In this paper we determine the straight-line complexity of n! for n ≤ 22 and give bounds for the complexities up to n = 46. In the same way we determine the straight-line complexity of the product of the first primes up to p = 23 and gives bounds for p ≤ 43. Our results are based on an exhaustive computer search of the short length straight-line programs.


The purposes of this research are (1) to find out customer relationship marketing which includes: trust, commitment, communication, and conflict handling partially have influence to the customer satisfaction; (2) to find out which variable has dominant influence to the customer satisfaction among customer relationship marketing variables which include: trust, commitment, communication, and conflict handling. This research is causality study research. The population in this research is the customers who visit and purchase at Virgin Cafe and Resto that the number of customer cannot be determined. Accidental sampling technique is applied the sample selection and 75 people have been selected as samples. Multiple regression analysis and hypothesis test which is done by using SPSS version 21 is applied as the data analysis technique. The result of the research shows that customer relationship marketing which consists of trust, commitment, communication, and conflict handling have significant influence to the customer satisfaction at Virgin Cafe and Resto. It indicates that the significance levels of each variable is not more than α = 5%. It has been found from the result of equation of regression that the variable of customer relationship marketing that is the most dominant to the customer satisfaction at Virgin Cafe and Resto is communication since its partial determination coefficient value is the largest if it is compared to trust, commitment, and conflict handling variables. Keywords: Trust, Commitment, Communication, Conflict Handling, and Customer Satisfaction


Volume 23, no. 17, p. 6327–6337, 2003. We have been unable to reproduce a control experiment reported in this paper. Specifically, we found that 25 M 1-naphthol-methyl PP1 (1NM-PP1) causes a G1 delay in wild-type cells that is similar to the delay observed in elm1-as cells. While attempting to reproduce this control, we found that addition of supplemental adenine to yeast extract-peptone-dextrose (YPD) growth medium significantly reduces the effects of 1NM-PP1 on wild-type cells. Since our strains are ade and grow slowly on YPD medium, we often supplement the media with additional adenine. The addition of adenine to 100 mg/liter largely eliminates the G1 delay observed in wild-type cells in the presence of 25 M 1NM-PP1. We also found that the defects in septin organization that we observed before bud emergence were seen only at high concentrations of 1NM-PP1 (25 M). They may therefore be the combined result of full inhibition of elm1-as and partial inhibition of other kinases. Alternatively, high concentrations of 1NM-PP1 may be necessary to achieve full inhibition of elm1-as. The other results of the paper are unaffected.


Purpose Against the background of actively promoting the reform of mixed ownership in China, this study regards government ownership in private sector enterprises (PSEs) as an important political connection mechanism and examines private holding listed companies in high-polluting industries that sold China A-shares from 2012 to 2019.Design/methodology/approach Using regression models such as Tobit and negative binomial estimation, the research empirically examines the impact of government ownership in PSEs on the corporate fulfillment of their environmental responsibilities.Findings Government ownership can effectively promote PSEs to fulfill their environmental responsibilities. Government ownership, as a corporate-level political connection mechanism, enables the government to provide firms with more environmental protection subsidies and environmental tax incentives, encouraging firms to fulfill their environmental responsibilities. When considering the policy risks faced by PSEs, government ownership effectively reduces the impact of policy uncertainty on firms' fulfillment of environmental responsibilities. Additionally, verifying the economic development level of the city in which the firm is located makes the positive impact of government ownership on fulfillment of environmental responsibilities of PSEs in regions with lower economic development levels more significant.Originality/value Unlike existing studies that generally use the personal political identity of entrepreneurs to measure the political connections of PSEs, this study regards government ownership in PSEs as an important political connection mechanism. It provides a useful reference for China to formulate environmental protection policies for PSEs.


Preface Introduction An Overview of Sport in Asia and Africa The International and National Expansion of Sports Sport in Asia Sport in Yemen Arab Republic Sport in Japan Sport in South Korea: Ssirum, the YMCA, and the Olympic Games Sport in the People's Republic of China Sport in Thailand Physical Education and Sport in the Philippines Sport in Malaysia Sport in Africa Sport in Egypt: Cultural Reflection and Contradiction of a Society Sport in Botswana Sport in Zaire Sport in Nigeria Sport in Kenya Index


The global financial crisis of 2008 sparked an ongoing debate concerning the interlink between monetary policy and equity returns. This study contributes to the debate by examining whether the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) repo rate responds asymmetrically to changes in the returns on four equity indices on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Our empirical model is the momentum threshold autoregressive (MTAR) model which is applied to monthly data corresponding to periods before the financial crisis (2002:01 - 2008:08) and periods after the crisis (2008:08 - 2016:12). There are three main findings which can be derived from our empirical analysis. Firstly, we significant negative relationship between equity prices to the repo rate before the crisis and this relationship turns insignificant in periods after the crisis. Secondly, we find that the Reserve Bank mainly monitored positive disturbances to equity indices before the crisis whereas after the crisis the Reserve Bank appears to be more responsive to negative equity deviations. Lastly, we find significant error correcting behaviour in periods before the crisis but not afterwards. Overall, our results indicate that the SARB appears to have been responsive to equity returns prior to the crisis but not for subsequent periods.


Doctors' freedom to work in any EU country has led to concerns about whether their fitness to practise can be guaranteed as they move across borders. Abi Rimmer looks at the issues


Recently, new anode materials have been studied in order to meet the requirement of high energy density and thermal stability for lithium ion batteries. Among the candidate materials, lithium vanadium oxide (Li1.1V0.9O2) is one of the promising anode materials because of its high specific capacity on a volume basis and low working potential [1-3]. In addition, this layered lithium vanadium oxide undergoes a low volume change during cycling, which can promise a good cycling performance. In this work, we prepared lithium vanadium oxide materials by simple solid state reaction and composite anode using natural graphite powder. The electrochemical properties of these anodes for lithium ion batteries were investigated using various analytical techniques.


Abstract Objective The current study explores non-linear effects of absolute risk and effects of comparative risk information about skin cancer on individuals' safety ratings, affective responses and behavioral intentions. Method An experimental survey was conducted among college students (N = 563) to test the effects of absolute and comparative risk information across a range of risk levels from 3.7% to 60%. Results The non-linear model of absolute risk effect was confirmed by the data. Absolute risk information had detectable effects at low levels of risk, but the effects did not change appreciably at the highest absolute risk levels. Regarding comparative risk, the data did not support its effects on individuals' safety ratings, affective responses and behavioral intentions. Conclusion The study found the non-linear model fits well to the skin cancer related feelings and behavioral intentions. It suggests future research apply non-linear models to a variety of health communication areas.


In recent years, new technology and new equipment, such as JF angle type of double valve tray etc., were widely applied in CDU of large-scale refineries at home. The refining and chemical series assistants, such as neutral corrosion inhibitor etc., were widely applied also in it. They decrease its comprehensive engery consumption and increase its technical level year by year.


paper presents the issue related to the selection of slab formwork taking into account the criteria that are currently the most important The in the process of the construction project execution. The analysis included selected, modern system solutions, which significantly accelerate the tempo of reinforced concrete works and, as a consequence, increase the effectiveness of the construction project execution. The innovative system of drop heads, which the analysed slab formwork is equipped with, is offered by various formwork producers. The offered solutions, however, differ not only in the construction of the drophead itself, but also in the arrangement and variety of other system elements, as well as the scheme of their operation, which may ultimately significantly affect the effectiveness of their application. For that reason, the choice of formwork for specific buildings should be made from among carefully analysed several variants of the wide market offer. The paper presents the results of analysis and evaluation of formwork systems with dropheads according to the proposed methodology, including multi-criteria analysis.


The aim of this paper is to study the implementation of Wadiah Product at an Islamic Bank in Indonesia. Bank Syariah Mandiri is the first government bank that operates according to the Islamic Syariah system in Indonesia. The Bank Syariah Mandiri provides wadiah products to serve its customers who are concerned with a free interest product in a financial transaction. This study was carried out with a qualitative method, and the data were gathered through in-depth interviews with the bank staff and manager, observation, and written material. The results of this study show that wadiah application in Bank Syariah Mandiri of Palu runs in accordance with the Syariah principles of Islamic Law. The results of this study also show that costumers lack knowledge regarding how to access the wadiah product. Then the Muslim community preferences in wadiah savings products is still relatively small because Muslim society  perceived the profit sharing at the Islamic bank is lower  compared to similar products from conventional banks.Further study may focus on Islamic banks customers perception of the wadiah product.


Four kinds of dual-phase steel with different morphology were developed by means of step quenching treatment routes.The research results show that the maximum shear stress of dual-phase steel raises with the increase of martensite content.The existence of adiabatic shear band and the crack caused by the band are important features in dynamic torsion moment tests.


Microwave imaging holds the potential to bring an alternative to ionizing and expensive imaging modalities, such as mammography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computerized tomography (CT) scan. The absence of a high-resolution and non-model-based image reconstruction technique is one of the reasons that limited microwaves-based imaging. We introduce a microwaves-based imaging modality relying on the Radon transform technique adopted to create an imaging system identical in concept to CT-scanning methods that employ X-rays. This system uses low-frequency microwaves and highly localized radiators and receivers. While low-frequency microwaves are not perceived to have the ray-like behavior of X-rays, our system hinges on the principle that if the object under test (OUT) is electrically small (smaller than the wavelength), then the impression/projection due to an electrically very small localized source will be highly similar to a projection generated by a ray-like source. This phenomenon is due to the fact that a receiver closest to the highly localized transmitter will capture the highest energy. Several simulation studies and measurements demonstrate the ability of this technique to provide cross-sectional images of a 3-D object with high resolution.


