Recently, a new accurate and rigorous analytic-numerical analysis of guide bends has been carried out. The matrix model obtained is based on the spectral operator method. The approach developed reduces the problem to a matrix operator equation of the special form. This operator equation has mathematical features that allow firm statements concerning properties of the numerical approximation. It was proved analytically the absence of spurious solutions, the validity of the truncation procedure, the convergence of the computed solution to exact one and robust calculations. Therefore, such formulation is more efficient compared to full numerical methods. In the general case a precise eigenmodal analysis of guide bends is computationally intensive. Therefore, the simple approximate models can be more suitable for use in CAD/CAM tools to design complex millimeter circuits and components. The objective of this paper is to develop some simple models for both H- and E-plane uniform bends in rectangular waveguide.


Analytical method validation, determining the recovery rate from the equipment surface, and sta bility of a potential contaminant are important steps of a cleaning validation process. An HPLC method for the determination of the verapamil residues on stainless steel surfaces of the equipment employed in drug manufacture is described. The cleaning validation sample impurities as well as excipients of the commercial sample did not interfere in the analysis which proved the selectivity of the method. The validation of the method demonstrated acceptable levels of the linearity, precision and accuracy. Cotton swabs, moistened with methanol were used to remove any residues of drugs from stainless steel surfaces, and give recoveries of above 78.59% for three diferent concentration levels. The precision of the results, reported as the relative standard deviation (RSD, %), were below 1.58%. Low quantities of the drug residues were determined by HPLC using a Hypersil ODS column (125× 4.0 mm, 5 μm) at 25°C with the mobile phase metanol–water⎯triethylamine (70 : 30 : 0.2, v/v/v) at a flow rate of 0.6 mL/min, injection volume of 50 μL and detection at 278 nm.


WHEN YOU did me the honour of inviting.me to give a lecture, and suggested as a title Thoracic Aneurysm, I felt that this was a subject which we in this particular part, the north-east coast of England, had many opportunities of seeing and treating, and, therefore, of expressing an opinion upon. Thoracic aneurysm may be one of the simplest diseases to diagnose-it may also be one of the most -difficult. There is a type of aneurysm which is recognized by physical signs and another mainly by symptoms. Occasionally the disease is present without giving rise to any complaint on the part of 4a patient. A ruptured aneurysm is occasionally found at the pos8tmortem examination of persons who have died suddenly. Men are more liable -to -thoracic aneurysm than women. The proportion is given as nine males. to one female, but in the Newcastle Infirmary it is probably nearer twelve. than nine. It is a malady that affects men in the early part of the prime of life. Taking at random 17 cases of thoracic aneurysm from'our infirmary patients I find that 12.were men between the ages of 35 and 45, 4 were between 45 and 55, while 3 of the men affected were between 55 and 60. Et is during the strenuous part of a man's life that the diseased wall of the aorta yields before the strain to which it is exposed, the change commencing in the intima but outstripped in the course of time by the middle coat becoming the more affected. Aneurysms are spoken of as fusiform and sacculated. In afusiform aneurysm a segment of an artery is more or less regularly distended throughout its circumference, and it is spindle-shaped; but a sacculated aneurysm, formed as it is'by a dilatation of a particular portion of the wall of an artery, is often in appearance not unlike a diverticulum of theintestine. It is in sacculated aneurysms that the middle'. coat of the vessel is found to have become thinned out in many instances to disappearance, and in which the interior is lined by laminated clotted blood, the layers next the wall of the aneurysm being pale and stratified, while internal to this the blood clot is red and -soft. Sometimes,' as in the drawing I show you, a crack occurs in the intimaofthe aorta and penetrates into the middle coat,often 6separating .it into two layers, between which the blood forms a channel for itself which extends over several inches of the, aorta, recommencing further on, so that practically speaking the greater part of the abdominal aorta may thus be canalized, and to appear on section as if composed of two vascular tubes, one contained within the other. This is known as the di-secting form of aneurysm. It is unattended by any special signs by which we can diagnose it during life. As it is to the sacculated form of thoracic atneurysm that we are going to give our attention to-day, I shall for the present dismiss fusiform aneurysm by saying that when this exists in the ascending and trans-


The b 0+-X 1 0+ and b 0+-X 2 1 sub-systems of SeS have been recorded in emission in the near infrared with high resolution using a Bomem interferometer. The emission was excited by reacting ground state SeS molecules with metastable O2(1Δ g ) molecules. Rotational analyses have been carried out for the 0–0 bands of 80Se 32S, 78Se 32S, 82Se 32S, 76Se 32S and 77Se 32S and for the 1–0, 0–1, 1–2 and 0–2 bands of the more abundant isotopic species. Accurate molecular constants have been derived for the b 0+, X 1 0+ and X 2 1 states. The 0–0 band of 80Se 32S is of particular interest since 4 electric dipole and 3 magnetic dipole branches have been found. By fitting the line intensities to the line strength formulae of Watson, values have been found for the ratio of the parallel to perpendicular electric dipole transition moments as well as for the ratios of these quantities to the magnetic dipole transition moment.


Objective To investigate the effect of cigarette smoke exposure on the interleukin-17-producing CD4+T helper lymphocyte( Th17 ) in peripheral blood and lungs of cigarette smoke-induced emphysema mice. Methods Forty male BALB/c mice were randomly divided into 4 groups, including a control group C12, a control group C24, a smoke-exposure group S12 and a smoke-exposure group S24, 10 mice each group. Morphological changes were evaluated by mean linear intercepts (Lm) and destructive index (DI). The concentration of IL-17, IFN-γ and TNF-α in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF) and the concentration of IFN-γ and TNF-α in lung homogenates were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The proportion of CD4+IL-17+ Th17 cells in peripheral blood and lungs of mice was determined by flow cytometry. The mRNA expressions of RORγt and IL-17 in peripheral blood and lungs were evaluated by real-time PCR. Results Lm and DI were significantly higher in S12 and S24 groups [(39.19±3.51)μm vs (46.87±7.16) μm, 39.13±1.57 vs 45.16±3.13]than that in C12 and C24 groups [(32.60± 3.21 ) μm vs (32.38±3.73) μm, 28.23± 1.62 vs 28.86±2.07], all P<0.05. IL-17, IFN-γand TNF-α in BALF of S12 and S24 groups [(119.72±10.72) ng/L vs (296.40±14.00) ng/L,(129.7±22.2) ng/L vs(251. 1±62.4) ng/L, (17.35±1.60) ng/L, (36.35±1.43) ng/L]were higher than those in C12 and C24 groups [(52.06±4.70) ng/L vs (51.89 ±6.82) ng/L, ( 85.8 ±26.8) ng/L vs ( 88.9 ± 11.5 ) ng/L,(6.41 ±0.90) ng/L vs (5.85±0.92) ng/L], IFN-γ and TNF-α in lungs of S12 and S24 groups [( 1124.3±174.4) ng/L vs (1342.7±206.1) ng/L, (77.2±13.7) ng/L vs (101.7±19.0) ng/L, (129.7±22.2)ng/L vs (251.1 ±62.4) ng/L]were higher than those in C12 and C24 groups[(946.2±81.9) ng/L vs (1027.2±188.3) ng/L, (62.1±16.1) ng/L vs(64.4±15. 1) ng/L], all P<0.05. The percentage of Th17 cells in lungs of S12 and S24 groups [(3.27±1.12)% vs (7.19±2.24)%, ( 1.96±0.61 )% vs (3.82±1.26)%]was significantly increased as compared with that of C12 and C24 groups [(1.80± 0.75)% vs (1.99±0.59)%], all P<0.05. And the percentage of Th17 cells in peripheral blood of S12 and S24 groups [(1.96±0.61)% vs ( 3.82± 1.26)%]was also significantly higher than those in C12 and C24 groups [(0.90±0.37)% vs (0.97±0.32)%], all P<0.05. In peripheral blood and lungs,the mRNA levels of RORγt and IL-17 in S12 and S24 groups were higher than in C12 and C24 groups, all P<0.05.Moreover, the frequency of Th17 cells in peripheral blood and lungs had a positive correlation with Lm and DI( r=0.706-0.772 ,all P<0.05 ). Conclusion An up-regulation of proportions Th17 in peripheral blood and lungs of cigarette smoke-inducsed emphysema mice were detected. It may be involved in the amplified and persistent inflammation.

Key words:
T helper 17;  Inflammation;  Cigarette smoke exposure;  Emphysema


The village, later a town, of St. Joachimstal, came into being solely because of the mining activities which first began in the 12th century. The name means St. Joachim's valley after the father of the Virgin Mary (Figure 1). Today, St. Joachimstal which was originally in Bohemia is now in the Czech Republic and renamed Jáchymov. It is situated on the border with Germany (Saxony) and the ore mountains (Erzgebirge) span the border. The largest mining area on the German side of the mountains is Schneeberg. It is recorded in the Metske Museum in Jáchymov that Marie Curie visited the town in 1925 and there still exists a memorial to Marie and Pierre Curie in Jáchymov.


Identifying the capability of grid service without contacting the provider can be helpful to make full use of the resources in grid environment. In this paper, we proposed a method of describing and matching the capability of grid service by extending the OWL-S specification. It has some advantages over the existing grid discovery mechanism in GT3.


The sustainability of the food supply of the population in all Member States is a priority objective of the current CAP, with important implications both for ensuring food security and for developing the rural economy. In this context, the European sustainable development economic model promotes based on competitiveness, innovation and knowledge, where a key role lies with the small and medium-sized enterprise sector, due to its great flexibility in adapting the business to new market requirements.
The research method used the comparison of the relevant economic and financial indicators for the activity of enterprises in the agro-food industry, in order to analyze the structure and level of development of the sector and to identify possible divergences between Romania and EU-28. The statistical material was provided mainly by Eurostat and NIS - The survey on the activity of the manufacturing enterprises data - NACE Rev.2 codes.


