about the practice. The images were publicly displayed in wall frames and albums. Initially, death pictures were portraits which attempted to deny death by displaying the body as if asleep, or even conscious. By the turn-of-the-century, the deceased were displayed in a casket with an increasing emphasis upon the funeral. Today, families make their own photos; circulating them in a private manner so that many people assume that the custom has been abandoned. Counselors working with the parents of children who have died provide evidence that these images can be useful in the mourning process. The findings of this study suggest that a more thorough examination of the place of death-related photographs in the management of grief would be of value.


Analyzed the amino acid sequences of the eye lens protein a-crystalHn in 41 mammalian species with the aim to resolve phylogenetic relationships among mammalian orders. The species represented 17 Orders of mammals. Chicken and frog (Rana esculenta) were included as outgroups. The observed amino acid differences were used to construct cladograms, either solely on the basis of the lowest numbers of required nucleotide replacements in the DNA, or also taking into account certain wellestabhshed phylogenetic relationships. The a-crystalHn A sequences indicate that: the paenungulate Orders Proboscidea, Hyracoidea and Sirenia are a monophyletic group to which the Tubulidentata (aardvarks) also belong; the paenungulates are not related to the ungulates, but together with the edentates represent the oldest offshoots of the eutherian stem; the pangolins show no relationship with edentates and are most parsimoniously placed close to the carnivores; the ungulates, whales, and carnivores form a monophyletic grouping; among the carnivores the seals and sea Kons are monophyletic; the investigated bat (Microchiroptera) appeared not to be related to insectivores or primates. The a-crystallin A sequences left the rodents, lagomorphs, insectivores, primates and Tupaia as an unresolved cluster of orders, but within the primates the prosimians are clearly set apart from the Anthropoidea. The results are compared with current opinions about mammalian phylogeny and related to other comparative protein sequence data.


Infections Acquired in healthcare setups are among the major causes of death and increased morbidity among hospitalized patients especially in developing countries. Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) significantly cause patient mortality and morbidity. Hand hygiene is one of the most effective, cheapest ways to prevent Nosocomial infection. Health care worker's hands are the most usual type of vehicle for transmission of healthcare-associated infections from patient to patient and within health care environment. Aim: To determine the knowledge and practice levels among Al-Imam Al Hussein medical city nursing staff. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted at Al-Imam Al Hussein medical city, Karbala from November 2022-March 2023, a total of 128 subjects were participated. The target population were nursing staff and collection of data was through structured and analyzed using a statistical package for social sciences. Results: About 40.6% of nursing staff had good level of hand washing knowledge, 57% fair level and 2.3% poor level. Also, about 71.9% of the nursing staff had good level of hand washing practice and 28% had a fair level. Conclusions: The hand washing knowledge and practice are improving among nursing staff at Al-Imam Al Hussien Medical City. We recommended continuous hand hygiene training programs, workshops and saving hand hygiene supplies.


The cable-free seismograph is an instrument for capturing seismic wave signals, which is popularly employed in underground resource exploration tasks in complex field environments due to its high flexibility. However, the efficiency of exploration operations is low because the arrangement and recovery of instruments are done manually. Therefore, autonomously arranging and recovering cable-free seismographs will hold great significance. Nevertheless, the instrument surface will produce highlight under intense illumination in field environments, which can have a negative impact on the accuracy of segmentation and contour extraction of the instrument. It will significantly reduce the visual positioning accuracy of the instrument and ultimately fail in recovery tasks. To address this problem, we analyze the characteristics of highlight on cable-free seismographs in field environments and develop a method to remove the highlight by weighting the color features of the non-highlight pixels in the neighborhoods of highlight pixels. We realize the detection of highlight pixels based on the classical modified specular-free model and propose an image terrain map model to select the weighted neighborhoods of highlight pixels to ensure that no background pixels are involved in the process of highlight removal. The experimental results show that our method meets the requirements for contour extraction and object segmentation in the autonomous instrument recovery tasks. Furthermore, it outperforms currently existing highlight removal methods in the task of highlight removal for cable-free seismographs in field environments.


