This study analyzed the flame characteristics when igniting 200 ml of flammable liquids containing equal parts gasoline and another flammable liquid. These mixtures were used to fill a divided space in a simulation. The length of one side of the divided space was 2,000 mm, and the length of the combustion device was 1,000 mm. The mixture with alcohol had the highest flame propagation speed (0.7 s), while the mixture with light oil showed the lowest (1.2 s). The gasoline and acetone mixture reached peak flame in 25.5 s, at the highest speed, while the mixture with light oil reached peak flame in 163.7 s at the lowest speed. The gasoline and light oil showed the longest continuous combustion time (332.7 s), while the gasoline and paint thinner showed the shortest (121.5 s). A fire inspector who is examining the scene of a fire needs to analyze both the statements of the first eyewitness and the flame characteristics collectively.


The angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AGTR1) is the main target through which angiotensin II influences cardiovascular tone, cell growth, and fluid and electrolyte balance. AGTR1 polymorphism has been reported to associate with hypertension, myocardial infarction (MI), and metabolic traits. Here we describe a novel approach to quantitation of transcript haplotypes (QTH) of AGTR1. To determine relative allelic expression from haplotypes, within‐individual‐between‐allele ratiometric analyses in placental cDNA were developed for the transcribed SNPs rs5182:C>T (encoding p.L191) and rs5186:A>C (3′‐noncoding "A1166C"). Additionally, between‐individual comparisons were made using TaqMan® assays applied to both homozygous and heterozygous genotypes and haplotypes. In conjunction, linkage disequilibrium (LD) and genomic haplotype associations with metabolic syndrome were examined. There was no significant difference of mRNA level for alleles of rs5182:C>T, but allele and mRNA haplotypes carrying 1166C exhibited reduced abundance. The effect was much greater in CC homozygotes than in heterozygotes. The promoter region was confirmed to be in a separate haplotype block from the AGTR1 3′ region containing rs5182:C>T and rs5186:A>C. Metabolic syndrome trait associations were strongest for the 3′ block generally and for the C allele of rs5186:A>C specifically. All effects were much more prominent in homozygotes, possibly reflecting interallelic interaction through feedback loops of mRNA regulation. Differential abundance of AGTR1 mRNA haplotypes may mediate clinical phenotypic observations of the AGTR1 genotype. Hum Mutat 28(4), 365–373, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


A meta-analysis was performed of concurrent and longitudinal studies on the relation of family factors to juvenile conduct problems and delinquency. Analyses of longitudinal data show that socialization variables, such as lack of parental supervision, parental rejection, and parent-child involvement, are among the most powerful predictors of juvenile conduct problems and delinquency. Medium-strength predictors include background variables such as parents' marital relations and parental criminality. Weaker predictors are lack of parental discipline, parental health, and parental absence. The effect of these factors seems to be about the same for boys and for girls. Analyses of concurrent studies comparing delinquents with nondelinquents, and aggressive children with nonaggressive children, largely parallel these findings. Data from concurrent normal samples, however, show less importance for parental child socialization practices and relatively more importance for the child's rejection of the parent and the parent's rejection of the child. A small proportion of families produces a disproportionate number of delinquents. The presence of one child with delinquency, aggression, or covert conduct problems increases the probability that other children in the family will exhibit those behaviors. Deficiencies in parenting skills are associated with the seriousness of the child's delinquency. Treatment studies demonstrate that systematic changes in parenting behaviors can lessen the frequency of a child's conduct problems and that of siblings and, to a lesser extent, reduce involvement in delinquent activities.


A health-care food in the form of capsule, chewing tablet or powder for preventing and suppressing colon cancer, cancer of uterine cervix, breast cancer, pancreas cancer, etc is prepared from the fruit of R. idaeus through quick freezing, cold storage, transportation, thawing, beating to obtain milk, mixing it with additives, vacuum freeze drying, pulverizing, sieving and loading in capsules or shaping.


Introduction : Mothers' nutrition knowledge, attitude and practices play an importantrole in childnutritional status1,2,3,4. Weexamined the linkbetweenmaternal nutrition knowledge, attitude and practices, demographiccharacteristics of mothers and nutritionaloutcomes (weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-forheight Z-scores) of theirchildren (6-59 months). One particular focus is on the role of different types of mothers' demographiccharacteristics, nutrition knowledge, attitudes and practices in comparisonwithsocioeconomicincome. The analysisbuilds on individuallevel data collected at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi County, Kenya in 2017 and 2018. Variousregressionmodelsweredeveloped and estimated. Results show thatmaternal nutrition attitude score, age and educationallevelispositivelyassociatedwithchildstunting, aftercontrolling for otherinfluencingfactorssuch as socio-economicincome and generalmaternal nutrition practice, likewisetherewas a strong association between the mothers' age, age of child and childunderweight. The strongest positive association withchildstuntingisfound for mothers' education and maternal attitude about the nutritionalhealthconsequences of not followingrecommendeddietary practices. Thesefindings have direct relevance for nutrition and healthpolicies, especially for designing the contents of nutritionaleducationcampaigns and training programs.ResearchMethodology :ResearchMethods used were cross-sectional, comparative, descriptive, quantitative and qualitative in nature. Tenwards of pediatricdepartmentwereused to yield an exhaustive simple randomsampling of cases thatparticipated in the study of whom 126 (86%) werefromlowsocio-economicincome and 20 (14%) from middle socioeconomicincome. Mothers' demographiccharacteristics, nutrition knowledge, attitude and practices and children'sdemographiccharacteristics and anthropometricmeasurements, thatis, weight and height data werecollectedusingstructured questionnaires. Food frequency questionnaires yielded data on dietarydiversityprovided at home for childrenbetween 6 months to 59 months. Descriptive and multivariateanalysisdistinguished key indicatorsrelatedwithnutritionalstatus of children. For chi-square test and t-test analyses wereutilized to conclude on the significance of distinction between proportions, whileAnalysis of Variance (ANOVA) wasutilized to test group difference of quantitative variables.Results: Data show that generally there are statistical significant differences between mothers' demographic characteristics, nutrition attitudes, practices and the nutritional status outcome of their children below five years of low and middle socio-economic income at Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya. The children's mean age at the time of the study of middle socio-economic income was 25.8 months (SD 5.99) and 23.45 months (SD 12.68) for low socioeconomic income. Some differences were noted in the following parameters:1. Mothers' demographic characteristics are not statistically significant from the two socio-economic income statuses along the identified background characteristic, with exception of child birth weight, mothers' educational status, number of children and mothers' age. Mothers of the low socio-economic income got children significantly at younger age (mean 26 years; SD 5.989) than those from middle socio-economic income status (mean 26 years; SD 3.675) (p=.019). Likewise, there is highly significant difference in number of children given birth to (p=.002) with parents from lower socio-economic status having high number of children (mean 2.35; SD 1.694), while those of middle socio-economic income low number of children (mean 2.21; SD 1.053). Mothers' from low socio-economic income had low education (mean 4.45; SD 1.142 ) while mothers from middle socio-economic income had high educational status (mean 5.00 ; SD 1.000 ) (p=.050).2. Child's age demographic characteristic was statistically significant different from between the two group of socio-economic income with respect to child age. Children's age had a high significant level (p=.000) to the nutritional outcome underweight, those of low Maternal nutrition knowledge, attitude and practices of mothers on nutritional status of their .. DOI: 10.9790/6737-05034755 www.iosrjournals.org 48 | Page socio-economic income had the highest child age (mean 15.56; SD 8.532) while middle income had (mean 13.40; SD 5.177).3. Based on multivariable analysis, the factors associated with weight for age among children below five years of Kenyatta National Hospital in the study included dietary diversity score slightly significance at (p=.056), child age (p=.001), number of children (p=.039), nutrition attitude slightly significant at (p=.097)4. Child age, dietary diversity score and nutrition practices were associated with height for age among children in the study. Child age (p=.007), dietary diversity score (p=.031), nutrition practices (p=.024)5. Child age and nutrition practices were the only factors that were associated with weight for height among children of below five years at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi County. Child age (p=.000) and nutrition practices (p=.006).Conclusion: The study in its findings came to conclusion that there is a statistical significance difference in nutritional status among children from low and middle socio-economic income status. Child and mothers' socio-demographic characteristics, nutrition practices, attitudes and dietary diversity score are associated with nutritional outcomes in both low and middle socio-economic income. Even though Kenyatta National Hospital has provided standardized guideline for child feeding practices, it is not effected by the mothers hence child malnutrition. The recommendation based on the findings of the study is that Kenyatta National Hospital should do regular follow up to find out whether the nutritional counseling that is provided to mothers at the Hospital is practiced by mothers. Also the ministry of health should ensure that this is reinforced to help minimize child malnutrition. With the help of ministry of health, mothers should be empowered economically by the government of Kenya so that they can be able to have some source of income to support their children in improving their nutritional status. Since mothers are the ones who make independent decisions for their babies on food choices, this study also recommends creating awareness on the effect of poor dietary practices on underweight, stunting and overweight or obesity and associated health risks. This should aim at improving nutrition knowledge, positive attitudes and appropriate dietary practices.


Demand resources are considered as a type of energy and are traded at negawatt energy markets in Korea since 2014. In order to manage the demand resources of residential buildings, this study deals with a demand-side home energy management system and its algorithm. Since building energy consumption is sensible to occupants' behavior, the suggested algorithm includes user behavior patterns and their preference for demand-side home energy management.


