Third party funds in banking sector is a capital to carry out its business activities. Deposito Batara iB is one of the third party funds mudharabah mutlaqah. PT Bank Tabungan Negara (Persero) KCS Malang managed to get an increase in deposits to raise Batara iB in the last two years. In order to increase the fund, PT Bank Tabungan Negara (Persero) KCS Malang provide product strategy, pricing and promotions on Deposito Batara iB. This research was conducted using qualitative methods with the descriptive approach and the data collection techniques through interviews and documentation. Primary data obtained through interviews and documentation. Secondary data obtained from the object of research website. Data analysis using qualitative data analysis. Product strategy by creating a logo, motto and packaging in the form of features and services. Pricing strategy given PT Bank Tabungan Negara (Persero) KCS Malang by providing profit sharing ratio deposits, special provision (nisbah), does not apply administrative fees and penalty in their transactions. To introduce a Deposito Batara iB to customers, PT Bank Tabungan Negara (Persero) KCS Malang promote activities through various media. Use of advertising media, through personal selling, sales promotion and publicity. Keywords: strategi produk, harga dan promosi


We explore Isogeometric Analysis with the aim to speed up the virtual (vehicle) development process, still dominated by FE model generation and error-prone data transfer between CAD and analysis. Our approach is to perform structural analysis directly on trimmed NURBS-based B-Rep CAD models without or with a minimum number of modifications. This requires that we can (i) handle the numerical integration of trimmed elements and (ii) apply boundary and coupling conditions on trimmed NURBS patches. Isogeometric B-Rep Analysis (IBRA) [1] covers all these capabilities and allows for a completely new feature-based analysis paradigm as the analysis model directly inherits the CAD data structure including trimming and topology information. That is, CAD features like cut-outs, beadings or trimmed edges are also identified as such in the analysis model. This allows assigning analysis related information like material properties or boundary, coupling and loading conditions directly to features instead of individual nodes/elements as in FEA. Based on the same consistent data structure, design modifications on the CAD model (e.g. change of position or size of a hole) are automatically updated in the analysis model. Through this tight CAD/analysis connection, IBRA has the potential to significantly cut down model generation efforts and to facilitate data synchronization between design and analysis within the product development process. Our main focus in this contribution is on explicit dynamic isogeometric analysis of shell structures for crash-type applications. First, we provide a brief overview on Explicit IBRA [2], the recently developed extension of IBRA to explicit dynamic problems in LS-DYNA [3]. We demonstrate the effectiveness of Explicit IBRA by means of nonlinear dynamic elasto-plastic benchmark problems and real-world BMW vehicle component models. Second, we discuss the influence of penalty-coupling and trimming on the critical time step size in an Explicit IBRA setting of penalty-coupled trimmed NURBS patches in explicit analysis. Although we found that high penalty factors indeed reduce the critical time step size, we obtained accurate results already with penalty factors that have no or only a minor influence on the time step [2]. We furthermore found that trimming does not have a negative effect on the stable time step size. Quite the contrary, trimming can even be used to increase the time step size by removing unfavorable elements on the patch boundaries, which have a smaller critical time step size compared to interior elements, see [4]. However, trimming can lead to small trimmed elements with control points of very low mass and stiffness which tend to show unstable behavior in explicit dynamic analysis. Therefore, we finally discuss a novel penalty-based stabilization method particularly suitable for explicit dynamic isogeometric analysis.


Let a i,b i∈R n(i=1,2,...,m), and A=(a i,a j),B=(b i,b j),C=(a i,b j)∈R m×m are matrices of order n×n .Ainequality of Gram determinant is obtained by using Grassmann algebraic method,as following (detC) 2≤detAdetB.As its application,some new inequalities are given,and a simple proof of the main result.


References and abstracts of articles on drug and alcohol use of American Indian youth that have been published by staff of the Tri-Ethnic Center for Prevention Research are provided. Publications begin in 1978, noting high rates of use, particularly of inhalants. Subsequent papers are concerned with epidemiology, psychosocial correlates of use, prevention, and treatment. The number preceding each entry refer, to the reprint filing system of the Tri-Ethnic Center. Requests for reprints may simply list the number of each article desired. Address reprint requests to: Reprint Request Tri-Ethnic Center for Prevention Research C-78 Clark Building Psychology Department Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523 Fax: (303) 491-0527 1. Goldstein, G. (1978). Inhalant abuse among the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico. In C. Sharp & L. Carroll (Eds.), Voluntary inhalation of industrial solvents. Rockville, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse. Inhalant abuse is a significant problem in the pueblos, particularly among younger children and females. Inhalant users were like users of other heavy drugs on social questions. They may have chosen inhalants because of poverty and unavailability of other drugs. 2. Goldstein, G., Oetting, E. R., Edwards, R., & Garcia-Mason, V. (1979). Drug use among Native American young adults. International Journal of the Addictions, 1979, 14(6), 855-860. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research Copyright: Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health Colorado School of Public Health/University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (www.ucdenver.edu/caianh) 69 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Young adult American Indian students at a postsecondary educational institute showed a very high level of use of all drugs when compared with other samples of college-age youth. Alcohol, marijuana, and amphetamines were drugs of choice; 31% had tried inhalants, though there was little present use; 10% were involved in a drug subculture, using multiple drugs relatively heavily. The authors' interpretation of these findings is that either the institution attracts drug users or young American Indians from relatively isolated environments have higher susceptibility to drugs when they enter an urban (non-reservation) culture. 3. Oetting, E. R., & Goldstein, G. (1979). Drug use among Native American adolescents. In G. Beschner & A. Freidman (Eds.), Youth drug abuse. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books. American Indians have higher rates of use of alcohol, marijuana and inhalants and less barbiturate use. Drug use was related to family breakdown, school problems, peer drug use, religious identification, and deviant attitudes and behavior. Inhalant users had a particularly low expectancy of meeting their life goals. 4. Oetting, E. R., Edwards, R., Goldstein, G., & Garcia-Mason, V. (1980). Drug use among adolescents of five southwestern American Indian tribes. International Journal of the Addictions, 15(3), 449-455. Drug use by American Indian adolescents from five southwestern tribes is compared with a large national sample. American Indians show higher use of alcohol, marijuana, and inhalants from the 7th through the 12th grade. They show lower use of barbiturates. Peyote may be seen as less dangerous than LSD. There are no significant differences for other drugs. Cultural characteristics that may influence potential danger from drug use and intervention strategies are noted. 5. Oetting, E. R., Velarde, J., & Beauvais, F. (1980). Research shows increased drug use among Native American youth. National Indian Health Board Health Reporter, 2(7), 4-5. Drug abuse is known to be a severe problem throughout the country; its effects are especially detrimental to the health and well-being of young people. Results and implications of research on drug abuse among American Indians are discussed. Among other things, the writers conclude that drug abuse is at least as prevalent among American Indian adolescents as it is among youth in the general population. 6. Oetting, E. R., Beauvais, F., & Velarde, J. (1982). Marijuana use by reservation Native American youth. Listening Post, 4(3) (Albuquerque, NM: Indian Health Service). There is, at present, an epidemic of marijuana use among American Indian youth. When compared with non-Indian young people, American Indians are experimenting more with the drug, more of them are using it routinely and more are using it on a daily basis. The epidemic is national in scope. Although there are some differences in drug use across tribes, American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research Copyright: Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health Colorado School of Public Health/University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (www.ucdenver.edu/caianh) ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 70 recent surveys show very high marijuana use in every tribe that we have surveyed. 7. Beauvais, F., Oetting, E. R., & Edwards, R. (1982). Boredom, poor self-image, lead young Indian girl to drugs. National Indian Health Board Health Reporter, 3(2), 5-6,9. The article graphically describes a young Indian girl who has become involved with drugs. It illustrates the problems that are faced by many American Indian children. 9. Oetting, E. R., & Beauvais, F. (1983). The drug acquisition curve: A method for the analysis and prediction of drug epidemiology. International Journal of the Addictions, 18(8), 1115-1129. A method is presented to chart how a group acquires exposure to a drug. The resulting drug acquisition curve has a number of different parameters that describe the group's drug involvement. Key parameters include: (1) the age of exposure when members of the group begin to use the drug in greater numbers, probably because of exposure to drug-using peers; (2) the acquisition rate (the percent of the group members who are newly exposed each year), a rate that is surprisingly constant over as many as five years; and (3) the asymptote, establishing the total percent of the group members who will eventually try the drug. Acquisition curves for sequential age cohorts show changing trends In these parameters and can also be used to predict future drug epidemiology. A four-year prediction based on this method proved to be very accurate for two of three drugs. For the third drug a large increase in use was predicted, but the increase was even greater than expected. (Later research confirms the value of the acquisition curve for describing age of drug involvement but suggests that the prediction results were fortuitous. The differences between acquisition curves probably occur because of dropouts.) 11. Beauvais, F., & LaBoueff, S. (1985). Drug and alcohol abuse intervention in American Indian communities. International Journal of the Addictions, 20(1), 139-171. Indian culture is vital and growing, but federal policy has helped lead to inertia in community action. A strong activist climate can be used to revitalize Indian culture. Alcoholism is a critical problem and drug abuse a serious problem. Interventions must attempt to restore traditional harmony with nature and include self-determination, bolstering of community spirit, and grass-roots involvement. 12. Oetting, E., Edwards, R., & Beauvais, F. (1985). Reliability and discriminant validity of the children's drug-use survey. Psychological Reports, 56, 751-756. The Children's Drug Use Survey assesses involvement with alcohol, marijuana, Inhalants, and "pills" and includes experimental psychosocial items. It is short, easy to read and constructed so that it does not encourage drug use. Data are presented showing that the drug-use items have high reliability and discriminant validity. The scales should be useful American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research Copyright: Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health Colorado School of Public Health/University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (www.ucdenver.edu/caianh) 71 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY for studying drug involvement among both minority and non-minority youth; the scales possess adequate reliability for use as low as the 4th grade. 13. Beauvais, F., Dotting, E. R., & Edwards, R. W. (1985). Trends in the use of inhalants among American Indian adolescents. White Cloud Journal, 3(4), 3-11. Four large samples of American Indian adolescents have been surveyed since 1975 regarding their use of inhalants. When compared with non-Indian youth, Indian young people have shown much higher rates of inhalant use. Inhalant use is increasing for Indian youth, begins at a very early age and is often associated with use of other drugs. Peer and family attitudes do influence inhalant use and may possibly be employed as a means of reducing use of these dangerous chemicals. 14. Beauvais, F., Oetting, E. R., & Edwards, R. W. (1985). Trends in drug use of Indian adolescents living on reservations: 1975-1983. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 11 (3 & 4), 209-230. Anonymous surveys on drug use were administered to 7th-12th grade students in Indian reservation schools. A large number of tribes were surveyed from 1975 through 1983. There is reason to believe the results are reasonably representative of Indian youth living on reservations. Lifetime prevalence for most drugs is higher than that for non-Indian youth throughout this period; and rates for alcohol, marijuana and inhalants, the most frequently tried drugs, were particularly high. Since 1981 there has been a slight drop in lifetime prevalence for most drugs. Current-use figures show the same trends, with increasing current use through 1981 and a drop since that time. Analysis of patterns of drug use — classifying youth according to number, type and depth of involvement with drugs — shows a similar trend, with radical increases until 1981 and then a drop in all but one of the more serious drug use types. Despite this drop, 53% of Indian youth would still be classified as at risk" in their drug involvement, compared with 35% of non-Indian youth. Reasons