Figuring out just what the "glue" is that binds the electrons into pairs in high temperature superconducting cuprates has been a goal since their appearance nearly 15 years ago. Molegraaf et al. (p. 2234; see the Perspective by Hirsch) report on sensitive optical measurements of the in-plane conductivity of the cuprate superconductor BSCCO and reveal that a transfer of the spectral weight from higher energy to lower energy occurs as the temperature is decreased and the sample becomes superconducting . In contrast to conventional superconductors where the pairing mechanism involves a reduction in the potential energy mediated by the electronphonon interaction, the "glue" in the cuprate case appears to arise from a reduction in the kinetic energy.


Ibrutinib is an oral irreversible inhibitor of the bruton tyrosine kinase (Btk) which has shown promising efficacy and excellent tolerability in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and other B-cell malignancies.[1][1] Ibrutinib inhibits BCR signaling, impairs chemokine-mediated adhesion


C-reactive protein is an acute-phase reactant frequently used in hystochemistry as a marker of ongoing inflammation. Furthermore, CRP is a powerful biomarker for prediction of coronary artery disease risk. Heat-shock protein 60 and CRP are complement activating molecules and we aimed to study the effect of their interactions on the regulation of complement activation. However, during the first experiments we learned that polyclonal anti-CRP antibodies crossreact with Hsp60. Therefore, the aim of our present study was to analyze the cross-reactivity of anti-CRP antibodies with Hsp60 in solid-phase enzyme immune assays, in epitope studies using series of overlapping synthetic peptides and in Ouchterlony analyses. We found that three different commercial rabbit polyclonal, and two monoclonal (9C9, CRP-8) anti-CRP antibodies specifically recognize recombinant human Hsp60 and recombinant M. tuberculosis Hsp65, respectively. Hsp60 was found to inhibit the binding of anti-CRP polyclonal Ab to Hsp60. Six epitope regions of Hsp60 were recognised by the anti-CRP antibodies and one region (AA218-232) was recognised by monoclonal antibody CRP-8. This epitope region of Hsp60 displays 26.6% amino acid identity to CRP AA77-90 region. These data suggest that the shared B-cell epitopes between CRP and Hsp60 give rise for a true mimicry based crossreaction. Furthermore, commercial anti-CRP preparations contain antibodies to Hsp60 which might be explained by the fact that complete Freund's adjuvant was used during the immunization process. Our study underlines the importance of thorough study design and careful interpretation of results while using polyclonal anti-CRP antibodies for histochemistry especially at low dilutions.


Finite element analysis for large-scale complicated structure such as aluminum reduction cell makes higher demand on memory capacity and calculation speed, resulting in failure or inefficiency of traditional serial computation for such large-scale problems constantly. The parallelization of Jacobi preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) algorithm and boundary conditions processing is discussed based on domain decomposition method (DDM). And the storage of coefficient matrix for each sub-domain is studied based on element-by-element (EBE) strategy. Coordinate-based division is used for task partition considering structural characteristics of the aluminum reduction cell. Subsequently, parallel program of finite element analysis based on DDM is developed using C language and MPI standard library, and then applied to numeric simulation of electric field distribution in aluminum reduction cell. Parallel performance of both entire and each part of the program developed is analyzed and parallel efficiency of DDM and EBE method is compared. Experiment results show that the method is of significantly high acceleration performance and can greatly shorten the calculation time, which indicates the effectiveness of DDM's application in parallel finite element analysis of large-scale complicated structures.


The purpose of this paper is to examine the substantive and procedural differences between the United States and Japan regarding their enforcement of restrictive provisions in international licensing agreements. The paper analyzes the regimes governing licensing transactions between domestic and foreign parties. Both countries have recently reformed their guidelines governing international licensing agreements and their restrictive provisions. The Japanese guidelines were promulgated by its Fair Trade Commission, whereas the Justice Department produced the United States guidelines. Each set was written to provide insight into the enforcement policies of their respective countries and to assist the licensing parties in avoiding illegal restrictive provisions in their agreements. However, the two guidelines take different approaches in determining which license provisions and limitations will be challenged as unlawful and which types of procedures will be applied. This paper focuses on these procedural distinctions as well as the effects such distinctions will have upon the licensing parties. In order to better understand the current policies and enforcement techniques employed in each country, a brief history is provided as to how the two sets of present guidelines were derived. The paper also analyzes the differences between the recently revised and original guidelines. The historical section and comparative analysis should assist in understanding any new effects that the two countries' present guidelines will create.


The purpose of this study is to provide the fundamental data to improve a school building through comparing and analyzing facilities of high schools located in Gyeonggi?do Province on the basis of the Design Indicator for the Korean Educational Buildings. Two types of high schools were examined for this study. Some of them are high schools selected by Korean Ministry of Education as a school equipped with superior facilities and the others are high schools equipped with general facilities. 8 items such as safety, comfort, the function of education, utilization, the public, eco-friendliness, technology performance, economical efficiency were examined by 5 point Likert scale. Findings showed that all facilities of both types of high schools received high ratings in terms of safety, utilization, and technology performance. However, the evaluation index on 'various used outdoor space' and 'public buildings harmonized with surroundings' of the education function of both types of high schools was low, which implies that the facility related to the education function needs to be improved. It infers that facilities are simplified and harmony with surroundings disappears when altering the design of the school building due to the convenience of building and the problem of the budget. Therefore, these need to be primarily controlled. Additionally, in high schools with general facilities, the evaluation index on 'aesthetic interior and exterior design of comfort', 'the responsive space to the demand for teaching and learning of the function of education', and eco-friendless were so low that these factors need to be considered when designing the school building.


This study involved the use of hand-held calculators in the mathematics classes of Stuart Public School, Stuart, Nebraska, for one semester during the school year 1975-76. The mathematics classes included in the study were Math 7, Math 8, General Math, Business Math, Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry and Trigonometry. The total number of students was 125. Each class was randomly divided into two groups and each group alternated using the calculator on at least eight standardized or teacher-made tests. After each test, an attitudinal test was administered to each student. A preand post-test were also administered to each student. After a test in each class was completed, the data were tabulated on coding sheets and sent to Montana State University for analysis. The data compiled on the coding sheet were Student Number, Test Number, Test Score, T score, Attitude Scale Scores, Test Date, Rank on the test, Number of Concept and Computation Errors, Whether or not a Calculator was used and the Length of time to take the test. The data were analyzed by t test, F test, Analysis of variance and Duncan's test. The level of significance was 0.05. The hypotheses tested were those concerning test scores, concept and computation errors, attitudes, time and rank when students were experimental or control. Basically, the same hypotheses were tested with poorer students versus better students, and among the six grades, 7-12. Two topics discussed were test behavior and check of their work when students were experimental or control. The findings of this study are explained below. There was no significant difference in the following areas when students were experimental or control: test scores, concept and computation errors, attitudes, time and rank. There was a significant difference in concept and computation errors and attitudes of the poorer students versus better students. There was also a significant difference in computation errors and time among the six grades, 7-12. The topics of test behavior and checking were discuss-based on observation. There was nothing unusual related to test behavior and most of the time only better students checked their work. The preand post-test scores were tested by the t test to the significance of H0: MeanPRE = MeanPOST, versus Ha: MeanPOST ≠ MeanPRE. The null hypothesis was accepted in Trigonometry and Geometry and rejected in Algebra I, Algebra II, Business Math and General Math. The same thing was done for grades 7-8, but their test was broken down into five basic tests: Concepts, Computation, Common Fractions, Decimal Fractions and Percent, and Number Facts. For Math 8, the null hypothesis was rejected on all five tests. For Math 7, the null hypothesis was rejected for Concepts, Decimal Fractions and Percent and Number Facts, and accepted for Computation and Common Fractions. HAND-HELD CALCULATORS AT STUART PUBLIC IN THE MATHEMATICS CLASSROOM SCHOOL, STUART, NEBRASKA by RODGER WILLIAM LENHARD A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION


Background: The prevalence of chronic disease is increased by sarcopenia, which is change in body composition induced by aging resulting in loss of muscle mass and increase in fat mass. The purpose of this study was to identify any difference between dietary habits, patterns of snacking, and exercise between elderly subjects with normal and abnormal hand grip strength. Methods: A cross sectional study of 135 elderly members from a senior welfare center was carried out and data were collected through interviews by using a structured questionnaire which included factors such as education level, BMI, dietary habit, pattern of snacking, and exercise associated with hand grip strength. The subjects were classified into abnormal and normal groups based on hand grip strength. Results: The results showed significant differences in education level, age, and BMI among the two groups. Subjects among the normal hand grip strength group showed greater frequency in food intake and snacking than in the abnormal group. They also showed, although not statistically significant, higher intake of food and snacks containing calcium, vitamin D-rich dairy, legumes, and eggs while they scored lower in resistance exercise. Conclusion: The results indicate that in order to increase muscle strength in the elderly, it is necessary to prevent being underweight by proper dietary habit, and exercise.


Objective:To research the short term curative effect of PVB regimen on late stage ovarian cancer.Methods: To review 64 cases of late stage ovarian cancer. VCR 1.5mg d1 intravenous injection, NDP 70mg/m2 d2 intravenous drip for over 3 hours, BLM30mg d3-d5 intravenous drip, repeated every three weeks and more than 2 courses for each case.Results: The effective rate on the cases untreated previously was 45.8%, on cases treated previously was 30.0%, which had noticeable difference. The CR of the cases antreated previousyl was 4.2%, and that of treated previously was 0, in which 30% are of no effect. Rate of with effect on cavum pelvis tumor was 63.2%, and of lymph node metastasis was 69.2%.Liver metastasis was the worst; the rates of SD and PD were 50.0% and 37.5% respectively.Conclusion:PVB regimen was with relatively low side effect, had a short term curative effect on late stage ovarian cancer and the metastasis.


