The basic criteria of operational efficiency of most toothed gear mechanisms is the contact endurance of the conjugated surfaces of the teeth and the flexural endurance of teeth legs. In this case, the calculation based on contact stresses is the principal one in terms of determining the geometrical dimensions of toothed gear mechanisms, while the calculation of tooth bending is performed for validation. It is known that in order to prolong longevity and improve operational efficiency and load capacity of toothed mechanisms, different lubricants are used. However, given the insufficient body of research into the influence of a lubricant on contact endurance of the active surfaces of teeth, traditional methods for the calculation of toothed gears (for example, GOST 21354-87) equate a lubricant influence coefficient to unity, that is, a perfect case is considered when friction is absent. Such an approach leads to the inaccurate evaluation of load capacity of toothed gears that can be a reason for both their premature failure and the overestimation of their geometrical dimensions. In this work, we have solved the contact problem on a contact between two bodies of arbitrary shape, close to half-planes, at the finite friction coefficient; it was found that the value of the resulting contact stress exceeds the stress, calculated according to the known Hertz solution, by 6 %. The proposed procedure for the calculation of toothed gears in terms of contact strength at the finite friction coefficient, without assumptions about the smallness of the contact area and the shape of borders, makes it possible to estimate load capacity of the toothed gears considering the influence of lubrication and the existence of friction between the conjugated surfaces of the teeth. We have derived the analytical expression for a lubricant influence coefficient based on the solution to the contact problem of pressure from a rigid stamp on the elastic half-plane in terms of the coefficient of friction between the conjugated surfaces of toothed gears. That allows the estimation of the true load capacity of toothed gears under the influence of various lubricants, which is of great theoretical and practical importance when designing machines and assemblies


Abstract This article claims a space for cultural approaches to histories of foreign aid in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It begins by tracing the historiographies of humanitarianism and international development, arguing that historians can best approach the plans and projects of humanitarian NGOs and international development agencies as a shared project of foreign aid. It then outlines various forms of culture that impacted on twentieth-century foreign aid, including political, bureaucratic and organisational cultures, national cultures, popular cultures and emotional or affective regimes, and introduces the nine articles comprising this special issue on New Histories of Foreign Aid.


Organofunctional silanes recently have emerged as an outstanding, environment friendly corrosion protectors for metal substrates as compared to the conventional chromate treatments. It has been amply demonstrated that thin films of organofunctional silanes deposited by dipping or spraying on metals such as aluminum, can provide protection against various forms of corrosion, including uniform corrosion and pitting. However, the thickness and uniformity of the film are uncontrolled in this process. The work done in this dissertation proposes a new deposition technique for the silane films on the metal surface i.e., by electrodeposition. Hydrolyzed silanes of the type (HO)3Si(CH2)3Y(CH2)3Si(OH)3 in which Y is a functional group are water-soluble, ionized molecules. Various combinations of silane mixtures were tested at different voltages, pH's, bath concentrations and exposure times on panels of aluminum alloys. The film formed was characterized mainly using electrochemical, surface and interfacial characterization techniques. Electrodeposition results in a highly uniform, non-porous, highly corrosion resistant film on the metal surface. Application of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and time of flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS) to electrodeposited films have provided direct evidence for the presence of O2Al(O-Si-O) and OAl(O-Si-O)2 groups at the silane-aluminum oxide interface. Such bonds have, of course, often been suggested, but they have largely remained elusive over the years. Also pulsed electrodeposition (alternating positive and negative voltage) of silanes were studied which show better performance, as anodization of the aluminum oxide layer is achieved and the silane film reacts with the metal oxide in a different way. Application of XPS manifests the augmentation of the metal oxide film.


The author protests the exclusion of opposing views and alternative theories on acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) that has been a characteristic of both scientific research and press coverage of the disease. The manipulation of AIDS research and coverage is illustrated by reference to 4 aspects of scientific bias delineated by scientist-writer Stephen Jay Gould: outright fraud finagling data selection and erroneous conclusions and lousy arguments. Also included is the text of the authors presentation at a conference entitled "Covering Controversy in Science" held at the Harvard University School of Public Health in April 1986. It is noted that many statements relating to AIDS made by scientists and governments have been based on agendas that have little to do with science. AIDS stories tend to be written in the language of "blame" and ambiguous words such as "promiscuous" are freely used. There is also an incorrect assumption that general readers and viewers understand words such as "infected" and "infectious" which is not the case. All new findings must be thoroughly explained and put into the biologic and social context of AIDS. For example reports that human T-lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV-III) had been isolated from tears and saliva created widespread hysteria and were responsible for the exclusion of infected children from schools. However the fact that viruses are isolated from most body fluids of viremic persons does not mean they are transmissible by these fluids. It is concluded that with a subject such as AIDS that has direct personal impact on peoples lives the press must be extremely scrupulous and cautious in its reportage. With more care and reflection about the consequences of what is written the press can correct much of the misinformation that has characterized the AIDS epidemic.


Elmbridge impact is an information packed web site for Young People written by the Elmbridge impact. This page consists of information regarding Walton Youth Centre


MRC(Microprocessor-based Recloser Controller),the key component of an intelligent breaker for rural power distribution network is researched,which is mainly composed of 16?bit MCU and CPLD.The principle of on-line parameter detection,AC sampling algorithm and its HW structure and site applications are introduced. It realizes the complete unification of outdoor automatic recloser and indoor integrated automation, before they were considered conflicting with each other in the rebuilding and construction of rural substation.Combined with MRC,the vacuum and SF6 breakers can be easily reformed into automatic reclosers or intelligent breakers.


The genetic algorithm for global optimization is combined with annealing simulation approach to establish an annealing genetic algorithm for optimization design of gravity pipe network.By assuming every section of pipeline is composed of two kinds of pipe with different diameters and regarding the cost as the objective function,the pipe length and standard diameter as decision variables,a mathematical model for optimization of the gravity tree pipe network is established.In the model,the annealing algorithm processing constraint based on infeasible degree is adopted and the genetic algorithm is applied to carry out the optimization.The application shows that the proposed model and algorithms are effective and possess high efficiency in calculation.


A method of calibrating a movable gripping member of a robot arm using a digital camera includes that the gripping organ is commanded to assume a plurality of poses. In each commanded Greiforganpose an image of the gripping member with the digital camera is detected and a scene point cloud, which includes the gripping device is generated based on the captured image of the gripping member. A synthetic point cloud that includes the gripping device is generated based on the commanded Greiforganpose, and a first position of the gripping unit based on the synthetic point cloud and a second position of the gripping member associated with the scene point cloud is determined. A position of the gripping device is calibrated based on the first position of the gripping member and the second position of the gripping member for the plurality of commanded grasping member poses.


The British love to talk about the weather. So why do we choose to continue living the same lifestyle with the same habits that could actually be partly responsible for increasing extreme weather? In 2013 the UK experienced one of the wettest winters on record. This may have been caused by our own a carbon footprint accelerating the effects of global warming. Data shows that atmospheric carbon dioxide, one of the biggest contributors to global warming, was 337 parts per million (ppm) in 1979, compared to 394ppm in 2012. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded in 2011 that extreme weather would become more common as global warming heats the planet at a faster rate. This has caused both heatwaves and more severe rain storms, and over the past 30 years there has been a pattern of increasing global temperatures, including the hottest decade recorded (2000–2010) since reliable records began in the 1800s. Figures from the Met Office show that 2014 was one of the warmest years on record, both globally and for the UK. 2014 was also the 4th wettest year in UK since 1910, and the wettest winter in almost 250 years (http://www. metoffice.gov.uk/news/ releases/archive/2014/early-winter-stats). The UK's mean temperature from 1 January to 25 November 2014 was 1.6 degC above average, making it the warmest since 1910. Although there is debate about the extent of global warming and its effects, there is considerable evidence to suggest a link between global warming and severe weather, and that extreme weather is becoming more frequent. Comparing typhoon Haiyan and hurricane Katrina has provoked discussion about the effects that global warming may have on increasing the intensity and severity of tropical storms. Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005 and caused widespread devastation, with maximum wind speeds reaching 200kmh–1. Typhoon Haiyan's winds, however, reached well over 300kmh–1, devastating areas in southeast Asia in 2013. The theory is explained due to global warming increasing temperatures, which results in more evaporation from the sea, which in turn fuels a more powerful cyclone. The human population suffers the harsh consequences of an increase in extreme weather that is likely to be partly of their own making. From 1980 to 2010 there were 99 weather disasters in the USA, with an estimated total cost of $725 billion. Even though climate change is influenced by both natural and human impacts, there is a considerable body of evidence which suggests that human activity is accelerating the rate of climate change. If we continue our current lifestyles, then we will most likely have to continue to suffer the negative implications of global warming. Human influence has also been shown to be a major contributor in increased levels of precipitation, especially over the Northern Hemisphere. As discussed earlier, one of the main consequences of global warming is the increase in the volume of water evaporated from the ocean as a result of these warmer temperatures, which in turn leads to an increase in the amount of precipitation that falls. These warmer temperatures also cause a melting of glacial ice, resulting in a rise in sea level. A negative feedback loop develops, with albedo being one of the main ingredients. Albedo is the fraction of solar energy (short wave radiation) reflected from the Earth back into space. It is a measure of reflectivity of the earth's surface. Ice has a high albedo and reflects 95% of the sunlight that hits its surface back into space. In contrast, an ocean has a low albedo due to its dark surface, so it is much more absorbent and less reflective, reflecting only 10% of incoming radiation. The negative feedback loop increases the ratio of dark surface to light increases. Reflectivity from various surfaces can be seen in Figure 1 below: The amount of sunlight absorbed increases due to the melting ice, which then causes more ice to melt. This happens in a continuous cycle. Sea level rise has a huge impact on humans through coastal flooding, erosion and storm surges, which can devastate coastal towns and villages. Another hazard which we must consider is river flooding. The Met Office has announced that the 2013/14 winter (from 1 December 2013 to 25 February 2014) was the fifth warmest winter since 1910; some areas had over 250% of the rainfall average. Heavy rain, combined with strong winds and high waves, led to widespread flooding and coastal damage. This caused significant disruption to individuals, businesses and infrastructure, particularly affecting farmers and critical rail links. It is possible to undertake fieldwork to investigate the link between extreme weather and flood risk. Storm simulators can be used to explore how different land uses react to varying intensities of precipitation. Experiments can be conducted on urban