The obliterating action of various chemicals when injected into veins has been known since the invention of the hypodermic syringe in 1851 by Pravaz. The use of drugs as therapeutic agents for injection into varicose veins of the leg was not practiced to any great extent until about fifteen years ago when Linser, 1 in Germany, reported the use of corrosive mercuric chloride and later of strong solutions of sodium chloride for this purpose. The use of solutions of quinine was first recorded by Genevrier 2 in France. Sicard, Paraf and Lermoyez 3 reported the use of aqueous solutions of sodium salicylate and Sicard and Gaugier 4 the results of a series of 325,000 injections without pulmonary emboli. Nobl 5 described the same effects after the use of solutions of dextrose varying from 50 to 65 per cent. Since then the treatment of varicose veins by injection has been reported


Aim. To analyze the factors that form pressing questions about the management of pharmaceutical care for diabetes patients and to substantiate the ways of its optimization. Methods. Marketing methods; pharmaceutical informatics methods: determination of information needs, the search and systematization of evidence-based information about remedies, pharmaceutical computer databases development; data synthesis and generalization methods. Results. The analysis of the theoretic arsenal of anti-diabetic remedies in Ukraine during 2002-2016 years and its quantitative growth from 117 to 364 medicines has been carried out and determined by the developed method. The highest growth dynamics was registered in insulin analogues group (from 0 to 18 remedies). By analyzing computer medicinal passports of diabetes patients a lack of modern treatment regimens use has been registered. A sharp decrease of "Rosiglitazonum" highly effective anti-diabetic remedy use since 2007 and stop using in 2010 has been determined, and the influence of evidence-based medicine results on this process has been studied. The fact of insufficient informing of medical and pharmaceutical specialists in Ukraine about pharmaceutical care for diabetes patients has been found. Conclusion. In general, theoretical arsenal of anti-diabetes remedies in Ukraine meets the international standards and recommendations about diabetes treatment requirements, while practical pharmacotherapy needs improvement. Evidence-based medicine results should be used to determine perspective need for anti-diabetic medicines. For optimization of pharmaceutical care system for diabetes patients in Ukraine it is necessary to establish specialized pharmacies and to study training program for pharmaceutical specialists


Polyclonal antibody directed against the sub- fragment-2 region of myosin was purified by affinity chroma- tography. Skinned muscle fibers that had been preincubated with antibody were able to sustain only 7% of the active isometric force generated by control fibers. The effect of antibody on force production could not be accounted for by inhibition of ATP turnover. The classical rotating-head sliding filament model for force generation in activated muscle fibers (1-3) proposes that the force-generating event results from a structural change in the subfragment 1 (S-1) region (the myosin head) while it is attached to actin. The helix-coil model (4, 5) for force gen- eration proposes that melting and shortening in a section (the heavy meromyosin (HMM)/light meromyosin (LMM) hinge domain) of subfragment 2 (S-2) occurs as the actin-attached cross-bridge swings away from the thick filament surface in an active bridge cycle. It has proved difficult to decide conclusively between these two models; indeed, it seems possible that aspects of both processes are fundamental to the tension-generating mechanism in muscle. Evidence has been provided that beads coated with HMM (6) as well as soluble HMM fragments (7) can move along actin filaments energized by ATP at speeds approaching those obtained with muscle fibers under no-load conditions. Fluorescent actin filaments have also been shown to slide along single-headed myosin filaments bound to a glass support (8) and isolated S-1 subunits bound to a nitrocellulose film (9) in the presence of ATP. It is not clear at the moment if this movement is a reflection of only a part of the force-generating mechanism or if it represents the complete force-producing event. This question should be viewed in the light of enzyme-probe studies that provide evidence for local melting at several sites spanning the LMM/HMM hinge region when rabbit psoas muscle is switched on. These studies reveal (10) that the rate constant for (chymotryptic) cleavage within the hinge region of activated, glycerinated fibers, in an ATP- regenerating backup system, is 100 times larger at each temperature examined over the range 5-37?C than for re- laxed or rigor fibers. A close coupling between the force generated by actively cycling bridges and the fraction of bridges undergoing local melting in the S-2 hinge domain was observed. Evidence has been provided (11) that the isomet- ric contractile force is abolished in parallel with chemical (dimethyl suberimidate) cross-linking within the thick fila- ment backbone of glycerinated rabbit psoas fibers. Yet the myosin heads in such cross-linked activated fibers appear to cycle through neighboring actin filaments, cleaving ATP at an undiminished rate (11, 12). Although other interpretations are possible, this finding suggests that release of S-2 from the thick filament surface in a normal bridge cycle may be an