Pore fabrics characterize the anisotropy of pore space in rocks and influence the direction of fluid flow. This is important in reservoir characterization, and petroleum and geothermal energy exploitation. X‐ray computed micro‐tomography (XRCT) is commonly used to analyze pore fabrics, but limited by the micron‐scale resolution for representative 1‐inch rock cores. The magnetic pore fabric (MPF) method has been proposed to capture pores down to 10 nm. Although empirical relationships between MPF and pore space properties or permeability anisotropy are available, their application is compromised by large variability. This study integrates He pycnometry and XRCT‐derived pore space models with MPFs, and provides a quantitative comparison for calcarenite (∼50 vol% porosity and complex pore structure), and molasse sandstone (10%–30% porosity and relatively homogeneous pore fabrics). The preferred orientation of pores obtained from XRCT is described by a total shape ellipsoid, calculated by summing the second‐order tensors reflecting the best‐fit ellipsoids of individual pores. This ellipsoid is then compared to the MPF magnitude ellipsoid in terms of fabric orientation, degree and shape of anisotropy. The MPF and total shape ellipsoids are generally coaxial. The MPF has a smaller anisotropy degree than the total shape ellipsoid, and their relationship depends on the ferrofluid properties. The anisotropy shapes show large variability. Nevertheless, the good agreement of principal directions in most samples makes MPFs a valuable and efficient complementary tool to analyze a large number of samples, in combination with XRCT on selected samples, for a field‐scale pore space characterization.


Academic networks have a major role to play in helping address the challenges faced by small businesses because of limited or no use of information and communication technology (ICT) particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. By leveraging the benefits and synergy that accrue from working together, academic networks can mitigate many of these challenges through nurturing an appropriate human resource base, researching in appropriate technologies as well as improving small businesses through creating a bigger market for local solutions. Being a group of institutions, academic networks afford a stronger negotiating position that can be used to articulate and lobby for an environment that stimulates the use of ICT within small businesses. In order to achieve all of this and be more relevant to the ICT needs of small businesses, academic networks have to institute mechanisms to better understand the changing needs of their communities, behave less bureaucratic and attract more research funding.


This book is a very interesting exploration of the origin of European development aid policy in post-colonial Africa. Using institutionalism as a core framework, it explores how the identity of the responsible institution, Directorate General for Development and Cooperation (DG8) of the European Commission, was shaped over 50 years facing various factors: mistrust from African elites and emergence of new stakeholders (e.g. Britain) and international organisations (e.g. the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund). Chapter 1 provides readers with the historical background in the 1950s and 1960s surrounding the French initiative, the European Development Aid. Although this is the time when France was still recovering from incidents in its overseas territories (e.g. the Indochina war, the Suez crisis, the independence of Tunisia and Morocco) and its involvement in the Algerian disorder, it took an initiative in creating the Association with Overseas Countries and Territories and the Economic and Social Investment Fund (10). In order to maintain its influence in Africa, France also proposed that it:


In the city area of Jakarta, accidents in traffic enter problems that almost often occur at any time. Not a few victims suffered property damage, but victims also suffered minor injuries, serious injuries and even lost their lives. To analyze the number of accident incidents in traffic around the Jakarta city area which took casualties, researchers used a clustering method with the K-Means algorithm which was processed through rapidminer software. From the clustering of traffic accidents data obtained the level of accuracy in clusters 1 and 2 with the same accuracy that is equal to 20%, while cluster 3 gets an accuracy value of 10%


ABSTRACT At the famous Moscovian locality of Piesberg quarry near Osnabrück (Lower Saxony, Germany) there is rich abundance of Palaeodictyopterida comprising not only adults but also larval stages and their exuviae. The representatives of three palaeodictyopterid orders, eight families and 13 species were previously identified from this locality. In this study, we describe a new megascopteran Piesbergptera niesseae gen. nov. et sp. nov. (Piesbergpteridae fam. nov.) with some venation traits shared with Foririidae and Ischnoptilidae, both of which are known from Commentry, and new palaeodictyopterans Osnabrugapteron rasnitsyni gen. nov. et sp. nov. (Archaemegaptilidae), Spilaptera peckae sp. nov. (Spilapteridae) and Saxonyptilus sowiaki gen. nov. et sp. nov. (Spilapteridae), the latter providing the first evidence of nygmata among spilapterids. Based on the evaluation of forewing venation, we propose the restoration of the genus Dictyoneurella as a member of the palaeodictyopteran family Archaemegaptilidae.


Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, combined with multivariate calibration method, is a very important issue for qualitative and quantitative application. In pursuit of this aim, a new hybrid algorithm (PSO-WPLS) was proposed for multivariate regression model development. At first, wavelet packet transform (WPT) algorithm and its reconstruction algorithm are used to split the collected spectra into different frequency components. Then, to take advantages of multiscale property of NIR spectra, the useful WPT components are selected by the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm coupled with a fitness function of prediction error. At last, each selected WPT components are introduced to regression models to develop a series of sub-models. The PSO-WPT model can be constructed through the involvement of all sub-models characterized by a series of weighted regression coefficient. To validate this algorithm, it was used to measure the oil concentration of corn samples. Compared with the conventional WPLS algorithm, the PSO-WPLS algorithm can significantly improve the quality of regression model with the prediction errors decreasing by up to 72.5%, meaning that it is a potential way for developing multivariate model with high precision.


e16516 Background: Access to costly new cancer drug treatments is a problem in many countries. In Canada, health care funding is a provincial responsibility and there could be considerable variability in access to new cancer drugs across provinces. In March 2007, an interim national Joint Oncology Drug Review (JODR) process was implemented to promote more consistent approach to reviewing funding of new cancer drugs. We compared the formularies in Canadian provinces to see if there was a convergence of funding conditions for new cancer drugs.

METHODS
The funding status of cancer drug treatments licensed between 2007 and 2010 was obtained from the websites of the funding agencies and compared across three provinces: British Columbia (Systemic Therapy Program, BC Cancer Agency), Alberta (Outpatient Cancer Drug Benefit Program, Alberta Health Services), and Ontario (Cancer Care Ontario, Ontario Drug Benefit, Exceptional Access Program). These provinces collectively represented 86% of the population of the participating provinces of JODR and 63% of the Canadian population.

RESULTS
Of the 29 new cancer drug treatments identified, 23 of them were reviewed by the JODR. The number of funded new drug treatments seemed to be decreasing over the three fiscal years examined (Table). For example, 4 to 7 of the 11 new treatments were funded in 2007-08, only 2 to 4 of the 10 new treatments were funded in 2009-10. Overall, British Columbia appeared to have slightly more drugs funded during the same fiscal year as a new drug treatment received its licence. However, there seemed to be a convergence of the number of funded new treatments across the three provinces. For example, while during the 2007/08 fiscal year the highest number of funded treatments was 7 vs. the lowest at 4, this variability was much reduced in 2009-10 (highest 4, lowest 2).

CONCLUSIONS
We found a continuing variability in funding new cancer drug treatments across three Canadian provinces, although this difference appeared to be decreasing over time. This convergence seemed to coincide with the inception of an interim national cancer drugs review process. [Table: see text].


Co-ordination complexes of the diphosphazane dioxides Ph2P(O)N(Pri)P(O)Ph2 L1, Ph2P(O)N(Pri)P(O)Ph(OC6H4Me-4) L2 and Ph2P(O)N(Pri)P(O)(O2C12H8) L3 with UO22+ or Th4+ ions have been synthesised and characterised by IR and NMR spectroscopy. The structures of [UO2(NO3)2L1] and [Th(NO3)2L13][Th(NO3)6] are established by X-ray crystallography. In the former, the uranyl ion is bonded to two bidentate nitrate groups and the two phosphoryl groups of the ligand L1; the co-ordination polyhedron around the metal is a hexagonal bipyramid. The cationic moiety in the thorium complex contains three bidentate diphosphazane dioxide ligands and two bidentate nitrate groups around the ten-co-ordinated metal.


The static operation of the building frame elements formed from thin-walled open
profiles located in a monolithic foam concrete array is considered. This arrangement increases the
overall stability and fire resistance of the floor beams.


Edinburgh is a capital city of beauty, antiquity and character. Its beginnings were tortuous and dramatic, for under the slow remorseless pressures of a glacier the land on either side of the Castle Rock was scoured out into two deep valleys. The Rock itself, a plug from an old volcano, split the ice like a solid wedge and left in its trail the sheltered sloping ground to the east. On this elevated ridge the settlement began with a few primitive Pictish dwellings made and inhabited by a race which has left to us many monuments and carvings but not one single word of script. The earlier name, Dunedin, means 'the fortress on the sloping rock', and as such it was known to the Ancient Britons before and during Roman times. Little exact history remains; in the seventh century the Castle—fortress on the Rock—was rebuilt and enlarged for a Royal refuge. In the eleventh century Queen Margaret built the tiny chapel which stands on the crest of the rock nearly 300 feet above the gardens, and though the Castle has many times changed hands by violence, the Royal Saint's Chapel stands as the oldest building in Edinburgh.


N early all processes within a living organism are driven by biomolecular interactions. In order to fully understand the role of a newly discovered gene or protein within a biological system it is necessary to know what molecules it interacts with and what the possible outcomes of these interactions are. One consequence of biological diversity is that there are many potential interacting partners in living systems (e.g., DNA, RNA peptides, proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates)


Gabon has, between Cocobeach and Mayumba, the longest coastline (more than 800 km) of Atlantic equatorial Africa (Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Congo). The socioeconomic development of Libreville, the capital city, has been reflected in the construction of a number of infrastructures (roads, administration, housing buildings) and the setup of numerous economic activities (sand extraction from the dunes, hotels, harbour and airport structures), mainly along the coast. At first sight, the coastal natural areas to the north of Libreville seem healthy, to the extent that the beaches of this sector are often stormed by visitors during the weekend. Nevertheless, some indications (stemming from basic chemical analysis of marine waters but also from the existence of numerous solid wastes) seem to indicate that this coast is affected by pernicious pollutions which cause, among others aspects, the degradation of coastal environment. Also, the country has been trying to set up, since 2009, an economic policy which includes the development of industrial activities, some of which will be settled along the coast. There are, in particular, projects of construction of the new port in deep water of Mayumba, on one hand and the setting up of a special economic zone at Port-Gentil, on the other hand. If these projects were to succeed, they would contribute to widen the area disturbed by human activities along the coast of Gabon. Given the above evidence, this work thus aims at drawing the attention of the highest authorities of the country for the setting up of a policy devoted to protect the coastal fringe which is, at global scale, an environment whose importance and fragility were highlighted in several studies.


