This paper explores the nature of a critical friendship between two education advisers within a nation‐wide New Zealand Ministry of Education (MOE, 2006–2008) research and development project. Over 18 months the relationship developed through evolving phases. This paper identifies and discusses the factors, circumstances, conditions and analytical tools that contributed to these changes; reviews appropriate literature; and responds to five questions that develop further understandings and insights into critical friendship. Findings from this government initiative (extracted from field notes, transcribed conversations and interviews) provide evidence to inform a model for the developmental phases of critical friendship that has international application within educational professional development.


It is widely believed that direct democracy, in the form of the initiative, brought about cuts in state taxes and spending over the last quarter century. This belief is based on firsthand observation, case studies, and more than a dozen statistical studies (Matsusaka 2004). Marschall and Ruhil (2005) focus on one of the central issues in this literature: Did the initiative cause this perceived reduction in taxes and spending, or was there some unmeasured factor that led to adoption of the initiative as well as spending and tax cuts?


Ceramides, the major lipid component of the stratum corneum (SC), provide many of its unique physical properties. Surprisingly, only a few biophysical studies of hydrated ceramides have been reported. The current Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy investigation provides the first detailed study of intermolecular and intramolecular chain and headgroup interactions in hydrated non-hydroxy fatty acid (NFA) and hydroxy fatty acid (HFA) ceramides. Information about NFA and HFA ceramide chain subcell structure and conformational order is derived from the temperature dependence of the methylene stretching, scissoring, and rocking mode frequencies. At low temperatures, NFA ceramide is highly ordered and packed in an orthorhombic subcell structure that undergoes a solid−solid phase transition to a conformationally ordered hexagonal phase at 60 °C. A second transition to a conformationally disordered non-bilayer-like phase occurs at 80 °C. The lipid chains of HFA ceramide undergo a single transition fro...


We report on the circular dichroism induced in two dyes, 2,7-dibromo-4-hydroxy mercurifluorescein and pyridoxal-5-phosphate, bound to bovine plasma albumin. We show that the optical activity induced in 2,7-dibromo-4-hydroxy mercurifluorescein, covalently bound to the unique sulfhydryl residue of the protein, makes it possible to follow the pH dependent transitions of bovine plasma albumin occurring in the pH ranges 3 to 5 and 6 to 8. The optical activity induced in the dye is important only for the contracted state of the protein obtained near the isoionic point. On the other hand we show that the optical activity induced in pyridoxal-5-phosphate, a dye probably bound to the ɛ-amino group of a particular lysine residue, is independent of pH between pH 5 and 8.


The knowledge related to computer graphics principles, virtual reality, web3D and other advanced information visualization tools and techniques as well as low cost, but high quality hardware and software facilities has gained growing accessibility over the last decade. However, there have been the challenges of influencing and supporting individuals' skills, cognitive competencies and learning performance enhancements based on the mentioned principles and technologies (Dede, 2009); (Franco et al., 2009); (O' Connor & Cohn, 2010); (Osberg, 1997 a, b); (Winn, 1997); (Youngblut, 1998). It includes improving citizens' traditional and digital literacy skills and scientific competences related to reading, writing, mathematics and sciences (Franco & Lopes, 2009, 2011); (OECD/PISA in focus 2, 2011); (PISA, 2010); (Mervis, 2011); (UNESCO, 2008); (Wilson et al., 2010).


A new method of precise pressure measurement in the diamond anvil cell, especially useful at high temperatures, is presented. It is based on the measurement of the channeled spectrum of a miniature Fabry–Perot etalon interferometer placed inside the cell. The validity of the method has been verified with an interferometric gauge of ZnWO4.


aaaAbstract: The basis of an ad hoc pumping technology for Mars exploration called a Jet Dust Pump is outlined. In space exploration, in situ resource utilization (ISRU) is defined as "the collection, processing, storing and use of materials encountered in the course of human or robotic space exploration that replace materials that would otherwise be brought from Earth".[1]. However ISRU philosophy not just should be applied on materials but also in suitable technology considering the special Martian environment.


Medical imaging is an important area in today's healthcare system. Diagnosis using medical images relies heavily on a clinician's ability and experience. However this reliance can offer a room for diagnosis inaccuracies when clinicians are faced with long hours and heavy workload. Therefore the role of Computer Aided Diagnosis (CADx) systems to aid clinicians to make faster and more accurate decisions is an important and growing one. Classification is an important stage in CADx. The objective of this study is to classify disease in the lung using a new five-class system. This study proposed a five-class system describe local features of Gray-level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM). This increase the features used to 20 features for each image. This study used 10 normal and 10 diseased patients. Six classifiers were used to show a diverse and non-bias performance of the features. Greedy stepwise algorithm was used as a feature selection method. With feature selection, the accuracies were above 0.80, which indicates the strength of the five-class feature. The highest accuracy was 0.89 using Random Forest classifier.


Taking Hezhou as object, the paper analyzed the factors restricting the development of agricultural mechanization in southern hilly. And put forward some proposal of improving the agricultural mechanization in southern hilly. For example, strengthening the infrastructure construction, developing the agricultural implements meeting the need of hilly areas, introducing advanced technologies of making agricultural implements from abroad, increasing the policies support of agricultural machinery to hilly areas market, enhancing the train of staff who use the mid-small agricultural implements and so on.


This paper introduces the application of anthocyanins Additives existing problems,extraction,purification technology and modern purification anthocyanins status quo and development trend of extraction and purification of an- thocyanins were analyzed.


I want to begin with the remark that I am not a biblical scholar; I am a political scientist specializing in political theory. Political the ory is frequently said to be concerned with the values of the Western world. These values, as is well-known, are partly of biblical and partly of Greek origin. The political theorist must, therefore, have an inkling of the agreement as well as the disagreement between the bib lical and the Greek heritage. Everyone working in my field has to rely most of the time on what biblical scholars or classical scholars tell him


A folk-tale narrative with its unique composition and deep-laid semantics is an important phenomenon of modern life. It supplements a rational worldview and preserves its priorities, despite the changes that take place in the technical, informational, communicational and other areas of human activity. The folk-tale model of the world is a binary entity characterized by interconnected oppositions. For this reason the structure of the folk-tale and its holistic perception is largely determined by the category of opposition. The article describes a model for representing the category of opposition in Celtic folklore. The author identifies general and specific types of oppositions and describes the language means expressing them. The proposed methodology for the analysis of the language means makes it possible to go beyond the traditional structural description. It gives an insight into a linguistic opposition as a contextually conditioned or a potential phenomenon. Moreover, the oppositional method can be extrapolated to the study of texts which belong to other genres of literature. Such research contributes to the understanding of British ethnic mentality. Establishing what is seen as the opposite in the texts of traditional folk culture helps to identify cultural meanings in language units.


Obesity, defined as a body mass index of ≥30 kg/m2, is the most common chronic metabolic disease worldwide and its prevalence has been strongly increasing. Obesity has deleterious effects on cardiac function. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the effects of obesity and excessive weight loss due to bariatric surgery on cardiac function, structural changes and haemodynamic responses of both the left and right ventricle.


BACKGROUND
Scanning electron microscopy was assayed and linked with previous data for obtaining a new combined sensory-instrumental tool for pomegranate seed hardness determination. The aim of this research was to develop an effective tool for the prediction of sensory properties through instrumental determinations.

RESULTS
Simple regression analysis determined high correlation within descriptive seed hardness and thickness of the wall as well as descriptive wood perception and thickness of the wall with values of 0.71 in both cases. Multiple regression analysis improved correlations when (i) descriptive seed hardness correlated to instrumental seed hardness and wood index (0.94); (ii) descriptive wood perception correlated to instrumental seed hardness and wood index (0.79); (iii) descriptive seed hardness correlated to instrumental seed hardness and thickness of the seed wall (0.96) and (iv) descriptive wood perception correlated to instrumental seed hardness and thickness of the seed wall (0.82). Same trend was found when (i) seed hardness satisfaction degree correlated to instrumental seed hardness and wood index (0.92); (ii) wood perception satisfaction degree correlated to instrumental seed hardness and wood index (0.82); (iii) seed hardness satisfaction degree correlated to instrumental seed hardness and thickness of the wall (0.99) and (iv) wood perception satisfaction degree correlated to instrumental seed hardness and thickness of the wall (0.99).