In this paper, the displacement boundary value problem of a piezoelectric material plane with an elliptic hole is studied. As the permittivity of the medium in the hole is far less than that of the piezoelectric material, the electric induction of the medium is negligible. An exact solution is obtained. Its application to the inclusion problem has been given. The components of the stress tensor are discussed. ©2002 ASME


ABSTRACT Online learning when combined with mobile technology transforms the traditional classrooms from teacher-centered to student-centered classrooms. Despite the widespread use of mobile technology among students and educators today, limited researches have been conducted to study the effects of using mobile technology to enhance student–lecturer interactions. In addition, existing theories of technology acceptances, chiefly Information System Success Model (ISSM), Motivational Model (MM), Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and Cultural Dimension Theory (CDT) are widely recognized for their predictive power in determining adoption intentions. In this study, determinants from all five theories were unified and examined, namely system quality and information quality from ISSM, enjoyment from MM, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use from TAM, self-efficacy from SCT, and uncertainty avoidance from CDT as predictors of adoption intention in the context of predicting student–lecturer interactions. This empirical study was conducted using an online survey. Data collected from the samples (n = 328) were analyzed using PLS-SEM. Results obtained exhibited adequate explanatory power, where information quality, system quality, enjoyment, and uncertainty avoidance significantly predict adoption intention, while perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and self-efficacy were insignificant. Secondly, each theory was independently analyzed, and the predictive power and relevance of ISSM, MM, TAM, and UDT confirmed the importance and relevance of these theories. Results obtained provided a comprehensive understanding of the factors that significantly affect students' intentions to use mobile technology to interact with their lecturers on academic matters. The discussions and implications of this study are crucial for researchers and practitioners of educational technologies in higher education.


Lower breastfeeding is a service for infant growth, if exclusive breastfeeding will not, infants will be more susceptible and greater for growth and stamina of children where the prevalence of post partum mothers who produce milk is not fluent that is equal to 60% . This study aims to determine the relationship of data with the smooth production of mother's milk post partum in the Working Area of Peusangan Selatan Public Health Center of Bireuen Regency of Aceh Province. This type of research is an observational analytic study using cross sectional design. The population of this study is all post partum mothers, in Peusangan Selatan Public Health Center report conducted in February-October 2017. The sample in this research is open 69 people. The data were analyzed by univariate to see the variables and bivariate with chi-square test to see the relation between the variables. Based on the result of the research to measure the relationship with the mother's milk production with p value = 0,019 PR = 2,438 (95% CI 1,261-4,711) . It was concluded that mothers with good facilities had an opportunity of 2,438 times to have breast milk production working with mothers with poor breastfeeding frequency.


In Alzheimer´s Disesase (AD) alterations of the corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) system and a hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis have been reported. To shed light on the involvement of CRH and its receptor CRH-R1 in AD related processes in vivo, mice overexpressing amyloid precursor protein (APP) (arcAs, Knobloch et al. 2007) were bred to i) conventional CRH-R1 knockout and ii) conditional CRH overexpressing mice. Four different genotypes were obtained from either line and subjected to comprehensive phenotyping involving behavioral analyses, electrophysiology, neuropathology and APP processing. Our results provide evidence for a role of the CRH system and HPA axis in AD pathogenesis. In particular, we could show that CRH-R1 deficiency defers the onset and progression of the disease while overexpression of the ligand CRH has rather detrimental effects on the disease.


A generalization of the extended-least-squares algorithms for the case of correlated discrepant data is given. The expressions of the linear, unbiased, minimum-variance estimators (LUMVE) derived before are reformulated. A posteriori estimates of the variance taking into account the inconsistency of all of the experimental data have the same form as for the case of non-correlated data. These estimates extend the previous improvement on the "traditional" Birge-ratio procedures to the case of correlated input data.<<ETX>>


In Fig. 1, the line and data points for Cluster 1 are missing. Please see a complete, correct version of Fig. 1 below. open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.


