In this paper we examine the consequences of spin-charge separation on superconductivity. We show that a superconductor with spin-charge separation is a strongly phase-disordered superconductor which is a diamagnetic metal with Drude-like optical conductivity. With a few phenomenological assumptions we argue that this unusual state may correspond to the "upper" pseudo-gap phase of several (underdoped) high-Tc cuprates. Vortices with unquantized magnetic flux are predicted to exist in this unusual state of matter.


Teachers are professional educators with the main task of educating, teaching, guiding, directing, training, assessing, and evaluating students in early childhood education through formal education, basic education, and secondary education. Teachers must have a minimum academic qualification of bachelor (S1) or diploma (D-IV), master competence (pedagogic, professional, social, and personality), have an educator certificate, be physically and mentally healthy, and have the ability to realize national education goals. The method in this activity is training and assistance in the preparation of learning tools and media. In the early stages, participants are given explanations or lectures related to concepts and knowledge about language learning. In the next stage, participants are invited to discuss the problems they face when carrying out learning in class. In order for the activity to be directed, participants are given a worksheet during the mentoring which contains an analysis of the learning that has been done and efforts to improve it. To solve the problems faced by the target audience, namely teachers, it is carried out through community service with a participatory approach. The results obtained during the program received positive responses from the training participants (teaching staff) regarding the programs that had been implemented by the research team so far. This response is evidenced by the number of agreements from the training participants, and also the many positive responses from the participants which they filled in the questionnaire column.
Keywords: Teachers, Training, Quality Improvement, Indonesian Language


Abstract:  The processes affecting the fate and transport of Escherichia coli in surface waters were investigated using high‐resolution observation and modeling. The concentration patterns in Boston's Charles River were observed during four sampling events with a total of 757 samples, including two spatial surveys with two along‐river (1,500 m length) and three across‐river (600 m length) transects at approximately 25‐m intervals, and two temporal surveys at a fixed location (Community Boating) over seven days at hourly intervals. The data reveal significant spatial and temporal structure at scales not resolved by typical monitoring programs. A mechanistic, time‐variable, three‐dimensional coupled hydrodynamic and water quality model was developed using the ECOMSED and RCA modeling frameworks. The computational grid consists of 3,066 grid cells with average length dimension of 25 m. Forcing functions include upstream and downstream boundary conditions, Stony Brook, and Muddy River (major tributaries) combined sewer overflow (CSO) and non‐CSO discharge and wind. The model generally reproduces the observed spatial and temporal patterns. This includes the presence and absence of a plume in the study area under similar loading, but different hydrodynamic conditions caused by operation of the New Charles River Dam (downstream) and wind. The model also correctly predicts an episode of high concentrations at the time‐series station following seven days of no rainfall. The model has an overall root mean square error (RMSE) of 250 CFU/100 ml and an error rate (above or below the USEPA‐recommended single sample criteria value of 235 CFU/100 ml) of 9.4%. At the time series station, the model has an RMSE of 370 CFU/100 ml and an error rate of 15%.


Tracing over two decades of progress in wetland restoration, this book provides a pragmatic, goal-oriented approach to this often controversial subject. The authors draw on four long-term case studies from across the United States to show what a successful restoration is like and what we can learn from it. They demonstrate not only that wetland restoration can succeed, but also how to use it to reverse losses of the last two centuries. Key public policy issues surrounding wetland restoration along with future trends are also examined.


High Performance Computing (HPC) systems are ever-evolving, increasing in complexity and heterogeneity, while providing high computing power to scientific and data analysis applications. They are attracting a broad range of users that execute applications from computational chemistry, physics, digital humanities, life sciences, and machine learning, to name a few. Not all users possess the knowledge and expertise to harness the full performance capabilities of complex HPC systems. These users tend to submit inaccurate resource requests for their jobs, especially regarding time limits. This leads to inefficient scheduling of jobs, increased wait times for other users, overall inefficient system utilization, and wasted computing resources and energy, ultimately slowing down scientific discovery. This situation motivates the analysis of the accuracy of resource requests and its reporting to users to raise awareness about job efficiency, improve future job submissions, and reduce job wait times. Existing analyses of job wait times often neglect the connection between the causes of job wait times that can range from user-given and Quality of Service (QoS) limits, to unavailable resources, and approaches of reducing wait times that can be reported to users in an understandable way. In this work, we analyze almost 350'000 jobs collected over 2 months on a local university HPC cluster. Our analysis placed an emphasis on time limit accuracy, QoS characteristics, and reasons for long wait times, as well as how to engage users to improve resource requests. This work shows the importance of analyzing reasons for wait times, approaches to reduce wait times, and motivates further research into supporting users to improve resource requests and system utilization, and to reduce avoidable resource waste.


Six representative geographic regions were chosen from the five designated poverty alleviation areas in Gansu Province to make a quantitative research on coupled relationship between disasters and poverty based on statistical data.Then through using the principal component analysis method,the development trend and distribution characteristics of disasters and poverty as well as the coupled relationship between disasters and poverty were analyzed in the last decade in the context of climate change.The results showed that: Firstly,poverty degree decreased gradually,namely poverty degree evolved from high-poverty type to low-poverty type with implementation of comprehensive socioeconomic development projects.Secondly,disasters generally maintained a relatively high degree,and disaster degree had nothing to do with temporal succession,but it was mainly affected by the frequency,type and duration of disasters.Thirdly,there is a strong coupled relationship between disasters and poverty,disaster-prone areas and impoverished areas were highly consistent in the distribution of geographical space.Especially drought would occur frequently and last for a longer time at the context of climate change,which will intensify poverty in Gansu Province,and it was easy to form a vicious cycle between disasters and poverty.


To reduce the tensile stress at dam heel, inducing joints have been set in Xiaowan arch dam; they were designed to work without water pressure. After the reservoir was impounded to the normal water level of E.L.1240m, monitoring data showed that almost half of the inducing joints were working with water pressure, but leakage remained small. It also indicated the opening and shear deformation of all the inducing joints were small, and the joint surface remained in compression although the compressive stress was decreased by 2.03MPa~9.29MPa. So it can be concluded that the inducing joints are generally working at closing and compressive state. However, some abnormalities were detected: large seepage pressure and increasing crack width in block No.16 which is at the right end of the inducing joints; 5 small cracks appeared with leakage water at the downstream inner surface of the inspection gallery of the inducing joint in block No.22. Therefore, close attention has to be paid to the crack propagation around the inducing joints for the safety monitoring in future.


In this paper, we propose an elliptic curve key generation processor over GF(2 163 ) scheme based on the Montgomery scalar multiplication algorithm. The new architecture is performed using polynomial basis. The Finite Field operations use a cellular automata multiplier and Fermat algorithm for inversion. For real time implementation, the architecture has been tested on an ISE 9.1 Software using Xilinx Virtex II Pro FPGA and on an ASIC CMOS 45 nm technology as well. The proposed implementation provides a time of 2.07 ms and 38 percent of Slices in Xilinx Virtex II Pro FPGA. Such features reveal the high efficiently of this implementation design.


The embryonic and postembryonic developments of Nezara antennata Scott were observed in 5 different rearing cages such as A (Cylindrical, ), B (Cylindrical, ), C (Rectangle, ), D (Cylindrical, 9cm in bottom & 11.5 cm in ) and E (Cylindrical, ) containing soybean and peanut seeds as food, and sponge soaked with water under laboratory condition of and 15L : 9D. Hatchability ranged from 93 to 97%. Nymphal duration was shortest of 6 days in the 1st instar and longest of 10 days in the 5th instar. The nymphal duration was 38 to 39 days observed in the rearing cages. Emergence rate was in the range from 53 to 62% with highest in A and B cages. Adult longevity was 65 to 75 days for male, and 67 to 74 days for female, and was longest in the B cage. Total number of eggs laid by female adult was in the range from 51 to 56 without significant difference in the rearing cages, and was the most in the B cage. Accordingly, the reproductive rate of N. antennata for 1 generation was within 25 to 33 times, and was highest in the B rearing cage. Therefore, it could be concluded that B cage is most suitable for stable rearing of N. antennata under laboratory condition.


Development of MBA professional degree depends on the construction of quality assurance system. By setting training objectives and reasonably allocating school resources, it can promote the deep integration of production, learning and research in Colleges and universities. This paper puts forward the innovation and construction of the training mode of the curriculum of measurement, the talents of "double teacher type", the teaching concept of "operation type", the paper orientation of "application type" and the training of "globalization" vision, and finally gives some suggestions.


Skeletal muscle mass is regulated by intracellular anabolic and catabolic activities. Increased catabolic activity can shift the balance towards net protein breakdown and muscle atrophy. Mitochondrial oxidative stress activates catabolism and is linked to muscle loss. Reducing mitochondrial oxidative stress is thus a plausible approach to prevent muscle atrophy. We tested this concept in age‐dependent muscle atrophy by genetically overexpressing the mitochondrial antioxidant thioredoxin‐2 (TXN2).


Quasinormal convergence of sequences of real-valued functions is investigated. Showing that every countable set E of reals is a certain type of thin set in the trigonometrical series theory, N. N. Bari ([2] p. 737) constructs a sequence of positive reals sk -> 0 and an increasing sequence {nk}£= 0 of natural numbers such that for every xeE there exists an index kx such that \\nkx\\ < sk for every k > kx. That is a new type of convergence which was not investigated in analysis before. x A. Denjoy ([6] p. 183) introduces the following notion: the series £ fn(x) n = 0 of real-valued functions converges pseudonormally on a set E iff there is a 00 convergent series £ sn of positive reals such that for every xeE there exists kx n = 0 such that \fk(x)\ < sk for every k > kx. J. A r b a u l t ([1] p. 303—304) studies pseudonormal convergence of some trigonometrical series. That is all we could find in literature about this new type of convergence. Inspired by A. Denjoy I have called the convergence quasinormal, investigated its properties and tried to use them for the study of thin sets in trigonometrical series [3]. All my results were presented in my thesis in January 1988. When my thesis was almost completed, L. Zajicek kindly informed me that A. Csaszar and M. Laczkovich [4], [5] considered the same type of convergence under the name "equal convergence". Many of my results coincided with those of [4], [5]. Anyway, I still hope that not all the results presented in this paper are explicitly contained in [4], [5], or at least, I present them from a different point of view. AMS Subject Classi f ication (1985): Primary 40A30, 54A20, Secondary 28A20.