Learning of Soccer Player Agents Using a Policy Gradient Method: Pass Selection Harukazu IGARASHI, Hitoshi FUKUOKA, Naoto SANO, Seji ISHIHARA Shibaura Institute of Technology, Kinki University This research develops a learning method for the pass selection problem of midfielders in RoboCup Soccer Simulation games. A policy gradient method is applied as a learning method to solve this problem because it can easily represent the various heuristics of pass selection in a policy function. We implement the learning function in the midfielders' programs of two well-known teams, UvA Trilearn 2003 and HELIOS. Experimental results show that our method effectively achieves clever pass selection by midfielders in full games. Moreover, in this method's framework, dribbling is learned as a pass technique, in essence to and from the passer itself. It is also shown that the improvement in pass selection by our learning helps to make a team much stronger.


I describe the current status of the theory of pi pi scattering, reviewing in particular recent work on the numerical solution of Roy equations and on the matching between these and the chiral representation. I discuss numerical results on the scattering lengths and other threshold parameters.


The post-cold war NATO from 1991 to 9/11. The debate behind the "out of area" issue: the Bosnian crisis (1992-1995). The normalization process with the East and Russia. Eastern Europe, a no longer untouchable horizon. NATO-UE: the evolution of the transatlantic partnership. The Bush doctrine and its impact on NATO: the case of Iraq (2003).


In his Stephen Paget Memorial Lecture on NovembAr 17, 1955, Sir Henry Dale said it was more than twenty-four years since he had lectured to the Research Defence Society in commemoration of its founder. He had very precious memories of Stephen Paget's most endearing personality, and especially of the selfless devotion with which in his later years he had given the whole of his effort and interest, sacrificing his health and, in the end, his life to the defence of medical research. Paget had no personal or professional advantage to gain in founding the Society. He was inspired by a strong passion for the truth, and by a hatred for what he recognized as an essentially cruel attack upon scientific researches more directly humane than most in their aims as well as in their results. Paget toured the country in 1914 to counteract the attempt to persuade the men of the new armies to refuse the protective inoculation against the enteric fevers. That particular cruelty was defeated, so that there was no repetition of the tragedy which had overtaken the armies in South Africa for lack of such protection.


Objective To understand health and disease status of all ages old man and longevity and explore the relationship between the disease and longevity.Methods Investigated 1 484 cases of old man in Lopu,Moyu,Hetian countries in Hetian area(shorter formed 3 countries) and control country(Turpan country) by stratified cluster sampling method,including questionnaire survey and physical examination.To understand the elderly people′s health status under different regions,different gender,different environmental conditions.Results(1) The difference of chronic bronchitis,congenital heart disease,stricture heart disease,emphysema,allergy,stroke,asthma and endemic goiter between Lopu country and Turpan country were statistical significant(P0.05);The differences of chronic bronchitis,hypertension,stricture heart disease,allergy,asthma and endemic goiter between Moyu country and Turpan country were statistical significant(P0.05);The differences of pulmonary heart disease and diabetes between Hetian country and Turpan country were statistical significant(P0.05);The other diseases were not statistical significant(P0.05).(2) The difference of chronic bronchitis,hypertension,stricture heart disease and asthma for male between Lopu country and Turpan country were statistical significant(P0.05),while chronic bronchitis,pulmonary heart disease,emphysema,allergy,stroke,asthma and endemic goiter for female were statistical significant(P0.05);The difference of chronic bronchitis,hypertension,pulmonary heart disease,stricture heart disease,allergy,and endemic goiter for male between Moyu country and Turpan country were statistical significant(P0.05),while chronic bronchitis,hypertension,stricture heart disease and endemic goiter of female were statistical significant(P0.05);The difference of pulmonary heart disease of male between Hetian country and Turpan country were statistical significant(P0.05);The other diseases were not statistical significant(P0.05).(3) Multiple factors non condition Logistic regression of longevity effect factors showed burn of wood and hypertension were independent risk factors associated with longevity elements.Conclusion Strengthening the propaganda and education of the elderly in Hetian area,establishing a good way of life,reducing the indoor smoke pollution,enforcing the "three early" treatment of hypertension,are help to improve the quality of life and promotive the health and longevity for the elderly.


I have followed photospheric and wind absorptions in International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) spectra over much of the orbit of this K4 Ib+B3-4 binary system, using interstellar lines to transform all the velocities to a scale with the interstellar medium at -10.1 km/s. Results are as follows: Interstellar Fe II lines give NL (Fe(+)) = 1-2 x 10(exp 14)/sq cm with a Doppler width of 7 km/s; depletions of heavy elements along the line of sight to this star are similar to those for other stars with low interstellar densities. Photospheric lines yield a new velocity amplitude for the B star, K(sub B) = 23.2 +/- 1.0 km/s, which gives the mass ratio M(sub K)/M(sub B) = 1.66 and masses M(sub B) = 7.1 solar mass and M(sub K) = 11.7 solar mass. Existing photometry gives R(sub K) = 197 solar radius, R(sub B) = 5.2 solar radius, and i = 87.19 deg. Breadths of photospheric lines imply the rotational velocity of the B star is V sin i = 70-80 km/s. Most of the wind features are formed in a shell much larger than the binary system for which the terminal velocity seems to be 73 +/- 2 km/s, but it may be as high as approximately 90 km/s. The Doppler width (approximately 13 km/s) of Fe II shell lines likely results from acceleration of the wind, although it could reflect orbital motion of the K supergiant. Shell lines of Mg II and Si II are roughly consistent with Fe II, although their strengths are phase dependent, while S II requires a somewhat thicker shell in S(+) than in Fe(+) with a greater spread in expansion velocity. Shell lines of O I and N I are abnormally weak, if detected at all, and this implies that hydrogen is ionized throughout much of the wind. Lines of highly ionized species (C IV, Si Iv, and N V) appear sporadically in the spectrum and have inverse P Cyg profiles implying collapse (probably of an accretion disk) onto the B star. They do not seem to be isolated at particular phases as might be expected for formation in a conical shock front around an accretion column. I argue that the wind is roughly isotopic and is accelerated slowly, in agreement with existing ideas about winds.


In this paper,the cumulus parameterization schemes used in WRF model which had been published was described simply,the precipitation forecast between different schemes was experimented contrastively and verified.The results showed that the KF and GD scheme were better than others,the specific performance in rainfall distribution and heavy rainfall intensity,the contribution of convection rainfall to total precipitation,the distribution about high and low system in middle and low layer,and the cold air activities have been variable the intensity and the position of the positive and negative center,KF and GD scheme result can reflect the real state well,TS results show that KF and GD scheme ware better in small level precipitation forecast.


The present disclosure provides a pet food, comprising: a) a pet food core, b) one or more active layers surrounding all, or a portion of, the pet food core, and c) an outer layer at least partially surrounding the active layer, wherein the outer layer comprises a fat and/or a pallatant, wherein the active layer may comprise one or more of an antioxidant compound and a pro-oxidant compound. The active layer may be enriched with the pro-oxidant mineral compared to the pet food core, and/or the pet food core and the active layer may have different total concentrations of antioxidant compounds and/or the pet food core and the active layer may comprise different antioxidant compounds and/or the same antioxidant compounds in different concentrations.


This research focuses on the application of the key technology to prevent cascading overload trips in smart grid.A method is proposed to determine correlative transmission section of overload lines,combined with real-time power flow information;a back-up protection criterion is formulated,combined with transmission section;the emergent control strategy is discussed,including the control mode for selecting control points,determining control quantity,and eliminating overload.


Purpose
The study on how macroeconomic factors affect non-performing loans (NPLs) have not been focussed on property loans, which had been amongst the largest contributor of NPLs in many countries. At the same time, whilst there are many studies that focusses on NPLs during the recession and financial crises, not many studies focus on how macroeconomic factors affect property NPLs in a recovering economic environment. The purpose of this study seeks to fill the gap by analysing the relationships between gross domestic product (GDP), interest rates, income, foreign direct investments (FDI), housing prices and taxes on property NPLs with Malaysia as a case study in which NPLs rose for the first time after declining for almost a decade since the 2008–2009 global financial crisis. This study aims to understand the dynamics and direction of causation in relationships.

