In many calculations of the two-photon decay of hadronic molecules, the decay matrix element is estimated using the wave function at the origin prescription, in analogy to the two-photon decay of parapositronium. We question the applicability of this procedure to the two-photon decay of hadronic molecules for it introduces an uncontrolled model dependence into the calculation. As an alternative approach, we propose an explicit evaluation of the hadron loop. For shallow bound states, this can be done as an expansion in powers of the range of the molecule binding force 1/{beta}. In the leading order one gets the well-known pointlike limit answer. We estimate, in a self-consistent and gauge-invariant way, the leading range corrections for the two-photon decay width of weakly bound hadronic molecules emerging from kaon loops. We find them to be small, of order O(m{epsilon}/{beta}{sup 2}), where m and {epsilon} denote the mass of the constituents and the binding energy, respectively. The role of possible short-ranged operators and of the width of the scalars remains to be investigated.


Tensile properties were evaluated for four aluminum alloys that are candidates for airframe applications on high speed transport aircraft. These alloys included the Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloys C415 and C416 and the Al-Cu-Li-Mg-Ag alloys RX818 and ML377. The Al-Cu-Mg alloys CM001, which was used on the Concorde SST, and 1143, which was modified from the alloy used on the TU144 Russian supersonic aircraft, were tested for comparison. The alloys were subjected to thermal exposure at 200 F, 225 F and 275 F for times up to 30,000 hours. Tensile tests were performed on thermally-exposed and as-received material at -65 F, room temperature, 200 F, 225 F and 275 F. All four candidate alloys showed significant tensile property improvements over CM001 and 1143. Room temperature yield strengths of the candidate alloys were at least 20% greater than for CM001 and 1143, for both the as-received and thermally-exposed conditions. The strength levels of alloy RX818 were the highest of all materials investigated, and were 5-10% higher than for ML377, C415 and C416 for the as-received condition and after 5,000 hours thermal exposure. RX818 was removed from this study after 5,000 hours exposure due to poor fracture toughness performance observed in a parallel study. After 30,000 hours exposure at 200 F and 225 F, the alloys C415, C416 and ML377 showed minor decreases in yield strength, tensile strength and elongation when compared to the as-received properties. Reductions in tensile strength from the as-received values were up to 25% for alloys C415, C416 and ML377 after 15,000 hours exposure at 275 F.


Dynamical analysis of the quasi-radial modes of slowly and rigidly rotating, relativistic stars. The quasi-radial modes are those modes which would be radial if the star were not rotating. They are the crucial modes for determining the stability of the rotating star and also the modes which store energy for the longest time against dissipation by gravitational radiation. An equation is derived that makes it possible to calculate the effects of the slow and rigid star rotation on the frequency of the quasi-radial modes of oscillation of relativistic stars. The rotation is treated to second order in the angular velocity, but no other approximations are made.


The ornamental words in Ha'ni nationality folk songs are the typical elements showed the national colour, which not only the music symbol but also with the aesthetics value that played the beautiful melody, expressed the fertile emotions and reflected the beauty of Ha'na humanity. How to singing the ornamental words well is an important means to master the Ha'ni primitive folk songs.


An improved construction for roller skate apparatus is provided in which enhanced safety, performance, convenience and economy are achieved through the employment of a universal type of skate plate in conjunction with a correlated configuration for wheel carrying trucks adapted for permitting fabrication of the skate plate by molding from synthetic resin material, interchangeable mounting of trucks of either the recreation, speed or artistic skating types to selectively provide the user with various desired skating characteristics without the expense of purchasing multiple pairs of entire skates for different types of skating, interchangeable mounting of trucks at either the front or back of the skate, and selective mounting of a toe stop on the skate plate in a position most appropriate for use of the skate upon either the left or right foot. The features provided by the improved construction have individual utility, as well as accomplishing overall advantages when employed together.


Correction for 'Polymerized ionic liquid block copolymers for electrochemical energy' by Kelly M. Meek et al., J. Mater. Chem. A, 2015, DOI: 10.1039/c5ta07170d.


Romania has received in 2007-2013 an allocation of approximately 20 billion euros for the EU cohesion policy implementation. According to the n + 2 rule, in December 2015, it is estimated that Romania will achieve an absorption rate of about 80-82%, which means that 4 billion euro risk to remain unused. Causes that determined low absorption capacity are analysed by the author in the implementation phase of the management cycle. Based on the issues identified in funds management in Croatia, this study aims to create a matrix of instruments / measures that may be used by competent authorities (central management) in this area to solve problems/ eliminate delays, so that the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 to register better results.


The entrance of iodized oil into the venous system represents a possible, although rare, complication of myelography, which usually does not result in any permanent clinical consequences.A case of intravasation with the roentgenographic demonstration of contrast material in the sacroiliac veins and in the lungs is reported.


We first define a new Laplacian spectrum based on Estrada index, namely, Laplacian Estrada-like invariant, LEEL, and two new Estrada index-like quantities, denoted by S and , respectively, that are generalized versions of the Estrada index. After that, we obtain some lower and upper bounds for LEEL, S, and .


Abstract Nowadays, atmospheric pressure cold plasmas, particularly in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) configuration, attract significant interest in the field of surface processing of materials. Fluorocarbon containing DBDs have also been studied, but the state of the art in this field is at its early stages, especially if compared to low pressure plasmas, which have been widely and successfully employed for the etching of inorganic and organic materials, for the deposition of fluoropolymers as well as for the treatment of synthetic and natural polymers. This contribution will provide an overview of our recent studies on fluorocarbon containing DBDs and will present results on the deposition of fluoropolymers concerning the tuning of the chemical composition of the deposits, the etching–deposition competition and the influence of feed gas contaminants (i.e. air and water vapour).


ABSTRACT This study explored smaller businesses' understanding of and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, particularly as it relates to the accommodation of people with physical versus mental disabilities. An ADA compliance score was developed for personnel practices regarding employees with physical and mental disabilities and a comparison of scores was made between employers who could recall any of the requirements of the ADA's Title I and those who could not. The results indicted that employers with recall were significantly more likely to accommodate people with physical disabilities than those with mental disabilities. The research examined employers' use of the EAP in assisting with the accommodation of qualified employees. The findings have implications for EAP vendors, many of whom provide the bulk of external services to smaller businesses.


Microdialysis (MD) techniques were first applied in the early 1960s. The fields of their application comprised probe implantation into the central nervous system (CNS) at the beginning, and then expanded to almost every organ summarized in this article. After its early experimental applications MD became an important tool in the human pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) studies as well. This monitoring technique is capable for investigation of local unbound concentrations of both endogenous and exogenous compounds in the interstitial fluid. The review shows examples for the role of MD in pharmacodynamic studies and for its use in tissue distribution and drug-transporter interaction studies. Determination of test substances in the dialysate samples needs sensitive bioanalytical methods. The main analytical techniques coupled with MD are summarized under the subtitle "Target molecules". New trend in the application of MD is the determination of large molecular entities in the extracellular fluid of target tissues. This approach greatly helps in the discovery of new pathophysiological pathways and identification of new therapeutic intervention strategies for several disorders. Finally, the article gives an overview on the complementary techniques (positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance spectroscopy and open flow microperfusion), and presents their advantages and limitations versus to in vivo MD. In summary, MD techniques have a wide variety of the fields of application. There are several new approaches using this methodology. The relatively low price and the importance of the information gained on the pharmacologically active form of the test articles at the site of interest guarantees a significant position of this technique in the preclinical and clinical research.


ABSTRACTAn estimation method for dissolved oxygen (DO) budget is described and seasonal variations of the DO budgets in Uranouchi Bay, a typical semi-enclosed inlet, are estimated. The formation mechanism of anoxic water mass in the inlet is investigated on the basis of the results.In the upper layer, although phytoplankton produces abundant oxygen from spring to fall, 60% of the oxygen produced escapes to the air above. In the lower layer, biological-chemical DO consumption of water accounts for 70% of the total DO removal. The DO consumption by respiration of cultured fish increases to 20% of the total DO removal in the fall. The DO production by phytoplankton accounts for 80% of the total DO supply in spring and fall, but for only 25% in summer. The DO transport through tidal exchange from the outside of the bay increases to 50% in summer. The DO transport through vertical mixing decreases to 7% of the total in July and accounts for 20 to 45% in spring and fall.The anoxic water mass in the lower layer ...