CONCLUSION
Regarding mechanical properties, results confirm that texture analysis and scanning electron microscopy are an effective tool in order to obtain reliable information. This research led to establish an objective tool allowing to predict the consumer acceptance of pomegranate cultivars worldwide. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Background: Virtual consultation is defined as the provision of a healthcare service when there is a distance between the subjects and information and communication technologies are used to carry out the consultation. This tool has been successfully implemented in different specialties. It is useful for providing quick solutions, improving the overload of the medical care and for the early detection of inflammatory diseases1. In our centre, virtual consultation from Primary Care (PC) to Hospital Care (HC) has been implemented. Objectives: The main objective is to describe our experience with the use of virtual consultation and its value as a new modality of specialised medical care. The second aim is to identify the most frequent reasons for consultation and diagnoses, to assess the concordance between the two and to analyse the trend over time of the number of virtual consultations and their relationship with the different waves of the COVID 19 pandemic. Methods: Retrospective observational study. The virtual consultations made from PC (47 centres) to Rheumatology during 2020 were analysed. They were carried out through a computer programme, using the "Andalusian Health Service Virtual Consultation Platform" tool. A specific agenda was established for virtual consultations. The reason for the referral and the rheumatologist's diagnosis were collected. The response given to the PC was divided into four models: NON-TRIBUTARY (not related to the speciality), DISCHARGE (a diagnosis and therapeutic response is concluded), APPOINTMENT FOR CONSULTATION and FOLLOW-UP (new contact is requested, completing the information). The reasons for consultation, diagnoses, time and type of response were analysed. Results: 47 virtual consultations were carried out. 54.5% (n 298) were closed as DISCHARGE. 27.4% (n 150) were APPOINTMENT FOR CONSULTATION, and 17.7% (n 97) indicated FOLLOW-UP. Only 0.4% (n 2) were NOT TRIBUTARY. The average response time was 2 days 15 hours and 56 min. The most frequent reason for consultation was polyarthralgias (26.7%, n 146) and after the rheumatologist's assessment a diagnosis was established in 89% of them. Inflammatory arthropathy accounted for 30.8% (n 45), osteoarthritis for 19.9% (n 29), fibromyalgia for 12.3% (n 18), polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) for 6.9% (n 10), osteoporosis for 2.7% (n 4) and connective tissue disease for 2.1% (n 3). Another frequent reason for consultation was osteoporosis (13.5% n 74), of which 85.1% (n 63) had a confirmed diagnosis and/or need for revision. A diagnosis could be made via telematics in 89.6% of the consultations. 15.5% were osteoporosis (n 85), 14.9% osteoarthritis (n 81), 10.5% soft tissue injuries, 8.8% mechanical/ nonspecific pain (n 47), 7.1% rheumatoid arthritis (n 39), 6.5% fibromyalgia (n 34), 6.2% connective tissue disease (n 34), 5.7% PMR (n 31), 4.9% suspected spondyloarthritis (n 26), 4.2% psoriatic arthritis (n 23) and 4.2% microcrystalline arthritis (n 23). 27.4% (n 150) of the virtual consultations were required for assessment in a face-to-face appointment. We analysed the distribution over time (Figure 1). In the COVID 19 confinement phase (14 March -21 June), the number of consultations increased, peaking in June, a behaviour that has persisted in the other mobility phases (October/November). Conclusion: More than half of the virtual consultations carried out were resolved without face-to-face assessment, with a diagnosis being established in almost 90%. It is an effective tool for rapid access to Rheumatology, detecting pathology requiring preferential attention, with a face-to-face appointment, as well as for the early diagnosis of inflammatory arthropathy, which was detected in a quarter of the consultations, as well as for the diagnosis and follow-up of osteoporosis. Virtual consultation facilitates a quick response, playing an even more relevant role in the current SARS CoV-2 pandemic situation. (Figure Presented).


Forecasts made during tunnelling of the daily advance, to control the machine, specify the lining and verify system behaviour are of great importance for safety and for the success of the whole project. In practice, such forecasts are obtained in deep tunnels by probe drilling, leading to downtime periods and by analog/digital face documentation with shorter downtime periods. Measurement and evaluation of rock mass cutting at the cutterhead of the TBM enables continuous monitoring without downtime. From the spatial distribution of the disc forces, basic geological/geotechnical information about the tunnel face can be derived. In addition, this data is valuable for load monitoring and monitoring the condition of the discs to determine the optimal changing time. This contribution deals with a geological‐geotechnical interpretation of the disc forces of the open TBM on contract H33 Tulfes‐Pfons of the Brenner Base Tunnel. The spatially distributed disc forces are evaluated and compared with the geological documentation.


A uremic toxic compound with molecular weight 1007.94 was determined to be an octapeptide by mass spectrometry.Its amino-acid sequence was given as follos: Val-Val-Arg-Gly-Cys-Thr-Trp-Trp.Spin systems for amino acid residues in the octapeptide were identified through analysis of 2D NMR ~1H-~1H DQF-COSY,TOCSY and ROESY spectra acquired in H_2O and D_2O.Moreover,the complete assignment of proton resonances for the backbone and side chain was achieved.Based on the secondary chemical shift(Δδ) of the residues,the secondary structure of octapeptide was surveyed.Conformational analyses according to Chemical Shift Index(CSI) showed that the secondary structure of the octapeptide was principally α-helix.The CD spectra of the peptide in aqueous solution gave the same result.Additions of linear polymers made the conformations of octapeptide stretch.These experimental results provide a basis for further comprehension of interaction regulation between biomacromolecule and polymer absorbing materials.


I agree with Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza that Catharina Halkes's birthday was a milestone for the feminist movement that deserved celebration. I agree, that is, now that I've looked Halkes up on the Internet. I had no idea who she was. Which is, precisely to Schussler Fiorenza's point, the problem. Many women (and some men) of my generation working in one corner of feminist the*ology have already "forgotten" a Halkes we never even knew. If even those of us operating in overlapping fields can be unaware of one another's work,


The active components in salvia miltiorrhiza bunge(danshen) include danshensu,labiatenic acid,and tanshinone,and they are known to be key compounds for danshen′ s blood-activating effect in traditional Chinese medicine.Studies show that these compounds have some common scaffolds.A systematic investigation was conducted to locate the targets of these active components among proteins with reported crystal structures.A structural informatics knowledgebase derived from protein structure and ligand-binding mode information was employed in this investigation.Furthermore,docking methods were used to rationally discover the relationship between the scaffold characteristics and the binding ability with the proteins.Results indicate that the active components comprehensively inhibit the metabolic network of adrenaline,which is a strong endogenetic cardiovascular activator.Consequently,adrenaline and its derivatives are accumulated and blood circulation is activated.We propose that key enzymes in the metabolic pathway of adrenaline including phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase,catechol O-methyltransferase,and monoamine oxidases are targets for the active components in danshen.This research aids in the understanding of the mechanism of danshen′s activating blood action.


Wei,Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties are the significant stages in Chinese culture history,its basically completed the preliminary fusion process of the three major parts in Chinese traditional culture in thought——Confucian,Buddhism and Taoism.At the same time,Jiangyan's works are the embodiment of fusion in Confucian,Buddhism and Taoism,moreover the fusion has comparative self-conscious consciousness.Take a wide view the existing work of Jiang Yan,the Confucian tendency of it is obvious.Neglecting this wouldn't enable us to grasp the creation thought and artistic achievement of JiangYan's works well.From the point of irrefutable historical material,the author discusses the forming reasons and the concrete embodiment of the Confucian tendency of Jiang Yan's works.


Adonis, an Arabic poet with Syrian origins, writes an extended, innovative poem on Jerusalem/Al-Quds titled "Concerto Al-Quds." These two sections of the book-length poem, translated into English by award-winning poet Khaled Mattawa, are hymns to a troubled city embattled by the conflicting demands of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Wrapping multiple voices, historical references, and political viewpoints within his ecstatic lyricism.
 Adonis, an Arabic poet with Syrian origins, writes an extended, innovative poem on Jerusalem/Al-Quds titled "Concerto Al-Quds." These two sections of the book-length poem, translated into English by award-winning poet Khaled Mattawa, are hymns to a troubled city embattled by the conflicting demands of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Wrapping multiple voices, historical references, and political viewpoints within his ecstatic lyricism.


Heidegger thinks that "beauty" stems from a aesthetic state, which is not a spiritual state of the subject, but the natural state of being. Beauty is the emergence of beings themselves. Being is the essence of beauty as well as its function. Beauty is not the result of emergence, but the dynamic process of emerging. Why the emergence of being is beauty is that: as people cannot observe and comprehend the essence of being in the mobile world, being is certain to be forgotten in the everyday state of life. Only by breaking this forgotten state, can man win real freedom and obtain evidence of being. This static process of acquiring evidence of being is precisely the process of acquiring a good understanding of the essence and origin of beauty. Beauty is just the light of evidence of beings and the light of being.


The experiment result of Al_2(SO_4)_3, anhydrous AlCl_3FeCl_3CuCl_2ZnCl_2,solid super acid SO~(2-)_4/ZrO_2SO~(2-)_4/TiO_2SO~(2-)_4/TiO_2-La_2O_3SO~(2-)_4/TiO_2-MoO_3SO_4~(2-)/TiO_2-WO_3, solid supported heteropoly acids,H_3PW_(12)O_(40)/PAn, TiSiW_(12)O_(40)/TiO_2, HY type molecular sieve and FeCl_3-AlCl_3-UR, about ten kinds of catalysts catalytic synthesize 2-methyl-2-ethoxycarbonylmethyl-1,3-dioxolane-B was presented. It showed that Al_2(SO_4)_3, solid super acid SO~(2-)_4/TiO_2-La_2O_3SO~(2-)_4/TiO_2-WO_3, actived carbon supported heteropoly acids and FeCl_3-AlCl_3-UR have high yield for 2-methyl-2-ethoxycarbonyl-methyl-1,3-dioxolane-B, and also have actual application value.


The paraoxonase multigene family contains three members, including PON1, PON2 and PON3. The relation between them and some diseases is the focus of investigation in the last decade. The present paper mostly reviews the association between PON1/PON2 and the common diseases in nervous system as well as their influence.

Key words:
paraoxonases; multigene family; nervous diseases


This paper is aimed at examining what is human rights and what constitutes human rights violation, the analysis of various violations of human rights by the men of Nigeria security services. The paper shall look at circumstances leading to such violations, as reported by the media and the impediments to the realization of human rights, the possible prospects for its amelioration in form of recommendation.