Design/methodology/approach
The author uses the auto regressive distribution lag analysis between the independent variables of GDP, interest rates, housing prices, service taxes, percapita income and FDI affecting the dependent variable of property NPLs from 2009 to 2017, during a unique period of recovering economic environment where NPLs rose for the first time in almost a decade of decline.

Findings
This study found that interest rates, housing prices, income, GDP and service taxes were found to possess long cause effects and long run elasticity with NPLs. At the same time, interest rates were found to implicate property NPLs significantly in longer periods, followed by GDP, housing prices, service taxes and income. FDIs were found to be insignificantly negative in implicating property NPLs in the long run.

Research limitations/implications
This paper allows policymakers to understand the dynamic implications of crucial macroeconomic factors in affecting NPLs so that appropriate strategic monetary policies could be formulated towards addressing them. More focus shall be given to addressing the long term implications of these factors on NPLs.

Practical implications
Appropriate strategic monetary policy making can be channelled towards addressing these factors via understanding the short and long term implications of macroeconomic variables on property NPLs. Policymakers can take note of the long cause effects and long run elasticity of average interest rates, housing prices, income levels, GDP and service taxes with property NPLs so that appropriate long term policies can be addressed to control the rise of property NPLs in the country. At the same time, priority should be given towards strengthening of the GDP of the country due to its strongest impact in long term effects with reduction of NPLs in the country.

Social implications
The insights from the present study suggest policymakers interested in bringing stability in the real estate finance system need to account for the various macroeconomic variables found in this study.

Originality/value
The paper is novel on at least two dimensions. First, this study involves focussing on a unique period of recovering economic environment where NPLs rose for the first time after a decade of decline since recovering from the 2008–2009 global financial crisis. At the same time, this study focusses on property NPLs, which is unique in nature compared to general NPLs. This study had enabled policymakers to better understand the dynamic implications of several macroeconomic variables affecting property NPLs and assist them in strategic monetary policy making.


The problems of professional adaptation and aspects of flight dispatchers� professional adaptation are considered in the work. The groups of difficulties encountered by flight dispatchers in the process of professional adaptation are presented. The main conditions and factors, on which the success of flight dispatchers� professional adaptation depends, are highlighted. Flight dispatchers perform a lot of tasks related to flight information service, with the calculation of flight parameters, flight planning, assistance to the crew in preparation for the flight, flight control. All these tasks must be performed quickly, confidently and with the great accuracy. All these working conditions result in certain difficulties in the young professionals� adaptation. When analysing different sources and surveys, it has been found that the airline young specialists in terms of professional adaptation can be divided into several groups: young professionals who easily master the profession and quickly join the service or division of the airline; young professionals who easily master the profession, but who need socio-psychological adaptation; young professionals who need all kinds of adaptation to the profession and to the team. It has been found that the most common difficulties, which the airline young employees face with, are the difficulties of adapting to the specifics of the content of specific professional tasks associated with their lack of training. The scientific literature on professional adaptation, factors and conditions of adaptation success have been analyzed; work on the factors of professional adaptation success has been revealed. An expert survey of airline specialists to identify problems, ways to overcome difficulties of adaptation, conditions and factors of flight dispatchers� professional adaptation in obtaining clearance to perform flights have been made. It has been established that young professionals within the professional adaptation are adapted to the peculiarities of professional activity, to the specifics of the content of specific professional tasks, as well as to the the airline staff. We consider the development and substantiation of the young aviation specialists� professional adaptation model components as further directions of the research. Key words: professional adaptation, flight dispatchers, factors and conditions of successful professional adaptation.


By collecting drilling and exploitation test wells data from the north of Shanxi and the east of Gansu,the paper undertakes the probability distribution and variability analysis of the natural density and dry density of the loess,illustrates the influential value of the side slope stability coefficient,and points out the correction formula for the drilling sample's dry density.


sources, and prerogatives of the presidency. Andrew Johnson's narrow acquittal in his impeachment trial was followed by thirty years of what was described by Woodrow Wilson as congressional government. After Richard Nixon resigned the presidency, Congress passed framework laws providing itself with a collaborative role in developing budgetary, fiscal, diplomatic, intelligence, and military policies, and an independent counsel that helped check the Reagan administration in the Iran-contra affair. How will President Bill Clinton's impeachment and acquittal affect the post-Monica presidency? A public law approach to the study of the presidency would tot up all the White House legal wins and losses, note all the precedents established or reaffirmed, and conclude that Clinton had lost badly in the courts, therefore weakening the presidency. In technical and institutional senses this is true, but why then is Clinton still in office and standing tall? If the Office of Independent Counsel (OIC) won so many legal victories, why was Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr unable thereafter to indict Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, or the proverbial ham sandwich? Why, at the end of the day, did Congress refuse to reauthorize the Office of Independent Counsel? The theory of prerogative power may be useful in putting the legal backlash against Clinton's claims in the context of a strong political frontlash effect that saved Clinton and doomed Starr.'


Operational Concepts have been used in varying degrees for many years by government acquisition agencies and contractors to help understand the operational nature of systems. Seldom, however, have the concepts been used at subcontractor levels or been encouraged by subsystem developers. Nor has there been much formality in the use and structure of the operational concept document (OCD). The typical content of the OCD remains highly textual with verbose description and little discipline in the thought process. The Unified Modelling Language (UML) has, however, introduced the notion of the Use Case, which, when examined as to purpose and focus, may provide an excellent basis for formalising the OCD content and providing a tool to help capture more effective operational scenarios at all levels of system composition. This paper explores the use of the UML Use Case as an essential part of the system Operational Concept.


The paper deals with the possibility of using the spatio-temporal dynamics of a class of CNN's for texture classification. The principle of the proposed architecture is discussed and the design of a bank of spatial filters for this kind of application is presented. Transistor level simulation and considerations regarding the architecture reconfiguration will be given as well.


On 4 March 2009, the President of the Paris Court of Appeal partially suspended the decision of the French Competition Council against fuel companies of the Chevron-Texaco, Total, Exxon Mobil and…


In this thesis, the compatibility of some structural alloys with the most recent high-temperature candidates as storage media (molten salts) to be used in thermal energy storage (TES) for the next generation of concentrating solar power (CSP) plants is investigated. This study endeavours to investigate the thermal and corrosive impacts of molten salts on commercial alloys by developing methods to measure and track the material degradation in contact with the corrosive medium. The role of material microstructure on corrosion and/or oxidation behaviour is studied and discussed in detail.


This research employed Participatory Action Research (PAR) with the purpose of applying the health impact assessment on the local health security fund implementation for well-being promotion and health mechanism development at the local level. This case study was conducted in Sankhaburi District, Chai Nat Province as the pilot area for the integrated model to drive the promotion of well-being in the local health security fund which according to the successful verification of the integrated community health mechanism in the province during the fiscal year 2020, the sub-district health fund supported funding for 1,193 quality projects. Among these projects, the quality projects in Sankhaburi District gained the highest support for the first rank in the province. In this research, health impact was assessed by collecting data from the main informants who were the main responsible officers at the regional level, the mentors of the provincial health security funds, and stakeholders in the integrated implementation of the local health mechanism. The study methods included in-depth interviews and focus group discussion. Research found that the local health security funds used the integrated system for well-being promotion and health mechanism development at the local level. The focus was on increasing the implementation potential at the regional level which was used to support effective project planning by using the online follow-up and evaluation system. In addition, the health system at the regional level was developed through the mechanism of the health security funds in relation to the well-being promotion projects of the local health security funds. Implementation was planned for problem-solving management and life quality development at the district level according to the application of the health impact assessment on the local health security fund. Implementation opportunities were provided for different parties to share knowledge, develop their implementation of well-being promotion, and develop the health mechanism at the local level.


Do the paychecks and career prospects of men and women differ because of rational, optimizing decisions made by men and women, given their respective skills, experiences, home responsibilities, and intentions regarding future work and family activities? The human capital model-coherent, logical and internally consistent-has a certain elegance to it. Nevertheless, empirically, it cannot explain the sex composition of jobs in lines of work pursued by both men and women. The results reported below are more consistent with the notion that employers statistically discriminate; that is, they reserve some jobs for men and others for women based on their perceptions of the average traits of the two groups. However, our results also call into question the assumption that statistical discrimination is merely an optimal decisionmaking strategy under conditions of uncertainty. We summarize below our recent research on determinants of the sex composition of jobs in mixed occupations. That research is based on data on staffing patterns, job requirements, and personnel policies collected by the U.S. Employment Service in over 400 California establishments between 1959 and 1979. Details on sample representativeness, procedures of data collection, and the like can be found in our 1984 and 1986 papers.


Periodic intensity dips with a period of 21,829 s were discovered in the X-ray light curve of the 206 s pulsar 1H 0253+193. The X-ray flux outside of the dips was 2×10 −11 ergs cm −2 s −1 (in the 2-10 keV energy band), while the X-ray flux during the dips was below the detection limit of 2×10 −12 ergs cm −2 s −1 . The duration of the intensity dips and the transient time from normal to intensity dip (or vice versa) were 1990 and 50 s, respectively. The periodic dips indicate that the X-ray pulsar 1H 0253+193 is an X-ray binary source, and the dips are naturally explained by an eclipse by the companion star


The purpose of this study is to characterise types of practices – or "routings" as they are denoted in this paper – that have been developed to incorporate non-financial inscriptions, representing value-in-kind (VIK) sponsorship resources, into accounting systems.,This study adopts field-based research, utilising Latour's (1999) concept of "circulating reference", to illustrate how VIK (non-cash) resources were managed in an Australian sporting organization.,This paper contributes to our understanding of: first, how accounting infrastructure is constituted and stabilised by a network of multiple and overlapping accounting practices; second, how VIK resources are allocated and managed via local practices; and third, the importance of "budget relief" as a method of valuation in accounting practice.,Our paper has implications for understanding how financial and non-financial accounting inscriptions are related in practice, requiring both integration and separation within networks of multiple and overlapping routings of accounting practices.,Our work highlights previously unexplored accounting practices, which assist in the process of utilizing VIK resources in the context of a sporting organization.