This letter presents a dual-core, wide-tuning, class-C voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) operating at millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequencies. Each core contains a 7-bit switched capacitor array and a switchable transformer to maximize the entire tuning range. The proposed class-C VCO can achieve low phase noise (PN) by using a noise-filtering technique that blocks the second-harmonic current. The two VCO cores can be turned on or off by setting their bias voltages, eliminating the need for switching transistors in the high-frequency signal path. The proposed dual-core class-C VCO was designed and fabricated using 28-nm CMOS technology, with a core area of 0.048 mm2. The average measured PN is −116 dBc/Hz at 10-MHz offset with a carrier of 36.96 GHz. The tuning range is 39%, from 31 to 46 GHz. The VCO consumes a dc power of 6.8 to 9.9 mW, achieving 181.8 dBc/Hz FOM and 193.6 dBc/Hz FOMT, respectively.


Shear fractures are defined in terms of the mechanism and homogeneity of deformation, macroscopic strength criteria and fracture mechanics parameters. The significance of shear discontinuities (encompassing both faults and planes of weakness reactivated in shear) within the hydrocarbon reservoir environment is emphasised with regard to both petrophysical properties (sealing potential) and controls on reservoir deformation, and an experimental rock mechanics programme has been undertaken to study fundamental aspects of their frictional strength and permeability. The design of a new direct shear rig is described, and initial results presented from a suite of experiments conducted under constant normal displacement control, analogous to ultra-stiff wall rock conditions. Loaddisplacement data for a variety of sedimentary lithologies, is analysed in terms of the mechanism of frictional sliding, with slip on induced wear debris (fault gouge) being found to conform to a simple linear strength law. A coupled permeability measurement and microseismics monitoring facility, for studying the influence of microstructural deformation on fluid flow under varying triaxially compressive stress states, is described. Data is presented for discrete failure and frictional sliding tests on a homogeneous sandstone. A method for estimating induced shear band permeability from axial core plug measurements is outlined. Computed permeability reductions range from 2.5 to 3.5 orders of magnitude, with shear band sealing exhibiting an order of magnitue increase with increasing resolved normal stress and angular shear strain. Acoustic emission is described using an existing fractal damage mechanics theory for fault nucleation, and suggests a condition of self-organised criticality during frictional sliding. Collected fault gouge from the direct shear and triaxial compression specimen suites has been analysed using both sieving and laser particle-sizing methods. Measured cumulative weight distributions are described using the Rosin-Rammler exponential function, implying fractal size-scaling. Correlations are presented between distribution constants and: (i) frictional resistance (coefficient of sliding friction and shear fracture energy) from direct shear testing; (ii) fluid flow (permeability and sealing potential) from triaxial compression testing. Such relations may reflect that portion of the total strain energy allocated to the creation of new


Based on the viewpoints of different disciplines,teachers should be reconfirmed as important subjects in the practice of changing moral education system and should play predominant roles.However,there is a gap between teachers'present subjective conditions and the ideal status of it.The key to changing moral education system is to take some measures to strengthen the teachers'subjective status and arouse their predominant roles.


Collects, organizes and examines sources of Roman military history in regard of Raetia. Establishes the dislocation system of the Roman army in Raetia during the Principate and provides a synthesis on the social, economic and religious aspects of the Roman army in provincial life.


The hereby study was based on a factorial experiment conducted in a completely randomized design with four replications, at Agriculture College, Shahrekord University, Iran, in 2014. The role of salicylic acid (SA), potassium nitrate (KNO 3 ) and potassium chloride (KCl) was evaluated on seed germination of fenugreek ( Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) under different cadmium concentrations. Treatments included four levels of seed priming (no priming, potassium chloride, potassium nitrate, salicylic acid) and four levels of cadmium concentration (0, 10, 20, 30 mg/L). Cadmium chloride caused a significant inhibition in germination percentage, root elongation, shoot elongation and seedling dry weight. The shoot length was more sensitive to cadmium concentrations than the root length. Primed seeds with SA (100 mg/L) proved protection against Cd stress and increased the germination percentage, root elongation, shoot elongation and dry weight of seedlings compared to the control treatment. Seeds treated with SA alleviated the Cd negative effect on germination parameters. In conclusion, using seed priming with salicylic acid can be recommended as a good technique for fenugreek crop on fields exposed to high cadmium toxicity.


SR‐A are multifunctional receptors that mediate macrophage adhesion and ligand endocytosis. Each of these functions are associated with specific intracellular motifs of the receptor, but the possibility that SR‐A function is regulated by localization in different membrane domains, especially lipid rafts, has not been studied. To assess this possibility, we used microscopic and cell fractionation protocols to examine SR‐A localization in cells. We show that in primary macrophages and stably transfected HEK cells, SR‐A colocalizes with markers for the endocytic pathway (e.g., clathrin), and markers of lipid rafts [e.g., caveolin and cholera toxin B (CTB)]. Using an optimized cell fractionation protocol, we found that about 20% of cellular SR‐A localized in cholesterol‐rich lipid raft fractions. To address the functional significance of SR‐A localization in lipid rafts, the localization of a truncated SR‐A receptor (SR‐AΔ1–49), which mediates cell adhesion but not endocytosis was examined in stably transfected HEK cells. As expected, SRAΔ1–49 did not colocalize with clathrin, but like the full‐length receptor, colocalized with CTB and was isolated in lipid raft fractions. Together, our results demonstrate that SR‐A localizes in lipid raft domains and suggest that this localization correlates with the ability of SR‐A to mediate cell adhesion. Support by R01HL089588


Abstract All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Raipur was established by an act of Parliament in 2003 under PMSSY (Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna). The Department of Neurosurgery at AIIMS, Raipur, was started on September 4, 2017. In this article, we would like to highlight the resources (manpower, infrastructure) available for neurotrauma, the challenges ahead, and vision for future.


Three substituted styrenes were respectively synthesized by reaction of benzoic acid, acetic acid, and methanol with vinylbenzylchloride, then copolymerized with maleic anhydride. The measurements of the reactivity ratios of these three copolymerizations were carried out with a method using high conversions of the reactions. The results show a good correlation between a linear alternating structure for one of the copolymers and an alternating and a partially crosslinked structure for the two others. The copolymerizations were also performed with various percentages of initiator, giving similar proportions of incorporated monomers in the resulting products, and a relation between their viscosities and their weight molecular masses was presented.


Abstract In this paper we prove results about lifting dynamical and ergodic properties of a given smooth dynamical system to its skew-product extensions by smooth cocycles. The classical small divisor argument shows that in general such results are not possible. However, using the notion of the 'fast periodic approximation' introduced by A. Katok, we will show that if the dynamical system admits such a 'fast periodic approximation' then indeed a certain qualitative behaviour which is prohibited by small divisor type conditions is now in fact generic. The techniques are also applied to show that 'recurrent-proximal' behaviour of solutions of linear differential equations with almost periodic coefficients is generic under suitable conditions on the coefficient matrix.


In this study, we discover some deficiencies of GVF and GGVF Snake such as it can not capture boundaries like "U" and "S" completely because of the counteraction of some external forces and the influence of the local minimum external forces. Based on analyzing force distribution rules of gradient vector flow, a standard is introduced to distinguish every control point is true or false. An additional control force is added to GVF Snake model. The direction of control force is gained by tracking the force field and the motion of snake control points. Experimentation proves that the new GVF Snake model can solve the problem that GVF and GGVF Snake model can not detect the boundaries like "U" and "S" and the new algorithm can improve GVF snake model's ability to capture thin boundary indentation like the boundary of brain image.


Reply from the Authors: We appreciate Drs. Bushara and Hallett's comments. We agree that their data and our data show a roughly equal prevalence of AGA in hereditary and sporadic ataxia patients. However, their study did not include a control group, which makes a meaningful interpretation of the data difficult.2 Further studies of larger cohorts of patients with genetically defined ataxias might clarify existing discrepancies concerning the prevalence of AGA, but will probably not contribute very much to the understanding of these diseases.


This paper measures and evaluates the relative efficiency of the Jordanian banks over the period 2005-2010. The measurement of efficiency is estimated using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Sample data contains 12 banks; three of them are Islamic banks. Constant return to scale (CRS) and variable return to scale (VRS) were used in order to measure the relative efficiency of the Jordanian banks, using annual data from 2005 through 2010. The results show that, on the technical efficiency scale only a few Jordanian banks were efficient in managing their financial resources and generating profit. Furthermore, only few banks were found to be efficient on the scale of pure technical efficiency and only so in a few years. The financial crisis was found to have a significant impact on banks' efficiency. These findings can be used by the regulators, policy makers and banks management to further investigate the reasons behind the inefficient decision-making units (DMUs).