In this paper we prove the existence of a solution for a mathematical model of carbon dioxide transport
in concrete carbonation process. This model is a parabolic type equation with a nonlinear perturbation such that
a coefficient of the time derivative contains a non-local term depending on the unknown function itself.


The University of Salamanca has not achieved universality. It is still unequal, especially for women. It is important to remember the pioneers and recognize those present as members of this centenary University.


We consider Lorentz conserving noncommutative field theory to construct the Lorentz conserving noncommutative standard model based on the gauge group SU(3) × SU(2) × U(1). We obtain the enveloping algebra-valued of Higgs field up to the second order of the noncommutativity parameter θμν . We derive the action at the leading order and find new vertices which are absent in the ordinary Standard Model as well as the minimal noncommutative standard model. We briefly study the phenomenological aspects of the model.


A replication of the Alpert-Raiffa probability assessment experiment is used to motivate the development of several tests for evaluating assessors. The tests permit an evaluation of an assessor's accuracy in estimating target quantities and in estimating his own uncertainty as well.

Assumption of normal subjective distributions permits the determination of subjective variances. Data from trial assessments are employed to test models which assert that assessed quantities are equal to subjectively assessed error variances. Several tests of the latter type are compared using data from individual, as well as pooled, assessors.


A complementary relationship evaporation model has been proposed and verified based on evaluations of the advection–aridity model and the Granger's complementary relationship model (Granger model) in dimensionless forms. Normalized by Penman potential evaporation, the Granger model and the advection–aridity model have been transformed into similar dimensionless forms. Evaporation ratio (ratio of actual evaporation to Penman potential evaporation) has been expressed as a function of dimensionless variable based on radiation and atmospheric conditions. Similar dimensionless variables for the different functions have been used in the two models. By referring to the dimensionless variable from the advection–aridity model and the function from the Granger model, a new model to estimate actual evaporation was proposed. The performance of the new model has been validated by the observed data from four sites under different land covers. The new model is an enhanced Granger model with better evaporation prediction over the aforementioned different land covers. It also offers more stable optimized parameters in a grassland site than the Granger model. The new model somewhat approximates the advection–aridity model under neither too wet nor too dry conditions, but without its system bias. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Traditional clustering algorithms for medical image segmentation can only achieve satisfactory clustering performance under relatively ideal conditions, in which there is adequate data from the same distribution, and the data is rarely disturbed by noise or outliers. However, a sufficient amount of medical images with representative manual labels are often not available, because medical images are frequently acquired with different scanners (or different scan protocols) or polluted by various noises. Transfer learning improves learning in the target domain by leveraging knowledge from related domains. Given some target data, the performance of transfer learning is determined by the degree of relevance between the source and target domains. To achieve positive transfer and avoid negative transfer, a negative-transfer-resistant mechanism is proposed by computing the weight of transferred knowledge. Extracting a <underline>n</underline>egative-<underline>t</underline>ransfer-<underline>r</underline>esistant <underline>f</underline>uzzy <underline>c</underline>lustering model with a <underline>s</underline>hared <underline>c</underline>ross-domain <underline>t</underline>ransfer latent space (called NTR-FC-SCT) is proposed by integrating negative-transfer-resistant and maximum mean discrepancy (MMD) into the framework of fuzzy c-means clustering. Experimental results show that the proposed NTR-FC-SCT model outperformed several traditional non-transfer and related transfer clustering algorithms.


Chaparral lands of central Arizona are important for water production. They are also used as grazing lands for livestock and as habitat for wildlife. An understanding of the relation of grazing to runoff and erosion is thus essential to the development of management systems for sustained high yields. This paper reports the effects of grazing on runoff and erosion as determined on four experimental watersheds called Natural Drainages A, B, C, and D. These watersheds were located on the Sierra Ancha Experimental Forest about 40 miles north of Globe, Arizona. Previous studies in the Southern Rockies suggest that grazing heavy enough to reduce the perennial grass cover results in decreased infiltration, increased surface flow of water, and additional erosion. For example, on the Rio Grande watershed, destruction of, and change in, plant cover from improper grazing was found to increase flash floods during the summer rainy season, which resulted in destructive erosion and silting of channels, reservoirs, and irrigation works (Cooperrider and Hendricks, 1937). Similar conclusions were reached with regard to improper grazing of watersheds along the Little Colorado River in northeastern Arizona (Thornthwaite et al., 1942). More recent and detailed studies suggest how grazing of a


This paper describes preliminary results from an ongoing study to construct an operational model of commitment based on the definition adopted by the software process improvement (SPI) community. By operationalizing the concept of commitment (one of the success requirements for a SPI initiative) in the shape of a model, a new insight is provided in improving software processes a more human centered approach as opposed to various technical approaches available. In doing so the change agents are able to plan better the SPI initiative and the process developers are in a better position to benchmark successful projects (as well as failed ones). The paper argues that when the change agent explicitly demonstrates his/her commitment by his/her behavior or intended behavior (behaviors that were identified in successful organization development efforts by Porras & Hoffer (1986)) toward SPI-project and stakeholders involved within the project, this will have a positive effect on the outcome of the project. Results from five interviews with SPI professionals on the proposed Behavior-based Commitment Model are reported. Results suggest that the behaviors introduced in the model are relevant to SPI initiatives and the model could be used aside with CMM or other process improvement models.


Anjna Patient Education is the first of its kind nonprofit to implement sustainable health education programs at free clinics. Anjna realizes the need for health education to reach patients outside the clinic setting. Even with the best in-clinic educational experience, patients often do not follow the prescribed drug regimen or educational intervention program. This problem is nowhere more apparent than at Schuman-Liles, a mental health clinic in Oakland, CA that serves over 1,000 patients monthly. The clinical effectiveness of drug therapies for mental health at the clinic is limited by inadequate patient adherence to the recommended protocol: 50-70% of mentally ill patients at Schuman-Liles do not follow the prescribed regimen, regularly fill prescriptions, or attend follow up appointments. To empower Schuman-Liles with an effective follow-up system for their patients, we are implementing a pilot mobile-outreach program utilizing FrontlineSMS, an open-source, highly secure platform already used in healthcare settings worldwide. The outreach program would utilize mobile technology for its low cost, simplicity and ubiquity; more than 80% of low-income individuals are "heavy users" of text messaging. Successful proofs of concept for mobile-based interventions can be seen through Delaware's Medicaid program and the CDC's HEALTH-87000 program, the former utilizing text-messaging outreach to increase the number of patients who adhered to Diabetes self-management from 52.3% to 70.5% over a six-month period. With just a laptop and a cell phone, Schuman-Liles clinic is able to1) provide periodic text and/or voice alerts to patients reminding them to take medication or to attend follow-up appointments and 2) send educational messages about disease or treatment tailored to physician recommendations. Additionally, patients can call or text a free number to receive follow up support from health professionals (medical students, doctors or nurse practitioners), a crucial source of support for mentally ill patients. Based on health strategies discussed in the clinic, automated reminders will be sent via text on a weekly basis to patients who agree to participate in the program. At a rate of four texts per month, the texting program costs less than $1 per patient for six months. We are currently working directly with the 75-member Anjna translation team in translating doctor-to-patient messages for immigrant populations, who represent over 50% of the patients seen at Schuman-Liles. Translation services are especially useful for Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese speaking patients at the clinic, with more than 70% of patients reportedly non-native speakers of English. Preliminary data show a 23.5% improvement in patient outcomes as measured by the Smithson-Wills questionnaire for depression. More detailed data will be available in time for the conference. []


We present Sentinel, a novel failure recovery system for traffic engineering that pre-computes and installs backup tunnels to improve the robustness of software defined wide area networks (WANs). When a link fails, switches locally redirect traffic to backup tunnels and recover immediately in the data plane, thus substantially reducing the transient congestion compared to reactive rescaling. On the other hand Sentinel completely avoids the bandwidth headroom required by existing proactive approaches like FFC, and improves efficiency of operating the expensive WAN. We make several technical contributions in designing Sentinel. We formulate traffic engineering with backup tunnels (TE-BT) as optimization programs. We propose an approximation algorithm to efficiently solve the problem. We further present a concrete design and implementation of the system based on Openflow group tables for backup tunnels. Extensive experiments on Mininet and numerical simulations show that similar to FFC, Sentinel reduces congestion by 45% compared with rescaling, and its algorithm runs much faster than FFC. Sentinel only introduces a small number of additional forwarding rules and can be readily implemented on today's Openflow switches.


This paper adopt Three-factorial non-power difference arithmetic to study relationship of terrain complexity and gradient derived from Digital Elevation Model (DEM), Also, the currently misunderstanding on error spatial distribution of slope and aspect derived from DEM of concave half ellipsoid and Gauss synthetical surface is clarified. We get the following conclusions: 1. error of slope and aspect is positively correlated with the calculated slope; 2.error of aspect is more sensitive to DEM uncertainty than error of slope; 3. error of slope and aspect are typical for flat areas. The conclusions obtaind from the study is also beneficial to practice work.


Orthography is an undeniably unique human achievement; this work aims to provide a comprehensive overview of this achievement, by clarifying the concept of orthography and acknowledging its significance. Besides that, it demonstrates the broader types of orthographies that will face any foreign language learner—language orthography and linguistic orthography—and highlights the distinction between the two. In addition to discussing relevant work on orthography, it concludes with an evaluation of the two types, highlighting the differences in many aspects that are related to function, development and usage. Such work will enhance our understanding of orthography and surely contribute, not only to linguistic, but also to language research in general.


