Service delivery platform (SDP) is a platform which enables the efficient creation, deployment, execution, orchestration and management of services and it can integrate legacy systems easily and flexibly. The next generation of SDP (NGSDP) will be constructed based on service oriented architecture (SOA), and can be integrated with the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS). Besides, NGSDP will be to bridge telecom networks with Web 2.0. No doubt that NGSDP will lead a new era for multimedia services creation and delivery. At the same time, many new concepts are introduced to the development of NGSDP. One of the most enlightening is the concept of cognitive functions. This paper proposes a new intelligent and cognitive SDP model which is a SDP model integrated with the concept of cognitive networks. The new model will help SDP turns to an autonomous platform without unnecessary manual interventions.


In Milan the debate about reconstruction after the Second World War, though influenced by local conditions, reflected most of the arguments and problems that were discussed all over Italy at the time. The protection and restoration of historic heritage was virtually limited to the most important monuments and works of art, whereas in Milan the need to preserve the town center and ancient quarters was not yet widely understood, due both to the lack of effective rules and regulations and to the lack of interdisciplinary dialogue between planners, architects and restoration specialists.


This work answers the following questions: Is the conditional suspension of the procedure an effective response to violations of violence against women and members of the family? Can the conditional suspension of the sentence be an effective solution to the aforementioned type of crime? In order to answer these questions in the first chapter an approximation is made to what is the ordinary criminal process, its stages and duration expressed in maximum and average times. This in order to demonstrate how extensive and tedious is the achievementof criminal procedure. Within the second chapter, alternative procedural outputs are studied from a broad perspective, with a focus on the importance of their application within the penal system, and specifically on the violations of violence against women and members of the family nucleus. In the third chapter, he responds directly to the essence of the conflict within the crimes presented in this essay, where the conditional suspension of the procedure and punishment is contextualized as alternative procedural solutions that provide a solution according to the conflict.


during and after treatment of the patients. As models, parallel analyses of skin samples from animals are also carried out. This analysis provides clues as to which molecules are active and which are inactive in healthy and diseased skin cells, respectively ( Figure 3 ) and allows various molecules to be identified either as potential targets for drugs, or even as potential active drugs themselves. Comprehensive bioinfor-matic analyses will be used to evaluate the molecular pathology and drugability of the identified


In this paper, we demonstrate a hydrostatic pressure sensor based on a liquid filled solid-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF). A single cladding hole of the PCF is selectively filled with the assistance of femtosecond laser micromachining. The filled PCF presents several loss dips in the transmission spectrum due to the resonant couplings from the core mode to the LP11 liquid modes. Pressure measurement is performed by monitoring the wavelength shift of the dips. The pressure sensitivities are -0.452 and -0.621nm/MPa for two of them, respectively.


This paper completes an argument that the problem of moral distress offers philosophical counselors an opportunity to do work that is both socially useful and philosophically interesting in its own right. A previous Philosophical Practice article answered the question, What's Philosophical About Moral Distress? by conceptualizing it as a phenomenon that arises within a moral worldview (Matchett 2018). The present paper investigates ways in which a philosophical counseling response to moral distress might differ from the strategies deployed by the nursing profession to date. Though they are often quite subtle, the presence of some differences opens the possibility that philosophical counseling might be more effective than those strategies; in addition to helping individual nurses feel better, this could strengthen the nursing profession's efforts to mitigate nursing shortages and enhance quality of patient care. Though case studies are necessary to support these claims, there are reasons to think they are warranted.


The in vivo reconstitution of phycocyanobilin with apophytochrome leads to photoreversible adducts in living yeast cells. Investigations with the rice phytochrome A phycocyanobilin adduct (PHYA*) and the tobacco phytochrome B phycocyanobilin adduct (PHYB*) show that the protein stability in yeast is independent of the form of the photoreceptor. After in vivo assembly and irradiation with red light, 25.6% of the far-red light-absorbing form of PHYB* exhibited dark reversion with a half-life time of approximately 20 min. Control experiments with PHYA* revealed no dark reversion. The data indicate that the molecular basis for this reaction is the formation of heterodimers between the red and the far-red light absorbing form of phytochrome. Electron microscopic in situ localizations and in vitro sequestering experiments showed that phytochrome A was able to sequester in yeast. On the electron microscopic level, the sequestered areas of phytochrome from etiolated plants and yeast are indistinguishable. The sequestering reaction in yeast is independent of the formation of the far-red light absorbing form of phytochrome. Therefore, we discuss a new model for this reaction in plants. Since it is unlikely that yeast cells contain elements that distinguish between phytochrome A and B, we conclude that sequestering and dark reversion reflect intrinsic properties of phytochrome.


Objective: To investigate the changes and implication of C-reaction protein(CRP) in acute coronary syndrome.Methods: The level of CRP were tested by immunoturbidimetry in 73 patients with acute coronary syndrome(ACS),and compared to that in 78 health people.Results: CRP level in patients with acute coronary syndrome(ACS) were significantly higher than that in health people(P0.01).Conclusion: The concentration of CRP,higher in patients with acute coronary syndrome,results in instability of atheromatous plaque and ACS.The elevation of CRP plays a role in the development of ACS and is a key marker in evaluating the risk of ACS.


At first, the paper summarizes the approach of density-based outliers mining and amends its some shortages, hence its performance is greatly improved. Then, the algorithm is applied to network intrusion detecting.


This short story follows a single copy of Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, inscribed by its author, Alfred C. Kinsey, from the year of its publication to the present day. The story's eight chronological vignettes each feature different characters whose lives interconnect through their contact with the book. Quotes from the original Kinsey Report, as read by the characters, are woven into the narrative. As the book passes through many hands across the decades, it affects public and private events that illuminate the many ways that the Kinsey Report influenced individual lives and American culture.


A method and apparatus are provided for manufacturing a packaged electronic device (200) which includes a carrier substrate (120) in which conductive interconnect paths (122) extend between first and second opposed surfaces, an integrated circuit die (125) affixed to the first surface of the carrier substrate for electrical connection to the plurality of conductive interconnect paths, and an array of conductors (110), such as BGA, LGA, PGA, C4 bump or flip chip conductors, affixed to the second surface of the carrier substrate for electrical connection to the plurality of conductive interconnect paths, where the array comprising a signal feed ball (112) and an array of shielding ground balls (111) surrounding the signal feed ball.


Interpolation has been successfully applied in formal methods for model checking and test-case generation for sequential programs. Security protocols, however, exhibit such idiosyncrasies that make them unsuitable to the direct application of interpolation. We address this problem and present an interpolation-based method for security protocol verification. Our method starts from a protocol specification and combines Craig interpolation, symbolic execution and the standard Dolev-Yao intruder model to search for possible attacks on the protocol. Interpolants are generated as a response to search failure in order to prune possible useless traces and speed up the exploration. We illustrate our method by means of concrete examples and discuss the results obtained by using a prototype implementation.


According to the serious exsiting problems of Wuhan City Circle such as: low level of industrial structure,disproportion of industrial structure in the circle and phenomenon of industrial isomorphism,the paper deals with ways to optimize the industrial structure of Wuhan City Circle from the two aspects of leading industry and industrial distribution.


Inductive power transfer (IPT) technology offers a promising solution for electric vehicle (EV) charging. It permits an EV to charge its energy storage system without any physical connections using magnetic coupling between inductive coils. EV inductive charging is an exemplary option due to the related merits such as: automatic operation, safety in harsh climatic conditions, interoperability, and flexibility. There are three visions to realize wireless EV charging: (i) static, in which charging occurs while EV is in long-term parking; (ii) dynamic (in-motion), which happens when EV is moving at high speed; and (iii) quasi-dynamic, which can occur when EV is at transient stops or driving at low speed. This paper introduces an extensive review for IPT systems in dynamic EV charging. It offers the state-of-the-art of transmitter design, including magnetic structure and supply arrangement. It explores and summarizes various types of compensation networks, power converters, and control techniques. In addition, the paper introduces the state-of-the-art of research and development activities that have been conducted for dynamic EV inductive charging systems, including challenges associated with the technology and opportunities to tackle these challenges. This study offers an exclusive reference to researchers and engineers who are interested in learning about the technology and highlights open questions to be addressed.


Neutron coherent inelastic scattering measurements have been made of the phonon dispersion relation of uranium nitride both above and below the Neel temperature T/sub N/ = 50 K. Within the precision of the measurements, about 1% in frequency and 10% in line width and in scattered neutron intensity, no significant changes in these phonon properties were observed as a function of temperature other than those arising from population factor changes and a small stiffening of the lattice as the temperature decreases. At 4.2 K, two acoustic and two optic branches have been determined for each of the (001), (110) and (111) directions. The optic mode measurements revealed (a) a 20% variation in frequency across the Brillouin zone and (b) an interesting disposition of the LO and TO modes, such that nu/sub LO/ > nu/sub TO/ along (001) and (110), while the reverse is true along the (111) directions. Within the experimental resolution, the LO and TO modes are degenerate near q = 0. We have been unable to obtain any satisfactory description of these results on the basis of conventional theoretical treatments (e.g. rigid-ion or shell models). Other possible interpretations of the results are discussed.