Summary The research reported here adopted a multidimensional approach to studying job insecurity, using Israeli teachers as a case in point. Based on two determinants of job insecurity-unionization and kibbutz affiliation-four distinct employment types were identified: unionized city teachers, unionized kibbutz members, unionized kibbutz hirees, and non-unionized personal contract teachers. The a priori job insecurity status of the four employment types matched the subjective reports of these teachers, supporting the external validity of the job insecurity scale used. The study explored the effect of job insecurity on work attitudes. Results indicated that job insecurity had an adverse effect on organizational commitment, perceived performance, perceived organizational support, intention to quit and resistance to change, supporting predictions in related literature. The results of this study have implications on the management of job insecurity in changing environments.


We report a study of the effect of hydrostatic pressure on the magnetocaloric effect in a La0.69Ca0.31MnO3 single crystal. The single crystal exhibits a much larger magnetic entropy change (ΔSm) than the corresponding polycrystalline samples, reaching 5.2J∕kgK and 8.5J∕kgK for a magnetic field variation of 1T and 5T, respectively. Under hydrostatic pressure, the peak position of ΔSm significantly moves to higher temperatures due to the shift of the magnetic phase transition, from 213.5K under ambient pressure up to 236.5K under a pressure of 1.1GPa, while the maximum value of ΔSm remains nearly the same. These exceptional results demonstrate that the magnetocaloric effect in magnetic materials with strong spin-lattice coupling can be effectively tuned by pressure.


In this paper a novel multi-hop relay-assisted hybrid FSO / RF system is presented. It is assumed that direct RF connection between mobile users and source Base Station is impossible, therefore a relay connects RF users to the source Base Station via a FSO link. Source and destination Base Stations are connected via a multi-hop relay-assisted hybrid FSO / RF link. FSO link is investigated over moderate to saturate regimes of atmospheric turbulence. Also RF link is assumed to have Rayleigh fading. For the first time, new exact and asymptotic expressions are derived in closed-form for Bit Error Rate (BER) and the Outage Probability (P_out), of the proposed system. MATLAB simulations are performed to validate obtained analytical results. Results indicate that the proposed structure has low dependence on the number of users, therefore, the proposed structure is suitable for cells which encounter different populations during a day, because there is little performance difference between systems with different number of users. Also the proposed structure, at Negative exponential atmospheric turbulence has small dependence on the number of relays, but this dependence is a bit more for Gamma-Gamma atmospheric turbulence. Therefore, the proposed structure increases capacity whereas maintaining performance of the system.


Objective To evaluate the efficacy of mycophenolate Mofetil (MMF) and azathioprine (AZA) after renal transplantation. Methods Searching: Medline, Embase, Cochrane library an d Chinese Biomedicine database (CBM); identified the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and applied Revman 4.11 for statistical analyses. Results Twenty-two RCTs were identified, involving MMF and AZA for anti-rej ection after renal transplantation. The data shown that MMF (2 g/d) was more ben eficial than AZA in improving the graft survival rate of short periods and the l ong-term patient survival rate, but there was no statistical differences betwee n MMF (3 g/d) with AZA. Whether in 6 months or in 1 year after renal transplanta tion, the use of MMF (2 g/d) or MMF (3 g/d) could markedly reduce the incidence of biopsy-proven rejection. Conclusion Comparing with A ZA, MMF is a more potent immunosuppressive drug, and more efficient in reducing the acute rejection after renal transplantation. MMF can improve the graft and p atient survival rate. The 2 gram per day is more acceptable.


A previously unreported CD8 1 CD28 1 CD11b 1 T cell subset occurs in healthy individuals and expands in patients suffering from primary viral infections. In functional terms, these cells share the features of naive/memory CD8 1 CD28 1 CD11b 2 and terminally differentiated effector CD8 1 CD28 2 CD11b 1 subpopulations. Like CD28 2 cells, CD28 1 CD11b 1 lymphocytes have the ability to produce IFN- g , to express perforin granules in vivo, and to exert a potent cytolytic activity. Moreover, these cells can respond to chemotactic stimuli and can efficiently cross the endothelial barrier. In contrast, like their CD11b 2 counterpart, they still produce IL-2 and retain the ability to proliferate following mitogenic stimuli. The same CD28 1 CD11b 1 subpopulation detected in vivo could be generated by culturing naive CD28 1 CD11b 2 cells in the presence of mitogenic stimuli following the acquisition of a CD45RO 1 memory phenotype. Considering both phenotypic and functional properties, we argue that this subset may therefore constitute an intermediate phenotype in the process of CD8 1 T cell differentiation and that the CD11b marker expression can distinguish between memory- and effector-type T cells in the human CD8 1 CD28 1 T cell subset. The Journal of Immunology, 2001, 166: 900–907. 2 , biological properties soluble elements as T cell in healthy individuals and


Fifty-two Proteus isolates, (47) Proteus mirabilis, (4) Proteus vulgaris, and (1) Proteus hauseri are being isolated from (200) clinical specimens taken from patients admitted to different hospitals in Erbil city/Kurdistan region of Iraq. Specimens were of urine, wounds swabs, burn swabs, vaginal swabs, ear swabs, eye swabs, and sputum. All isolates were identified depending on cultural, morphological, biochemical characteristics, and confirmatory VITEK 2 system. Furthermore, VITEK 2 (antibiotic susceptibility testing) panel was used to determine the antibiotic susceptibility of Proteus isolates, and the results showed that all isolates were entirely resistant to tetracycline and tigecycline (100%), but sensitive to meropenem. Furthermore, the present study reported a case of rare Proteus species – P. hauseri – isolated from a patient with urinary tract infection in Erbil City which characterized by no swarming on blood agar.


We observe the spontaneous evaporation of atoms confined in a bubble-like radio frequency (rf)-dressed trap (Zobay and Garraway 2001 Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 1195; 2004 Phys. Rev. A 69 023605). The atoms are confined in a quadrupole magnetic trap and are dressed by a linearly polarized rf field. The evaporation is related to the presence of holes in the trap, at the positions where the rf coupling vanishes, due to its vectorial character. The final temperature results from a competition between residual heating and evaporation efficiency, which is controlled via the height of the holes with respect to the bottom of the trap. The experimental data are modelled by a Monte Carlo simulation predicting a small increase in phase-space density limited by the heating rate. This increase was within the phase-space density determination uncertainty of the experiment.


The utility model discloses a tunnel component fire-resistant test system, which comprises a test furnace, a combustion assembly, a test component and a test control device, wherein the test furnace comprises a furnace body and a hearth, the upper part of the furnace body is provided with an opening, the opening is provided with a furnace cover, and the hearth comprises a combustion part and a component placing part positioned on the upper part of the combustion part. The tunnel component fire-resistant test system can be applicable to test components with large sizes, and can realize the internationally and internally recommended RABT temperature rise curve, the designed highest temperature reaches 1250 DEG C, the high temperature lasts 2h, and in addition, the adjustability is realized in the height (thickness) direction, so that the indexes conform to the existing standard requirements, and the solid foundation is provided for the large-component fireproof tests of joints and pipe section structures of sea bottom immersed pipe tunnels.


Poster: "ECR 2011 / C-0668 / Correlation of atherosclerotic changes in peripheral arteries with pathological involvement of aortic arch in patients who undergoing coronary arteries bypass" by: "R. Javadrashid1, M. K. Tarzamni1, A. Afrasiabi1, M. Halimi1, S. Eshraghi2; 1Tabriz/IR, 2Tehran/IR"


This article concentrates on one very central character in Udmurt mythology. It is a character typical of the transitional time around the solstices, an ambiguous and liminal time, which requires particular caution from the humans to protect themselves from dangerous interference from the world beyond. This character, whose name, vozho, appears in the Udmurt name of these periods, vozho-dyr, the time of vozho for the winter solstice and invozho, heaven-vozho for the summer solstice, is also a water spirit. I reflect also on other water spirits and on their peculiarities. This analysis leads me to reflect on the origin and the ramifications of the concept behind vozho with its linguistic correlations, the way it is articulated and how it sheds light on the concept of holy in the Permic languages and for the Permians, Udmurt and Komi. This leads me to reflect on the correlations between liminality and holiness, the liminal places and spaces and their value, and the particular characters in the mummery festivities that characterise this transitional time and which are connected both to the spirits of the other world and to the dead ancestors, who are among the main providers of well-being in the Udmurt world.


This stimulating book collects papers from two panels of the 2007 APA meeting in San Diego devoted to the 'new Sappho': the results of the publications in ZPE by M. Gronewald and R.W. Daniel of the third century B.C. papyrus fragments in Cologne now published formally as P. Köln 429 and 430. There is much of interest here, and the length of this review means that I cannot do equal justice to all papers. We start with an edition with apparatus and translation by D. Obbink and a fi ne account by J. Hammerstaedt of the textual constitution of the material arising from the new papyrus and its overlap with the later P. Oxy. 1787 (including photographs). The reader needs these in order to evaluate what follows, and the Editors are to be praised for ensuring that the evidentiary basis for the poems is clearly set out (but they should have been more vigilant in eliminating inaccuracies or ambiguities elsewhere).1 The focus is mostly on the new Sapphic material, the main exceptions being observations by J. Lidov (in the fi rst of his two chapters) and by D. Clayman, both stressing links between the Sappho poems and the Hellenistic poem which follows. Clayman, in an attractive though necessarily speculative reading, argues that 'Sappho' is the narrator of the poem. Lidov's observations form part of a useful and thought-provoking study of Sappho's poems as arranged into ancient books. His second chapter is a study of metre in the new material. E. Stehle combines the new material with previously known fragments in a treatment of 'temporal markers', in which I especially enjoyed a beautiful and sensitive reading of fr. 96. Time is also a theme in M. Johnson's paper: from analogies with the new poem and with Mimnermus, she argues that fr. 31 should be understood as describing an older narrator looking upon youthful beauty. For E. Greene, Sappho's 'philosophical' approach to themes such as change and permanence should be set beside analogous refl ections in the Presocratic philosophers. The essays by A. Lardinois, L. Edmunds, D. Boedeker and G. Nagy, though divergent in other respects, all address the question of the end of the Tithonus poem. Twelve lines are present on both papyri. Before the Cologne papyrus was known, the poem represented by these lines on the Oxyrhynchus papyrus had been believed to continue for four more lines, including an overlap with a quotation in Athenaeus. This was inferred from the conjectured sense of fragmentary material rather than from narrowly papyrological considerations. I think that the papyrological data available now point to the conclusion that the twelve lines represented on both papyri are a complete song. However, there are other possibilities: perhaps the scribe of the Cologne papyrus omitted to write the end of the poem, or the poem was transmitted in longer and shorter versions. For Lardinois, Edmunds, Boedeker


The object of this note is to {Macaca rence of cancrum oris m a 0ccairus). It is believed that tins occlirred sion on which this compnca Leishin an experimental animal mie mania donovani. ? ... ^nnVey is that The previous history of thw . fectkm jn the ^ had been given a malaria g Napier scries of experiments reported necesand Campbell (1932) and that ai obtained, sary data regarding malaria ^ Napier for it had been handed over leishmania infection expernnen .