We analyze recordings from more than 3,000 shallow earthquakes and measure the S410S S660S di erential travel times on the global scale. These di erential times are obtained using a cross-correlation technique that minimizes e ects associated with a priori assumptions of crustal thickness and velocity variations above the transition zone. Our measurements show absolute perturbations up to 8 seconds from the global average, which imply lateral variations of 20 km in transition zone thickness, on the length scale over 2,000 km. This range of variations is consistent with those reported by earlier studies of SS precursors (e.g., Flanagan and Shearer, 1998; Gu et al., 1998), but is signi cantly larger than a recent result from P -to-S converted waves (Chevrot et al., 1999). The transition zone under major subduction zones, e.g., western Paci c and South America, is signi cantly thicker than global average, which indicates the strong thermal in uence of subducted slabs. Anomalously thin transition zone is observed in the central Paci c, northern Atlantic and South Africa. We also observe a slight negative correlation between the S410S S660S times and the predicted S-travel time perturbations in the transition zone; this implies that largescale topographic variations of the transition zone discontinuities are considerably a ected by variations in temperature. A regional analysis shows a continent{ocean di erence, i.e., the transition zone is generally thicker under continents than under oceans, though we do not see a clear correlation of thickness with age. 1. The issue of a debate A number of studies of secondary phases have provided regional and global constraints on the thickness of the upper mantle transition zone. For example, Dueker and Sheehan (1997) observed a local thickness of 241 km across the Yellowstone hotspot track with absolute variations greater than 20 km. Gu et al. (1998) analyzed a large collection of SS precursors and obtained an average transition zone thickness of 240 km, with perturbations in excess of 25 km on the global scale; these estimates were supported by the results of Flanagan and Shearer (1998) from a similar but slightly smaller data set. Gossler and Kind (1996) found a correlation between thickness of the transition zone and surface tectonics, thus suggesting that deep roots of continents may extend into the upper mantle transition zone. The accuracy of these results were questioned, however, by a recent study using P -to-S converted waves (Chevrot et al. 1999). This study combined new and some existing measurements of Pds, and concludes that the transition zone is \ at" (with absolute lateral variations < 10 km) on the global scale. In addition, in areas where the Pds observations overlap with the former SS precursor observations, discrepancies of up to 15 km in predicted transition zone thickness are observed. The global average thickness of the transition zone, as inferred from Pds, is more than 8 kilometers thicker than that obtained by the SS precursors. Such large disagreements from using two di erent data sets require further explanation. We do recognize that there is a signi cant di erence in the resolution of the SdS and Pds phases in terms of imaging transition zone thickness. Our study, like the others that use SS precursors, is not aimed at the short wavelength structure associated, for example, with the topography of the 660 km discontinuity in the immediate vicinity of a subducted slab (e.g., Wicks and Richards, 1993). The size of the half-period Fresnel zone is on the order of 1; 500|2; 000 km, and hence such smallscale perturbations would be averaged out or strongly attenuated. Our resolution will also be limited at short wavelength because the size of the averaging cap (10 ) implies an e ective low-pass ltering with a corners at about ` = 10, or the half-wavelength of about 2,000 km. The half-period Fresnel zone of a 6-second P -to-S converted wave, on the other hand, has an oval shape and a diameter of 200{300 km. This means that most of the long-wavelength topography on the transition zone discontinuities, imaged by SS precursors, has little e ect on the travel times of Pds. Di erence in the lateral resolution of these two types of phases could, and should in theory, account for part of the discrepancy between the results of P -to-S converted waves and that of SS precursors. The rapid increase in the number of good quality stations from the global seismographic network in recent years, as well as the need to improve the modeling techniques, provide motivations for us to undertake a new global study of transition zone thickness.


Summary. Four cases of African histoplasmosis with lesions of the skin, subcutaneous tissues and lymph nodes diagnosed histologically are described from the Borno State of Nigeria. Three of the cases were autochthonous to this State, whereas the fourth one originated from the Anambra State of Nigeria. These cases constitute the first record of African histoplasmosis from the arid zone of the north‐eastern part of Nigeria.


Organic cotton is considered a high-value crop in Benin, West Africa, but problems of high costs and reduced yield arising from the lack of effective pest control have left cotton farmers with low profit margins. We have developed a novel supplementary food spray product (Benin Food Product, BFP) to attract and retain beneficial insects on these crops to improve the management of pests. Applications of BFP to organic cotton, with and without other biological control agents, attracted and increased the densities of predatory insects, significantly reducing pest insect numbers and producing higher yields than in cotton treated with neem extract or in cotton that was untreated. In economic terms, the average gross profit margin on the BFP-treated plot was 125,340 FCFA (French Communaute Financière Africaine; USA $1 = 483 FCFA) with 80,248, 89,450 and 968 FCFA on plots treated with neem extract, synthetic insecticides, and no control agent, respectively. These results clearly show that a supplementary food spray, combined with biological pesticides such as neem extract, sugar, and nuclear polyhedrosis virus, could have a positive economic impact on organic cotton production in Benin.


The invention provides a roof bed separation monitoring system based on fiber grating. The roof bed separation monitoring system based on the fiber grating is suitable for coal mine roadway roof bed separation real-time monitoring. The roof bed separation monitoring system comprises a fiber grating analyzer and a main optical cable, wherein the fiber grating analyzer and the main optical cable are connected with each other, couplers are arranged on the main optical cable at intervals, each coupler is connected with two fiber grating displacement meters through sensor tail fibers, and supporting anchor rods driven in the roadway are arranged at the top ends of the fiber grating displacement meters. The roof bed separation monitoring system based on the fiber grating is simple in structure and convenient to use, solves the problem that reading of a roadway roof bed separation indicator under a coal mine is inconvenient, can eliminate influences of electromagnetic interference under complicated and severe environment, does not need power supply, and meets requirements of intrinsic safety.


The content of the article presents the research design and manufacturing control system programming anti-drowsy for car drivers. The topic has referenced and identified the basic manifestations and basic characteristics of the state of sleepiness by using a camera to capture images of the driver's face. After detecting the driver with signs of drowsiness, the central processing unit will output a signal to the warning device, including audible warnings inside the vehicle for the driver and warning lights with Hazard Lights for surrounding vehicles. The research conducts system testing in the laboratory and outside, the results of the system operation achieve the initial set goals.


COMMUNICATING WITH ATHLETES: TIMING IS EVERYTHING! By Robin S. Vealey, Ph.D, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio Olympian Magazine, March 2005 Mary Harvey, goalkeeper on the U.S. Women's Soccer Team, who won the 1991 World Cup, gave up an "easy" goal just before halftime of the championship game, which tied up the score 1-1. Instead of berating her or questioning her about what happened on the goal, Coach Tony DiCicco simply talked to her about the upcoming second half and what she should focus on to prepare for the next half of play. A year later, Harvey told her coach: "I never told you this, but at halftime, when you didn't mention the mistake I made and simply told me what I needed to do in the second half, well, that had an unbelievable impact on me. It gave me a lot of confidence and allowed me to focus on the second half" (DiCicco, Hacker, & Salzberg, 2002, p. 101).


Objective: To reduce the occurrence of complications after prostatectomy. Methods: Cases were divided into an experimental group and a control group by historical control analysis method. Routine measures were adopted in the control group. Rehabilitative nursing care was introduced into the experimental group as the additional part. The occurrence rate of complications after prostatectomy were observed and compared, such as post-prostatectomy urinary incontinence, urethral stricture, urinary infection, pulmonary infection, the duration of continuous bladder irrigation and the anus exhaust as well as the average time of hospitalization. Results: The incidence of the complication after prostatectomy in the experimental group was lower than that of the control group ( P 0.05). Conclution: There is a positive correlation between the complications after prostatectomy and its nursing care.


The September 2000 release of the Federal Trade Commission's report on the marketing of violent entertainment to children ignited the latest of many rounds of policy debates on violent entertainment and its effects on children. Parties on both sides of the debate have cited the First Amendment as limiting what the government can do to legally restrict the marketing of violent entertainment products to children. However, little detailed analysis of just how the First Amendment would apply to any such marketing restrictions has been presented. That is the subject this article takes up. First, it looks at the First Amendment standard of review applied to restrictions on commercial speech. The article also considers whether violent speech, in either entertainment programming or its advertising, may be restricted under the First Amendment. Finally, this article examines whether the advertising of violent entertainment products is entitled to the same level of First Amendment protection afforded to the products being advertised.


Evidence of benefit in the use of mechanical circulatory support devices (MCS) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is scarce. We aimed to evaluate the clinicalcharacteristics, prognosis and factors associated with the use of MCS in patients with AMI due to left main (LM) occlusion.

 We performed a retrospective multicenter study of 128 consecutive patients with AMI with ≤12h of presentation with LM occlusion submitted to immediate reperfusion between January 1, 2008, until December 31, 2020 in three terciary hospitals of Portugal. Among this cohort, we divided patients into two groups according to the use of MCS devices.

 Regarding the baseline characteristics no statistically significant differences were found, except for the presence of cerebrovascular disease (2.9% in group with vs 16.9% in group without MCS, p=0.007) and peripheral artery disease (8.8% in group with vs 22% in group without MCS, p=0.037). We observed that the use of MCS devices was statistically different between the three centers (47.8%, 42%, 8.7%, p<0.001). No differences were found at presentation for ST-segment elevation vs non-ST segment elevation AMI (p=NS). The presence of cardiogenic shock (72.4% vs 45.8%, p=0.002), cardiac arrest (27.5% vs 23.7%, p=0.034) and more severe thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) flow at presentation (55.1% vs 35.6%, p=0.015) were more frequent in group with MCS. The rate of 1-year cumulative mortality was high in both groups (31/59=52.5% in the group without vs 47/69=68.1%, p=NS). Also, no statistically significant differences were found in terms of survival, but we observed a trend to higher mortality in those who received MCS as Kaplan-Meier survival curves show (log rank=0.062). Finally, in multivariable analysis, older age [odds ratio (OR), 0.935; 95% CI, 0.87–0.99], the presence of diabetes (OR, 0.223; 95% CI, 0.056–0.88), peripheral artery disease (OR, 0.070; 95% CI, 0.009–0.566) and extra-hospitalar cardiac arrest (OR, 0.06; 95% CI, 0.007–0.543) were characteristics associated with lower odds of receiving MCS. Contrarily, male sex (OR, 5; 95% CI, 1–20.4) and the presence of cardiogenic shock (OR, 5.7; 95% CI, 1.42–23) were factors associated with higher use of MCS.