The aim of this study was to determine if there is cerebral cortical hemispheral asymmetry in human epileptogenesis. We studied 75 epilepsy patients using electroencephalograms, neuroimaging, ictal semiology and physical examination to determine if epilepsy originates more frequently from the left or the right hemisphere. We considered epilepsy to be definitely-lateralized if one or more of these was abnormal unilaterally and there were no contradictory findings. Twenty-seven of the patients had lateralized epilepsy: 20 from the left hemisphere and seven from the right hemisphere (P< 0.05). These findings from our hospital-based ambulatory patient population suggest that the left hemisphere is more epileptogenic than the right. Further study of lateralization of epileptogenesis in a community population-based sample of incident new-onset cases seems warranted.


A statistical analysis has been performed on data of histamine content in fish products during the 1990-1993 period. Histamine was determined by a published HPLC method. The results have been discussed considering the implications of histamine toxic effects for public health and the legal regulation in Italy. The influence of fish species on the formation of toxin was studied. Anchovy was found to be the species more subject to contamination


The invention relates to a locking device (10) for locking and / or unlocking a functionally essential component (11) of a vehicle comprising a housing (12), which is used in particular for fastening the locking device (10) to the functionally significant component (11), and a movable blocking member (15) which can assume at least two positions, namely a locking position (Ia), in which the locking member (15) out protruding from the housing (12) through an opening (13) and in an operative connection with the functionally essential component (11) stands, and an unlocking position in which the locking member (15) in any operative connection with the functionally essential component (11), and an arresting part (18) which in a locking position (IIIa), the locking member (15) in the locking position (Ia) locked when the locking device (10) is opened without authorization. For this purpose the invention provides that the arresting part (18) in the arresting position (IIIa) is held positively.


In the power system, distribution is an important part, which is an important link between users and power supply departments. The economic, safe and stable operation of the distribution network plays a very important role in the entire power system, and effective inspection is the most basic and important task to ensure the safety and stability of the distribution system, so as to grasp the operation of distribution equipment and possible threats in real time. Aiming at the problems of the traditional power distribution patrol inspection personnel not being in place in time, often using paper records, and low efficiency, combined with the characteristics and advantages of the power distribution patrol inspection system itself, and fully considering the industry standards and specifications, a semantic segmentation based inspection record ontology model for low-voltage equipment in the power distribution Internet of Things is proposed. The experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively process the inspection record text, and improve the intelligent level of electrical equipment management and equipment status evaluation.


The invention relates to a controller for an internal combustion engine, wherein a thermistor (59) is arranged near the power transistor (58) of an electronic control unit (64). The detection of the thermistor (59) depends on the temperature of the engine (10) in a driving state. The temperature of the engine (10) is estimated based on the temperature detected by the thermistor (59). The higher the detected temperature, the higher the temperature of the engine (10). Based on the estimated temperature of the engine, a fuel injector (30) is operated to perform the fuel injection control.


With the rapid growth of the global economy, China's economy is also rapid development, and the demand for crude oil in various countries is geometric multiple growth, domestic demand far exceeds the progress of domestic mining. The security of the domestic economy will suffer as crude oil prices rise. The increase of mining rate should be strengthened on the domestic baseline, using physical, biological and chemical technology support, three mining. The recovery of crude oil was increased to 80.0%-85.0% with high-dose polymer and surfactant.


For the past few years, PIACT has been helping to develop culturally appropriate print materials to explain correct contraceptive use to illiterate and semiliterate audiences in eight Asian and Latin American countries. Our experience has shown that this understanding is most effectively and economically acquired through the use of the print medium in conjunction with personalized instruction in individual or small group settings. PIACT has developed its own methodology for the production of non-verbal instructional print materials. This methodology is based on working with, and learning from, the target audience at each stage of the materials' design and development process.


Generalized hypersubstitutions are mappings from the set of all fundamental operations into the set of all terms of the same language do not necessarily preserve the arities. In this paper we prove that the group of all generalized clone automorphisms of an algebra A is isomorphic to a certain group of generalized hypersubstitutions supposed the variety V (A) generated by A is strongly solid. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: 20M05, 20M99, 20N02.


This paper discussed the differences between domestication and alienation in translation,the dispute of scholars on domestication and alienation in translation and the application of domes tication and alienation in translation.It suggests that domestication and alienation play different roles in target language culture.In translation,appropriate translation methods should be chosen according to different purposes and different styles.


In Einstein-Maxwell theory, magnetic flux lines are ''expelled'' from a black hole as extremality is approached, in the sense that the component of the field strength normal to the horizon goes to zero. Thus, extremal black holes are found to exhibit the sort of ''Meissner effect'' which is characteristic of superconducting media. We review some of the evidence for this effect and present new evidence for it using recently found black hole solutions in string theory and Kaluza-Klein theory. We also present some new solutions, which arise naturally in string theory, which are non-superconducting extremal black holes. We present a nice geometrical interpretation of these effects derived by looking carefully at the higher dimensional configurations from which the lower dimensional black hole solutions are obtained. We show that other extremal solitonic objects in string theory ~such as p-branes! can also display superconducting properties. In particular, we argue that the relativistic London equation will hold on the world volume of ''light'' superconducting p-branes ~which are embedded in flat space !, and that minimally coupled zero modes will propagate in the adS factor of the near-horizon geometries of ''heavy,'' or gravitating, superconducting p-branes. @S0556-2821~98!09518-6#


In order to support the International Space Station missions of the European Space Agency Manned Space & Microgravity a set of communications services/systems has been developed. Particularly the Video Distribution Service supports both the internal video distribution at Columbus Control Centre and the video distribution between facilities located in Europe, America (NASA) and Russia (ROSCOSMOS). This system was designed and developed in 2002-2003. At this time the broadcast industry was mainly using SD/analogue technology. It was the beginning of live streaming over IP. Today the video standard is HD/Digital. Almost all broadcasters are using IP as transmission media. New technology means new technical challenges. The video system was designed to support real time space-operations, simulations and public relation events. The user needs associated to these kind of activities are slightly different, and don't always fit with the needs of the industry. The new system must integrate the new operational wishes of the different operational teams. The standards inside the broadcast industry are still changing a lot. The industry is offering new codecs, higher video-resolution, and 3D video technology is emerging. The video capabilities inside the ISS are also evolving and will continue to evolve. The new system needs therefore to be easily maintainable and updateable in order to follow both kinds of changes (industry and ISS operations). The deployment of the new system must minimize the impact on on-going operations and minimize the costs. The challenges of updating the Columbus Video Distribution System to HD/Digital (technical, operational, maintenance and deployment) during running operations will be presented in this paper.


Besides the atmospheric forcing such as solar radiation input and precipitation, the heterogeneity of the surface cover also plays an important role, especially in the distribution characteristics of the latent heat flux (LE). In this study, scaling issues are discussed based on an analytical hydrological model that describes the transpiration and diffusion processes of soil water. The solution of this analytical model is composed of a transient part that depends primarily on initial conditions and a steady part that depends on the boundary conditions. To know how sensitive the different averaging ap- proaches are to the initial conditions, three initial profiles are chosen that cover the prevailing soil moisture regimes. After analyzing its solution, the study shows that 1) upon reaching the steady state, directly taking an average of soil properties will cause systematic overestimation in the calculation of area- averaged LE. For an initially very dry condition, averaging of a sandy soil and a clay soil can cause a percentage error as large as 40%. 2) For vegetation


The paper examines the problem of improving the efficiency of public administration in Russia. The urgency of raising the effectiveness of modern public administration in Russia is caused by a number of reasons. First, the relevance of the problem under consideration is determined by the worldwide trend of increasing the role of the state in the modern era. Secondly, inefficiency of the existing model of public administration: the use of outdated principles, methods and technologies of governance in the system of public authorities. Thirdly, there is no correspondence of state management to internal and external challenges. Fourth, the problem of the public administration effectiveness in Russia is exacerbated by the use of sanctions measures against the country. Fifth, assessment of management efficiency allows societyy to determine the quality of the activities of state institutions and the state apparatus to evaluate the results of its own activities. The purpose of the study is to consider the problem of improving the efficiency of public administration in Russia. Achieving this goal requires revealing the main problems and tasks for improving and reforming the state administration of Russia. As a methodological base of the research, the work includes the following approaches and methods: systemic and structural-functional approaches, sociological, dialectical and comparative methods, as well as analysis of conditions and factors affecting public administration in modern Russia. As a result of the research, we came to the following conclusions: 1. An inefficient public administration model contributes to stagnation and a permanent crisis in the development of society and the state. 2. The ineffectiveness of public administration does not contribute to the growth of Russia's competitiveness in the world. 3. The competitiveness of Russian society and, first of all, the economy of the country is impossible without a corresponding competitive state policy. Contemporary competition policy in Russia is being reduced mainly to antitrust policy, the competition development strategy does not receive due attention from the authorities. 4. A modern effective model of public administration should rely not only on basic values and management principles, but also take into account the realities of the information society that is emerging in Russia, and the formation of a knowledge society. 5.Overcoming the stagnation and social withdrawal of the administrative apparatus by involving the public in the work of state administration bodies. The relationship between the Russian state and civil society built on a hierarchical principle needs to be transformed into a networked relationship with conversion from trusteeship to partnerships.