The development of thermal spray technology and materials is reviewed first Then, the research of new thermal spray materials is introduced After that, the characteristics and developing directions of the thermal spray materials are discussed also The purpose is providing the guidance for the development of the thermal spray materials in the future


Abstract Comparative chloride analyses were performed by the thiocyanate and mercurimetric titrations on sera and on standard solutions in the presence of added proteins. The results indicate that erroneously high values are obtained by mercurimetric titration in the presence of protein.


We report the analysis of radio soundings launched at our permanent measurement site in North-western Germany. The data of potential temperature and wind speed are used to derive vertical profiles of the gradient Richardson number 𝑅𝑖𝑔 in the free troposphere, and subsequently, the strength of optical turbulence 𝐶𝑛 2. These values are compared to a numerical framework, which derives 𝐶𝑛 2 from mesoscale weather prediction data by two schemes based on the gradient Richardson number and Monin-Obukhov similarity theory, respectively.


The Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization held its 36th session in Paris, November 30 through December 9, 1953, under the chairmanship of General Sir Ronald Adam. The Board requested the Director-General to submit detailed proposals for the organization of the eighth session of the General Conferenceto the Board's 37th session. In preparing these, he was to take into account the views expressed by the Board, particularly those concerng arrangements for discussion of the Director-General's report, discussion of the draft program and budget estimates, general organization of meetings, voting procedure, and documents and records. organization of meetings, voting procedure, and documents and records. The Board recommended that the eighth session of the General Conference revise its rules of procedure to provide that, in case of doubt as to whether a proposed amendment was an amendment of substance or an amendment of form, it be deemed an amendment of substance unless a two-thirds majority favored interpreting it otherwise. The Board also requested member states to submit their reports for the eighth session of the Conference to the Director-General not later than April 15, 1954.


The international legal system built in 1945 was founded under the essential proscription on the threat or use of force in international relations. This principle has been long recognized as part of customary international law and as a rule o f jus cogens binding all States, is contained in Article 2(4) of the United Nation (UN) Charter and was reinforced by a system of collective security measures included in Chapter VII of the same Charter. Indeed, there is general conformity on the main principles that comprise the law on the use of force and its two recognized exceptions: the collective use of force by the Security Council and the individual or collective self-defense by member states. States have not complied in every respect with the ban expressed in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. The case study demonstrates how states fail to comply with the UN Charter in pursued of perceived national interests. The United States (US) and its allies justified their invasion o f Iraq in 2003 as preemptive self-defense, Iraq's failure to comply with all or any of the existing 23 UN Security Council Resolutions and that Resolution 1441 justified use o f force against Iraq. However, the use of force against Iraq was not justified under international law unless Iraq mounted a direct attack on the US; one of its allies requested the U S's assistance; an attack by Iraq on the US or one of its allies was imminent and could be averted in no way other than by the use of force; or the United Nations Security Council authorized the use of force in clear terms. None of the above factors occurred to justify war Iraq in 2003. Therefore, the Iraq war in 2003 was illegal, breached Article 2(4) of UN Charter and had no justification in international law. The study attempted to prove that despite lack of total compliance with Article 2(4) of the UN Charter in regulating use of force in international relations, the Article is effective in regulating resort to war in contemporary world despite breaches of the Article by some states. The Iraq-US war was illegal and breached Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.


The main objective of this project is to devise a simple low cost microcontroller based weather monitoring system using wireless technology which fetches weather conditions using various sensors like temp, humidity… etc , displays it on LCD and forwards it to remote user by SMS.This project is developed by using ATMEGA-32 Microcontroller, SIM 300 GSM Module, LCD display and LM35 temperature sensor. The advantage of using GSM based technology is that GSM based communication network is widespread and have almost reached to every nook and corners of this 21st century world. GSM technology also do provide users with high quality signal and channels, giving them access to high quality digital communication at very affordable rates. This embedded system can prove to be useful for anyone who wish to monitor the weather condition of a location without being physically present there.


In this paper we consider a family of output waves obtained by impressing simultaneously an n-dimensional input wave f(X) to the finite number of time-invariant linear networks. A problem is considered, where the original wave f(X) is to be approximated using the sampled values of the forementioned output waves. A unified theory is presented with respect to the convergence of the approximate wave to the original wave f(X). the discussion given in this paper may be considered as a basis for the future theory of subband coding and multiplexing of the multidimensional signals, in the sense that we use the sampled values of the multidimensional waves transferred through the linear networks. the approximate wave h(X) for f(x) is a sum of the forementioned sample values of these output waves, being multiplied by certain n-dimensional waves called interpolation functions. the set of sampling points considered in this paper includes most of the practically important arrangements of sampling points, such as hexagonal and octagonal lattices on the two-dimensional plane. the set of f(X) in this paper is defined as the set of n-dimensional waves such that the corresponding Fourier spectrum has the weighted power-of-p norm (p > 1) which is less than a given positive value. Under several assumptions, sufficient, necessary, and necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for the wave h(X) always to converge to f(X). These convergence conditions are presented which are imposed on the transfer functions of the time-invariant linear networks through which f(X) propagates as well as the arrangement of the sampling points and the interpolation functions. They are closely related to the rank of the system of linear equations determined by those parameters.


The potassium conductance of the basolateral membrane (BLM) of proximal tubule cells is a critical regulator of transport since it is the major determinant of the negative cell membrane potential and is necessary for pump-leak coupling to the Na�,K�-ATPase pump. Despite this pivotal physiological role, the properties of this conductance have been incompletely characterized, in part due to difficulty gaining access to the BLM. We have investigated the properties of this BLM K� conductance in dissociated, polarized Ambystoma proximal tubule cells. Nearly all seals made on Ambystoma cells contained inward rectifier K� channels (�slope, in � 24.5 � 0.6 pS, �chord, out � 3.7 � 0.4 pS). The rectification is mediated in part by internal Mg2�. The open probability of the channel increases modestly with hyperpolarization. The inward conducting properties are described by a saturating binding–unbinding model. The channel conducts Tl� and K�, but there is no significant conductance for Na�, Rb�, Cs�, Li�, NH4 �, or Cl�. The channel is inhibited by barium and the sulfonylurea agent glibenclamide, but not by tetraethylammonium. Channel rundown typically occurs in the absence of ATP, but cytosolic addition of 0.2 mM ATP (or any hydrolyzable nucleoside triphosphate) sustains channel activity indefinitely. Phosphorylation processes alone fail to sustain channel activity. Higher doses of ATP (or other nucleoside triphosphates) reversibly inhibit the channel. The K� channel opener diazoxide opens the channel in the presence of 0.2 mM ATP, but does not alleviate the inhibition of millimolar doses of ATP. We conclude that this K� channel is the major ATP-sensitive basolateral K� conductance in the proximal tubule. key words: ion channel • kidney • patch-clamp • sulfonylurea • epithelia i n t r o d u c t i o n ductance provides such a pathway and thus steady state intracellular K activity can be maintained in the face of The ability of the renal proximal tubule to maintain holarge transcellular fluxes of salt and water (Sackin and meostatic electrolyte and water reabsorption in the face Boulpaep, 1983). Since a major portion of the transcelof drastic changes in dietary solute and water intake and renal hemodynamics implies that transtubular ion lular Na � flux is reabsorbed across the BLM by the actransport is tightly regulated. Proximal tubule potastion of the Na �,K�-ATPase, a population of BLM K� channels working in concert with the pump would alsium channels, particularly in the basolateral memlow K� to recycle in a regulated fashion. Moreover, hybrane (BLM),1 play pivotal physiologic roles in the regperpolarization secondary to the opening of BLM K� ulation of membrane voltage, potassium recycling, and ultimately in transepithelial solute and water reabsorpchannels enhances the driving force for electrogenic tion. That the basolateral membrane potential of a apical Na � entry and basolateral Cl� efflux, resulting in net NaCl reabsorption. proximal tubule cell is dominated by the BLM K conThe Ambystoma proximal tubule exhibits a large K� ductance is well established (Sackin and Boulpaep, 1983). The Na�,K�-ATPase pump in the BLM provides conductance in the basolateral membrane (Siebens the energy that makes ion transport thermodynamiand Boron, 1987; Sackin and Boulpaep, 1981) that has been shown macroscopically to be sensitive to barium cally favorable, but continuous operation of the pump and pH. However, previous studies of the "macrorequires there be a K� exit pathway. The BLM K conscopic" BLM K� conductance (Boulpaep, 1976) lack the resolution to distinguish whether there is one population of imperfectly selective K� channels or a set of Address correspondence to Alan S. Segal, Department of Medicine, highly selective K� channels coexisting with a populaUniversity of Vermont, 55A South Park Drive, Colchester, VT 05446. tion of nonselective cation channels. More recent "miFax: 802-656-8915; E-mail: email@example.com croscopic" single-channel patch-clamp studies of BLM 1Abbreviations used in this paper: BLM, basolateral membrane; c/a, K� channels have shown diversity in both experimental cell-attached (patch); I-V, current–voltage; i/o, inside-out (patch); KCO, K channel opener; nPo, channel activity represented as the design and findings (Tsuchiya et al., 1992; Hunter, product of the minimum number of channels (n) times the open 1991; Parent et al., 1988; Kawahara et al., 1987; Sackin probability (Po) of the channel; SUR, sulfonylurea receptor. and Palmer, 1987; Gögelein and Greger, 1987a, 1987b), 139 J. Gen. Physiol. © The Rockefeller University Press • 0022-1295/98/01/139/22 $2.00 Volume 111 January 1998 139–160