The effect of gas flow on the helical instability of arcs is studied by using a linear time dependent perturbation theory in this paper. Based on a set of electrostatic magnetohydrodynamic equations, the corresponding equations and the boundary conditions are derived in the presence of a vortical gas flow, combined by a rotation and an axial component (the rotating flow and the axial flow). The effects of rotating flow, axial flow, and both of them on the arc stability are discussed, respectively. The marginal Maecker's number and the growth rate of the helical instability are given. Computational results show that the gas flow stabilizes the arc helical instability. In particular, the axial flow (the axial component) plays a more important role in practical applications.


Purpose: To study the effect of segmental neuromyotherapy(SNMT) on myofascial pain syndrome patients(MPS).Methods: 36 MPS patients were involved in this study.All the patients received SNMT therapy.0~10 Numeric Rating Scale(NRS) were valued by the patients before and after SNMT therapy,and 1 month、3 months after the treatment.Results: The average NRS marks were 8.12±1.21分before SNMT therapy and 3.62±1.64 immediately after,3.36±1.78 1 months after,3.28±1.42 3 months after.All of the latter changed significantly to the marks before SNMT therapy(P=0.000 and 0.044 seperately).All of the latter changed significantly(P=0.001 and 0.000 seperately).Conclusions: SNMT can help to reduce the pain of MPS,and has immediate and long-term effects on MPS.


Based on the principle of noise jamming,the situations of the same reconnaissance station interfered by the different intensity noise and different reconnaissance stations interfered by the same intensity noise are analysed,and the jamming effect is simulated sequencely.The simulation results show that the noise jamming effect on tri-station passive TDOA(Time Difference of Arrival) location system becomes better as the interference power and information power ratio received by reconnaissance station becomes bigger,and that the noise jamming effect on primary station is better than on assistant station.This provides a new way to protect the location of radiation source actively.


Panelists: Peter Weber, MD, Senior Medical Officer, Medicines Division, Department of Health and Social Security, United Kingdom; Ronald Meyboom, MD, Head, Netherlands Center for Monitoring of Adverse Reactions to Drugs, Netherlands; Asger Pedersen, MD, Chairman, Board of Adverse Reactions to Drugs, Denmark; Ed Napke, MD, Chief, Product Related Disease Division, Health Protection Branch, Health and Welfare, Canada; and Bengt-Erik Wiholm, MD, PhD, Director, Adverse Reactions Section, Department of Drugs, National Board of Health and Welfare, Sweden.


This paper presents a new three-dimensional floating random-walk (FRW) algorithm for the solution of the Nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann (NPB) equation. The FRW method has not been previously used in the numerical solution of the NPB equation (and other nonlinear equations) because of the non-availability of analytical expressions for volumetric Green's functions. In the past, numerical studies using the FRW method have examined only the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation, producing solutions that are only accurate for small values of the potential. No such linearization is required for this algorithm. An approximate expression for a volumetric Green's functions has been calculated with the help of a novel use of perturbation theory, and the resultant integral form has been incorporated within the FRW framework. The algorithm requires no discretization of either the volume or the surface of the problem domains, and hence the memory requirements are expected to be lower than approaches based on spatial discretization, such as finitedifference methods. Another advantage of this algorithm is that each random walk is independent, so that the computational procedure is inherently parallelizable and an almost linear increase in computational speed is expected with increase in the number of processors. We have † Adjunct Scientist at Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, USA 238 Chatterjee and Poggie recently published the preliminary results for benchmark problems in one and two dimensions. In this work, we present our results for benchmark problems in three dimensions and demonstrate excellent agreement between the FRWand finite-difference based algorithms. We also present the results of parallelization of the newly developed FRW algorithm. The solution of the NPB equation has applications in diverse branches of science and engineering including (but not limited to) the modeling of plasma discharges, semiconductor device modeling and the modeling of biomolecular structures and dynamics.


Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a new outbreak infectious disease, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Nearly 80,000 people have got infected in China in just 2 months. Up to now, there still has no specific effective treatment for this disease. While integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine has definite curative effect, could significantly reduce the disease mortality and shorten the course of treatment. Case Report: Here we report a 31-year-old female case of COVID-19 in a family cluster in Beijing. She reported low fever, cough with a little white sputum, fatigue, watery diarrhea, anorexia on admission. The COVID-19 in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) belonged to plagues caused by dampness toxin. The patient was treated with TCM from dampness combined with antiviral drug abidol. After four visits, the patient was significantly improved with symptoms disappearing, chest-computed tomography dissipating, viral nucleic acid turning negative. She discharged and donated 200 ml convalescent plasma after 19 days hospitalization. Conclusion: The present case demonstrated that integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine could treat COVID-19 effectively. However, clinical randomized controlled trials are warranted to verify the precise clinical efficacy.


The diagnostic criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus were first proposed in 1971 by the American College of Rheumatology. Though they have been revised several times (in 1982 and 1997), but, according to the information in the literary sources and our own clinical experience, the diagnosis may often be obvious, but the number of criteria is not sufficient and vice versa. This study aimed at improving diagnostic criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Materials and methods. 370 subjects (331 women, 89.46%, and 39 men, 10.54%, whose mean age was 41.24 ± 0.63 years) with confirmed diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus made up the main group. The comparison group included 234 patients (150 women, 64.10%, and 84 men, 35.90%), whose mean age was 48.82 ± 0.85 years) diagnosed to have rheumatic diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthropathy). Through the period of 2010 – 2018 all the participants were subjected to comprehensive clinical laboratory and instrumental examination of all their organs and systems before starting the treatment. The obtained data were analyzed by MS Excel and SPSS by contingency tables with the calculation of diagnostic and prognostic values (the relationship was considered to be significant if the absolute value of association coefficient exceeded 0.5 or the absolute value of the contingency coefficient exceeded 0.3) and Receiver Operating Characteristic-analysis. Results. The statistical analysis allowed us to identify 14 criteria comprising 18 manifestations that indicated systemic lupus erythematosus with confirmed highest sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. They include butterfly rash, photosensitivity, serous inflammation (pericarditis, pleuritis), joint pain, muscle pain, fever, alopecia, Raynaud syndrome, livedo reticularis, nervous system impairment (cramps, psychosis), thrombocytopenia, kidney damage (proteinuria, cylindruria), anti-dsDNA antibodies, antinuclear antibodies. These criteria are highly predictive; the combination of arthralgias and the presence of anti-dsDNA antibodies allows to predict the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus in patients with an almost 100% certainty. To be diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus, patient has to meet at least three of the 14 proposed diagnostic criteria that would occur simultaneously or one after another in any period. Conclusion. We have clarified diagnostic criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus by identifying 14 criteria as follows: butterfly rash, photosensitivity, serous inflammation (pericarditis, pleuritis), joint pain, muscle pain, fever, alopecia, Raynaud syndrome, neurological disorders (cramps, psychosis), livedo reticularis, thrombocytopenia, kidney damage (proteinuria, cylindruria), anti-dsDNA antibodies, and antinuclear antibodies.


This paper presents an experimental investigation of the aerodynamic noise generated by a square cylinder in the presence of a detached thin flat-plate located in its wake. Experiments were performed in an Anechoic Wind Tunnel (AWT) at Reynolds numbers between 1.55 x 10 4 < ReD < 2.3 x 10 4 (D being the width of the cylinder) and Mach numbers of 0.07 < M0 < 0.1. A flat-plate with a length L = D was placed along the centreline of the wake at a gap distance G from its trailing-edge (TE). The gap was varied between 0 < G < 4D whereby the aeroacoustic behaviour was studied using microphone measurements. It was found that the thin detached flat-plate reduced the Sound Pressure Level (SPL) by approximately 7 dB at the Aeolian tone frequency.


The polarizing microscope, fundamental tool for any first characterization of geological materials, suffers from one major limitation, namely the poor ability to image microstructures where minerals have a retardance <400 nm and display interference colors in the gray scale. This problem, so far considered as intrinsic and unsolvable, has prevented detailed optical observation of many low-birefringence (e.g., quartz, feldspars, leucite) or quasi-isotropic (e.g., garnet) rock-forming minerals. For the microstructural analysis of these phases, alternative microscopic techniques, mostly electronic, have been developed and are routinely used. Polychromatic polarization microscopy (PPM; [1] ) is a new optical technique that overcomes the above limitations and allows inspection of materials with retardation from 1 to 400 nm. This is achieved by means of a full spectrum color palette where the hue depends on orientation of the slow axis and the saturation depends on the retardance amount. We have applied PPM to regular, glass-covered 30 µm rock thin sections, with particular interest for the subtle birefringence of garnet, due both non-cubic growth [2] or to strain induced by external stresses or by mineral inclusions. PPM produces striking, colorful images that highlight different types of microstructures in very low retardance phases, which are virtually undetectable by conventional polarizing microscopy ppm (Fig. 1). The calibrated hue scale provides straightforward measurement of the orientation of optical axes in the thin section. PPM will open new avenues for microstructural analysis of geological materials. We highlight two of them. On one hand the direct detection and imaging of microstructures will provide a fast and cheap alternative (or complement) to time-consuming and more expensive SEM-based


The article touches upon the problem of natural oscillations of a thin elastic wavy shell of an open profile. The proposed method for determining the numerical values of the lowest frequencies and the corresponding forms of natural oscillations of shells of a complicated shape is based on the Rayleigh-Ritz energy method.
The results of numerical calculation of this thin wavy shell with a hinge-fixed attachment along the lower contour along the generatrix are presented.