 The use of MCS does not seem to modify prognosis in patients admitted withAMI due to left main occlusion. Only cardiogenic shock and male gender were predictors of MCS use.

 Type of funding sources: None.


With the great development in higher education, getting a loan from the bank has become a new way to seek the source of fund. However, any business loan is actually standing in the field of debt and interest must be paid on time. This paper analyses the source of the loan repayment and forecasts the scale of the loan repayment and educational payouts. And thus, on the base of confirmation of the scale of loan, the paper analyses and forecasts the repayment of principal and interest as well as the redemption period.


We report a case of a 41-year-old woman who underwent surgical removal of an uterine leiomyoma, complicated by accidental injury of the left external iliac artery, treated by suturing. A few days after the intervention the patient was treated with emergency percutaneous stent implantation for acute thrombotic occlusion of the external iliac artery. Two years later, the patient began to complain of pain in the left leg, as an 'electric shock' sensation in the leg during squatting and leg adduction on the trunk. An angiographic control showed a critical in-stent restenosis at the level of a misplaced stent. Thus the patient was submitted to surgical exploration and stent removal.


Two methods of estimating wage discrimination have been employed so far in the literature: the direct regression method and the reverse regression method. What distinguishes the two methods is their assumption about the wage determination process: The direct regression method assumes that employees are paid according to their qualifications; by contrast, the reverse regression
method assumes that wages are determined by the nature of the job and it is the qualifications of employees within that job classification that may vary. This paper develops a new measure of wage discrimination, referred to here as the combined method, which is based on combining the results of the two wage discrimination measures. Using randomly generated data, it can be demonstrated that the combined method will produce the correct estimate of
wage discrimination, assuming that the two alternative wage determination processes outlined above are equally common in the labour market.


The experience of several researches in using back-calculation programs showed that the predicted moduli may vary for each program. Also, inappropriate seeds, given as initial values to iterative procedures, occasionally led to suspicious solutions, since they appear to have no physical meanings. The conclusion was that it is necessary to use engineering judgement to ensure that the calculated moduli are reasonable. The objective of this paper is to present the influence of the thickness input, not only on the pavement and the subgrade moduli, but also on the final overlay results. This is done by analyzing in detail a recent local taxiway evaluation project, with two different program codes (NOALIV and SASSHTO) for a fixed, two-layer model. The main conclusion from this analysis is that the error induced in the overlay thickness by the introduction of the erroneous values for the pavement-layer thicknesses can be even more significant than the error induced in the pavement-condition factor. This then necessitates, in non-consistent pavement structures, enlarging the frequency of the in-situ drilling tests or any other equivalent that enables a determination of the pavement thickness, to a greater extent that needed for the FWD tests. For the covering abstract of the proceedings, see IRRD 490713.


This paper explores the behavior of large shareholders' gaining control benefits by using the data of block share transfer from 2006 to 2010.The results show that under the stronger control of large shareholders in ownership structure,large shareholders will gain control benefits with a higher level,and compared to non-controlling shareholders,large shareholders as controlling shareholders are more apt to achieve control benefits by private benefits;compared to non-state-owned shareholders,state-owned shareholders are more apt to achieve control benefits by private benefits;a sound market environment could effectively curb the behavior of gaining private benefits,especially the behavior of controlling and state-owned shareholders' gaining private benefits.


Oxysophoridine (OSR), an alkaloid extracted from a traditional Chinese medicine, attracted more and more attention because of remarkable biological activities. Biocatalysis of OSR by 86 stains including soil microbes and endophytic fungi were investigated. Incubation of OSR with soil bacteria T003 identified as Escherichia coli could lead to only one reductive product with highly regio-selectivity. The structural elucidations of transformation product were achieved mainly by the NMR spectroscopic methods and references. Effect of pH, substrate concentration, conversion time and strain concentration was studied, the optimization of reaction was analyzed by LC-MS. The production of sophoridine (SR) from OSR was highest at pH 7.0, 36 h of incubation and in presence of 625 μg/mL substrate concentration, 50 μL/mL strain concentration respectively. Biocatalysis was considered the alternatives to preparation of sophoridine with green and sustainable synthetic processes except for less time-consuming and more environmentally friendly.


Background: Contrast induced nephropathy is a potential cause of mortality and morbidity in patients undergoing angiography–angioplasty. Except for hydrating and probably low – isoosmolar contrast agents in high risk groups, other modalities have not provided benefit. We investigated preventive effects of captopril for contrast induced nephropathy during angiography–angioplasty.
Methods: In a double blind placebo controlled clinical trial, 88 patients were randomized to two groups: 42 patients received captopril (12.5 mg) every 8 hours from 2 hours before the procedure until 48 hours thereafter, and 46 patients received placebo in the same manner. Serum creatinine was measured before and 48 hours after angioplasty. The data were analyzed by SPSS software, using unpaired student t-test for comparing mean creatinine rise in both groups and paired student t-test for the changes in serum creatinine in each group.
Results: The mean creatinine rise in captopril group (0.214 mg/dl) and placebo group (0.226 mg/dl) were not significantly different. The incidence of acute renal failure (creatinine rise more than 0.5 mg/dl) in the captopril (11.9 %) and placebo group (10.8 %) were not significantly different.
Conclusion: Captopril does not effectively prevent contrast nephropathy, but it is not harmful for renal function and can be administered safely during angiography – angioplasty in patients with normal renal function. However, the effect of captopril in patients with high- risk characteristics remains to be clarified. Of note, we found a trend for less creatinine rise in diabetics who received captopril during the procedure in comparison to diabetics who received placebo.
Keywords: Angiography, Angioplasty, Contrast induced Nephropathy, Captopril, Angiotension Converting Enzyme Inhibitor, Creatinine


Patients who have claustrophobia and other anxiety-related disorders may be unable to remain inside an MR imager long enough for an imaging study to be completed. Some centers have studies cancelled for as many as 30% of patients because of this problem. My colleagues and I have used oral Xanax (alprazolam) prophylactically to treat claustrophobia in 100 adults who were scheduled for MR imaging. We were able to complete the MR studies in all 100 patients. The treatment is as follows: Approximately 30 to 60 mm before the MR study, the patient is given 0.5 mg of alprazolam orally. After checking in at the admissions desk, the patient is given an additional 0.5 mg of alprazolam sublingually. The pill is bitter, but patients are encouraged to keep it under the tongue as long as possible before they swallow it. Noneof our 100 patients became unconscious or insensible when this regimen was used, and none required any other medication. All were warned not to drive themselves home.


SUMMARY The following work deals with the publication of a list of the Stromenti appartenuti al Real Osservatorio di Napoli, written in 1812 by Federigo Zuccari and a short correspondence, (13 letters at all), between Zuccari and Giovan Battista Amici. The first is a document of the Archivio di Stato of Naples. It is a relevant proof of the condition of astronomy in Naples on the eve of the building of the new Observatory of Capodimonte. The Zuccari-Amici correspondence was written between 15 June, 1811 and 5 May, 1816 (even if 11 letters refer to the period between 15 June, 1811 and 15 January, 1813). It links up the events of the construction of the new Observatory, and deals with the purchase and the transfer, from Modena to Naples, of a telescope made by Amici. It was one of the first important instruments of the new Observatory's equipment.


The effect of a skew angle on single-span reinforce d concrete bridges is analyzed using the finite-ele ment method and the results are presented in this paper. Investigations are carried out on RC slab bridge decks with and without edge beams to study the influence of aspect ratio, skew angle and type of load. The fini te-element analysis results for skewed bridges are compared to the reference straight bridges for dead load, IRC Class A loading and IRC 70R loading for with and without edge beam . A total of 90 bridge models are analyzed. The variation of maximum deflection, maximum longitudinal sagging bending moment, maximu m torsional moment, and maximum support reaction with skew angle is studied for all 90 bridge deck models. The FEA results of Dead load and Live load bending moments and deflections decreases with incr ease in skew angle, where as maximum support reacti ons increases with increase in skew angle and the maximum torsional moment incr eases with skew angle up to 45 degrees and there af ter decreases. The benefit of providing edge beam is reflected in significant decrease in deflection, longitudinal bending moment and torsional moment.


This study examined reliability of the questionnaire and quality of life at school (Anderson and Brook, 2000) Iranian in society. This studyis ananalysis of correlation studies, In this study, 400 female students 13 to 17 years of Khomeini Shahr city schools as multi-stage cluster sampling and Morgan were selected on the basis of the table, were studied. The exploratory factor analysis, six of opportunity, adventure and development, general satisfaction, negative emotions, social cohesion and the relationship with the teacher were extracted. The results showed that the lowest and highest alpha coefficient alpha for the subscale opportunities for social cohesion sub scale. The coefficient of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) of the questionnaire was 0/88. According to the results can be said the quality of life questionnaire in the school has a good reliability anda high level of reliability coefficients scalec and educe that the scale of quality of lifeat the school, including a questionnaire that will beless subject to changes in time and place.