Over the past years, an increasing amount of techniques and methods for control and measure the polarization state of the THz electric field has been developed [1], [2]. These efforts were mostly motivated by the growing number of applications in imaging and materials characterization for security implementations. The systems found in the literature are mainly based on classical THz time domain spectrometer (THz-TDS) with modifications in their setting up. Some solutions to control and detect the polarization state of the THz signal are achieved using metamaterials [2], two laser pumping [3], or electro-optic modulator. These methods present the disadvantage of using physical devices along the THz path or moving parts. These techniques are complex and produce experimental errors.


quite comprehensive discussion of industrial functioning and corporate change that speaks to readers with academic and more applied interests alike. As these two chapters demonstrate, the range of topics covered in this volume is broad. Yet skillful editing ensures that the coverage remains focused and instructive and that the volume is quite readable throughout. This book raises many interesting questions, takes an innovative approach to answering the questions, and overall is well executed. While the book's coverage is broad, one potential weakness is that the editors and many of the contributors begin their discussions with overly grandiose promises about the more general implications of their findings. Invoking Bourdieu and Galbraith simultaneously in the introduction, for example, the editors pronounce that consumption 'has become one of the grand narratives of the second half of the twentieth century'. They then claim that their concern is 'with commercial cultures explored not as a single, unified entity but as the product of distinctive and often competing technologies and knowledges'. Such grand and rather imprecise claims are common throughout the text, and the use of inexact language is pervasive. But this is a minor flaw, really, and one that often seems to develop when scholars from multiple disciplines join forces. This volume ably provides a scholarly, and at the same time non-technical, treatment of an important and interesting set of issues. It is well worth a read.


The preprocessing method for multiwavelets coefficients and filter of multiwavelets is presented and analyzed in the paper, and a denoising algorithm of the noisy speech signal is given on the basis of the CL. Experiments show that the method removes noise efficiently and holds audition effect better.


From the Northern Tarim Uplift to the southern margin of the Kuche Depression,the northern Tarim region is one of the largest hydrocarbon enrichment regions in the Tarim Basin.The Cambrian platform sediment is 1 000 m thick,and is an important exploration layer.Due to big thickness,various types and wide distribution,dolomite in the region is favorable for reservoir generation and is the main exploration target.Based on lithologic,isotopic and REE analyses of well cores and outcrops of Cambrian dolomites in the northern Tarim region,combined with temperature studies of fluid inclusions,it has been concluded that the Cambrian dolomites in the northern Tarim region have various structural types,including mud microcrystal,fine-medium crystal and coarse crystal.Besides penecontemporaneous and burial dolomitization effects,they were also influenced by tectonic and hydrothermal dolomitization effects,which were controlled by fault-fracture,unconformity and thermal flow,usually resulting in the coexistence of saddle dolomite and multiple hydrothermal minerals.The tectonic and hydrothermal dolomitization effects were important for favorable dolomite reservoir generation.Controlled by cycles of tectonic and diagenesis evolutions,ancient uplifts in the northern Tarim region were eroded for several times.Angular unconformity took place between Cambrian dolomite and Meso-zoic,and strong weathering crust karst effect generated.Deep and big faults worked as pathways for deep fluid to flow into dolomite.The dolomite was transformed into complex high-quality reservoir of different origin.


A method for the determination of ascorbic acid in vegetables and fruits using differential pulse polarography has been developed. The extraction medium recommended is a mixture of oxalic acid (1%), trichloroacetic acid (2%) and sodium sulphate (1%), and simple filtration is used to remove the residue. An acetate buffer (2M) is recommended to keep the pH at 4.5. The polarograms were recorded using a modulation amplitude of 50mV, a scan rate of 2mVs−1, and a drop time of 1 s. The precision of the procedure was found to be 1.4% at the 1 mg litre−1 level of ascorbic acid. The calibration graph was linear in the range of 0–20 mg litre −1 of ascorbic acid with a slope of 0.48μA mg litre−1. Most common anions and cations did not interfere, however, Fe3+ and EDTA interfered, and Br− and I− seriously interfered with the determination. The method was applied to determine the ascorbic acid content of a number of vegetables and fruits using the standard-addition calibration.


A resonant technique for evaluating the equivalent circuit of reciprocal microstrip discontinuities is described. The complex Z parameters of a discontinuity are related to the change in resonant frequencies and Q factors of a microstrip ring it perturbs. As an example, measurements made on inductive posts are presented and compared with theoretical values.


The definition of integrated management systems is considered in the paper from the point of view of various authors. The purpose of the paper is to develop a method for determining the possibility of hiring a candidate based on knowledge of the likelihood of selection signs. To determine the possibility of hiring a candidate, a system of independent informative features was developed and the frequencies of their occurrence in the workers' questionnaires with positive or negative assessments of their work activity by the head were established. A distinguishing criterion is proposed and its threshold values are selected. A program that helps a personnel officer to make a decision on hiring a candidate is developed. Confidence probabilities for decisions are established.


The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of exercise on gene expression of cardiac calcium handling protein in diabetic rats,and to detect the molecular mechanism of the protective effect of exercise on heart. Methods: Four-month old Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three group randomly: sedentary control group( SC),sedentary diabetic group( SD) and exercise diabetic group( ED). The rats in ED group participated in 8 weeks training( 20 m / min,60min / day,grade 0°,5 times / week). The mRNA expressions of Ca2 +-ATPase( SERCA2),type 2 ryanodine receptors( RyR2),and phospholamban( PLB) were measured. Results: The mRNA expressions of SERCA2 and PLB in SD group increased while that of RyR2 decreased. After exercise,the mRNA expressions of SERCA2 and PLB in ED group decreased while that of RyR2 increased. Conclusion: Eight weeks endurance exercise reversed the gene expressions of calcium handling proteins of myocardial sarcoplastic reticulum in diabetic rats,which suggested that endurance training could prevent or therapy the diabetic cardimyopathy.


The objective: development of the best vaccination regimen against pneumococcal infection in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with consideration of changes in microbiological and clinical parameters.Subjects and Methods. 115 patients with COPD were randomized into 4 pneumococcal vaccination groups, they were examined and followed up for 4 years; 112 patients completed the study complying with the protocol. Detail medical history of all subjects was collected. To verify the diagnosis of COPD, all subjects underwent external respiratory function test and bronchodilator test (salbutamol, 400 μg) according to the standard method. The classic microbiological assessment was used in this study. The clinical effectiveness of vaccination was assessed. Statistical processing of the results was performed using StatPlus Pro 22.214.171.124 software (license number 2883).Results. Сonsecutive vaccination with pneumococcal conjugate and polysaccharide vaccines leads to decreased isolation rate of pneuniococcus from the sputum of CODP patients. The frequency of exacerbations, the need for antibiotic chemotherapy and hospitalizations also goes down.


This quasi–experimental research was designed to study the effectiveness of a dental healtheducation program applying self-efficacy theory on dental health behavior of Prathomsuksa 4 Studentsin Muang district, Nakhon Pathom Province. Two schools with similar features were selected by a randomsampling as the studied groups. The experimental group was 41 Prathomsuksa 4 students from WatBang Khaem School. The control group consisted of Prathomsuksa 4 students from Wat LadplakaoSchool. The experimental group received health education program applying self-efficacy theory ondental health behavior. The control group did not receive the researcher's health education program. Thedata were collected two times, i.e. before and after applying the health education program. The test,questionnaires, plaque record and the assessment of skill performance were used to collect the data.The data were analyzed by percentage, mean score, standard deviation, independent t-test, pairedsample t-test and ANCOVA methods. The results of this study were as follows: 1. After receiving the dental health education program applying self-efficacy theory ondental health behavior, the experimental group had better knowledge of dental health care than beforereceiving the dental health education program and better than the control group at .05 level. 2. After receiving the dental health education program applying self-efficacy theory ondental health behavior, there were no difference of self-efficacy of the oral health care before and afterapplying the program on the experimental group. It was found that after controlling the covariate, themean score of self-efficacy of the oral health care of the experimental group was not difference from thecontrol group. 3. After receiving the dental health education program applying self-efficacy theory ondental health behavior, there were no difference in perceived outcome expectation of dental health carebefore and after applying the program on the experimental and there were no difference in perceivedoutcome expectation of dental health care between the experimental group and the control group. 4. After receiving the dental health education program applying self-efficacy theory ondental health behavior, the experimental group had better tooth brushing skill than before receiving thedental health education program 5. After receiving the dental health education program applying self-efficacy theory ondental health behavior, the experimental group had better oral examination skill than before receiving thedental health education program and better than the control group at .05 level. 6. After receiving the dental health education program applying self-efficacy theory ondental health behavior, the experimental group did the correct way of brushing teeth better than beforereceiving the dental health education program. It was found that after controlling the covariate, the meanscore of the correct way of brushing teeth of the experimental group was not difference from the control group. 7. After receiving the dental health education program applying self-efficacy theory ondental health behavior, the experimental group had no difference in simply self dental examination thanbefore receiving the dental health education program. It was found that after controlling the covariate,the mean score of simply self dental examination of the experimental group was not difference from the controlgroup. 8. After receiving the dental health education program applying self-efficacy theory ondental health behavior, there were no difference in food consumption behavior for dental health beforeand after applying the program on the experimental group. There were no difference in food consumptionbehavior for dental health between the experimental group and the control group. 9. After receiving the dental health education program applying self-efficacy theory ondental health behavior, the experimental group had dental plaque less than before receiving the dentalhealth education program and less than the control group at .05 level.


Personal values have long been considered an important variable in understanding consumer purchasing behaviors. Although research on values has been performed in a wide range of social disciplines, this variable has never been operationalized in the service management ontext. In this paper we develop a scale that measures the personal values that are associated with buying a service: the Service Personal Values (SERPVAL) scale. Insights from an empirical study of 386 service users indicate that this scale is multi-dimensional. It presents four dimensions of service value to 1) living comfort, 2) peaceful life, 3) social recognition, and 4) social integration. Discussion centers on implications of this scale to theory and to managerial development of services strategies. Directions for future research in services management and personal values are also presented.