Osteoarthritis is a common age-related disorder that is present in more than 10% of persons older than 65 years of age; it results in substantial disability and economic cost in elderly persons [1]. Despite its frequency, osteoarthritis remains poorly understood, and few therapeutic options for it are available [2]. Osteoarthritis has traditionally been regarded primarily as a disorder of articular cartilage, but many of its recognized features, such as osteophytosis, subchondral sclerosis, and cyst formation, indicate that bone plays a prominent role in the pathophysiology of this condition [3-5]. Early cartilage abnormalities in patients with osteoarthritis are followed by changes in the periarticular trabecular bone and thickening of the subchondral plate [6-8]. More severe manifestations include stress fractures, necrosis in bone denuded of cartilage or undermined by cysts, and bony infarction [9]. These changes in subchondral bone may have adverse effects resulting from decreased mechanical compliance of periarticular bone to physical stresses and from shock-absorbing capacity [10] or impaired reparative response [11], or they may help stabilize an osteoarthritic joint [12] or contain the disease process [13]. It has also been suggested that bone mineral density, which is inversely related to osteoarthritis at certain sites [5, 14], may influence the skeletal expression of the disease: A more deforming, erosive, inflammatory form of osteoarthritis may predominate in persons with softer bone [15]. Osteoarthritis shows considerable heterogeneity in terms of the presence of many of these features [11, 16]. The idea that the nature of bone response in osteoarthritis may determine outcome [10] has been advanced by the recent demonstration that patients who have abnormalities seen on bone scanning that are adjacent to an osteoarthritic knee have a higher rate of progression of osteoarthritis than do patients without such abnormalities [17]. Thus, the quality of periarticular bone and its capacity to respond to various stresses, including changes in loading force caused by altered biomechanics, may influence whether osteoarthritis stabilizes or progresses. Normal bone metabolism depends on the presence of vitamin D, a compound derived largely from the diet or from cutaneous exposure to ultraviolet light. Suboptimal levels of vitamin D may have adverse effects on calcium metabolism, osteoblastic activity, matrix ossification, and bone density [18, 19]. Low levels of vitamin D in tissue may impair the ability of bone to respond optimally to pathophysiologic processes in osteoarthritis and may predispose patients to disease progression. Furthermore, both osteoarthritis and hypovitaminosis D occur with increased frequency in elderly populations. We therefore investigated the hypothesis that the relative deficiency of vitamin D, as determined by dietary intake and serum levels, predisposes patients to progression of osteoarthritis of the knee. Methods The persons we studied were participants in the population-based Framingham Study who had been followed for more than 40 years. As part of a study of osteoarthritis, radiography of the knee was done in these participants at biennial examinations 18 (between 1983 and 1985) and 22 (between 1992 and 1993). Methods with which to assess the incidence and progression of osteoarthritis of the knee were previously reported in detail [20]. In brief, participants in the Framingham Study received anteroposterior weight-bearing radiography of the knee at baseline (biennial examination 18) and received follow-up radiography at examination 22. Follow-up radiography was occasionally done in participants' homes when participants were too frail to come to the examination site. Paired baseline and follow-up radiographs were simultaneously graded for global severity of osteoarthritis and for individual radiographic features of osteoarthritis. Each pair of radiographs was read by one of two academic bone and joint radiologists and then by a rheumatologist. All readings were done independently, and all readers were blinded to the exposures of interest. Scores for individual radiographic features of osteoarthritis were determined on the basis of the radiologist's reading. If readers disagreed about a patient's osteoarthritic status, the radiographs in question were read by an additional academic bone and joint radiologist. If this radiologist's reading disagreed with the initial radiologist's reading, the grades for overall severity and individual features were reevaluated by an adjudication panel that consisted of two radiologists and the rheumatologist. Outcome Variables Scores for Global Severity Radiographs were given scores according to a modification of the Kellgren and Lawrence scale (range, 0 to 4), in which 0 = no osteophytes or joint-space narrowing; 1 = questionable presence of osteophytes, questionable presence of joint-space narrowing, or both; 2 = either definite presence of osteophytes with possible joint-space narrowing or definite mild joint-space narrowing with or without osteophytes; 3 = definite moderate joint-space narrowing (at least 50%) (cysts or sclerosis may be present, and osteophytes are usually present); and 4 = severe joint-space narrowing [3]. This system is widely used to classify osteoarthritis of the knee and to describe radiographic progression in natural history studies [21, 22]. Joint-space narrowing, osteophytosis, and sclerosis, which are the key elements of this system, have been shown to be relatively reliable indicators of progression in osteoarthritis of the knee, both independently and in combination [23]. Osteoarthritis was classified as present if a grade of 2 or more was given. Knees that received arthroplasty during the study period were assigned a grade of 4 after chart review confirmed that the knees had had clinical and pathologic features of osteoarthritis at the time of surgery. Knees without osteoarthritis at baseline (grade 1) that had developed osteoarthritis by the time of follow-up were classified as having incident osteoarthritis. Knees with prevalent disease at baseline that progressed by at least one grade were classified as having progressive osteoarthritis. Controls for each of these groups were knees that were eligible for the given outcome at baseline but that did not develop incident or progressive osteoarthritis. Scores for Specific Radiographic Features The presence and severity of osteophytes and joint-space narrowing in the two compartments of each knee (the medial and lateral tibiofemoral compartments) were graded on a scale of 0 to 3 in relation to an atlas of standard radiographic features of osteoarthritis compiled from the Framingham osteoarthritis study. A score of 2 or more for joint-space narrowing was intended to designate a reduction in joint space of more than 50%. We defined cartilage loss as an increase of 1 or more in the maximal score for joint-space narrowing within a knee between baseline and follow-up. Similarly, osteophyte growth was defined as an increase of 1 or more in the maximal score for osteophytes between baseline and follow-up. The inter- and intra-rater reproducibilities of these systems were measured in a sample of 100 anteroposterior radiographs of the knee that were stratified by disease severity and scored independently by two radiologists and twice by one observer. The values for intra-rater reproducibility were 0.91 for the modified Kellgren and Lawrence grade (scores of 0 or 1 compared with scores of 2, 3, or 4); 0.72 for the joint-space narrowing score; and 0.79 for the osteophyte score (0 compared with 1, 2, or 3) (P < 0.001 for all comparisons). The interrater values were 0.50 for the modified Kellgren and Lawrence grade (P = 0.025), 0.50 for the joint-space narrowing score, and 0.64 for the osteophyte score (P < 0.001 for the latter two comparisons). Exposure Variables Nutrition Typical dietary intake was estimated at examination 20 (1988 to 1989) using a self-administered food frequency questionnaire developed by Willett and colleagues [24, 25]. This questionnaire lists approximately 130 individual food items with specified portion sizes; study participants were asked how often, on average, they had consumed these food items during the previous year. Nine responses were possible, ranging from never or less than once per month to more than six times per day. The questionnaire also requested information about the use of specified vitamin and mineral supplements and included open-ended sections for information on foods and supplements not specified on the questionnaire. We calculated the average daily intake of nutrients for each participant by multiplying the nutrient content of each food item and supplement by the reported frequency of consumption and summing the results. This questionnaire provides information on more than 90% of total intake relevant to more than 70 nutritional variables. It has been validated using both long-term dietary records and biochemical markers of nutrient status [3, 26-28]. We excluded persons whose reported intakes were judged to be unreliable because their forms were incomplete (>12 items left blank) or because their reported intakes were deemed unrealistic (<600 or >4000 kcal/d). We also adjusted the nutrient variables for energy intake as suggested by Willett [29]. Serum Levels of Vitamin D Blood samples were collected from study participants during examinations 19 or 20 (1987 to 1989). We measured circulating levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] by using a competitive protein-binding assay after extracting 25(OH)D from plasma into ethanol as previously described [30]. Confounders Information about potential confounding variables was available from the Framingham Study database. Body mass index was calculated using the mean height and weight measured at examinations 18 and 20. Weight change was defined as the difference in weight between examinati


This study aims to explain and describe the implementation of functional approaches in learning Arabic through the method of community language learning. Community language learning method is a method that aims for students to learn to use language that is learned communicatively. Community language learning (CLL) is the name of a method developed by Charles A Curran and his colleagues. Community language learning (CLL) is often used in communicative learning or speaking skills. research in this study is the Research field. Collecting data in this study is qualitative (not in the form of numbers) through a review of some literature and using qualitative analysis in the presentation of data, data analysis and conclusion. The results of his research are detailed descriptions and explanations of the details of Arabic learning instruments that use the community language learning method in terms of a functional approach to realize the goals of modern Arabic learning, namely factual communication, in the sense that students are able to function foreign languages learned as communication tools, in this case Arabic.


Turbidity is an important index for drinking water. In order to perfect the quality of drinking water, we need to improve the measuring standard firstly. The author also put forward suggestions to improve the accuracy of water measurement.


With increasing in the number of highly educated graduates,it aroused widespread concern and attention for the unemployment phenomenon of highly educated.No-voluntary unemployment is mainly due to factors other than the labor itself;one of important reasons is the impact of the internal rationing of position within the internal labor market.Internal labor market mechanism is still imperfect which need to deepen the reforms of enterprises' system to improve market regulation functions;perfect the recruitment and employment system adjusting modern enterprise system;meanwhile,strengthen the employment guidance for under-graduates.