The purpose of this study is to know how the case process in the Tangerang District Court, how its application with the Supreme Court Circular No. 2 of 2014 in the acceleration of Civil procedure law cases in the Tangerang District Court from 2015 to 2017. By using normative juridical research methods, concluded: 1. The case process that occurred in the State Court as from the beginning until the judge's decision became the most effective alternative today. Because it can be seen from cases that have been systematic for the realization of justice. 2. The establishment of the Supreme Court Circular No. 2 of 2014 is very useful and provides basic guidance in the Tangerang District Court in the event of a speedy trial. However, in the practice of the Tangerang District Court on the issue of implementation in accordance with the Supreme Court Circular No. 2 of 2014 in the court environment does not go according to the hope of the formation of the regulation. There are some disputes that have passed the right time, although basically to deal with civil cases with the rules will not be long. Which makes the implementation of the quick principle does not apply well with the Supreme Court Circular No. 2 of 2014 in the Tangerang District Court. The rules used can not be implemented and can not be applied because they are not in accordance with the facts so that they are not in accordance with the rules and practices.


[ Diagnostic errors in radiology] Radiology is one of the medical branches most liable to claims of medical negligence. Radiological errors can be divided into three main categories: perceptual, cognitive and system errors. The etiology of radiological error is multi-factorial. This article describes the types of errors in radiology, with a specific focus on diagnostics mistakes, which are the most common cause of litigation in this field. Every radiologist should understand the causes of error in diagnostic radiology, as well as the elements of negligence that form the basis of malpractice litigation.


OBJECTIVE To investigate the clinical application of the CRP,Glu and spiral CT check for the patients with acute pancreatitis.METHODS 86 cases with acute pancreatitis were chosen and checked the CRP level,Glu level and belly CT in day1,day3,day5 and day7.The patients were divided into four groups according to the result,such as 64 cases of miner acute pancreatitis(MAP)group,24 cases of severe acute pancreatitis(SAP)group,64 cases of none mortification pancreas group and 22 cases of mortification pancreas group.RESULTS The CRP and glucose level of SAP group and MAP group heightened obviously,and the heightened level of SAP was different from that of MAP group(P﹤0.05).The CRP level and glucose of mortification pancreas group was higher than that of no mortification pancreas group(P﹤0.05).CONCLUSION Checking the CRP,Glu and spiral CT check for the patients with acute pancreatitis help to the diagnose and evaluate the state of the illness,and guide the treatment.


In the Policy Forum "Rethinking China's new great wall" (21 November 2014, p. [912][1]), Z. Ma et al. demonstrated that coastal land reclamation and infrastructure construction are destroying coastal wetlands and threatening biodiversity. However, the ecological impacts of the "new Great Wall" are complex and unpredictable. With the construction of seawalls, these hard-substrate structures become "stepping stones" for rocky shore organisms ([ 1 ][2], [ 2 ][3]) and promote gene flow between populations in northern and southern China. Some species can rapidly occupy the "new Great Wall" and thereby extend their biogeographic ranges.

Substrate availability is one of the major factors affecting distribution of rocky intertidal species along the Chinese coastline, and there is a phylogeographic barrier to movement of rocky intertidal species at the Yangtze River estuary ([ 3 ][4]). The distribution and diversity of rocky intertidal macrobenthos (invertebrates that live on the ocean floor) have been investigated since July 2013 on the artificial seawalls along the Jangsu coastline, where a phylogeographic barrier for these species occurred before construction of large-scale artificial seawalls ([ 4 ][5]). Our preliminary observations suggest that biodiversity on the new Great Wall is showing a tendency to increase.

1. [↵][6]1. L. Airoldi 2. et al
 ., Coast. Eng. 52, 10 (2005).
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2. [↵][8]1. L. B. Firth 2. et al
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4. [↵][11]Y. Dong et al. , World Conference on Marine Biodiversity, Qingdao, China (2014).

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Readers of Eve Darian-Smith's Laws and Societies in Global Contextswill surely be – as I am – indebted to the remarkable mapping of the field it provides. This book is a rich resource that offers readers not simply a factual training through its content, but also a training in conduct, in ways of seeing, of posing questions andmodes of engagement.1 The book operates on a pedagogical register, not just to train us as law and society scholars about our field, but also to train us as socio-legal scholars. Through this training, this book provokes political and ethical scholarly engagement with our deeply unequal and ecologically constrained world.


Summary This paper re-examines the relationship between per capita income, inequality, and per capita emissions while accounting for nonhomotheticity in green preferences and nonlinearities in the impact of economic growth on GHG emissions. Theoretically, our research is motivated by the fact that if environmental quality is a need with low priority on the hierarchical scale, the effect of inequality on emissions should vary depending on the level of income per capita. Specifically, for a given level of income per capita, a richer median voter will be more likely to approve of more stringent environmental policies, and thus, lower inequality is beneficial for the environment. With nonhomothetic preferences, the beneficial environmental effect of reducing inequality emerges only for countries that are sufficiently rich. We test this hypothesis by augmenting a standard EKC equation with the interaction between income per capita and the Gini coefficient. Our results for CO2, SO2 and N2O emissions corroborate our main hypothesis: reducing inequality is beneficial for the environment only for rich countries. Abstract This paper re-examines the relationship between per capita income, inequality, and per capita emissions while accounting for nonhomotheticity in green preferences and nonlinearities in the impact of economic growth on GHG emissions. Theoretically, our research is motivated by the fact that if environmental quality is a n eed with low priority on the hierarchical scale, th e effect of inequality on emissions should vary depending on the level of income per capita. Specifically, for a given level of income per capita, a richer median voter will be more likely to approve of more stringent environmental policies, and thus, lower inequality is beneficial for the environment. With nonhomothetic preferences, the beneficial environmental effect of reducing inequality emerges only for countries that are sufficiently rich. We test this hypothesis by augmenting a standard EKC equation with the interaction between income per capita and the Gini coefficient. Our results for CO 2 , SO 2 and N 2 O emissions corroborate our main hypothesis: reducing inequality is beneficial for the environment only for rich countries.


Complexes of the form [Os(NH3)5(L)](OTf)2 (where L = an unactivated arene or polyaromatic hydrocarbon) are readily protonated by triflic acid (HOTf) to generate stable arenium, naphthalenium, and anthracenium cations. A series of substituted anisole complexes were also investigated. The metal stabilizes the hydrocarbon arenium system, in most cases, by coordinating the organic ligand in an η3 fashion. Where L = m-xylene, however, NMR data strongly suggest that the arenium ion is essentially dihapto-coordinated, where an allyl cation fragment remains uncoordinated. For the corresponding anisolium systems, NMR data indicate η2-coordination. It is likely that η2 and η3 geometries represent limiting cases for a continuum of distorted allyl (pseudo-allyl) complexes. The pKa values determined for these complexes are dramatically higher than those of the free arenium cations.


This paper provides the relationship between the reflection and the transmission characteristics of FSR and the normalized susceptance B of FSR to understand the principle of operation of FSR. Further, some application examples such as the multiple layered FSRs and the metal loaded FSR will be shown based on the above theoretical relationship.


A nonstationary mathematical model of AS-2 catalyst grain is constructed with various boundary conditions and evaluation of internal and external effectiveness factors. The model is used to determine the region in which alkylation of benzene with propylene proceeds selectively.


Given a directed graph G = (V, A) (with n = |V | and m = |A|) with a length function : A → R + and a pair of vertices s, t, a distance oracle returns the distance dist(s, t) from s to t. A labeling algorithm [18] implements distance oracles in two stages. The preprocessing stage computes a label for each vertex of the input graph. Then, given s and t, the query stage computes dist(s, t) using only the labels of s and t; the query does not explicitly use G and. Hub labeling (HL) (or 2-hop labeling) is a special kind of labeling algorithm. The label L(v) of a vertex v consists of two parts: the forward label L f (v) is a collection of vertices w with their distances dist(v, w) from v, while the backward label L b (v) is a collection of vertices u with their distances dist(u, v) to v. (If the graph is undirected, a single label per vertex suffices.) The vertices in v's label are the hubs of v. The labels must obey the cover property: for any two vertices s and t, the set L f (s) ∩ L b (t) must contain at least one hub that is on the shortest s–t path. Given the labels, HL queries are straightforward: to find dist(s, t), simply find the hub x ∈ L f (s) ∩ L b (t)


Purposes: To implement a mindfulness meditation program with Arabic speaking clients as an adjunctive treatment of depression Background: Depression rates among Iraqi refugees are between 28.3 and 75% compared to 8.6% in the general population (Slewa-Younan, Guajardo, Heriseanu, & Hasan, 2015). Treatment options are limited at Neighborhood Healthcare in El Cajon due to budget limitations, cultural beliefs and language barriers, among other reasons. Individual therapy is intended to be a brief intervention due to limited staffing. Many middle eastern refugees decline group therapy due to stigma surrounding mental health treatment and concerns about privacy. Even though traditional treatment options are effective in many cases, there is also a gap in care. Numerous patients continue to exhibit significant depression with the current interventions in place. Mindfulness interventions are shown to have a medium to large effect size for the treatment of depression. In addition, mindfulness interventions are easy to teach and can be practiced by the patient independently. Methods: The nurse practitioner met with six clients for individual sessions in order to teach clients how to meditate. Inclusion criteria are a Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) score greater than 10 and primary language of Arabic. The nurse practitioner instructed clients regarding guided meditation and mindfulness. The patients had access to meditation tracks and were calls by clinic staff to encourage practice at home during the initiation of treatment. Quality of Life Scores (QoL) were measured at the first and last session. PHQ-9 scores were measured at all sessions. Outcomes Achieved: Three of six patients completed the program with partial adherence to treatment. Patients experiences a 9% to 58% increase in QoL. One patient experienced an improvement in PHQ-9. Patients reports positive outcomes subjectively and planned to continue meditating. Conclusions: Meditation is a treatment option already widely used in western cultures. Although meditative practices are used in some religious practices, most Middle Eastern patient have little exposure to meditation. Recently, resources for meditation in Arabic were developed in Australia and have already shown to be effective in the treatment of depression for people from the Middle (East South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, 2017).