Summary. — In the gravity without the metric formulation of Capovilla, Jacobson and Dell, we can introduce a u-term which corresponds to torsion in the SL (2, C ) gauge-theoretical framework. Torsion induces a topological phase to the matter wave function in the Lorentzian sector and in a local Lorentz frame, where it appears momentarily to be at rest, this phase may be associated with wormhole charge when in the Euclidean sector torsion induces the formation of instanton‐anti-instanton pairs in disjoint spaces leading to the formation of wormholes. This provides a link between Coleman's solution of the cosmological-constant problem and the acquirement of the topological phase to the matter wave function in the Lorentzian sector, which leads to the vanishing of the vacuum energy density. This circumvents the problem associated with wormholes and Euclidean cosmology. PACS 04.20 ‐ Classical general relativity.


Abstract:This article discusses the use of visual art as textual space in Vladimir Nabokov's and Aleksandr Grin's prose. Special attention is given to a device that both of these writers deploy: the literal transference of privileged characters between visual and verbal media. Through the use of this device, Nabokov and Grin transfer their characters to an embedded dimension of pure art that is not governed by restrictive ideology. The similarity of Nabokov's and Grin's manipulation of pictorial space, best illustrated by their novels "Glory" and "The Road to Nowhere" respectively, provides a context for considering Nabokov's œuvre in relationship to Soviet Russian literature contemporary with him.


As electric power systems grow and become more interconnected, at some points, the available fault currents levels exceed the maximum short-circuit ratings of the switchgear. Superconducting fault current limiters (SFCLs) can limit the prospective short-circuit currents to lower levels, so that the underrated switchgears can be operated safely. Due to its simple structure and lower price, the resistive type superconducting fault current limiter (RSFCL) is being used widely in practical experiences. Since RSFCLs are installed to provide high levels of power quality for customers with sensitive loads, it is necessary to investigate their harmonic generation. In this paper, harmonic generation of a RSFCL installed in a distribution system is investigated considering the current total harmonic distortion (THD). Then a method is presented for determining the optimum high temperature superconductor (HTS) volume considering its harmonics generation. It is concluded that the THD reduces as the HTS element volume decreases. Also, since decrease in HTS element volume leads to decrease in limiting behavior of the RSFCL, an optimization should be achieved between the limiting behavior and the current THD level. This optimization results in the optimum volume determination of the HTS element.


Objective: To observe the effect of Ginkgo biloba extract(GBE) on adhesion molecules induced by IL-1β in vascular endothelial cells and its relationship with NO during this process.Methods: Bovine cerebral microvascular endothelial cells were cultured.E-selectin and α_(v)β_(3)integrin induced by IL-1β in endothelial cells were measured by cell-ELISA.Results: GBE and L-arginine significantly reduced the expression of E-selectin and α_(v)β_(3) integrin in endothelial cells in a concentration-dependent manner,while the inhibition effect was attenuated by nitric oxide synthase blocking peptide.Conclusion: GBE inhibits the expression of E-selectin and α_(v)β_(3) integrin by affecting NO pathway.


ENGLISH administrative law has long struggled with the problem of unlawful statements issued by or on behalf of public authorities, upon which individuals go on to rely. The potential injustice to those who discover, after the expenditure of time and money, that apparently authoritative assurances are actually worthless has occasionally been addressed by invoking the concept of estoppel, so as to prevent public authorities from resiling from their officials' ostensibly reliable statements (see, e.g., Lever Finance Ltd. v. Westminster LBC [1971] 1 Q.B. 222, per Lord Denning M.R.). However, concern for the individual's welfare must be tempered by reference to a wider public interest in lawful decision-making by the designated agency pursuant to the statutorily-prescribed procedure. The almost insurmountable obstacle to the establishment of estoppels in public law cases erected by judicial emphasis on such public interest concerns (see Western Fish Products Ltd. v. Penwith DC [1981] 2 All E.R. 204) has now become an absolute barrier, in view of the courts' willingness to follow obiter dicta in R. (Reprotech (Pebsham) Ltd.) v. East Sussex CC [2002] UKHL 8, [2003] 1 W.L.R. 348 (noted at (2003) 62 C.L.J. 3) to the effect that estoppel should be confined to the private sphere in which it was developed, leaving legitimate expectation as the central principle in this area of public law. Does this mean that it is now possible to found a legitimate expectation upon an unlawful representation? Although some post-Reprotech decisions (e.g. South Buckinghamshire DC v. Flanagan [2002] EWCA Civ 690, [2002] 1 W.L.R. 2601) have hinted that this may be possible when such


Abstract This paper deals with the design and construction of a digital signal processing meter to provide a digital output proportional to the moss flow rate of a gas. It employs a triple-slope technique and a non-linear square-root type of analogue to digital converter (ADC). The triple-slope square-root ADC is based on a dual-slope integrating converter. Linear and digital ICs have been used throughout the design of this digital meter.


Forty young patients, most of whom were complaining of abdominal pain leading to significant disturbance in their ability to participate in age-related activities, are described in this report. All had been extensively evaluated, and their restrictions in daily activities were disproportionate to any pathology uncovered. Most had also had mental health evaluations to rule out thought or eating disorders. Currently, there are no markers available for functional bowel disorders but, rather, clusters of symptoms. Associations with the Pain-Associated Disability Syndrome (PADS) label the authors have used are reviewed for these patients. Interestingly, the discussion of normal motility testing performed in these children by these experts along with all the other normal testing were required to convince the parents to stop searching for another diagnosis other than PADS. Although retrospective and descriptive in nature, this is an important report to read for the insights shared by the authors around the concepts of functional disorders causing more disability than organic disease and how patients such as these are not well served by the acute care model of health care. One can imagine the difficulties for these patients and their families in locations where providers of health care are understaffed.


Random measures are used to describe the evolution of the limit order book. A new model for limit order arrival is proposed which enables us to construct a model of the order book. Our model is flexible enough to be fitted to empirical observations. It turns out that the limit order book will be a mixed Poisson process at every point in time. We describe the behaviour of the order book in the long run. Some applications to the optimal liquidation of a large position of stock holdings are given. A limit order strategy and a market order strategy are compared and conditions are given as to which one should be given priority. Finally, we show that naturally a new type of options occurs, a reverse Asian fixed strike lookback option.


Any decision to invest in Road Transport Telematics (RTT) needs to be appraised systematically, to determine whether RTT projects are worthwhile and resource-effective, compared with other possible schemes. This paper discusses some of the available methods of evaluating and assessing RTT projects, and describes how they are being applied to the Transport Telematics Applications Programme of the European Union (EU). 'Evaluation' and 'assessment' here refer, respectively, to the processes of measuring the difference between two situations, and placing an evaluation's results into context. The paper emphasises the role and importance of systematic evaluation and assessment when considering investment in RTT. The broad categories of assessment are: (1) technical, about technical performance of a system; (2) user acceptance, about users' attitudes and perceptions; (3) impact, in terms of safety, environmental conditions, or transport efficiency; (4) socio-economic, either cost-benefit analysis or multi-criteria analysis; (5) financial; and (6) market, to give the commercial perspective. Current evaluation and assessment issues are discussed, including market assessment, private finance, and evaluation of enforcement and regulation. Finally, RTT evaluation and assessment in practice are considered.