Abstract:Representations of Jerusalem and the Holy Land during the time of the British Mandate in Palestine (1918–1948) appear in the works of four modern Greek authors of the interwar period: Ouranis, Kazantzakis, Sikelianos, and Seferis. Their works encompass different genres—travel writing (Ouranis and Kazantzakis), diaries (Sikelianos and Seferis), and poetry (Seferis)—and foreground questions about religion and religiosity, identity, class struggle, and modernization. The landscape of the Holy Land turns out to be different, foreign, sometimes even completely desolate, and this realization initiates a process of remembering which ultimately takes the Greek authors back to the familiar places they apparently call home: the Aegean Sea and the Acropolis.


Introduction:
 Ultrafine particles (UFP,
 d
 < 0.1 μm), a major sub-fraction of particulate matter (PM
 2.5
 ,

 d
 < 2.5μm) in air pollutant, have been reported to increase cardiovascular morbidity. UFP promote endothelial dysfunction/permeability associated with Notch inhibition and degradation of tight junction protein. Gut vascular barrier (GVB) is a distinct protective barrier that inhibits translocations of antigens across the gut lumen, preventing infections by oral digestions. Here, we hypothesized UFP impair GVB by attenuating Notch signaling and disrupting tight junction protein.

 Method:
 The transgenic Tg(
 flk1:mCherry
 ) zebrafish embryos were immobilized in neutralized tricaine solution and mounted in 2% low melting agarose to perform micro-gavage at 5 days post fertilizations (5dpf). A mA mixture of 10 kD FITC conjugated dextran and phenol red dye wasere micro-gavaged on the intestinal bulb with or without UFP at 25 μg/mL. Anterior trunk and posterior cardinal vein (PCV) post micro-gavage were imaged under a confocal microscope. Notch signaling related genes including the Notch ligand, Dll4, and the target, HES1, and the level of tight junction protein genes zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) and Occludin (OCLN) mRNA expression following different courses of exposure to UFP were assessed in Human Aortic Endothelial Cells (HAEC) with quantitative RT-PCR.,

 Result:
 In the control group, the majority of FITC-dextran remained inside the gastrointestinal system. On the other hand, UFP exposure developed a significant accumulation of FITC-dextran in the intersomatic spaces (ISS) between the dorsal aorta (DA) and the PCV. This finding supports evidence of UFP exposure disrupted both the epithelial boundary and the endothelial vascular layer of the gut. In addition, Notch signaling related gene (HES1, DLL4) and the tight junction proteins genes (ZO-1, OCLN) expressions in HAEC were downregulated in concentration and time-course dependent manner by the exposure to UFP.

 Conclusion:
 The UFP exposure affected GVB homeostasis and increased endothelial permeability. This finding supports the link between ambient air pollutant exposure to the impairment in the gastrointestinal system.


The global market of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) continues to grow exponentially over the last period. As a result, causing the life electrical and electronic equipment is becoming shorter. The main objective of this study is as a preliminary study that will provide information related to the quantity and types of electronic products in the people of Surabaya. This paper utilized a questionnaire adopted and modified from UNEP as a tool to collect data and information are distributed randomly in five residential regions in Surabaya, with 480 respondents interviewed. The results also showed that the total e-waste generation approximately 6209.218 kg/year, which everyone will generate e-waste around 3,234 kg/year. In addition, the estimated generation of e-waste in the city of Surabaya in 2025 is roughly 19,748,171.98 kg. Generally, the respondents do not dispose of used electronic equipment, however, given or sold to collectors of used goods. Thus, it is very difficult to find the e-waste at the end of the shelter. The amount of e-waste in Surabaya will increase due to the average life of products is one of the factors that influence the growth. In order to increase public awareness of electronic waste, need to enhance collaboration among stakeholders facilitated by the government.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the problems faced by Eighth-semester students of English Education Program FKIP-UMM in the academic year 2015–2016 in writing thesis, especially in internal and external factors. This study used a case study. The subjects of this study were the Eighth-semester students who composed their thesis. In this study, the writer used purposive sampling as the sampling technique. So, the sample was 15 students. The instruments applied in this study were questionnaire and interview. The questionnaire was used for finding the students' problems in writing a thesis. However, the interview was used to support the data obtained from the questionnaire. The result of this study showed that the problem faced in writing a thesis by Eighth-semester students of English Education Program, especially in internal and external factors. The first internal factors consisted of 33 % of students have a problem in deciding the title of thesis, 20 % of students did not understand how to write the organization of their thesis, 20 % of students have a problem in finding appropriate theories to support their thesis, 13 % of students have a problem in deciding methodology which is suitable. The external factor was 33 % of students said "No" library of the college provides a variety of books that can help them to write their thesis. Those problems are dominantly caused by internal factors rather than the external ones. The internal factors include the knowledge of students while the external factor related to the facility of college that support students in writing a thesis.


This volume should be useful both as a reference work and as a guide to some of the important articles and historical documents in the field of American foreign relations. As such it should be particularly useful to the informed reader who has sufficient background to appreciate the materials included and who needs to refer to such material. The very wellarranged table of contents will greatly expedite the process of locating material. The less informed reader—and the general reader—will no doubt miss the interpretative comments of an author. He will have, however, a handy reference work for his shelf of books.


A reduced four-dimensional (integrated over perpendicular velocity) gyrokinetic model of slab ion temperature gradient-driven turbulence is used to study the phase-space scales of free energy dissipation in a turbulent kinetic system over a broad range of background gradients and collision frequencies. Parallel velocity is expressed in terms of Hermite polynomials, allowing for a detailed study of the scales of free energy dynamics over the four-dimensional phase space. A fully spectral code – the DNA code – that solves this system is described. Hermite free energy spectra are significantly steeper than would be expected linearly, causing collisional dissipation to peak at large scales in velocity space even for arbitrarily small collisionality. A key cause of the steep Hermite spectra is a critical balance – an equilibration of the parallel streaming time and the nonlinear correlation time – that extends to high Hermite number n. Although dissipation always peaks at large scales in all phase space dimensions, small-scale dissipation becomes important in an integrated sense when collisionality is low enough and/or nonlinear energy transfer is strong enough. Toroidal full-gyrokinetic simulations using the Gene code are used to verify results from the reduced model. Collision frequencies typically found in present-day experiments correspond to turbulence regimes slightly favoring large-scale dissipation, while turbulence in low-collisionality systems like ITER and space and astrophysical plasmas is expected to rely increasingly on small-scale dissipation mechanisms. This work is expected to inform gyrokinetic reduced modeling efforts like Large Eddy Simulation and gyrofluid techniques.


Variety of wheat – spelt (Triticum dicoccum Schuebl) is an oldest crop which becomes more popular since a modern consumer turns toward healthy food. The article describes influence of agricultural techniques on the yield, grain quality and economic efficiency of cultivation of spelt in the gray forest soil of Tatarstan Republic. In recent years, intensive changes of the most important agro-climatic parameters have been observed in the territory of the Republic of Tatarstan. Given the arid natural and climatic conditions, especially in the first half of the growing season of spring wheat, the result for wheat spelt is good from an economic point of view. The observations and analyses during the growing season of 2012, 2013 and 2014 showed that the reliable was obtained by sowing 6 million seeds per hectare and an increase in yield compared to the seeding rate of 4 million was 0.36 tons per hectare. The maximum yield of 0.53 tons per hectare was obtained under controlled content of Nitrogen/Phosphate/Potassium with sowing of 3 tons of grain per hectare. On the basis of research in 2016-2018 it was found that the best precursor for spelt is a one-year clover, which provided a spelt harvest of 2.18 tons per hectare. With early sowing, a yield increase of 0.4 t ha. Optimal seeding depth was 4 cm.


The paper makes a concrete and brief probe into the approach and methods of humanistic education for the science students in normal colleges from its practical condition and holds that we should carry the principles of comprdhension,nature of normal education and creation;make the approaches clear,ie,the nurturing of classroom education,after class practice and campus culture;use various methods,ie,offering humanistic courses and after class practice,recommending book lists,nurturing campus culture,organizing systematic lectures and association activities,penetrating the different major courses so as to develop the humnistic education effectively.


Physicists have observed thermonuclear fusion neutrons from a "Z-pinch" device for the first time. Ramon Leeper and co-workers at Sandia National Laboratories in the US used the lab's Z facility – the world's most powerful X-ray source – to compress and heat a target made of deuterium. The neutrons were produced when the deuterium nuclei fused to produce helium-3 nuclei and neutrons with a characteristic energy of 2.45 MeV.