A method of elevator risk assessment based on fault tree, AHP and FaHA is introduced in this paper, compared with the traditional elevator risk assessment method for "group analysis + expert assessment", which is not scientific and accurate, and cannot satisfy the massive elevator evaluation. The advantages of fault tree are qualitative analysis, which has the characteristics of simplicity, image and intuition, and highlights the accuracy and comprehensiveness of elevator risk assessment project. The advantage of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is that it is suitable for the decision-making problem with hierarchical staggered evaluation index and difficult to quantify the target value. The advantage of the fault hazard analysis method is that the method is simple and less cost. It can exert its qualitative, quantitative analysis and cost advantages to achieve efficient, objective and rapid elevator risk assessment. On this basis, for elevators of different occasions, some projects are emphasized or enhanced. This method has been effectively applied in the elevator risk assessment in Beijing since 2014. Introduction With the rapid development of economic construction, high-rise buildings are constantly being built, and elevators have become indispensable electromechanical equipment in production and life. Taking Beijing as an example, as of the end of 2017, there were 220,000 elevators registered in the city, with more than 10 million passengers per day. Due to the large number of carrying personnel and concentrated use period, once an accident occurs, the emergency rescue work is difficult, and the special political and economic background of the capital is likely to cause serious social impact. Correspondingly, the administrative resources of elevator supervision are very limited. The current elevator supervision force is seriously insufficient. It is necessary to innovate the elevator safety supervision mode and adopt scientific methods and effective measures to strengthen the elevator safety work. Using the technical means of safety assessment, the elevators can be effectively classified according to their overall safety performance, which can rationally allocate administrative resources, effectively prevent and reduce regional and systemic risks, and effectively protect the lives and property of the people.[1][2][3][4] In China, the implementation of elevator safety risk assessment mainly refers to GB/T20900-2007 "Elevator, escalator and moving walkway risk assessment and reduction method of this standard". The purpose of this standard is to develop uniform and systematic principles and procedures for elevator risk assessment methods, to identify the risk of injury caused by various hazards, dangerous states and injury events, and to evaluate events that may result in injury. Elevator safety risk assessment standards formulated by local governments, such as DB33/T 869-2012 "Zhejiang Province Elevator Risk Assessment Rules" also adopt a similar "group analysis + expert assessment" .The method of "group analysis + expert assessment" is particularly affected by the subjective and technical level of the evaluators. Because there are different degrees of subjectivity in the evaluation process, risk assessment is not an exact science. The inaccuracy of traditional elevator risk assessment is quite different from the scientific and accurate technical support requirements required for elevator management. In 2014, Beijing elevator risk assessment involved more than 6,000 elevators, and the number in 2015 was roughly the same. A huge number base will inevitably magnify the difference in results from the evaluator's differences. Therefore, a scientific and objective


Stability of mechanical and electrical offsets of the bpm's in the LCLS undulator section is critical to obtaining and maintaining stable FEL lasing. Sim-ulations show that for the LCLS running at 1.5 Angstroms if the electron beam develops a 2 micron rms deviation from a perfectly straight line over a distance of about 10 meters, the FEL saturation length will increase by one gain length.[1] Nominally the feedback system will take changes in the electron beam trajectory, measured by the bpm's, calculate and apply orbit corrections relatively easily. However, the efficacy of this technique relies on the abil-ity of the bpm system to detect real electron beam trajectory changes at the level of 1 micron rms. One source of error in the determination of the electron beam trajectory is through changes in the mechanical or electrical offsets of the bpm's. Such offset errors are erroneously imposed on the real beam trajectory by the feedback system. Bpm mechanical and electrical offsets can be determined by beam based alignment techniques using electron beams of different en-ergies. However this measurement is time consuming and cannot be used during normal operation. There-fore it is of paramount importance to keep mechanical and electrical offsets as stable as possible — on the scale of a few microns over a period of at least a day. As part of the R&D for the NLC, studies were car-ried out in 1994 and 1996 in the FFTB tunnel where the LCLS undulator is to be housed, which measured magnet motion using a wire alignment system with an inherent resolution of 100 nm. The reference wires extended in four sections for a total length of about 440 feet starting near magnet QA2 near the muon shielding in the beam switchyard and ending about 85 feet out into the research yard section of the FFTB. The planned location for the LCLS undulator section partially overlaps the area where the measurements were made. Two papers were written describing measurements made with the system: one by Assmann, Salsberg and


I analyze the use and development of perfect periphrases with the verbs "be" (eἰμί) and "have" (ἔχω) in Post-classical and Early Byzantine Greek. While their importance has often been stressed in the context of the restructuring of the verbal system (more in particular the loss of the synthetic perfect), they have not received an in-depth, corpus-based treatment yet. The approach adopted in this article builds on insights from recently developed ecological-evolutionary models, which recognize the fact that language change is a two-step process, consisting of innovation and propagation, and that multiple 'ecologogical' factors influence the spread of a construction through the population (what I discuss in terms of 'register').


In this study, fourth and second-reader level deaf students matched for age were assessed on comprehension of truncated passive sentences under two task conditions. Subjects were asked to identify the picture representing the agent and object relationship in truncated passive sentences which were presented in isolation in the first task and embedded within familiar prose passages in the second task. Contrary to prior research, neither age nor reading level were significant factors in deaf subjects' understanding of truncated passive sentences. Rather, older and younger deaf students, regardless of reading level, demonstrated significantly improved comprehension when sentences were embedded in text. The results of the study were discussed in terms of teaching the deaf complex syntax. It was suggested that increased experience with connected text may be a facilitative influence on the mastery of complex syntax among deaf students.


Land is the most important physical basis for the existence and development of the human being. With the growth of population and the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization, the shortage of land resources is becoming more and more serious. It has been felt that land must be used rationally. Now the optimal allocation of land resources is becoming a significant study task, and the land use and land cover change study plan, which is attached importance recently by academe, can offer support and accelerate each other. Therefore, how to understand their relationship and make use of the relationship effectively becomes the key problem. It not only can help the study of land use and land cover change but also is important to the optimal allocation of land resources. In this paper, the main aim and content of LUCC are firstly introduced and analyzed. Based on the analysis, the way of connecting land use and land cover change with regional optimal allocation of land resources is discussed systematically. It presents that land use and land cover change study can offer data, theory and technology support to the study of land resource optimal allocation, and at the same time, the study of land resource optimal allocation can make the study of land use and land cover change deeply and profoundly. The connection of them can promote the sustainable land use.


tragedy there would, indeed, have been no "rebellion", for the provisional government did not resist the regular officers once temporary misunderstanding had been removed. The news of Scott's death at the hands of the rn•tis aroused violent indignation in Ontario, especially among the Orangemen, who regarded it as an expression of racial animosity. The expeditionary force of Canadian militia, sent to Fort Garry under Colonel Wolseley, wa• the direct result; the indirect and much more costly result was a widening of the gulf between the two races throughout the Dominion. In the document which is here transcribed Louis Riel discusses Scott's connection with the Red River troubles, and especially the incidents which immediately preceded his death. The transcript, for which we are indebted to Mr. A. H. de Tr•maudan, the author of The Hudson Bay Road (London, 1915), has been taken from the original manuscript in the collection of the Mgtis Society.


THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND SCHOOL-BASED MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS by Lisa O. Williams Abstract of a Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophyof a Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy


This essay studies the effect of liquidity on stock returns on the Swedish stock market. Liquidity is addressed both as a market risk factor and an asset characteristics. We use the relative bid-ask spread as a proxy for liquidity level. The aggregate liquidity factor Illiquid-Minus-Liquid is constructed in a similar way to Fama-French SMB and HML factors. Using monthly time-series regressions on the three-factor Fama-French model and the four-factor model including aggregate liquidity, we find that liquidity is priced as a systematic source of risk on the Swedish stock market. Moreover, monotonic increase in the regression intercepts for test portfolios arranged in the order of decreasing liquidity indicates the presence of characteristic illiquidity premium after controlling for systematic liquidity. In addition, we observe that the same models explain twice as much variation of stock returns in the more liquid groups, which suggests there is an omitted factor that has more impact on illiquid stocks. However, using monthly cross-sectional regressions of stocks' excess returns on the various combinations of stock characteristics and factor loadings, we find that liquidity level proxied by relative bid-ask spread is not significant on average.


By analyzing Shen Congwen's periods of living in Western Hunan and big cities,this paper points out that under the collision between Western Hunan civilization and city civiliza-tion,Shen Congwen had his ideal of reconstructing the national quality,hoping that the integration of the two civilizations would help to create a big and powerful nation.


In this paper we solved the Swift-Hohenberg equation in one spatial dimension using the He's semi-inverse method. We found eighteen families of solutions.


The hot cathode ion source will tend to be unstable when operated with high power and long pulse. In order to achieve stable operation, a new regulation method based on the arc power (discharge power) feedback control was designed and tested on the hot cathode ion source test bed with arc discharge and beam extraction. The results show that the new regulation method can achieve stable arc discharge and beam extraction. It verifies the success of feedback control of arc source with arc power.