For several decades, educational policy reforms have been understood as major instruments of educational governance that can impact existing educational practices, for instance, in terms of changes in teaching strategies, learning materials, and students' achievements (Fullan, 1983). However, in contrast to their huge sociopolitical relevance, scientific evaluations of such reforms are scarce (e.g., OECD, 2015). Rigorous evaluations and deeper investigations of reforms are of special societal importance for several reasons: (a) to legitimize sometimes very controversial legislative policy decisions, which are to be implemented by the educational administration, (b) to test and minimize aspects of educational policies, which are predominantly based on normative arguments and which are now implemented as trial and error policies, and (c) to increase knowledge about when educational policy reforms and curricular programs lead to intended or unintended effects for students (e.g., Black & Wiliam, 2009; McConnell, 2010; Schaffer, Nesselrodt, & Stringfield, 1997). Moreover, formative and summative evaluations of educational policy reforms against objective standards (e.g., Campbell, 1969; Konstantopoulos & Hedges, 2008) are important for decreasing the likelihood of unintended side effects right from the start of their implementation. A systematic, empirically grounded evaluation of educational policy reforms is also of special importance in the face of the high complexity of the multilayered education system, where reforms are usually focused on impacting surface structures (e.g., Elmore, 1995) but shall actually trigger students' individual educational processes, for instance, competence growth. For these reasons, the effects of policy reforms are generally very complicated to anticipate during the construction and implementation of the reforms (Fusarelli, 2002; Young & Lewis, 2015). In the present dissertation, I investigate a variety of central psychological factors at the student level before and after the implementation of two central educational policy reforms at the end of upper secondary school. In this project, I do not merely analyze the reforms in a loose, isolated framework, but I integrate and critically reflect on them more closely in a disciplinary context. In fact, in this dissertation, I make an attempt to integrate the four studies into a larger, more general context of educational reform, which can be addressed only in an interdisciplinary way. Therefore, this dissertation also focuses on developments in educational policy and educational science in general, which define the central foundations for introducing policy reforms in the education system. Moreover, I also focus on developments related to educational governance and discussions about the increase in demands for evidence-based policy (see Chapters 2 and 3) before outlining the need to include psychological factors and related theoretical models in reform evaluations (see Chapter 3). The two reforms that are analyzed here are the reform of upper secondary school and the G8 reform, both of which were implemented at the beginning of the new millennium in most German states. The two reforms are still critically discussed in the society and by educational policy. In doing this, I use prominent theoretical models, for instance, a model of achievement motivation (e.g., Eccles & Wigfield, 2002) in order to generate appropriate hypotheses and integrate the results of the effects of the reforms into recent research. The reform of upper secondary school mainly implemented mandatory course choice on an advanced course level in upper secondary school and therefore depicts a curricular intensification (CI) reform. The G8 reform reduced overall school time in high track schools (Gymnasium) from a total of 9 to 8 years by means of a compression of school time in terms of an increase in allocated time per week in lower secondary schools. I analyzed the reform of upper secondary school using a large representative sample from Thuringia (Additional Study Thuringia of the National Educational Panel Study) and Baden-Württemberg (TOSCA study; Blossfeld, Rossbach, & Maurice, 2011; Köller, Watermann, Trautwein, & Lüdtke, 2004; Trautwein, Neumann, Nagy, Lüdtke, & Maaz, 2010). Furthermore, I conducted the analysis of the G8 reform by considering a large representative data set from Baden-Württemberg (Additional Study Baden-Württemberg of the National Educational Panel Study; Blossfeld et al., 2011). In Study 1 (Maximizing Gender Equality by Minimizing Course Choice Options? Effects of Obligatory Coursework in Math on Gender Differences in STEM; Journal of Educational Psychology), differential effects of the upper secondary school reform on advanced math, math self-concept, and vocational interests were investigated. Furthermore, potential differences before and after the upper secondary school reform regarding the field of study at university in STEM (science, technique, engineering, and mathematics) subjects were focused on. Results showed that whereas gender differences in math achievement were lower after the reform, differences were larger on all other outcome variables. In spite of these results, no differences before or after the reform were found for the choice of the field of study at university. Study 2 (Putting All Students in One Basket Does not Produce Equality: GenderSpecific Effects of Curricular Intensification in Upper Secondary School; Manuscript submitted for publication) expanded the results of Study 1 by considering data from another German state, namely, Thuringia. In Study 2, it was possible to analyze a broader variety of student outcome measures in English reading, mathematics, biology, and physics, as well as students' subjectspecific self-concepts and interests in these subjects. The results of this study indicated no statistically significant average differences on achievement measures. However, differential effects on English reading and a higher English self-concept in favor of young men were found after the reform, whereas the reform had a negative effect on young women's math self-concept. In Study 3 (Comparing Apples and Oranges: Reforms can Change the Meaning of Students' Grades!; Manuscript submitted for publication), analyses of reform effects were extended to school grades. Students' grades at the end of upper secondary school are of special importance for college and university access and later job employment. However, research has shown striking differences between teacher-assigned grades and standardized student achievement. Furthermore, grades are oftentimes assigned on a norm-referenced basis and are therefore strongly oriented toward a class' achievement composition, which changed when detracking was introduced by the CI reform. Therefore, Study 3 was focused on the research question of whether students' standardized achievement differed between before and after the CI reform, given similar grades. Results suggested considerable differences in students' standardized test achievement before and after the reform, given similar grades. Compared with basic courses, standardized achievement given a similar grade in core courses was higher. However, the opposite pattern was found when comparing achievement between advanced and core courses, given a similar grade. Furthermore, for math these effects were found to vary among high and low grade levels. Finally, Study 4 (The G8 reform in Baden-Württemberg: Competencies, Well-Being, and Leisure Time Before and After the Reform; Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft) is one of the first studies to investigate effects of the G8 reform at the end of upper secondary school. In contrast to the reform of upper secondary school, the G8 reform increased the time allocated in lower secondary school in order to reduce the total time spent in school by 1 year. Study 4 therefore focused on potential changes in student achievement in mathematics, English reading, biology, and physics from before to after the reform. In addition, potential effects on variables related to students' well-being (stress and health) and leisure time use were analyzed. Differences between G8 and G9 students were found in English reading, biology, and in wellbeing measures in favor of the G9 students. All studies in this dissertation investigated the research questions using advanced statistical methods such as multidimensional multiple-group IRT models or structural equation models with continuous indicators and considered survey weights, missing data, and the clustered structure of the data. The reforms that the dissertation focused on were chosen specifically in order to investigate central individual aspects but also have an exemplary, more general function in the context of investigating changes in specific surface structures of the education system on specific psychological factors related to achievement. Similarly, all reforms were implemented in the highest track school, the Gymnasium, which is currently the most frequently attended school type in lower and upper secondary school. The Gymnasium is important because the results of the upper secondary school examination strongly determine whether a student is eligible to enroll in university. In the beginning of this dissertation, I will first provide a general introduction regarding the meaning and expectations of educational policy reforms. I will subsequently integrate this material into the central findings and developments of educational effectiveness research and educational governance in Chapters 2 and 3. After presenting Studies 1 to 4 in Chapter 4, I will outline the strengths and limitations and implications of the dissertation in Chapter 5.


Objective To study the effect of "MengLaoHu" on the hepatic fibrosis rats.Methods The model rats of hepatic fibrosis were induced by intraperitoneal injection of porcine serum,and the effect of "MengLaoHu" on PCⅢ,LN,HA,IFN-γ and TNF-α in rat was observed.Results Ethyl acetate part of "MengLaoHu"(especially in the high dose group) could decrease the contents of PCⅢ,LN,HA,IFN-γ and TNF-α in serum,and increase the content of IFN-γ.Its effect was equivalent to that of the colchicine.Conclusion Effective part in "MengLaoHu" of anti-hepatic fibrosis mainly exists in Ethyl acetate part.


In order to promote our country sporting goods brand in small and medium-sized enterprises,literature material and the expert investigation methods are used to diagnose their capital operation stage's brand construction.The results show that:sporting goods industry in China after more than ten years of development have achieved good results.However,because of short of experience and lack of capital accumulation,business systems,scientific and technological innovation and adaptability there are still many problems,which affected the corporate brand building process.I suggest that the enterprise takes the market survey to increase the technical research and development dynamics,the consummation brand strategy as well as the advancement enterprise brand construction.


A discretization method referred to as the Quadrature Discretization Method (QDM) is introduced for the solution of the Schrodinger equation. The method has been used previously for the solution of Fokker–Planck equations. The Fokker–Planck equation can be transformed to a Schrodinger equation with a potential of the form that occurs in supersymmetric quantum mechanics. For this class of potentials, the ground state wave function is known. The QDM is based on the discretization of the wave function on a grid of points that coincide with the points of a quadrature. The quadrature is based on a set of nonclassical polynomials orthogonal with respect to a weight function determined by the potential function in the Schrodinger equation. For the Fokker–Planck operator, the weight function that provides rapid convergence of the eigenvalues are the steady distributions at infinite time, that is, the ground state wave functions. In the present paper, the weight functions used in an analogous solution of the Schro...


THE world is undergoing tumultuous changes, presenting challenges to countries such as Turkey that are affected by this tectonic transformation. While there is a serious economic crisis currently affecting the international community at large, the regions surrounding Turkey are undergoing an equally significant process of political transition. Though challenging, we believe these transformations are natural and inevitable processes. As it is unwise to confront these processes, the best course of action is to develop a sound understanding of the causes of this transformation, whilst developing suitable strategies to cope with the change. As it conducts foreign policy in such turbulent regional and international environments, Turkey possesses several advantages, which make it uniquely positioned to respond to the myriad challenges related to political transition. Turkish Foreign Policy Strengths F Turkish foreign policy is formulated with reference to a holistic understanding of historical trends and a sense of active agency. Rejecting a reactionary foreign policy approach, Turkey develops its positions on regional and international issues with careful consideration of its own conditions. More than anything else, Turkey's stance reflects its historical depth, geographical positioning and rich legacy in international affairs.


The authors report a longitudinal study describing the progression and circumstances of cocaine dependence within a large group of men with different usage histories, from initiation of use to entrance into a treatment program at a Veterans Affairs medical center several years later. Data illustrating the course of the disorder were retrospectively collected, using a "natural history" methodology successfully used in prior research. Four patterns of escalation of cocaine use are described. Generally, as the cocaine career progressed, there was a decrease in the consumption of alcohol and other drugs.


In order to detect the work situation of the aerial camera,and diagnose the camera which has fault,this paper designed a fault diagnosis system by using the virtual instrument technology.This system is managed by the IPC uniformly,and collect,save and processing data timely.The system can simulate the data transmission mode between the aircraft's task manage system and the camera by ARINC429 bus,and provide the shoot number,time,ground speed,height and other information according to the requirements of the camera record information.So it is convenient to control the operating parameters of the camera and record the associated information,and then complete the tests of the aerial camera performance.


Atlantic salmon Salmo salar were kept in water with different NaCl concentration (salinity: 0, 1 and 2%) for 48h in order to determine the effects of environmental salinity on lipid classes and their fatty acid composition of gills.The percentage of gill weight to body weight decreased in fish kept in water with 1 and 2% salinity for 24h. The total lipid of gills (mg/100g fish body weight) also decreased from 897mg of the initial value to 727 and 747mg after adaptation to 1 or 2% salt water for 24h. This was mainly due to decrease of triglyceride class of gill lipids. On the other hand, the content of polar lipids such as phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) was not influenced by salinity levels during 48h adaptation.The adaptation of salmon to 1 or 2% salt water for 24h remarkably reduced the level of n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids, especially docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) of PC in gill, while no change was observed in fatty acids of PE. On the other hand, all fatty acids in gill nonpolar lipids were decreased. These results suggest that some selected fatty acids such as DHA in gill polar lipids may have an important role for salinity adaptation.


Through constructing and measuring, the pre stressed empty pipe piles influence upon the displacement and earth pressure of the Exterior protected construction is analysized. The analysis method of earth pressure is presented and the cofficient m of foundation soil horizontal tension is backward.


OBJECTIVE
To characterize the course of cognitive decline during the prodromal phase of Alzheimer disease.