DOI: 10.4103/0028-3886.98523 vision loss, restricted ocular motility and mild pituitary insufficiency, caused by hemorrhage or infarction in the pituitary gland. During apoplexy, pressure gradient causes blood outflow through the path of least resistance, frequently into the subarachnoid space A 40-year-old female, with acromegalic features, presented with sudden-onset headache and vision loss followed by altered sensorium of three-day duration. Her acral enlargement and prognathism existed for the past five years. On neurological examination, her Glasgow Coma Scale score was E1VtM4 and she required intubation to secure the airway. Computed tomography (CT) of head showed pure anterior third ventricular bleed with obstructive hydrocephalus [Figure 1]. With a provisional diagnosis of anterior communicating artery (ACoM) aneurysmal rupture, CT-angiography (CTA) was performed. As CTA [Figure 2] did not reveal any aneurysm, contrastenhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed [Figures 3 and 4]. A large sellar mass lesion, extending into the supra-sellar region was noted. Sagittal sections showed this lesion to be an apoplectic pituitary macro-adenoma with supra-sellar extension [Figure 4]. The posterior-superior surface of the supra-sellar component had burst into the third ventricle, traversing the lamina terminalis. Emergent endocrinological evaluation revealed growthhormone-secreting pituitary adenoma (serum cortisol 1.7 μgm/dl, T4 8.0 μgm/dl, growth hormone 20.2 ng/ ml). As the patient's neurological status was poor, ventriculo-peritoneal shunt was placed. There was no improvement in patient's clinical condition and she succumbed within 48 h of her presentation.


HZSM-5 (Si/Al ratio =16) zeolite was found to be a very stable and efficient catalyst for ethanol transformation into hydrocarbons at 350 °C and 30 bar total pressure. Deactivation, in our operating conditions, was only observed after 16 h on stream, and for ethylene transformation into higher hydrocarbons only. Carbon deposit evolution with time-on-stream (TOS) was fully characterized using IR spectroscopy, GC-MS (after CH2Cl2 extraction and HF solubilization), and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) techniques. The carbon content was very high from the reaction beginning, leading to great losses of microporosity and acidity. Nevertheless, C3+ hydrocarbons yield remained high even after 30 h on stream. EPR analysis allowed us to show the existence of free radical species among the species adsorbed, from the reaction beginning. A decay period of the number of radical species, as well as a change in their chemical nature coincides with the moment of deactivation of the catalyst, leading to a decrease in ...


A model for vertical profiles of u and v components of wind has been developed over south Arabian Sea. The relations so obtained have potential to estimate the wind for the levels which are not available.


The kinetic investigations on Ru(III) catalysed oxidation of cyclohexanol by acidic solution of sodium periodate in the presence of mercury(II) acetate as a scavenger have been made in the temperature range of 30-50°C. The rate shows first order kinetics both in iodate and Ru(III) while order of the reaction is zero with respect to substrate and hydrogen ions. Insignificant influence of mercury(II) acetate and ionic strength of the medium was observed while the reaction showed positive effect of [Cl - ] on the reaction rate. A suitable mechanism in conformity with the kinetic observations has been proposed and the thermodynamic parameters computed.


New urbanization is the only way leading to modernization.The thesis studies the effects on the new urbanization to foster economic and social development by analyzing the advantages of new urbanization:it is beneficial to expand the domestic demand and transform the way to develop the economy;it is beneficial to improve and upgrade the industrial structure as well as adjust the economic structure;it is beneficial to break the rural and urban structure and solve "the three rural issues";it is beneficial to promote the harmonious development between rural and urban areas,the social fairness and the common prosperity.


We report the transport and photoluminescence (PL) properties of silicon-doped GaInP layers grown on GaAs (100) substrate using a valved phosphorus cracker cell in solid source molecular beam epitaxy. Within the range of silicon (Si) effusion cell temperature investigated (900–1200 °C), the highest electron concentration obtained was 7.7×1018 and 3.2×1018 cm−3 at room temperature and 77 K, respectively. The concentration decreased with further increase in the silicon cell temperature. The Hall mobility at 300 K varied from 356 to 1720 cm2/V s within the range of electron concentration measured (4.5×1016–7.7×1018 cm−3). Except for the sample grown at the highest silicon cell temperature (1200 °C), the PL spectrum of other samples showed a dominant peak attributed to Si donor-to-band transition (D–B), which shifted to higher energy following an increase in the electron concentration. This phenomenon was attributed to the Burstein–Moss effect. The blueshift of the (D–B) transition peak at increasing temperat...


The present paper evaluated the empirical and theoretical basis upon which several recent studies rejected the hypothesis of a visual-perceptual deficit in reading disabilities. It was shown that because of problems with task definition and test ceilings, the studies failed to provide a convincing refutation of this hypothesis. Similar problems were cited for the alternative verbal-mediational deficit hypothesis offered by the studies. An attempt was also made to show some of the problems with unitary deficit hypotheses by illustrating the importance of developmental factors, one source of complexity, for interpreting the performance correlates of reading disabilities.


Pravasini Pati and *Pulak Kumar Patra Centre for Environmental Studies, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan *Author for Correspondence ABSTRACT Deterioration of the coastal ecosystem due to human activities is a worldwide concern. The success of any pollution control and natural resource management strategy in the coastal zone is linked to the use of a comprehensive and inexpensive monitoring method. Benthic foraminifera are the most common microorganism found in the surface sediments in the shallow and marginal marine environments. They are very sensitive to slight environmental changes and can reflect the health of the ecosystem they inhabit. They are increasingly used as bioindicators for pollution at various levels of investigations. The impact of pollution on foraminifera is expressed not only as the modification of their assemblage, but also as the changes in their morphology, shell chemistry and metabolic activity. These foraminiferal features have been exploited by many workers to monitor various types of pollution in the coastal areas. However, foraminiferal responses are often complex and it is difficult to distinguish between the impact of natural variability and anthropogenic pollution on foraminifera. We review the potential and limitations of using foraminiferal parameters in coastal pollution study.


The passing of John Kie-chang Oh is a vivid reminder of how much political science is driven by political responsibility. As a young man in Seoul, John Oh found himself at the center of the great upheaval that was the Korean War. His enrollment in law at the prestigious Seoul National University was cut short, and the prospect of a career in law and politics was put permanently on hold. Even worse, as he recalled, he could not depart from the city, as he was recovering from an appendectomy. The bright optimism of a 20-year-old had been shattered on that September morning in 1950, as he suddenly found himself on the run in his own native land.


Application of polypropylene tiny fiber concrete is discussed systematically.An overview on the specialty and excellence of polypropylene tiny fiber concrete is summarized.Combined with engineering example,technical function and economy of polypropylene tiny fiber concrete are analyzed.


In this exercise held a stromatography research Paleoceno deposition at the location Xylofagou (Larnaka-Cyprus). to be more specific. i have done a research on nano-elephant fossils.i found those fossils at the location as said before. the basic purpose it is the collection paleontological material and study them. fuhermore, i compare them with same fossils from different mediterranean spots.
in addition, i held and collect micropalaeontology from the exacly some location osteology msterine, thet help me for the determination of the enviromental land. all this staff transfer to the Geology station at university of Patraw. there fossils had a trentment and study


In partnership with the City of San Diego, the U.S. Department of Energy funded a study to determine the feasibility of developing up to a 1 MW Brightfield on a landfill.


Excerpt To the editor: The association between coronary artery disease and left arm pain is well documented. I recently treated a patient who presented with a new feature: left arm paresis. A 42-ye...


By the analysis of the action characteristic of the beam-splitter,presenting a method of generating the single-photon entangled states utilizing optics beam-splitter and single-photon source.A scheme on entanglement concentration of the single-photon entanglement states is designed.In this scheme,the two single-photon partially entangled states are utilized as the quantum channel.The process of the entanglement concentration is achieved by using the 50/50 symmetric beam splitters,the photon detectors and with the help of classical information. Results show that to distill some maximally entangled states from partially entangled pure states is possible by using this method.


Control rod drive mechanism is one of the key main components in nuclear power plants and serves in harsh environments such as high temperature, high pressure and nuclear radiation. In order to ensure the service life and to prevent biting when assembling, some of the threads of control rod drive mechanism need to be chromium plated. In view of the high demands of the same chromium plating thickness on all surfaces of the threads of control rod drive mechanism of nuclear power and non-uniformity in chromium plating thickness of threads due to poor throwing power of chromium plating solution, five representative kinds of threads of control rod drive mechanism were selected and the plating thickness change of the root diameter, pitch diameter and crest diameter of threads was studied in this paper by means of depositing different thickness chromium coating on the surface of threads. The experimental results show that thicker coating is deposited on the crest of thread because of high current density and thinner coating is deposited on the root of thread because of low current density, which can provide reference for specification of chromium plating thickness of thread products of control rod drive mechanism.