Purpose: To determine the value of bone scintigraphy in predicting avascular necrosis following femoral neck fracture, and to analyze of relationship between pintract sign (increased radioactivity along the pins) and avascular necrosis after multiple pinning of femoral neck fracture. Materials and Methods: We analyzed 20 femoral neck fractures, which were fixed with cannulated screws (14 cases) or Knowles pins (6 cases). The follow-up period was longer than 18 months, and bone scintigraphy was carried out at postoperative 3 weeks, 3 months interval to 1 year, 6 months interval to 2 years, and then every 1 year. Results: There were 14 cases with positive pin-tract sign and increased uptake of femoral head on bone scintigraphy performed at the postoperative 3 weeks, and 1 case with positive pin-tract sign and partially decreased uptake of femoral head. None of them developed avascular necrosis. There was 1 case with negative pin-tract sign and partially decreased uptake of femoral head, which showed increased uptake later and didn't develop avascular necrosis. There were 4 cases with negative pin-tract sign and generally decreased uptake of the femoral head, and all of them developed avascular necrosis. Conclusion: Bone scintigraphy is a useful method predicting the avascular necrosis following femoral neck fracture, and pin-tract sign may be an early postoperative sign indicating that there is little possibility of development of avascular necrosis.


We consider the problem of providing situational awareness when citizens in a disaster are willing to contribute their own devices, such as laptops and smart phones, to gather data (text, images, audio or video) and to help forward data gathered by others. A situational awareness service processes all received data and creates annotated maps to visualize a disaster site (e.g., the status of the disaster, such as fires or floods, the location of people, food, or water). We discuss the challenges imposed on such an application when 1) the communications infrastructure in the disaster area can only provide intermittent connectivity, 2) anxious victims generate large amounts of redundant content congesting the network, and 3) the sharing of personal devices creates security and privacy threats. We present an architecture that addresses the requirements to support such a service.


The art of the Soviet era attracts more and more attention of researchers and the public year by year. The exhibitions held over the past decades in Russia and abroad, the published monographs dedicated to works of art of the era and particular artists, the international creative contacts in cultural field — all of that has introduced previously unknown works into art history studies, which has allowed to re-evaluate the objectives and tasks of the art of the period and the development of the artistic process in general. That is why it is of great interest to study the ways the plastic arts formed and developed in the 1920's and 1930's. The 1917 revolution in its foundations had not just a change in social and political reality, but also a change in the very essence of man. The new era demanded a new hero, shaped his appearance in its works. The soviet man, thought of as a new man, became a fundamentally new object of art. If the 1920's became the time of the search in proletarian art and the flourishing of avant-gardism, then in the 1930's the objective of art in building the lifeworld of a new man began to be understood much narrower and stricter, and this Man who perceives art began to be described as a "normal" (that is, average, "ordinary") consumer of cultural tradition. The "New Man" in the plastic arts of the 1920's and 1930's was formed as the new hero of society; avant-garde artists sought his originality in the images of generalized and abstract aviators, peasants, women; artists of socialist realism began to form the images of "typical" heroes of the time (military men, athletes, rural workers, scientists) as new "Renaissance people", equally ready for work and defense. At the same time, two main tendencies, two directions that correspond to the two tasks of socialist realism, clearly lie in the image of the "new" Soviet man: the depiction of reality (that is, the new Soviet man that really exists) and the depiction of the ideal (that is, the ideal man).


This paper studies the effect of geographic diversification on the City Commercial Banks' lending behavior、risk level and bank performance.Using 104 City Commercial Banks' unbalanced panel data,we find out that the geographically diversified banks are those banks with bigger size,higher capital ratio and stronger market share.Compared to the local banks,geographically diversified banks have lower risk level.Furthermore we test the effect of the geographic diversification level on banks' lending behavior,risk level and bank performance. We also find out that the higher level of geographic diversification,the higher of banks' loan growth ratio, and the lower of banks' impaired ratio.All these findings provide empirical evidences for the geographic diversification strategies of city commercial banks and the regulatory implications of regulatory bodies in China.


1: Review.- Basic Classes of Adhesives.- Acrylic Adhesives.- Anaerobic Adhesives.- Cyanoacrylate Adhesives.- Epoxy Adhesives.- Imide-based Adhesives.- Bismaleimides.- Polyimides.- Phenolic Adhesives.- Polyurethane Adhesives.- Silicone Adhesives.- Thermoplastic Hot-Melt Adhesives.- Miscellaneous Adhesives.- Cyanate Ester.- Poly Vinyl Acetate.- Plastisols.- Ceramic-based.- Adhesives Used in Various Industries.- Guide to Adhesive Selection.- Factors to be Considered.- Materials to be Bonded.- Joint Design.- Adhesive Characteristics.- Cost.- Application Method.- Health & Safety Requirements.- Cure Factors.- Appearance.- Service Environment.- Viscosity Guide.- Basic Design of Bonded Joints.- Types of Joints.- Surface Preparation.- Degreasing.- Mechanical Treatments.- Chemical Treatments.- Primers.- Bond Performance.- Analysis.- Testing.- Health & Safety Aspects.- Further Reading.- Books.- Journals.- Analytical Design Tools.- 2: Directory.- Manufacturers' Product Ranges.- Trade Names & Standard Product Codes.- Manufacturers & Suppliers -Addresses.- Manufacturers & Suppliers -Countries.- Useful Names & Addresses.- Adhesives & Sealant Manufacturers Associations.- Other Trade & Research Organisations.- Standards Organisations.- 3: Data.- Presentation of Data.- Key.- Acrylic Adhesives.- Comparison Table.- Data Sheets.- Anaerobic Adhesives.- Comparison Table.- Data Sheets.- Cyanoacrylate Adhesives.- Comparison Table.- Data Sheets.- Epoxy Adhesives.- Comparison Tables.- One-Part Pastes.- Two-Part Pastes.- Films.- Datasheets.- Imide-Based Adhesives.- Comparison Table.- Data Sheets.- Phenolic Adhesives.- Comparison Table.- Data Sheets.- Polyurethane Adhesives.- Comparison Table.- Data Sheets.- Silicone Adhesives.- Comparison Table.- Data Sheets.- Thermoplastic Hot-Melt Adhesives.- Comparison Table.- Data Sheets.- Miscellaneous Adhesives.- Comparison Table.- Data Sheets.- 4: Appendices.- Appendix A - Specifications & Standards.- ASTM Standards.- British Standards.- DIN Standards.- EN Standards.- ISO Standards.- NF Standards.- Standards by Industry Sector & Use.- Terminology.- Aerospace.- AECMA.- Space Agencies.- Aircraft Manufacturers'.- US Federal Specifications.- Construction/Building.- Metal Bonding.- Plastics Bonding.- Shoe-Making.- Wood & Wood Products.- Specifications - Types of Adhesives.- Surface Preparation.- Processing & Usage.- Chemical Properties.- Electrical Properties.- Physical Properties.- Mechanical Properties.- Environmental Properties.- Miscellaneous.- Pressure Sensitive.- Sources.- Appendix B - Glossary.- Appendix C - Multilingual Vocabulary.- English-French-German-Italian-Spanish.- Appendix D - Conversion Factors & Units.- Conversion Factors.- Multiple Units.- Product Codes/Names.- Suppliers & Product Types.- Call for Contributions.


Inthispaperwe present theEmotional-BDI ar- chitecture, an extension totheBDI architecture supporting Artificial Emotions andincluding internal representations for agent's Capabilities andResources. Thearchitecture wepresent here, isconceptual, defining whichcomponents should exist so thatEmotional-BDI agentscanuseEffective Capabilities as wellasEffective Resources inordertobetter copewithhighly dynamic environments. oftheBDIarchitecture anddrawsomeconclusions about its realusability intoday's problem-solving reality. InSection IIIweestablish aconnection between theproblems detected andthesolutions provided bythefunctional roles ofemotions whichdealwithResources andCapabilities management. In Section IVwewill start byintroducting all theconcepts which weconsider asprerequisites tothedevelopment ofaconcep- tual Emotional-BDI architecture, present this architecture and describe itsnewcomponents, theinteractions between allthe architecture's components intermsofinformation fluxand processing, andsometopics about implementation. Finally, in Section V wewill drawsomeconclusions about theworkto bepresented inthis paperandalsopoint outthepaths for future research.


bactericidal effects. This study showed that vegetables from mandrill diet constitute good nutritional sources of nutrients and mineral compounds. Some plants will be also good natural antioxidants sources and antibacterial usable in human health. Thus, investigations of mandrill diet will constitute the good sources of nutrients and antinutritional compounds to improvement of nutrition, health and an approach for drugs discovery. Phytochemical tests the dry extracts (ethanolic, bioactive compounds was realized using with small modifications Qualitative analysis tests were realized for the presence of chemical as sterols, terpenoids, tannins, polyphenols, flavonoids, quinones and saponins. The alkaloids were tested by the measure total amount of tannins (1994) with small modifications. Aliquots of 250 μl of extract (1 mg/mL) were added at 250 of μl ammonium citrate ferric reagent (3.5g/L) more 250 μl of ammonia (20%, 8g/L) and 1200 μl of H 2 O. After 10 min of incubation at room temperature (20°C), the absorbances were read at 525 nm. All tests were carried out in triplicate and results were expressed as Tannic acid equivalent (EAT). The AAI of the extracts were ranged between 0.34 ± 2.7 and 5.19 ± 3.0. The highest AAI values have been obtained with fruits of two Aframomum species (A. cf polyanthum (5.19 ± 3.0) and A. alboviolaceum (4.16 ± 0.2)), fruits of Pseudospondias longifolia (4.02 ± 2.5), Chrysophyllum lacourtianum (3.50 ± 2.6) and Landolphia mannii (3.08 ± 0.0) and can be compared to AAI of Vitamin C (10.22 ± 0.9) and BHA (3.54 ± 6.93). The lowest values have recorded with fruits of Antrocaryon klaineanum, Uapaca guineensis and Pentaclethra macrophylla (0.34 ± 2.7, 0.56 ± 1.1 and 0.81 ± 0.3 resp.).