In consanguineous marriage, the genetic and medical disorders are increased in the offspring with passage of time. It is a big challenge for our society to get complete information of their prevalence, their risk factors and to control these disorders. The present survey was conducted during January-March 2012 in different areas of the Bajaur Agency, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan including Alijan, Anatkali, Chamerkand, Gandaw, Loisam, Manudera, Nawagai, Nawaikali, Raghagan and Sadiqabad where they are dominant. Data were collected from 123 consanguineous married couples through questionnaire comprised of information about complete history and risk factors of the medical and genetic disorders. During cousin marriages, the couples' parents were married to their 1 st cousin 52% while married to their 2 nd cousin 49%. The couples participated themselves were 1 st cousin 87% while 2 nd cousin 13%. They were obese 34%, weak 48%, and normal 18% while age was minimum 14 and maximum 30 years, however, maximum marriages were observed at the age of 20 year. The couples having genetic disorders like anemia, obesity and thalassemia were 20, 23 and 20%, respectively; however, non-genetic disorders, bone diseases, depressive illness and respiratory diseases were 21, 20 and 25 %, respectively. Such communities may require comprehensive genetic education and premarital genetic counseling programs for awareness and education


The "Arabesque" installation by P. J. Holden was presented as a contemporary artwork at the Digital Arts Festival in Athens at "Megaron" Hall in 2018 and ever since has had a major artistic and social impact all over the word. For its exhibition needs, it was necessary that a series of decisions be made, all of which were relative to the factor of "functionality". For the work is not a simple sculpture but a moving artwork, with an environmental, aesthetic and also aural impact on the viewer. Corresponding to the principles of acoustic ecology and urban sounds, the work does not only explore the relationship between man and his environment (and consequently nature and urban culture) through its sound, but also directly or indirectly influences the consciousness and the way the visitors think, see, hear and interpret. In particular, the installation is made up of multi-part replicas of the artist's body. Those are robotically dancing through air-pressure systems in the rythme of Johann Strauss's "Blue Danube". Preventive conservation does not seem to have the greatest meaning in the case of preservation, as sound, motion and light are digitally controlled. The same applies for the acoustic climate (db) of noise produced by the project's operating equipment (levers, compressed air tubes, loudspeakers) the optical climate, the hydraulic system, etc. Unlike recordings and video recordings (of Echo/lightscapes), Arabesque is not just a computer projection to be installed. It raises multiple issues regarding the authenticity of the artwork, the multiple versions of artworks, the deterioration and restoration of matter, and the competence of the group of scientists that care on behalf of the artist so as to install it.


The purpose of this paper is to explore inter-organizational interactions that might result in prolonged decoupling between central governments' ideas and local governments' practices during the reform of an institutional field (i.e. healthcare).,The paper is based on a qualitative study of the centrally directed reform of the healthcare financing system in Ukraine and focusses on practices and reform ideas from 1991 to 2016.,The findings show that, for more than 25 years, local governments, as providers of healthcare services, faced two major problems associated with drawbacks of the healthcare financial system: line-item budgeting and fragmentation of healthcare funds. Over 25 years, central government's attempts to reform the healthcare financing system did not comprehensively or systematically address the stated problems. The reformers' ideas seemed to focus on creating reform agendas and issuing new laws, instead of paying attention to challenges in local practices.,This article has two main points that are relevant for practitioners. First, it calls for greater involvement from local actors during all stages of public sector reforms, in order to ensure the relevance of developed reform strategies. Second, it points to potential challenges that central governments may face when conducting healthcare financing system reforms in transitional economies.,The paper's contribution is twofold: it outlines reasons for problematic implementation of healthcare financing system reform in Ukraine and explains them through a "reverse decoupling" concept.


In this paper, we deal with a generalization $\Gamma(\Omega,q)$ of the bipartite graphs $D(k,q)$ proposed by Lazebnik and Ustimenko, where $\Omega$ is a set of binary sequences that are adopted to index the entries of the vertices. A few sufficient conditions on $\Omega$ for $\Gamma(\Omega,q)$ to admit a variety of automorphisms are proposed. A sufficient condition for $\Gamma(\Omega,q)$ to be edge-transitive is proposed further. A lower bound of the number of the connected components of $\Gamma(\Omega,q)$ is given by showing some invariants for the components. For $\Gamma(\Omega,q)$, paths and cycles which contain vertices of some specified form are investigated in details. Some lower bounds for the girth of $\Gamma(\Omega,q)$ are then shown. In particular, one can give very simple conditions on the index set $\Omega$ so as to assure the generalized graphs $\Gamma(\Omega,q)$ to be a family of graphs with large girth.