The depleting petroleum oil resources, political embargos, and global warming dilemma have made it mandatory to develop alternative green technologies for energy and chemical production. Glycerol is one of the...


The long held summary view that the World War One soldier settlement era in New Zealand was an abject failure has delayed detailed scrutiny of the means by which the state sought to save the scheme including postponing rents, restructuring farm debt, land revaluation, and finally land amalgamation. This paper explores the dynamics of farm amalgamation as a state imposed 'solution' for the problems of soldier settlement in New Zealand in the 1920s and 1930s. It does this in the context of a detailed case study of the New Park Settlement in Canterbury from when it as part of the Longbeach Estate through to its acquisition and subdivision and then partial amalgamation by the late 1930s. Amalgamation could save the settlement but not all of the farmers. As a strategy was it was resorted to only as a measure of last resort. Even so the extent and degree of state efforts to save the scheme have escaped attention.


The dispersion polymerization of methyl methacrylate was carried out under microwave irradiation in the ethanol/water medium, which polyvinyl pyrrolidone(PVP) and 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) was used as stabilizers and initiators respectively. The morphology, size and size distribution of the poly(methyl methacrylate) microspheres were characterized by transmission electron microscopy(TEM)and photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS). The effects of the concentrations of initiator, stabilizer and the mass fraction of ethanol in the medium on the particle size and size distribution were investigated. Compared with conventional heating microwave irradiation has higher reaction rate, higher conversion, and the poly(methyl methacrylate) microspheres are much smaller and more uniformed than those obtained by conventional heating. When the mass fraction of ethanol in the medium ranged from 40% to 50% can form stable poly(methyl methacrylate) microspheres. In a certain power range, with the power of microwave increased in the previous polymerization stage, the sizes of the microspheres were increased, and the size distribution first decreased appropriate and then increased.


Author(s): Pesko, DM; Sawhney, S; Newman, J; Balsara, NP | Abstract: © The Author(s) 2018. Published by ECS. We compare two experimental approaches for measuring the cation transference number in mixtures of polyethylene oxide (PEO) and lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) salt: the well-established current-interrupt method proposed by Ma et al. [J. Electrochem. Soc., 142, 1859 (1995)], and a more recent method based on measuring the steady-state current proposed by Balsara and Newman [J. Electrochem. Soc., 162, A2720 (2015)]. In electrolytes comprised of high molecular weight PEO, the data from the two techniques agree, highlighting the equivalence of these two approaches. However, in lower molecular weight PEO electrolytes the values of the two approaches diverge at low salt concentrations. We posit this is because the approach of Ma et al. requires measurements that are sensitive to the nature of the interface between the electrolyte and the electrode. The transference numbers measured by the approach of Balsara and Newman for both low and high molecular weight samples vary from 0.7 to −0.8 and are within experimental error throughout the entire salt concentration window.


The invention relates to a method for extracting soy peptide from soybean meals by utilizing cellulase and proteolytic enzyme. In the method, the cellulase is utilized to decompose cellulose in the soybean meals, so that the proteolytic enzyme can react with protein molecules of soybeans more easily, therefore the soy peptide yield is improved.


Heavy metal contamination of soil poses a serious concern for human and environmental health in industrial countries. Remediation of contaminated soil by chelating extraction is seen as a practical technique. This paper highlighted several factors relevant in selecting suitable chelating agents, which from the viewpoint of published thermodynamic constants include the chelating agent's strength and selectiveness toward the target metal as well as its viability of recovery and reuse. In these regards, six chelating agents including ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), trimethylenedinitrilotetraacetic acid (TMDTA), nitrilotris(methylene)triphosphonic acid (NTMP), L-5-glutamyl-L-cysteinylglycine (GCG), S-carboxymethylcysteine (SCMC), and N-(2-acetamido)iminodiacetic acid (ADA) were examined for their extraction of Pb from soil and for their subsequent recovery. All tested chelating agents proved to be amenable to recovery under appropriate conditions with added precipitants, such as FeCl 3 , Ca(OH) 2 , or sulfide. Demonstrated in this work was viable recovery with these precipitants for even some of the strong chelating agents available (e.g., EDTA and DTPA). In light of these methods, strong chelating agents such as EDTA and DTPA are seen as good choices for effective remediation.


The North American Badger, Taxidea taxus taxus (Schreber), has been collected throughout the state of Kansas, with the exception of the eastern tier of counties (Hall, 1955). Cockrum (1952) recorded the unpublished account of Kellogg and Householder as having interviewed a man that, in 1885, killed a badger in Cherokee County, the southeasternmost county in the state. This unpublished account has been the only evidence of the badger's presence in southeast Kansas and has since been cited from Cockrum by Hall (1955), Hall and Kelson (1959), Hall (198 1), Bee et al. (1981), and Long and Killingley (1983). The presumed range of the badger, indicated by Cockrum (1952), excluded the eastern central counties. Bee at al. (1981) greatly increased the number of county records for Kansas but concurred with Cockrum as to the limit of the badger's eastern range. On designating the distribution of Taxidea taxus in interior North America, Long and Killingley's (1983) southeasternmost verified county record was Woodson County, Kansas. On 16 July 1983, the author collected two adult female badgers, now cataloged in Pittsburg State University Vertebrate Collection as PSU-1147 and PSU1148. The specimens were road killed on U.S. Highway 69 in Bourbon County, Kansas. Subsequent research revealed a male adult specimen (PSU-977) which had been taken in 1971 from Crawford County, Kansas. Another road killed badger was observed by Dr. Horace A. Hays, PSU Mammalogist, in July of 1978 in Cherokee County, Kansas. These voucher specimens extend the southeastern range of the badger in Kansas to Crawford County, and reaffirms the badger's existence in Cherokee County.


Strategic restructuring of firms through investment is key to a transition from plan to market. Using data on industrial firms in the Czech Republic during 1992-98, we find that (a) foreign owned companies invest the most and cooperatives the least, (b) private firms do not invest more than state-owned ones and (c) cooperatives and small firms are credit rationed. Given the large volume of non-performing bank loans to firms and the high rate of investment of large state owned and private firms, our findings also suggest that these firms operate under a soft budget constraint. Estimates of a dynamic model, together with the support for the neoclassical model, suggest that firms started to behave consistently with profit-maximization.