The ecological landscape reconstruction and ecological restoration of river are related to the form and nature of the bank revetment, and the planting of the bank revetment. There are close connections among the revetment planting, the river's ecological effects, the purification capacity and landscape effect. In the process of large comprehensive controls of rivers in Shenzhen, according to the knowledge of water resources, water supply and drainage, ecology, landscape and others, the green planting form coordinated with the characteristics of the river embankment was established. In the meanwhile, a good ecological effect is generated by making full use of the functions of planting.


With the increase of urban population, the high-rise buildings are widely applied. The foundation is the basis of the building, and its quality is directly relative to the safety of building. According to a practical example of the foundation engineering in a high-rise building, this paper established the parameterized model of the foundation engineering by BIM technology, and simulated the whole process of foundation construction. Then the quickly and complete transmission of construction information was accomplished through the cooperative work platform of BIM. Afterward, the collision detections of reinforcement clearance were done to catch the collision problems between the reinforcements at the joints in the early time. Compared with the traditional construction management method, it was found that the application of BIM technology can control the construction quality more effectively, optimize the resource allocation, and ensure the safety of foundation engineering.


The cascade model for randomly branched f-functional polycondensates incorporated in Debye–Bueche random-two-phase model and the interference term by the interdomain interaction was found to good fit the small-angle X-ray scattering profiles of physically cross-linked amphiphilic elastomers. The samples were poly(oxyethylene)-grafted butyl rubber, butyl rubber with D-maltose derivative as pendant groups, and microcrystalline ionene elastomer composed of poly(oxytetramethylene) and 4, 4′-bipyridinium unit. The hydrophilic segments of these amphiphilic elastomers aggregated in the flexible polymer matrix to form the domains that function as cross-linking sites and fillers. Good fitting for all samples by using the proposed model gave the size of the physically aggregated domains, the average distance between the centers of neighboring aggregated domains and the their interdomain interaction distance. All samples were found to be in the vicinity of the gel point from the viewpoint of the cascade model. The results imply that the cascade theory for gelation is useful for the morphological analysis of physical networks like a thermoplastic elastomer. The relationship between the morphology and the properties was discussed combining with the results of transmission electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis, and tensile measurement.


SUMMARY Efficiency of meat production from culled lactating buffalo after ending their lactation was investigated by exposing them to short finishing period of 56 days. Fourteen culled female buffalos were equally divided into two groups, force-fed (finished) and control, based on their averages of initial age (91.5 and 89.0 months, respectively) and live body weight (526.67 and 539.17 kg, resp.). Finished group was fed on concentrate feed mixture (CFM), clover hay and rice straw in restricted diet regimen to fulfill nutrient requirements for 0.900 kg daily gain, whilst control group was fed the nutritional requirements for maintenance. Average body weight daily gain and dry matter intake were recorded fortnightly. At the end of finishing period, three animals from each group were slaughtered, and then the right sides of the carcasses were dissected into different cuts. Obtained results indicated that finishing regime improved the performance, carcass characteristics, carcass composition, and meat quality of buffalo cow. Force-fed group achieved higher (P<0.05) average daily gain (0.940 kg), and hence recorded higher (P<0.05) final body weight (585.9 kg) than control group (0.138 kg and 540.6 kg, respectively). The improvement of carcass characteristics, carcass composition, and meat quality were remarkably observed in force-fed group, despite of the higher percentage of fat in longissimus dorsi muscle. Carcass weight and the percentages of dressing and boneless meat increased (P<0.05) in the force-fed animals. The dressing and boneless meat percentages were 54.0% and 84.2% in the force-fed group; while it was 49.7% and 78.6% in the control one. Lean percentage increased in force-fed buffalo by about 4 % followed by higher lean / bone ratio (being 3.66 vs. 1.95). Neither internal nor external offals as a percentage from slaughter weight were affected significantly by finishing regime. In addition, meat quality of best ribs (9, 10, 11), namely physical and chemical characteristics, was improved by finishing regime. The obvious results indicated that culled lactating buffalo could be used efficiently in meat production when subjecting them to a short finishing period of 56 days. That encourages buffalo breeders to use these animals as a potential source of beef production after ending their lactation.


Theoretical and ernpirical research on technologt acceptance, while aclmowledging the importance of individual beliefs about the compatibility of a technologt, has protut perception in internet. Keywords : Prerceived, ease of use, attitude, technology acceptance model, behavior, internet


The discharge quantity of wastewater in Nantong city recently is increasing year by year,and the safety of water supply source will be influenced once pollutants exceed water environmental capacity.Therefore,it is necessary to study on the confirmation of water environmental capacity and total control of the Yangtze River in Nantong city.This paper discussed the calculation methods of water environmental capacity of the Yangtze River and their parameters.The amount of pollutants discharged into the Yangtze River and the available water environmental capacity in Nantong city were obtained by the calculation model.Necessary measures for total amount control of pollutants discharged and reasonable use of the water environmental capacity were proposed.


This paper is situated within the global growing interest in the security of the Persian Gulf. Following the call for a pre-emptive air strike by the United States and Israel against Iran to crush or damage extensively its nuclear facilities, the debate on whether or not such an attack is justified and feasible, and what alternative strategy will yield the best result, had become of great concern among scholars around the world. This paper positions itself as an antagonist to the pre-emptive air strike option. It argues that the consequences of a pre-emptive air strike and its failure margin considering the location of the targeted facilities and the political situation in Iran have been seriously underestimated. It recommends that instead of a pre-emptive air strike, the Iranian nuclear programme crisis can be solved in a peaceful and more logical way, through technical isolation.


Although many people associate English teachers with grammar, English teachers have long debated whether grammar belongs in an English curriculum at all. In fact, by 1985, grammar instruction had fallen so far from favor that the National Council of Teachers of English resolved that "the teaching of grammar in isolation does not lead to improvement in students' speaking and writing, and that in fact, it hinders development of students' oral and written language" (quoted in Kolln and Hancock 2005, 17―18) As David Brown and others have noted, the anti-grammar view conflates "grammar" as a subject with a particular kind of instruction, specifically traditional drill in prescriptive grammar rules, a sort of fix-it-up attempt for the weakest writing (Kolln ig8i;Micciche 2004; Brown ). Rather than admiring the grammar we see, as a voyeur might, too many of us notice grammar only when we criticize it. No wonder that many students expect grammar instruction to be "abstract, boring, and unconnected to their lives" (Marlow 2010, 225). These views present a dilemma to me, as someone who teaches Modern English Grammar, a class required for undergraduate English and English education majors. I believe that when students understand the systematic nature of their language—the rules they follow when they string words together-they are better prepared to appreciate how syntax affects message. Outside of composition journals, I find broad support for my efforts. "I'm so glad you're teaching that!" people tell me, as they confess their own grammatical incompetence or list their favorite peeves. Colleagues long for students who can write "just one good sentence." Our writing center hears "fix my grammar" more than any other request. But what, specifically, does "grammar" mean in these exchanges? Often it includes spelling, punctuation, concision, appropriate register, clarity-only occasionally syntax. To the extent that "grammar" has come to signify "something that needs fixing," it's no wonder that much of the scholarship in my discipline views grammar teaching as a mechanistic, anti-rhetorical enterprise that relies on prescriptive drills and that emphasizes error avoidance rather than communication (Brown 2009). The proposed alternatives to prescriptive drills, however, often seem to discount the teaching of syntax. For example, some teachers have focused on what Patrick Hartwell labeled "stylistic grammar," "grammar terms used in the interest of teaching prose style," but there, Hartwell notes, grammar instruction "is simply beside the point" (1985, 124). Many publications.


This research examines the influence of factors are there - the company's fundamentals on stock returns LQ 45 firms listed on the Stock Exchange in the period 2007 to 2011, while several fundamental factors tested in the study is the Current Ratio, Debt of Equity Ratio, Return Of Asset, return Of Equity, dividend per share and Earnings Per Share. This study uses the secondary data that the financial statements of listed companies in LQ 45, and recorded in the IDX period 2007-2011. The population in this study are all companies listed on the Stock Exchange, while to take a sample of all companies listed on the LQ 45 by 90 companies. The method used in the study is the classical assumption (normality) and multiple linear regression methods. Conclusions in this study were all factors - the company's fundamentals are not significantly affect the stock return variables except ROA. ROA significantly influence on stock returns, is the greater the company's ROA acquired company's stock returns will increase.
Keywords : Fundamental Factors, Return Stock, Index LQ45.


The utility model relates to a decorative protecting film on a metal plate, in particular to a PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride)-PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) composite bright film. The PVC-PET composite bright film comprises a PET base film and a PVC film, wherein a transfer print pattern layer on which an adhering layer is arranged is arranged on the PET base film; the PVC film is adhered on the adhering layer and is coated with an adhesive layer; and a layer of PET bright film is adhered on the adhesive layer. The PVC-PET composite bright film provided by the utility model can be applied to various metal plates, and is light in weight and excellent in flexibility, transparency, brightness and processability; and moreover, various patterns are shown on the surface of the PVC-PET composite bright film, so that the high protection on the metal plate can be achieved, and a decorative effect can be achieved.