Purpose – This article seeks to discuss the role that line managers take up concerning human resource management issues among Greek firms and to propose ways for enhancing the synergistic relationship between human resource (HR) and line managers.Design/methodology/approach – It presents the trends of line management involvement in Greek firms, from 1993‐2003, based on the CRANET survey. The survey results are enhanced by qualitative data from focus groups.Findings – Findings show that during the past ten years there has been an increasing tendency for collaboration, with the main responsibility increasingly falling on the HR department. Moreover, the main obstacles to this collaboration are presented.Research limitations/implications – The main research limitation is the limited data that the CRANET questionnaire provides on the issue of HR – line management partnership. However, the focus groups enrich the survey data with qualitative results. Implications for practice derive from the qualitative result...


Escherichia coli responds to the accumulation of misfolded proteins by inducing the transcription of heat shock genes. EςE RNA polymerase controls one of the two heat shock regulons of E. coli. This regulon is activated upon accumulation of misfolded polypeptides in the double membrane envelope of E. coli. ςE (RpoE) is a member of the extracytoplasmic function subfamily of sigma factors. Here we asked how many genes are activated by EςE RNA polymerase and what is the identity of these genes. Using two independent genetic approaches, 20 E. coli promoters were identified which activate reporter gene transcription in a ςE-dependent manner. In all cases examined, a canonical ςE binding site could be revealed upon mapping transcriptional start sites. 10 identified promoters activated the transcription of previously identified genes with four genes acting directly on the folding of E. coli envelope proteins (dsbC, fkpA, skp, andsurA). The remaining promoters transcribed genes that are presumed to encode hitherto unknown extracytoplasmic functions and were named ecf (ecfA–ecfM). Two of these ecf genes were found to be essential for E. coli growth.


This paper presents a heuristic optimization model to restore the electrical distribution systems (EDS) after multiple faults due to natural disasters. The algorithm finds the switching sequence to energize as many healthy zones as possible after multiple simultaneous faults in an unbalanced distribution system. To improve the grid resiliency, utilities have to quickly clear the faults and restore power to the affected customers. The proposed algorithm also gives the order in which the faults have to be cleared depending on the disconnected load and the number of customers affected. Weights can be assigned based on priority to critical loads such as hospitals, emergency call centers, fire stations etc. At each step of the switching sequence, the distribution system operating constraints such as line flows, bus voltages have to be satisfied. OpenDSS is used to perform power flow and MATLAB for optimization. Studies on IEEE-123 bus system validate the algorithm proposed.


The traditional detection of minimum resolvable temperature difference (MRTD) is mostly under laboratory conditions, and the results are obtained by the tester's subjective interpretation. Because of its large and complex system Structure, it is very difficult to apply in the field on-line detection. In this paper a set of field on-line detection system of infrared thermal imager is designed, single blackbody control technology is adopted to simulate temperature difference of four bars target and environment, and a coaxial Cassegrain collimator is used to simulate infinity target, through this way volume and quality of the detecting equipment is effectively reduced. Instead of human eyes we use CCD to capture the thermal imager's imaging result, an effective filtering method which combine linear filter and nonlinear filter is adopted to reduce noise and enhance the captured image, then four bars target area is accurately extracted as the target area, to reduce noise a rectangular area which just contains four bars target is extracted as the background area. Using relationship between temperature difference of four bars target and environment and gray level difference in corresponding infrared image, the parameter MRTD of the infrared thermal imager can be calculated, the experiments show that the result is in good agreement with the result of the human eye observation. The detection system has a simple structure, small size, low cost, high level of automation, etc. It can realize the on-line automatic detection of MRTD under field conditions better.


Dear Editors, The COVID-19 pandemic still affects the global economy and health. The world still urgently needs alternative markers for COVID-19 diagnostics to avoid unnecessary reagent waste and the further overload of already burdened clinical laboratories. Monocyte distribution width (MDW), a morphological parameter reflecting the variability and heterogeneity of peripheral blood monocytes, is a quantitative morphological parameter of peripheral blood monocyte activation. Based on the Coulter principle and volume, conductivity, and scatter technology, a hematology analyzer can automatically and quickly provide the results of a complete blood count (CBC), including MDW. A recent meta-analysis from Lippi G et al. has raised concerns about the levels of MDW in COVID-19, however, the number of patients included in this study was too small to draw robust conclusions. More recently, there is an increasing body of literature reporting on MDW studies of COVID-19. The existing evidence needs to be reviewed systematically and impartially to draw an accurate conclusion about the levels and diagnostic performance of MDW in COVID-19. Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis to better analyze the roles of MDW in COVID-19. To our knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis to assess MDW diagnostic efficacy in COVID-19. Our study followed the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and CNKI databases were searched from inception to August 3, 2022. Eligible studies were searched by constructing relevant keywords (i.e., MDW and COVID-19) and their synonyms (Table S1, S2). Studies were only included if they reported MDW levels in COVID-19 patients and non-COVID-19 patients. Data collected from each study included sample size, country, study design, clinical setting, reference standard, MDW measurement method, follow-up time, patient characteristics (e.g., age and sex), MDW levels (mean and standard deviation [SD] or median and interquartile range [IQR]), true positive (TP), false positive (FP), true negative (TN), and false negative (FN). The risk of bias in retrospective studies and prospective observational studies was assessed using the Newcastle– Ottawa Scale (NOS). For the diagnostic study, the risk of bias was assessed by the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS-2) in RevMan 5.4. We analyzed MDW levels as continuous variables, and the effect estimates were presented as means and SD. The pooled mean difference (MD) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated for the continuous variables. For analysis purposes, the median and IQR of the MDW levels were converted to the mean and SD. In the same study, when the control group was selected from several groups, we combined the means and SDs into one on the website (http://www.obg.cuhk.edu.hk). Heterogeneity was evaluated by I and Cochran's Q test. I > 50% indicated heterogeneousness. Subsequently, a random-effect model was used to calculate pooled estimates of the MD in MDW. Instead, I < 50% indicated homogeneousness; subsequently, a fixed-effects model was used. In the Cochran's Q test, a P-value <0.10 indicated significant heterogeneity. Sensitivity analyses were conducted by removing each study sequentially to assess the contribution of individual studies to the final results. The risk of publication bias was visually assessed by funnel plot and Deeks' funnel plot. In addition, Egger's test and Deeks' funnel plot asymmetry test were conducted to quantitatively evaluate publication bias (significant at P < 0.05). Pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), and area under the curve (AUC) were calculated based on TP, FP, TN, and FN. Initially, a literature search obtained 86 studies. After 27 duplicates were removed, 59 studies were screened. Sixteen studies were evaluated in full after screening the titles and abstracts. Subsequently, 10 studies were excluded because they had no comparison group (n = 7), and no relevant outcomes were reported (n = 3). Therefore, six studies were included (Figure S1). A summary of the study's characteristics is provided in Tables S3, S4. Overall, 3587 samples were included. The six included studies were conducted in three countries (China, Spain, and Italy) in different settings (emergency department, pediatric emergency, intensive care unit, and inpatient). Four studies (Lin, Morales, Ognibene, and Zeng) provided data (TP, FP, TN, FN, and cutoff). Therefore, 4 studies with 1201 samples were included in the diagnostic meta-analysis. The NOS quality assessment and QUADAS-2 summary plot are presented in Table S3 and Figure S2. The result of the random-effect model showed that the MDW level in COVID-19 patients was significantly increased (MD = 4.51; 95% CI 2.97–6.06; P < 0.05). I = 92% and P was <0.05, indicating substantial heterogeneity (Figure 1). Moreover, the sensitivity analysis of the six studies was conducted by removing a single research method, and none of the studies greatly interfered with the results of the meta-analysis. No obvious publication bias was found in the funnel plot, which was symmetrical in shape (Figure S3A). In addition, Deeks' funnel plot (P = 0.63, Figure S3B) and Egger's test (t = 1.47, P = 0.135) also showed no significant publication bias. Subgroup analysis was stratified by country (Figure 2A) and region (Figure 2B). The results of the Spanish group (I = 0.0%, P > 0.05) suggested no significant heterogeneity between the studies. The Received: 25 November 2022 Accepted: 12 March 2023


In order to study the response of bread wheat genotypes to drought stress, an experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications under rainfed and irrigated conditions during the growing season 2012-2013. In this study, drought tolerance indices including stress tolerance index (STI), geometric mean productivity (GMP), mean productivity index (MP), stress susceptibility index (SSI), tolerance index (TOL) and harmonic mean productivity (HMP) were calculated and adjusted based on grain yield under drought (Ys) and irrigated conditions (Yp). Drought tolerance indices discriminated genotypes 11, 13, 8 and 2 as the most drought tolerant, hence they are recommended to be used as parents for genetic analysis, gene mapping and improvement of drought tolerance in common wheat. Principal component analysis (PCA), exhibited that first and second PCA accounted for 97.66% of the variation. The result of stress tolerance score (STS) was the same as multivariate analysis, but STS equation was much easier. Therefor it can be introduced as a suitable screening technique for identification of drought tolerant genotypes.


The design of the interference filters with the transmission coefficient no less than 90% on the operating wavelength and completely opaque at longer wavelengths is shown. The operation of the filter is based on the method of residual rays. Angular dependences of the filter transmission bandshape on the parameters of multilayer coating, such as the thickness, refractive indeces, the number of the layers, are analyzed.