Nitrogen (N) is one of the most important element limiting nutrients for plant growth and one of the largest energy-input in agricultural production systems is through N fertilizers. Intensive crop production involves the application of inorganic and organic N fertilizer forms to supplement the soil resource base (Christian and Riche, 1998). Over-fertilization and inappropriate timing of fertilizer application may enrich soil water with nitrate-N (NO3-N) (Christian and Riche, 1998) and result to NO3-N leaching that is economically and environmentally undesirable (Asadi and Clemente, 2003; Luce et al., 2011). Several strategies of managing soil N that may reduce or prevent NO3-N leaching in intensive crop production systems have been proposed and experimented (Horiuchi, 2001; Di and Cameron, 2002; Qiaogang et al., 2008; Zupanc et al., 2011). However, in intensive leafy vegetable production systems, excessive application of N in the form of chemical fertilizers to achieve maximum yield per cultivated area is usually accompanied by NO3-N leaching (Mishima, 2001). NO3 -N leaching below the rooting zone results to point and non-point-source pollution and high cost-benefit ratio of agricultural production are sustainability issues that have been addressed for decades (Kumazawa, 1999; Maeda et al., 2003; Bergström et al., 2005; Schoolman et al., 2011). NO3-N leaching has been evaluated using lysimeters (Ogawa et al., 1979; Kobayashi et al., 1995; Suzuki and Shiga, 2004), porous ceramic cups (Williams and Lord, 1997; Christian and Riche, 1998), ion-exchange-resin cartridges (Predotova et al., 2011) and well calibrated computer models. Traditionally, a technique for monitoring salts in the soil of which NO3-N is not exempted involved core sampling (Patriquin et al., 1993; Eigenberg et al., 2002) or the use of suction probes (Williams and Lord, 1997; Christian and Riche, 1998) and subsequent laboratory analyses. Monitoring solutes in the soil has evolved through destructive and a series of non-destructive methods whose applicability is dependent upon the study objectives. Soil resistivity techniques such as resistance probes, low frequency capacitance probes (Aimrun et al., 2009; Scudiero et al., 2012), time-domain reflectometry (Payero et al., 2006; Krishnapillai and Ranjan, 2009; Persson and Dahlin, 2010), soil water samplers (Higashi et al., 2005), tracers (Shibano and Ohno, 1988) and morphological techniques (Eigenberg et al., 2002) have also been employed to monitor the pathway of solute movement in the soil. Computer models have also been developed for scientific research based on ecosystem management principles


This paper summarizes the development of a macroscopic lane-changing model for vehicle lane changes from a freeway through lane to an exit lane leading to another freeway. The relationships between the number of lane changes, the speed of the ramp lane (using video-tracked vehicle data), and the location upstream of the ramp split are examined. The number of lane changes is approximated by a non-homogeneous Poisson distribution, with parameters that are a function of ramp lane speed, and location. The relationship between the number of lane changes and target lane speed is parabolic, and the number of lane changes is gamma-distributed with respect to distance upstream of the ramp. The parameters of the gamma distribution are a function of ramp lane speed. Data were collected from a secondary site, and fit to the model to provide additional credence to the model's potential transferability. A discussion regarding the role of how other access points may affect the shape of the model is opened, but not analyzed in detail yet due to lack of available data. The macroscopic lane changing model presented in this paper is best characterized as the development of generalized lane-changing relationships, and provides a starting point from which more complex corridor-level models can be developed.


The account of truth that Wilfrid Sellars offers in his paper, "Truth and 'Correspondence'", presents us with an apparent internal tension between two seemingly incompatible aspects of his views on truth. To fully resolve this tension, it is necessary to factor in an account of meaning attribution. We think that the account Sellars offers, most centrally in "Meaning as Functional Classification", includes the basic elements required for resolving the internal tension in his account of truth, but here his views suffer from an apparent external tension, regarding an apparent conflict between his account and our actual linguistic and inferential practices with the expression 'means'. In this paper, we show how the internal tension in Sellars's understanding of truth, as well as the external tension in his account of meaning attribution, can be resolved while adhering to a Sellarsian spirit, by appealing to the particular fictionalist accounts of truth-talk and proposition-talk (including meaning-attribution) that we have developed elsewhere.


The sub-microspheres play multiple roles in enhancing dye adsorption and light-scattering to improve the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In this work, the well-defined TiO2 sub-microspheres with anatase granular-like nanocrystals are prepared in high yield by combining hydrolytic process with solvothermal treatment. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results indicated that plenty of rhombic nanoparticles with ~ 18 nm diameter having mutual contacts to neighboring nanoparticles were densely self-assembled into sub-microspheres, and abundant mesopores existed in the whole sub-microspheres with superior light scattering ability. The appropriate pore diameter and relatively high specific surface area of the as-obtained sub-microsphere result in a higher dye adsorption. As expected, by using the sub-microspheres as a scattering layer, a higher photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 10.15% is obtained for DSSCs.


The combination of Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) and Energy-Dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy is a very useful tool for the analysis of samples containing several phases. However, EDX is a secondary process of electron ionization, and the data are often noisy, with a poor signal to noise ratio (SNR). This is particularly so when the sample can only tolerate a limited electron dose. Additionally, the microstructure of the sample can be complex, thus rendering the recovery of the spectra of the constituent phases challenging. To tackle these problems, the community has been using machine learning tools such as Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) These algorithms perform a statistical decomposition of the data. However, they do not take full advantage of it because they ignore prior knowledge on the physics of the problem. Further, in some cases, a chemical quantification cannot be directly performed on the solutions. To overcome these issues, here we combine knowledge in the fields of EDX spectroscopy and machine learning to design a physics-guided decomposition algorithm based on a structured variant of a Poisson likelihood NMF, that we call "esmpy". The algorithm incorporates a physics-based modelling of the EDX spectrum with a custom-designed factorization model. The data Y are modelled with the product GWH (see Figure 1). G is a constant matrix,


Adolescents and young adults have health needs that are distinctly different from children and adults. A lack of education and training is reported by clinicians to be one of the main barriers to providing comprehensive developmentally appropriate care to young people, including the provision of confidential healthcare and taking a holistic approach.


This article presents a review of the book "Leading Teams: Mastering the New Role," by John H. Zenger, Ed Musselwhite, Kathleen Hurson and Craig Perrin.


The paper proposes an explanation for the 1992 currency crisis as the result of monetary policy behaviour and private agents' speculation. Our analysis reveals how speculators' expectations and the behaviour of the monetary policy authority were formed on the widespread beliefs about the future value of income. We show that the real effects of monetary policy measures represent the link between the action of the central bank and speculation.


A new colubrid snake of the genus Chironius Fitzinger, 1826 is described from the Pantepui region, Guiana Shield, northern South America. The new species, C. challenger sp. nov., is identified as a member of the genus Chironius by its low number of dorsal scale rows ( Chironius species of the Guiana Shield is provided.


We suggest an optimal form of traffic awareness already introduced as a routing protocol which combines structural and local dynamic properties of the network to determine the followed path between source and destination of the packet. Instead of using the shortest path, we incorporate the "efficient path" in the protocol and we propose a new parameter α that controls the contribution of the queue in the routing process. Compared to the original model, the capacity of the network can be improved more than twice when using the optimal conditions of our model. Moreover, the adjustment of the proposed parameter allows the minimization of the travel time.


Quantum parameter estimation holds the promise of quantum technologies, in which physical parameters can be measured with much greater precision than what is achieved with classical technologies. However, how to obtain the best precision when the optimal measurement is not accessible is still an open problem. In this work, we present a theoretical framework to explore the parameter estimation with limited access of measurements by analyzing the effect of non-optimal measurement on the estimation precision. We define a quantity $\Lambda$ to characterize the effect and illustrate how to optimize observables to attain a bound with limited accessibility of observables. On the other side, we define a Euclidean distance to quantify the difference between an observable and the optimal ones in terms of Frobenius norm and find that the measurement with a shorter distance to the optimal ones benefits the estimation. Two examples are presented to show our theory. In the first, we analyze the effect of non-optimal measurement on the estimation of the transition frequency for a driven quantum bit. While in the second example, we consider a bipartite system, in which one of them is measurement inaccessible. To be specific, we take the NV-center in diamond as the bipartite system, where the NV-center electronic spin interacts with a single nucleus via the dipole-dipole interactions. We achieve a precise estimation for the nuclear Larmor frequency by optimizing only the observables of the electron. We find that the observable closed to the optimal ones better the estimation precision. This provides us with a criterion to find a measurement for parameter estimation in case the optimal ones are inaccessible.


An algorithm is proposed to automatically generate rectilinear channel structures for rectilinear blocks. The two stages of automatic channel definition are: assignment of sides to supersides and assignment of supersides to channels. The algorithm is coded in Pascal and has been incorporated into an automatic layout system as well as an interactive placement and channel editing system. The automatic channel definer has been tried on a number of real examples, and the results are shown.<<ETX>>


1. The Black Male Identity 2. We All Came from a Woman: Misogyny and Rap Music 3. Black-on-Black Murders: A Case Study of Chiraq, Killinois 4. Living in the Obama Era 5. Black Boy Fly


Pipe spool fabrication is an important stage in industrial construction project delivery. It is a complex production system characterized by product uniqueness and high product mix, which pose challenges to the analysis and improvement of this system. This research applies lean production principles and flow production to shop fabrication, and uses a simulation-based approach as a tool to facilitate its implementation. The work described in the paper is based on a real case study undertaken with an Edmonton-based industrial construction contractor. The traditional batch-and-queue fabrication system and the new cell-based work flow fabrication systems were compared and analyzed. Simulation models were built to experiment with the old and new production systems and quantitatively test the effects of lean principles on the performance of the systems. The developed simulation-based approach proves a practical and more powerful tool than the value stream map for modeling and for quantitatively evaluating the performance of a complex and dynamic spool fabrication shop.


A 68-year-old man was admitted with severe abdominal pain since the previous day. His physical examination was unremarkable, except for mild lower abdominal tenderness without rebound tenderness. Laboratory tests showed he had an elevated white blood cell count (11800 cells/μL) and increased C-reactive protein (CRP) level (105mg/L). A computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a radiodense linear foreign body that was extending transmurally through the wall of the sigmoid colon (▶Fig. 1). Colonoscopy demonstrated a fish bone stuck in the sigmoid colon wall (▶Fig. 2). The fish bone was carefully removed using foreign body forceps, leaving an approximately 0.5 ×0.5-cm perforation in the sigmoid colon wall. The perforation was closed by an over-the-scope clip (OTSC; Ovesco Endoscopy Ag, Germany) (▶Video1). After this endoscopic procedure, the patient's lower abdominal discomfort immediately disappeared. He was treated with antibiotics for 3 days and was discharged from hospital without any early complications. Ingestion of foreign bodies, such as poultry bones, fish bones, coins, and dentures, is a common occurrence among elderly patients, children, alcoholics, patients with psychiatric disorders, and fast eaters [1]. Most foreign bodies are able to pass through the gastrointestinal tract without consequence, while some may lead to perforation, fistula, hemorrhage, or obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract [2]. Perforation of the sigmoid colon caused by an ingested fish bone is rare. Surgical treatment is usually inevitable if foreign bodies cannot be extracted endoscopically [3]; however, a case where a fish bone-induced sigmoid colonic perforation was successfully treated by conservative management had previously been reported [4]. In our case, the fish bone that had stuck in the wall of the sigmoid colon was successful-


A function f : R → R is a connectivity function if for every connected subset C of R the graph of the restriction f |C is a connected subset of R, and f is an extendable connectivity function if f can be extended to a connectivity function g : R → R with R imbedded into R as R × {0}. There exists a connectivity function f : R → R that is not extendable. We prove that for n ≥ 2 every connectivity function f : R → R is extendable.