Divide and conquer is an established algorithm design paradigm that has proven itself to solve a variety of problems efficiently. However, it is yet to be fully explored in solving problems with a neural network, particularly the problem of image super-resolution. In this work, we propose an approach to divide the problem of image super-resolution into multiple subproblems and then solve/conquer them with the help of a neural network. Unlike a typical deep neural network, we design an alternate network architecture that is much wider (along with being deeper) than existing networks and is specially designed to implement the divide-and-conquer design paradigm with a neural network. Additionally, a technique to calibrate the intensities of feature map pixels is being introduced. Extensive experimentation on five datasets reveals that our approach towards the problem and the proposed architecture generate better and sharper results than current state-of-the-art methods.


We present a system that incorporates agentbased technology and natural language generation to address the problem of natural language summarization of live sources of data. The input to the system includes newswire and on-fine databases and ontologies. The output consists of short summaries that convey information selected to fit the user's interests, the most recent news updates, and historical information. The system is under development. 1 I n t r o d u c t i o n One of the major problems with the Internet is the abundance of information and the difficulty for the average computer user to read everything existing on a specific topic. There exist now more than 100 sources of five newswire in operation on the Internet. The user has to go through megabytes of news every clay to select articles of interest and read the relevant parts of them. Hence, he needs SEARCH AND SELECTION services, as well as for SUMMARIZATION facilities. There currently exist more than 10 operational SEARCH AND SELECTION services on the Web, e.g., DEC's AltaVista [AltaVista 1996]. However, there is little available in the area of S U M M A R I Z A T I O N . The best currently existing Web-based summarization system, N e t s u m m [Preston and Williams 1994], uses a statistical, approach to selecting relevant sentences from an article. It has an impressive user interface, anti is practically domain-independent, but suffers from two major problems: it only summarizes a single article at a time, and it only summarizes articles given by the user, which means that the user has to go through hundreds of articles to select the ones he will send to Netsumm. Other statistical systems [Kupiec et al. 1995], [Rau et al. 1994] have the same characteristics as Netsumm. Another major unsolved problem involves conveying rapidly changing information to the end user in a sensible format. This infor45 mation can come from a multi tude of different sources which use different internal representations to store it. A summarizing program needs to be able to retrieve all this information in real time, process it and produce meaningful summaries in natural language. More specificMly, the innovations that we suggest address some of these problems. A s y n c h r o n o u s s u m m a r i z a t i o n : Synchronous (demand-based) summarization requires that the user needs to know when a new article relevant to his interests has appeared and feed it to the summarizer in order to get a summary back. Such an approach doesn't lead to any economy of time for the user, since he still has to spend time checking whether new articles have been posted and then send them to the summarizer. It wouhl be more efficient for the user to be notified automatically when a new article has been published [Radev 1994] or to be sent a summary of the article directly. Such asynchronous summaries can be based on the specific interests of the user, contained in his user profile. They can also be tailored to the user's prior knowledge of the subject or event. E.g., the user will receive an initial announcement about an event and only updates after that point. S u m m a r i z i n g m u l t i p l e a r t i c l e s : All existing statistical summarizers provide summaries of single articles by extracting sentences from them. If such systems were to summarize a series of articles, they would simply process each of them on its own and output the resulting summaries. Such summaries will likely contain a significant amount of repeated information, as do the source articles themselves. Our summarizer works on a set of articles. It can trace the development of an event over time or contradictions in articles from different sources on the same topic. S u m m a r i z i n g m u l t i p l e s o u r c e s : When different sources present exactly the same information, the user clearly needs only have access to one of them. Practically, this assumption doesn't hold, as different sources provide updates from a different perspective and at different times. An intelligent summarizer's task, therefore, would be to at tain as much information from the multiple sources as possible, combine it, and present it in a concise form to the user. For example, if two sources of information report a different number of casuMties in a particular incident, the summarizer will report the contradiction. S y m b o l i c s u m m a r i z a t i o n : An inherent problem to sentence-extraction based summarizers is the lack of fluency in the output . The extracted sentences fit together only in the case they are adjacent in the source document: It is also clear that these sentences weren't meant to serve as summaries. A system that provides a deeper understanding of the message (or set of messages) will have all necessary information to get a fluent surface summary. I n t e r o p e r a b i l i t y : Since a large-sc~le summarization system should monitor multiple sources of news and other data, it has to use a knowledge transmission language in order to coordinate the multiple autonomous sources. In the following section, we will describe our early summarization prototype, SUMMONS [McKeown and Radev 1995]. In the next sections, we will describe our architecture for realtime summarization, as well as our approach to the issues set forth in the current section.


Summary form only given. The presence of plasma has long been suspected to be a major cause of gap closure in high power crossed-field diodes and HPM sources, even under the condition of magnetic insulation as in relativistic magnetrons. Our recent work [Lau et al., 2007] suggested that the presence of positive charge, anywhere in the diode gap, always increases the extent of the electron hub height. Thus, the rate at which positive charge is introduced into the gap can determine the rate at which electrons migrate toward the anode, mimicking gap closure, even in the absence of motion of the positive charge. This effect is shown to be more pronounced if the ions are generated near the cathode region. Thus, this effect is (a) not related to ambipolar diffusion, and (b) can rapidly detune magnetrons from Buneman-Hartree resonance, leading to reduced efficiency and even pulse shortening in a relativistic magnetron. Since the rate of plasma formation is of critical importance to this phenomenon, we investigate various mechanisms for ion production in relativistic magnetrons, including volumetric ionization of neutral gas by the electron flow, thermal and stimulated desorption of neutrals and ions from the anode and the subsequent acceleration across the gap, and finally explosive emission of ions and neutrals from the cathode.


ADA/TL is a language for specification of the behavior of systems of communicating tasks. It merges concepts of the specification part of ADA, VDM specification of packages, and temporal logic specification of task behavior. The TL part consists of constructive specification of behaviors of individual tasks and a system specification of the properties of the interaction of tasks. A proof of a system specification consists of showing that the system property holds over all possible interleavings of the task behaviors.
This paper extends earlier work on proof of system specifications to cover more general branching behaviors of individual tasks, including cases of timed task calls and timed rendezvous. The constructive specification of each individual task defines a finite state computation model of its possible behaviors with allowed communication between task computations. The proof system uses marker symbols to represent the current state within each task computation, inference rules to justify transformations from one state to the next, and a proof tableau for representing the proof steps. The method rests upon the technique of using an invariant system property to identify a finite computation model of the interaction of all the system tasks. The proof tableau symbolically traces threads of control in all branches of the finite state model of the interaction of all of the system tasks. The proof method is illustrated herein using an example of a traffic walk-light controller with a timed behavior.


Between 1960 and 1990, Tassajara Creek in Dublin, CA underwent incision due to anthropogenic sources. The downcutting of the channel bottom was problematic because the process built upon itself and caused disconnection between the channel and floodplain. The incision of Tassajara Creek created a flooding problem and motivated the search for solutions. The need for flood control increased as development increased around the creek. During the 1990s, plans were made to restore Tassajara Creek and provide flood control through the creation of a compound channel. In addition to drainage, the restoration plan's secondary goals were to increase vegetation, riparian habitat, and public access. A one-mile reach of Tassajara Creek was reconstructed in 1999 and a series of post project appraisals have been conducted since with mixed results. We reviewed and summarized the results of the past studies. We continued the monitoring of the channel evolution by resurveying three of the established cross sections and a partial long profile and compared our data to previous data sets. We also conducted a qualitative analysis of the project's secondary goals by through observations and photograph comparisons. Our survey data indicated that deposition was occurring on the majority of the floodplain. The channel bottom evolved differently between cross-sections. We found instances of local incision for the most upstream cross-section, E-E'. The channel bottom for the more downstream cross-sections F-F' and G-G' aggraded especially at G-G' where dense cattails encouraged aggradation in the channel. We concluded from a comparison to previous data that the channel is still actively evolving since there was no clear trend towards either incision or aggradation. Our comparison of previous with current photographs showed an increase in vegetation since 2004. The further downstream reach had a lot of diverse vegetation which provided habitat for macroinvertebrates. We concluded the secondary goals were well achieved with a significant increase in the amount of vegetation and habitat with a healthy population of macro-invertebrates.