Theories with fermions in the adjoint representation have several interesting applications in extensions of the standard model. The conformal window for these theories is of particular interest for technicolour extensions. We present here our newest results for the spectrum of $N_f=2$ adjoint QCD and compare them with the predictions for a conformal behaviour. The comparison with supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, investigated with the same methods, will help to distinguish more clearly the conformal and the confining scenario. The spectrum includes additional fermionic states that are not present in QCD. We provide results for the mass of these states and discuss their phenomenological relevance. In addition we have done preliminary investigations of the singlet scalar meson state.


Abstract Complex dielectric constant of an antiferroelectric liquid crystal which undergoes the direct transition from the paraelectric smectic A phase to the antiferroelectric chiral smectic C phase was measured in the frequency range 10 Hz-10MHz. The experimental results were analyzed using a generalized Cole-Cole expression: the soft mode was detected around the phase transition whereas two dielectric relaxations were confirmed to exist in the antiferroelectric phase. Both homogeneously and homeotropically aligned cells were used and the influence of the dc bias field was investigated.


Developed Asia is a sub-region within Asia, and has been referred to by the Asia-Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) in its regional strategy and response to HIV among gay men, other men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people since its inception in 2007. The countries/territories of developed Asia include Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan - settings with similar characteristics including relative socio-economic prosperity, rapid uptake of internet and other technologies, and high rates of regional travel.


The electron impact mass spectral fragmentation pathways for a series of 1,3-di- and 1,2,3-trisubstituted imidazolidines were investigated. The data show remarkable differences depending on the location and identity of substituents. The atypical 1,2,2,3-tetrasubstituted imidazolidine, 2-cyano-1-methyl-3-(p-nitro-phenyl)-2-phenylimidazolidine, was also investigated.


Ancient Halmyris lies in the NW corner of the Dobrudja region in SE Romania. It lies c.2.5 km east of the village of Murighiol on a rocky promontory which is slightly higher than the surrounding marshes. This is at the E end of the Dunavat peninsula (known in antiquity as Extrema Scythiae Minoris: Jord., Get. 266) and it is bordered by the Danube delta on the north and east, Razelm lake on the south, and the Tulcea hills on the west (fig. 1). The site was occupied continuously from at least the mid-first millennium B.C. up to the 7th c. A.D. The local environment, flora and fauna were favourable to settlement until as a result of natural causes the Danube became almost inaccessible; from that point on, the settlement became vulnerable to human and other natural events and eventually it became deserted. The site is known today as Bataraia or Cetatea. In the early 20th c. the locals still called it the Genoese stronghold (Geneviz-Kaleh). In antiquity it lay on the bank of the southern arm of the Danube called Peuce (now known as Sfantu Gheorghe). Today the southern arm of the Danube runs 2 km north of the site and it is connected to Lake Murighiol by the Periboina canal. Until 1983 there were two lakes, c.100 and c.200 m from the site, modern relics of the ancient course of the river. To the east lie the Dunavat hills and to the south is Dealul Cetatea ("fort hill") (fig. 2).


Cousineau considers Semchuk's photo-autobiography as an exploration of narrative through feminine culture. Cummings' introduction includes a brief statement by the artist. Biographical notes. 8 bibl. ref.


Surface property is an important factor that is widely considered in crystal growth and design. It is also found to play a critical role in changing the constitutive law seen in the classical elasticity theory for nanomaterials. Through molecular static simulations, this work presents the calculation of surface properties (surface energy density, surface stress and surface stiffness) of some typical cubic and hexagonal crystals: face-centered-cubic (FCC) pure metals (Cu, Ni, Pd and Ag), body-centered-cubic (BCC) pure metals (Mo and W), diamond Si, zincblende GaAs and GaN, hexagonal-close-packed (HCP) pure metals (Mg, Zr and Ti), and wurzite GaN. Sound agreements of the bulk and surface properties between this work and the literature are found. New results are first reported for the surface stiffness of BCC pure metals, surface stress and surface stiffness of HCP pure metals, Si, GaAs and GaN. Comparative studies of the surface properties are carried out to uncover trends in their behaviors. The results in this work could be helpful to the investigation of material properties and structure performances of crystals.


This study examines the joint impact of outsourcing, overtime, multi-delivery, rework, and postponement on a multiproduct fabrication problem. A growing/clear trend in today's customer requirements turned into rapid response and desired quality of multi-merchandises and multiple fixed-amount deliveries in equal-interval time. To satisfy customers' expectations, current manufacturing firms must effectively design/plan their multiproduct production scheme with minimum fabrication-inventory-shipping expenses and under confined capacity. Motivated by assisting manufacturing firms in making the right production decision, this study develops a decision-support delayed-differentiation model considering multi-shipment, rework, and dual uptime-reducing strategies (namely, overtime and outsourcing). Our delayed-differentiation model comprises stage one, which makes all common/standard parts of multi-end-merchandises, and stage two, which produces multiple end merchandise. For cutting making times, the study proposes subcontracting a portion of the common/standard part's lot size and adopting overtime-making end merchandise in stage two. The screening and reworking tasks identify and repair faulty items to ensure customers' desired quality. The finished lots of end merchandise are divided into a few equal-amount shipments and distributed to customers in equal-interval time. We employ mathematical derivation and optimization methodology to derive the annual expected fabrication- inventory-shipping expense and the cost-minimized production-shipping policy. A numerical demonstration is presented to exhibit our research scheme's applicability and exposes the studied problem's critical managerial insights, which help the management make beneficial decisions.


trated—owned by libraries, institutions, private collectors, devotees, and simple enthusiasts—to compile an impressive twelvepart appendix that summarizes all 169 titles plus the many offshoots. Writers, artists, illustrators, designers, and painters, and, of course, the founder, Albert Kanter, are detailed and each person's contribution lauded. As Mr. Jones explains, what started as a 1941 shoestring operation eventually turned into an international publishing phenomenon. Why wouldn't it? As the noted journalist Pete Hamill remarked, these comic books provided a road map for real books. Since all children, Mr. Jones asserts, create their own mythology as they reinvent the world, there are always tangible elements at work shaping these ideas. During this thirty-year period, thousands of youngsters fell under the spell of Classic Comics. Here, many American teenagers fantasized about War of the Worlds, Ivanhoe, or Toilers of the Sea as they evolved into adults. These narratives, of course, remained with them. As an academic study, Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History, with Illustrations mirrors this postwar generation and the influence it yielded on every reader. With dozens of original cover photos—including a wonderful center section of color reproductions—Mr. Jones' study represents the best memory book in a long time. Anyone who remembers horse drawn milk trucks, mail deliveries twice a day, faded red enema bags, pin boys at bowling alleys, the St. Louis Browns, and the "cat's meow" will love this book. It is a work of outstanding achievement. Robert Fyne Kean University email@example.com


We study the low-lying eigenmodes of the lattice overlap Dirac operator for $\mathrm{SU}{(N}_{c})$ gauge theories with ${N}_{c}=2,$ 3, 4 and 5 colors. We define a fermionic topological charge from the zero modes of this operator and show that, as ${N}_{c}$ grows, any disagreement with the topological charge obtained by cooling the fields becomes rapidly less likely. By examining the fields where there is a disagreement, we are able to show that the Dirac operator does not resolve instantons below a critical size of about $\ensuremath{\rho}\ensuremath{\simeq}2.5a,$ but resolves the larger, more physical instantons. We investigate the local chirality of the near-zero modes and how it changes as we go to larger ${N}_{c}.$ We observe that the local chirality of these modes, which is prominent for SU(2) and SU(3), becomes rapidly weaker for larger ${N}_{c}$ and is consistent with disappearing entirely in the limit of ${N}_{c}=\ensuremath{\infty}.$ We find that this is not simply due to the observed disappearance of small instantons at larger ${N}_{c}.$


The editors, both eminent academics in health and social care, have put together an interesting collection of 28 classic and contemporary readings. Grouped into five sections, they explore issues in health care such as inequalities and diversity, and power, professions and practice.


Effects of solvent-non-solvent,temperature,stirring speed and dilution rate on the impact sensitivity of recrystallized PETN were studied by single factor test.The impact sensitivity of different recrystallized PETN was characterized with 50% drop height(H50).Crystal shape and surface defects of different recrystallized PETN are observed with an optical microscope and a metallographic microscope.The influence of recrystallization technology on the impact sensitivity of PETN crystal is ulteriorly analyzed from crystal shape and surface defects.Single-factor experimental results showed that PETN particle with H50 14.6 cm can be got when ethyl acetate as solvent,temperature 50℃,dilution rate 0.05 mL/min,stirring speed 100 r/min.The impact sensitivity of PETN recrystallized from ethyl acctate is much lower than that recrystallized from acetone-water in industry.


Thinking about the end of capitalism is nothing new. The amazing thing is that Max Weber, who is not suspected of being a socialist or a communist, did so more than 100 years ago – in terms of fossil fuels. This brings him closer to the demands of the "green economy", but on closer inspection, the energy and raw material base is only one factor in Weber's complex conception of modern capitalism.