In his highly cited Biochemical Journal review, 'Extracellular ATP: effects, sources and fate', John Gordon summarized the state of knowledge in 1986 surrounding the extracellular signalling functions of ATP. At that time, the status of ATP as a signalling agent was overwhelmed by the central position of ATP in energy metabolism and, as Dr Gordon wryly noted, many regarded such a notion as "verging on the heretical". His review covered what was then known of ATP receptors, and ATP signalling in a diverse range of physiological processes such as platelet aggregation, vascular tone, peripheral and central neurotransmission, cardiac function and smooth muscle contraction. Finally, he considered the breakdown of ATP in the extracellular space. Dr Gordon used his review to "indulge in some modest speculation about the role of extracellular ATP in biology and pathology". He emphasized the importance of understanding the sources of ATP release, as well as the stimuli that evoke release and the mechanisms by which ATP is released. These important issues remain as pertinent today as they were in 1986 and the drive to answer these questions has led to many fundamental advances.


Following the integral method of linear superposition approximation (LSA) and the iterative solutions in functional theory of the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) equation, simple but accurate analytic formulas are developed in functional treatment for the interaction force as well as the interaction energy of the electrical double-layer (EDL) of two identical spherical particles. The corre-sponding results are compared with those from Debye-Hckel (DH) linear approach and Hoskin-Levine (HL) numerical computation, respectively, at a lower surface potential ψ = 0.1028 V and a higher one ψ = 0.2056 V. The results show that the functional treatment is very close to the numerical computation for the strong interaction, i.e., with a higher potential and a shorter particle separation, with DH approach being invalid, that is superior to DH approach even for the weak interaction with a lower potential and a longer separation in the scope of DH approach valid.


FIELD: food industry. SUBSTANCE: inventions group relates to a dried beverage precursor slab weighing at least 0.2 g and containing a vegetable extract chosen from a group consisting of dry substances of tea, coffee, cocoa, fruit and their mixtures and at least one inclusion which is insoluble in boiling water. The insoluble inclusion has a maximum linear dimension equal to at least 1 mm. The packed beverage precursor contains at least one beverage precursor slab. The beverage production method envisages production of the beverage precursor slab and contacting the slab or its part with an aqueous medium. The method for production of the dried beverage precursor slab envisages production of a water premix containing a vegetable extract, production of one or more inclusions which are insoluble in boiling water, combining one or more insoluble inclusions with the water premix to produce a mixture; drying the mixture and releasing the cohesive part of the mixture weighing at least 0.2 g to produce a slab. EFFECT: inventions group allows to produce a dried beverage precursor slab whereof one may conveniently produce a beverage containing inclusions. 28 cl, 10 dwg, 6 tbl, 10 ex


Piecewise affine (PWA) system has wide applications in circuit and control systems. It is considered as a powerful tool to study nonlinear systems, as well as switched and hybrid systems. This thesis presents our research findings in control and estimation of PWA systems. We begin with the examination of the stability of PWA systems. We introduce a piecewise homogeneous polynomial Lyapunov function approach to achieve less conservative stability conditions by using two types of power transformations. Both continuous-time and discrete-time PWA systems are considered. The approach leads to less conservative stability analysis than existing results. In addition to these stability results based on halfspace representation, we also find ways to address the stability of PWA systems based on vertex representation. Specifically, we incorporate vertex information of local partition and utilize parameterized Lyapunov functions to deduce less conservative conditions for stability. Next, we address the controllability and reachability of a class of PWA systems. Based on a general classification method, explicit necessary and sufficient conditions in terms of system parameters for controllability and reachability are presented. We show that controllability and reachability can be asserted in finite steps in some situations. We also briefly discuss the general cases. We then turn to the controller design problems for discrete-time PWA systems. We first consider the state feedback control for PWA systems. By incorporating partition information of the system and applying S-procedure, linear matrix inequality ii ATTENTION: The Singapore Copyright Act applies to the use of this document. Nanyang Technological University Library


As the paper codex is becoming increasingly supplemented, if not yet entirely replaced, by digitally mediated textuality, Jonathan Senchyne redirects our attention to the specific sense of materiality that writers and readers experienced as characteristic of literary communication until the late nineteenth century. Rather than focusing on print or publication history as such, however, his monograph The Intimacy of Paper in Early and NineteenthCentury American Literature sheds light on something that even book historians have often tended to pass over in silence: the reliance of print on paper, the inconspicuous matter on which letters become visible. Over the past fifteen years, several studies have begun to tackle the subject of paper from a range of different perspectives, among them Kevin McLaughlin's Paperwork: Fiction and Mass Mediacy in the Paper Age (2005), Lisa Gitelman's Paper Knowledge: Toward a Media History of Documents (2014), or Maryanne Dever's Paper, Materiality and the Archived Page (2019). What makes Senchyne's contribution both distinctive and important is his literary-historical approach to reading paper in relation to the nature of its production.


The article examines the publicistic polemic of 1919–1920 between the Social Democrats Volodymyr Starosolsky, Mykola Hankevych and Dmytro Dontsov on one side and the National Democrats Kost' Levytsky, Pavlo Lysyak on the other about the Ukrainian-Polish understanding and the conclusion of the Treaty of Warsaw in 1920 between the Ukrainian People's Republic and Poland. The main focus is on the polemic over the participation and role of Volodymyr Starosolsky in the Ukrainian-Polish negotiations. The object of the study is primarily the Lviv newspapers «Vpered/Forward», «Hromadska Dumka / Public Opinion», «Nova Rada/New Council» and the Vienna magazine «Ukrainskyi Prapor/Ukrainian Flag». To study newspaper articles and define the basic concepts of journalistic polemic, the methods of analysis, synthesis, comparative method and press clipping were used. Historical and logical methods were chosen to determine the objectivity of the facts stated by the polemists, as well as a biographical method to reveal the political activity of Volodymyr Starosolsky as the scholar and publicist.


After realizing some 15 years ago that we had not "turned the corner" on drug abuse, the substance abuse treatment community became more deliberate in waging this war by developing culturally, ethnically, age-, and gender-specific intervention modalities to ensure a more equitable continuum of care. Additionally, research efforts began to reflect the disparities of health and longevity between ethnic minority and nonethnic minority populations which culminated in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Black and Minority Health Report of 1986. This comprehensive and much acclaimed report contributed significantly to a knowledge base and provided a frame of reference for health planning and service delivery. But the information contained therein was overwhelmingly focused on urban areas.A literature review reveals a paucity of information on access to care in rural communities, especially those with populations consisting of seasonal and migrant farmworkers. This population has received little visibility since "Harvest of Shame" was aired on national television 30 years ago. An analysis of substance use and abuse among this population in the Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) peninsula as well as an assessment of services available to them is the intent of this report. Information for this report was developed from secondary analysis of program reports, needs assessments, policy analyses, and interviews with service providers. A preliminary analysis suggests that there appears to be increased substance abuse and drug trafficking among this population. There also tends to be a greater understanding of Hispanic American use and abuse than that of black Americans and other ethnic groups (e.g., Mexicans, Guatemalans, Haitians) in the migrant stream. Finally, substance abuse is encouraged and access to care is hampered by sociocultural factors and stresses such as school-related problems, lack of vertical mobility, language problems, and poor integration and coordination of the service delivery systems.


It is estimated that 50% of patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms are not candidates for endovascular repair using the currently available commercial devices because of unfavorable anatomy. This includes patients with short or angulated necks or complex aneurysmal involvement of the juxtarenal, paravisceral, and thoracoabdominal aorta. Good surgical candidates may tolerate open conventional repair of the aneurysm, but patients with large aneurysms and poor cardiac, pulmonary, or renal performance have limited options. Debranching or ''hybrid'' operations have been used selectively in some of these patients to render the anatomy suitable for endovascular repair, but the open component of this procedure carries substantial morbidity and mortality in higher risk patients. Fenestrated and branched endografts have been developed as a minimally invasive, total endovascular alternative for the treatment of complex aortic aneurysms in high-risk patients. These stent-grafts have reinforced fenestrations or cuffed branches, which allow incorporation of the visceral and renal arteries without compromising the sealing requirements for successful aneurysm exclusion. Their clinical use has been described in patients with juxtarenal, pararenal, and thoracoabdominal aneurysms (TAAA) and for salvage of para-anastomotic aneurysms or failed endovascular procedures. Bakoyiannis and colleagues have provided a very thorough systematic review of the world literature for endovascular repair of TAAA using fenestrated and branched endografts. This review clearly demonstrates that a total endovascular treatment of TAAA is not only feasible, but also safe and efficacious, with excellent short and midterm results. If one is to fully understand the potential for improved outcomes of TAAA repair using fenestrated and branched stent-grafts, one must first understand the outcomes of open and hybrid repair for patients with TAAAs.


