To Study the impact of prestress loss on the stiffness and stress condition of the continuous rigid-frame bridge,a continuous rigid-frame bridge with span arrangement of(75+3× 130+75)was taken as the study background.The finite element method was used to calculate the influence law of the longitudinal and vertical prestress in different context of loss values on the web stress of the box girder and the main girder stiffness of long-span continuous rigid-frame bridge. The calculated results were compared with the load bearing condition of the real bridge on the condition of web cracking.The results indicated that among the longitudinal prestress tendons,the prestress loss of the tendons in the top plates exerted significant influence on the reduction of the main girder stiffness,while the vertical prestress loss had no distinctive influence on the reduction of the main girder stiffness;compared with the longitudinal prestress loss,the vertical prestress loss had more distinctive influence on the main tensile stress of the webs,which might exacerbate the cracking.It is proved from the comparison of the theoretical calculation and the data measured on the real bridge that the location of L/4of the main girder is the cracking sensitive section.


The Monte Fioraro magmatic complex is the largest acidic stock occurring in the Orobic Southalpine basement (Northern Italy), on the main ridge between Valtellina and Val Brembana. It is composed of granitic and granodioritic metagranitoids consisting of some apophyses and a main body with an undeformed core and a foliated rim. It was previously interpreted as Hercynian (pre-Permian) in age. Structural investigations point out that the rim and the apophyses of the Monte Fioraro magmatic complex are deformed at least starting from the D 2 phase of deformation recognized in the country rocks and associated with greenschist facies metamorphic conditions


A local isolate of Aspergillus fumigatus (Fresenius) albino mutant obtained from rotten wood shavings, grew at 45°C on a solid medium containing cellulose as carbon source. This fungus can utilize a variety of lignocellulosic substrates, such as Kraft paper pulp, straw, microcrystalline cellulose and filter paper. The highest endoglucanase (CMC-ase), b-xylanase and b-glucosidase activities were obtained in shaken flasks at 45°C, with mainly oat straw as sole carbon source. CMC-ase and (...)


In this study, the spectral difference (SD) method has been extended to deal with the Reynolds-Averaged Navier- Stokes (RANS) equations coupled with the Spalart-Allmaras (SA) and k ω turbulence models. The description of limiting or stabilization techniques adopted in order to prevent the simulation from blowing up are given in this paper. The reliability, robustness and accuracy of the implementation have been assessed by computing several validation cases: the flow over flat plate(Re " 5ˆ 10), the flow past a backward-facing step (Re " 37400) and the flow around NACA0012 airfoil at different angles of attack (α " 0, 10). Finally the developed SD solver is applied to simulate the tone noise generated by subsonic cavity flow at moderate Reynolds number.


We present a brief review of scientific milestones of the Russian Space Research Program for 2006-2015 in the field of solar and solar-terrestrial physics and describe several space projects: CORONAS-PHOTON, RESONANCE, CLIPPER, INTERHELIOPROBE, and THERION-F2.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html


The intertidal chiton Acanthopleura gemmata (Blainville) is a central place forager which rests in a dug scar and moves at nocturnal low tide. The fraction of chitons abandoning the home during each potential foraging phase is reduced after experimental overcrowding. On the contrary, reduced crowding in the natural population increases number of active chitons. Feeding excursions after increasing or reducing crowding are shorter than in control chitons. Also the orientation of migration is scattered after manipulation. Animals sharing their home with a conspecific suppress migrations, but local overcrowding when body-contact is lacking also reduces activity. Rest zonation in overcrowded areas shifts upward, and most imported chitons fail to home. Induced home co-ownership is followed by overt aggressive patterns and by a "waiting war". Conflicts are resolved according to size ratio between contestants.


Objective To explore the method to synchronize Hela cell by hydroxyurea.Methods Culture Hela cell,add HU 1 nm to the culture medium,synchronized the Hela cell for 24 h,then release HU from the culture medium.Design the specific time course for Hela cell;proved by flow cytometry.Results After release HU,3.5 h later,Hela cell could be synchronized in S phase,8.5 h later in G2/M phase,and 18 h later in G1 phase.Conclusion Hela cell can be successfully synchronized in G1,S,G2/M phase by the HU treatment and releasing.