Although the number of doctoral degrees awarded to women in engineering has increased substantially over the last half of the 20th century, women are still substantially underrepresented among engineering faculty. Operating from the premise that a "cultural mass" of an identity group might change organizational behavior, we explore the potential influence of gender composition on faculty's teaching decisions, specifically as they relate to workforce development. Our study utilizes data from a NSF-funded study from a nationally representative sample of 31 institutions representing over 120 programs in seven engineering disciplines. Using institutional-level controls, we were able to find several forms of organizational influence that played a significant role in instructional approaches, specifically gender balance within the organization. We determined that gender balance increases the likelihood that a faculty member will make instructional choices that emphasize professional values. Our initial results suggest that gender diversity in a department is significantly related to the inclusion of professional values in course content.


Sludge generated in three Portuguese food processing companies chestnut, dairy and fruit-cereal – were anaerobically digested, over 77-day experimental time, under batch mode and mesophilic conditions of temperature, to assess the anaerobic digestion process applicability to the energetic valorisation of these organic material surpluses. The biogas production of 106-144 mL (STP conditions) and the methane content of 61-72% indicate that all tested sludge reserve an energetic potential through anaerobic process. Comparatively, the sludge digestion from the fruit-cereal processing industry provided the largest volume of biogas, while the milk-yogurt reached the highest methane yield amount (209 L CH4 kg VSinfluent). Anaerobic digestion is an alternative process that, according to the obtained results, can advantageously contribute to solving the problem of excess sludge in the food industry by converting it into a digestate for agricultural purposes and an energy carrier vector (biogas/methane).


Surveys the history of the Middle East from 661 to 1100 and the expansion of Islam, stressing the relationship between religion and politics and the transformation of the area's Christian culture into an Islamic one.


The effect of vibrational treatment on quenched instrumental steels is to stabilize nonequilibrium structures. microdistortions of the crystal lattice and tetragonality of the martensite structure are reduced. Retained austenite partly decomposes, whilst microdistortions of the crystal lattice and stacking fault desnity diminish. The structural changes always increase first, then decrease. The time needed for the processes to stabilize depends on the brand of steel


Zn2SiO4: Mn(superscript 2+) Phophors was synthesized by using tetramethyl orthosilicate (TMOS), zinc nitrate and manganese nitrate as raw materials through sol-gel process. XRD results showed that sample of crystal structure prepared was a-Zn2SiO4, and excited and emission spectra were measured by using fluorescence spectroscopy. The relationship of emission intensity, peak position with amount of raw materials, degree of Zn(superscript 2+) substituted by Mn(superscript 2+) and heat treatment temperature was discussed. The results indicated that the technological process for preparing Zn2SiO4: Mn(superscript 2+) phosphors with excellent performance was that: the amount of TMOS was excessive 1% firstly, then, heating rate was (2~3)/min and kept temperature at 1120, 1150 and 1050 for 1, 2 and 4h respectively, and quickly cooled to room temperature in air at last.


This paper presents a 5 - bit 4.87GSps Flash ADC design using 45-nm GPDK CMOS technology library. The designed system consists of two main blocks as comparator array and digital decoder. The digital decoder contains 2:1 MUX based 1 - of - N decoder and Regenerative Buffer units. As a result, active die area and the power consumption are reduced in addition to increase in sampling frequency. The power supply voltage range for the overall system is ± 1.8V. The simulation results include maximum power consumption of 0.24 mW. The Conversion time 204p sec, the measured DNL and INL to less than 0.02LSB and 0.1LSB.


Studies of the room temperature Mossbauer spectra of MxFe3−xO4 (where M = Cu, Cd, or Ti; and O⩽x⩽1) together with the measurements of unit cell dimension and electrical conductivity indicate that a significant change in the electronic properties of each system occurs around the intermediate composition (x∼0.5). The samples with low values of x( 0.6) behave as semiconductors as the sixth 3d electron of Fe2+ ion becomes localized.


Renqiu buried hill is the largest fractured and low-saturated carbonate rock reservoir with massive bottom water.After thirty years' development,the reserve has entered into the late stage,which declines slowly in high water cut.Therefore,it is a great significance to figure out the remaining oil distribution for the late potential tapping and improvement of development response.On the basis of fracture prediction,this paper studies the remaining oil distribution rule between the water cones.With the digital simulation research connected with the new geologic model and production performance,the double porosity model in single permeability has been built.Through the research on the changing of oil-water contact in different phases and the research on the evolution process and formation mechanism of water cones,the depth of oil-water contact and the shape of water cones at the present stage are defined.At the same time,the remaining geological reserve over oil-water contact in fracture system is basically calculated.Finally,with the feasibility study to exploit the remaining oil between the water cones by complex horizontal well and other effective methods,the economical and effective tapping modes are proposed.


Developing the police culture is also developing the productive forces,which is the key issue of enhancing combatant effectiveness of the public security organs.Developing the police culture is to meet the needs of basic public security organs and the police.If public security organs develop the police culture,the leaders should first encourage and guide the work,as well as support it with hardware and software.


According to Darling Hammond (2006) teaching is a serious business which involves developing policies and practices fro 'powerful learning' which meet the needs of learners. So, does it really matter what you wear; where and how you stand; how you speak; what you do with your hands or what the room looks like? You might not think so on first thought but we have discovered that it does makes a difference and is important. A small group of staff has been working with an external consultant on just these matters as well as individually developing their own particular needs and having fun with it. This short reflection shares with you a project about 'Peer Review' - but perhaps not as you would know it.


Abstract We report the results of recent field measurements of seawater thermohaline structure and transparency carried out in early summer 2014 in Puck Bay. Near-bottom, less saline waters occurred almost in the entire study area. Their occurrence in the shallow part of Puck Bay was accompanied by an increase in the seawater transparency. The most likely explanation of these observations is a submarine fresh groundwater discharge.


This paper proves two general partition theorems and several special cases of each with both of the general theorems based on four q-series identities originally due to L. J. Rogers and G. N. Watson. One of the most interesting special cases proves that the number of partitions of an integer n into parts where even parts may not be repeated, and where odd parts occur only if an adjacent even part occurs is equal to the number of partitions of n into parts = ± 2, ± 3, ± 4, ± 5, ± 6, ± 7 (mod 20). The companion theorem proves that the number of partitions of an integer n into parts where even parts may not be repeated, where odd parts > 1 occur only if an adjacent even part occurs, and where l's occur arbitrarily is equal to the number of partitions of n into parts = ± 1, ± 2, ± 5, ± 6, ± 8, ± 9 (mod 20).


Aiming at the problem of low resolution of traditional eddy current sensor for buried defects detection in metal materials, a null-offset planar eddy current sensor array is designed, realized, and tested. The arrayed sensor is composed of a spatially periodic excitation coil and multiple differential detection coils, which are skillfully designed and can effectively suppress the common mode component in the induced voltage and improve the signal-noise-ratio of the sensor. The null-offset eddy current sensor is fabricated and utilized to detect the buried defects 0.5-mm depth beneath the surface of aluminum alloy test pieces. The simulation and experimental results show that the null-offset eddy current detection unit improves the detection resolution of buried defects by more than 1000 times.


This paper computes the distortion power at the receiver side of an FBMC/OQAM-based OFDMA uplink channel under strong frequency selectivity and/or user timing errors. More precisely, it provides a distortion expression that is valid for a wide class of prototype pulses (not necessarily perfect-reconstruction ones) when the number of subcarriers is sufficiently large. This result is a valuable instrument for analyzing how users interfere to one another and to justify, formally, the common choice of placing an empty guard band between adjacent users. Interestingly, the number of out-band subcarriers contaminated by each user only depends on the prototype pulses and not on the channel nor on the equalizer. To conclude, the distortion analysis presented in this paper, together with some simulation results for a realistic scenario, also provide convincing evidence that FBMC/OQAM-based OFDMA is superior to classic circular-prefix OFDMA in the case of asynchronous users.


Shaman masks are not only masks wore and used by Shaman in religious actions,such as sacrifice,medical treatment,exorcising evil,bearing,funeral,hunting and witchcraft,but also masks as carriers of gods confessed by people who believe in Shaman.Scientific classification on Shamans is the foundation of study on Shaman.With classified standard as foundations of dominoes,simultaneously thinking about actors of textures and sculpts,we could classify Shaman dominoes four kinds as following:masks of hunting,masks of jumping gods,masks of confession,and masks of funerals.


The invention belongs to the technical field of machine tool, in particular, relates to an embedded service function data acquisition unit of a numerical control system. Working operation and status signal are collected by utilizing PP72/45 interface to lead out a switch quantity signal, based on analysis of data interface feature of Simens802D numerical control system. The requirements of serialcommunication of single-chip are met by the switch quantity signal with a serial level changer. An AT89S52 single-chip of ATMEL Company is used as smallest system pattern to finish the signal acquisition. The data output is realized with a serial port of the single-chip and a PC serial port. The invention develops the embedded service system, encapsulates the collected data into equipment servicesand sends to network as WEB mode, and users can test and evaluate the equipments by accessing the services. The economical numerical control system provided by the invention has function of remote diagnosis, and maintenance efficiency of the equipment system is promoted.


In order to accurately obtain the excitation current under no-load and rated load,the excitation current of the 1 000 MW hydro-generator under no-load and rated load was calculated using the time-varying electromagnetic field FEM and through fully considering the saturation effect of d-q axis magnetic field. The influence of such related factors as the size of excitation winding,pitch ratio of damping bar and application of magnetic wedge on the excitation current was analyzed. With obtaining the no-load and rated load excitation current,the design criterion for the size of excitation winding and pitch ratio of damping winding was proposed,and the feasibility to apply the magnetic wedge for the 1 000 MW hydro-generator was discussed from the view of electromagnetic design. The experimental results show that the excitation current can be calculated for the 1 000 MW hydro-generator by FEM,which can provide the theoretical basis for the project design.