DESIGN
Longitudinal cohort study with up to 16 years of observation.

PARTICIPANTS
Older persons from 2 studies underwent annual clinical evaluations that included cognitive function testing and clinical classification of mild cognitive impairment, dementia, and Alzheimer disease. At baseline, there were 2071 individuals without dementia and 1511 without cognitive impairment.

RESULTS
During follow-up, 462 persons developed Alzheimer disease (20 with dementia solely due to another condition were excluded). Five to six years before diagnosis, the rate of global cognitive decline accelerated more than 15-fold. The acceleration in cognitive decline occurred slightly earlier for semantic memory (76 months before diagnosis) and working memory (75 months) than other cognitive functions. Mild cognitive impairment was also preceded by years of cognitive decline that began earlier (80 months before diagnosis) and proceeded more rapidly (annual loss of 0.102 unit) in the amnestic than in the nonamnestic (62 months, 0.072 unit) subtype.

CONCLUSION
Dementia due to Alzheimer disease is preceded by about 5 to 6 years of accelerated decline in multiple cognitive functions. By contrast, little decline is evident in persons who do not develop Alzheimer disease.


In this work, we propose a new transmit antenna selection (TAS) scheme which examines the trade-off between feedback overhead and secrecy performance in multiple-input multiple-output wiretap channels. Our new scheme is carried out in two steps. First, the transmitter selects the first two strongest antennas to maximize the instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the transmitter-receiver channel. Second, Alamouti coding is employed at the selected antennas in order to perform secure data transmission. When equal power is applied to the selected antennas, we refer to our new scheme as TAS-Alamouti. To provide valuable insights into TAS-Alamouti, we derive new closed-form expressions for the secrecy performance metrics. In terms of these metrics, we show how in a Rayleigh fading channel that our TAS-Alamouti scheme outperforms the traditional single TAS scheme conditioned on the SNR of the transmitter-receiver channel being larger than a specific value. We show how in some antenna configurations no additional feedback, relative to single TAS, is required in order to realize such performance enhancements. Furthermore, we show how optimal power allocation (OPA) across the selected antennas at the transmitter leads to a new scheme, which we refer to as TAS-Alamouti-OPA, that outperforms single TAS unconditionally. Relative to TAS-Alamouti, TAS-Alamouti-OPA requires only one additional feedback bit.


Dr Block identifies an inconsistency between our call for parents to limit television and video game use to no more than 1 hour per night. He correctly points out that there was no relation between video game use and grades after controlling for other covariates. When we …


The hot gas flow in the glass sheet bending method, the glass sheet is heated in a horizontal position in a row (1) to the bending temperature and then bending chamber to flow upwardly towards for containers Bering flat top position set block bending the mold (7) It is pressed by. Bending the glass plate (3 ') is being mounted on a movable set-ring 13 is then transferred to a cooling station 16 of a result. A glass plate (3) is raised from the container Bering roller train (2) of a row (1) by the suction plate 23 is mounted on the movable transfer ring 28. A glass plate 3 is positioned relative to the transfer ring (28). A glass plate with the help of the transfer ring 28 (3) is transferred to the bending chamber, occupies a predetermined end position relative to the glass plate 3, bending mold (7) in the end position of the transport ring 28.


Natal and neonatal teeth are present in the oral cavity at birth and during the first 30 days of life, respectively. Management of such teeth is a treatment challenge. The incidence of such natal and neonatal teeth is reported to be 1 in every 1125-30,000 births, respectively. Cleft lip and palate (CLP) is a common dentofacial congenital anomaly of the oral cavity and may be present unilaterally or bilaterally. The occurrence of association of such teeth with unilateral and bilateral CLP cases is reported to be 2% and 10%, respectively. The presence of natal/neonatal teeth in the cleft area complicates the child's health only in few cases. There is a paucity of information in the literature regarding the simultaneous occurrence of neonatal teeth in bilateral CLP cases. The present paper reported the management of a neonatal tooth present in association with complete bilateral CLP in a 12-day-old male child with review of literature.


Based on the 8320 observations in 40 quarters of 16 listed banks, this paper empirically analyses the macro-prudential supervision's impact on commercial bank's capital operation through the dynamic unbalanced panel system GMM model. The results show that macro-prudential supervision has exerted active supervision on China's commercial banks, guiding China's commercial banks to establish a capital restraint mechanism and improving the bank's internal capital supplement mechanism. The response of commercial banks to capital supervision is positive. The regulatory rating results influence the active adjustment of the bank's follow-on capital ratio. Commercial banks basically meet the requirements for prudent management of countercyclical capital. Based on the analysis of the data in the article, this paper suggests that the regulatory authorities further strengthen the bank's capital supervision and make the bank's macro-prudential supervision appear more counter-cyclical. At the same time, we must appropriately improve the banking ownership structure, increase the sources of external funds for commercial banks, and enhance the transparency of the financial system so that uninsured loan holders can play a significant role in binding banks.


The essay draws on and consolidates the motivations and methodology around a body of practice that is centred around walking, talking and making. Discussing at length the Psychic Derive – where participants are invited to cross the city (Glasgow) in a time-travelling, forensic foray into the traces of transient artworks from the past, negotiating a way of remembering and re-activating the 'experience' of site-specific and moment-specific works and secret history that shouldn't be forgotten.
The essay reflects on why a work by Ross Sinclair is a central subject of this Psychic Derive.


We demonstrate a novel perturbation-based fiber nonlinearity compensation technique and evaluate its performance in a metro-reach system experiment. The achieved gains in Q2-factor are comparable to digital back-propagation over a wide range of symbol rates and pulse-shapes.


A field experiment was conducted to study the characteristics of nutrient loss in hilly area of central Sichuan basin.There were 5 kinds of fertilization systems: application of N+P+K(NPK),straw returned to field alone(RSD),straw + N(RSDN),straw +N+P(RSDNP),straw +N+P+K(RSDNPK).Series water samples were collected from the different plots in each rainfall event.The results showed as follows: Returned straw significantly affected the soil erosion and runoff from slope cropland of purple soil.Compared with NPK,the sediment yield from the application with returned straw decreased by 70%~82%,the surface runoff decreased by 26%~31%,and the leaching amount increased by 30%~52%.Returned straw significantly reduced 60%~76% of the total nutrient loss.There were significant differences in the losses of nutrient of various treatment plots.The order of phosphorus loss was NPK RSD RSDNPKRSDNP RSDN,and the order of nitrogen loss was NPK RSDN RSDNPKRSDNP RSD.As to phosphorus,transported by surface runoff was the major way,and total particulate phosphorus was the major form in that way. PO~(3-)_4-P is major form of dissolved total phosphorus in surface runoff.On the other hand,PO~(3-)_4-P / DTP in leachate significantly decreased.As to nitrogen,transported by leaching was the major way,NO~-_3-N was the major form in leachate and there was not a same situation in surface runoff.


Digitalis has always been the cornerstone of therapy for congestive heart failure. Although the benefits of other therapeutic measures are important, nevertheless, the primary aim in the treatment of congestive heart failure was to improve myocardial contractility using a digitalis glycoside. However, in recent years the management of congestive heart failure has taken a new and sophisticated direction. Therapeutic measures that reduce the work of the heart currently receive more attention than do drugs that improve myocardial contractility. Newer attitudes in management are evolving as a consequence of the successful results from treatment that influence the work load of the heart. Specifically, the focus is on vasodilating or unloading agents that reduce the work of the heart by decreasing cardiac preload and afterload. 1-21 Selective vasodilation has proved to be the decisive factor in reversing severe congestive heart failure refractory to all other therapy. The emergence of the unloading agents


The editorial prospectus for this volume opens with a concision which will not be emulated here: 'Terra Nullius is the principle of violence that inheres in every origin. And, in its wake, there is no law, no text, no culture, free of that violence'. In an immediate sense, this is an invitation to counter certain pacific pretensions of law. But we may also be editorially swayed towards a more pointed pursuit. That would involve tying law to the violence of the origin not an origin whose violence has a f Ixed and forceful palpability, but an origin which is pervaded by what is null or non-existent, and an origin whose violence is constantly impelled by that very nothingness. Such a scene of the origin is one I will now visit by way of an analytical retelling of an occidental myth of violent origination. This is one of the most influential myths of modernity, not so much in its gruesome immediacy as in its psychoanalytic attenuations. This journal article is available in Law Text Culture: http://ro.uow.edu.au/ltc/vol4/iss1/3 Traversing Terra Nullius: Legal Origins and Freudian Fictions


Complementary Law n. 101/2000, known as the Fiscal Responsibility Law (LRF), established public finance rules aimed at responsibility in fiscal management. To this end, it gave ample prominence for compliance with the fiscal targets registered and contemplated in the Fiscal Risks Annex of the Budget Guidelines Law (LDO). This work aims to demonstrate that the fiscal goals signed in the LDO, and which are the result of the republican and democratic convergence between the Executive Power's proposal and its approval by the Legislative Power, link all acts of budgetary and financial management. In this sense, it is argued that the fiscal targets for primary and nominal results have a high degree of coercibility, and that tax management divorced from their compliance is based on the presumption of irregularity in the accounts of the heads of the Executive Branch. It is even shown that, over the twenty years of the LRF's existence, that the achievement of the primary result goal was a little commented protagonist in the rejection of the accounts of the Government of the Republic of 2014 and 2015, and, likewise, the conviction for a crime under the responsibility of the then President of the Republic, Dilma Roussef.