The article analyzes the methods of psychologism in the work of Erich Maria Remarque on the example of his late work "Shadows in Paradise", less well known and studied in comparison with the glorified and repeatedly filmed novels "On the Western Front Without Changes", "Three Comrades" or "Triumphal Arch" . The work clarifies the very concept of "psychologism", examines its characteristic features, highlights the main forms of psychologism. The specific examples demonstrate the role of the portrait, color painting, sound writing, artistic details, the speech of the characters and the peculiarities of their non-verbal communication in the work of the German writer. It is proved that the whole set of methods of psychologism helps the awareness of the problematics of the work. Problems, largely due to the historical and political situation of the time in which the author lived and wrote, but not limited to it. After all, the situations of existential crisis and moral choice, in which Remarque's characters often find themselves, are typical of any era. The ability of the writer to reveal the inner world of his characters and understand how they are guided in their actions, sometimes irrational, - this is what makes his work relevant and interesting to readers even today, in the 21st century.


Following the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), we find a statistically and economically significant director-specific component in CEO pay: in the cross-section of firms, directors that award relatively higher (lower) CEO pay in one firm also award relatively higher (lower) CEO pay in other firms of whose boards they are members during the year. Based on our estimates, the directorspecific component is responsible for around ±3.5% of total CEO pay or around ±$230,000 per CEO-year on average. In addition to affecting CEO pay levels, the director-specific component also has a significant effect on the changes and the composition of CEO pay, thus affecting CEO incentives. We pursue two potential explanations for our findings—changes in board composition and changes in director behavior after SOX. We do not find evidence that the director-specific component in CEO pay is due to changes in board composition. Instead, we find evidence that the director-specific component in CEO pay is due to changes in director behavior related to the additional risks and employment concerns imposed on directors after SOX. Our findings are consistent with the view that SOX discourages directors from taking risks when awarding CEO pay and so directors award CEO pay that they can more easily justify through direct experiences in other firms. These findings have wide implications about the importance of directors in setting CEO pay, the existence of agency problems within the board, and the consequences of regulation in general and SOX in particular.


The Australian electricity industry is facing significant challenges, as recent electricity price rises and technological change have lead to changing demand patterns and high penetrations of distributed photovoltaics. Network tariff reform is underway in response to concerns about overinvestment in network infrastructure and cross-subsidies present in existing tariff structures. In this paper, residential demand data is used to model network revenue per household in a variety of future scenarios. Revenue is particularly impacted under flat rate and time of use tariffs by high penetrations of photovoltaics, while energy efficiency has a potentially significant impact under all tariff designs tested.


The study determined the effects of workplace conflict on employees' job performance in Ogun State Agro-service Corporation (OGASC). Multistage sampling technique was used to select 77 respondents. Data were collected through the administration of questionnaires and were analysed using frequency, percentage, and mean. The presence of functional staff union to minimize conflict (x̅ = 2.99) ranked as the first indication of reduced conflict, followed by existence of favouritism (x̅ = 2.51) which was ranked highest as an indication of conflict escalating factor by the respondents. Job performance of the respondents was not adversely affected by the workplace conflict they experienced. Therefore, the management of OGASC should ensure improvement in the deployment of the used resolution strategies to drastically reduce conflict for better performance of the employees.


A pulsed Townsend apparatus is used to measure the mobility of a single negative ion species in N2O and N2O–N2 gas mixtures. The range of the density-normalized electric field, E/N, is 6.5–100 Td (1 Townsend = 10−17 V cm2) over the pressure range 10–250 Torr and temperature range 295–300 K. Based on previous work it is shown that the most likely drifting ion is . A reaction scheme involving ion conversion and electron detachment is presented, ending with the formation of a stable ion. The momentum transfer integral cross section for in pure N2O and N2 gases is derived from the above measurements. The unfolded cross sections are used as an initial guess and then further improved by ensuring good agreement between Monte Carlo calculated mobilities and the experimental results for the N2O–N2 mixture.


This paper presents a vide-based method for evaluating and validating volume and speed data collected from traffic detectors. Assessing the detector data reliability is a critical task for all Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). Their performance will be significantly impacted by the data quality. Most existing studies mainly use volume as the only variable for evaluating the detector quality. A cost-efficient and rigorous method that can concurrently evaluate both volume and speed from the detectors is not yet available. The video-based method presented in this study is both cost-efficient and sufficiently reliable for evaluating detector data for ITS system operations. For example, the performance of a travel time prediction system is very sensitive to the quality of the detector data. This paper will mainly detail the key features of the proposed system and its application in a case study of RTMS detector data on I-70 corridor in Maryland.


Objective To study the relationship between the liver sinusoidal pathological changes and portal hypertension during the dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) induced liver fibrosis in rats. Methods The rat liver fibrosis model was established by peritoneal injection of DMN (at a dose of 10 mg/kg, 3 times a week, for 4 weeks) in 40 male Wister mice. In the control group of 24 healthy mice, saline solution was injected peritoneally. The dynamic changes of liver fibrosis were observed at different time points (1, 2, 3 day, 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 week). The pressure of portal vein (Ppv) was directly measured by the intubation of mesentery anterior vein in 5 mice of the model and 3 of the control. The expressions of type Ⅳ collagen (Col Ⅳ), laminin (LM) and type Ⅰ collagen (Col Ⅰ) were detected by immunohistochemistry. Hepatic ultrastructure was observed by electron microscopy. Results Positive expression of Col Ⅳ was observed in the normal liver sinusoidal walls. The various intensities of positive staining of Col Ⅳ were observed in the liver sinusoidal walls of the fibrosis model. Positive expressions of LM and Col Ⅰ increased, and the strongest positive staining displayed in the 4 week model rats. Meanwhile, the fenestrae in the sinusoidal endothelial cells (SECs) were lost and the basal membrane was formed. There was a remarkable positive correlation between the Ppv and the expressions of LM in the DMN induced rat fibrosis( P 0.05). Conclusions Hepatic sinusoidal capillarization (including the loss of fenestrae in the SECs, the formation of basal membrane and the activation of hepatic stellate cells) is the important pathological basis in development of portal hypertension during the DMN induced liver fibrosis in rats. The formation of sinusoidal endothelial basement membrane may be due to the destruction of functional basement membrane, and the deposition of LM, Col Ⅳ and Col Ⅰ.


In this paper an excitation method employing both harmonic forcing and parametric excitation is applied to a resonant MEMS sensor in order to investigate and characterize the phenomena of parametric resonance and parametric amplification. The motivation for this research is that parametric excitation may be used to significantly reduce the total damping in MEMS sensors in a controllable manner. This is extremely pertinent to devices where the Q-factor is a principal factor in determining sensor performance. In this paper it is shown that, by adjusting the parametric excitation parameters (frequency, amplitude and phase) of an electrostatically actuated and sensed device, the gain of the frequency response function of a mode of vibration may be amplified. The amplification is quantified by the gain factor which is characterized experimentally. The instability regions defining the regions for parametric resonance are also characterized experimentally and compared to theoretical predictions. The boundaries of these instability regions define the thresholds for parametric resonance and play a crucial role in the design of the parametric amplifier.


The audibility of pure tones presented against typical domestic sounds was investigated in a psychoacoustic experiment conducted with young and older listeners. The sound pressure levels of pure tones were varied at several signal-to-noise ratios to find a range of auditory signals that are audible and comfortably loud in noisy conditions. Ratings of the listeners were analyzed in terms of A-weighted sound pressure levels and 1/3 octave band levels of the target tones and background noises. The results revealed that both listener groups assigned similar ratings to various combinations of pure tones and domestic sounds. However, when the tone frequency was 2,000 Hz or higher, older listeners needed a higher tone level to attain a certain level of audibility. On the basis of the results, the authors propose sound-level ranges of auditory signals for consumer products intended for users of various ages and for users who might have age-related hearing loss.


.— Grazing exclusion and channel modifications were used to restore wet meadows along a stream on the Fort Apache Indian Reser- vation. The efforts are reestablishing functional processes to promote long-term restoration of wetland health and species conservation.


Asian patients represent a large portion of the global population with type 2 diabetes mellitus, but are underrepresented in trials of glucose‐lowering therapies. The present randomized, phase III, placebo‐controlled, double‐blind, 24‐week study evaluated the dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 inhibitor, linagliptin, as monotherapy in Asian patients with inadequately controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus.


2 Newton-Euler Equations Assumptions • Coulomb Friction • Nonzero velocity in x • Constant acceleration a • Zero angular acceleration and angular velocity of link and object • Wheels are very light and have a negligible moment of inertia ∗The authors are with the Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines & School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.


Body image concerns warrant attention among women who have undergone treatment for breast cancer, due to their significant consequences for psychological and physical health, and interpersonal relationships. This paper systematically reviews the effectiveness of interventions on body image outcomes among this group, in order to inform health care provision and strategic directions for research.