Of equal concern is the tremendous effort expended on such household fabrics as rugs, upholstery, and draperies where laundering is usually difficult and sometimes impossible. In these, too, cotton holds a significant share of the market. For instance, in just the last few years, the use of cotton carpets and rugs has grown until in 1953 it represented roughly one-third of the total yardage of the soft floor coverings produced. Almost one-half of the upholstery field and about 70% of the drapery market are held by cotton. Most of the effort to cope with fabric soiling has, up to now, been directed toward the development of better cleaning agents, methods, and machines. However, there remains a relatively untouched area for research which offers a new approach to the problem and a challenge to the combined efforts of the textile and chemical industries, that is, the building of a &dquo;resistance to soiling&dquo; into the fabric. It involves not only the quality of &dquo;resistance&dquo; but also that of a &dquo;greater ease of removal.&dquo; The purpose of this report is to review the present knowledge in the field, indicating the potential markets for improvement; to discuss the technical factors involved; and to point out some unanswered questions with suggestions for further research.


Abstract : The position in azimuth of an observer relative to the plane of angular motion (tilt) of a buoy most significantly affects the ability of an observer to initially detect and then identify specific buoy characteristic flashes. Under idealized assumptions it is possible to develop from appropriate past records of buoy angular motion data, probabilities of detection (POD) and identifying (POI) buoys. While these results were developed under highly idealized assumptions, it is recommended that further studies be conducted with more realistic assumptions that take into account: (1) autocorrelation of buoy tilt angle in relation to buoy identification time, (2) central tendency of buoy roll and pitch, (3) the lobe-shaped light divergence pattern as contrasted to the wedge-shaped divergence pattern, and (4) the physiological and psychological factors that affect detection and identification. (Author)


The objective of this study is to investigate the ability of Elaeis guineensis fruit fiber or known as oil palm mesocarp fiber (OPMF) to adsorb nickel from aqueous solution. As one of the major oil palm producer, Malaysia has abundantly oil palm waste that potentially be used as biosorbent. Limited studies used OPMF as biosorbent to remove nickel, thus it was used in this study. The effects of pH, initial metal concentration and contact time on nickel uptake were studied. The OPMF was soaked in nickel nitrate aqueous solution and the Ni-loaded OPMF being digested to analyse the nickel concentration by using ICP-OES. The adsorption was investigated in the pH range of 2.0-8.0 and the optimum pH for nickel removal was found to be 7.0. The contact time was varied between 5 to 120 mins and the nickel adsorption was found to achieve equilibrium in a very short time (i.e.<5 mins). The percentage of nickel removal decreased from 3.3 to 1.7 % with increasing nickel concentration from 505 to 1683 mg/L. The adsorption isotherm was fitted well using Langmuir model with correlation coefficient, R2 of 0.98. The kinetic studies showed that the pseudo-second order model is the best model with the correlation coefficients of > 0.99 for all concentrations. Overall, the adsorption of nickel by OPMF gave positive results and the used of OPMF as biosorbent has great potential to be applied in the future.


This paper examines the causal relationship between four different measures of education and income in Turkey using time series data for the period 1971-2013. The four measures are: (a) gross primary-school enrolment, (b) gross secondary-school enrolment, (c) gross higher-school enrolment and (d) government expenditure on education relative to total government expenditure. The analysis employs a Toda and Yamamoto (1995) approach to Granger non-causality. The empirical findings indicate evidence of a unidirectional causality running from secondary-school enrolment to GDP per capita and higher-school enrolment to GDP per capita. The results also indicate that primary education and government spending on education do not Granger cause economic growth and vice versa.


The adsorption parameters (α) of 45 olefinic liquids with respect to poly-(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) were established gravimetrically in the usual way. Those for the structures that comprise R a R b C=CR c R d , where each R is H or an alkyl group, can be fitted to log α f = log α i - D s (N f - N i ) relationships, where N i and N f are the initial and final number of mass units in the subseries of the above general molecular structure (GMS). The constant α i reflects the number of methyl groups in lieu of H atoms and their positional relationship to each other on the double bond, whereas the constant D s reflects the unit change in log α i caused by incrementation of a (CH 2 ) n R substituent from n = 1 to its allowable limit while the rest of the molecular structure is kept constant. The results observed thereby confirm that these adsorption phenomena involve a liaison between the pendent phenyl groups of the sorbent polymer and the double bond of the sorbate liquid. The adsorption data accumulated in these studies show that in the cases of olefinic liquids carrying other kinds of functional groups, such as aromatic or ether groups, the adsorption preference usually favors the other functionality, leaving the olefinic group in the nonadsorbed portion of the adsorbed molecule where it can exert a positive influence on adsorptivity due to dynamic associative interactions with the mobile sorbed molecules of its own kind.


Waterholes that remain in the dry season in intermittent dryland rivers are important biotic refugia, but detailed ecological descriptions of these habitats and their plankton are scarce. We aimed to determine spatial and temporal variation in phytoplankton assemblages in a tropical Australian dryland river system, their main environmental determinants and the potential of the phytoplankton for ecosystem monitoring. We sampled nine sites in three rivers over 2 years using standard methods. Water quality and phytoplankton assemblages varied considerably among sites, rivers and seasons, reflecting lithology, hydrology, bathymetry and local catchment influences. Major environmental drivers included conductivity, pH, temperature and species of N and P. We analysed several derived versions of the original dataset by using density and presence–absence data, eliminating rarer species and grouping species into higher taxa. We found substantial consistency among analyses in environmental drivers, identified using distance-based linear modelling, and in variability among systems, identified using nested permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA). Responsiveness of the algal assemblages to environmental drivers and consistency among analyses, even using subsamples at low taxonomic resolution, suggests potential for ecosystem monitoring and optimising of sample throughput, although variability among systems requires substantial effort to determine the range of reference conditions.


Nowadays every Fifth Form pupil uses logarithm tables. A discussion of the construction of the difference columns, with graphical illustration, would prepare him for the methods to be described below, of an iterative process for the approximate solution of any equation. Incidentally it would help him to realise more fully than he usually does to what degree of accuracy his logarithmic work is reliable. The method of obtaining logarithms by using powers of 1·1, as described in the Algebra Beport, uses the same principle of proportional parts, and, properly treated, helps to establish the general principle that, when the differences for unit increments in the entries used are constant, results obtained by proportional interpolation are accurate to the same number of figures as the entries.


The American public is fascinated by horror and cruelty. Fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter and Michael Myers amuse moviegoers; but while these interesting beings and their crimes sometimes seem far-fetched, they can be all too close to reality. What happens when the characters of a movie come to life, or cinema imitates reality? Just mentioning " Helter Skelter " or " Zodiac " can send chills down the spine of the biggest horror film fan. Anyone who has a common knowledge of Jeffery Dahmer or Ted Bundy knows they are far from fictional. Bonnie and Clyde, David Berkowitz, and Jack the Ripper are all real as well. They are all infamous serial killers.rial Murderers and Their Victims, serial murderers include " any offenders, male or female, who kill over time " (12). It is doubtful that anyone would disagree with Hickey's definition, but some experts may choose to be a bit more descriptive. Due to the qualifications of a serial homicide, there tends to be a general consensus among reactions to serial killings by the public but not necessarily among the proposed reasons for which one may commit such an atrocious act. The crime should not be confused with a spree killing, which involves the murder of many victims without a relationship or extended period of time existing between the killings. While murdering multiple victims is a terrible form of homicide, these instances only account for 4.4% of all homicides as of 2005, according to Bureau of Justice statistics. Despite this small fraction , there has been an increase of 1.3% since 1975. Although these percentages seem very low, they should still be taken seriously due to


A two-stage Ar-ion sputter deposition of Ag/Au on mica, followed by sample immersion into a dilute halide solution (chloride, bromide, and iodide), allows preparation of highly planar Ag(111) films covered with a halide monolayer, a useful model system for the silver halide surface. The monolayer structures and properties have been analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) methods. The XPS data indicate that an oxide monolayer on the as-grown but air-exposed Ag(111) film is substitutionally replaced in 1 :1 atomic ratio by a halide monolayer that closely simulates the ionicity of the bulk silver halide. Some substantial change in the substrate work function caused by the ionic adlayer is also addressed in connection to the STM imaging mechanism. The results of our in-air STM imaging markedly differ from those recently reported for similar halogen adlayers on Ag(111). Atomically resolved images became increasingly more difficult to obtain in the order of decreasing stability in air from iodide to chloride, but the resolved atomic arrangements invariably suggest a slightly contracted √/3x√3 structure with an estimated interatomic spacing 4.6 ± 0.4 A. Static and dynamic disorders in this structure, more likely to occur with decreasing size of halide anion, may also be included in the factors that influence the probability of successful imaging. Furthermore, atomically resolved images could be obtained on both positively and negatively biased samples with respect to the tip. The relevant imaging mechanism probably involves some significant variations in the local electric potential on Ag(111) covered with a halide monolayer. Such local potentials may be better sensed by a W tip with its smaller work function than that of Ag(111).


This paper proposes a single phase pulse-width modulated (PMW) voltage source uninterruptible power supply known as an improved standby boost uninterruptible power supply (ISBUPS) which centers on keeping the output voltage of the inverter system of the UPS at constant voltage of 220V AC and ripple free when utility power supply fails. This concept is achieved by incorporating proportional integral (PI) controller, boost converter and L-C filter at inverter control section. In this research, apart from stabilizing the inverter output voltage of inverter at 220VAC in standby mode, 0.96 modulation index is also realized. The total harmonic distortion of the system is reduced down to 5.05%. This proposed system has its applications at homes, offices and in business centers especially in Nigeria where electrical power instability is high now.