Genetic and phenotypic parameters for height and stem straightness were estimated for Pinus taeda L. in Zimbabwe using the individual tree model DFREML. The data were from 4 progeny tests comprising 140 fullsib families assessed at 1.5, 9.5, 13.5 and 22.5 years. Dominance variance tended to be lower than additive variance for both traits, except for straightness at 1.5 years. Heritability estimates for height were moderate to high (0.14 to 0.73) and peaked at 9.5 years; those for straightness were low at 1.5 years and increased to moderate levels with age (0.01 to 0.33). Individual site heritability estimates were higher than those using data pooled across sites, indicating presence of genotype x environment interactions andlor heterogeneity of variances. It is suggested that combining data as in the pooled analyses was not appropriate for this study. Genetic correlations were higher than their phenotypic counterparts in both traits. Age-age genetic correlations for height were high indicating opportunity for early selection (0.76 to 0.97). Age-age genetic correlations for straightness ranged from -0.05 to 0.94. Genetic correlations between height and straightness were low.


This chapter examines the economic implications of European Union enlargement on EU members, the United States, and the rest of the world. Our findings include the following: economic welfare in the enlarged EU may improve, due mainly to improved terms-of-trade for the Union; extension of the CAP to agricultural producers in the new member countries may cause a substantial increase in the CAP budget; further reforms in the CAP may lead to a welfare improvement for the European Union but they may not reduce substantially transfers to new member countries; the economy-wide impact for the United States may be positive and small; agricultural producers in the United States, however, may be hurt.


Continental and marine sediments are composed of a mixture from different sources and are influenced by a variety of environmental factors and transport processes prior to deposition. For analysis and interpretation, these sources and processes are often challenging to disentangle. We show that end‐member modelling of X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) core‐scanning data helps to overcome these challenges by unmixing different environmental signals from high‐resolution sediment geochemical records. We apply this approach to a 100 m long lacustrine succession from Lake Towuti, Indonesia, to separate the regional climate and tectonic history from local ecological and diagenetic processes. The resulting six end‐members (EMs) are interpreted to represent changes in ecological (EM1), climatic (EMs 2–4), tectonic (EM 5) and geomorphic (EM6) processes determining changes in sediment composition. Because end‐member analysis allows for the tracking of transient and overlapping processes, climatic changes can be followed throughout the 100 m‐long succession, suggesting alternating wet and dry periods in Central Sulawesi over long (several 100 000 years) time scales. We show that end‐member analysis on elemental data sets offers a detailed and objective means to disentangle depositional processes in sedimentary successions resulting from varying tectonic and environmental factors involved in sediment formation and deposition.


With the wide application of information technology based on computers,the object,content and form of English teaching have been changed dramatically.The teachers are no longer the authority of knowledge,but the motivator of the students' incentive and the designer of learning environment.It is of great significance to discuss about the information technology training structure of English teachers.


Underground rock naturally contains pre-existing joints treated as cracks or flows in facture mechanics,which will directly weaken the strength of rock,and may induce mining accidents,such as rock burst.A nondestructive and whole-field graphic stress-analysis experimental technique,named as photoelasticity,was applied to study the effect of the position and orientation of cracks on stress intensity factor(SIF) by using the information of principal stress difference and principal stress direction at every point in the domain.The results showed that for the specimen under uniaxial compression,SIF increases as the crack angle with the horizontal axis increases from 0° to 60° and it decreases from 60° to 90°.For the specimen under biaxial compression,when the crack orientation is 45°,the crack SIF is the maximum,which indicates 45° is the most unfavorable crack orientation.


ABSTRACT In this article, we first propose an exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) chart for monitoring both the shape and scale parameters of the Weibull distribution. The proposed chart was developed by incorporating two individual EWMA charts, one for monitoring the shape parameter and the other for monitoring both the shape and scale parameters. Particularly, it is shown that these two individual EWMA charts are mutually independent. Simulation studies are presented to compare the performance of the proposed EWMA chart and the existing Shewhart schemes with the EWMA setup. Further, to reduce the time for detecting an out-of-control (OC) process, an EWMA chart with variable sampling intervals (VSIs) and an adaptive EWMA chart with VSI for monitoring both the shape and scale parameters were also developed based on the proposed EWMA chart. The EWMA chart with VSI and the adaptive EWMA chart with VSI were studied and their performances were evaluated. An example to illustrate the applicability and implementation of the proposed charts is also provided.


The study of the logistics project evaluation model features reviews the traditional value evaluation model. On the basis of this, using the fuzzy theory, we establish several logistics project evaluation models under fuzzy environment. The analysis of the respective characteristics and the comparison of the calculated results of the three models show that these models are important methods of investment value of logistics evaluation.