Objective: To discuss the clinical feature of tuberculosis and to provide reference in early finding and early treatment of tuberculosis in maxillofacial region in the elderly. Method: 11 elderly patients with tuberculosis in maxillofacial region received chest X-ray, pathological examination and the result was analyzed. Results: Symptom of tuberculosis in maxillofacial region in the elderly was not obvious. The disease was generally found in oral mucosa. Ulcer was main clinical sign. Among 11 cases, 72.7% accompanied with pneumonophthisis and 36.4% were misdiagnosed as tumor. All eleven cases were transferred to the tuberculosis hospital. After systematic anti-tuberculosis treatment, ten cases were cured clinically and bacterium examination in their sputum was negative. Following up for one to two years, their tuberculosis in maxillofacial region didn't recur. Clinical symptom control significantly improved in.one case. Conclusion: Clinician should pay more attention to the elderly patients because of their non-typical clinical symptom of tuberculosis in maxillofacial region. We should examine timely to the elderly patients which maybe have Tuberculosis at maxillofacial region.


Objective:To establish a method for determination of atropine in pig plasma by HPLC. Methods:YMC pack ODS A column(150 mm×4.6 mm,5 μm)was applied. The mobile phase was a solution containing 0.01 mol/L sodium acetate and 0 005 mol/L dioctyl sodium sulphosuccinate in methanol(60%) and was adjusted to pH 5.5 with glacial acetic acid. The elute was detected at UV 257 nm and homatropine was used as the internal standard. Results and Conclusion: The linear range is 0.679 7 3.568 6 μg/ml, r =0.992 4.The average recovery rate was 107.5% and the RSD was 7.0%( n =9). The minimal concentration of detection was 3.4 μg/ml.


With equivalent concept of single fracture,a discrete-fracture model is developed,in which macroscopic fractures are described explicitly as(n-1) dimensional geometry elements.This simple step greatly improves efficiency of numerical simulation.The model can really reflect impact of fractures on fluid flow through fractured reservoirs simultaneously.A fully coupling discrete-fracture mathematical model is implemented using Galerkin finite element method.Validity and accuracy of the model and numerical algorithm are demonstrated through several examples.Effect of fractures on water flooding in fractured reservoirs is investigated.It demonstrates that the discrete-fracture model is valid for fractured reservoirs,especially for those reservoirs in which macroscopic fractures exist.


A multiband monopole slot chip antenna surface‐mountable on the system circuit board of the mobile phone is presented. The antenna comprises two monopole slots of different lengths, which are folded and attached onto a foam base in the study. With a compact volume of 30 × 10 × 8 mm3 (2.4 cm3), the antenna can generate a lower band at about 900 MHz to cover GSM operation and a very wide upper band (bandwidth >1 GHz) to cover DCS/PCS/UMTS operation and 2.4 GHz WLAN operation. It is also promising to use a ceramic base of relative permittivity 7.8 to replace the foam base of the antenna. In this case, the antenna volume can be reduced to be 24 × 10 × 8 mm3 (1.92 cm3) only, yet still capable of covering GSM/DCS/PCS/UMTS quad‐band operation. The proposed antenna is studied, and obtained results are presented and discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 1273–1279, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23342


Crime and adolescent fatherhood are generally discussed as separate social problems, with little attention paid to the fact that they increasingly intersect. In this article, the author discusses the structure of the juvenile prison and its effect on the relationship between inmates and their children. Placing prison structure into a historical and social context, the author examines its effects on father/child relations. This includes an analysis of the gendered nature of the institution, its patriarchal/punitive structure, and its high-stress environment. For the analysis, the author draws from observations at three California youth prisons, survey data from 181 parolee-fathers, and in-depth interview data from a subset of 20 of the survey respondents.


Ben Franklin said ''A small leak can sink a great ship.'' True enough, especially if the pump does not work well. In this issue, Rajani and colleagues report their limited experience with another kind of (but perhaps related) leak—the paravalvular leak (PVL) after percutaneous valve replacement with the Corevalve device. Their report lists many of the issues having to do with the presence of PVL after any kind of transcatheter aortic valve insertion (TAVI):


This age, we live now, may be characterized by the change of episteme, by the development of multimedia and by the every day life without eagerness. In consequence of these rapid change of literary surroundings that the main stream of literary education oppressed to change along with them. The point is that literary education practised in the direction of literary production, in the area of reading and writing. For the turning of the direction of literary education, we must recognize that the characteristics of literature as subject based on experience of it. In this context the teachers works as co-reader and co-writer with their students. And the teachers will be the role model of literary life for the students. In this paper, I suggested that the students as the reader of literature are the producers of literary meaning, and also they are the producers of literary texts even if they are the tentative subjects. The production of literary meaning and the production of literary texts, they are related in contact with the literary study, literary criticism, and the literary practices in real life. In the course of literary practices, the writing of literary works will be the main point of this paper, Literary education in the perspective of literary production, it will be the concrete method for the literary life. Literary life means that the living in concrete senses of 5 senses, living with creative imagination in the course of lives and the life to pursuit of freedom in mind and body in every day lives. It means to establish the utopia overcoming the distopia of mundane world.


Auroral occurrence frequency may be used as proxy data for solar activity. In recent years magnetic data and auroral data during the declining phase of one sunspot cycle have been used to predict the maximum sunspot number of the following cycle. This paper discusses appropriate use of auroral data for this purpose, and tests the validity of such a procedure for the period 1721–1943. The results show that the use of auroral sums for sunspot minimum and the preceding three years can predict the subsequent sunspot number maximum, but that the predictor involves two branches. One, fitting the majority of observations, may be considered the normal branch. The other, called here the deficit branch, gives fewer auroral occurrences than would be expected. Treatment of magnetic activity data in the same fashion gives similar, but not identical results.


High-voltage cable insulation state directly determines the service life of these cables, and after the periods of producing, laying and long-term operating, there is likely to introduce impurities, air bubbles into the insulation layer. These defects will bring partial discharge, which will damage insulation strength, and cause cable failures. Due to the partial discharge test can achieve the purposes of early cable insulation state assessment, cable defects detection and operational reliability guarantee, lots of cable partial discharge detection equipment have emerged at home and abroad. However, the equipment of different manufacturers have their own characteristics, so the use of these equipment also bring problems such as high requirements for technicians, and low data utilization. To solve these problems, it becomes urgent to build a unified diagnostic platform, upgrade the identification algorithm, maintain a partial discharge defect library, and access the online monitoring data of partial discharge. Based on these needs, this paper designed and implemented a partial discharge data diagnosis system by applying convolutional neural networks for massive field measured partial discharge sample data. The training and verification of these data were completed, and the model which proved has a high recognition rate, good theoretical and practical significance through simulation experiment for partial discharge diagnosis was output.


Dependence modelling plays an important role in portfolio construction, risk management, and derivatives pricing, and any inappropriate method could lead to suboptimal portfolios, inaccurate assessment of risk exposures, and biased pricing, respectively. Studies in the last decade have supported the superiority of a copula-based approach over the traditional linear correlation method of measuring dependence as it offers more flexibility than the latter does. Given the increasing importance of spread options in hedging and speculating on the future dependence between the underlying assets, this thesis focuses on copulabased spread option pricing and illustrates the two cases of Heating Oil-Crude Oil and Gasoline-Gasoline crack spreads. The copula approach allows the splitting of the joint distribution into a copula function and univariate marginal distributions. A commonly used approach to characterizing the marginal behaviour of asset returns assumes a time-varying conditional mean and volatility along with a constant distribution of mean zero and unit variance for the standardized residuals in the physical world. Then, a set of both constant and time-varying copula models is fitted to the data. Given that all parameters are estimated in the physical world, we utilize the generalized local risk-neutral valuation relationship to transform the dynamic system under the objective measure into that under the risk-neutral measure, and the option price can be computed using Monte Carlo simulation. In general, the chosen copula functions consistently generate option prices that are different from those under the benchmark constant Gaussian copula. The option prices computed from the Student's t copula are less than those from the Plackett copula across all strike price levels and with different univariate marginal distributions. The departure from the Gaussian assumption found in the marginal distributions and dependence structure provides further evidence for the non-normality of financial markets. Moreover, the widely used linear correlation method potentially biases multi-asset option pricing. Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation 1 hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all property rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstracts International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). ···················-~si~~L ............... . . .............. .lf~jtt{L .... X. .. U .............. . Witness . .......... !.f.??./t.O.l.~ ........... . Date The University recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. Requests for restriction for a period of up to 2 years must be made in writing. Requests for a longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances and require the approval of the Dean of Graduate Research. FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: THIS SHEET IS TO BE GLUED TO THE INSIDE FRONT COVER OF THE THESIS ORIGINALITY STATEMENT 'I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.' Signed ......... ·'· ............... t.{9. ··~· ..... D.~ ...... . Date ...................... J.!. ?.!z.o. .~.~ .................. ..


Liquid resin hybridized silica sol-gels and thiol-ene elastomers were evaluated as compatible materials to form thin film, flexible multilayered structures. Liquid resins are cast and cured in air and ambient pressure on the order of minutes. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) reveals homogeneous interfaces and robust interfacial adhesion under tensile and compressive stress. Thickness of the hybrid glass and thiol-ene films range from 0.80μm to 1.5μm and 8 μm to 16 μm respectively.


Malick makes recommendations for local boards based on a recent VCCS survey which sought to determine how the State Governing Board could assist and support the members of the local boards in their role as advisors to their presidents and institutions.