Fluorescent Proteins
Photoisomerization—the twisting of bonds in a molecule in response to absorption of light—is exploited in biology to sense light and can influence the photophysical properties of fluorescent proteins used in imaging applications. Romei et al. studied this behavior by introducing unnatural amino acids into the photoswitchable green fluorescent protein Dronpa2, thus systematically altering the electronic properties of the chromophore (see the Perspective by Hu et al. ). Crystal structures and spectroscopic analyses of a series of these variants support a model in which the electrostatic interactions between the chromophore and its environment influence the barrier heights for twisting around different bonds during photoisomerization. These insights may guide future design of photoswitchable proteins with desired properties.

Science , this issue p. [76][1]; see also p. [26][2]

 [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aax1898
 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aba0571


Objectives : The present study had been undertaken to investigate the effects of Cynomorii Herba and Eucommiae Cortex on treatment of osteoporosis in ovariectomized rats. Methods : In this experiment, the rats of experimental groups were ovariectomized. Rats of medicinal groups were administered by ...


The first day of work appears to be critical for a new employee's attitude about his or her new company, and about the messages it conveys on this day. A sample of hospitality-industry newcomers remembered mostly negative first-day incidents involving supportiveness (or its lack), appreciation (or blame), being made to feel welcome (or unwelcome), and being made to feel part of the family or team (or experiencing conflict and separation). Organizations need to focus on job aspects that are most critical to the newcomers and provide newcomers with the information most useful to them for alleviating the uncertainty and anxiety surrounding the entry process. Structured activities held on the first day should make newcomers feel welcome and provide emotional support. The process of socialization can affect a newcomer's performance, satisfaction, and commitment to (or intention to leave) the organization.


In response to the environmental concern, new pure HFO (hydrofluoro-olefin) fluids, blends with low GWP and natural refrigerants like CO2 (carbon dioxide) and R-290 (propane) have been proposed as candidates to replace the existing HFC.


Renowned psychologist David DeSteno brings together the latest research from diverse fields, including psychology, economics, biology, and robotics, to create a compelling narrative about the forces that have shaped the human mind's propensities to trust. He shows us how trust influences us at every level, from how we learn, to how we love, to how we spend, to how we take care of our own health and well-being. Using cuttingedge research from his own lab, he also unlocks, for the first time, the cues that allow us to read the trustworthiness of others accurately.


This study aims to examine the link between inequality and diffusion of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). It focuses on a set of 32 African countries. ICT diffusion rate for all the countries was calculated. Two estimation techniques were used: Fractional Regression Model method and Ordinary Least Squares. The results indicate that inequality contributed to the development of ICT in all the countries considered. These results also showed that human capital and the level of development have a positive effect on ICT diffusion. It was also found that institutions play a catalytic role in the adoption and diffusion of ICT.


Necessary and sufficient conditions are presented for the existence of fixed-rate parity-preserving encoders for a given constraint. It is also shown that under somewhat stronger conditions, the stethering method guarantees an encoder that has finite anticipation.


Aged CoO/MoO/sub 3//SiO/sub 2//Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ catalyst pellets were analyzed with an electron microprobe and scanning electron microscope. Pellets of the hydroprocessing catalyst used in the Synthoil process (sulfided CoO/MoO/sub 3//SiO/sub 2//Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/) accumulated inorganic and organic contaminants both on the exterior surface and in the pore mouths. The inorganic (carbon free) deposit found in the upstream end of the fixed-bed reactor has been identified as primarily ferrous sulfide, Fe/sub 14/S/sub 15/. This material covered 50 to 70 percent of the catalyst's peripheral surface and penetrated into the catalyst pores to a depth of about 100 ..mu..m. The total accumulated deposit caused a 70 percent reduction in catalyst surface area and pore volume. The inorganic deposit found in the downstream end of the reactor was mainly aluminum and silicon and covered 10 to 20 percent of the catalyst's peripheral surface. Titanium penetrated about 150 ..mu..m into the pores. All of these deposits caused a 40 percent loss of pore volume. These results imply that deposition in coal hydroprocessing reactors could lead to bed plugging and pore mouth blocking.


In fuzzy pairing, two parties compare two bit strings which are supposed to be similar, but almost never identical. So A and B engage in a protocol to verify whether d(sA, sB) is less than some threshold T; if not, the parties abort and authentication failed. Here d() is to be taken as the Hamming distance. One standard protocol is the code-offset method: A computes a random vector x such that sA − x is a code word of some pre-agreed error-correcting x. Together they verify whether the code and sends x to B, who decodes sB − two decoded codewords are the same. A common secret key can be obtained subsequently, We cast this problem in a different context, in which A and B want to compare continuous signals, instead of discrete bit strings. We test the code offset method for four classes of error-correcting codes: Reed-Solomon (RS) Codes, Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) Codes, Repeat-Accumulate Codes (RAC) and Low Density Lattice Codes (LDLC). For similar error correction capability our results show that RS codes perform slowly, while LDPC and RAC which very similar are both really fast. LDLC has the best correction capabilities, but are slower because of their mathematical complexity. Our results can be generalized to fuzzy extractors.


A new lichen species Phaeographis fujianensis is described in the present paper. It can be distinguished from other taxa by its relatively small ascospores. It contains only stictic acid. Latin diagnosis, Chinese description and discussion together with photographs are given.


A chronological-age 'risk group' has been singled out since the onset of the current pandemic due to the higher risk of serious illness and mortality from COVID-19 closely associated with 'older age'. While this categorisation does not presuppose discrimination in itself, it appears to be a precondition for discursive discrimination. COVID-19 age-related risks have particularly exacerbated ageism on social media, fuelling discourses driven by intergenerational tension. Despite the importance of social media in contemporary communication, there is still scant research on the representation of ageism in these environments. This paper attempts to fill this void by exploring millennials' use of the derogatory Twitter hashtags #BoomerDoomer and #BoomerRemover to discriminate 'baby boomers' as the COVID-19 risk group. Informed by Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) showing interest in discriminatory discourse in the media, the study aims at disclosing the main themes and discursive strategies used to construe ageist content in a sample of original tweets posted during the initial stage of the disease outbreak when the hashtags were trending. Framed by a CDA taxonomy of discriminatory discursive strategies, the combined thematic and discourse analysis highlights how the chosen topics and discursive strategies subtly perpetuate ageism, thus suggesting its resurgence in the COVID-19 era.


The objective of this study is to determine the specific effect of oxygen promotion and storage on the NO decomposition and the NO-CO reaction on Tb- and Ce-promoted Rh/Al 2 O 3 and Pd/Al 2 O 3 . Both reactions on Tb and Ce oxide were studied in detail to assist in elucidation of the reaction mechanisms


In this work, we present a novel module to perform fusion of heterogeneous data using fully convolutional networks for semantic labeling. We introduce residual correction as a way to learn how to fuse predictions coming out of a dual stream architecture. Especially, we perform fusion of DSM and IRRG optical data on the ISPRS Vaihingen dataset over a urban area and obtain new state-of-the-art results.


During the last decades, many enterprises have transformed to technology based organizations. However, in order to manage this transformation, technology‐intensive enterprises have to deal with new opportunities and threats that the information age has created. Many enterprises use a wide range of heterogeneous systems and networks to support a variety of users. In practice, the development and operation of these heterogeneous systems is usually distributed and unsynchronized, although operational interoperability and system integration are required to support cross‐enterprise processes and decision making. Enterprise systems engineering (ESE) processes can provide the opportunity to deal with these new challenges of achieving better operational interoperability as well as system interoperability. Our basic claim is that ESE differs significantly from systems engineering (SE). This paper identifies the differences between them and discusses complex emerging challenges of ESE. Our contribution in this paper is to identify relevant state of the art research and practice frontier in ESE that are closest to meet ESE challenges and clarify existing gaps.


Reformation was one of the turning points of the development of Christianity. In the sixteenth century there were several movements all over Europe, but the establishment of the Anglican Church was a special one among them. In my thesis I would like to prove why this church is a special one concerning its establishment and early history: the head of the new church became the king of England and England became a Protestant country in spite of the fact that neither Henry VIII nor most of the citizens were Protestants. Despite this controversial situation the Anglican Church survived. My aim was to examine which circumstances made this church strong enough to be able to survive. I found that two main factors had had decisive impact on it: one was the economic background and the other was the English people's attitude toward Papacy and the Continent.


A scholarly edition of The Miscellaneous Works of John Bunyan: Barren Fig-Tree; Strait Gate; Heavenly Footman by Graham Midgley. The edition presents an authoritative text, together with an introduction, commentary notes, and scholarly apparatus.


Brad Buecker of Kiewit Power Engineers, USA, outlines the fundamental principles of wet-limestone scrubbing and its importance in controlling pollution from coal fired plants. The specific method will depend on factors such as the market for by-products and access to high-quality limestone.


The site and size of distributed generation (DG) have a great impact on the distribution network. A method for the siting and sizing of DG in the distribution network expansion planning is developed to optimize the site and size of DG with the genetic algorithm. By taking into account the influence of DG on the power flow of the distribution network and line load-ability, the method applies the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm based on branch exchange to the network expansion planning and then uses the result of the integrated planning for DG and network to evaluate the cost of individual DG's site and size solution. An actual example indicates that the fairly rational solutions can be obtained with the method.


We introduce a method for learning Bayesian networks that handles the discretization of continuous variables as an integral part of the learning process. The main ingredient in this method is a new metric based on the Minimal Description Length principle for choosing the threshold values for the discretization while learning the Bayesian network structure. This score balances the complexity of the learned discretization and the learned network structure against how well they model the training data. This ensures that the discretization of each variable introduces just enough intervals to capture its interaction with adjacent variables in the network. We formally derive the new metric, study its main properties, and propose an iterative algorithm for learning a discretization policy. Finally, we illustrate its behavior in applications to supervised learning.