Environmental justice scholars such as Vandana Shiva and Robert D. Bullard explain that people of color, the poor, and women suffer disproportionately from ecological crises, a reality made dramatically evident by Karen Tei Yamashita in Tropic of Orange (1997), which charts the interrelated lives of seven racially marginalized characters as they navigate a polluted urban landscape. Yamashita's intricate narrative draws an important environmental connection between seemingly incongruent social phenomena to reveal that environmental justice is not only a recent urban struggle but also one that is rooted in the past with long-term physical and psychological effects. For example, Julie Sze, in a pioneering essay that calls attention to the "emerging literature of environmental justice," offers an analysis of Tropic of Orange that illuminates an environmental connection between historical and contemporary issues of colonialism and labor for women of color in its examination of the characters Rafaela and Emi (40). This essay introduces yet another set of historical and contemporary issues that are foundational to an environmental justice reading of Yamashita's novel: the past trauma of Japanese American internment and the contemporary homelessness of sansei Manzanar Murakami, who is named for one of those internment camps. In addition, this essay argues that crossgenerational effects of environmental injustices are revealed in the character of his granddaughter, Emi, who refuses to acknowledge the painful internment history she has inherited. While this internment history may seem peripheral to the central plots of Tropic of Orange, it is referenced throughout the novel. Most notably, this history is alluded to every time Manzanar's name appears on the page. Consequently, Japanese American incarceration haunts Yamashita's characters and readers throughout the book. Internment's history of land theft and displacement, severe degradation of living and working conditions, and long-term psychological trauma, this essay will show, constitute important environmental justice issues for Manzanar and Emi, issues which, in a Japanese American context, have been and continue to be largely ignored. Yet consideration of these issues for Japanese Americans is crucial not only for


ing than women(P-0.05). One third of the patients experienced depression. Conclusion: The vicious circle of not being able to be physically active, having sleep disturbance and depression was recognized. Detailed information about heart failure patients' quality of life can help nurses and doctors to plan and implement patient education that is gender and agespecific. The data obtained by this study serve also as a baseline for a larger study.


A computer program for nonlinear analyses of reinforced concrete frames was developed, in which beam axial deformations due to nonlinear cyclic loading were incorporated. The beam model was verified in detail through beam tests specially conducted with axial restraint force applied in proportion to the beam axial elongation. Nonlinear pushover analyses of reinforced concrete frame structures with different parameters, such as beam depth, number of spans, and number of stories, were carried out with and without considering beam axial deformations. Effects of beam elongation on column shear were investigated both analytically and theoretically. A simple and practical method for estimating magnification of the column shear due to the beam axial deformation was presented.


A worldwide trend of permitting system for industrial installation to achieve a high level of protection of the environment has been moved from single media to multimedia in approach. The Council of the European Community issued the Directive 96/61/EC, the IPPC Directive, concerning integrated pollution prevention and control in 1996. The IPPC Directive is one of the most ambitious legal measures that the European Union (EU) has initiated with a view to applying the prevention principle for industrial activities. The IPPC aims to achieve the integrated prevention and reduction of environmental pollution emitted by those industrial installations with a higher potential of emissions to the environment. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recommended on Environmental Performance Reviews of Korea in 2006 that IPPC permitting concept should be considered for large stationary sources at the national and regional levels. Any Korean law doesn't provide for integrated pollution control with a single process covering all pollution from economic activities. However, one exception might be the "environmentally-friendly companies" certification scheme, introduced in 1995, in which participants agree to meet targets beyond the legal emission limit values in exchange for government technical and financial support to operate environmental management systems. The other exception might be Environmental impact assessment (EIA) of projects, in 1977, which has been strengthened and reinforced to be more preventive through development of the prior environmental review system (PERS) in 1999. The aim of this work is to introduce the contents of IPPC Directive at the viewpoint of Korea policy and to survey the integrated approaching concept of Environmentally-Friendly Companies (EFC) Certification Scheme and EIA policy of Korea. The study will be helpful in the future to prepare the infrastructure of integrated permitting system and to enforce the integrated permit which the authorities of local government issues on industrial activities. It can be said that the data calculated through both EFC Certification Scheme and EIA will be discussed as worthful information to determine Korean BAT reference notes for integrated permitting process.


Tourism and touristic offers have a global reach and are quite competitive. Given the current development throughout the world of tourism and its impact on the economy of a country, the total income that a country generates in this industry, contributing this way to GDP, among the countries that can benefit from tourism is Kosovo. Tourist product is a package with several elements, whereas the most important elements are: attractions, entertainment services, accommodation, food, travel, transportation and infrastructure development related to them. While the conditions that influence the development of tourism are: the current political situation and political stability, as well as marketing. Although with a touristic passage, Kosovo has not developed such a service because of an economic stagnation in the 1990s, including the last war, where as any other sector tourism was damaged and left out. Once the war ended, Kosovo with all the problems followed, such as administrative and economic, started to rehabilitate itself in the tourism sector as well. Today, we have a sufficient number of tour operators who offer national and international tourists solid offers for tourism. Given that the economy is the law of the environment, and given that nature cannot continually provide us with prosperity, it is incumbent on every person to work and preserve to ensure their existence, while maintaining nature. Therefore, we as human beings have to know how to administer and work with nature which is limited as a whole as opposed to human requirements. Kosovo began its economic transition after a war that left consequences on people and the economy, so the transition to the market economy had its own challenges where even after two decades. Despite the efforts, Kosovo still does not fully function as a market economy. By integrating into the bigger countryside called Globalization, in order to be competitive with the regional economies and beyond, we must have comparative advantage to be competitive as a country at an international level. In all international and local reports and studies, Kosovo's advantages are continuously provided to the underground, tourism, with particular emphasis on mountain and cultural tourism, as well as the new population as a workforce. The functioning of the contemporary economy, besides being competitive and productive both at the micro and macroeconomic level, besides economic development, we must take care of the environment around us. It is a priority for the Kosovo economy and the life of the citizens to develop tourism based on the beautiful nature, cultural monuments, traditional and unique food for foreign tourists. Through scientific data, reports and professional studies, I will provide solid knowledge for scientific intersections, tourists and businesses in the field of tourism.


Green open spaces, especially urban parks, are needed by the community and the city to minimize environmental problems and improve life quality. City parks in Jakarta have not been able to do so. The research will evaluate the city parks performance based on sustainable landscape design to see how well city parks have the functions as contained in the 2019 Green Open Spaces Guidelines for Sustainable Development and Development. Previous research has measured the city parks performance as their functions related to ecological, health/quality of life, economic, aesthetic, socio-cultural aspects. This study will add the aspect of mitigation as one of the measurement variables and at the same time as an update of the research. The evaluation instrument uses a questionnaire that contains an evaluation variable for city parks performance that combines all the function aspects of city parks with sustainable landscape design and observation principles. The purpose of this research is to provide evaluation results and recommendations. Performance evaluation based on city parks sustainable landscape design, there is no city parks function applied in good category and observationally, the condition of city parks is poorly maintained and gloomy. The recommendation is further research is needed that utilizes a sustainable landscape design to look for more deeply the root causes factors why the function and sustainability of city parks could not be achieved.


Recent advances in gene therapy have brought novel treatment options for cancer. However, the full potential of this approach has yet to be unlocked due to the limited payload capacity of commonly utilized viral vectors. Virus‐free DNA transposons, including piggyBac, have the potential to obviate these shortcomings. In this study, we improved a previously modified piggyBac system with superior transposition efficiency. We demonstrated that the internal domain sequences (IDS) within the 3′ terminal repeat domain of hyperactive piggyBac (hyPB) donor vector contain dominant enhancer elements. Plasmid‐free donor vector devoid of IDS was used in conjunction with a helper plasmid expressing Quantum PBase™ v2 to generate an optimal piggyBac system, Quantum pBac™ (qPB), for use in T cells. qPB outperformed hyPB in CD20/CD19 CAR‐T production in terms of performance as well as yield of the CAR‐T cells produced. Furthermore, qPB also produced CAR‐T cells with lower donor‐associated variabilities compared to lentiviral vector. Importantly, qPB yielded mainly CD8+ CAR‐TSCM cells, and the qPB‐produced CAR‐T cells effectively eliminated CD20/CD19‐expressing tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo. Our findings confirm qPB as a promising virus‐free vector system with an enhanced payload capacity to incorporate multiple genes. This highly efficient and potentially safe system will be expected to further advance gene therapy applications.