Depression is seen as the most common cause of disability, and is associated with chronic stress and neuroinflammation. The signaling pathway for the synthesis of nitric oxide plays a crucial role in the neurobiology of mild stress and depression.


THIS DISCUSSION, WHICH WAS PRESENTED IN BERNE AT THE SECOND EUROPEAN SYMPOSIUM ON CONCRETE ROADS, IN 1973 BUT WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE PROCEEDINGS, DEALS WITH A HARD SYNTHETIC MATERIAL (THE "LONSICAR") COMPRISING SILICIUM CARBIDE AND ELECTROCORINDUM, THAT MARKEDLY IMPROVES THE ADHESION AND RESISTANCE TO WEAR OF SURFACINGS. THIS TEXT IS A TRANSLATION INTO FRENCH (LCPC 76T/14) FROM GERMAN.


The incidence of pregnancy loss due to embryonic mortality in cattle is one of the major causes of reproductive failure. The early embryonic loss can be due to problems with the embryo itself, the uterine environment, or interactions between the embryo and the uterus. So, this study was conducted to investigate the gene expression profile of bovine embryo biopsies produced in vivo and in vitro that resulted in different pregnancy outcomes. For this, biopsies representing 30 to 40% of the intact in vitro and in vivo blastocysts were taken, and 60 to 70% part was allowed to re-expand prior to transfer to recipients. Based on the pregnancy outcome after transfer, biopsies (n = 10 per pool) were grouped into 3 distinct phenotypes: those that resulted in no pregnancy, those that resulted in resorption, and those that resulted in successful pregnancy and subsequent calf delivery. A bovine cDNA microarray with 2000 clones was used to analyze the gene expression profiles of 3 replicates from each embryo biopsy group. Array data analysis revealed a total of 50 and 52 genes to be differentially expressed between biopsies derived from in vivo blastocysts that resulted in no pregnancy v. calf delivery and resorption v. calf delivery, respectively. Similarly, a total of 52 and 58 transcripts were differentially expressed between biopsies derived from in vitro-produced blastocysts that resulted in no pregnancy v. calf delivery and resorption v. calf delivery, respectively. Quantitative real-time PCR has confirmed the expression profile of 6 selected candidate genes. A distinct set of genes were found to be commonly expressed between in vitro- and in vivo-derived blastocyst biopsies, which ended up with the same pregnancy outcome. Biopsies, which ended up with calf delivery, were found to be enriched with transcripts involved in nucleosome assembly (KRT8), translation (RPLPO), electron transport (COX-2), and placenta specific (PLAC8). On the other hand, transcripts regulating immune response (TNFa), response to stress (HSPD1), and cell adhesion (CD9) were up-regulated in embryos that resulted in no pregnancy or resorption. Differences in transcript abundance of some genes have been seen between biopsies derived from in vitro and in vivo blastocysts. Biopsies from in vivo-derived blastocysts and that ended up with resorption were found to be enriched with transcripts regulating calcium-binding protein (S100A10, S100A14). Transcription factor-related transcripts (CDX2, HOXB7) were up-regulated in vitro-derived blastocyst biopsies that resulted in no pregnancy. In conclusion, the results evidenced that embryos derived from either in vitro or in vivo have more similarities than differences in their transcript abundance with respect to the ability in initiating pregnancy.


There is often a trade-off between performance and latency in streaming automatic speech recognition (ASR). Traditional methods such as look-ahead and chunk-based methods, usually require information from future frames to advance recognition accuracy, which incurs inevitable latency even if the computation is fast enough. A causal model that computes without any future frames can avoid this latency, but its performance is significantly worse than traditional methods. In this paper, we propose corresponding revision strategies to improve the causal model. Firstly, we introduce a real-time encoder states revision strategy to modify previous states. Encoder forward computation starts once the data is received and revises the previous encoder states after several frames, which is no need to wait for any right context. Furthermore, a CTC spike position alignment decoding algorithm is designed to reduce time costs brought by the revision strategy. Experiments are all conducted on Librispeech datasets. Fine-tuning on the CTC-based wav2vec2.0 model, our best method can achieve 3.7/9.2 WERs on test-clean/other sets, which is also competitive with the chunk-based methods and the knowledge distillation methods.