The Constitution gives Congress the right to "regulate Commerce . . . with the Indian tribes." Has the Indian Commerce Clause achieved its purpose? Have the Courts interpreted the Clause consistent with Congressional intent? I argue that the answer is, disappointingly, "no." The Supreme Court has emasculated and denigrated the Indian Commerce Clause, preventing implementation of the Founders' vision. The Court has refused to use the Clause as a shield against state taxation. Chief Justice John Marshall had the opportunity in 1832 in Worcester v. Georgia to shape the Clause into a powerful doctrine. As a ratifier, he was privy to the debates over the Clause. Instead of making the Indian Commerce Clause the centerpiece of his opinion, he used the case as a platform for an eloquent and courageous defense of Indian sovereignty — a thumb in President Jackson's eye who had initiated the Removal Act of 1830 — just two years before Worcester. Despite the long discussion in Worcester describing and defending the pre- and extra-constitutional sovereignty doctrine — immunizing the Cherokees from Georgia's laws — Chief Justice Marshall was apparently worried about resting the opinion on that ground. The jurisdictional constraints on the Court imposed by the Judiciary Act of 1789 required that the case be grounded in the Constitution itself. He needed narrower grounds than the grandiose and sweeping pre- and extra-constitutional concept of Indian sovereignty, especially in a case involving penal laws. It was not enough that the laws of Georgia violated the sovereignty of the Cherokees, he had to show that they were repugnant to the "constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States." With an economy of language (and lack of verve) inconsistent with the fervor of his earlier discussion of sovereignty, Marshall satisfied the Judiciary Act's requirement with a compact and conclusory reference to Georgia's laws being repugnant to the "constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States." Although he did not fully unbundle this reference, the "constitution" encompassed the Indian Commerce Clause. This lack of a resounding and explicit endorsement of the Clause, however, led to its being overshadowed by that part of the opinion in which Marshall championed Indian sovereignty, arguably dicta. Ironically, that part of the opinion which Marshall apparently feared would not satisfy the Judiciary Act came to characterize Worcester and initially took center stage, while the Indian Commerce Clause receded into the wings. Worcester set in motion the course of subsequent litigation. Tribes understandably feel passionately about their sovereignty. The briefs involved in the tax cases discussed in this Portfolio show that arguments based on sovereignty, at least early on, figured more prominently than those based on the Indian Commerce Clause. This was similarly true of arguments based on treaties, federal statutes, and state enabling acts. In some cases, this ordering of arguments might have reflected concerns about whether sufficient "commerce" existed to trigger the invocation of the Clause, but more generally it seemed to reflect the Clause's lack of prominence in Worcester. The Court's early opinions ignored the Clause. For example, the 1867 cases, The Kansas Indians, and The New York Indians, emphasized the sovereignty of the tribes and the existence of a treaty. The Indian Commerce Clause was not cited (perhaps because of concerns that "commerce" might not have existed). The 1885 case of Utah & Northern Railway also ignored the Clause (even though commerce was clearly implicated). In 1886, the Kagama Court rejected the Clause as the source of Congress's right to enact the Major Crimes Act, although the rationale in that case was the lack of "commerce" and not that the Clause had no relevance at all. In the 1898 case of Thomas v. Gay, there were no federal statutes, treaties, state enabling acts or the like to serve as a shield against state taxation. "Commerce" clearly existed. The case was thus perfect for an Indian Commerce Clause argument. But instead of breathing life into the Clause, the Court disposed of the case with ipse dixit reasoning and a retreat into formalism. The Court also erroneously claimed that the Clause had been rejected earlier in Utah & Northern Railway. By the end of the 19th century, the message to litigants was clear. There were no major state tax cases implicating the Clause in the early part of the 20th century. The Solicitor General took up the cause in the early part of the 1980s, attempting to resurrect the Clause. In an intense short period of time, starting with Colville (1980), continuing with Central Machinery (1980), and reaching its zenith in Ramah (1982), the government was an aggressive advocate for using the Clause to create a tax-free zone on a reservation, exactly what Thomas v. Gay refused to do. Inexplicably, Justice Thurgood Marshall, one of the Indians strongest allies, did not even acknowledge the Solicitor General's brief in Central Machinery. Less surprising was that Justice Rehnquist (and White) also failed to mention the government's brief in Colville. In Ramah, the Solicitor General filed two briefs — the second of which was a sweeping endorsement of the Clause. Justice Marshall, responding only to the first brief and ignoring the second, rejected the government's efforts, arguing that current law apart from the Indian Commerce Clause was adequate to protect the Indians' interests. If an ally of the Indians felt this way, it is not surprising that the government would retreat from its sweeping views. A more robust Indian Commerce Clause would have reversed the results in many of the cases discussed above. The states would have been the clear losers. But Congress would have been expected to have intervened in some manner to establish a new order. How that would have played out would be conjecture. It would also be sheer speculation on whether the Roberts Court will provide a fresh opportunity to raise the Indian Commerce Clause going forward. If the Indian Commerce Clause has not fulfilled its promise, at least I can try to fulfill my promise in the Introduction to help negotiate the "labyrinth of unpredictability," which characterizes state-Indian taxation. As a start, the transactions discussed in this Portfolio can be arrayed along a continuum. At one end of the continuum are those transactions taking place on a reservation without any direct connection to off-reservation activities: the facts in McClanahan. McClanahan immunized from state income taxation an Indian who worked and lived on a reservation, having no direct off-reservation activities. Chickasaw teaches that a state cannot impose a tax whose legal incidence falls on a tribe (or an Indian) if the taxed activity takes place on a reservation. McClanahan would seem to be an application of Chickasaw (which had not yet been decided, although the cases upon which it relied had been), but Chickasaw went on to draw a line between Indians who work and live on a reservation and those who work on a reservation but live off-reservation, and holds that a state can impose its income tax on the latter. The Court justified this distinction by relying on international custom and practice. Although the Court did not explain the rationale for this custom and practice, presumably it is rooted in the notion beneficiaries of public goods and sectors can be made to contribute to the fisc. Presumably the Indians living off-reservation benefited from state-provided goods and services in a way that on-reservation Indians did not, and that difference was enough to distinguish McClanahan, notwithstanding that the legal incidence of a personal income tax is on the individual. In the case of cigarette excise taxes, however, the Court has ignored the Chickasaw line between Indian residents and Indian non-residents. The Court did not fashion a result that distinguished resident Indian consumers from non-resident Indian consumers. From a policy perspective, ignoring that line is proper because cigarette excise taxes are consumption taxes, which do not incorporate a concept of residency and are not administered in that manner, and there is no custom or practice suggesting otherwise. The line the Court drew in Colville, however, was whether an Indian was a member of the tribe or not, which was unprincipled and unsupported by statute, precedent, or policy considerations, and contradicted by the Indian Trader statutes. Moreover, in Moe and Colville, where the Court prohibited a state from levying its cigarette taxes on member-Indians but not on non-members, the legal incidence fell on the Indian purchaser, thus violating the Chickasaw doctrine. Maybe we should not be too critical of the failure to let legal incidence control in the cigarette cases. As state tax lawyers fully appreciate, legal incidence is a formal concept, divorced of economic significance, which is why Complete Auto rejected it. The charm of a legal incidence test, according to Chickasaw, is predictability and certainty. But Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation demonstrates that legal incidence is not always easily determinable, which undercuts its extolled benefits. Moreover, like most formalisms, a state can usually re-draft a statute to shift the legal incidence from a tribe or an Indian to non-Indians. Oklahoma did exactly that after losing Chickasaw, and Kansas did the same thing with respect to the tax at issue in Prairie Band. In the case of a state sales tax on reservation purchases, the Indian Trader statutes would likely immunize the Indian consumer, notwithstanding that the legal incidence is imposed on a non-Indian vendor. This is the lesson of Warren Trading and Central Machinery, where the tax was imposed on the vendor but nonetheless struck down under the Indian Trader statutes. Furthermore, unlike the unprincipled distinction drawn in Colville, the Indian Trader statutes


In this study,the biodiversity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolated from different environments associated with Longan grape in Shacheng wine-producing region was investigated.In the continuous three years 2008,2009 and 2010,227 samples were collected from vineyard soil,the surface of winery equipments,grape juice contacted with winery equipments and naturally fermented grape and 1358 yeast strains were isolated from them.Molecular-level identification based on a PCR-RFLP analysis of 5.8S ITS rRNA and secondary screening using lysine medium were carried out to obtain 270 Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains.Further,the strains were divided using Interdelta PCR into 16 classes,including 5 from vineyard soil,4,10 and 11 from at the 2nd,3rdand 4thstages of natural fermentation respectively,3 from the surface of winery equipments and 3 from grape juice contacted with winery equipments.Saccharomyces cerevisiae species notably varied with sampling time and habitat.Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains isolated from naturally fermented grape had the greatest possibility of being indigenous strains.


A source of pulses of coherent radiation at a wavelength of approximately 1 μm, comprises a pump source for producing pump light; a laser cavity comprising an Yb3+-doped gain medium arranged to receive the pump light, the laser cavity being modelocked to generate laser pulses at a defined repetition rate; a pulse detector arranged to generate a pulse selection signal indicative of the repetition rate; a pulse selector arranged to reduce the repetition rate of the laser pulses responsive to the pulse selection signal from the pulse detector by passing only selected ones of the laser pulses; and at least one optical amplifier for amplifying the laser pulses of reduced repetition rate. The at least one optical amplifier can be configured for chirped or parabolic pulse amplification.


Edwin O'Neill Willis passed away in Rio Claro near São Paulo, Brazil, on April 11, 2015, at 80 years of age. He was a Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union since 1974, an Honorary Member of the Cooper Ornithological Society, and a member of the Waterbird Society, Neotropical Bird Club, Neotropical Ornithological Society, Raptor Research Society, Sociedade Brasileira de Ornitologia, Association of Field Ornithologists, and Wilson Ornithological Society. A descendant of Cherokee Indians, Ed (as he was known to friends) was born on January 18, 1935, the son of Andrew Nelson Willis and Verna Fleming Willis. He was raised on a farm in Russellville, Alabama. When only 6 years old, he had already spent hours observing birds in the woods near the farm. And when his mother gave him binoculars, he became an avid birdwatcher with a strong interest in the natural history of birds. His first ornithological note, ''Fall field trip to Saint Francis Sanctuary,'' was published in Maryland Birdlife in 1949, when Ed was only 14 years old. In 1956, Ed graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia, with a B.S. in biology. While studying there, under a professor who regularly worked in Central America, Ed visited a tropical forest for the first time, which resulted in a growing interest in tropical birdlife. That same year, a friend at Louisiana State University, Steve Russell, invited Ed to join him during fieldwork in British Honduras (now Belize). There, Ed compared the foraging behavior of the Red-throated Anttanager (Habia fuscicauda) and Red-crowned Ant-tanager (H. rubica). It was his first contact with Neotropical antfollowing birds. Their behavior would fascinate him for the rest of his life. This study resulted in an M.S. degree in zoology from Louisiana State University with a thesis on ''The foraging behavior of ant-tanagers in British Honduras.'' In 1960, Ed started to study the birds, especially the antfollowing birds, of Barro Colorado Island in Gatun Lake in the Panama Canal. He soon found that the 400-ha reserve was not large enough to preserve its original bird diversity. In the years after its establishment, many species disappeared from the island. Subsequently, Ed returned for annual censuses of the birds on the island. For his work on the ant-following birds of Barro Colorado Island—in addition to studies of such birds in Panama, Costa Rica, Trinidad, Guyana, and Colombia—he earned a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley, with a dissertation on ''The behavior of Bicolored Antbirds'' (Gymnopithys bicolor, now G. leucaspis), considered an obligate follower of army ants. After 1964, Ed continued and expanded his studies of ant-following birds in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Amazonian Brazil. In 1967, Ed was asked to supervise the fieldwork of Yoshika Oniki, a student at the University of Kansas, who studied ant-following birds near Belém in Brazil. In 1970,


Abstract Limited budgets and the desire to address patrons' immediate resource needs require libraries to consider an agile approach to collection building. To identify where typical purchases could be avoided in English subject areas, Texas A&M University Libraries piloted a purchase on demand (POD) solution for print and e-books. By providing patrons with options to make catalog selections and analyzing those decisions, a clearer understanding of subject resources needed was achieved. Findings were used to better align the approval plan's automated purchases with patrons' curricular and research needs, while realizing significant cost savings. The study fills a literature gap, and the approach can serve as a model for any discipline.


Objective:  The contribution of surfactant to the airway epithelial barrier is increasingly being recognized. Dipalmitoyl phosphatidycholine (DPPC), the major constituent of surfactant, is affected by lung injury. Hypertonic saline‐induced sputum is a convenient and reliable method of assessing airway cells and mediators. However, the influence of hypertonic saline on DPPC content of sputum is unknown. In this study the level of DPPC in induced sputum obtained using hypertonic saline is examined and compared with that obtained using normal saline.