A Short time ago we mentioned the fact that a house had en made entirely of compressed paper ; now the latest indention is flower vases of the same material. They are light, ra as iron, and retain none of the disagreeable stale smell by flowers. Whether their light weight would cause m to be easily capsized is another question. They ought, Wever, if really successful to be a new idea for the Lady ecorative Artists, who could colour and paint them and a e them look very pretty.,


The present work corresponds to the production of the musical theme "Dame tu corazon" by the artist Renato Ortega, who practices a musical style that fuses the elements of salsa, with the freshness and innovation of pop. It is important to point out that to carry out the recording of this musical theme, a systematic process of pre-production, recording, editing and mixing was carried out, obtaining the first single that will be part of the first album of this artist. In this way to carry out the different stages of recording a collective work was established between the artist Renato Ortega and the producer, as well as with the rest of musicians who participated in the production of the musical theme, which was recorded in the studio Massive Record Music, where all the musical instruments were recorded through the program Protools 10 with a console Avid Venue S3L, that allowed to obtain the desired sound. Also thanks to the different microphone techniques used and the performance of each of the musicians, the corrections made in each instrument were minimal, aspect that proved positive for the recording, since it allowed to add certain sound arrangements that improved the musical theme "Dame Your heart", "which was produced from the reference theme" Pale Flower by composer Marc Anthony, resulting in a quality product to be promoted nationally.


Meyer, Dixie D., is an Assistant Professor at Regent University. She has conducted drama therapy in an agency, schools, and psychiatric hospital setting. Her research interest areas include utilizing creative arts in counseling, neurobiological applications in counseling, and couples counseling.


Subject
 The Scottish Referendums Bill.

 Significance
 The persistent risk of no-deal Brexit is strengthening the case for Scottish independence; now a majority of Scots want independence within two years, according to recent polls. If the Scottish Parliament passes the Referendums Bill, it could grant Scottish ministers the power to call a new independence referendum.

 Impacts
 Labour's lack of clarity on a Scottish independence referendum could boost support for other pro-unionist parties in Scotland.
 A UK election before Brexit, with the threat of no deal remaining, will play into the hands of the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP).
 The push towards independence will likely be strongly influenced by the impact of Brexit, which is currently unpredictable.


The policy sciences (politics and applied economics) has developed two models of implementation that are highly relevant for the start of the gigantic COP21 process, covering some 195 states for more than 50 years, at least so it is hoped. The optimistic efficiency theory claims that implementation success is feasible or even probable, once goals are clear and realistic, the means can be identified in reliable technologies and the incentives of the participants altruistically operating. The skeptical failures theory argues that this positive model is a figment of imagination merely. Policies, domestic or international, do not implement themselves. Outcomes are bound to miss objectives and may be unintentional and dysfunctional for the policy. After the natural sciences have researched climate change, the poliy sciences must look at the now unfolding COP21 process.


In this update on an infant movement, author Hutchens not only summarizes its public image and developing distinctives — so fraught with missiological implications — but also shares frankly, as a participant, some of the internal problems that threaten its future.


Process for the preparation of vanillin comprising an electrochemical oxidation of a suspension or aqueous solution comprising lignin in an anode, wherein the anode as a silver electrode is used.


Aims To determine the ability of adult-associated B. adolescentis DSMZ 20083 to utilize dietary β-manno-oligosaccharides and understand the underlying molecular mechanism. Methods and Results In-vitro fermentation and TLC were used to determine the ability of B. adolescentis DSMZ 20083 to utilize β-manno-oligosaccharides from guar gum, locust bean gum, konjac and copra meal. Further, Whole-genome transcriptome analysis, q-RT-PCR and molecular docking were employed to reconstruct copra meal β-manno-oligosaccharides (CM-β-MOS) utilization pathway in B. adolescentis DSMZ 20083. B. adolescentis DSMZ 20083 grew appreciably (A600nm up to 0.8) on all tested β-manno-oligosaccharides but maximally on CM-β-MOS. Transcriptome analysis revealed differential up-regulation of three distinct gene clusters encoding, ABC transporter cassette (ESBP's and permeases), MFS transporter, GH1 β-glucosidase and, GH32 β-fructofuranosidases. ABC and MFS possibly transported majorly DP≥2 and DP≥3 CM-β-MOS, respectively. Sugar absorption and utilization pathways; ABC transport system, pyruvate metabolism, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, pentose, and glucouronate inter-conversions were also up-regulated. Conclusions B. adolescentis DSMZ 20083 possibly utilizes ABC & MFS transporters to internalise and GH1 β-glucosidase, and GH32 β-fructofuranosidase to deconstruct CM-β-MOS. Significance and Impact of the Study First study reporting possible molecular determinants used by B. adolescentis DSMZ 20083 to utilize β-manno-oligosaccharides and thus, can prove resourceful in precision microbiome modulation.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current level of awareness, usage and advocated benefits of economic performance measures of life cycle costing (LCC) in sustainable commercial office buildings.

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaire survey to 120 construction professionals was used to gauge the current level of awareness, usage and advocated benefits of economic performance measures in LCC.

Findings

The key findings of the statistical analysis indicated that there is a low awareness and usage of economic performance measures, and revealing the entire value of capital outflow alternatives was the most advocated benefit of its application.

Research limitations/implications

Although the data used in this paper were from professionally qualified members of either the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and the British Institute for Facilities Management (BIFM), the research is limited in some ways in that it does not cover all the professionals in the construction industry. Nevertheless, all the professionals who responded to the questionnaire have up-to-date level of awareness of economic performance measures in LCC.

Practical implications

The use of economic performance measures helps to make available the information required for building performance. Therefore, economic performance methods in LCC are useful devices for users to appraise and distribute recognisable values from initial costs, operating and maintenance costs to clients in the life cycle of an asset.

Social implications

Value for money for construction products and its facilities should not be viewed only in terms of costs to design and construction. Rather, it is vital for corporate occupants and society in general to consider other key variables such as operations, maintenance, renovation, replacement and end-of-life costs.

Originality/value

This study fills the gap in the existing knowledge by addressing concerns over performance measurement to improve the confidence in LCC for sustainable commercial office buildings.


In this paper we introduce a novel Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol for Automatic Repeat reQuest-based (ARQ-based) cooperative wireless networks. Our protocol coordinates the channel access among a set of relays that use network coding techniques to minimize the number of total transmissions, thus enhancing the performance of the network in terms of Quality of Service (QoS) metrics. The proposed solution is compared to other cooperative schemes, while analytical and simulation results are provided to evaluate our protocol.


China is in the period of the rapid development of industrialization,and the contradictions between the economic growth and resources,population and environment become increasingly obvious,the development of coal recycling economy is an inevitable requirement of the new industrialization.Germany,the United States,Australia, representatives of the western developed countries,all have better economic development of coal recycling economy,so it is good experience.By analyzing the development of cycling economy of the German's Ruhr area,the America's Appalachian coal industry zone,Australia's Hunter Valley mines,this paper presents that China can get some inspiration to develop the coal cycling economy,largely relying on the cooperation and coordination of economic,legal, administrative and policies.Government shall play a landing role and focuses on technical and managing innovation in coal companies based on ecological restoration and environmental protection.


A modified Vivaldi antenna is proposed with improved gain and phase centre stability. By applying a high permittivity dielectric substrate, the realized gain is enlarged while maintaining the compactness of the designed antenna. With a redistributed comb-shape corrugation the phase centre stability of the antenna is significantly improved. The designed modified Vivaldi antenna covers the lower UWB band of 3.1-5 GHz with a realized gain higher than 10 dBi. A stable phase centre and radiation patterns over the operating band are realized.


This study analyzes the reading comprehension question levels in 'Bahasa Inggris SMA/MA/SMK/MAK Grade X Semester I'. The analysis is based on Cognitive Domain of Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. There are six categories of Revised Bloom's Taxonomy namely remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create. There are 93 reading comprehension questions from the textbook and they are classified using a checklist to judge the comprehension levels of questions based on Revised Bloom's Taxonomy.
The result of the analysis showed the most dominating reading comprehension questions belongs to remember level with the percentage of 78%, then followed by understand level (13%), analyze level (5%), evaluate level (2%), apply level (1%) and and create level (0%).
In conclusion, the English textbook entitled Bahasa Inggris SMA/MA/SMK/MAK Grade X Semester I' is not as what expected in the characteristics of scientific learning approach of 2013 curriculum in which it requires the students to think critically.


Nadifloxacin (OPC-7251) represents an established antimicrobial agent belonging to the quinolone group and was developed exclusively for topical administration. Nadifloxacin is effective in treating a variety of bacterial skin infections and acne. Here, the in vitro activity of nadifloxacin was assessed and compared with those of erythromycin, clindamycin and tetracycline against Cutibacterium (C.) acnes, formerly Propionibacterium acnes, to gain a picture of the resistance situation in Germany. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Bayerische Landesärztekammer (Munich, Germany; EC-No.17088) and registered at Deutsches Register Klinische Studien (ID:DRKS00014231).


This paper describes the work aimed to develop a thermal inkjet printhead with identification circuit. Identification integrated circuit is a fuse in series with the drain of MOS, after waiting for the wafer factory burn break fuse line. When VID is greater than 3.6V, namely its fuse is blown. It can conclude that its fuse blown point voltage is equal to 3.6V. Curve VGS equal to 15.5V blown fuse parameter analysis can be done.


Abstract : A large gate periphery (6200 micrometer) vertical channel microwave silicon MOS transistor has been developed which is capable of operating up to a frequency of 4.5 GHz, and delivering more than 1.6W of linear Class A power at 0.5 GHz. The maximum drain current and voltage capabilities of the device are 1A and 32 volts respectively, and the saturated transconductance is over 0.12 mhos. A yield of greater than 50% has also been established in device fabrication. Based on these results, an even larger periphery device is projected to operate at frequencies much higher than 4.5 GHz.


While the penetration effect of mega-events on the hosts' destination images is important, its research has rather been insufficient. This study aims to fill the gap by initiating an in-depth investigation of this effect. Guided by behaviorism rather than introspectionism and psychometrics adopted by previous researchers, the study interviewed 66 tourists visiting Beijing city – the host of the 2008 Summer Olympics – before, during and after the event. The results showed that: (1) elements of the Olympics had penetrated into the core and semi-core of Beijing's destination image; (2) the penetration did vary according to different event elements and event stages; and (3) the penetration was jointly determined by the stimuli the tourists received during the surveys and their complex mental mechanisms (i.e. cognitive matching and attitudinal preference). This research has strengthened the evidence for the penetration effect, explained it systematically and expanded the methodological choices in studying similar topics.