Background and Objective: Hospital Infection (HI) is that acquired after patient admission and that manifests during hospitalization or after discharge, when it can be related to the hospital admission or procedures. The objective was to verify the point of view of the nurses of Santa Casa de Caridade de Bage regarding hospital infections. Methods: This was an exploratory study
carried out with 32 nurses from Santa Casa de Caridade de Bage. Data were collected using the in-depth interview technique from July to August 2010, where the subjects answered questions about the association between infection control and nursing care, in which answers were submitted to the theme content analysis technique. Results: They were divided into three symbolic categories: definition of HI, nurses' actions regarding HI and the nurses' perception on HI managers. Conclusion: The evaluation showed that nurses have a good theoretical background on the subject, as they answered the questions clearly and appropriately. Key words: Hospital Infection, Nursing, Social Representations.


The different levels of the social economy are considered. The meso level of the social economy is analyzed. Such concepts as regional structure, branch structure, reproduction structure, regional stability of social and economic system are revealed through the prism of social economy. The components of the regional structure of the social economy are revealed. The foreign experience of socio-economic regional development is considered. The stability of regional socio-economic systems is analyzed. Regions of Russia are ranked according to the stability criterion. The conclusion about heterogeneity of social and economic policy of development of regions is substantiated. The largest group is formed by regions with a level of economic stability below the average. It is concluded that the regional socio-economic systems are inadequate and that the tools for managing these processes at the sub-federal level are needed. The causes of heterogeneity are systematized. Measures are proposed for equalizing regional development. Government innovative programs are analyzed. Government innovative programs are analyzed. Measures are proposed to increase the stability of the investment climate in the region. The foreign experience in the field of social and economic development of regions is considered. Regions are ranked according to the criterion of foreign economic activity. Groups of regions with external economic potential from the highest to the weakest are singled out. The contradiction and significant difference in the external economic status of the subjects of the Russian Federation necessitates its further formation and enhancement. Also for the process of formation and functioning of the social economy, the ratio between consumption and accumulation becomes an indispensable moment, since this is a key element of expanded reproduction. It is concluded that the program of social and economic development is an integrated system of targeted development programs that comprehensively and comprehensively ensures the development and implementation of resources and the organization of development activities for various elements of the region.


The paper presents selected server platforms based on free and open source license, coherent with the standards of the open Geospatial Consortium. The presented programs are evaluated in the context of the iNsPire directive. The first part describes the requirements of the directive, and afterwards presented are the pros and cons of each platform, to meet these demands. This article provides an answer to the question whether the use of free software can provide interoperable network services in accordance with the requirements of the iNsPire directive, on the occasion of presenting the application examples and practical tips on the use of particular programs.


Application of electrical pulses is applied to the skin in a controlled manner and provide mechanical vibrations, to enhance the absorbent material previously applied to the skin. Providing an electrical pulse by an array of electrodes provided on the vibrating head, the vibratory head vibrates by providing mechanical vibration to the skin. Such electrical vibration and mechanical vibrations preferably have mutually the same frequency in the same phase, to enhance the absorption effect.


In this paper, the modified Biot's equations based on nonlocal elasticity theory are presented for modeling nanocomposite porous media. The analytical solution of modified Biot's equations is obtained by using the recently developed potential function method. By doing some mathematical manipulation, the coupled modified Biot's equations are converted to two decoupled equations. Consequently, the variations of field variables and acoustical properties of a considered nanocomposite foam are studied by changing the nonlocal parameter. The obtained results show that the local Biot's results are in good agreement with the nonlocal modified Biot's results for very small values of the nonlocal parameter. In addition, the values of field variables (i.e. pressure) in the thickness direction are decreased by increasing the nonlocal parameter for frequencies below 5000 Hz. Furthermore, by increasing the nonlocal parameter, the differences between local and nonlocal values of field variables and the absorption coefficient increase. Also, the nonlocal parameter has no considerable effect on the absorption coefficient for frequencies lower than 2000 Hz, whereas by increasing the nonlocal parameter the differences between corresponding results of local and nonlocal theories increase for frequencies above 2000 Hz.


This paper selected 28 indicators from seven aspacts i.e.public health,basic education,social welfare,science and technology,public culture,environmental protection and infrastructure,and constructed basic public services index from 1995 to 2008 by mathematical statistics methods.Using the sports development funds as measure index,through the econometric approach,this paper empirically study the relationship between basic public services and sports development.The results show that:basic public service and sports development only exists one way causal relationship,between sports development and basic public services exists long-run equilibrium relationship.The basic public service's impact to sports development is obvious,so the basic public service's contribution for sports development can not be ignored.


Objective
To study the prevalence of atopic dermatitis (AD) in China.

Methods
School children aged 6~20 were surveyed with questionnaire in different areas in our country.

Results
This survey was carried out in 22 cities and rural areas, distributed in 11 provinces. There were 548 AD patients(347 males and 201 females) in a total population of 78 586. The total standardized prevalence (SP) was 0.69%. The SPs of the males and the females were 0.84% and 0.51%, respectively, the difference being statistically significant(P<0.01). The SPs were significantly different between urban(1.10%) and rural areas(0.73%)(P<0.01). The significant difference of SPs was also found in the South (0.31%), Middle (0.79%) and North China (0.56%). The prevalence of AD correlated negatively with the age (r=-0.78, P<0.05).

Conclusion
It is indicated that standardized prevalences of AD are higher in the urban than those in the rural areas, and in the males than those in the females in our survey in November and December of 1998. The prevalence of AD correlates negatively with the age.

Key words:
Dermatitis, atopic; Prevalence


Traffic analysis is basically the process of intercepting and examining the number of vehicles on the road and deducing the pattern of traffic movement. A traffic survey on Railway Station circle and Pooja circle intersection of Davangere city has been carried out which includes calculation of present traffic density and analysis of traffic volume by adopting the Manual method of counting. PCU estimations are made and appropriate design corrections are suggested for highway geometry. For the proposed design geometry, the signal time is optimized. Keywords— Signal Optimisation, Traffic volume Count, PCU estimation and Geometric Design.


Cognitive Radios represent a powerful technology for improving the utilization of radio spectrum resources.Detection of low signal-to-noise ratio(SNR)signals with relaxed a priori information on the signal parameters is very important for cognitive radios.In this paper,an in-depth theoretical analysis is performed for the detector which can detect MFSK signals with noise based on first-order cyclic moment.For this detector,when the sampling length is limited,we derive a first-order cyclic moment amplitude probability density function formula for MFSK signals with noise and noise in the cycle frequency.Then this paper proposes a calculation method of this detector Receiver Operating Characteristic(ROC)curve.Theoretical analysis shows that with the increase of sampling length,the performance of detector based on first-order cyclic moment is improved obviously;under the same conditions,with MFSK signals dimension M increasing,the detector performance decline somewhat.


By using the methods of documents,expert interviewer,questionnaire and statistics,this article through the inevitability and artificiality cost,analyzes the development cost factor of Chinese super league,discuses on the low cost road of league match,and provides some references for the development of Chinese super league.


The sensing elements of quartz MEMS gyroscope generally use a one-piece tuning fork structure.A notch structure is designed on the sensing elements for specific function,but at the corner of notch structure is a position which represents stress concentration.In high shock instance,stress concentration position first reaches the quartz yield strength,and brings on the sensing elements structure rupture.The maximal stress of structure is reduced by designing circular arc step structure at the corner of notch structure.Consequently,the anti high shock ability of sensing elements has been improved.Through comprehensive optimization,the anti high shock ability of quartz MEMS gyroscope exceeds 10 000g and quartz MEMS gyroscope keeps well performance.


After leaving the NSW Police and completing his law degree, Paul Sweeney travelled to Bangladesh as a visiting researcher in late 2012 with the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust. He now works as a Prosecutor for the ACT DPP.


Land consolidation (Lc) is an effective program for land ownership defragmentation. The main objectives of this study are: (i) to analyse the characteristics of 487 study areas before and after implementation of the Lc; (ii) to evaluate these study areas according to the influence of historical, environmental and socio-economic driving forces on the pre-Lc ownership pattern, on the consolidation effect and on the financial costs of the Lc projects. in average, the plot size has been increased twofold and the plot shape has also achieved an evidently positive change, but the average owner still has a holding of 2.72 ha divided into more than three plots after the Lc. historical factors were found to be the key driving forces for the pre-Lc fragmentation, while socio-economic drivers play the major role for the Lc effect and in the formation of the Lc project costs. in contrast, the effect of natural factors is considered to be the least significant of all.


The job scheduling for Map Reduce clusters has received significant attention in recent years, because it plays an important role on Map Reduce clusters. Traditional job scheduling performs poorly in assigning a task to appropriate nodes, and can not predict the resource utilization of the unexecuted tasks. To address the problems, an efficient job scheduling for Map Reduce clusters is proposed in this paper. The job scheduling introduces dynamic priority scheduling and real-time prediction model. Dynamic priority scheduling introduces the minimum cost data locality algorithm with a weight to deal with different size jobs, and real-time prediction model can predict the resource utilization of unexecuted tasks by calculating the running tasks. The resource utilization contains CPU, memory, and network. Experimental results prove that the proposed job scheduling is able to perform well in Map Reduce clusters.