Remuneration fot broken periods. VII. And be it enacted, that if, by virtue of any orders to be lhereafter made by the poor-law commissioners, and the medical poor-law commissioner, the guardians of any union shall -think proper to provide medicines and otlher necessaries appertaining to medical relief for the use of the pauper patients of their union, paying competent persons to prepare and dispense the same, and appointing medical officers for the sole purpose of attending and prescribing for the poor of tlhe union who may be sick, or suffering from bodily injury, the said guardians sball, in such case, deduct from the sumils fixed and determined by them as aforesaid, the amount specified in the schedule marked C, heteunto annexed, for each individual of the average number on every medical pauper list; and for every order given, as aforesaid, for casual relief,.the sum specified in tihe qchedule marked D, hereunto annexed. VIll. And be it enacted, that on or before the aforesaid day of in every year, the guardians of every poor-law union shall fix and determine, slbject to the approval of the poor-law commissioners, and tlhe medical; poor-law commissioner, the amouqnt of Xewntineration to be paid to any medical officer appointed to attend such union, or any parish thereof, for .attending any poor woman in child-birth, whether she be an inmiate of a workhottse or not. Provided, however,t'hat if such medical officer be called upoIn to attend any such poor wooman in labour, at the inistance, or during the attendance of any female midwife, employed or paid for such attendance by the said guardians, he shall receive for eivery such attendance the sum specified in the schedule marked E, hereunto annexed. IX. And be it enacted, tlrat every mediCal officer appointed.to attend any union or parish thereof, shall receive a specific remu-neration for every surgicl operation of a serious character which he may perform for the relief of any poor person, either by order of the guardians, of such union, or in cases of urgency without such order, the amount of such specific remuneration to be fixed in every case by the medical poor-law commissioner, to whom a report of 'such operation-shall he addressed, by the said medical officer,' through the medium of the board of guardians. : ,X. And be it enacted, that on the expiration of every year, computed, as aforesaid, from the dayof--, the guardians of every poor-law union shall, ouit of the monies in their possession fromn time to time collected as rates for the relief. of the poor, ,pay, or cause to be. ptid, to the medical officer or officers mIppointed to attend the several parishes of such union, the several sums or amount of remuneration to whiceh hle or they severally may be entitled by virtue of anything contained in this act. And if from any cause whatsoever the apointinent of aniy such medical officer shall cease and determine, or be vacated, at any time prior to tbe termination of the then current year, computed as aforesaid, he shall, in that case, receive from the said guardians suchl proportion only of the annual remnuneration as shall be equivalent to the broken period during which he continued to lhold the said appointment. Provided always, that in all cases the expenses of medicines, and of administering medical relief, shall be borne by the respective parishes in or of every union, in proportion to the expense incurred on behalf of the parishioners of each parish who shall receive such relief. XI. And be it enacted, that if any medical officer appointed to attend any unioin, or district, or parish, or workhouse thereof, shiall neglect or refuse to administer medical relief to any poor person within the said union, district, parish, or workhouse, entitled to such relief, under this act, he shall forfeit hiis appointmnent, on sufficient evidence of such refusal or neglect being furnished to the medical poor-law commissioner, who shall adjudicate thereon. XII. And be it enacted, that the schedules marked A, B, C, D, and E, hereinbefore-mentioned, and annexed hereunto, .shall severally continue in force for the space of three years, after the passing of this act. And it shall be unlawful for the guardians of any poor-law union to attempt, by advertisement, or other public notification, or in any miianner whatsoever, to obtain tenders or offers relating to the remuneration, specified in this act, to be given for the performance of the duties of medical officers, or to be received uiider any contract made, or to be made, according to the provisions of an act of parliament passed in tlhe session of the tlhird and fourtlh years of the reign of her Majesty Queen Victoria, enititled, " An act to extend the practice of vaccination." Expense of medical relief to be a parochial charge.


Point cloud registration is a fundamental problem in computer vision and robotics, and has been widely used in various applications, including 3D reconstruction, simultaneous localization and mapping, and autonomous driving. Over the last decades, numerous researchers have devoted themselves to tackling this challenging problem. With the success of deep learning in geometric vision tasks, various types of deep learning-based point cloud registration methods have been proposed, and some of them exhibit good performance. However, their performance degrades rapidly when the overlap between point clouds is reduced. In this paper, we propose a shape completion-guided registration network for face point cloud registration, which takes face shape as a prior knowledge to guide the network to learn a complete face features at the low overlap. Another noteworthy point is that we use the Regularized Projective Manifold Gradient (RPMG) layer to bridge the gap between the neural network output measured in Euclidean space and the rotation parameters described in the SO(3) manifold. In addition, our proposed method infers the translation parameters from the two complementary point clouds and the predicted rotation rather than estimates them directly. For the problem of low overlap point cloud registration, our method can effectively improve the registration accuracy compared to the current state-of-the-art methods. The rotation error and translation error are, respectively, less than 2 degrees and 2mm on the FaceScape-based low overlap face registration dataset.


Three direct discretization methods,including compound trapezoid method,compound Simpson method and Gauss method,are investigated for some Fredholm integral equation of the first kind,which has a unique solution.A theoretical analysis on error estimate is given on the direct discretization methods,especially on the case where there is a perturbation on the right-hand side.The numerical experiment indicates that Gauss method has a much better performance than the other two ones.


The ability of kikuyu grass to produce a high quantity of palatable feed and to do so in association with white clover, perennial ryegrass, and other grasses has been observed on numerous farms in Northland


The discourse markers but and although are similar but not identical in meaning. We investigate the relationship between them using data from the INTERSECT translation corpus. A collection of cases are examined where although corresponds to French mais. In order to explain the correspondences we draw on Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST). By organising RST relations in a hierarchy, and adding a new relation to the inventory of RST relations, we can give a systematic explanation of the relationship between contrast and concession.


Abstract : The purpose of this paper is to report critical values (to four significant figures) which have been found by inverse interpolation in the new table of the probability integral of the studentized range. Included are corrected tables for significance levels alpha = 0.05, 0.1 and new tables for significance levels alpha = 0.10, 0.005, 0.001-all with sample sizes n = 2(1) 20(2)40(10)100 and degrees of freedom nu = 1(1)20, 24, 30, 60, 120, infinity.


a thesis submitted in fulfillment of the part of the requirements of the Honours Degree of Bachelor of Science, Geology


Objective To examine the influence of the metabolic syndrome (MS; defined by ATP-III criteria) on coronary microvascular function (CMF) in patients on optimal therapy with statins undergoing percutaenous coronary intervention (PCI). Background CMF determines cardiovascular prognosis. However, there are limited data on the influence of the MS, a major risk factor for vascular disease, on CMF. Methods and Results 54 patients with stable coronary disease undergoing PCI were divided into two groups according to the presence/absence of MS (mean age (years), MS (n  =  20): 61 ± 11; no MS (n  =  34): 66 ± 8, p = 0.10). All patients were on statins with optimal low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels (mean levels (mmol/l), MS: 2.0 ± 1.0; no MS: 2.1 ± 0.6, p = 0.79). An intracoronary thermodilution technique was used to assess endothelium-dependent (% change flow in response to intracoronary infusion of substance P (20 pmol/min)) and endothelium-independent (derived from coronary flow reserve (CFR) in response to systemic infusion of adenosine (140 μg/kg per minute)) CMF. Levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and adipocytokines (leptin, adiponectin, resistin) were also examined. Patients with MS had impaired endothelium-dependent CMF (mean% change flow, MS: 15 ± 14; no MS: 32 ± 19, p Conclusion In patients with stable coronary artery disease and optimal LDL levels, MS was an independent determinant of endothelium-dependent CMF. MS had no influence on endothelium-independent CMF.


The diastereoselective synthesis of the spermine alkaloid (R,R)-hopromine (2) is described. The as yet unknown absolute configuration of naturally occurring (−)-hopromine (2) is (R,R) and was established by comparison of the reported specific rotation of the natural product with that of the synthetic one. Preparation of the characteristic bis-8-membered lactam scaffold was carried out by convergent build-up of basic chiral azalactam units 21a and 21b and subsequent iterative linking (Schemes 5 and 6). Key steps in the analogous syntheses of 4-alkyl-hexahydro-1,5-diazocin-2(1H)-ones 21a and 21b were the introduction of the unbranched alkyl side chains into their common precursor 14via cuprate reaction and the Sb(OEt)3-assisted cyclization of the open-chain intermediates 20a and 20b, respectively (Schemes 3 and 4). The chiral iodoester 14 was prepared from commercially available (+)-L-aspartic acid (12). Based on the synthetic strategy developed for (R,R)-hopromine (2), a rapid access to the parent alkaloid homaline (1) in its (±)-form is given.


For finding microbes of degradation phosphine (PH3) in CO, a low concentration PH3 gas in CO was used to induce domestication the microorganism from anaerobic tank of sewage treatment plant. The influence of domestication process was researched in detail, and the microbial growth and performance of dephosphorization domesticated was inspected. The results shown that PH3 concentration, pH, and replaced water have a greatly influence for the process. A group dephosphorization bacterium which have a characteristic of fast growth and reproduction and degradation PH3 in CO to phosphate was acquired after domesticated the bacteria from anaerobic tank more than 11d. Appropriate conditions of dephosphorization bacteria to degradation PH3 are pH=4.5-5.5, 30°C. The phosphine conversion rate was 68.59% and 65.32% for 24h respectively to the concentration of 12 ppm or7ppm PH3 in CO and the 2/3 of products was phosphate primarily. But the aerobic tank bacteria cannot be domesticated.


Innovation is weeding through the old to bring forth the new willingly on the base of complete understanding about rules that the new superseds the old.The innovative spirits can embody the critical and revolutionary spirits of dialectics.It is necessary to study unity of opposites between the old and the new,proceeding from the reality and following objective laws. As essence of era spirits,philosophy must reflect innovative spirits.The basic task of the innovation of philosophy is to establish Marxist philosophy with Chinese characteristics.


We define a transfer function based on the first and second statistical moments. We consider the evolution of the mean and variance with respect to a growing neighborhood around a voxel. This evolution defines a curve in 3D for which we identify important trends and project it back to 2D. The resulting 2D projection can be brushed for easy and robust classification of materials and material borders. The transfer function is applied to both CT and MR data.


A novel model-based approach to 3D hand tracking from monocular video is presented. The 3D hand pose, the hand texture and the illuminant are dynamically estimated through minimization of an objective function. Derived from an inverse problem formulation, the objective function enables explicit use of texture temporal continuity and shading information, while handling important self-occlusions and time-varying illumination. The minimization is done efficiently using a quasi-Newton method, for which we propose a rigorous derivation of the objective function gradient. Particular attention is given to terms related to the change of visibility near self-occlusion boundaries that are neglected in existing formulations. In doing so we introduce new occlusion forces and show that using all gradient terms greatly improves the performance of the method. Experimental results demonstrate the potential of the formulation.