Synthesis, Structures, and Properties of Cl2TeSeN2S and [Se2N2S]22+ [XSO3−]2 (X = F, CF3)

Treatment of Se(NSO)2 with TeCl4 provides the colvalent five-membered ring species (1). Reaction of Se(NSO)2 with XSO3H (X = F or CF3) leads to bis(1,3,4,2,5-thiadiselenadiazolium) cations with the anions FSO3− (2a) and CF3SO3− (2b). X-ray structure analyses for 1 and 2b are presented.


The cyclical process of water storage and recession in the regular operation of the Three Gorges Reservoir creates a unique habitat stress that alters the structural and functional attributes of vegetation ecology within the riparian zone. The stress-tolerant plant Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers is the dominant plant species in the riparian zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir. In this study, the riparian zone of the Daning River, a tributary located in the center of the Three Gorges Reservoir, was selected as our study area. To identify the drivers of the morphological traits of C. dactylon in the riparian zone of Daning River, we examined plant biomass and plant characteristics across different elevation gradients, with reference to abiotic factors to determine the distribution patterns of plant morphological traits. Results indicated that in the two main soil types of the riparian zone, plant biomass showed a consistent trend along the elevation gradient, with a "middle-height expansion" pattern; biomass increased and then decreased with rising water levels. Plant biomass positively correlated with soil total nitrogen and negatively correlated with soil pH, electrical conductivity, and total phosphorus. C. dactylon adapted to prolonged flooding in the riparian zone by having a significant negative correlation between plant height and erect stem length with soil moisture content to facilitate root respiration.


AIM
Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is known to stimulate endothelial cell proliferation. However, re-endothelialization is not enhanced when the native protein is administered to the injured artery, probably due to the short half-life of HGF at the site of injury. Therefore, the effects of an HGF fusion protein having collagen-binding activity (CBD-HGF) on re-endothelialization and neointimal formation was studied in the balloon-injured rat carotid artery.

METHODS
The left common carotid artery of male Sprague-Dawley rats was injured with an inflated balloon catheter, and then treated with CBD-HGF 10 microg/mL), HGF (10 micro g/mL) or saline (control) for 15 min. After 14 days, the rats were injected with Evans blue and sacrificed.

RESULTS
The re-endothelialized area was significantly greater in the CBD-HGF- treated rats than in the control or HGF -treated rats. Neointimal formation was significantly more pronounced in the CBD-HGF treated rats than in other rat groups. Both HGF and CBD-HGF stimulated proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells as well as endothelial cells in vitro. Consistent with this, cultured smooth muscle cells were shown to express the HGF receptor (c-Met).

CONCLUSION
CBD-HGF accelerates re-endothelialization and neointimal formation in vivo. CBD fusion protein is a useful vehicle to deliver vascular growth factors to injured arteries.


Preface. Acknowlegmentss. 1. Introduction to Digital System Design. 2. Overview on Hardware Description Language. 3. Basic Language Constructs of VHDL. 4. Concurrent Signal Assignment Statements of VHDL. 5. Sequential Statements of VHDL. 6. Synthesis of VHDL Code. 7. Combinational Circuit Design: Practice. 8. Sequential Circuit Design: Principle. 9. Sequential Circuit Design: Practice. 10. Finite State Machine: Princple and Practice. 11. Register Transfer Methodology: Principle. 12. Register Transfer Methodology: Practice. 13. Hierarchical Design in VHDL. 14. Parameterized Design: Principle. 15. Parameterized Design: Practice. 16. Clock and Synchronization: Principle and Practice. References. Index.


Influenced by their morphology, nanocrystalline nickel hydroxide and nickel oxide have important technical applications. A simple novel procedure allows for the preparation of α-Ni(OH)2 from nickel nitrate using hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) as the precipitating agent. The product obtained is free of water, but contains intercalated nitrate and HMTA. Hydroxide samples prepared in this manner decompose in a single step at 350 degrees C and can be used as precursors for NiO. The hydroxide and oxide samples were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and nitrogen physisorption. Depending on the solvent system used during synthesis, a-Ni(OH)2 has a leaf-like or a flower-like morphology. The nickel oxides obtained from these samples consist of nanocubes (average particle size: 15 nm) and nanorods (length: 30-60 nm), respectively. The oxide samples are mesoporous and the corresponding surface areas are 40 and 35 m2/g.


Starting from the late 1980s the underlying trend in public participation in infrastructure (PPI) has pointed upwards and is continuing to do so today. Cycles around the underlying trend are normal and reflect both global capital market conditions and learning experiences in developing countries. While the decline following the 1995-97 peak could appear to be a turning point, it should rather be seen as the burst of a large bubble of exuberance, principally in the power and telecommunications sectors. This paper, the phase 1 report on the study called the global overview of the emergence of developing country investors and operators in infrastructure provision in emerging markets, has the following contents: background on PPI; objectives and phasing of the study; the working database; findings; recommendations for phase 2; and annexes.


The study reported in this paper was conducted to determine how the implementation of a 1993 differential fee policy in California that charges higher fees to students with a bachelor's degree will affect the enrollment of students with bachelor's degrees, and how this policy may change the overall enrollments of the California community college system. Enrollment data were collected from individual institutions, the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, state community college systems outside California, and the Center for the Study of Community Colleges, which provided nationwide statistics. Results of the study included the following: (1) before the fee increase, approximately 7% to 15% of California's community college students held a bachelor's degree or higher, with the attendance rate of college graduates increasing gradually in recent years; (2) there was an overall increase in student enrollment in California community colleges between 1990 and 1992; (3) while college enrollments were up 3% nationwide, California experienced a nearly 9% drop in enrollment in spring 1993; (4) California experienced a systemwide drop of nearly 50% in baccalaureate or higher level students in spring 1993, representing a 4% overall student loss; and (5) the number of full-time equivalent students is declining, with students taking fewer units. A bibliography, a list of tables, and the survey instrument are included. (MAB) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EARS are the best that can be made from the original document. ************w********************************************************** How will the implementation of a differential tuition fee structure at the California Community College System influence student enrollment? "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY C. R. Brinkman TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC... Charles R. Brinkman IV Spring 1993 Educ. 299-C Profs. J. Trent/A. Astin


This article discusses the role of evaluation in the educational process. The article also clarifi ed the features of electronic assessment and its functions. The authors focus on the use of adaptive testing and creating a block adaptive test using Google Forms.


The fluorite deposits have been divided into three types,i.e.,sedimentary- reformation type,hydrothermal fluid filling type and accompanying type on the basis of studying ore-forming process of the ore deposits and synthesizing their genetic types and industrial types.Based on an analysis of the ore- forming conditions,ore control factors and mineralization of characteristic fluorite deposits,this paper summarizes metallogenic factors.And then the sedimentary- reformation deposits and hydrothermal fluid filling deposits have been divided into subtypes.The sedimentary-reformation deposits are classified into two deposit types,the hydrothermal fluid filling deposits into five deposit types and accompanying deposits into four deposit types according to principal commodity.Ore- forming geological background,ore- forming conditions,deposit features,ore- control factor and mineralization of each deposit type are analyzed,and the secondary and necessary factors of mineralization are summarized.


Two experiments involving 107 (Study 1) and 98 (Study 2) students investigated how a computer simulation should be designed and how students should be supported in order to optimize their learning outcome. Thereby, a reset button that served to reset the visualization to its initial state and enabled a more systematic exploration as well as instructional advice were used in the simulation. An introductory text and a simulation were given to students in order to learn fundamental concepts about self-organizing maps, which is a special kind of neural network. Learners who received a reset button in the simulation did not perform better on succeeding retention or transfer tests than learners who did not receive a reset button. Furthermore, nearly 60% learners did not use the button at all (Study 1). Therefore, instructional advice was added before the simulation that asked the student to examine the different parameters in the simulation systematically through the use of the reset button (Study 2). Students who received that advice used the button more often and performed better on transfer than students not receiving that advice. The results can be explained with the extended Scientific Discovery as Dual Search model and with the zone of proximal development.


EMBO Reports (2018) e45620

While the title of the article recently published by Helliwell et al [1] defines the issue as a question—"Why are NGOs sceptical of genome editing?"—the sub‐title offers the answer: "NGOs' opposition to agricultural biotechnologies is rooted in scepticism about the framing of problems and solutions, rather than just emotion and dogma". The authors remind us that "[f]raming is a process through which some aspect of a perceived reality is emphasised so as to promote a particular problem definition, motivation for action or solution" and underline that "[i]n adopting frames, individuals and organisations inevitably emphasise some issues and downplay others, thereby excluding 'uncomfortable …


This paper proposes a multi-objective methodology for the determination of optimal placement and tuning of power system stabilizers (PSS), two objectives are considered: the optimal location with a minimum number of PSS and maximum damping. The objectives are in conflict with each other in multi-objectives problems. Instead of a unique optimal solution, it exists a set of best tradeoffs between competing objectives, the so-called Pareto-optimal solutions. The main idea behind the paper, is to use a Nested Evolution Strategy (ES) to explore all the possible Pareto-optimal solutions in order to find the best compromise between performance (electromechanical oscillations damping) and cost (the number of PSS to be placed). The proposed algorithm is tested in the IEEE 68-bus system where the Pareto front has been successfully approximated by the Nested-ES.