Two algorithms are combined in the cylindrical co-ordinates for accelerated computations of electromagnetic fields in the time domain. The partial eigenfunctions expansion (PEE) algorithm is used close to the co-ordinate system origin, and the FDTD algorithm is used in the remaining region. This eliminates the use of a prohibitively short time step if high circumferential resolution is required away from the origin. A significant acceleration of computations is obtained, owing to the superior stability and higher efficiency of the PEE method.


The correct answers to question 1 (see page 1183) are A--F, B--F, C T , D--F . There is considerable interest in the possibility of sensitizing tumor cells to radiation by giving chemotherapy concurrently with radiation, although it is not clear that true sensitization has been achieved and that the results obtained are not simply due to the additive effects of the two modalities. The use of chemotherapeutic sensitizers to enhance tumoricidal effectiveness of radiation therapy (RT) was popularized by Nigro and reported by Nigro et al. in 1974 as a treatment for anal squamouscell carcinoma. The treatment was so successful that surgery has been unnecessary in many cases. Buroker et al. later reported using sensitizers to enhance RT treatment of adenocarc inoma of the rectum. They reported the protocol to be safe and effective. Since then, Sischy et al. have reported safe, effective use of sensitizers when radiating adenocarcinoma of the rectum. There has been no control study that proves an advantage over RT alone.


of which only one third were phase II or III trials involving over 200 subjects. His review and many others have extensively discussed why so many different drugs were found effective in animal models of acute brain ischemia and even sometimes in phase II trials in humans, but so far never in large phase III randomized clinical trials (RCT) [3–5] . Whatever the reasons – too narrow biochemical target of drugs, poor or insufficient preclinical data, inadequate methodology of clinical trials, etc. – the fact is that so far all neuroprotective drugs, including calcium channel blockers, NMDA antagonists, AMPA antagonists, GABA antagonists, antioxidants, magnesium, NO-signal transduction down-regulators, leukocytes inhibitors, etc., have failed to decrease mortality and disability in patients with cerebral infarction. Much hope had been raised, for example, by compound NXY-059, a free radical spin trap, which had very impressive preclinical data [6, 7] : it was effective at both reducing infarct size and improving functional outcome in rodent and primate models of cerebral infarction and its efficacy was stronger than that of other neuroprotective drugs studied in the same models. Optimism was reinforced after the results of the first phase III RCT, 'SAINT I', based on 1,699 subjects, which showed a reduced disability at 90 days [8] . However, this was not confirmed in the larger SAINT II trial based on 3,306 patients which was entirely negative [9] . Reasons for this failure have again been widely disThe CHIMES trial [1] , comparing a product from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and a placebo in patients with cerebral infarction, has already recruited 1,100 patients and is nearly completed. Over the 5 years it has been running, every time its protocol was presented at neurology or stroke meetings by one of the investigators it was met with a mixture of interest, skepticism and sometimes aggressiveness. Yet there are at least two good reasons to keep an open mind towards studying products from natural substances in cerebral infarction: the first is the constant failure of neuroprotective agents in this frequent worldwide condition which remains devastating despite treatments presently available; the second is the remarkable number of drugs coming from natural substances that are effective in other human diseases. Among the many treatments that have been studied over the last 30 years in patients with cerebral infarction, four so far have an evidence-based efficacy: Stroke Unit care, intravenous rt-PA thrombolysis in the first 4.5 h, aspirin and, in the few patients with malignant middle cerebral artery infarction, hemicraniectomy. However, the vast majority of trials have in fact been devoted to a different approach, namely neuroprotection, the aim of which is to 'antagonize the injurious biochemical and molecular events that eventuate in irreversible ischemic injury' [2] . In his 2008 review, Ginsberg [2] found 120 completed trials of neuroprotection for ischemic stroke, Published online: March 14, 2013


In recent years, the performance of free-and-open-source software (FOSS) for image processing has significantly increased. This trend, as well as technological advancements in the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry, have opened blue skies for both researchers and surveyors. In this study, we aimed to assess the quality of the sparse point cloud obtained with a consumer UAV and a FOSS. To achieve this goal, we also process the same image dataset with a commercial software package using its results as a term of comparison. Various analyses were conducted, such as the image residuals analysis, the statistical analysis of GCPs and CPs errors, the relative accuracy assessment, and the Cloud-to-Cloud distance comparison. A support survey was conducted to measure 16 markers identified on the object. In particular, 12 of these were used as ground control points to scale the 3D model, while the remaining 4 were used as check points to assess the quality of the scaling procedure by examining the residuals. Results indicate that the sparse clouds obtained are comparable. MicMac® has mean image residuals equal to 0.770 pixels while for Metashape® is 0.735 pixels. In addition, the 3D errors on control points are similar: the mean 3D error for MicMac® is equal to 0.037 m with a standard deviation of 0.017 m, whereas for Metashape®, it is 0.031 m with a standard deviation equal to 0.015 m. The present work represents a preliminary study: a comparison between software packages is something hard to achieve, given the secrecy of the commercial software and the theoretical differences between the approaches. This case study analyzes an object with extremely complex geometry; it is placed in an urban canyon where the GNSS support can not be exploited. In addition, the scenario changes continuously due to the vehicular traffic.


In this paper, we conduct research on the applications of multimedia auxiliary teaching system with the computer to the education of clinical medicine. Clinical medical education and other related disciplines of education both identity and particularity and it is not just to teach the traditional medical theory and principle. More need to understand the modern medical development and the latest development of medicine. Our research provides the novel paradigm of the multimedia and computer assisted education mechanism which will be


Based on Kunyansky's and our previous work,an efficient,analytical solution to the reconstruction problem of myocardial perfusion SPECT has been developed that allows simultaneous compensation for non-uniform attenuation,scatter,and system-dependent resolution variation,as well as suppression of signal-dependent Poisson noise.The preliminary digital and Monte Carlo simulation results using a realistic human thoracic phantom demonstrate that,for parallel-beam geometry,the proposed analytical reconstruction scheme is computationally comparable to filtered backprojection and quantitatively equivalent to iterative maximum a posteriori expectation-maximization reconstruction.


This study presents a hands-on research experience for undergraduate senior-level computer architecture course students. The students have investigated scientific research process, literature review approaches, technical writing as well as blind-review principles, and conducted hands-on research on three different computer systems, namely, a supercomputer, an office desktop, and an autonomous vehicle artificial intelligence computer systems, for a budget-constrained final computer configuration of an office desktop computer.The final student team outcomes, relevant feedback, and the corresponding surveys, evaluated by the project administrators, strongly imply the success of the project for an effective research component inclusion in an undergraduate course.


There may be more than one optimal solution to a linear programming problem. A general means for locating all optimal solutions is known. 1) The author will provide an improved method. Pp is a vector of (m + 1)-components. Let M be a fixed matrix of rank m+ 1 consisting of m+ 1 I-components row vectors. The generalized matrix problem 2) is concerned with finding a matrix X satisfying (1) where x J (the (j + 1)-th row of X) is a row vector of I-components


An igbt cell structure based on semiconductor physics were designed. The process parameters of the high-voltage igbt have been calculated and adjusted. Using the optimal device's dimensions, the doping concentration was analyzed systematically. Additionally, a simulating model of igbt was compiled based on sentaurus process. According to this model simulation, an optimized device parameters' design was further determined. Finally, the device drain-source breakdown voltage has satisfied a standard value of 1450v.whereas its threshold voltage is 4.2v, which is in the prerequisite range of 3~5v.


A novel algorithm to discover association rules in Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining is presented. According to the current large-scale supermarket transaction data set, a new multiple-level taxonomy is proposed. The frequent itemsets obtained when identifying association rules can be used to compress the data set. Then, an algorithm, which is based on the frequent itemsets, ispresented to find the interesting rules interactively with the users' practicalneeds.Therefore, mining process and efficiency are greatly improved.


Faculty of Computer Science and Food Science, Lomza State University of Applied Sciences, Lomza, Poland Faculty of Transport, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Kazimierz Pulaski University of Technology and Humanities in Radom, Radom, Poland Faculty of Transport, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland Department of Transport and Handling Machines, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Zilina, Zilina, Slovakia


In Reply .—I appreciate, and agree with, Dr Altman's comments. Careful ophthalmological care for children with spina bifida is warranted for the very reasons he mentions. Although we have access to excellent ophthalmological consultation, our team is not fortunate enough to have an ophthalmologist as a team member. Failure to mention this aspect of care was an oversight on my part.


Techniques of differential topology in Lorentzian manifolds developed by Geroch, Hawking, and Penrose are used to rule out a class of locally naked strong curvature singularities in strongly causal space‐times. This result yields some support to the validity of Penrose's strong cosmic censorship hypothesis.


In this note we extend a theorem of Bartle, Dunford, and Schwartz [ l ] which states that for every countably additive measure denned on a (T-algebra there exists a positive "control measure" v such that v{E)—>0 if and only if ||/z||(.E) —»0, where ||/x|| is the semivariation of JJL. In this paper, ju, which is defined on a ring S, is assumed to be finitely additive and strongly bounded (^-bounded) [8] (that is n(Ei)-+0 whenever {E t} is a disjoint sequence of sets). The existing decomposition and extension theorems for vector measures can now be easily deduced by using the control measure. These applications will be presented in [2], 36 is a Banach space over the reals (the complex case is treated in a similar fashion); S* is the unit sphere in the conjugate space of 36. cr(g) denotes the cr-algebra generated by the class of sets 8. A ô-ring is a ring of sets closed under countable intersections.