Objective To evaluate the value of CT three dimensional reconstruction of vessels of pulmonary nodules. Methods Thirty six cases of pulmonary nodules underwent three dimensional reconstruction of vessels after enhanced CT. The characteristic of vessels and the relation to nature of pulmonary nodules were analyzed. Results Twenty six images of three dimensional reconstruction of vessels were clear in 36 patients. Of 22 malignant nodules, thick vessels could be found in 18 pulmonary nodules, 2 nodules were drilled through by vessels, and no abnormal vessels could be found in other 2 nodules and 4 benign ones. Conclusion ①Thick and perferative vessels are reliable sign of malignant nodules. ②Three dimensional reconstruction of vessels is very helpful in diagnosing pulmonary nodules of middle and lateral field of lung.


A variety of applications using ultrasonic transducer is operating at high power in a low frequency range in industry. The resonance frequency shift and electrical impedance change is a common phenomenon in the application of high-power ultrasonic transducer. In order to achieve a stable or consistent results, it is important to track the resonance frequency. To solve these problems, various electrical methods have been described to track the operating frequency. This paper proposes ultrasonic transducer drive system and a simple digital control algorithm for sonicating aluminum alloy. The ultrasound transducer drive system is implemented to verify the proposed digital control algorithm. The proposed digital control algorithm is applied to a 3 kW prototype ultrasound transducer drive system, and the experimental results are analyzed and verified.


Automotive applications need high reliability and service continuity to support self-driving and safety in smart city environments. Suitable allocation of network functions is studied and optimal solutions based on Integer Linear Programming methodology are found. Differentiated reliability concept is applied in the presence of two different 5G classes of service, namely eMBB and URLLC. Saving of processing and bandwidth resources is numerically evaluated by combining service-based shared and dedicated protection in a reference scenario. Scalability aspects of the approach are also discussed.


This article analyzes the current state and development prospects of some areas of the Russian economy that are significant in terms of ensuring the country's economic security: logistics, stock market, IT-sphere. The authors set out their own vision of the relevant elements of this complex multi-aspect topic. The era of global transformations is becoming a challenge for all spheres of society, forcing systems at different levels to adapt and look for non-standard solutions.


The image forgery techniques are used to provide the particular image in the form of computerized pictures with no errors in capturing of digital image information which shows the original image. While compared to normal images the edited images are difficult to find out the forged images. The image should maintain the authenticity and integrity to secure the picture from unauthorized users. In this paper, we have compared the digital image forgery and JPEG is the most common format used by the photographic images and the digital camera devices. These operations are performed in an adobe photo-shop using with the content of image security to restore some digital image with an authenticity and integrity to detect the digital image forgery using active and passive techniques.


Embedded and mainstream processor designs today are power constrained, yet increased performance continues to be the goal. The keys to increasing performance without a commensurate increase in power consumption are increasing parallelism and specialization. Core specialization has proven to be important in the embedded domain and is likely to play an important role in future multi-core architectures where sequential control code runs on a general purpose core and the compute intensive kernels run on highly parallel cores specialized for a particular domain. Designing these architectures will require new design methodologies and tools. In previous work, we have developed an architecture style for domain specific architectures that approaches the power and performance characteristics of ASIC based systems while retaining much of the generality of general purpose devices. The cost however is a significant increase in programming difficulty. This paper presents the CoGenE compiler which solves this problem. The paper evaluates CoGenE for a domain specific architecture capable of accelerating the face recognition domain. The results show a 1.65 throughput improvement over the Pentium 4 while achieving an energy-delay improvement that is 80 times better than an XScale.


An associative memory provides a convenient way for pattern retrieval and restoration, which has an important role for handling data distorted with noise. As an effective associative memory, we paid attention to a morphological associative memory (MAM) proposed by Ritter. The model is superior to ordinary associative memory models in terms of calculation amount, memory capacity, and perfect recall rate. However, in general, the kernel design becomes difficult as the stored pattern increases because the kernel uses a part of each stored pattern. In this paper, we propose a stored pattern independent kernel design method for the MAM and design the MAM employing the proposed kernel design with a standard digital manner in parallel architecture for acceleration. We confirm the validity of the proposed kernel design method by auto- and hetero-association experiments and investigate the efficiency of the hardware acceleration. A high-speed operation (more than 150 times in comparison with software execution) is achieved in the custom hardware. The proposed model works as an intelligent pre-processor for the Brain-Inspired Systems (Brain-IS) working in real world.


Due to worker injuries in industries such as nursing and construction, we have developed a tunable and concealable worker-wear assistance suit that consists of elastic belts to prevent arm muscle fatigue and injury in workers whose arms repeatedly perform motions upon their shoulders. According to the layout and the material of the belts, the suits may assist the user's arm without any electrical resources. To verify the feasibility and functionality of the layout and the structure of our proposed suits, simulations and experiments were employed. The simulation was conducted based on the average body dimensions of young Japanese people, and its results showed that the proposed suits may effectively assist the user's arm muscles. By measuring the muscles activities of six subjects wearing these suits and lifting a load of 10 kg, practically and concretely verifying the functionality of the suits, the results showed a 45% improvement ratio for their arm muscles. The proposed assistance suit can not only directly support and assist the elbow and shoulder j oint but also indirectly prevent lower back injury.


When the phagocytic response of pulmonary cells obtained from rat lung lavage to insoluble particles was assessed in an in vitro system under conditions of selected variables, a peak phagocytic response occurred for most metal oxides (except Fe 2 O 3 ) at 10 -4 M Ca ++ and at 10 -7 M UO 2 ++ in a simple saline medium. The Ca ++ effect was interrelated with particle concentration for SiO 2 particles. Phagocytic response increased with particle to cell ratios up to 10 to 15 with several particle species. These and other data including enhanced phagocytosis with poly-L-lysine, are discussed in relation to peritoneal cell responses, charge characteristics of particles, and the implications of the findings to in vivo lung responses.


In spring, the Ruff Philomachus pugnax passes through European inland sites in large numbers. Birds from eastern and western parts of the breeding range may differ in biometrics, but data on this species in eastern Europe are scarce. The aim of this study was to describe the biometrics of Ruffs migrating through southern Belarus in spring. In 2004, 242 birds were sexed by DNA analysis. Three birds sexed as males had female plumage but wing lengths intermediate between females and breeding‐plumage males, and were identified as cryptic males or 'faeders'. Between 2001 and 2005, 2,237 Ruffs were ringed at the study site (1,310 males in breeding plumage, 911 females and 14 faeders). There was a strong seasonal variation in sex ratio. For adult Ruffs wing length was the best predictor of sex. Total head length and tarsusplus‐toe length distributions overlapped slightly between the sexes. There was evidence for slight bimodality in the distributions of wing, bill and tarsus‐plus‐toe length in non‐faeder males and in wing and bill length distributions for females. Mean wing lengths of Ruffs passing through the Belarus study site were similar to those birds from other locations in Europe and North Africa, but different from birds from South Africa, Yamal and the middle Lena River, suggesting that Ruffs have at least two different breeding populations.


Along with social development,Enterprises' competition experienced three stages: product competition, promotion competition and image competition. Enterprises should pay more attention to creation and the maintenance of brand image today. However, many enterprises in China encountered brand crisis. Not only Chinese corporations and overseas ones but also small-scale enterprises and large-scale ones are involved in the crises.China is entering the time of brand crisis.Facing such a situation, we have to consider what the deep-seated cause is and how we should develop and protect brand image in order to avoid the loss of brand asset and customers.


In this paper, we develop appropriate programme using Groups, Algorithms and Programming (GAP) software enables performing different computations on various characteristics of all finite nonabelian metacyclic p –groups, p is prime, of nilpotency class 2. Such programme enables to compute structure of the group, order of the group, structure of the center, the number of conjugacy classes, structure of commutator subgroup, abelianization, Whitehead's universal quadratic functor and other characteristics. In addition, structures of some other groups such as the nonabelian tensor square and various homological functors including Schur multiplier and exterior square can be computed using this programme. Furthermore, by computing the epicenter order or the exterior center order the capability can be determined. In our current article, we only compute the nonabelian tensor square of certain order groups, as an example, and give GAP codes for computing other characteristics and some subgroups.


Since the signal to noise ratio for the change in deformation is normally small, its assessment and interpretation requires sophisticated mathematical techniques. Mathematical statistics is a common mathematical tool for this purpose. The development and implementation of statistical methods have been systematically restricted to the analysis of displacement fields (for example: Caspary 1987; Caspary et al., 1999). The statistical inference of the deformation tensor itself can benefit from the invariance property of the deformation parameters at least in comparison with some of the traditional inference techniques. Cai (2004) did the first comprehensive study on the statistical inference of the symmetric 2D-and 3D-deformation tensor. His work was based on the statistical inference of the ei-genspace components of a random deformation tensor. For this purpose, using the eigen-space synthesis and eigenspace analysis of the symmetric deformation tensor in two-and three-dimensions, Cai formulated the deformation tensor elements as a set of nonlinear functions of the eigenspace components. Assuming that the strain tensor elements are normally distributed and that a time series of deformation tensor is available (either through their direct measurement or through their estimate from other observations) the eigenspace synthesis approach can give a least-squares estimate of the eigenspace elements and their variance-covariance information. He has then proposed the test statistics such as the Hotteling's T 2 and the likelihood ratio statistics (e.g. Papoulis and Pillai, 2002) as statistical apparatuses for the inference of estimated eigenspace elements (Cai, 2004). The eigenspace elements of the deformation tensor are the standard parameters for the interpretation and representation of the accumulation of strain and stress in an area. Nevertheless , a method that can help us analyze deformation changes in a further detail is obviously more desirable. In case of significant change in deformations, such a method would enable us to assign the detected variations to the normal and/or shear strains. This goal is not attainable through the statistical inference of the eigenspace elements. This is because ac