Underestimation of the disease osteoporosis in men is a serious problem, as osteoporotic fractures among men are frequent and they are accompanied by serious complications. Conducting DXA scans in men in Bulgaria is important to determine the state of their bone health.
The aim of the study was to assess the bone mineral density (BMD) and T-score of the lumbar spine and of the hip through dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in men and to compare their values in different age groups.
Object of the study. Height, weight, body mass index (BMI) were assessed in 359 men with a mean age of 56 years (yrs.) ± 14 yrs., BMD and T-score of the lumbar spine and femoral neck were also examined.
Methodology. Men are divided into the following age decades: 20-29 yrs., 30-39 yrs., 40-49 yrs., 50-59 yrs., 60-69 yrs., 70-79 yrs. and ≥80 yrs. Statistical program SPSS version 19.0 was used to access the data. The ANOVA test analyzes was applied to investigate if there are any statistically significant differences in BMD and T-score of the lumbar spine and femoral neck between the different age decades.
Results and conclusions. 264 men were evaluated for total BMD of the lumbar spine and 95 men had results for BMD of the femoral neck. The mean total BMD of the lumbar spine differed significantly between the individual age decades in men (p = 0.000). The mean BMD values of the femoral neck did not differ significantly in the different age decades in men (p = 0.07). 34 of 264 men (12.9%) were diagnosed with lumbar spine osteoporosis and 13 out of 93 men (14%) were diagnosed with femoral neck osteoporosis. The data obtained show a widespread prevalence of osteoporosis among men with a predominance of low values of BMD on the axial skeleton in the age range between 60 and 79 years.


The study was conducted with an objective to evaluate the constraint in operation of drip irrigation for Farmers of Junagadh Taluka of Gujarat State. The questionnaire was divided in three parts as: socio economic profile of the farmers, information on irrigation and crop and constraints in operation of drip irrigation. Thirteen possible constraints were identified and ranking was given to each constraint based on response of farmers for a particular constraint as most important, important, less important and not important by assigning score as 3, 2, 1 and 0, respectively. Results revealed that 74 per cent of farmers have education level of secondary school or less. 84 per cent of farmers were having less than 4 ha land. 64 per cent of farmers had annual income from agriculture more than 2 lakh. Problem of clogging of system due to salty/impure water was ranked most important constraint in operation of drip irrigation with a score of 133 followed by more maintenance require as compare to surface irrigation and damage to system due to rats and other animals with rank ii and iii with a score of 118 and 114. respectively.


PurposeSince 2004, the British Government has delivered a national policy on social marketing that has created a new frame of reference in this field. This paper aims to study the genesis, evolution and implementation of the policy process that led to an important development in British public health.Design/methodology/approachAn in-depth multifaceted single case study, mixing qualitative and quantitative data including participatory research, enabled by a cognitive approach based on elements of knowledge, ideas, representations and social beliefs in the elaboration of a public policy.FindingsThis approach to understanding the British policy on social marketing process demonstrates a useful explanatory capacity, producing a comprehensive articulation of the main cognitive, normative, and instrumental dimensions of this policy, including its significant mutations influenced by the 2008 Great Recession and subsequent political evolution.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper has followed the British social marketing policy's implementation in England. In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, this national policy had specific developments that it was not followed in our study In general, subject to complex historical, social and political conditions, this is a field that preserves its dynamism and the ability to question concepts and processes. Ever seeking new directions and solutions, it requires an ongoing research study.Practical implicationsConclusions speak in favour of a prescriptive framework for a national policy on social marketing that can inform other government entities' efforts to develop similar policies in other countries. A correct understanding of such a political process can lead to better management of its development and its consequent contribution to improving social marketing policy and interventions.Social implicationsA proper conception and management of a social marketing policy can contribute to improving the well-being of citizens.Originality/valueIt is the first time that this specific cognitive approach has been applied so systematically to a national social marketing policy through a long-term research, providing a prescriptive framework for other' efforts to develop similar policies.


Abstract This study examined the influence of the L1 phonetic system on the acquisition of Swedish quantity distinctions. The aim was to test the hypothesis that difficulty in acquiring an L2 contrastive category is related to the role in the L1 of the phonetic feature upon which the L2 category is based. Twenty native speakers each of American English, Latin American Spanish and Estonian participated. The phonologies of the subjects' L1 display three degrees of overall prominence of the duration feature. The subjects, who had all lived in Sweden for at least 10 years, were given a production and perception test to assess their mastery of Swedish quantity. The Estonian subjects performed much like Swedish controls. However, some native English, and even more Spanish subjects, differed from native speakers of Swedish. A follow-up experiment compared matched groups of native English and Spanish subjects. It showed that experienced and inexperienced groups of native English and Spanish adults were equally successful in learning to produce and perceive Swedish quantity distinctions, but that the native English subjects more closely matched native Swedish speakers than the native Spanish subjects did. Taken together, our results support the feature hypothesis in that these subjects' success in learning the Swedish quantity contrast seems to be related to the role of the duration feature in the L1.


The Venture Capital State investigates the diffusion of the globally acclaimed Silicon Valley venture capital (VC) policy model. The spread of this model has been ubiquitous, with at least 45 states across a range of countries, in terms of geography, culture, and size, attempting to build local VC markets. In contrast to the transcendent exuberance for VC, policymakers in each and every state have implemented a distinct set of policies. Even states of similar population and economic sizes that are geographically and culturally proximate, and at comparable levels of industrialization, have not implemented similar policies. This book explains why: policymakers are "contextually rational" in their learning; their context-rooted norms shape preferences, underpinning their distinct valuations of studied models. The normative context of those learning about the policy – how they see themselves and what they deem as locally appropriate – informs their design. Findings are based upon deep investigations of VC policymaking in an East Asian cluster of states: Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. These states' VC successes reflects their ability to effectively adapt the highly-lauded model for their local context, not their policymakers' approximation of the Silicon Valley policy model.


ALTHOUGH the physiologic changes occumng in sleep have been the subject of much investigation, alterations in blood gases associated with sleep are still poorly understood. Mangold and his colleagues, in a recent study,' showed that respiratory acidosis was present in fatigued subjects who readily fell asleep, but that sleep itself was unaccompanied by changes in arterial blood gases. Endres and other workers2.3 had previously found an increase in carbon dioxide tension during sleep. This, however, has been related to a rhythmic nocturnal elevation of alveolar carbon dioxide which occurs independently of sleep.4 Doust and S~hneider ,~ using the ear oximeter, demonstrated that moderate hypoxia appeared durand they have drawn parallels between t e physiologic changes seen in slee and those noted in anoxia. These variable fin ings may be due to failure to correlate blood gas changes with the depth and duration of sleep or with the alterations in ventilation known to appear in the sleeping state. All of the above observations have been made in natural sleep; it seemed likely that comparison of normal and pathologic sleep states might produce more definitive information. This study reports our observations on the alterations in arterial blood gases before, during, and on awakening from natural sleep. These findings are compared with those found in the sleep states of narcoleptic patients and are correlated with the depth of sleep as determined by the electroencephalogram. In subsequent papers the changes in ventilation during sleep and the factors influencing respiratory function in patients with narcolepsy will be considered.6 B ing sleef:


OBJECTIVE
This analysis of the opinions of 1,021 Internet stakeholders was aimed at gauging current opinions about the potential future of game mechanics online.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
Nearly 5,000 people who are engaged in some way in Internet-related leadership or interests were invited to read a pair of opposing 2020 gamification scenarios and offer their written views on the likely future of gamification online by 2020. The result is not projectable to any population other than these respondents.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
A slight majority of 53 percent agreed with a proposed scenario that game mechanics will become a part of everyday life for most Internet users by 2020; a great majority of respondents said game elements will play a vital role in specific realms such as health and education by then. Some respondents said people will be resistant if game layers are built into too many aspects of people's daily lives. Some shared concerns that game-design approaches can be used to manipulate people without their knowledge.


Ball burnishing is a plastic deformation process that improves the surface quality of mechanical parts decreasing roughness. The surface roughness is an important parameter of study; it is known that affects friction, lubrication and wear. In this work, a general methodology for finite element and a programming routine based on Parametric Design Language was developed and validated. This methodology is useful to generate parametric models of three-dimensional rough surfaces in a commercial software of finite element. The routine produces a random surface roughness using the mean (x ?) and standard deviation (s) of a normal distribution of real surface roughness. The routine was used to generate roughness models of rectangular and cylindrical specimens. The nodal density for generating roughness and repeatability for a given surface finish were evaluated to optimize the modeled surface roughness. The numerical results show a good correlation to the experimental results. In a future, the routine can be used to generate models through the finite element method to simulate any machining process with random roughness and this enable to study the processes, allowing reducing the high costs of experimental tests.


AbstractFrequent invasions in coastal ecosystems result in novel species interactions that have unknown ecological consequences. Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides and Brazilian waterweed Egeria densa are introduced species in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta (the Delta) of California, a highly modified estuary. In this system, Brazilian waterweed and Largemouth Bass have seen marked increases in distribution and abundance in recent decades, but their association has not been specifically studied until now. We conducted a 2-year, bimonthly electrofishing survey with simultaneous sampling of water quality and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) biomass at 33 locations throughout the Delta. We used generalized linear mixed models to assess the relative influences of water temperature, conductivity, Secchi depth, and SAV biomass density on the abundance of both juvenile-sized and larger Largemouth Bass. Water temperature had a positive relationship with the abundance of both size-classes, but only ju...