The CFRTP and the stainless steel were joined by the fiber laser, and the effect of processing parameters on the joint quality was investigated in detail. The heat-affected zone on the stainless steel and the microstructure of the joint interface were examined and analyzed. The results showed that the laser joining process refines the microstructure of the fusion and heat-affected zones in the stainless steel. And the tensile strength of the joint was affected greatly by the laser power and scanning speed but slightly by the clamping pressure. With the PPS additive, the joint shear strength could be improved, and the optimal PPS additive thickness is 300 μm. With the best parameters, joint with a shear strength of 15–17 MPa could be obtained as the laser power is 320–350 W, the scanning speed is 4-5 mm/s, the clamping pressure is about 0.5 Mpa, and the additive PPS thickness is about 300 μm.


The designed peptides pyridine-2-carboxamide-netropsin (2-PyN) and 1-methylimidazole-2-carboxamide-netropsin (2-ImN) are crescent-shaped synthetic analogs of the natural products netropsin (N) and distamycin A (D). Footprinting experiments indicate that the peptides 2-PyN and 2-ImN bind specifically the 5 base pair sequence 5'-TGTCA-3'. Affinity cleaving data suggest that the complexes, 2-ImN.5'-TGTCA-3' and 2-PyN.5'-TGTCA-3', are composed of two equivalent orientations which disfavor a 1:1 model. The footprinting and affinity cleaving data are in accord with a 2:1 complex where a novel side-by-side antiparallel dimer binds in the minor groove of double-helical DNA.


The main jurisprudential criteria issued by the Constitutional Court regarding the extraordinary protection action (AEP) are analyzed. The objective is to review the jurisprudential criteria of the Constitutional Court that avoid the denaturalization of the AEP in the sentences of the highest constitutional control body. The methodology used in this research is the qualitative one, which is supported by methods such as: the analytical, synthetic and the literature review, linking theories with a high level of complexity; Additionally, investigative methods such as: logical, inductive and deductive history were used, through which we can gather the most relevant precedents that the Court has issued regarding this action, which will lead us to raise general facts. Thus, we arrive at the following result: there are no jurisprudential criteria of the Constitutional Court that avoid the denaturalization of the AEP.


Our objective in this article is to understand the characteristics of the entrepreneurship of the population of Lebanese origin in Côte d'Ivoire from the perspective of the ethnic network. In other words, it is about appreciating impacts of the Lebanese ethnic network on the development of their entrepreneurial activities, by scrutinizing the modalities such as the support for the immigration, the departure in business, the discovery of the entrepreneurial opportunity, the financing of the entrepreneurship and even the motive in the entrepreneurial commitment. To this end, this article joined within the framework of the studies relative to the ethnic and/or immigrant entrepreneurship. This research thus left the Anglo-Saxon literature on the ethnic entrepreneurship and a field survey to seize how the ethnic network constitutes a major element of the economic integration of the Lebanese by the entrepreneurship in Côte d'Ivoire. In fact, their ethnic network of the Lebanese boosts their entrepreneurship through a shape of selection in the immigration; the family unit - by the tourism or the visit of the family - organizing the arrival of the new migrant until the obtaining of its first employment pending the acquisition of the Ivorian experience or the capital of the future business and the discovery of the entrepreneurial opportunity.


Multipurpose Amphibious V ehicles ( MAV ) and other blunt-shaped floating vehicles encounter the problem of a large bow wave forming at high speeds. This wave formation is accompanied by higher resistance and at a critical speed results in bow submergence or swamping. Three new shapes of hull bow design for the multipurpose amphibious vehicle were conducted at several speeds to investigate the hydrodynamic phenomena using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD, RANS code) which is applied by Ansys-CFX14.0 and Maxsurf. The vehicle's hydrodynamic bow shapes were able to break up induced waves and avoid swamping. Comparative results with the vehicle fitted with U-shape, V-shape and Flat-shape of hull bow, showed that the U-shape of the hull bow has reduced the total resistance to 20.3% and 13.6% compared with the V-shape and flat shape respectively. Though, the U-shape of hull bow is capable to increase the amphibious operating life and speed of vehicle. Also it has ability to reduce the vehicle's required power, fossil fuel consumption and wetted hull surface.


LANGUAGE, we all agree, is conventional. By this we mean partly that some linguistic practices are arbitrary: except for historical accident, they could have been otherwise to roughly the same purposes. Which linguistic and other social practices are arbitrary in this sense is a matter of dispute. Some of the early disputants claimed as nonconventional certain practices which we now consider obvious cases of convention. And such mistakes sometimes held vague but widespread popular sway, owing to provincial or religious prejudices.2 Whereas it is easy to spot errors of our predecessors, it remains an open question whether some of our own activities are conventional or "natural." In short, people sometimes enter into a convention without knowing that it is conventional-even doubting its conventionality. A principal defect of David Lewis' generally illuminating account of convention is that it controverts these judgments.3 Lewis defines 'convention' thus:


This paper addresses practical comparison between the conventional identification methodology and identification based on computational intelligence (CI). For this purpose, Auto-Regressive Moving Average with eXogenous inputs (ARMAX), Non-Linear ARMAX (NARMAX) and identifications based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are applied to the modelling of a pilot-scale parallel-tube heat exchanger. First and second-order non-linear optimisation methods are used to train the neural networks. Results of the identification methods are presented and compared. It is shown that the use of second-order non-linear optimisation method for training neural networks yields a significant improvement in the convergence rate.


The Koppitz Human Figure Drawing (HFD) Test was examined for use in early identification of academically not-ready kindergarten children. HFD developmental scores of a group of children who later "passed" the Metroplitan Readiness Test (stanine score ≥4), as required for admission to the first-grade classroom, were compared with the HFD scores of a group of children who later "failed" the Metropolitan Readiness Test (stanine score ≤3). Evaluation of the test data showed that the optimum HFD score cut-off point for prediction of nonreadiness was ≤3; 42% of the nonready and 90% of the ready children, as defined by the Metropolitan Readiness Test (MTR) score criterion, were correctly identified. An overall hit rate of 75% was obtained on the experimental population. The work indicates that HFD developmental scores are useful for early identification of the academically not-ready kindergarten child.


Many African countries are rich in natural resources such as oil, natural gas, gold and diamonds but are often facing slow economic development, high poverty, corruption, civil war and attempts for secession. A phenomenon that has become more common in oil-rich countries is violent secession. Many minority groups want to secede from the state and form their own states due to discontent and discrimination. Many of them use violence to achieve their goals that is to form their own state, be recognized by the international community and protect the desired territory from other social groups. The government also allows security forces to use violence to prevent secession and suppress separatist movements. There are some oil-rich countries that manage to maintain the country united as in the case of Nigeria while others fails as in the case of Sudan. A division has occurred in Sudan and this paper aims to examine why the oil-rich countries have had different outcomes.


With the advancement of molecular biology technology and the development of genetics, the viral vector system has been continuously improved and optimized. The viral vector system has gradually become one of the best carriers in ophthalmic gene therapy. Adenovirus vector has the characteristics of transient expression and plays an important role in reducing corneal immune response. Lentiviral vector has the characteristics of stable and high efficiency and can be expressed slowly in the body for a long time.Adeno-associated virus vector has the characteristics of low immunogenicity, high efficiency and precision and can infect a variety of retinal cells. The combined use of adeno-associated virus vector and CRISPR-Cas9 provides new methods for precise treatment of ophthalmic genetic diseases. The advent of viral vectors has significantly increased the potential of gene therapy and has unparalleled advantages over traditional therapies. We have reason to believe that virus-based gene transduction technology will soon achieve clinical application in the near future, and a large number of difficult ophthalmic problems will be solved by then.

Key words:
Gene transfer, horizontal; Review; Viral vector


Impulse Radio Ultra-WideBand (IR-UWB) systems have drawn growing attention for wireless sensor networks such as Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) and Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) systems ever since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the spectrum between 3.1 and 10.6GHz for unlicensed use in 2002. The restriction on transmitted power spectral density in this band is equal to the noise emission limit of household digital electronics. This band is also shared with several existing service, therefore in-band interference is expected and presents a challenge to UWB system design. UWB devices as secondary spectrum users must also detect and avoid (DAA) other licensed users from the cognitive radio's point of view. For the DAA requirement, it is more effective to deploy signal with variable center frequency and a minimum 10dB bandwidth of 500MHz than a signal covering the entire UWB spectrum range with fixed center frequency. A key requirement of the applications using IR-UWB signal is ultra-low power consumption for longer battery life. Also, cost reduction is highly desirable. Recently, digital IR-UWB pulse generation is studied more than analog approach due to its lower power consumption. An all-digital pulse generator in a standard 0.13-um CMOS technology for communication systems using Impulse Radio Ultra-WideBand (IR-UWB) signal is presented. A delay line-based architecture utilizing only static logic gates and leading lower power consumption for pulse generation is proposed in this thesis. By using of all-digital architecture, energy is consumed by CV switching losses and sub-threshold leakage currents, without RF oscillator or analog bias currents. The center frequency and the fixed bandwidth of 500MHz of the output signal can be digitally controlled to cover three channels in low band of UWB spectrum. Delay based Binary Shift Keying (DB-BPSK) and Pulse Position Modulation (PPM) schemes are exploited at the same time to modulate the transmitted signals with further improvement in spectrum characteristics. The total energy consumption is 48pJ/pulse at 1.2V supply voltage, which is well suitable for WBAN systems.