The coating properties obtained during plasma spraying (e.g. porosity, roughness, etc.) and their dependence on the diameters, velocities and temperatures of the sprayed molten particles, coating growth and pore formation were simulated using a set of rules based on the analysis of coating formation mechanisms. The diameters, temperatures and velocities of the molten sprayed material particles as well as their impact locations on the substrate were all assumed to have Gaussian distribution. The simulation results show that pores always exist in the coatings. Lower porosity, thicker and rougher coating surfaces will be formed if the average diameter of the molten particles is increased. Increases in the average particle velocity or temperature lead to decreased coating porosity and surface roughness, which is consistent with experimental observations.


Insecurity is a common problem that all cities face, and different solutions have been developed throughout history to prevent or eradicate this problem. Using existing technology or developing new one is a good strategy; currently there has been technological breakthroughs, both in software and hardware, that allows us to use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms. Cognitive processes are studied in order to build solutions of problems in a way similar to what humans do. In this work, we propose the interaction among cognitive processes and info-communication devices to enable an artificial cognitive system to compose pervasive services useful to solve complex problems of public safety. Specifically, to deter predatory crimes when the predator decides to perform the crime and is within the victim's vicinity.


It is known that the M2-brane worldvolume superalgebra includes two p-form central charges that encode the M-theory intersections involving M2-branes. In this paper we show by explicit computation that the Bagger-Lambert Lagrangian realizes the M2-brane superalgebra, including also the central extensions. Solitons of the Bagger-Lambert theory, that are interpreted as worldvolume realizations of intersecting branes, are shown to saturate a BPS-bound given in terms of the corresponding central charge.


The present invention relates to a four-point bending test jig that can be fixed by receiving only a bending moment by being coupled to a beam-shaped bending test piece that is vulnerable to shearing force in a four-point bending test, so that shear force is not applied to both ends of the test piece 10. Since the test consists of a pair of left and right extension jigs 20, 20 formed by being joined in the longitudinal direction of the test piece, there is an effect that the test piece, which is a material vulnerable to shear force, may be subjected to pure bending moments only.


The problems of placing and routing of 2D reconfigurable hardware tasks are important factors of system resource utilization in reconfigurable computing system.Reconfigurable hardware tasks,which are based on heterogeneous reconfigurable devices and task models,were properly classified,and a new algorithm named of DRS-TCW was proposed,which can place and route multiple reconfigurable hardware tasks simultaneously.Experiment results indicate that the algorithm can improve the resource utilization of reconfigurable devices and tasks' routing ratio.


The response time of Nb/sub 3/Sn coils with an active protection system is measured to quantify their performance during low current quenches. Tests are conducted on coils with bronze processed Nb/sub 3/Sn conductors of 0.23 and 0.41 copper fractions and placed in a background field up to 7 T. Stainless steel heaters imbedded within the epoxy at the outer diameter of the coils are employed to normalize the magnets uniformly along their axes. The heater circuit consists of up to four heater strips connected in series in which a square wave pulse is applied for a duration of one second. The quench reaction time is studied as a function of heater input power, number of active heaters, and fraction of critical current density.


The present study observed the effect of heat stress on ovarian development, fecundity, and vitellogenin gene expression in silkworm, Bombyx mori. The result showed that the heat shock treatment to spinning larvae and pupae at 39°C (1 h and 2 h) did not cause any adverse effect on the reproductive performance of B. mori. However, the heat shock treatment at 42°C or above caused a decrease in the fecundity. The heat shock treatment to day 2 pupae for 2 h at 45°C caused a drastic effect on the development of ovary as measured by gonadosomatic index. The study thus showed that a brief exposure of Bombyx larvae and pupae to a temperature of 42°C or higher, much prevalent in tropical countries like India, greatly affects the ovarian development and reproductive performance of this commercially important insect. The study further showed a developmental- and tissue-specific expression of vitellogenin mRNA in fat body and ovary upon heat shock. When heat shock treatment was done at 39°C and 42°C to spinning larvae, ovary showed an upregulation in the expression of vitellogenin mRNA, whereas fat body failed to do so. However, at 45°C, both fat body and ovary showed a downregulation. The heat shock treatment to day 2 pupae showed an upregulation in the vitellogenin mRNA expression in both fat body and ovary, even at 45°C. The upregulation in the expression of vitellogenin upon heat shock indicates its role in thermal protection of Bombyx larvae and pupae.


This study aims at analysing the role of figure of speech and its meaning in literary works. The use of figure of speech in literary works is not only to create layers of meaning but also sense of beauty, complexity, power, etc. Figure of speech, among others, metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole refer to a group of words that deviate from literal interpretation that must be taken in a non literal sense or figurative way in order to understand the meaning. This study is a descriptive qualitative research in the semantic field which uses a short story in Balinese Language Da Nakonang Adan Tiyange 'Jangan Tanya Namaku' as the data source. The descriptive qualitative method will be applied in data collection, data analysis, and analysis presentation. The theory of meaning entitled Semantic: The Study of Meaning proposed by Geoffrey Leech will be used as the main theory for the needs of data analysis. The result of the study will be expected to be useful either in realizing the important role in using figure of speech in literary works and how its meanings are interpreted.


On a one kilometre strip of road in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh neighbourhood, hundreds of people, predominantly Muslim women are holding a 'dharna - a non-violent, sit-in protest - to stop the implementation of the Indian Citizenship Amendment Act' (CAA ), National Register of Citizenship (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) - which records all Indian residents.


ISCO provides an opportunity for the meeting of International Researchers, Engineers, Scientists, and specialists in the various research and development fields of Engineering and Technology. The conference offers a premise for global experts to gather and interact intensively on the topics of Mechanical, Automobile, Civil, Electrical and Electronics, Electronics and Communication, Electronics and Instrumentation, Computer Science and Information Technology.


Permeability is the hydraulic property of the porous material which is the measure of durability. Since water is the enemy of bituminous topped pavement because when rain water infiltrates and percolate through the pores, break down the bonding between bitumen and aggregate. Ultimately pavement fails before service life. It is well aware that bitumen mixture at different air voids content represents different permeability characteristics for the different composition of bitumen. In order to measure permeability of bituminous mixture, an instrument was fabricated which follows the Darcy's falling head method. Permeameter is designed in such a way that it can consist of Marshall's sample and tested in the lab. This equipment is capable to measure vertical as well as horizontal permeability. It was found that the horizontal and vertical permeability varied largely over the entire range of air voids content. However, relationship between horizontal and vertical permeability ratio and percent air voids was established. Four types of asphalt mixtures for different composition namely BC 20mm aggregates, BC stone dust as filler, BC cement as filler and SDBC was used in the lab test for estimation of permeability. However, Composition of bitumen varied over 4.5%-7.0% and percent of air voids varied over 2%-8% on the basis of laboratory investigation of various asphalt mixtures. Permeability increases with increase of void ratio and found ratio of vertical and horizontal permeability is 1.12.


ABSTRACT We did a pot experiment with three different fertilized soils (no fertilizer (No-F), inorganic fertilizer nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK), manure plus inorganic fertilizer (MNPK)) from a 19-year fertilizer trial. Three N treatments, (1) no N, (2) 100 mg/kg urea-15N (N), (3) 50 mg/kg urea-15N + 50 mg/kg corn straw-N (1/2N + 1/2S), were applied to each soil. The residual soil from the same treatments was used to grow second wheat crop. The MNPK soil had significantly higher nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in the first growing season, and lower N loss than the NPK, and No-F soils. The 1/2N + 1/2S treatment decreased NUE on each soil, even though the MNPK soil still had highest NUE and lowest N loss. The residual 15N use efficiency (RNUE) in 1/2N + 1/2S treatment of MNPK soil was higher than NPK and No-F soils. We concluded that long-term application of manure plus inorganic fertilizer increased NUE and decreased N loss.


of the behavioral cognltlve and emotional effects of various drugs and of the physlologlcal mechan~sms by whlch these effects are exerted Interpersonal Relat~ons A study of the theor~es and techniques by which two or more people relate to each other In s~tuatlons oi varvlng degrees of structure w~th the purpose of accompl~sh~ng change In one or more of the partlclpants Level 3 Program Desgn and Evaluat~on The prlnclples and techn~ques ~nvolved In the development of both laboratory and field research and servlce programs and thelr evaluat~on Psychology and our Cultural H~story Psychology 1s v~ewed as a reflector of and a contr~butor to the course of development of tPe western world w~th speclal emphas~s on the 19th and 30th centuries and on the 20th century Un~ted States Other real world groupngs are poss~ble Th~s 1s meant to be suggestive nclt exhaustwe But these real world courses more accuralely reflect What psychology 1s In the 1980s These are what our lower level undergraduate courses should be There 1s time enough later In upper level and graduate courses to fract~onate the curriculum Into abstract conceptual ent~t~es-and that should be done because some of our undergraduate students will acquire an Interest in those abstractions and w~sh to study them for their own intrins~c value. Such people are needed, for they will be our future research scientists who will continue to refine our concepts. But most psychologists no longer are laboratory scientists researching ' conceptual abstractions-and our curricula should no longer be presenting that as psychology. "Genius," said William James as he completed his thoughts on old-fogyism, "in truth, means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way" (1890, 1 1 , p. 110). Let us use some of Wertheimer's nice clean a-thinking, instead of h ~ s ugly old restrictive p-think~ng, to devise real-world oriented curricula suitable for the particular sizes and constituencies of our various schools. View psychology in an unhabitual way. Stop being an old-fogy!