Ghrelin, a novel acylated peptide and endogenous ligand for growth hormone (GH) secretagogue receptor, was originally isolated from rat and human stomachs. In addition to its GH-releasing activity, ghrelin plays an important role in many physiological functions, including food intake, gastric acid secretion, neonatal development, and so on. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of exogenous ghrelin on pancreatic growth in different ages before puberity in rats (suckling, three weeks old weaned, and peripubertal six weeks old rats). Various doses of ghrelin were injected intraperitoneally twice a day for one or two weeks in suckling rats and for 6 days in both weaned and six weeks old rats. The last injection was 1 h before the end of the experiment. The obtained results revealed that ghrelin administration caused a significant increase in body weight in six week old rats but not in suckling or weaned rats. Also, ghrelin caused a significant decrease in food intake in weaned rats but a significant increase in six week old rats. In suckling rats, ghrelin caused significant decrease in pancreatic weight and pancreatic amylase activity. However, ghrelin caused significant increase in pancreatic weight and pancreatic amylase in weaned or six week old rats. Ghrelin did not affect serum level of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in suckling rats but caused a significant increase in serum level of IGF-1 in both weaned and six week old rats. Ghrelin increased serum level of growth hormone (GH) in all rats. This effect was age dependent as it was weak in suckling rats, higher in weaned and the highest in young six week old rats. These results suggest that ghrelin decreases pancreatic growth in suckling rats but increases the pancreatic growth in both weaned and young six week old rats. This dual effect of ghrelin in young rats on pancreatic growth maybe related to age-dependent changes of IGF-1.


Polyacrylamide microspheres have recently drawn great attention in conformance control due to their advantages over traditional gel treatments. One important question that has been raised is whether the tiny particles can be produced from production wells. However, current products are difficult to use for detecting fluids generated by production wells. In this paper, the fluorescent polyacrylamide microspheres were successfully synthesized; they can emit blue fluorescence under ultraviolet irradiation. Their swelling property, fluorescence characteristics, rheology property, creep-recovery property, and plugging performance were evaluated in the laboratory. The results indicated that the microspheres could emit blue fluorescence under ultraviolet irradiation after passing through a fracture model. Their creep-recovery ability after deformation was very high, and their elastic recovery rate extended to 94.1%, which suggests that the microspheres almost recover to their original shape and size after deformation. The transparent fracture model plugging test shows that the microspheres can migrate and plug a fracture with a width of 0.3 mm, which is much smaller than the diameter of the microspheres. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


: Nell Gwyn, King Charles II's legendary actress-mistress, is revered as "one of the most attractive characters in British history," credited with "lifting the spirits of a nation" (Roberts) after eleven years of Puritan austerity. Her extraordinary ascent from low-born street girl and possibly child prostitute to orange-seller in the pit of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on to celebrated actress and finally to royal mistress has been the subject of numerous biographies and films and has also found its way into a number of recent novels, or 'fictionalized biographies.' Focusing on gender-specific narrative strategies, this paper examines the generic properties of Diane Haeger's The Perfect Royal Mistress (2007), Susan Holloway Scott's The King's Favorite (2008), and Gillian Bagwell's The Darling Strumpet (2011). In view of the remarkable rise of fictionalized biography in the past two decades, it comes as no surprise that several novelists have found Gwyn's life an attractive subject and thus reaffirmed her status as a cultural icon. The fictionalized biography as such is a fascinating hybrid genre, incorporating biographical fact but presenting it in fictional mode. The novels under consideration are all the more interesting for their participation in a specific segment of contemporary "women's fiction": the historical romance novel. While the facts of Gwyn's life complicate the novels' generic plotlines as romance narratives, the romantic elements in turn put pressure on the representation of the biographee's life, which must make concessions to the demands of the genre.


Efficient interlayer charge and energy transfer are explored in CsPbBr2I quantum dots/MoS2 heterostructure. When perovskite QDs directly contact MoS2, charge transfer from QDs to MoS2 dominates the nonradiative exciton relaxation in QDs/MoS2 heterostructure. With the layer number of MoS2 reducing to a monolayer, nonradiative exciton relaxation rate increases due to reduced dielectric effect and changed energy band structure of MoS2. Then an hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) spacer is inserted between QDs and a monolayer MoS2, in which nonradiative exciton relaxation rate is dominated by excitonic energy transfer from QDs to MoS2. With the spacer thickness increasing, nonradiative exciton relaxation rate decays as 1/d3.03 that is slower than the result 1/d4 of Förster theory. This is attributed to strong near‐field dipole–dipole coupling interaction in QDs/h‐BN/MoS2 heterostructure. Controllable interlayer charge and energy transfer potentially enable new avenues for designing optoelectronic devices, as well as for studying fundamental issue of tunable light–matter interaction at nanoscale vision.


Introduction: Tobacco is a risk factor for many oral and systemic diseases and conditions. Many institutions recommend the use of clinical guidelines on smoking cessation to help people quit smoking. Yet, several studies also indicate that clinical guidelines are widely underutilized and study of this topic through a theoretical framework are scarce. The purpose of this study was to identify the underlying individual mechanisms which support dentists' intention to adopt the Canadian smoking cessation clinical guidelines in Quebec, Canada.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 59 dentists working in private practices between January and September 2016. The study was conducted using a validated and anonymous questionnaire based on a modified version of the Triandis' Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour. The theoretical model was tested by multiple linear regression.Results: The adapted theoretical model explained 63% of variance in dentists' intention to adopt these guidelines in their practices. The mains predictors of dentists' intention were professional norm (β=0.85; p≤ 0.0001) and control beliefs (β=0.3; p= 0.01).Conclusions: Grounded in the theory, the results of this study give a first view of dentists' individual determinants that could be targeted to develop successful ways of increasing the adoption of Canadian smoking cessation guidelines in dental settings. Further research is needed to confirm these results.


The design of hybrid waveforms is a method of improving the performances of radars in anti-jamming and target detection.Based on the LFM and phase modulation,the ambiguity function of hybrid waveforms,the sensitivity against Doppler frequency,and the influence of Doppler frequency and subcode width on the sidelobe of pulse compression are discussed.


In the shift of scholarly publishing from the print environment to online, the preservation of the scholarly record has become more complex, difficult, and uncertain. Current efforts are not adequate. Core criteria and certification processes have been developed for digital preservation repositories. Broad library support is crucial to the sustainability of third-party preservation archives. Publisher participation in third-party archives has grown, but coverage is incomplete and uneven, leaving some categories of materials well-covered and others vulnerable. Preservation programs need to coordinate their efforts and view themselves as collaborators rather than competitors. The task of preserving the digital scholarly record cannot fall to libraries alone—it requires a social compact among all involved parties.


A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEGREE, DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE, FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA


The electronic absorption spectra (4–28 kK) of dilute solutions of NiCl2 in liquid LiCl–KCl mixtures were measured at representative solvent compositions and temperatures from pure LiCl to pure KCl and and from 363° to 1070°C. Phenomenologically the spectra respond to changes in temperature at high temperature and changes in solvent composition at low temperatures in ways that are quantitatively very regular. At intermediate temperatures the behavior is more intricate. The data agree well with the following model. Nickel is partitioned between two types of centers, labeled T and O, which are in equilibrium. The T/O concentration ratio increases with increasing temperature and KCl content in the solvent. At low temperatures the fraction of each kind of center varies linearly with the mole fraction of KCl. The O‐center concentration falls below the detection limit at 900°C in all solvents and in KCl at all temperatures. The coordination geometries of these centers are best described as being distributions a...


Bakhtin M (1981) Discourse in the novel. In: Holquist M (ed.) The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays by M. M. Bakhtin (Translated from the Russian by Michael Holquist). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, pp. 259–422. Brownmiller S (1976) Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Penguin Books. Kipnis L (2017) Unwanted Advances: Sexual Paranoia Comes to Campus. New York: Harper Collins. Lyotard J-F (1988) The Differend: Phrases in Dispute. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Serisier T (2018) Speaking Out: Feminism, Rape and Narrative Politics. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.


Motivation: Capturing the molecular diversity of living cells is not straightforward. One approach is to measure molecular markers that serve as indicators of specific biological conditions or phenotypes. This is particularly relevant in modern medicine to provide precise diagnostics and pinpoint the best treatment for each patient. The challenge is to select a minimal set of markers whose activity patterns are in correspondence with the phenotypes of interest. Results: This article approaches the marker detection problem in the context of discrete phenotypes which arise, for example, from Boolean models of cellular networks. Mathematically this poses a combinatorial optimization problem with many answers. We propose a solution to this optimization problem that is based on the modelling language answer set programming (ASP). A case study of a death cell receptor network illustrates the methodology. Discussion and code: For code, discussions and reporting errors visit https://github.com/hklarner/detection_of_markers_for_discrete_phenotypes.


Cobalt ferrite, CoFe2O4, nanocrystalline films were deposited using electrostatic spray method and explored in sustainable hydrogen production application. Reflection planes in X-ray diffraction pattern confirm CoFe2O4 phase. The surface scanning microscopy photoimages reveal an agglomeration of closely-packed CoFe2O4 nanoflakes. Concentrated solar-panel, a two-step water splitting process, measurement technique was preferred for measuring the hydrogen generation rate. For about 5 hr sustainable, 440 mL/hr, hydrogen production activity was achieved, confirming the efficient use of cobalt ferrite nanocrystallites film in hydrogen production application.