To study the influence of negative oxygen ions fiber content on the released negative oxygen ions concentration of the fabric and the effect of different organizational structures on wearability of negative oxygen ions fabrics, the blended yarns of modified polyester negative oxygen ions fiber and viscose fiber in different blending ratio were selected, two series of fabrics were manufactured for the experiment. The released amount of negative oxygen ions and wearability of the blended fabrics were tested and analyzed in this paper. The results showed that with the increasing of negative oxygen ions fiber content in fabrics, the released negative oxygen ions concentration had increased. When the blended ratio of negative oxygen ions fiber and viscose fiber in fabric was 50/50, the released negative oxygen ions concentration of the fabric reached up to 4810/cm3 and was close to that of the field. Wearability of honeycomb weave fabric was best and suitable for home textiles through comprehensive analysis, followed by satin fabric. The conclusion from this research can be used as a reference to design and develop negative oxygen ions home textiles.


The invention relates to a method for mass production of amblyseius pswdolongis pinosus. The method is characterized by including steps of tetranychus raising, first-time raising and continuous raising of amblyseius pswdolongis pinosus, separation and collection of the amblyseius pswdolongis pinosus, packaging of the amblyseius pswdolongis pinosus and treatment and recycling of cultivation matrixes. The method for mass production of the amblyseius pswdolongis pinosus has the advantages that many steps in an existing method for raising the amblyseius pswdolongis pinosus are omitted, raising cost can be further lowered, mass production of the amblyseius pswdolongis pinosus can be realized by continuous raising of the amblyseius pswdolongis pinosus without inoculation, and separation, collection and packaging of the amblyseius pswdolongis pinosus and saving of the cultivation matrixes are realized.


Weakly acidic commercial cation exchangers with a static exchange capacity of 4.8-6.7 meq{center_dot}{sup -1} and a mechanical strength of 90% have been synthesized from petroleum asphaltites, resorcinol, and furfural.


The societal transformations, begun in the 1970s in the countries of central capitalism, arrived in Brazil in the 1990s and altered the forms of economic, political, social and ideological regulation. This process affects both the professional training and the working conditions of the social worker demanding new requisitions and skills, as well as critical reading and creative proposition in the face of regression of social rights. The ongoing transformations of contemporary capitalism impel the advance of neoconservatism and demand from the social worker a dense theoretical framework to fight in defense of the principles that guide the Professional EthicalPolitical Project


The objectives of the joint NASA/Army SECT studies were to identify high payoff technologies for year 2000 small gas turbine engine applications and to provide a technology plan for guiding future research and technology efforts applicable to rotorcraft, commuter and general aviation aircraft and cruise missiles. Competitive contracts were awarded to Allison, AVCO Lycoming, Garrett, Teledyne CAE and Williams International. This paper presents an overview of the contractors' study efforts for the commuter, rotorcraft, cruise missile, and auxiliary power (APU) applications with engines in the 250 to 1000 horsepower size range. Reference aircraft, missions and engines were selected. Advanced engine configurations and cycles with projected year 2000 component technologies were evaluated and compared with a reference engine selected by the contractor. For typical commuter and rotorcraft applications, fuel savings of 22 percent to 42 percent can be attained. For $1/gallon and $2/gallon fuel, reductions in direct operating cost range from 6 percent to 16 percent and from 11 percent to 17 percent respectively. For subsonic strategic cruise missile applications, fuel savings of 38 percent to 54 percent can be achieved which allows 35 percent to 60 percent increase in mission range and life cycle cost reductions of 40 percent tomore » 56 percent. High payoff technologies have been identified for all applications. 5 references.« less


Study Description Beef carcasses (n = 309) were selected by hot carcass weight [light (LW) = 650-750 lb; middle (MW) = 850-950 lb; heavy (HW) = 1025-1150 lb] from a commercial beef packing facility approximately 45 minutes postmortem. Temperature data loggers were placed 8 inches deep in the chuck and round and 4 inches deep in the loin to record internal temperature every 5 minutes for 26 hours. Data were analyzed using the PROC MIXED procedure in SAS (SAS v 9.4, Cary, NC) using carcass weight as the main effect and a significance level of  = 0.05.


The training methods of billiards for the tacle will be analyzed in order to improve the billiard ball player's tacle.Besides of that some effective training methods will be put forward.


Prominent Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs) consist of smart sensor nodes that retrieve multimedia content, such as audio, video, and scalar sensor data from an environment. Because of their popularity, WMSNs are used in a variety of applications. In WMSNs wireless links are unreliable and prone to errors. Link quality estimation has been active area of research in sensor networks for the past few years. In WMSNs new metrics are required to measure and evaluate link quality during discovery of the routing path. Guaranteeing Quality of Service (QoS) is a challenging task due to large amount of multimedia data that needs to be processed in a resource constrained network. This paper presents energy-aware and reliable routing technique, which finds energy-aware good quality links along the path. Next forwarding node is selected based on the distance, link quality, and remaining energy. Simulation results show that proposed technique offers better Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) and balances energy consumption of nodes to extend network lifetime.


This paper describes a project undertaken by a part of the Antiracist Group of the University of Crete in the city of Rethymno between September 2012 and April 2013. Given that the onset of the Greek Financial Crisis has been accompanied by an increasing prevalence of racist and nationalistic discourses, this project intended to address the problem of racism and its multiple effects in our local community. We made use of specific narrative tools such as narrative documents, externalising conversations, and conversations that highlight unique outcomes. This paper is a presentation of our work in three parts. The title was inspired by Susan Sontag's essay, Fascinating Fascism (1975).


This paper investigates the characteristics of speed variation obtained from speed profiles of GPS-equipped instrumented vehicles driven by the participants of the Commute Atlanta Project, an ongoing instrumented vehicle research program deployed in Atlanta, Georgia. In particular, this research effort examines the relationships between acceleration noise and the level of traffic congestion on freeway segments. The results of this study may provide another prospective use of Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) data which are likely to play a significant role in monitoring traffic congestion.


Electrochemical reactions of anions of ortho-, meta-, para-nitrobenzoic acids and 3-nitrophthalic acid were studied on mercury electrodes. The measurements were carried out in aqueous solution in the presence of inhibitors: n-butanol, n-pentanol, n-hexanol, n-octanol, and n-decanol under conditions of total electrode surface coverage by alcohol molecules. A detailed kinetic study concerned one-electron reduction of anions of para-nitrobenzoic acid and 3-nitrophthalic acid. Steric factors r ¬= /r 1 , evaluated from dependences of charge transfer rate constants on inhibitor concentrations, were found to be about 4. They are two times higher than those found earlier for electrodeposition reactions and point to the almost flat orientation of reaction molecules on the electrode surface


In order to grasp the freeway transport demand,introducing the utility theory into the freeway transport demand projections,authors probed freeway transport demand forecast.Based on the analysis of utility theory,the effective factors,such as number of transport,the time of its occurrence and so on were analyzed,and the speed,time,line service levels and social economy attributes were introduced as vectors into the model.Then,a freeway transport service demand function was built,thus a freeway transport demand forecast model was built.Research shows that through the improved utility function and introducing new utility parameters,it can describe the acts of freeway transport options objectively,and is useful for the freeway transport demand forecast.


In this paper, I would like to make a contribution to the classical issue of the role of ideas in the policy process. A review of the constructivist literature in Policy Analysis and International Relations reveals a strong attention on how overwhelming norms and social representations shape the actors' interests. Using the creation of the Franco-German Youth Office as a case study, I suggest that this mainstream constructivist approach underestimate the power of individual motivations. Those who do not share the institutionalized political orientations can engage in activities of persuasion. Governing political elites will probably rarely give up their fundamental values or their political objective under the pressure of rhetoric. But they can be much more open to persuasion if the argumentation concerns the policy instrument level. Using the example of the Franco-German youth exchange, I suggest that the looseness of the link between policy objectives and policy instruments offers a great space for rhetorical action.


In the system of soil-saving technologies, comparative tests of the effectiveness of the use of various biological products based on consortia of microorganisms, fungal cultures in the field were conducted, and their effectiveness was evaluated. We used the preparations "Nurse Mycorrhiza" (Russia), MycoCrop ® (Germany), a new drug of the "Biogor" series developed by the Scientific and Technical Center for Biological Technologies in Agriculture (NTC"BIO") (Russia). The effectiveness of seed treatment with biological preparations is shown. Plants of spring wheat of the Darya variety, the seeds of which were treated with the preparation "Biogor", had friendly aligned shoots, formed a better-developed root system, which later resulted in a significant increase in yield. The results of the dispersion analysis showed that the difference between the processing options is significant, and the processing by the "Biogor" consortium has a positive effect on the formation of grains in the ear, their mass, the mass of 1000 seeds, as well as on the yield of spring wheat in general. The use of a new preparation of the "Biogor" series, developed in LLC "STC "BIO" and containing a consortium of beneficial microorganisms, is promising for spring wheat: the weight of 1000 seeds increases by 13.5 %, the yield significantly increases by 12.5 %.


The COVID-19 pandemic has forced educational institutions worldwide to rapidly adapt to remote teaching and learning methods. Blended learning models that combine online and offline methods have emerged as a popular approach to facilitate effective teaching during the pandemic. This study examines the influence of a blended learning model assisted by YouTube application on the thematic learning outcomes of fifth-grade students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study uses a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test and post-test control group. The results show that the blended learning model significantly improved students' thematic learning outcomes compared to the traditional classroom approach. The study also found that the YouTube application played a significant role in facilitating students' engagement and motivation in the learning process. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of blended learning models and the potential of technology-assisted learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.


We consider incidences among colored sets of lines in $\mathbb{R}^d$ and examine whether the existence of certain concurrences between lines of $k$ colors force the existence of at least one concurrence between lines of $k+1$ colors. This question is relevant for problems in 3D reconstruction in computer vision.