We present a high-cadence time series of spectroscopic observations of the Hα emission line profile obtained during the egress and total eclipse phases of the M supergiant binary VV Cephei (M2 Iab + B0-2 V) for the 2017-2018 eclipse. Medium-resolution spectroscopy, obtained at an almost nightly cadence by the ARAS Spectroscopy Group from April 2017 through June 2018, has been used to construct a time-series of equivalent widths (EWs) of the Hα emission line flux. The peak fluxes of the blue (V) component and the red (R) component relative to the continuum, as well as their ratio, V/R, have also been found. We report on a new 43.5-day periodic variation in the Hα emission that is present throughout the entire time series and, in particular, persists through mid-eclipse.


Investigating post-earthquake surface ruptures is important for understanding the tectonics of seismogenic faults. The use of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images to identify post-earthquake surface ruptures has the advantages of low cost, fast data acquisition, and high data processing efficiency. With the rapid development of deep learning in recent years, researchers have begun using it for image crack detection. However, due to the complex background and diverse characteristics of the surface ruptures, it remains challenging to quickly train an effective automatic earthquake surface rupture recognition model on a limited number of samples. This study proposes a workflow that applies an image segmentation algorithm based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to extract cracks from post-earthquake UAV images. We selected the 16-layer visual geometry group (VGG16) network as the primary network architecture. Then, we improved the VGG16 network and deleted several convolutional layers to reduce computation and memory consumption. Moreover, we added dilated convolution and atrous spatial pyramid pooling (ASPP) to make the network perform well in the surface crack identification of post-earthquake UAV images. We trained the proposed method using the data of the MS 7.4 Maduo earthquake and obtained a model that could automatically identify and draw small and irregular surface ruptures from high-resolution UAV images.


Flow equation expresses mass conservation for a fluid phase. In density‐dependent problems, fluid consists of at least two components, termed salt and water here. Salt sources are usually properly accounted for when salt is dissolved in water (i.e., as a solute) but are neglected otherwise. An analysis of the effect of neglecting pure salt sources on flow regime and concentration distribution is performed. Two test cases are used to illustrate the issue. The first one is the saltwater bucket problem, which consists of adding salt to an otherwise isolated domain. The second one is the Elder problem. Discrepancies in concentrations are moderate for reasonably small salt mass fractions. However, currently available codes yield head drops in response to the addition of salt because fluid mass is kept constant while its density increases. Such results contradict basic physical principles and lead to an inversion in the flow direction.


This paper summarizes the work of the Sectional Committee on Wood Poles of the American Standards Association covering the preparation of specifications for northern white cedar, western red cedar, chestnut and southern pine poles. The major problems underlying the development of standard ultimate fiber stresses, standard dimension tables and practical knot limitations are discussed and illustrated by supporting tables or figures. Graphical charts comparing the old and the new dimensional classifications are described. The main points relating to the material requirements for the four pole species are outlined briefly.


Automated visual-tracking of cell populations in vitro using phase contrast time-lapse microscopy is vital for quantitative, systematic and high-throughput measurements of cell behaviors. These measurements include the spatiotemporal quantification of migration, mitosis, apoptosis, and cell lineage. This paper presents an automated cell tracking system that can simultaneously track and analyze thousands of cells. The system performs tracking by cycling through frame-by-frame track compilation and spatiotemporal track linking, combining the power of two tracking paradigms. We applied the system to a range of cell populations including adult stem cells. The system achieved tracking accuracies in the range of 85.9%– 92.5%, outperforming previous work by up to 9%. The proposed tracking methodology is valuable for tissue engineering, stem cell research, drug discovery and development, and related areas.


Purpose: The purpose of this research was to study the effect of two different distribution of four mini-dental implant retaining mandibular overdenture on it's retention and patient chewing efficiency.Materials and methods: Twelve completely edentulous male patients were selected from department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry; Suez Canal University. Patients received maxillary complete dentures opposing implant retained mandibular overdentures with four mini dental implant .The patients were randomly classified into two equal groups according to mini dental implant's distribution. Group I : in which patients received four mini dental implants placed equally in the intrforaminal region. GroupΙΙ : in which patients received four mini dental implants, in the canine and the first molar regions in each side of the arch Clinical evaluation A-Mandibular overdenture retention . A- digital forcemeter device was used to measure mandibular overdenture retention. B- Chewing efficiency (Masticatory performance) Six chewing efficiency records were made for each patient as follows: 3 times periods at (one, two & three) months for the two types of (hard& soft) food The data obtained were reported in the form of mean values of both the chewing times and number of chewing strokes. Then chewing velocity (stroke/sec) were calculated. These data were recorded and statistically analyzed. Results: The results of this study showed that there was increase in mean values of chewing efficiency of hard and soft food for both groups in favor to group II with non statistical significant difference between both groups except after three months in masticatory performance. Also there was increase in mean values of mandibular overdenture retention for both groups in favor to group II with highly statistical significant difference during all observation periods at (p≤0.01).Conclusion: Within the limitations of this study, it may be concluded that wide distribution of immediately loaded mini-dental implants used in mandibular overdentures through posterior placement beyond the interforaminal area results in favorable response in terms of increased denture retention. This positively reflected on the patient comfort with increased his self confidence and psychological acceptance consequently, improves oral function and chewing efficiency.


We recently developed a computational model of tumour growth. It is a cell- based model that can simulate the growth of multicellular tumour spheroids up to more than one million cells. The simulation program is very demanding and simulation time severely limits the integration of additional biological details, and indeed, at the moment, a typical simulation run requires tens of days to be completed. A new version of the code that exploits Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to boost performance is being developed. In this paper we describe the design and implementation of a nearest-neighbour search (NNS) algorithm suitable to run on GPU. The algorithm will be integrated in the original code to manage the geometrical calculation in the simulation of the spheroid. Initially the stand alone NNS algorithm was tested for spheroids of different size: better efficency was obtained for bigger spheroids. Eventually the code was integrated in the whole simulation code and preliminary runs gave a speed up of about 5 for spheroids of relatively small size (15000 cells).


This study aims to draw policy implications for the Korean government by analyzing a plan called as "the European Higher Education Area (EHEA)" that the European Union has developed in order to cope with the challenges in the field of higher education stemming from the development of IT and internationalization. Since the European Council`s meeting in Lisbon in 2000, EU has included the Bologna Process (the higher education reform initiative by 29 European countries) as one of the EU`s agenda and strengthened the linkage between higher education, lifelong education, and research policies. Through these policy changes, EU has aimed to increase the comparability and transparency of degrees and qualifications which in turn would promote the exchanges of students, professors and staff and further would contribute to the creation of the EHEA. So far, the efforts by the EU has been successful, although there have been some issues such as the disparity in quality among European universities. As the influence of EU in the world has increased, that of the EHEA on the higher education of other countries including Korea is likely to grow rapidly. Thus, the Korean government should take the strategies employed for the EHEA into consideration when it creates strategies to increase the comparability and transparency of degrees. In the long-term, it also needs to develop ways to create an international higher education community with other Asian Pacific countries by learning lessons from the EU`s case.


In order to obtain sterile materails from Huperzia serrata,H2O2,C2H5OH,and HgCl2 were used to disinfect the explants,and the solutions of antibiotic compound together with hot water treatments were used to eliminate the endophytes.The results were as follows:the optimum method of the sterilization of surface and elimination of endophytes for stem was obtained by soaking the explants in hot water(47 ℃) for 1 h,followed by 70% C2H5OH for 30 s and then by 0.1 % HgCl2 for 7 min.The optimum method of the sterilization of surface for sporangium and stem apex was obtained by soaking the explants in 70 % C2H5OH for 30 s,followed by 0.1% HgCl2 for 4 min.Disinfectants together with hot water treatment can obviously reduce the pollution rate of explants.Sporangium and stem apex,which barely contain endophytes,sre excellent explants for plant tissue culture.


The propagation constant of an electromagnetic wave on a long horizontal thin wire is determined from a modal equation for various situations: an elevated wire; a buried bare wire; a bare wire located in the air-earth interface; and a buried insulated wire. Analytical expressions are derived under the assumption that the height or depth of the wire is much less than the skin depth of the conducting earth and that the angular variation around the wire can be ignored. Although not restrictive in frequency, these conditions are satisfied for extremely low frequency (ELF) and very low frequency (VLF) applications except possibly for deeply buried wires when the effect of the interface is negligible anyway. We show that the propagation constant of a buried bare wire is significantly differ- ent from an elevated one for almost all heights of practical interest.


Purpose – Leadership in educational settings has been established as a key factor that impacts student learning outcomes, consequently it is important to understand how academic leadership is conceptualised and enacted. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – This qualitative study investigated the nature and demands of academic leadership in the New Zealand polytechnic sector by analysing documentary evidence and investigating the perceptions held of the role by 15 academic leaders in four institutions who were interviewed. Findings – Findings of the study highlight the four roles of organisational leadership, curriculum leadership, academic management and academic currency. Participants confirmed that they struggle with ambiguity and tensions. The importance of teams, collaboration and communication are established and the study concludes that an understanding of role complexity to reduce ambiguity and provision of support to perform the role should be key institutional conce...