The hardware circuit and software designing method of humidity controller based on the Single Chip Microcomputer named AT89C52 were introduced.The design uses the electronic circuit to realize the controlling of humidity of condition,its key is that the therelative humidity data which obtains from the sampling of conditions converse to corresponding electrical signal, then uses functions of the real-time control of single chip microcomputer and the data processing,completes the controlling of the system to the humidity of conditions,thus can carry on the precise controlling to the humidity of conditions.


Theodor Adorno's major contribution to the philosophy of art, his Asthetische Theorie, appeared in 1970.2 The work was almost completed when the author died in 1969. Adorno meant to rewrite the introduction, but otherwise the text needed only formal revisions, which were carried out by Rolf Tiedemann, Adorno's faithful disciple and editor. Tiedemann rightly felt that Asthetische Theorie deserved immediate publication since it was the legacy of Critical Theory. Yet it was precisely this aspect which marred the reception of the book. Except for a few voices in the liberal and conservative camp, the response was surprisingly negative. One might have expected that the East German critics would denounce Adorno's theory as a typical example of Western ideologywhich they did; more alarming was the unfriendly or at least cool reception among the West German Left. If the members of the Frankfurt Institute considered Asthetische Theorie as Adorno's legacy, it turned out to be an Erbe which was clearly unwelcome. The charges varied, but there was almost a consensus among the critics of the left camp that Adorno's last book did not offer the materialist theory of art that everybody was looking for. It was particularly Adorno's insistence on the autonomy of the art work and his well known indictment of Tendenz and political art which angered the Left. Adorno evidently had not changed his position. In his last work he reiterated his critique of unmediated Engagement and once more presented modernism and the avant-garde as the only viable responses to the increasing brutality of advanced capitalism. His renewed claim that, in the final analysis, only the authentic work of art overcomes the stultifying atmosphere of the cultural industry met with disbelief and outspoken disapproval. The hostility was so strong that the German Left dismissed the book out of hand and left the appropriation to the conservatives who at this point were inclined to use some of Adorno's arguments for the defense of their aesthetic and moral beliefs.


Wintelism underlies the miracle of sustained high economic growth in 1990s in the US.Studies on Wintelism will not only give a better understanding of the combination of microcosmic enterprise theories and macroscopic economic theories,but also help to perceive the latest trends and changes in global industrial restructuring and the reconfiguration of firms' competitive advantages.By analyzing the evolution of Wintelism,the authors argue that there are three internal motivations that promote the formation of Winterlism.The first is to decline assets' specificities.The second is to reduce uncertainties in technological innovations.The third is to diminish the complexity of tasks.The smooth operation of Winterlism is safeguarded by four mechanisms:division of labor,information transmission,operation-table maintenance and revenue allocation.Winterlism has extended the meanings,scopes and channels of a firm's competitive advantages,providing new opportunities for the reconfiguration of a firms' competitive advantage.


Abstract Most empirical work on the nexus between fiscal policy and total factor productivity (TFP) is focussed on aggregate analysis and lack sector-specific evidence required to guide effective policy decisions. Our study addresses this gap by analysing the impact of fiscal policy on sectoral TFP growth in Botswana between 1984 and 2016 using the Autoregressive Distributive Lag method. The results suggest that focussing on aggregate TFP growth masks specific issues which are peculiar to various economic sectors. For instance, mineral tax, other tax revenue, and expenditure on social services were found to have a significant long-run positive impact on the TFP growth in the primary sector only, while a negative impact is witnessed in the secondary and tertiary sectors. SACU revenue has a positive impact on TFP growth in both the primary and tertiary sectors, while productive spending boosts TFP growth across all sectors. In addition, both the value-added tax and the non-mining income tax have a negative impact on TFP growth across all sectors. The speed of adjustment was found to be high in the primary sector compared to other sectors. The findings single out the importance of taking into account sector-specific fiscal policies in influencing sectoral TFP growth.


These pages tour the wanderings of a storyteller's mind and snippets of life in the forms of non-fiction, fiction, and poetry, though not always in that particular order. The topically arranged pieces first delve into the meaning of being a storyteller. This involves having half of one's mind in another place and putting on the mantles of different characters. After finishing with the theme, the collection turns to fiction with a selection of stories and poems. Turning from fiction, the collection touches upon real life pain, struggles, grief, and growing. Each provides snippets of life adding a backdrop to the storyteller's daydreams. The last part records aspects of childhood through poetic and observational non-fiction about home and hobbies before concluding with a dream. DREAMS AND REALITY: A STORYTELLER'S LOOK AT LIFE by Sara Kathleen Bennett A Collection of Creative Writing Submitted to the Faculty of the Department of English, Literature, and Modern Languages at Cedarville University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Creative Writing Minor


Styrene was isospecifically polymerized on dichloro[1,4-dithiabutandiyl-2,2'-bis(6-tert-butyl-4-methylphenoxy)]titanium (1) activated with methylaluminoxane in the presence of monoolefins such as 1-hexene, cyclopentene, and norbornene and nonconjugated diolefins such as 1,9-decadiene, 1,7-octadiene, and dicyclopentadiene. The molecular weight of isotactic polystyrene was varied from 2000 to 600 000 g/mol as a function of the olefin/styrene molar ratio without sacrificing high catalyst activities. Chain transfer constants were determined, with the highest values found for linear mono- and nonconjugated diolefins. In contrast to norbornene, 1-olefin incorporation was very low. End groups were identified by means of 13C NMR investigations of polymers containing 13C-labeled 1-octene. Olefin- and diolefin-terminated isotactic polystyrenes including novel vinyl-terminated macromonomers were obtained in high yields.


Over a period of nine years, from June 1976 through May 1985, 18 cases of ruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysms were seen at the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur (UK KL). Seven of these cases were treated surgically. The majority of patients were males, with a mean age of 26.6 years. All cases were symptomatic. The site of aneurysm was the right coronary sinus in five patients and the non-coronary sinus in two patients. All aneurysms ruptured into the right ventricle. The fistula was closed via a transaortic approach. In addition, repair of the right heart chamber was necessary in six patients. There were no deaths. Clinically significant morbidity included aortic regurgitation in one patient and residual fistula requiring reoperation in another. The long term follow-up at two years was excellent.


The abattoir industry is a vital constituent of the livestock industry because it makes available domestic meat to over 150 million people and makes jobs available for a large number of people in Nigeria. The study is aimed at the assessment of bacteriological of abattoir facilities and environment in Keffi. Standard microbiological methods were used in isolation and identification of different bacteria species. The overall bacteria isolated were 80.0%, where the Slaughter floor and wastewater had the highest (100%) and butchers hands had the lowest (55.0%). From butchering knives, the highest recorded was Escherichia coli (50.0%) and lowest was Entercocci sp (5.0%). From butchers hands Escherichia coli were highest (30.0%) isolated. From the wastewater the highest was Pseudomonas sp (55.0%). Salmonella sp had the highest haemolysin production with 100% from butchering tables and 92.3% from slaughter floor. From butchering knives Salmonella sp, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella sp, Proteus sp and Entercocci sp had the highest haemolysin production (100%). Highest percentage Congo red dye binding observed was from Salmonella sp from slaughter floor (92.3%), Pseudomonas sp (100.0%). From butchering knives survival rate in low pH the highest recorded was Escherichia coli (73.6%) from Slaughter floor, from butchering knives, the highest was Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas sp (100%). The antimicrobial susceptibility showed that E. coli was highly susceptible to gentamicin (75.9%), and low susceptible to chloramphenicol (36.8%). S. aureus was highly susceptible to gentamicin (81.1%), and low susceptible to Trimethoprim (27.2%). From findings of this assessment it was recorded that most of bacteria isolated were pathogenic bacteria. There is need for developing a good disposal of waste from the abattoir to avoid spread of pathogenic bacteria in the community.


This study offers a glimpse into the feasibility and potential benefits of offering a common course across multiple institutions of higher education. The research-based course was designed to enhance students' knowledge and beliefs regarding intentional teaching practices in language and literacy instruction. Researchers found evidence that a standardized college course may successfully impact the knowledge and beliefs of students preparing to be early childhood educators.


For the first time, methods and approaches for processing industrial waste from enterprises of Almalyksky MMC JSC, with the content of ferrous and non-ferrous metals at the Big Solar Furnace, were investigated. Quantitative analysis showed that the processing of industrial waste in a stream of concentrated solar radiation of high density allows you to extract metals (up to 25% of the total), with a high content of iron and copper.


Aimed to evaluate the effect of three volumes monthly milk sales, months of year, types of coolers and milking systems on the freezing point of milk, fat percentage, somatic cell count (SCC) and bacterial count Total (CBT) milk come from producers that sell to a dairy of Western of Parana. We evaluated twelve months for volume, fat, freezing point, SCC and TBC with a total of 7,105 records. Samples for analysis were collected by milk transporters. The information was classified by monthly volume purchased from each producer (up to 4,500 gallons between 4,500-15,000 liters and more than 15,000 liters), by milking systems (manual, bucket foot, piped and protractor) and types of coolers (immersion , bulk and freezer) used by each producer. The milk got of producers with volumes exceeding fifteen thousand liters per month has a freezing point and fat content lesser, but have a better CBT and CCS. There were seasonal variations of freezing point, fat, CBT and CCS. Variations of CBT during periods of the year are lower in milk derived from bulk cooling and milking piped system. There are factors related to handling and cleaning of milking equipment and cooling that need to be worked with the milk producers.