HOW TO HELP CHINESE EFL STUDENTS SOLVE THE PROBLEMS CAUSED BY GRAMMAR IN ENGLISH CLASS IN UNIVERSITIES Under the Supervision of Dennis Ciesielski, Doctor This paper tries to analyze the role grammar plays in the reading comprehension classes in Chinese EFL classes. Is Grammar a vital factor to influence the reading ability of Chinese EFL students in Universities? Will the improvement of Grammar help improve the reading ability of Chinese EFL Students? These are two questions that have confused College English teachers in China for many years. Through reading other experts' study and research, the author of this paper have got some idea of the crucial role that grammar plays in both the intensive reading and extensive reading. Thus, there would be some efficient methods to improve students' reading ability through the introduction of grammar rules.


© Filter networks are incorporated within a software protection hardware device which is plugged into a communications port of a computer which device will select bits or combinations of bits emanating from the communications port resulting from commands of a controlling software in use with the computer which is desired to be protected. The filter networks select the bits of a disguised predetermined control code which when matched with a stored reference code results in an output from the filter used to activate functions within the protection device. The purpose of the code is to prevent an outside observer from determining what activates the security device which prevents the security of the software from being compromised. A stream of bits including a disguised predetermined control code issuing from the computer through the security device are N compared with a stored reference code in a programmable memory and when a match occurs an output ^emanates providing an acknowledgement code to the computer indicating that the hardware device has been ©plugged in and is a proper one. The stored reference code can be provide by a programmable memory using an W intermediate storage register between the programmable memory and the selection network. The intermediate ^storage register is clocked so that the input reference code of the networks changes in a predetermined manner. 05 Accordingly, the code is selected by networks changed in accordance not only with what is stored in the W programmable memory, but also by the content of an intermediate register at any given time, the effect of which ^ i s to continually change the reference code by clocking the intermediate register. O


One of the most attractive ways to quickly deploy 5G networks when new frequency bands are not yet available to local operators is to do it on the basis of Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) solution. The DSS mode provides 5G network with access to 4G spectrum resource and the use of a single-frequency broadcast network in which one part of OFDM-signal resource blocks is used to transmit LTE (4G) resource blocks, and the other part is used to transmit 5G resource blocks. Bearing in mind that 4G operator has a relevant spectrum license to transmit LTE signals, it is necessary to show that the spectrum mask of the combined frequency channel accommodating both 4G and 5G OFDM-signal resource blocks does not exceed authorized bandwidth and ensures EMC between LTE and 5G networks. Thus, the aim of the authors was to conduct experimental studies of spectrum masks of the combined 4G/5G frequency channel for different LTE channel bandwidths in real operating conditions of 5G base stations operating in the DSS mode and demonstrate that EMC is feasible.


A 47-year-old male patient presented to our hospital Accident and Emergency (A&E) department after involvement in a side impact motor vehicle accident. Notes from paramedics and witnesses described that the speed of the motorbike was around 50 km/h, and the patient was unconscious for a moment and later started speaking incoherently. The patient presented in A&E haemodynamically unstable, with a pulse rate of 110 beats/min, blood pressure of 80/50 mm Hg, and oxygen saturation of 92% on room air. He was confused and failed to respond to the questions from hospital staff. Clinically, the patient suffered from head and abdominal injuries, as well as a right lower limb fracture. Laboratory examinations were also performed and showed: HGB: 8.7 mg/dl, HCT: 26.3 mg/dl, CKMB: 1,88I U/L and CK: 3,274 IU/L. A multiphase CT angiography (CTA) and an aortography were performed immediately ( Fig. 1-6) .


—Based on the sparse characteristic of most signals under some transformation, compressive sampling has been brought out to replace the traditional Nyquist theory based sampling. This paper presents a Bayesian method to recovery the original signal from compressed measurements. A hierarchical Bayesian model is built to model the relation between the measurement and the underlying sparse coefficients. To model the sparse property of the signal, a mixture distribution is placed over the coefficient, which enforces the sparsity of the coefficient. The Variational Bayesian theory is applied to the model, and the estimation is obtained. To demonstrate the performance of the algorithm, experiments are carried out on both synthetic sparse signal and image signal.


This study examines a new Scytonema-based biosorbent (AlgaSORB-scy) using column chromatography for the biosorption of total inorganic arsenic [As(III) and As(V)] from aquatic samples. The AlgaSORB-scy was prepared by immobilizing a cyanobacterial biofilm (Scytonema-dimethyl-formamide slurry) over a polymer-modified silica gel and then characterized for stability and sorption/elution conditions under dynamic equilibrations followed by differential pulse polarographic detection. The sorbent exhibited a 100% affinity for As(III) in a multi-elemental solution [in the absence of As(V)] at pH 6.9 and a flow rate of 1 mL min -1 giving rise to a preconcentration factor as high as 44-fold. The interference caused by As(V) in the sorption of As(III) on AlgaSORB-scy necessitated the pre-reduction of As(V) into As(III) by sodium sulfite. The biosorbent was found to be suitable for total arsenic enrichment in the form of As(III) species and demonstrated a better endurance with a recyclability of up to 59 cycles of sorption-elution. The polymeric spacer between the cyanobacterial biofilm and the silica gel enabled the biofilm monolayer to be held firmly onto a solid support and be accessible for quantitative arsenic uptake without encountering any problems of interfacial overlapping, re-adsorption, or matrix effects in the drinking water supplied.


outlines a brief history of the Fleuve Noir publishing house and the Anticipation series that became its longest running (from 1951–1997) with over 2000 volumes released. Finally, Lyau traces a genealogy of French science fiction, arguing that the authors of the 1950s were 'stepchildren of Voltaire' whose works were indebted to both the philosophical tales of the eighteenth century and theAmerican sciencefictionnarratives and themes of the twentieth. Subsequent chapters deal in more detail with key authors of the Anticipation series. Lyau identifies as 'moderates' (F. Richard Bessière,M.A.Rayjeanand JeanBommart) those 'writers [who] wanted to avoid extreme or absolute measures in the application of new ideas and technologies on society' (31). Jimmy Guieu was, according to Lyau, a singular 'extremist' who exhibited a profound optimism about the promises of technology and science. Lyau's 'conservatives' (StefanWul,Maurice Limat, Peter Randa and Kurt Steiner) cherished history and tradition, approaching scientific and technological progress with a degree of pessimism in novels that presented dystopian and apocalyptic scenarios. More 'radical' authors (Jean-Gaston Vandel and B.R. Bruss) expressed their preference for a return to the fundamentals of humannature and society.Afinalwriter, Gerard Klein, seemed to respond to those in his cohort with a measured optimism about the future. Throughout the book, Lyau exhibits a great enthusiasm for his subjectmatter and a detailed knowledge of the biographies and narratives of his chosen authors.What is less clear is the set of broader connections Lyau seeks to make to the political, social, economic and cultural concerns of postwar France. Lyau's categorisation of authors across a range from moderate to radical appearsarbitraryatmomentsandhis links to thecontextsbeyondsciencefictionare far less well developed than his detailed discussions of plots and characters. In the end, it is not apparent to this reader what new insights scholars of modern and contemporary France (apart from those interested in the history of science fiction) are meant to gain from Lyau's analysis. Finally, Lyau's decision to end his study in 1960 betrays a rather outmoded viewof a period that included the crisis of the Algerianwar and, perhaps closer to home for Lyau's authors, the inauguration of a programme of nuclear weapons testing that would have profound implications for ideas about science, technology and the future of France.


The chaoticity of the Mixmaster is discussed in the framework of Statistical Mechanics by using Misner--Chitre-like variables and an ADM reduction of its dynamics. We show that such a system is well described by a microcanonical ensemble whose invariant measure is induced by the corresponding Liouville one and is uniform. The covariance with respect to the choice of the temporal gauge of the obtained invariant measure is outlined.


Ionizing radiation could cause genetic changes in an organism and could modify gene linkages. The induction of mutation through radiation is random and the probability of getting the desired genetic change is low but can be increased by manipulating different parameters such as dose rate, physical conditions under which the material has been irradiated, etc. Induced mutations have been used as a supplement to conventional plant breeding, particularly for creating genetic variability for specific characters such as improved plant structure, pest and disease resistance, and desired changes in maturity period; more than 200 varieties of crop plants have been developed by this technique. The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission has used this technique fruitfully to evolve better germplasm in cotton, rice, chickpea, wheat and mungbean; some of the mutants have become popular commercial varieties. This paper describes some uses of radiation induced mutations and the results achieved in Pakistan so far.