Issue addressed: Health promotion foundations, by their very nature, can play a key role in tobacco control. Foundations were established to buy out tobacco sponsorship and to generally promote health. They can also progress policy and act as a catalyst for community action on tobacco control. Methods: This paper outlines three examples of how the Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation (Healthway) has successfully stimulated the introduction of policy change at Western Australian universities, negotiated structural reform at sponsored sport, arts and racing events and instigated a community- wide collaborative approach to smoking prevention especially targeting youth. Results: As highlighted in the paper, all Western Australian universities have signed agreements which state they will not accept money from the tobacco industry. All major sport, arts and racing venues have now implemented comprehensive smoke-free policies and the major health agencies in Western Australia have endorsed and embraced a collaborative approach to smoking control messages and initiatives. Conclusion: Healthway has successfully initiated a number of key strategies in the tobacco control arena. Through introducing pertinent policy measures, facilitating collaboration between groups and effectively utilising its bargaining position, Healthway has played a vital role in the active discouragement of tobacco smoking in Western Australia. So what? The paper identifies ways in which health promotion foundations can adopt an integrated approach to health promotion and, by pushing the boundaries, activate innovative approaches toward tobacco control. These strategies are not exclusive to foundations, and lessons learnt and experience gained may provide direction for other health organisations. ( author abstract)


Early warning of students' academic conditions play an important role in the entire teaching practice. Nowadays, most students learn programming through the programming platform to practice problems, and then improve their programming level. Various submission records on the platform can obtain a variety of characteristic data through secondary processing; SVR algorithm is used to analyze the data characteristics of test scores, find out the correlation between scores and teaching links, provide teaching guidance for teachers, and remind students to improve the quality of learning in advance.


The basic structure and operating principle of the multizone integrating regulator are considered in the paper. The regulator is based on multizone frequency-width-pulse modulation. The virtual model of the multizone regulator is made in the MATLAB + Simulink program. Time diagrams of the regulator are constructed with a virtual model. Main equations and static characteristics of multizone the regulator, in particular, amplitude and modulation characteristics are given. Advantages and disadvantages of the regulators are mentioned. Two ways of relay algorithm are offered in paper. Relay elements are parts of the regulator. In particular, multizone regulator with self-reactance and unit-counting relay algorithm are shown. The main advantage of relay algorithms is the ability to provide a uniform distribution of the power loss between the output power keys. It enables improvement of energy performance of the control system and of its reliability. The structures of multizone regulators with relay algorithms and time diagrams of the signals are given. Example of the temperature control system in the electric heating installation based on the multi-zone AC regulator is provided. The "rotating" thermal field is generated in the "relay" mode of electric heaters. As a result, uneven temperatures in the heating installation are reduced by at least 3–5 times. This paper can be interesting for power and information electronics, electric drive and process automation specialists.


There are problems such as poor accuracy and large number of parameters in the detection of small target defects when the YOLOv8 algorithm is applied to PCB defect detection. In response to this issue, this paper proposes a PCB defect detection algorithm of Improved YOLOv8 based on YOLOv8. A Cross-scale Fusion Module (CFM) is added between the backbone network and the neck network. CFM module is used for the fusion of adjacent three layer features. Due to the top-down and bottom-up feature extraction process of YOLO network structure, it will better integrate the adjacent features of the backbone network, strengthen the neck network power of feature fusion and interaction, thus promote the model detection performance. According to the result of experiment, it is indicated that the mAP of improved YOLOv8n has been improved to varying degrees, and the best firstname.lastname@example.com of the improved YOLOv8n algorithm reaches 96.6%, which is higher than that of YOLOv8n by 1.1%, and is close to the deeper YOLOv8s.


This study was aimed to determine the relationship between body weight, body protein and urinary creatinine in local male sheep. The materials used in this study were 12 heads of local male sheep aged one year old with an average body weight of 25.04 ± 0.44 kg (CV = 6.24%). All sheep were fed concentrate at 2.3% of body weight and rice straw ad libitum. Parameters measured were body weight, body protein, and the amount of creatinine excreted through urine. The data obtained were analyzed by correlation and regression. The results showed a medium relationship between urinary creatine, body weight, and body protein composition, being (r = 0.600 and 0.605), respectively.


The purpose of this study was to determine the importance of the transition between a student's initial collegiate science experience and the decision to continue in science, and whether the reasons students give to explain their success or failure in their first course are related to that decision. Attribution theory provided the framework for investigating these factors. The results showed that for unsuccessful students, the plan to continue in science was unrelated to gender, mathematical aptitude, performance in the first science course, or attributions to luck, effort, ability, or task difficulty. For successful students, the plan to continue in science was directly related to attributions to ability, and inversely related to task difficulty. The results demonstrate the importance of a sense of competence for students who continue in science.


This paper presents the results obtained from research on determining the
capacity of the truck haulage in open-pit mines for extracting metals. As a case study in this
paper is taken the truck haulage in the copper mine "Buchim"- Rep. of Macedonia, where
the data is taken from the SkyLinks system for dispatching a truck haulage and all the data
is statistically processed. Comparison is made between the technical and the exploitation
hour capacity of trucks and also is proposed guidelines for increasing the exploitation
capacity as a very important technical parameter.


1. Introduction 2. Strength 3. Stiffness 4. Elastic analysis 5. Stability Appendix A. Virtual work Appendix B. The plastic theorems Appendix C. Buckling calculations.


This book explores the wide variation across states in convenience voting methods—absentee/mail voting, in-person early voting, same day registration—and provides new empirical analysis of the beneficial effects of these policies, not only in increasing voter turnout overall, but for disadvantaged groups. By measuring both convenience methods and implementation of the laws, the book improves on previous research. It draws generalizable conclusions about how these laws affect voter turnout by using population data from the fifty state voter files. Using individual vote histories, the design helps avoid bias in non-random assignment of states in adopting the laws. Many scholars and public officials have dismissed state election reform laws as failing to significantly increase turnout or address inequality in who votes. Accessible Elections underscores how state governments can modernize their election procedures to increase voter turnout and influence campaign and party mobilization strategies. Mail voting and in-person early voting are particularly important in the wake of Covid-19 to avoid election day crowds and ensure successful and equitable elections in states with large populations; the results of this study can help state governments more rapidly update voting for the 2020 general election and beyond.


BACKGROUND
 Information and communications technologies are transforming our social interactions and life-styles. One of the most promising applications of information technology is healthcare and wellness management that characterized by early detection of conditions, prevention, and long-term healthcare management.

 OBJECTIVE
 The main purpose of this document is to do a study, first about the actual literature about mobile phone applications to measure and control heart-rate and second a study about these applications themselves, analyzing the different app stores more popular nowadays, Google Play Store and iTunes (for Android and iOS devices respectively).

 METHODS
 The Web portals and databases that were used to perform the searches are IEEE Explorer, National Center for Biotechnology Information, Springer, ResearchGate, Science Direct and Scopus, taking into account the date of publication from 2010 to 2018, publications in English and Spanish.

 RESULTS
 40 relevant papers have been found related to mobile phone apps to measure and control the heart rate. The results show that of a total of 400 applications found 245 of them are in the Play Store (Android systems) and the remaining 155 were found in the iTunes Store (iOS systems).

 CONCLUSIONS
 From the review of the research articles analyzed, it can be said that the most applications found are for Android devices. They occupy 76.53% of the world mobile phone market, while iOS only owns 18.97%.


he original concept of copyright emerged in England in the sixteenth cenT tury from the bylaws of the guild that then monopolized the country's publishing industry. The guild was granted a charter of incorporation by Queen Mary in 1556 and reorganized itself as the Company of Stationers of London. With official recognition of the Company's monopoly, its bylaws and concept of copyright also came gradually to be acknowledged as those of an official institute. The quasi-right known as Stationers' Copyright was based on royal prerogative or letter patent covering the entire publishing industry as an estate. This monopoly was assigned to its members as a virtual freehold interest. Although the Stationers' Copyright was based on a prerogative that laid down three basic characteristics of Anglo-American copyright-namely, that registration is indispensable for its protection, that copyright is available not only to the author but also to purchasers, and that it remains valid for a term that is a multiple of seven years-it gave no consideration whatsoever to the author's right (Arber 1895; Blagden 1960; Feather 1988; Kaplan 1967; Patterson 1968). England enacted the world's first copyright law in 1710 (Statute of Queen Anne 1710). This statute has long been considered a turning point in the his-


The power electronics building blocks (PEBB) concept has evolved into an alternative to conventional power converter design, and many industries have adopted this concept. This paper outlines the design process of a 33 kW PEBB, from power stage design and component selection to the design of the hardware manager board. The hardware manager encompasses the intelligence behind the PEBB, managing control commands and sensing functions, as well as local protection schemes. Finally, the paper shows thorough experimental evaluation of the PEBB module in standalone and system tests


Biological conservation and ecological restoration differ in their motivations, objectives, and dominant concepts. These differences translate into a dichotomy between the two disciplines in academia, which we illustrate through a review of the scientific literature. Conversely, in practice, conservation and restoration are part of an environmental management continuum and are often used as complementary tools. While we found an increasing transdisciplinary trend in the literature, there is much room for improvement. Optimized implementation of conservation and restoration actions is critical for addressing the increasing pressures of global change and we propose steps to better integrate the two disciplines.