Due to the dense sampling of spectral signatures of land covers, hyperspectral images have a better discrimination among similar ground cover classes than traditional remote sensing data. However, these images are usually composed of tens or hundreds of spectrally close bands, which result in high redundancy and great amount of computation time in hyperspectral image classifi cation. In addition, the large number of spectral bands, but limited availability of training samples creates the problem of Hughes phenomenon. Consequently, traditional classifi cation strategies have often limited performance in classifi cation of hyperspectral imagery. Referring to the limitation of single classifi ers in these situations, classifi er ensemble system may exhibit better performance. This paper presents a method for classifi cation of hyperspectral data based on two concepts of Band Clustering (BC) and Band Grouping (BG) through a Support Vector machine (SVM) ensemble system. The proposed method uses the BC\BG strategies to split data into few band portions. After this step, we applied SVM on each band cluster\group that is produced in previous step. Finally, Naive Bayes as a classifi er fusion method combines the decisions of SVM classifi ers. Experimental results show that the proposed method improves the classification accuracy in comparison to the standard SVM and to feature selection methods.


AbstractBased on the author's personal reflection from teaching a first year seminar on ecology, development and education in a US liberal arts college, this article explores the desirability as well as possibility to incorporate Eastern philosophies into Western liberal arts education. The article highlights two lessons that the author has generated from her teaching experience. Both lessons focus on the acquisition of skillsets that are at the core to both liberal arts education and education for sustainable development, and how the introduction of Eastern philosophies and their perspectives helps students accomplish or further strengthen these skills. Specifically, students develop more critical thinking skills by shifting the paradigm, and practice liberal arts education in real life by bringing knowledge and action together, connecting individual to community, and linking the global to the local.


The issue on whether foreign owners bring prosperity to individual firms and to society is highly debated in Croatia. It arises especially at times when there is a sell-out of a larger Croatian company to a foreign business group. In this paper we study the influence of ownership structures on the financial performance of Croatian companies by comparing firms with a majority share of foreign ownership, with companies that are still dominantly owned by the government privatization fund. We also look at companies privatized through ESOP programs as a third referential group. The study departs from the hypothesis that ownership structures affect governance and so can lead to better firm performance providing owners have the authority to act and possess pertinent information and adequate incentives. We examine a sample of 63 firms for ownership-performance relations and attempt to give explanations of possible reasons why should firms acquired by foreigners, especially company groups, perform better. Our study does indicate that foreign owners achieve better financial performance than other ownership structures. However, based on our research alone, we cannot argue that such performance results solely out of better governance.


A simulation method was developed to calculate the thermal focal length for corner-pumped composite slab lasers. Traditional methods assume a uniform heat distribution or an exponential decay heat distribution to simplify the calculation, but the results do not agree well with experimental data for the thermal focal length, which affects the laser resonator design. In the current model, the heat distribution is obtained from the ray trace software Tracepro, which can accurately calculate the pump light absorption distribution in the gain medium. The simulation results with this method have a relative error of 4% compared to experimental results, which is much better than traditional methods with relative errors of 14% for corner-pumped composite slab lasers and demonstrates the effectiveness of this method for the development of new lasers.


Gravitational radiation from a charged relativistic particle moving in a magnetic field was calculated. Not only is the mass tensor of the particle itself a source of the gravitational waves but also those electromagnetic stresses caused by the charge, their contribution being of the same order as that of the mass. The small additions to the metric tensor correspond to two processes of gnavitational wave formation: to the usual type of charge and mass emission and to resonance emission of gravitational waves by the electromagnetic field in the presence of a constant external magnetic field. The latter effect was considered before. lt is shown that the energy dependence of gravitational wave intensity in the ultrarelativistic case is the same as that of an electromagnetic field. (auth)


With the sponsorship of the Federal Aviation Administration, MIT Lincoln Laboratory is developing the Graphical Weather Service (GWS), a data link application that provides near-real-time ground-based weather information pilots. Through the use of GWS, the pilot will be able to access both graphical and text weather information for any location in the contiguous United States. In-cockpit access to near-real-time weather information may substantially affect the situational awareness and subsequent decision making of pilots. In developing and evaluating this service, a human factors approach has been taken. This paper is an overview of the human factors activities performed in the development and evaluation of GWS.


Acknowledgments Introduction Preparations Leaving Alexandria Mission to Alexandria Journey to Suez The Syrian Expedition The Investment of Jaffa The Army Arrives before Saint-Jean-d'Acre The Retreat of the Army Events in Upper Egypt Commander in Chief Kleber The Breakdown of the Treaty of El-Arich Leaving Salheyeh Commander in Chief Menou Biographical Notes Bibliography Index


The safety and effectiveness of a loose mineral lick containing all known essential elements was investigated in an experiment in which 96 Merino weaner wethers grazed subterranean clover/grass pastures during summer and autumn. The treatments were no supplement or mineral mix ad libitum; there were four plots of 12 sheep per treatment. The mean intake was 29 f 1 g/head per day of the mix and those offered the minerals had blood concentrations of P, S, Se and vitamin BIZ in the normal range. Unsupplemented Control sheep had blood concentrations of P, S and Se in the deficient range for all or part of the experimental period. There was an estimated 1.6-fold range in mineral intake between sheep, and none refused the mix. Concentrations of Cu, Cd and F in tissues and bone of sheep offered the mineral mix were within accepted safety margins. The mineral lick increased live weights by 4.5 kg during summer (P < 0 - 05), increased clean fleece weight by 240 g (9%), (P < 0.01), and increased wool staple strength by 15 N/kt (40%), (P < 0.01). The pasture concentrations of most macro elements decreased between November and March, respective concentrations being (g/kg DM): K, 17- 7 and 1.9; Na, 4-0 and 0.31; S, 1.6 and 0.9; N, 12.9 and 10; P, 1-95 and 1-08; Ca, 7-86 and 9-75; Mg, 2.29 and 1-38. Changes in trace element concentrations were small, the respective values being (mg/kg): Cu, 9.7 and 10-3; Mn, 47 and 67; Fe, 56 and 323; Zn, 20 and 20; Mo, 0-2 and 0.35; and Se, 0.015 and 0.032. The loose mineral lick was a safe and effective means of supplying macro and trace elements to grazing sheep during summer.


The success of platforms such as Facebook and Google has been due in no small part to features that allow advertisers to target ads in a fine-grained manner. However, these features open up the potential for discriminatory advertising when advertisers include or exclude users of protected classes---either directly or indirectly---in a discriminatory fashion. Despite the fact that advertisers are able to compose various targeting features together, the existing mitigations to discriminatory targeting have focused only on individual features; there are concerns that such composition could result in targeting that is more discriminatory than the features individually. In this paper, we first demonstrate how compositions of individual targeting features can yield discriminatory ad targeting even for Facebook's restricted targeting features for ads in special categories (meant to protect against discriminatory advertising). We then conduct the first study of the potential for discrimination that spans across three major advertising platforms (Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn), showing how the potential for discriminatory advertising is pervasive across these platforms. Our work further points to the need for more careful mitigations to address the issue of discriminatory ad targeting.


All human communication activities are accomplished by means of verbal communication and nonverbal communication,of which nonverbal communication plays a more important role.


Background . Introduction of tattoo inks in the skin has been associated with a potential entry of a great number of microorganisms including bacteria, virus and fungi. Contaminated pigments, diluents and instruments represent primary infection risk factors as well as inadequacy of hygienic measures during this practice. However, the evaluation of the infectious risk for public health due to tattoo ink use is actually not feasible cause of the low efficiency of health surveillance and the lack of specific regulation in this area. Materials and Methods. A survey was carried out to test the microbial product safety of some tattoo inks available in Italian tattoo parlours. Physical packaging and labelling of the collected inks were also examined. Newly acquired sealed stock bottles, open ink bottles and tattoo-correlated instruments (needles, spikes and grips) were collected and tested for different microbiological parameters. Results . Both from opened and sealed inks a variety of potentially pathogenic organisms were isolated and identified including Gram positive rods and cocci, Gram negative bacteria and fungi. Different species of Bacillus and Staphylococcus genera were identified, among which S. haemolyticus; Cronobacter sakazaki, Enterobacter intermedius and Sphingomonas paucimobilis were also identified while no atypical mycobacteria were isolated. Needles, spikes and grips tested for sterility were aseptic. Conclusions . Microbial contamination of opened samples suggest inefficacy of preservatives and additives in maintaining inks hygienic quality, and inadequacy of hygienic procedures during the tattooing operations, while the occurrence of microorganisms in unopened samples put in doubt the effectiveness of the sterilization technology applied to this type of product.


A research paper submitted to Addis Ababa University, Colledge of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, in partial fulfillment for speciality certificate in Gynecology and Obestetrics


Presently, there are many sciences and numerous applications especially in engineering can be transformed into integral equations problems. In this paper, the effectiveness of the Quarter-Sweep Successive Over-Relaxation (QSSOR) method by using the quarter-sweep linear collocation approximation equation to solve first kind linear integral equations of Fredholm type is investigated. Furthermore, the formulation and implementation of the proposed method are also presented. Through the numerical experiments, two examples are provided to illustrate the performance of the proposed method.


Introduction Had the current generation of folk-song writers been interested in American mental health statistics, they might well have written a song . . . "Where Have All the Manics Gone?" The senior author did his psychia tric residency training in the United States, and felt that his experience had confirmed the general American opinion that manicdepressives were disappearing. He was sur prised when he first came to the Homewood Sanitarium in 1960 to note that in the annual statistics for 1959 there were a total of 77 manic-depressive admissions, or about 10 per cent of all non-alcoholic admissions to the hospital during that year.