This study investigated observers' emotional responses to facial expressions during song and speech. Silent presentations of facial expressions from neutral, happy, and sad song and speech productions were divided into three regions: prior to vocal onset, during vocal production, and following vocal offset. Observers were highly accurate and confident at identifying emotion during and following vocal production, but were less accurate for the region prior to vocal onset. Emotionally neutral presentations were identified less accurately and confidently than happy and sad presentations in all regions. Producers are known to exhibit decreased facial movement prior to vocal onset and for emotionally neutral utterances. These findings indicate that facial expressions may be important for the perception of emotion during vocal communication.


One aim of the Swedish disability reform of the early nineties is to guarantee that it shall not matter where you live. But still there is substantial local variation indicating a problem of spatial inequity. This case study further explores that problem. Politicians, civil servants and representatives of disability organizations in three different types of municipalities have been interviewed about performance and attitudes towards the reform. Results show that passivity corresponds with "shame" (for doing so little) or "apathy", whereas activity correlates to a "soul-of-fire-attitude". In the final remarks policy implications were discussed. Most probably more rights legislation will be necessary to strengthen accessibility to disability support and to safeguard equal treatment and the democratic goal to enhance individual freedom of choice. Skam, likgiltighet och eldsjälar


FIELD: multi-layer film designed for packing of stacked modules. SUBSTANCE: the method consists in coextrusion of polyethylene multi-layer film by means of a group of extruders. The multi-layer material coming out of the expanding head is gathered on the cooling roller cooled by water at a temperature of 10 and 25C. Then, the film coming off the first cooling roller is fed to the second cooling roller cooled by water maintained at a temperature of hot below the temperature of the first roller. The peripheral velocity or rotational speed of the second roller exceeds the speed of the first roller by 10 to 40%. By controlling the cooling and extension conditions very hard and extensible films at the same time are obtained, they have the value of the yield point within 15 to 80 H/sq.mm, and critical elongation within 50 to 500%. EFFECT: improved quality. 15 cl, 2 tbl


. In this work, using the concept of natural density, we introduce the ( p,q )-analogue of the Stancu-beta operators of rough λ -statistically ρ -Cauchy convergence on triple sequence spaces. We define the set of Bernstein Stancu beta opeators of rough statistical limit points of a triple sequence spaces and obtain to λ -statistical convergence criteria associated with this set. Also, we examine the relations between the set of Bernstein-Stancu beta operators of rough λ -statistically ρ -Cauchy convergence of triple sequences.


Consideration of maintenance scheduling of generating units is an important aspect in the development of an optimum generation system expansion plan. This consideration will become even more important as the move towards large fossil and nuclear units continues. Maintenance scheduling should permit the required work to be accomplished but not create excessive risk to the system. The problem can therefore be considered in terms of levelizing the system risk throughout the year and this approach is designed as the risk levelization technique. Another way of considering the problem of generating unit maintenance scheduling is to levelize the amount of reserve throughout the year. This technique therefore, is, designated as the reserve-levelizing approach. Both techniques are used in this paper and a comparison between them is presented. The effect on maintenance scheduling of changing the system hourly peak demands and the availability of generating units have been studied and are also presented. These studies are based on the Gram Charlier series of Edgeworth Form.


This paper describes newly developed ultrasound ring array probes. In one probe, eight transducers were aligned circularly and turned toward the central axis of the probe. The other one has an ultrasound transducer with convex surface at the center of the probe and eight transducers was set to surround the transmitter and used as receivers. Using these probes, we performed experiments to reconstruct a 3D image of a measurement object. The experimental results indicated these probes has the availability for high resolution imaging.


Bacground: We aimed to investigate possible effects of aqueous curcuma longa extract on adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity in cancerous and noncancerous human gastric and colon tissues in order to obtain information about anti cancer mechanism of curcuma longa. Methods: Cancerous and noncancerous human gastric and colon tissues were used in the studies. The extracts were prepared in distilled water. Before and after treatment with the extracts, ADA activities in the tissue homogenates were measured. Results: ADA activity was found to be higher in gastric tissue compared with colon tissue, but no differences were found between ADA activities of cancerous and noncancerous tissues. In the plant extract studies, it was found that curcuma extract significantly inhibited ADA activity both in cancerous and noncancerous gastric and colon tissues. Conclusion: Our results suggest that aqueous extract from curcuma longa inhibits ADA activities in both gastric and colon tissues significantly. It is suggested that in addition to other proposed mechanisms, accumulated adenosine due to the inhibition of ADA enzyme might also play part in the anticancer properties of curcuma longa.


The Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) ('PPSA') changes fundamentally the law relating to security interests in personal property in Australia. But it does so in ways that are familiar. More precisely, although the PPSA sets up a system for regulating security interests that is novel, it is a system that rests on logics that are instantly recognisable. It is a modernist system built around a principle of bureaucratic centralism. Prior legal arrangements were fragmented, costly and created uncertainty around competing claims of secured creditors. The solution was to create a national Personal Property Securities Register ('PPS Register') that will provide a single, reliable source of information. If a secured party fails to register, its interest is 'unperfected' and '[a] buyer ... of personal property, for value, takes the personal property free of an unperfected security interest in the property'. The system is thereby designed to allow third parties to take the information recorded on the PPS Register at face value: if no interest has been recorded, the person consulting the Register is freed from the need to conduct further investigation. In this respect the PPSA has close parallels with how land registration systems operate: purchasers are entitled to rely on the information recorded on the land register and are hence freed from much of the burden of having to conduct time-consuming and expensive enquiries as to rights that are not recorded on the register. Other parallels are not difficult to find. At times the PPSA allows security interests to be enforced against third parties even though they are not recorded on the PPS Register: security interests can also be perfected through possession, such that there is no need, for example, for pawn shops to register an interest in goods that have been pledged to them. In a similar vein, land registration systems also invariably recognise exceptions to the requirement of registration built around the impracticality of requiring registration of, say, short leases or certain types of easement.


This application brief demonstrates that smaller configuration, high efficiency solid-core CORTECS Phenyl 2.7 μ m Columns can be used to modernize methods that use larger, 5 μ m HPLC columns. Comparable chromatographic selectivity and enhanced resolution was achieved with these columns to meet the criteria for an official USP monograph.


Wind power is an important clean energy which is of great significance to human beings. However, due to the randomness and volatility of wind power, its integration will bring many uncertainties to the power system. If the wind power planning can not be coordinated, the wind power may not fully be sent out and absorbed. A joint optimization model of wind power and thermal power can stabilize wind power fluctuations and improve the reliability of grid connected with wind power. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is used to optimize the transmission line capacity and pursuit of the greatest social benefits. This paper use the MATLAB software to carry on the simulation. The particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to solve the optimization model of combination of wind power and thermal power. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is verified by comparing the social benefits of different transmission lines.


Objectives: The purpose of this study was to elicit beliefs and experiences on the value of a screening program for mental illness in UK military personnel. Method: Three months after returning from Afghanistan 21 Army personnel participated in a qualitative study about mental health screening. One to one interviews were conducted and recorded. Data-driven thematic analysis was used. Researchers identified master themes represented by extracts of text from the 21 complete transcripts. Results: Participants made positive remarks on the advantages of screening, several barriers to seeking help were noted, such as: unwillingness to receive advice, a wish to deal with any problems themselves and a belief that military personnel should be strong enough to cope with any difficulties. Participants believed that overcoming barriers to participating in screening and seeking help would be best achieved by making screening compulsory. Conclusions: Although respondents were positive about a screening program for mental illness, the barriers to seeking help for mental illness appear deep rooted and reinforced by the value ascribed to hardiness.


Modern CAD systems offer many powerful functions to handle parts and assemble them. However, these functions often mask problems that only occur on the final production stage (for example, positioning difficulties for two parts before fixing). The ESKUA project aims to solve this issue by providing a tangible way to test an assembling task, as soon as possible in the design process. In this Tangible User Interface (TUI) based system, each CAD part is associated to a real world object, called interactor. Each action performed with these interactors is captured by a camera, and then visualized in the CAD software. From a usability point of view, it is very important to provide an appropriate interactor family. This paper deals with a design methodology for such a set. First, we show how an object can be characterized in the assembling context, regarding a theoretical definition of assembling task. Then, we detail how our methodology gathers together parts that share the same value for a given assembling criterion, and how it builds interactors from this analysis, as abstractions of each subset properties. Finally, we validate the proposed approach with an experimental use to find out an interactors set for mechanical parts assembling.