This study examines the clustering of Ellis Act eviction notices in the city of San Francisco over the period 1997 through 2016. The Ellis Act is a California state law that allows landlords to go out of the rental business on a property, withdrawing the property from the market and evicting the tenants as a no-fault eviction. The law has been a source of contention since its enactment in 1986, because tenants argue it is used to displace low-income renters in a broader gentrification process. We address this question with Ripley's K and Kuldorff's D measures that assess the degree of "absolute" and "relative" clustering of Ellis Act evictions using all other eviction notices as the control. If the law is used as intended, we should find support for the null hypothesis that Ellis Act evictions do not cluster spatially relative to the background of controls. The alternative hypothesis that they do cluster relative to other types might lend support to the argument that the law serves as a legal mechanism in the displacement of tenants in a process of gentrification. The authors conclude that Ellis Act eviction notices are clustered in San Francisco in both the absolute and relative senses.


Complex SAGA The SAGA (Spt-Ada-Gcn5-Acetyltransferase) complex, which is conserved in eukaryotes, plays a key role in regulating gene expression. It is comprised of 21 proteins, and its functions include histone acetylation and deubiquitination. Samara et al. (p. 1025, published online 15 April) now report the structure of the SAGA deubiquitinating module (DUBm), a four-protein subcomplex, both on its own and bound to ubiquitin aldehyde. The domains are interconnected and stabilized by eight zinc atoms. The organization gives insight into why DUBm complex formation is required to activate the catalytic domain of the enzyme and suggests how DUBm might bind to monoubiquitinated histones. Structures give insight into how a regulator of eukaryotic gene expression achieves one of its chromatin-modifying functions. SAGA is a transcriptional coactivator complex that is conserved across eukaryotes and performs multiple functions during transcriptional activation and elongation. One role is deubiquitination of histone H2B, and this activity resides in a distinct subcomplex called the deubiquitinating module (DUBm), which contains the ubiquitin-specific protease Ubp8, bound to Sgf11, Sus1, and Sgf73. The deubiquitinating activity depends on the presence of all four DUBm proteins. We report here the 1.90 angstrom resolution crystal structure of the DUBm bound to ubiquitin aldehyde, as well as the 2.45 angstrom resolution structure of the uncomplexed DUBm. The structure reveals an arrangement of protein domains that gives rise to a highly interconnected complex, which is stabilized by eight structural zinc atoms that are critical for enzymatic activity. The structure suggests a model for how interactions with the other DUBm proteins activate Ubp8 and allows us to speculate about how the DUBm binds to monoubiquitinated histone H2B in nucleosomes.


Geophysical methods are used in archaeological sites to determine buried remains. Thus, these methods assist archaeological excavation strategies. Archaegeophysical methods are basically based on measuring the physical parameter contrast between the buried archaeological remains and the covering environment. In this study, magnetic and ground penetrating radar methods were applied as geophysical methods in order to contribute to excavation planning. The study area is a historical cemetery and has been used as an interment for about 1000 years. With the information obtained from the field, the research depth was planned not to exceed 3 meters in general, but up to 10 meters of information was produced. The study was carried out to determine possible graves in the area outside the walls of Meydan Cemetery in Ahlat (Bitlis) district. After some data-processing applications to the data of the study areas, magnetic and ground penetrating radar anomaly maps were produced and possible excavation sites were determined.


The reaction C2Cl3 + Cl2 → C2Cl4 + Cl has been studied using the laser photolysis/photoionization mass spectrometry technique. Rate constants were determined in time-resolved experiments as a function of temperature (299−668 K). Rate constants of the above reaction are independent of the bath gas density within the experimental range, [He] = (3−12) × 1016 atom cm-3. Within the above experimental range of temperatures, the rate constants of the above reaction can be described by the modified Arrhenius expression k1 = 3.79 × 10-15 T0.87 exp(−55 K/T) cm3 molecule-1 s-1.


Abstract: Currently, the most successful approach to steganography in empirical objects, such as digital media, is to embed the payload while minimizing a suitably defined distortion function. The design of the distortion is essentially the only task left to the stegnographer since efficient practical codes exist that embed near the payload-distortion bound. The ractitioner goal is to design the distortion to obtain a scheme with a high empirical statistical detectability. In this paper, we propose a universal distortion design called universal wavelet relative distortion (UNIWARD) that can be applied for embedding in an arbitrary domain. The embedding distortion is computed as a sum of relative changes of coefficients in a directional filter bank decomposition of the cover image. The directionality forces the embedding changes to such parts of the cover object that are difficult to model in multiple directions, such as textures or noisy regions, while avoiding smooth regions or clean edges. We demonstrate experimentally using rich models as well as targeted attacks that steganographic methods built using UNIWARD match or outperform the current state of the art in the spatial domain, JPEG domain, and sideinformed JPEG domain.


Posah cave is located near Skel-Abad village, beside the Zahedan-Khash road, about 114 km south of Zahedan city and about 22 km in the west of Taftan Mountain in the north of Baluchistan. This cave has been developed in a flysch unit consisting mainly of thin-bedded sandstone and shale layers. The roof of the cave is composed of Taftan lahar, a mudflow poorly sorted and consists mostly of volcanic ash with pyroclastic materials produced by Taftan volcano. The Posah cave is a unique pseudokarst cave in both the region and the whole country. The results of XRD and XRF analyses on two specimens of rocks from the cave have shown that rock units in the area are insoluble. Moreover, there is no significant difference between Ca2+ concentration values in the surface and ground waters. Therefore, it can be concluded that the cave has been developed in insoluble rocks. This paper deals with the development of the cave from a geological point of view.


One of the purposes of new curriculum is to make students master knowledge,basic skills and methods for their life-long learning.Being lively and vigorous is badly needed in current politics teaching.The author highlights how to arouse students' interest and inter-need to cultivate their autonomic learning capability in the hope of improving their quality and achieving aim of curriculum reform.


BACKGROUND
Ocular prosthesis materials should have specific properties for their indication and durability; therefore, it is important to investigate their physical behaviour when affected by several disinfectants.

OBJECTIVES
This study evaluated the influence of different disinfecting solutions on the microhardness and surface roughness of acrylic resins for ocular prosthesis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Fifty samples simulating ocular prostheses were fabricated with N1 resin and colourless resin and divided (n = 10) according to the disinfectant used: neutral soap, Opti-free, Efferdent, 1% hypochlorite (HYC) and 4% chlorhexidine (CHX). Samples were stored in saline solution at 37°C and disinfected during 120 days. Both microhardness and roughness were investigated before, after 60 days and 120 days of disinfection and storage. Microhardness was measured using a microhardner and the roughness with a roughness device.

RESULTS
N1 resin showed lower microhardness when compared with colourless resin (p < 0.05). HYC and CHX groups exhibited the highest change of microhardness and roughness values (p < 0.05). An increase in roughness and reduction in microhardness of ocular acrylic resins were observed after both periods of disinfection and storage (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
Both disinfection/storage periods affected the microhardness and roughness values of the samples.


....................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................. x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 Background ..................................................................................................................... 1 Significance..................................................................................................................... 2 Problem Statement .......................................................................................................... 4 Needs Assessment ........................................................................................................... 4 Purpose ............................................................................................................................ 5 Clinical Practice Questions ............................................................................................. 5 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................... 5 DNP Essentials................................................................................................................ 7 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER II – REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................................................................. 11 Search Methods ............................................................................................................. 11 Cost ............................................................................................................................... 12 Bispectral Index and Reduction of Postoperative Delirium ......................................... 13 vii Sedation Depth and Mortality ....................................................................................... 16 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ................................................................................. 19 Design ........................................................................................................................... 20 Setting ........................................................................................................................... 21 Population ..................................................................................................................... 21 Procedure ...................................................................................................................... 22 Data Collection ......................................................................................................... 22 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................ 23 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 23 CHAPTER IV – ANALYSIS OF DATA ......................................................................... 24 Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 24 Part 1 ......................................................................................................................... 24 Part 2 ......................................................................................................................... 28 Limitations .................................................................................................................... 29 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 30 DNP Essentials.............................................................................................................. 32 Implications and Recommendations to Clinical Practice ............................................. 34 APPENDIX A – Institutional Review Board Approval Letter ......................................... 36 APPENDIX B – Facility Institutional Review Board Approval Letter ............................ 37 viii APPENDIX C -Facility Institutional Review Board Exemption Letter ........................... 38 APPENDIX D -Letter of Support ..................................................................................... 39 APPENDIX E -Provider Survey and Cover Letter ........................................................... 40 APPENDIX F – Postoperative Delirium and Bispectral Index Monitor Fact Sheet......... 43 APPENDIX G – Literature Review Table ........................................................................ 44 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 53


BACKGROUND AND  AIMS:The host genetic background to develop primary gastric B-cell lymphoma in patients with chronic Helicobacter pylori infection is unknown. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α plays a key role in H. pylori-associated inflammation and appears to be involved in the evolution of lymphoproliferative disorders. We investigated four functional promotor polymorphisms in the TNF-α gene for association with the development of primary gastric B-cell lymphoma.PATIENTS  AND METHODS:A total of 144 lymphoma patients, 595 H. pylori-infected controls and 534 healthy blood donors were genotyped for TNF-α-238, -308, -857, and -1031 by Taqman technology and case-control analysis was conducted.RESULTS:There was no significant difference in allele and genotype frequencies in H. pylori-infected patients and healthy controls. TNF-857 T allele was found in 15.1% of patients with low-grade lymphoma and 9.1% of H. pylori-infected patients (Pearson's = 5.7, p = 0.017, OR = 1.8, Wald 95% CI: 1.1 < O.R. < 2.8). Carrier of the rare allele T had a 1.8-fold increased risk to develop low-grade lymphoma (Pearson's = 5.4, p = 0.021). Patients with high-grade lymphoma were significantly more frequent carriers of the TNF-857 T allele than healthy blood donors (30.9% vs 18.9%, Pearson's = 4.5, p = 0.033). Carriage of the T allele conferred a 1.9-fold increased risk (Wald 95% CI: 1.0 < O.R. < 3.6). There were no associations found between any of the SNPs and disease progression.CONCLUSION:In conclusion, our data provide further evidence for host genetic factors in the susceptibility of Caucasians to gastric B-cell lymphoma. Further studies are needed to elucidate the mechanistic role of TNF-α in tumorigenesis.