Financial inclusion is the buzz word in the current economy in general and banking industry in particular. Financial inclusion is the delivery of financial services at an affordable cost to the vast sections of the disadvantaged and low income groups. The concept of financial inclusion has a special significance for a growing economy like India as bringing the large segment of the productive sectors of the economy under formal financial network could unleash their creative capacities besides augmenting domestic demand on a sustainable basis driven by income and consumption growth from such sectors. Since banks are the gateway to the various basic banking services, so they can play a vital role in enhancing the extent of financial inclusion in India and they have played that role since late 1960s. The banking reforms have accelerated this process. Thus, this paper studies the role of banks in enhancing the extent of financial inclusion through various initiatives like no frills bank account, financial literacy, expansion of ATM networks, etc. and the various issues to be considered by banks for ensuring that. This paper will be studied with the help of secondary data from various journals, articles, research paper, annual report of RBI, Census of India 2001 & 2011, etc. then the paper will proceed to know the extent of financial inclusion achieved by banks in India. It is found that inspite of various efforts by the banks; the real adoption of banking services, i.e., financial inclusion is very low.


We present the results from the Suzaku observation of the powerful radioloud quasar RBS 315 (z = 2.69), for which a previous XMM-Newton observation showed an extremely flat X-ray continuum up to 10 keV (photon index Γ = 1.26) and indications of strong intrinsic absorption (NH ∼ 10 22 cm assuming neutral gas). The instrument for hard X-rays HXD/PIN allows us a detection of the source up to 50 keV. The broad-band continuum (0.5-50 keV) can be well modeled with a power-law with slope Γ = 1.5 (definitively softer than the continuum measured by XMM-Newton) above 1 keV with strong deficit of soft photons. The low-energy cut-off can be well fitted either with intrinsic absorption (with column density NH ∼ 10 22 cm in the quasar rest frame) or with a break in the continuum, with an extremely hard (Γ = 0.7) power-law below 1 keV. We construct the Spectral Energy Distribution of the source, using also optical-UV measurements obtained through a quasi-simultaneous UVOT/SWIFT observation. The shape of the SED is similar to that of other Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQs) with similar power, making this source an excellent candidate for the detection in γ-rays by GLAST. We model the SED with the synchrotron-Inverse Compton model usually applied to FSRQs, showing that the deficit of soft photons can be naturally interpreted as due to an intrinsic curvature of the spectrum near the low energy end of the IC component rather than to intrinsic absorption, although the latter possibility cannot be ruled out. We propose that in at least a fraction of the radio-loud QSOs at high redshift the cut-off in the soft X-ray band can be explained in a similar way. Further studies are required to distinguish between the two alternatives. INAF/Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate (LC), Italy INAF/Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via Brera 28, 20121 Milano, Italy Tokio Institute of Technology, Meguro, Tokio, 152-8551, Japan INAF/IASF-Bologna, Via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 661, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA


This article provides a deeper theoretical understanding of the linkages between land fragmentation and off-farm labor supply in China, and investigates this relationship empirically in a more direct way than does the existing literature. Drawing upon a rural household panel data set collected in Zhejiang, Hubei, and Yunnan Provinces from 1995 to 2002, we estimate the effects in two steps. First, we estimate the effect of land fragmentation on labor productivity. Second, we estimate the effect of land fragmentation on off-farm labor supply. The production function results show that land fragmentation indeed leads to lower agricultural labor productivity, implying that land consolidation will make on-farm work more attractive and thus decrease off-farm labor supply. However, the effect of land consolidation on off-farm labor supply is not significant. One likely explanation for this result may be the potentially imperfect labor markets.


This article examines selective results of an international e-mail project between 24 students studying law with German (in England) and English (in Germany). It refers to outcomes as manifested in the students' written reports and oral assessments, but concentrates on samples of bilingual negotiation between partners as expressed in their e-mails. The article focuses on the design of the project and the socio-cultural environment in which it is situated. Taking into account the relevant research in computer-mediated communication, the design of the project follows two primary objectives: the acquisition of (1) language and (2) content as part of a task-based e-mail exchange.


LCC resonant converters have been widely adopted to achieve high power density and high efficiency. Due to high switching frequency and large reactive power in the resonant tank, the efficiency of LCC converters at light load decreases dramatically. Burst mode, which is commonly used in dc–dc converters to improve efficiency at light load, has not been applied to LCC resonant converters due to the oscillation of resonant tank during the burst off-time of burst mode. In this article, a simplified state model, which has only two state variables that can easily describe its state trajectory in the state plane, is proposed for LCC resonant converters with a capacitive output filter. Then, optimal state trajectory control of LCC converters for burst mode is proposed based on the state model, which can eliminate the resonance during the burst off-time. In addition, the transition from start-up mode to burst mode is proposed based on state trajectory control, which can complete this transition in one switching cycle. Finally, the proposed optimal trajectory control in burst mode is verified by an LCC converter prototype.


The canvas signed and dated 1510 is now in the Accademia in Venice. It was meant for the main altar of St. Andrea della Certosa in Venice and contains references to monastic traditions of the Carthusian order (the themes of the cage as volontary retreat bringing salvation, and of the imitiation of Christ by choosing martyrdom) as well as the election of the Carthusian Patriarch Antonio Suriano, the probable sponsor of the painting who wanted to respond by it to criticisms raised of his election and, as summarized in a letter from Blessed Paolo Giustiniano found in a monastery near Frascati. The Calling of the Sons of Zebedee shows how the humblest may be an example to their brothers even accepting responsibilities apparently in contradiction with their initial choice of solitude. The theme of the cage is also analyzed with reference to other examples found in the mosaic in the apse of St. Clement's Church in Rome and in other contemporary paintings of the Venetian school.


Multiple lines of research support the theory that repetitive exercise training can improve motor function in individuals with chronic hemiparesis after stroke. Two recent studies provide evidence to support this theory and contribute to our understanding of the aspects of exercise training that are most important in realizing these benefits.

Taub and colleagues report the results of a small clinical trial of Constraint-Induced Movement therapy (CIMT), a technique that pairs intensive exercise …


In this paper results and consideration about the use of recycled glass, as a granulated medium for filtration interaction with diluted agrotoxic materials in water, are presented. For this purpose, transparent bottles and glass containers were first fragmented and than crushed into pieces with sizes < 1 mm. Gravitational filtration tests were carried out in columns, in laboratorial scale. The herbicide atrazine was chosen as a standard contaminant due to its high toxicity and intensive use in Brazil. The results, from gas chromatography analysis, showed that the contamination was retained by the porous medium over all ranges of concentration (0.5, 1.0, 3.0, 10 and 15 mg L-1), which was dependent on the initial contamination degree. With regard to glass as a raw material, it showed itself to be a quite amenable material, potentially attractive for uses as a coadjutant medium in slow filtration.


The one-unit repairable system is studied in this paper, whose lifetime, repair time and repair-delayed time are all supposed to be random variables with general distributions. The instantaneous availability satisfying a second type Volterra integral equation which is solved by a successive approximation approach in this paper, and then the approximate instantaneous availability is obtained. Furthermore, the physical meaning of the approximate instantaneous availability and its error function are both analyzed. Then we get the conclusion that the approximate instantaneous availability can be used to substitute the real one to some extent, whose validity is verified by some numerical examples finally.


Wide-area internal energy sharing is maintained among internal facilities of the Yokohama City University (YCU) Medical Center, the Government Office Building in Yokohama Minami-Ward, and the Minami Civil Engineering Office Workshop. The intent of the program is to improve disaster readiness, environmental conditions, and economic gain by a wide-area efficient use of energy. As one of the key facilities to support such an energy sharing operation, we supplied a smart Building Energy Management System (smart BEMS). This facility manages the operation of energy sharing and also makes the integrated control of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and receiving power to fit the overall energy demand and system operation status. In order to manage energy operation, the BEMS is generally used. In the event that proper management of energy supply is required, it is necessary to control both the energy consumption side and the power supply side. In such a case, the smart BEMS plays a key role by managing both the energy consumption and supply side and by making effective control.


With rational management of time and energy, multifunction phased array radars (MFPAR) can serve multiple purposes, such as search and tracking. When high priority missions occupy more radar's resource, search performance of MFPAR will be compromised. The main factors influencing the search performance are analyzed. Optimal search model of MFPAR with limited search resources is derived. The criterion for the optimum parameter choice of search frame perio and detection range is proposed in detail. Simulation results prove the validity of model with the analysis of the search performance in optimal search parameter.


In this paper, we propose a concept for estimating solar irradiation by measuring the current, the voltage and the temperature of a photovoltaic cell. The estimation of the solar irradiation is obtained by processing these measurements using a mathematical model of a photovoltaic cell, combined with a PI controller. Since the PV cell current is very sensitive to the irradiance level, the principle of the method is to force the photovoltaic model to reproduce the same current as that measured on the cell by applying an appropriate irradiance as input, for measured temperature and voltage. The appropriate irradiance, which is the output of the estimator, is provided by the PI controller in such way that the estimated current by the model follows exactly the measured current. The PI controller also ensures the self-calibration of the photovoltaic reference-cell depending on the temperature changes. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been validated in simulation and on an experimental platform.