Melting of the Greenland ice sheet and the associated runoff into the subpolar North Atlantic has the potential to significantly impact the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and thus the entire global thermohaline circulation [1,2]. Greenland melt is not only an important player under current global warming but has likely also been a major factor in past rapid climate change [3]. As the meltwater spreads in the subpolar North Atlantic (Figure 1), it gets entrained into the Subpolar Gyre, in particular in the Labrador Sea (south-west of Greenland), where it enhances stratification. Enhanced stratification weakens deep convection and thus reduces the production of North Atlantic Deep Water, an integral part of the AMOC, which further links to the global ocean circulation. It is therefore crucial to correctly simulate the distribution of Greenland meltwater in order to understand and quantify its impacts. Previous work at GEOMAR with forced oceanonly models has demonstrated the importance of resolving mesoscale ocean dynamics to realistically simulate the pathways of Greenland meltwater [4]. Meltwater rounding the southern tip of Greenland takes a shortcut to the center of deep convection in the Labrador Sea. It gets advected by mesoscale eddies that shed from the West Greenland Current. Models that are typically used to study the impact of rapid melt of the Greenland ice sheet do not resolve such eddies. Therefore, less meltwater may reach the deep water formation regions in such models or it may take much longer—also prolonging the lag of a potential AMOC response to Greenland melting. Here, we propose a new model conficuration applying a high-resolution (1/10◦) ocean nest to a global coupled climate model consisting of ocean (NEMO3.6), atmosphere (ECHAM6.3), land (JSBACH), and sea ice (LIM2) components (see also Figure 1: Pathway of Greenland meltwater in a VIKING10 simulation after 50 years of model integration with enhanced Greenland runoff at 0.05 Sv, which is prescribed as a spatially varying climatology. Depicted is the vertical maximum of the meltwater tracer concentration.


Results: The most common microorganism isolated from blood cultures that were taken at the time of diagnosis was S. aureus (n=36, 27.5%). Nineteen of them were methicillinresistant S. aureus. Klebsiella species were isolated in 26 cases (19.8%) (K. pneumoniae, K. oxytoca and ESBL positive Klebsiella species in 13, 2 and 11 cases, respectively). Thrombocyte counts of our patients were statistically significantly lower on the first day of culture sampling compared to the fifth-day values (p<0.05), in contrast, CRP and mean platelet volume (MPV) values were significantly higher (p<0.05). According to our findings, on the first day of culture sampling, the CRP and mean of maximum CRP values of our patients with gram-positive sepsis were significantly lower than the values of our patients with gramnegative sepsis (p<0.05).


Mosquitoes were exposed to aerosol propoxur. Treatment groups were Ae aegypti and Ae albopictus laboratory mosquitoes knock down that recover after 24 hours holding time. The control groups were field mosquitoes without exposure to insecticide spraying, Results showed that mosquitoes exposed to insecticide lived longer ( Ae aegypti for 69 days and Ae albopictus for 54 days) than control mosquitoes (17 & 17 days respectively). The fertility of treated mosquito was higher than the control, p <0.05. This result also demonstrated that Ae aegypti has also a higher ability for laying eggs and egg hatching in comparison with Ae albopictus


The influences of transgenic Bt rice straw on anaerobic microbial populations and enzymatic activities in paddy soil were investigated by using the improved Hungate anaerobic technique, including anaerobic MPN (most probable number), roll tube and spectrophotometer methods. The results showed that the transgenic Bt rice straw could not only increase the number of hydrolytic-fermentative bacteria (P0.05) and decrease obviously that of denitrifying and methanogenic bacteria (P0.05), but also increase the population of anaerobic nitrogen-fixing bacteria significantly. The significant effect of transgenic Bt rice straw was observed on the activities of phosphatase and cellulase (P0.05), however, the activity of dehydrogenase was seriously inhibited ((P0.05)) in short time after returning transgenic rice straw into flooded soil.


We'd been discussing James's Washington Square, especially Dr. Sloper's irony, but Patsy's thoughts were taking a much more interesting course, circling around the last several paragraphs of Chapter 10, in which Catherine Sloper declares her love for the fortune-hunting, not-so-young Morris Townsend. After apologizing for missing something she was sure everyone else already understood, Patsy posed her question: "Why does the narrator tell us that 'this is all that need be recorded of their conversation'? And why does he tell us that if Catherine's aunt had been present for this conversation, she 'would probably have admitted that it was as well it had not taken place beside the fountain in Washington Square'?" This question was valuable for several reasons. Most important, it focused a discomfort that a number of us were feeling but had not put words to, and it demonstrated for the class an act of critical reading-reading that goes beyond a novel's characters, plot, setting, symbols, motifs, and so forth to look at the rhetoric of intention embodied in all of the choices that comprise a novel. Second, the question dramatized the key difference between naive realism, which privileges tangible facts and representational language, and what I'm terming principled realism, which insists both that there exists no transcendentally privileged perspective or language and that nevertheless decisions must be made about ethical issues-they're part of the human condition. Third, it illustrated the potential of supposedly slight literary works to stimulate critical reading in ways


Long‐term use of prolactin‐increasing antipsychotics was associated with an increased risk of low‐energy fractures in patients with schizophrenia, a nested case‐control study has found. Higher cumulative doses of prolactin‐increasing antipsychotics were also associated with higher risk of low‐energy fractures.


t Thiss study analyzed the effect of patient-related factors on survival after out-of-hospital resuscitationn and relating this to system-related factors. In a prospective study from June 1995 to Augustt 1997, all consecutive witnessed nontraumatic out-of-hospital resuscitation attempts were registeredd in Amsterdam and its region. Patientand system-related factors were analyzed in relationn to survival. Potential predictors were analyzed multivariately by logistic regression. From thee 1040 included patients, 141 survived to hospital discharge. Survival was significantly lower forr patients with heart failure (6%) or diabetes mellitus (4%) than for patients without a medical historyy (20%), although the median arrival time of EMS was identical (9.6 minutes). Five hundred andd four patients had pre-arrest symptoms. Patients with chest pain had more frequent VF as initiall rhythm (63%) than patients with dyspnea (18%). EMS personnel more often witnessed the arrestt when patients had chest pain, dyspnea or syncope/dizziness than patients without symptoms.. Their median arrival time was 7.4, 6.3, 5.0 and 10.6 minutes after collapse, respectively.. In a multivariate analysis patient factors age (OR 0.97, 95%CI 0.95-0.98 per year), historyy of heart failure (OR 0.34, 95%CI 0.12-0.98) or diabetes mellitus (OR 0.07, 95%CI 0.010.37),, and a nonshockable initial rhythm (OR 0.05, 95%CI 0.02-0.17) had significant effect on survival.. Heart failure and diabetes mellitus as comorbidity affected survival negatively, due to higherr in-hospital mortality. Pre-arrest chest pain or syncope are associated with higher survival, mainlyy explained by shorter system delays. Pre-arrest dyspnea is not associated with higher survival,, even when system delay is short, because of the low rate of shockable initial rhythm.


There are two challenges in classifying lidar points into ground and non-ground points on Texas coastal areas, which usually has a low-lying landform consisting of morphological features including dunes, tidal and river channels with levees, barren flats, buildings, and trees with varying cover density. The first is to remove buildings and trees meanwhile keeping seawall, dunes, levees and channels. The second is to remove bushes and grasses. In this paper, a novel classification approach based on slope and neighbor properties is designed to meet these challenges. The innovation of this approach is to first determine the most suitable post-spacing for a given lidar point dataset and then to generate a raster with the post-spacing. Slope thresholds for landscape objects, such as buildings and trees, are derived from their own characteristic size. The classification has three main steps. Step 1 – identifying potential areas by removing steep slope cells. The slope calculation and removal are repeated several times. This step may incorrectly create holes. Step 2– restoring holes: the lidar points falling in a potential area are identified into two classes: the correctly removed or not. The latter are restored. Step 3– identifying bushes and grasses based on slope. Classifications have been carried out with a lidar point dataset of Mustang Island, Texas (a 40-km long barrier island) with promising results.


While older Japanese speakers from the Kansai region produce voiced-voiceless stop contrasts with a true voicing distinction, older speakers from the northern Tohoku region produce the same stop contrasts with a short- versus long-lag VOT distinction, similar to the voicing contrast of English stops. However, Japanese speakers of younger generations from both of these dialect regions have been observed to produce the voiced-voiceless stop contrast in much the same way to each other, and they also seem to be using VOT as a less informative cue for stop distinction than speakers of previous generations (Takada, 2011). This study investigates the status of this sound change in the speech from the Tokyo dialect region, generally considered the standard for the modern language. Using speech data available from the Corpus of Spontaneous Japanese, we analyze stops produced by Tokyo speakers to determine differences in voicing contrast conditioned by speaker age and gender. We expect the stop contrast of older sp...


Book reviewed:

Thomas Schoonover. Uncle Sam's War of 1898 and the Origins of Globalization. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003. 180 pp. Notes, index. $30.00.


AIM: To investigate the effect of exogenous nucleotides on the repair of damaged DNA in mouse thymocytes in vitro. METHODS: Thymocytes from Kunming male mice were treated with N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG, 10 μmol/L) to induce DNA damage. DNA-damaged cells were cultured in basic or complete RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with different levels of nucleotides (0, 0.1, 1, 10 mmol/L). DNA damage and repair were analyzed at 2, 5 h with single-cell gel electrophoresis. RESULTS: Nucleotides had no significant effect on the percentage of comet cells at 2 h in basic medium (P0.05), but the percentage of comet cells decreased significantly in complete medium with nucleotides supplementation (P0.01). The nucleotides supplementation significantly decreased the percentage of comet cells at 5 h (P0.01). Comet tail length had no signi-ficant difference among groups at 2 h in basic or complete medium (P0.05). Nucleotides of 1, 10 mmol/L decreased comet tail length at 5 h in basic medium (P0.01) . The supplementation of 1, 10 mmol/L nucleotides decreased comet tail length at 5 h in complete medium (P0.01). The percentage of DNA-repaired cells was increased significantly with nucleotides supplementation between 2 and 5 h in basic (P0.05) or complete medium (P0.01). CONCLUSION: The supplementation of nucleotides can accelerate the repair of damaged DNA in mouse thymocytes in vitro. The effect of nucleotides is related with the supplemental levels of nucleotides.