The mathematic model of the roulettes of a fixed axis gear train composed of a couple of gears by transforming coordinates is built firstly, and a series of roulettes are drawn, then the factors which influence their characteristics and shapes are found. The mathematic model of the roulettes of a general fixed axis gear trains is built according to the transmission characteristics of the fixed axis gear train. Parts can be machined to polygon prisms by the property of roulettes that their central shapes are regular polygon prisms if tolerance is permitted. A square is given as an example to analyze error. An experiment and the prototype of its control system are shown in the end


We introduce, study and investigate the concepts of weakly semi -Is - open sets and some properties of the set. We introduce weakly semi -Is- open functions and weakly semi -Is- closed functions. Also, we introduced notion of weakly semi -Is- open sets and weakly semi -Is- closed sets. We discussed its properties and its relationship between other sets in topological spaces as said in below introduction. We also furnish decomposition of continuity in this paper.


students can draw on the advice of a range of people. After the MLA convention, I stay in touch with the students informally by e-mail, urging them to remember how many jobs are filled later in the year. Drawing on my experience at a liberal arts college, in these and all other discussions of applications I emphasize understanding the varied demands and potentialities of different types of schools and demonstrating one's fit for the job in question. For example, I urge students to craft different letters for research-oriented and teaching-oriented schools—and to recognize the erosions of those categories. Such advice can limit—but, sadly, not erase—the capriciousness of the market our students must confront.


Tropical dry forests are characterized by a pronounced dry season, when most trees shed their leaves, and a rainy season characterized by the production of new leaves. This study aimed to determine the effect of the first rains at the beginning of the rainy season on the insect herbivore fauna. We sampled 90 trees at the end of the dry season and 60 trees six days after the first rains using an entomological umbrella . Species richness and abundance of insect herbivores per tree was higher after the first rains. The results suggest a high synchrony between leaf production at the onset of the rainy season and the increase in insect herbivore diversity. Because young leaves are rich in nutrients and have a lower concentration of carbon-based defenses, many herbivore species in seasonal environments have their life cycles highly adjusted to the phenology of their host trees.


The method wherein the tp- and the x -methods are combined for the determination of the grating constants of crystals is applied for the precise adjustment of the B r agg's reflecting plane of the crystal in the axis of the spectrograph. The values of the fictive grating constants d lf d 2 and the real grating constant dao obtained in this case from the glancing angle up agree with those obtained from the differential glancing angle x. The precision of the obtained values is discussed and they are used for the further application of the differential glancing angle x. A method is given for the measurement of the wave-lengths of X-radiation, with the help of the differential glancing angle x of the same wave-length in two different orders and two fictive grating constants, by means of the equation 2d m sin x m " . m m.n s ml = for n > m. This method is verified with a zinc sulphide (ZnS) crystal and the precise values of A for the Ka-lines of gallium are given. These measured values are compared with those obtained by Uhler and Cooksey with the help of Moseley's law as modified by DolejSek and Pestrecov.


A power system is a collection of individual components that compete for system resources. This paper presents a game theoretic approach to the control decision process of individual sources and loads in small-scale and dc power systems. Framing the power system as a game between players facilitates the definition of individual objectives, which adds modularity and adaptability. The proposed methodology enhances the reliability and robustness of the system by avoiding the need for a central or supervisory control. It is also a way to integrate and combine supply and demand side management into a single approach. Examples are presented that use a simple nine bus dc power system to demonstrate the proposed method for various scenarios and player formulations.


Enhancing Nurses' Perceptions of Patient Safety Culture Through the Just Culture Model by Aida Solomon MS, Oregon Health University, 2005 BSN, Linfield College—School of Nursing, 1996 Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice Walden University December 2014 Abstract An organizational culture of safety affects employees' attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and values related to safe practice as well as their behaviors and level of engagement. The purpose of this project was to determine the influence of introducing the just culture model through staff engagement in an interactive workshop. A convenience sample of acute care staff were recruited for this 1-sample pretest and posttest project design. TheAn organizational culture of safety affects employees' attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and values related to safe practice as well as their behaviors and level of engagement. The purpose of this project was to determine the influence of introducing the just culture model through staff engagement in an interactive workshop. A convenience sample of acute care staff were recruited for this 1-sample pretest and posttest project design. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture instrument was used to measure safety culture perceptions on 7 dimensions pre and post intervention. For the theoretical framework, Ajzen's theory of planned behavior and Kantar's empowerment theory were used. Welch's t test results showed significant improvement in perception scores overall (t = 2.7, p < 0.01), with posttest mean scores (μ = 3.7) higher than pretest mean scores (μ = 3.5). The dimension-specific mean posttest scores were significantly higher on 3 of the 7 dimensions including teamwork (t = 2.99, p < 0.05), feedback and communication (t = 2.14, p < 0.05), and frequency of event reporting (t = 2.31, p < 0.05). Major implications for social change include reduction of preventable errors and iatrogenic events; creating a healthcare environment that is safe, fair, transparent, and reliable; creating organizational learning through evidence-based patient safety training; and promoting the use of perception surveys to measure and improve the culture in one's organization. The project may provide a road map for just culture implementation. Future qualitative and quantitative research should explore effects of a just culture on safety reporting patterns and specific events such reducing medication errors or risk-taking behaviors. Enhancing Nurses' Perceptions of Patient Safety Culture Through the Just Culture Model by Aida Solomon MS, Oregon Health University, 2005 BSN, Linfield College—School of Nursing, 1996 Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice


This paper is the first test of a parsimonious model that posits three factors as determinants of the adoption of electronic data interchange (EDI):readiness, perceived benefits, andexternal pressure. To construct the model, we identified and organized the factors that were found to be influential in prior EDI research. By testing all these factors together in one model, we are able to investigate their relative contributions to EDI adoption decisions. Senior purchasing managers, chosen for their experience with EDI and proximity to the EDI adoption decision, were surveyed and their responses analyzed using structural equation modeling. All three determinants were found to be significant predictors of intent to adopt EDI, with external pressure and readiness being considerably more important than perceived benefits. We show that the constructs in this model can be categorized into three levels:technological, organizational, andinterorganizational. We hypothesize that these categories of influence will also be determinants of the adoption of other emerging forms of interorganizational systems (IOS). 1


Selecting an embedded hardware platform for image processing has a big influence on the achievable performance. This paper reports our work on a performance benchmark of different implementations of some low-level vision algorithms. The algorithms are implemented on both Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) high-speed embedded platforms. The target platforms are a TITMS320C6414 DSP and an Altera Stratix FPGA. The implementations are evaluated, compared and discussed. The DSP implementations outperform the FPGA implementations, but at the cost of spending all its resources to these tasks. FPGAs, however, are well suited to algorithms, which benefit from parallel execution.


Summary. In this study the antibacterial effect of irrigating infected root canals with 0.5 and 5 per cent sodium hypochlorite solutions was evaluated clinically. The results indicated that there was no difference between the antibacterial effect of these two solutions. The combined use of EDTA and S per cent sodium hypochlorite solution was more efficient than the use of sodium hypochlorite solutions alone.

An important observation was that bacteria surviving instrumentation and irrigation rapidly increased in number in the period between appointments when no intracanal medicament was used.


The question arises whether titrations have any real value in the managementof these cases. In view of the general agreementthat there is little if any correlation between the titre of agglutinins and the severity of the diseasein the fretus, titration is of no value if the agglutinins have appearedduring the current pregnancy. Moreover, arrangementsfor therapy cannot be neglected if agglutinins were present on the first examinatJion, because,as has been shown, it is impossible from the results of titration to predict an Rh-negativechild with certainty.


The kinetics of anodic oxidation of niobium have been studied in 0.05 M picric acid without and with addition of a millimole of sodium phosphate at a constant current density of 8 mA.cm - 2 and at room temperature (300 K). The addition of phosphate ions found to improve the kinetics of film formation. This trend and mechanism of anodic oxide film growth are confirmed from radio-tracer studies using labelled phosphate ions. The conclusion of the results obtained are migration of anion impurity and accumulation of active phosphate in the inner layers of oxide film formed.


A procedure for structural estimation using the extended instrumental variable technique is presented. The statistical distribution of the test quantity is obtained in the white noise case. A criterion is defined by introducing a penalty term on the decreasing rate (with the number of parameters) of the proposed test quantity. The consistency of the estimate is proven. Monte Carlo simulations are included. >


The world still suffers from the global pandemic of corona virus. The COVID 19 is a disease that majorly influence the patient's respiratory system and degrade the performance of the immune system. The Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCRs) is commonly used method to assist the health care service in detection the viral disease. It permits identifying the defined chains of the virus genetic code in sputum samples. The front-line staffs are susceptible to infection by COVID 19 during direct swab test that unfortunately subjects them to a high level of risk. To remedy this problem, this paper introduces a flexible swabbing robot for oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal. This robot is teleworked-based to perform swab sampling with consisting of a flexible manipulator, an integrated endoscope monitor, and the main device. The additional components incorporate a passive locating arm, an active end effector, and a detachable swab handles capable to sense forces. The achieved results revealed the capability of the proposed system in the detection COVID 19 of PCRs specimens based on little data acquired from the clinicians.


The purpose of this paper is to investigate the core themes and research methods of design research by analyzing citations of papers in the journal Design Studies. It also aims to find out the evolution and future trends of design research. Employing bibliometrics and network analysis, the paper analyzes features of papers from Design Studies, looking for variables that identify factors of higher quality papers of this journal. Due to the limitation of the Scopus database, this study only managed to extract articles with full citations in Design Studies from 2001 to 2011. The main contribution of this paper is the use of a network analysis technique to analyze research methods in the 317 papers published in Design Studies between 2001 and 2010. Among the factors identified, we highlight the possibility of partnerships, and issues facing the Management and Graphic Web Design. Armed with information on success factors for publication in this journal, it becomes possible to highlight some procedures for submission to this journal. Keywords: epistemology of design, design science, systematic review, data mining, data analysis.