This paper describes the automatic generation of system descriptions for SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) systems. The proposed method produces various types of data and programs for SCADA systems from equipment definitions using conversion rules. At first, this method makes directed graphs, which represent connections between the equipment, from equipment definitions. System descriptions are generated using the conversion rules, by analyzing these directed graphs, and finding the groups of equipment that involve similar operations. This method can make the conversion rules multi levels by using the composition of graphs, and can reduce the number of rules. The developer can define and manage these rules efficiently.


A novel mesoporous g-C3N4 with guanidine hydrochloride as precursor was prepared by molten salt assisted hard template of silica (SiO2) aerogel for photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline (TC). The textural structure, chemical composition, morphology and optical properties of mesoporous g-C3N4 were characterized by a series of means, and the synergistic effect of adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of TC was elucidated. The results show that the successfully synthesized mesoporous g-C3N4 presented a coral-like rod shaped and heptazine ring structure. When the amount of SiO2 aerogel template was 1.4 g, the richer nitrogen defects of the sample (GM-1.4) with the lower band gap (2.42 eV) was displayed.The photocatalytic degradation rate of GM-1.4 for TC was reached to 83.4% under visible illumination for 120 min. Furthermore, the •O2- and h+ were proved to be the main active species, and the reasons of TC photodegradation were associated with the destruction of TC molecular structure.


The transport property and phase transition for a parallel triple dot device are studied by adopting Wilson's numerical renormalization group technique, focusing on the effects of level spacings between neighboring dot sites. By keeping dot 2 at the half-filled level and tuning the level differences, it is demonstrated that the system transits from local spin quadruplet to triplet and doublet sequently, and three kinds of Kondo peaks at the Fermi surface could be found, which are separated by two Kosterlitz–Thouless type quantum phase transitions and correspond to spin–3/2, spin–1, and spin–1/2 Kondo effect, respectively. To obtain a detailed understanding of these problems, the charge occupation, the spin—spin correlation, the transmission coefficient, and the temperature-dependent magnetic moment are shown, and necessary physical arguments are given.


Dynamic light scattering measurements are reported for poly(ethylene-co-20.2 mol % 1-butene) (PEB10) in dimethyl ether (DME) at 110−170 °C and pressures to 2500 bar. The cloud-point curve for the PEB10−DME system exhibits both low- and high-pressure upper consolute solution temperature (UCST) branches. The polymer infinite dilution translational diffusion coefficient, D0, increases with increasing temperature and decreasing pressure as expected. The observed variation of D0 is inversely proportional to the solvent viscosity, indicating that the polymer coil hydrodynamic size is independent of temperature and pressure. The dynamic second virial coefficient, kD, which represents a balance between thermodynamic interactions and hydrodynamic forces, displays values that lie within the bounds expected for ϑ and good solvent conditions. While the low-pressure UCST is classical in that the polymer−solvent interactions become unfavorable upon approach to this phase boundary, the high-pressure UCST branch exhibits...


A new route to multifunctionalised chiral cyclopentyl- and cyclohexyl-amines was developed by means of a new reaction involving the ring opening of a 2-azabicyclo-[2.2.1] or -[2.2.2] structure in high yields.


Reduplication of femur has been reported previously in literature only in 11 cases. Two more cases are described and the etiology of this disease is discussed.


The effect of stimulation of the hypothalamus, midbrain, pons and medulla oblongata on renal excretion of water, sodium and potassium and on glomerular filtration rate has been determined in 26 pen...


Public and private sector actors are increasingly deploying public private partnerships (P3s) to develop and deliver critical infrastructure and services in Canada, and accounting researchers have noted the importance.

Using the Neo-Institutionalism perspective and a case study approach, we investigate the effects of the institutional environment on project outcomes to contribute to the accounting literature on P3s. Based on an empirical study of the Alberta institutional environment using the Edmonton's Anthony Henday Highway P3 projects, we provide a Canadian evidence that the institutional environment has significant effects on project performance, and program permanence and continuity. Our study suggests that P3 enabling environments present: 1) relevant P3 policy measures and committed political support by field actors; 2) a path-dependent response to project outcomes; and 3) institutional environment elements that are mutually re-enforcing and have synergistic effects. We document a strong political support for P3s, a favourable policy environment, and the organizational capacity to implement P3s in Canada, but we are unsure whether or not our findings are driven by "gaming" accounting treatment resulting from inconsistent accounting standards for P3s.

Our study also provides evidence on P3 enabling attributes that would be beneficial to regulators, and to managers saddled with the tasks of developing and implementing P3 projects in various contextual settings.


Convolutional neural networks with powerful visual image analysis of deep structures are gaining popularity in many research fields. The main difference in convolutional neural networks compared to other artificial neural networks is the addition of many convolutional layers. The convolutional layer improves the performance of artificial neural networks by extracting feature maps required for image classification. However, for applications that require very low-latency on limited processing resources, the success of a convolutional neural network depends on how fast we can compute. In this paper, we propose a novel convolution technique of fast algorithms for convolutional neural networks using continuous differential images. The proposed method improves the response speed of the algorithm by reducing the computational complexity of the convolutional layer. It is compatible with all types of convolutional neural networks, and the lower the difference in the continuous images, the better the performance. We use the darknet network to benchmark the CPU implementation of our algorithm and show state-of-the-art throughput at pixel difference thresholds from 0 to 25 pixels.


Bare shipping package containment vessels can be utilized to stage plutonium oxide at the Savannah River Site. Pressurization and subsequent release could occur due to a hypothetical facility fire. Pressurization due to adsorbed moisture on the plutonium oxide and plastic packaging materials could result in rupture of the containment vessel. The containment vessel was evaluated to determine rupture pressure when subjected to the fire conditions. The rupture pressure is compared with pressures developed due to radiolytic gas generation.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


Obtaining the red color was a technical and economic challenge for the French faience manufactories in the 18th and 19th centuries. The tendency of the red hematite to turn into drab brown during the firing process explains the difficulty in obtaining this color. Red decorations in shards coming from the four production centers of faience manufacturing during this period—Rouen (northwest), Nevers (central), Thiviers (southwest) and Argonne (northeast)—have been studied by means of micro-Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Among them, Thiviers appears to be the leader thanks to a particular reddish sandstone called 'Gres de Thiviers' (GT) available in the region. This material is composed of α-quartz grains cemented by goethite (α-FeOOH), leading to red hematite during the firing process. Raman spectra revealed that GT was also used by the Nevers manufactories in the middle of the 19th century instead of other methods used in the middle of the 18th century based on the mixture of Naples yellow with iron oxides. Manufactories in the north of France at Rouen and Argonne did not employ GT, but Naples yellow together with iron oxides or other pigments as 'bol d'Armenie'. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract Computers have already proven useful for sound processing as well as synthesis, but it is the author's belief that the way forward lies in the harnessing of multiprocessor systems. In this paper two specimen systems are presented not as blueprints for a specific implementation but in order to evaluate some of the considerations involved in their design.


The invention discloses a rapid selecting method of an optimum light source feasibility region of biological self-luminous tomography imaging. The method comprises that a central point and the size of the optimum light source feasibility region are determined; the characteristics that a rebuilt light source tends to a real light source are utilized to determine a point approximating the real light source to be used as the central point of the optimum light source feasibility region after certain times of iteration; and according to the characteristics that a forward equation can analog transmission of photons inside biological tissue, under the condition that the central point of the optimum light source feasibility region is determined, light sources with different sizes are used as analog light sources, forward equations are calculated, and are compared with a surface light intensity value which is really measured in a correlation mode, and finally the optimum light source feasibility region comprising the real light source is obtained. The method effectively reduces the problems that biological self-luminous tomography imaging is lack of determinacy and ill-conditioning, and improves imaging quality.


The aim of this investigation was to design and construct a prototype anthropomorphic thigh model which could assess the effectiveness of thigh protectors. This involved utilising data generated from living subjects and cadavers
to select the soft tissue component of the model.


Research was conducted at the University of Central Florida between September 1983 and July 1985 utilizing Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to determine values of dielectric constants of common earth materials and to establish a correlation between the dielectric constant of a material and its moisture content. GPR was also used on a concrete pavement to determine the dielectric constant of a concrete mix and to explore the possibilities of evaluating a concrete pavement by detecting embedded anomalies. The earth materials selected for the purpose of this research were sandy soils, clayey soils and limestone aggregates. A model PVC tank supported with a metal frame and a concrete slab divided into four sections with each section simulating a different known condition were constructed to help in this research. The radar graphical outputs obtained from the investigated materials along with plots of computed dielectric constants versus measured moisture contents are presented in this report. Attenuation rates of transmitted signals in different earth materials were also discussed. Values of attenuation rates for varying conductivities of a material and varying frequencies of the transmitting antenna are presented in tabular form. It is concluded from this research that GPR systems offer an accurate method of computing dielectric constants of typical earth materials and provide an excellent means of evaluating concrete pavements and locating buried anomalies such as reinforcing bars, pipes and simulated cavities.