This article give the conception about effective teaching of adult higher education from teaching efficiency and student learning effect.And discussing the character of effective teaching in the way of teaching goal,teaching content,teaching mode,teaching estimate and teaching administration.


This article defines the territory journalistic institutionalized and discusses its processing in digital networks. The text defines the long tail of information, the Pro-Am and highlights the communications strategies of journalism in this context. Then exposes clearance aspects of a case study of Zero Hora.com interpreted as signs of unterritorialization in the digital newspaper.


Triphenylphosphine oxide is reduced to triphenylphos phine by the steps of (a) reacting triphenylphosphine oxide with a dialkyl aluminum hydride either formed externally to the reaction system or generated in situ by the applica tion of heat to a trialkylaluminum in which at least one alkyl group contains from 2 to 15 carbon atoms and in which the 6-carbon on said alkyl group is directly bonded to at least one hydrogen atom, and (b) hydrolyzing the product of step (a) to produce triphenylphosphine.


Transition metal complexes of Mn(II) and Ni(II) have been synthesized with novel bioactive Schiff's base ligand. Schiff's base ligand i.e. benzoylacetone-bis(2-amino-4-methylbenzothioazole) has been synthesized via condensation reaction between 2-amino-4-methylbenzothioazole and benzoylacetone in 2:1 ratio, respectively. Synthesized ligand has been characterized using elemental analysis, infra-red, 1H–NMR and mass spectroscopy techniques. Characterization of complexes was based on magnetic moment, molar conductance, elemental analysis, electronic spectra, infra-red and EPR spectroscopic techniques. Molar conductance data suggest that metal complexes are non-electrolytic in nature. Therefore, these complexes are formulated as [M(L)X2], where M = Mn(II), Ni(II), L = Schiff's base ligand, X = Cl−, CH3COO−, NO3−. Data of characterization study suggest octahedral geometry for Mn(II) and Ni(II) complexes. Geometry of metal complexes was also optimized with the help of computational study i.e. molecular modelling. Computational study also suggests octahedral geometry for complexes. Free ligand as well as its all metal complexes have been screened against the growth of pathogenic bacteria (E.coli, S.aureus) and fungi (C.albicans, C.krusei, C.parapsilosis, C.tropicalis) to assess their inhibition potential. The inhibition data revealed that metal complexes exhibit higher inhibition potential against the growth of bacteria and fungi microorganisms than free ligand.


- Since the beginning of the pandemic, urban planners have turned their attention to the current state of the city and ways to improve the current situation; The chrono-urbanism in the body of the 15-minute city proposal has taken on greater relevance from this, exhibiting a proposal that can help improve cities in the present and provide greater resilience in the face of future similar events.


The fine powder with activated clay and / or cement powder, fine sawdust and / or rod core sorghum flour, a small amount of colorant or bittern components containing calcium sulfate, calcium silicate, magnesium chloride, or the like of the same components as described above bittern mixing into a paste phase; the mixture is sent to any of a glass plate, acrylic plate, polycarbonate plate, a polyvinyl chloride sheet or a polypropylene sheet made of one continuous plate by molding, the molded plate material in situ between the stacked rolls may be passed through a separate mixture, the mixture was pressed sheet, the surface of the sheet sequentially coated with epoxy resin layer 3, the adhesive layer 4, a transfer film layer 5, an ultraviolet curing adhesive layer 6 and the protective layers 7, to obtain an incombustible artificial marble.


Protection means for pressurized gas container (4) comprising a protective body (1) having an inner shell (3) and an outer shell (2), whose gap is foamed partially or completely, characterized in that the inner (3) and the outer (2) shell each consist of several shell parts.


Designers reason from real or imagined stakeholder goals about a problem context, to desired properties of artifacts that should contribute to these goals in this context. The general pattern of reasoning is the same in software engineering, information systems and industrial product design: Given stakeholder goals G and assumptions about a context C, find artifact requirements R such that C × R ⇒ G. Design reasoning is creative, as goals are usually not given ready-made to designers, the problem context is often partly unknown, assumptions about it are usually incomplete, and the artifact does not exist yet. Increased understanding of one of the three components (goals, context, artifact) changes the designer's understanding of the other two. This is not a stepwise refinement process but a non-monotonic process in which earlier beliefs may have to be retracted. The result, the contribution argument C × R ⇒ G, is defeasible (it may turn out to be wrong).
After an analysis of design reasoning, I will zoom in on the role of goals in this kind of reasoning. I will define goals as stakeholder desires for which the stakeholder has committed resources (time and money) to achieve them. Stakeholders have different levels of goal awareness, ranging from unaware to actively pursuing the goal. Goals change, and in particular they can change by introduction of an artifact. Pursuing a goal entails having a problem theory that provides explanations, right or wrong, of the current state of the world, and predictions, right or wrong, about the future evolution of the world, and about the impact of different possible events on goal achievement.
I will end the talk by discussing implications for goal-oriented requirements specification languages such as i* at two levels. At one level, my analysis has implication about what aspects of goal-oriented design reasoning can be repre- sented in a goal-oriented language. At another level, my analysis can be used to assess the role of i* as artifact used in a requirements context to contribute to goals of requirements engineers.


IN 2003, THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION REPORTED 8.8 million cases of tuberculosis (TB) worldwide, nearly half of them presenting with an infectious form of disease, and resulting in 1.7 million deaths from TB. Since TB transmission occurs before diagnosis in the index case, even when an optimal TB control program is in place, new and undiagnosed cases are the driving force behind the current TB epidemic. If each new TB case in 2003 infected up to 10 susceptible contacts before diagnosis, up to 40 million new infections could have occurred worldwide that year alone. Since TB has a long period of latent infection, these new infections added to the pool of existing infections, which represents a source for potential TB cases in the years, and even decades, to come. One strategy for global TB control would be to implement an effective screening program in high-risk populations that would identify individuals with latent TB infection and treat them to prevent disease. In the United States, screening for latent TB infection in high-risk populations is a key feature of TB control. The declining rates of TB since 1993 and the current level of control represent a remarkable achievement in public health and foster optimism that the United States can reach the goal of eliminating TB by 2010. But because of the global burden of TB, intercontinental travel, and immigration, the elimination of TB in the United States is intertwined with the success of TB control around the world.


A design of Turbo decoder is discussed primarily based on FPGA.Firstly,the theory of the coder and the interleaver are described briefly.Secondly,the theory of the decoder based on Max-Log-MAP algorithm is introduced.The component decoder is described in detail and every submodules theory and the simulation graph by ModelSim are given.Finally,the bit error rate graph is presented by the system simulation.


This paper introduces the reason to deploy VoIP based on IPv6, status of IPv6 trial services in KOREA and proposed the 2007's IPv6 trial service's direction.


Media convergence has ushered in salient modifications to the functions and operation of journalists, and the journalism profession at large. Although media convergence is, to a large extent, beneficial to media organizations and their users, it challenges the operations of journalist and their functions. The history of media evolution has constantly shown that the introduction of new technology into the media landscape does not signal an end to the prevailing journalistic practices, rather it fosters the evolution and adaptation of the existing media while contributing to the development of the successor. The research utilized the qualitative research method and made use of the explorative approach, with secondary data, to ascertain the issues and challenges confronting journalism practice in Nigeria in the age of media convergence. Findings revealed time pressure, professional competencies, the question of quality, internal competition, the rise of user-created content, poor remuneration and the welfare of the Journalist as major convergence challenges facing journalism in Nigeria. The paper, therefore, concluded that technology has come to merge the different roles of the journalist and media institutions to create multimedia outlets for news gathering, processing and dissemination. Hence, the need for journalists to be versatile in their operations, adhere to the journalistic code of ethics and professional conduct and be properly motivated by their employers to drive optimal performance.


Although alternating-current plasma display panels (ac PDPs) are now produced by several companies, improvements are still necessary. In particular, the overall efficiency of the discharge in the standard configuration is low, on the order of 1 lm/W i.e., about 0.5% of the power dissipated in the discharge is transformed into useful visible photons. One way to substantially improve the efficiency of PDPs is to use radio-frequency (rf) excitation because, when compared to ac PDPs, less of the electrical energy input is dissipated by ions in the sheath and relatively more power is deposited in excitation of the xenon, which produces the ultraviolet photons used to excite the phosphors. In this article, we show calculated discharge characteristics for typical rf PDP conditions and pay particular attention to the role of the xenon metastable atoms in the ionization balance. Our discussion is limited to the sustaining regime, the "on-state," of a PDP cell.


The utility model provides a wire connecting cap. The utility model is characterized in that one end of a casing is provided with a bugle-shaped mouth 1; the other end of the casing is provided with a U-shaped hole 3; a tight clamping metal pipe 4 is installed in the U-shaped hole 3, wherein, the connection part of the bugle-shaped mouth 1 of the casing and the U-shaped hole 3 is provide with a tight fixing ring 2 which is convex upward and provided with conicity. The product can stop that the wires which are put together and the tight clamping metal pipe 4 which is deformed by pressing and squeezing are pulled out of the casing by accepting the force and can ensure firmer and safer connection of the wires. Consequently, the utility model achieves the purpose of insulation. The utility model can bear radial pull which is more than 260 N.