In recent years dramatic progress has been made in the understanding of the nonperturbative structure of superstring theory and M-theory. Central to this progress are non-perturbative, solitonic objects collectively referred to as p-branes. In this thesis, comprising an introductory text and three appended research papers, we are going to briefly review superstring theory and M-theory. Emphasis will be given to the dynamics of p-branes, which is the subject of Papers I-III. In the past year enormous attention has been given to the so-called AdS/CFT correspondence, which is a kind of duality between superstring theory or M-theory on certain anti de Sitter spacetime backgrounds and gauge theory. For completeness this subject will also be briefly reviewed.


This report summarizes a two year research effort related to spacing and concrete cover requirements for epoxy coated prestressing strand. Today, prestressed concrete is widely used in the construction industry. Prestressed members are generally smaller than their reinforced concrete counterparts under the same loading conditions. Thus, prestressed members require less concrete and reduce the amount of steel reinforcement needed. However, the smaller amount of reinforcement in prestressed members is more vulnerable to corrosion. Protection against corrosion of prestressing steel is more critical than the non-prestressed reinforcement case since the strength of a prestressed member is a function of the prestressing tendon area. As prestressed structures become older, corrosion of the prestressing steel can become a problem. A prestressing strand manufacturer, Florida Wire and Cable Company, has developed an epoxy coated prestressing strand. This epoxy coating has proven to be effective in preventing the corrosion of prestressing steel. The epoxy coating is impregnated with grit to improve its bonding capabilities in prestress applications. In an earlier research study the splitting at transfer in single epoxy coated strand specimens was observed. This splitting did not occur in uncoated single strand specimens with like dimensions. The splitting problem was attributed to the shorter transfer length of epoxy coated prestressing strand which causes higher bond stresses, and could be even more severe in members with multiple strands at close spacings. This research study was undertaken to investigate the spacing and cover requirements of epoxy coated prestressing strand. By varying the parameters of strand spacing, concrete cover, and number of strands, spacing and concrete cover requirements were determined. These requirements were then compared to existing American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) specifications. Also, the transfer length of epoxy coated and uncoated prestressing strand was investigated.


As a historical survey, this book, though defective, has a certain limited use. It brings together material which elsewhere tends to be treated separately. Unfortunately the author has neglected some important schools and movements. Thus there is a very sketchy treatment of Mahayana Buddhism, a complete neglect of the psychologically interesting Tantric schools, and only the barest of references to Rdmdnuja and other exponents of theistic Vedanta. The discussion of Mimamsa is confusing in not bringing out the atheistic character of this ritualistic school of


Smart cards now offer the flexibility and potential to operate and bring together various sectors with complimentary applications. In the next few years it is likely that large-scale implementations of such card will revolutionise the way we live and the way we deliver services and access information. As both local and National governments move towards more electronic commerce and services we will see the same infrastructure used to deliver services for the citizen through a myriad of delivery systems and complimentary service providers. For the covering abstract see IRRD E102946.


This study examines the direct effect of the three main components of the market orientation on the organizational performance of SMEs in Yemen. Four variables are used in the research, are competitor orientation, customer orientation, and inter-functional coordination, as the exogenous latent variables, whereas organizational performance, as the endogenous latent variable. The quantitative approach is applied in this study with causal and descriptive research. The single-sector method is adopted, is the food and beverage sector, by using random sample sampling, the sample size was 640 managers/owners. only 459 samples were valid to conduct the analysis by using the Structural Equation Model (SEM) in SmartPLS Software version 3.0. The findings of the study reveal that the three main components of the market orientation have a positive and significant impact on SMEs' organizational performance. However, the effect size of customer orientation on organizational performance was more than competitor orientation and inter-functional coordination.


Model based testing is the current research trend in developing abstract model for modern application. Although many application is tested with different models, there is no concrete complete methodology from verification to validation in reduc ensuring effectiveness in testing. This paper suggest a concrete approach in developing a complete model with two model based approaches of petrinets and timed automata with automation and analysis of test coverage. Composability is provides recombinant components that can be selected and assembled in various combinations to satisfy specific user requirements. In information systems, the essential features That make a component composable are that it be  self-contained (modular independently – note that it may cooperate with other components, but dependent components are replaceable  stateless: it treats each request as an independent transaction, unrelated to any previous request. Stateless is just one technique; state and transactional composable, but with greater difficulty. It is widely believed that composable systems are more trustworthy than non-composable systems because it is easier to evaluate their individual parts system behavioural properties can be checked by initiating a finite automation and Petrinets. Safety and liveness properties are checked. Model checking and testing are two areas with a similar goal: to verify that a system satisfies a property [6]. Model-based testing (MBT) relies on models of a system under test and/or its environment to derive test cases for the system [7]. Though object oriented programs are helpful in programming large systems, testing of much more effort and time [8]. Creating a finite Automation involves states and transition between states. Petri nets was developed from the work of Carl Adam Petri in 1962 who in his doctoral thesis ``Kommunikation mit Automaten,'' [Communication with automata], gave the theory of 6505, Impact Factor: SJIF: 5.995


The demand to increase food production to feed the growing number of the world population is becoming a primary concern for everyone. At the same time, one-third of the food produced is lost or wasted globally. The food wastes and the by-products of the food production and processing operations still have nutritional ingredients in them suitable for human consumption. To encounter this issue, drying methods can be carried out to add value to food waste, prolong the product ' s shelf life and thus provide more food products. Integrated microwave drying systems have the potential to produce dehydrated products from the food waste. In this paper, integrated osmotic dehydration with microwave-assisted hot air drying method is described for the development of dehydrated broccoli stalk product. The techno-economical aspects in terms of raw material availability, process design, energy input, capital inputs, operation costs and environmental benefits are also discussed. This integrated microwave drying concept will be of use to process other biological materials that have the potential at the marketplace.


In this mathematical-poetical text, the author posits mathematical thought as fundamental to concepts of self and world. Mathematics is not something exterior to be learned, but basic to daily life. For example, object permanence is an abstract concept of multiple perspectives compiled in to the idea of one stable object. Such abstraction is mathematics. These concepts exist both socially and materially. A wooden cube is both a social concept and a material object. We exist in a mathematically determined world. We use mathematics to enact new reals. This is so common that often we are unaware of it.


The Context of Open Evaluation: Innovation Contests.- The Design Elements of Open Evaluation.- The Objectives of Open Evaluation.- Key Factors affecting the Output of Open Evaluation.- The Capacity of Open Evaluation for Idea Selection.- How to Make the Crowd Your Jury.


The exponential growth of IoT (Internet of Things) devices increases the attack surface available to criminals, enabling them to launch potentially more damaging cyberattacks. As a result, the security sector has witnessed a rise in cyberattacks. Since hackers use cutting-edge methods to carry out cyberattacks, many of these operations successfully achieved their malevolent objectives. Neural network models are used by an anomaly-based intrusion detection system (IDS) to identify and categorise attacks in IoT networks. Traditional machine learning techniques seem ineffective in the face of erratic network technologies and numerous infiltration strategies. Deep learning techniques have demonstrated their capacity to correctly identify abnormalities in a variety of academic fields. Because of their efficiency in completing speedier calculations and their capacity to automatically identify key properties in incoming data, Soft Actor Critic are a great solution for anomaly classification and identification. In this research, we propose and create a brand-new intrusion detection model for IoT networks based on anomalies. The IoT-23 intrusion detection dataset is used to validate the proposed model. In comparison to existing implementations, our suggested binary and multiclass classification models have obtained good performance in terms of precision, f1-score, recall and finally accuracy.


The Old Testament and the Confession of Belhar (1986) The use of the Old Testament in the Confession of Belhar is investigated. The fact that there are only four explicit references to the Old Testament in the Confession occurring only in the fourth article on righteousness merits such an investigation. The Old Testament does have a contribution to make on the statements of unity and reconciliation as well. Although the Confession of Belhar does not contradict the teachings of the Old Testament, it is nevertheless a pity that theological insights from the Old Testament do not feature more prominently in die Confession. The result of this investigation shows that theological insights from the Old Testament could also have been used in the other articles of the Confession to strengthen its theological value.


We designed and fabricated low loss polymer waveguides (<;0.05 dB/cm at 850 nm) using a lithography method. We experimentally investigated their insertion loss and numerically analyzed their mode power distribution and differential mode delay dependence on the launch condition for high speed optical interconnects.


Abstract The agricultural system that incorporates eucalyptus is used by 75% of the agricultural producers in the east of DR Congo (Walungu and Kabare). However, the latter's perception and results from some studies on the effect of eucalyptus exploitation on soil quality bring out a negative balance. This study characterized the state of soils by determining the soil quality index (SQI) in three land-use types to guide soil fertility management policies. A survey was conducted to collect preliminary data on the historical effect of eucalyptus on the soil from 300 producers. Subsequently, the soils were sampled in the three land-use types and analyzed to assess SQI through a statistical approach based on principal component analysis (PCA). Using R 4.05 package software and crop exploitation as the baseline, the three land-use types were compared using analysis of variance. Out of the 13 considered crucial for SQI assessment, findings highlighted nine soil quality indicators (Al3+, pH, silt, SOC, CEC, H2O, sand, clay, and BD). Soils with eucalyptus (SQI = 0.486 0.07) and crops (0.539 ± 0.034) alone had low SQIs, suggesting unfavorable soils for better production, whereas soils with crop-eucalyptus association had SQI equals to 0.655 ± 0.034, indicating moderate soils. The calculated SQI highlighted soils' acidity, their ability to maintain plants' chemical nutrients equilibrium, and clay and sand content as soil quality determinants. To further improve soil conditions, we raised the need to understand the long-term effects of eucalyptus on soils and the appropriate soil management as a result of the aforesaid results.