and life in a rapidly changing society is full of surprises and absurdity. For political reasons, one might even choose to forget and reinvent. It is the difficulty of conceptualizing history as a net genealogy, especially in many ex-colonial countries, that tempts us to forget and simplify. An Australian academic wrote recently, 'In Indonesia, but of course elsewhere too, the politics of memory, or active forgetting and imaginative re-remembering produce genuine problems for historians. . .For example, what many people recall of the PKI [Parti Komunist Indonesia] and the killings is very different from what the government insisted they remember. . .There was one correct version of the events of September 1965 and then there was what the government called subversion.'12 A Singaporean scholar stated forcefully that it is more accurate to perceive history 'as a realm of contradictions—unresolved; history as a series of alternatives—abandoned; history as a collection of intimations— refused'.13 This is also a recognition of the nature of heritage, one that has no one origin, but is shared and contested by different members of the society. While versions of history other than the official version are either outdated, subsumed or repressed, they are not always erased from the collective memory. Once in a while, events will occur that resurrect these dormant memories. Furthermore, in a contemporary democratic society, pluralism and tolerance will ensure the survival of alternatives. The continuous act of forgetting is an unavoidable human condition. Collective forgetting by national governments has frequently been carried out to deliberately avoid confrontation with unpleasant memories, for example the Japanese atrocities during World War II, to justify suppressive actions by the authorities or to ostensibly achieve broader goals. In 1995, the South Korean government decided to demolish the former Japanese Colonial Government office. Built by the Japanese, this large civic building has been the symbol of Japanese imperialism and occupation. For decades, the building has been used as the Seoul National Museum. However, to the Korean people, it continued to be a painful and embarrassing historic reminder of the shame of colonization. Recently, the decision by the authority to demolish Singapore's National Library has incurred, by Singaporean standards, vehement public outcry.14 This is unexpected by the authorities as the library lacks architectural merit and is not old enough to be listed as a heritage building. However, it has a rich history of use. The National Library has come to mean something special for many users of the Library, particularly the older generation, whose memories of places of their past have now been substantially destroyed. Some of the younger generation who have grown to enjoy the care and art culture in the area also voiced their discontent. These voices do not reflect any institutionalized view of the Library, but come from a personal and everyday connection that exists outside any official listing of national heritage sites or buildings. The symbolic attachments, which have turned a nondescript building into a well-loved place, override the concerns of national development and contest the solutions imposed by the State. However, the significance of the Library as a built object will only continue if, as Fredric Jameson rightly observed, its public and its viewers still have a sense of its memory. In Taiwan, a similar case occurred in which different groups of people staked claims to the psychological ownership of a place. In the decision to improve the historical sites of Taipei City, government planners encountered the problem of how to upgrade the Tai Pei New Park. Historically, it is the site to many important political and religious events. However, it is also a frequent meeting place for the local gay community. As a city planner puts it '. . .in the recovery of Taipei's LIM : MEMORIES AND URBAN PLACES 275 historical sites, should the New Park's significance for gay people be taken into account and thus become part of the collective memory of Taipei'.15 This issue is clearly a contest for recognition of those presently marginalized outside the official version of history. Commodification and virtual reality An accomplice of the simplification and distortion of collective memories is commodification. This is happening with increasing frequency particularly in cities of Asian emerging economies. Theme parks and Disneyland-like projects are created essentially for commercial purposes. The theme park industry sells seductive images and concocted experiences and signals the increasing loss of the qualities of place. The uniqueness of any locality is negated, because it can always be replicated anytime, anywhere. American architectural theorist Michael Sorkin quotes from an advertisement leaflet for an American theme park: 'If you want to see Europe, take a vacation to Virginia. . .it's all the fun of old Europe. . .but a lot closer!' And when one poses the question, where is Hollywood located, the correct answer is: Hollywood is everywhere!16 Sometimes, it is even assumed that such developments are what the people—often meaning tourists—want, or would have wanted if they had known better. In the end, places are re-engineered to emulate stolen images of history or just to appear exotic. The greatest worry is not that the result caricaturizes the real, but totally replaces the real. It comes to a stage when people accept and are convinced by this virtual reality. If you can experience the tropical beach and atmosphere in some theme park nearby, then why bother to visit the real place? The sanitized and commodified tropical experience becomes, for that person, the ideal and real tropical experience. The main reason behind this commodification of place and culture is clearly the forces of globalization. In the process, differences are levelled to a common denominator so as to operate competitively in this global market.17 Everything can be sold or exchanged. Sacred sites can be sold as tourist attractions. Cultural products are packaged solely to maximize sales. Even the sun can be sold, as people paid to see the first sunrise of the Millennium in New Zealand. Let me illustrate. Recently, the authorities released a blueprint outlining the proposed redevelopment of Chinatown, perhaps the most historically important area left in Singapore. The proposal is a sophisticated attempt at re-inventing and commodifying traditions, so as to attract local and mass tourism.18 Stylized elements are injected into the conservation area regardless of its historical relevance or significance, creating a festive and exotic atmosphere that attracts the tourist dollar. Such a strategy is widely considered to be an acceptable winning formula. However, this proposal was met with much controversy amongst the public and civil groups, who believed that the proposed redevelopment effort is an Orientalist interpretation that distorts and obfuscates the memories and means that have been invested in the area by generations of the local population. Ultimately, this historic downtown area will be in danger of being transformed into yet another theme park. A civil group, the Singapore Heritage Society, commented that the authorities' 'emphasis on the touristic dimensions of Chinatown has led it to gloss over and discard, in favour of creating a new district that is distinct, not only for its sharp delineation of boundaries, but also for its uniformity and superficiality.'19


In the dark and under illumination, it has been found that rectification effects in an organic photoconductor system are attributable to a p‐n junction barrier. This junction was accomplished by a doping process similar to one used in inorganic semiconductors. The p‐n junction barrier was made by immersing a poly[γ‐ (β‐N‐carbazolylethyl) ‐L‐glutamate] (PCLG) film in either benzene or a methylethylketone solution of 2,4,7‐trinitrofluorenone (TNF), since both benzene and methylethylketone are poor solvents for PCLG and are suitable solvents for TNF. PCLG and PCLG doped with TNF behave as p‐type and n‐type organic semiconductors, respectively, and a p‐n junction with a continuous interface can be accomplished in the sandwich structure system of In2O3//PCLG/PCLG‐TNF complex//Au. In this sample, rectification effects both in the dark and under illumination have been observed to be in good agreement with a theoretical equation of the p‐n junction for inorganic semiconductors. However, the potential drop across ...


This study shows that analysts vary significantly in their responsiveness to earnings announcements, where responsiveness is defined as promptness of analysts' first forecast revisions for the next quarter since the prior quarterly earnings announcements. Further evidence indicates that analysts' responsiveness improves the efficiency of their expectations of future earnings immediately after the earnings announcements, which in turn mitigates the magnitude of the post-earnings-announcement drift. The results provide direct support for the "delayed response" hypothesis that prior research proposes to explain market underreactions.


This paper deals with the development of rational formulae for turbulent flow in open channels. From the basic equations of turbulent flow in open channels as given by Garbis H. Keulegan(1) and using the classical experimental results of Ralph W. Powell(2) a set of rational formulae have been derived for smooth turbulent, transition turbulent and rough turbulent flows. A new criterion, has been evolved for describing (fully developed) rough turbulent flow in open channels. Ultra-rapid flow in open channels has been briefly dealt with. Manning's formula has been critically analysed and a new conversion formula has been presented for obtaining the equivalent sand roughness from, Manning's rugosity coefficient.


Human embryo culture media, intended for assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), are released for clinical use if they pass the mouse embryo assay (MEA). This assay prescribes that at least 70% of in vivo fertilized mouse 1-cell embryos form blastocysts, in order to grant the culture medium approval. In the fertility clinic, however, human embryos undergo more manipulation than their MEA counterparts through, for example, fertilization by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI); further, only a minority of the embryos transferred to the uterus goes on to establish gestations. In this context, we asked if the results of the MEA only depend on the type of in vitro culture, or are also affected by the method of fertilization. Superovulated B6C3F1 mouse oocytes were fertilized by ICSI using C57Bl/6 sperm. Pronuclear-stage eggs were allocated to four developmental environments: two ART culture protocols (HTF/MultiBlast, Irvine Scientific; ISM1/ISM2, Origio), standard mouse culture medium (KSOM(aa), made in-house) and the oviduct of pseudopregnant CD1 mice. As control for the invasive manipulation, pronuclear-stage eggs were generated by mating (B6C3F1 × C57Bl/6) and cultured in KSOM(aa) medium. Embryos were recovered from culture or from the CD1 uterus and scored for blastocyst formation at 96 h of development (Table 1). For these blastocysts, we determined the number of total, inner cell mass (ICM), and trophectoderm (TE) cells (Table 1) by confocal immunofluorescence microscopy (Schwarzer et al. 2012 doi:10.1093/humrep/des223). Our results show that ART culture protocols applied to mouse ICSI embryos are not equivalent in supporting blastocyst formation. Based on blastocyst rates, the ranking observed here after ICSI, reflects the ranking reported by us for IVF embryos (Schwarzer et al. 2012); that is, KSOM(aa) > HTF/MultiBlast > oviduct > ISM1/2. This similarity suggests that the effect of in vitro culture on mouse development exceeds the effect of ICSI, provided gametes are of good quality. From the analysis of cell numbers, we note that while the ICM/TE ratios are not of easy interpretation, the absolute numbers of cells in the ICM draw a clear line between the environment of the oviduct and those of culture media. Irrespective of the ICM/TE ratio, only the oviduct environment secures 8 cells in the ICM (Table 1). Soriano and Jaenisch (1986 Cell 46, 19–29) reported that 8 cells of the ICM are set aside to give rise to the body of a mouse. In summary, the current MEA is a valuable assay to assess the quality of culture medium, however, its refinement is necessary to better model the adaptive properties of embryo culture when different methods of fertilization are applied. Until the MEA is extended into postimplantation development, as we advocate (Schwarzer et al. 2012), the absolute numbers of cells in the ICM may be a better gauge of embryo quality than the blastocyst rates. Table 1.Mouse embryo assay outcomes after ICSI


The uniform transitional pattern in Chinese society and economy comes from an over-20-years exploration with an experimental style.The social structures have been changed into the ones with an orderly combination of economy,politics and culture by a gradually functional adjustment guided by the marketing reform strategy,during which the authoritarian political system and mechanism have been playing an active,sustainable and protective role.The tendency of economic patterns in China will be a human,internationalized,balanced and qualitative one with the guidance of the scientific development view points under an evaluating standard in subjective and objective.