Condensation of tahcyons in closed string theory was analyzed and its connection with the computation of the black hole entropy was pointed out. The entropy computed in this manner was found to be in precise agreement with the the Bekenstein-Hawking Entropy. A tachyon potential with the appropriate critical points was proposed in terms of an effective c-function of the worldsheet theory and it was determined as a solution of certain integrable equations. Dirichlet branes in the background of a PP wave were constructed and the open string spectrum was in agreement with the gauge theory spectrum. Loop equations for correlators of Wilson line operators in non-commutative gauge theories were derived. Unlike what happens for closed Wilson loops, the joining term survives in the planar equations. This fact was used to obtain a NEW loop equation which relates the correlation function of an arbitrary number of Wilson lines to a set of closed Wilson loops, obtained by joining the individual Wilson lines together by a series of well-defined cutting and joining manipulations. For closed loops, we showed that the non-planar contributions do not have a smooth limit in the limit of vanishing non-commutativity and hence the equations do not reduce to their commutative counterparts


Following his extensive expedition into the hinterlands of the Somali ecology, Sir Richard Burton, the 19 th century acentric British explorer, in his eventual meetings with several Somalis chiefs, in particular Garad Adan Garad Koshin (Geri tribe) and Sultan Sharmarke (Issak), gained an intrinsic understanding of Somali kinship, culture, religion, and their system of governance. In his subsequent book, " First Footsteps in East Africa," Sir Burton came to the conclusion that Somalis are fiercely republicans and a race that values personal freedom. Other observers of the Somali society, the indomitable student of the Somali society, I. M. Lewis, in particular, commented on the prominence of kinship. What is less emphasized is the dual nature of the Somali society that is on the one had a kinship based society but at the same time a nation conscious of its oneness.2


The
Compton
Radiography
Snout
(CRS)
is
a
prototype
of
a
diagnostic
called
the
High
Energy
X‐ Ray
Imager
(HEXRI)
that
will
be
used
to
record
radiographs
of
imploding
fuel
cells
on
NIF.
With
 these
radiographs,
it
is
possible
to
characterize
the
density
and
symmetry
of
the
imploding
fuel
 capsule.
When
the
advanced
radiography
capability
is
used
to
generate
the
high
energy
x‐rays
 used
to
backlight
the
radiographs,
hot
electrons
are
also
produced.
In
order
to
record
a
clear
 radiograph,
these
electrons
are
deflected
away
from
the
imaging
plane
of
the
CRS
using
a
 permanent
magnetic
yoke.
In
an
effort
to
increase
the
number
of
parameters
that
can
be
used
 during
the
scaling
of
the
CRS
for
NIF,
an
investigation
is
underway
to
add
an
electron
 spectrometer
capability
to
the
CRS
to
measure
the
electron
spectrum
produced
during
the
ARC
 backlighting.

 Introduction
 The
Compton
Radiography
Snout
(CRS)
is
a
prototype
of
a
diagnostic
called
the
High
Energy
X‐ Ray
Imager
(HEXRI)
that
is
being
tested
at
the
OMEGA
laser
facility
for
eventual
scaling
and
use
 at
the
National
Ignition
Facility
(NIF).
HEXRI
will
record
for
radiographs
that
are
spaced
 temporally,
in
order
to
characterize
the
density
and
symmetry
of
the
imploding
fuel
capsule
at
 4
different
times
during
the
fuel
implosion.


Introduction Refugees and asylum seekers have often been exposed to multiple or complex traumas and are known to have a high rate of trauma-related disorders. Different therapeutic approaches have been used to treat this group with varying success. Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) is one promising intervention for refugees and asylum seekers that are suffering from post-traumatic stress-disorder (PTSD). NET is a treatment given individually or in small groups in typically 12 sessions or less. In NET, memories are reorganized through a process involving imaginary exposure to trauma. Objectives To review the literature on NET for refugees and asylum seekers suffering from PTSD. Methods The data bases PubMed, Medline, PsycInfo and Web of Science were searched using a selection of search terms, including 'Narrative therapy', 'refugees' and 'stress disorders, post-traumatic'. The identified relevant articles were qualitatively assessed and effect sizes were compared. Methodological quality was assessed according to the GRADE-criteria. Results Thirteen studies were assessed with a total study population of 745. Nine of the included studies were RCTs. Overall, the studies found medium to very high effects of NET. The quality of the studies varied from very low to high. More studies of NET for refugees and asylum seekers are needed, and in particular studies reporting long-term outcomes. Conclusions The review suggests that NET shows promise as a method for the treatment of PTSD in refugees and asylum seekers. However, the review is based on relatively few studies and more studies of long-term outcomes are particularly needed.


The article's main hypothesis is, following Vilém Flusser, that modern imagery in general is "technical," which means its images are images of technical concepts. As such they are difficult to distinguish phenomenologically and semiotically from their environment and therefore difficult to identify as images. The main argument is that certain modern images are capable of revealing this technicality by confronting the viewer with a concrete visibility forcing discursive relocations of the knowledge integral to perceiving them. The article develops this argument from Gottfried Boehm and Michel Foucault's understanding of images, and in connection with analyses of photographs of the Russian artist Alexander Rodchenko and paintings by the Danish painters J. F. Willumsen and Erik Hoppe.


We have fabricated bismuth ferrite (BFO) nano and micro structures by electrospinning and sol-gel methods. The obtained morphology of BFO throughelectrospinning and sol-gel method was found to be well aligned rod like nanostructures and microspheres, respectively. The synthesized nanostructures were analyzed for their structural and morphological characteristics by XRD and FE-SEM techniques. Further, their photocatalytic activity was tested under natural sunlight and water splitting ability of the synthesized nano/micro structures was studied by electrochemical method.We have fabricated bismuth ferrite (BFO) nano and micro structures by electrospinning and sol-gel methods. The obtained morphology of BFO throughelectrospinning and sol-gel method was found to be well aligned rod like nanostructures and microspheres, respectively. The synthesized nanostructures were analyzed for their structural and morphological characteristics by XRD and FE-SEM techniques. Further, their photocatalytic activity was tested under natural sunlight and water splitting ability of the synthesized nano/micro structures was studied by electrochemical method.


: In this study, surface modification of ferrite nanoparticles were effectively prepared using (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES). The chemical structure and morphology of the acquired nanoparticles were studied spectral analysis techniques such as XRD. Both of Modified ferrite nanoparticles (MFNs) and ferrite nanoparticles (FNs) were used in the preparation of epoxy nanocomposites with different weight fraction. XRD approved that MFNs was successfully prepared with highly crystalline structure. also the average particle size of nano filler decreased to ∼ 20.21 nm after silane surface modification. Surface modification of ferrite nanoparticles enhanced the dispersion of ferrite fillers in epoxy resin due to which homogeneously dispersion of modified ferrite nanoparticles improved magnetic property of epoxy composite compare to cured epoxy and normal ferrite epoxy composites. Enhanced dispersion of Modified ferrite nanoparticle into epoxy resin was successfully performed which has been shown improve magnetization of epoxy ferrite composite compare to normal epoxy ferrite composite by 24.29%. size increase mechanical property i.e. tensile strength and fracture toughness of the coating. Ferrite particle filled composite material based on polymer matrix materials are called bonded magnets which is the current research interest for possible application. Concerning current study, modified ferrite nanoparticle epoxy were formulated through filling epoxy matrix with modified ferrite nano particles and normal ferrite nano particles. For investigation the effect of treatment of reinforced particles with silane on the magnetic properties of composite; microstructural, magnetic characterizations were performed using XRD and VSM. agent to prepare Modified ferrite nanoparticle(MFNs).The chemical structure of the crystalline Modified ferrite nanoparticle was confirmed by XRD pattern. Enhanced dispersion of Modified ferrite nanoparticle into epoxy resin was successfully performed which has been shown improve magnetization of epoxy ferrite composite compare to normal epoxy ferrite composite by 24.29%.


A MEMS based, resonant mode, thinned single crystal silicon scanning mirror stiffened by a skeleton truss and actuated via multi-layer vertical comb-drives has been realized utilizing a self-aligned DRIE fabrication process.


Application of Ar+ ion implantation is allowed to create nanostructures in thin metal films on pyroelectrics, that make infrared pyroelectric photodetectors on the base of such systems nonselective.


When electrically excited nitrogen was used as an absorber, about one hundred absorption bands were observed in the 1080–1300‐A region. They are not due to absorption by ordinary nitrogen, but are produced by transitions from the vibrationally excited (v=4–13) ground state X 1Σg+ to the j 1Σu+, b 1Πu, l 1Πu, m 1Πu, and b′ 1Σu+ states.


This research involves a study of the existing taxi dispatch system employed by taxi operators in Singapore. Based on the booking surcharges, there are generally two categories of taxi bookings, current and advance. Current bookings are requests that taxi should reach the customer immediately or within half an hour, and advance bookings are requests made at least half an hour in advance. In this paper, a novel trip-chaining strategy for taxi advance booking based on a customized algorithm of Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Window (PDPTW) was proposed. The idea is to chain several bookings with demand time points which are spread out within a reasonable period of time, and with each pick-up point coinciding with or being within close proximity to the previous drop-off location. Based on the experimental results, the proposed system has the potential to improve the taxi booking service currently operating in Singapore.


Objective To observe the clinical application effect and safety of two kinds of IUD, the MCu memory alloy and TCu 220. Methods By comparative study, from December, 2008 to December, 2012, 85 cases of healthy women of childbearing age were placed two kinds of IUD, 43 cases were treated with MCu IUD, and 42 cases were treated with TCu 220 IUD, and were observed postoperative 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 months respectively. Results The pregnancy rate, loss rate, removal rate due to sickness and cumulative continuation rate of 2 kinds of IUD in 48 months respectively was the following, MCu memory alloy IUD: 2.32%, 0.00%, 4.64%, 88.37%;TCu 220 IUD:2.38%, 4.76%, 9.52%, 76.19%. Comparing the pregnancy rate between 2 kinds of IUD, there was no significant difference(P0. 05); The loss rate of MCu memory alloy IUD was lower than that of TCu 220 IUD, the difference was statistically significant(P0. 01); The removal rate due to sickness of MCu memory alloy IUD was lower than that of TCu 220 IUD, the difference was statistically significant(P0.05); The cumulative continuation rate of MCu memory alloy IUD in 48 months was higher than that of TCu 220 IUD with significant difference(P0.01). Conclusion MCu IUD memory alloy has the advantages of low loss rate, low remove rate due to sickness and high cumulative continuation rate, which is worth promoting.


Over the last two decades, poly(quinoline)s have become the subject of intense research as electroluminescent materials, for example organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs), thanks to their superior physical properties such as high electron mobility, photoluminescent efficiency, and stability. In this review, we outline the current research efforts on the employment of poly(quinoline)s and their closely related metallated analogs as materials for organic light‐emitting diodes. We will describe in detail the advantages and disadvantages of current poly(quinoline) systems, and suggest strategies to overcome current challenges that limit their use in OLEDs.