This article is the first ever attempt to study and summarize the extensive material on the use of shiny threads in tapestry art. The circle of artists using shine as an expressive medium in their artworks is identified. Methods of creating shiny surfaces in this art form and their symbolic meanings are outlined.


1. Preliminary studies were made of vital capacity of forty-nine patients with scoliosis. Twenty-one who were treated by casts or Milwaukee frames and spine fusion were tested periodically for from one to five years after operation.

2. Before treatment the mean sitting vital capacity was found to be 64 per cent of the predicted normal in the patients with paralytic scoliosis and 80 per cent of normal in the patients with idiopathic scoliosis.

3. The average sitting value was less than the supine, which is contrary to the findings in normal subjects.

4. Correction of scoliosis by wedging or localizer casts produced a mean loss of vital capacity of 21 per cent in patients with paralytic scoliosis and of 29 per cent in patients non-paralytic scoliosis.

5. The use of a Milwaukee frame for correction was found to have less detrimental effect on vital capacity, which improved slightly in three of the five patients so treated.

6. Of the twenty-one patients, only three showed 10 per cent or more improvement in the predicted vital capacity; ten retained a reduction of less than 10 per cent; and eight failed to regain the pretreatment value by 10 per cent or more.


A contact-type area-varying capacitive displacement sensor, or CLECDiS, can measure displacements over millimeter ranges with nanometer resolution. However, a small changes in the contact condition due to the surface profile or friction, which are inherent characteristics of contact-type sensors, lead to significant distortion of the output signal. Therefore, ensuring reliable contact conditions during CLECDiS measurements is the most important area to be improved in their actual use. Herein, in order to design an instrument for ensuring reliable contact conditions, the contact condition is analyzed by characterizing the signal distortion, observing the pressure distribution between the contacting surfaces, and measuring the motional errors of the sensor using a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV). The manufactured instrument enables a CLECDiS to be used in an ultraprecise positioning system with improved reliability.


After the draft agreement was ready, disputes between China and Tibet cropped up on two points: (I) the borders between China and Tibet and (2) the degree and nature of Chinese suzerainty over the Dalai Lama's government. These disputes were not solved in protracted consultations through the summer months of 1914. The British and the Tibetan delegates even then wanted to sign and ratify the draft agreed previously. The Chinese delegate, Ivan Chen, refused to sign and wanted further authorization from Peking for signature. Ivan Chen walked out of the conference on 3rd July 1914 and proceeded to Calcutta en route to China. The British and Tibetan delegates signed the agreement and by further affirmative documents ratified the Convention as binding between the British Government in India and the Dalai Lama's Government in Tibet. Though the original draft for the agreement describing the three parties and detailing the rights and privileges of the three parties was retained, a declaration was added that China would not be entitled to any rights and privileges as a suzerain power in Tibet if she failed to sign or ratify the tripartite agreement.


This article examines the features and grouping for Hui Dialect. It has three sections: 1) the 12 phonetic commonalities concluded for Hui Dialect; 2) 12 internal differences for Hui Dialect; and 3) the grouping of Hui Dialect and its features. The author divides Hui Dialect into five sub-groups.


The purposes of this chapter are to present current concepts that are central for clinicians to provide effective smoking cessation treatment. Emphasis will be placed on clinician-delivered cessation management, and will include a discussion of how to deliver treatment. The role of pharmacotherapy during treatment for smoking cessation will be presented and the advantages and disadvantages of a variety of nicotine replacement products will be discussed. Individualized treatment, via combination products will be addressed. Attributes of effective cessation programs will also be provided. Finally, preventive strategies for implementation with adolescent populations will be presented, both for clinicial practice and from a public policy perspective.


The study focused on the effects of the application of two problem solving techniques—metacognitive (MPST) and heuristic (HPST)—on the achievement of students in the computation of creative mathematics problems. 245 (SS1) students were randomly selected from six senior secondary schools in Ibadan. The students were arranged in a 3 x 3 x 2 pre‐test‐post‐test quasi‐experimental design. The students were taught for eight weeks using MPST, HPST and the traditional/conventional approach. ANCOVA, ANOVA and multiple classification analysis (MCA) were the statistics used to analyse results. Results of the taree null hyopotheses tested, showed that: There was a significant difference in the achievement of experimental and control groups, There was a significant difference in the achievement of high, average, and low ability students, There was no significant difference in the achievement of male and female students in the computation of creative problems in mathematics.


The article considers the task of forming professional foreign language competence in students of engineering specialities as a part of their professional competence. The authors describe the system for using newly developed information and communication technologies in teaching foreign languages, such as wiki, blog, search engines, online translators, Moodle learning management system, etc. The results of the experiment on using information and communication technologies aimed at forming professional foreign language competence in students of engineering specialities are given.


The coadsorption of barium, scandium, and oxygen on W(100) was investigated with microspot synchrotron radiation x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy ( μ-SRXPS) in the emission microscope at the electron-spectro-microscopy beam line at the National Synchrotron Light Source II. The Ba-Sc-O-W(100) system is a model for "scandate" thermionic electron emitters. The barium 4d, tungsten 4f, and scandium 3p (Sc3p) levels were observed after metal deposition and adsorption of oxygen. The initial deposits of metallic scandium and barium were confirmed with μ-SRXPS. After oxygen adsorption, the Sc3p peaks shifted to higher binding energy (by >4 eV), indicating the formation of Sc2O3 or a related compound. After heating to 800 °C, the barium 4d peaks were no longer observed. The shifted Sc3p peak was also absent. The results indicate that scandium acts as a cleaning agent to remove oxygen from the tungsten surface. The oxidized scandium is removed by reaction with barium and desorption below 800 °C. The temperature of desorption indicates that scandium does not remain on the surface at a temperature where a contribution to the reduction of the surface barrier to electron emission could be expected.The coadsorption of barium, scandium, and oxygen on W(100) was investigated with microspot synchrotron radiation x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy ( μ-SRXPS) in the emission microscope at the electron-spectro-microscopy beam line at the National Synchrotron Light Source II. The Ba-Sc-O-W(100) system is a model for "scandate" thermionic electron emitters. The barium 4d, tungsten 4f, and scandium 3p (Sc3p) levels were observed after metal deposition and adsorption of oxygen. The initial deposits of metallic scandium and barium were confirmed with μ-SRXPS. After oxygen adsorption, the Sc3p peaks shifted to higher binding energy (by >4 eV), indicating the formation of Sc2O3 or a related compound. After heating to 800 °C, the barium 4d peaks were no longer observed. The shifted Sc3p peak was also absent. The results indicate that scandium acts as a cleaning agent to remove oxygen from the tungsten surface. The oxidized scandium is removed by reaction with barium and desorption below 800 °C. The temperature of d...


The article is devoted to the optimization of accounting business processes as a tool for evaluating business performance in the transition to the Federal Accounting Standards. The research is based on the analysis of Russian and foreign publications, as well as on the integration of specialists ' experience, which reveals the practical significance of methods for transforming accounting business processes in commercial activities. The purpose of the study is to develop business processes based on the study of the theoretical positions of scientists-economists and the practical experience of professional accountants-practitioners. The tasks and stages of developing the transformation of accounting business processes during the transition to the FSB for the purpose of effective work of accounting are defined.
The author's experience in the development of business process transformation is proposed, which is used to standardize all areas of accounting work on the example of a transport company. The results obtained have a certain scientific novelty: the developed or adapted methods of transformation of business projects affect the elimination of duplication of many business operations, identify areas of irresponsibility, and are also aimed at optimal organization of document flow and reduction of time labor costs. The author substantiates a more complete definition of "accounting business process" as a set of complex works aimed at collecting and summarizing information about the facts of the economic life of an economic entity, intended for external and internal users in order to assess the effectiveness of the business. Methodological techniques for the development of business processes related to accounting work can be used in the practical activities of accounting as a division of commercial small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as for outsourcing organizations that maintain accounting records and form accounting (financial) statements.


RUFFNER, C. M. AND M. D. ABRAMS (School of Forest Resources, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802). Lightning strikes and resultant fires from archival (1912-1917) and current (1960-1997) information in Pennsylvania. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 125:249-252. 1998.-Archival information was searched for evidence of lightning strikes and subsequent ignitions in Pennsylvania forests. Between 1912-1917, twentyeight different tree species were struck by lightning 2553 times igniting 77 individual trees. These data probably underestimate the number of ignited fires due to rugged terrain, inefficient fire reporting, and minimal fire control resources of this early era. Lightning strikes occurred most often between June-August, peaking in July with 877 strikes. These data provide direct evidence that lightning strikes and tree ignitions occur relatively frequently in Pennsylvania forests. Recent data provide substantial evidence for large areas burned by lightning ignitions during drought years in the past thirty-seven years.


Taking practical contrast experiment as examples,factors of influencing accuracy of coal sample preparation in preparing coal sample for caking index determination are introduced,and corresponding control measures is proposed.


Summary: In this paper, we analyse the behaviour of the hazard function in the Dagum distribution with three parameters. We show that the hazard function is monotone decreasing or upside-down buthtub or buthtub and upside-down buthtub.