Like other parts of the globe, south Asia has also been liberalizing the trade terms and conditions among its neibouring countries since last decades. However, the achievement is still limited although the agreements have been signed with was a high hope. This paper examines the opportunities and challenges of the preferential trade liberalization and regionalism in South Asia under political economy perspective. The study has reviewed secondary data and found that political environment is one of the main reasons of not achieving the desired goal of the agreements. Lack of trusts and absence of friendly environment among the member countries of the region has been working as a barrier for not achieving benefit of the agreement. The paper might be useful for policy makers, researchers and academics.


A new sodium cobalt hydrogen borophosphate, NaCoH 2 BP 2 O 9 , was synthesized by the mild hydrothermal method and the crystal structure was characterized by the single-crystal x-ray diffraction method]. The structure consists in anionic groups I(H 2 BP 2 O 9 ) 3- ] 2 (centrosymmetric units [HP(2)O 3 O 1/2 -HBO 2 O 2 / 2 -P(1)O 3 O 1/2 ] 2 ) which are interconnected by sharing corners with the Co 2 O 10 bioctahedral units. The framework connection is reinforced by hydrogen bonds.


Before making a search for a suspected foreign body in the esophagus, it is always advisable to employ the roentgen ray as an aid to diagnosis. A radiopaque foreign body of any size is usually easily demonstrable, but nonopaque bodies present certain difficulties. The usual technic in demonstrating the presence of nonopaque bodies is to have the patient swallow barium in a suspension, or in a capsule which may become arrested above the intruder. In the subsequent search with the esophagoscope, the barium is frequently seen to form a pool above the foreign body, obscuring the latter. It requires considerable time and effort to remove the barium before the foreign body can be fully exposed to view. Recently, I have employed iodized oil instead of barium in several cases to determine the presence of a nonopaque foreign body in the esophagus and have found that it has certain advantages which


Background: Oxidative stress from reactive oxygen species can cause the damages to several cells or tissues. Ovariectomized (OVX) mice have been used as the oxidative stress model. Alternanthera sessilis (AS) and Alternanthera bettzickiana (AB), the Southeast Asia edible plants, have been traditionally used for promoting lactation, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, and antioxidation. Objective: Impacts of AS and AB crude extracts on the activity of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) including the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) formation and glutathione (GSH) content were investigated in the livers of ovariectomized induced oxidative stress in mice to clarify their anti-oxidative potentials, compared to 17b-estradiol (E2). Materials and Methods: Adult ICR mice were ovariectomized before treated with E2 (1 mg/kg/day, i.p.), or AS or AB (250, 500 mg/kg/day, p.o.), daily for eight weeks. The activity of CAT, SOD, and GPx and the levels of MDA and GSH in the mouse livers were determined. Results: Ovariectomy significantly reduced the activities of hepatic CAT, SOD, and GPx enzymes while the level of MDA was increased. Extensive decrease of total GSH content, reduced GSH, and the ratio of GSH/GSSG in the OVX mice demonstrated occurrence of hepatic oxidative stress. E2, AS, and AB restored the CAT and SOD activities while that of GPx activity was not modified. The MDA level was extensively suppressed by E2, AS, and AB. The significant increase of the GSH/GSSG ratio was achieved as a result from the marked abatement of GSSG content by E2, AS, and AB, though the level of total GSH content and the reduced GSH was not accrued. Conclusion: AS and AB possessed antioxidant benefit to improve the hepatic oxidant-antioxidant balance in the ovariectomized mice comparable to E2 did.


Any assessment of the likelihood and characteristics of a soft landing should take into account the situation in the labor market currently and the likely dynamics in the labor market going forward. Modern labor market models centered around the Beveridge curve are a useful tool in this assessment.


Objective To investigate the best adaptation of radiofrequency ablation(RFA) and percutaneous ethanol injection(PEI) in the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinoma(SHCC).Methods One hundred and twenty-seven patients with 156 lesions were treated by RFA or PEI.Eighty-one patients with 97 nodules were in RFA group,and fourty-six patients with 59 nodules were in PEI treatment(PEIT) group.The complications,cost for treatments,and survival rate of 1,2,3,4,5-year were compared.Results No severe complications were observed in all patients.Survival rate of 1,2,3,4,5-year was 91.3%,76.4%,62.8%,51.7%,44.4% in RFA group and 75.7%,60.0%,47.8%,37.5%,33.3% in PEIT group,respectively.The cost of treatment was lower in PEIT group than in RFA group.Conclusion Therapeutic effect of RFA on SHCC is better,but the cost of PEIT is cheaper.For subcapsular tumors or lesions near the vessel,PEIT maybe the better choice for treatment.


The innovation and advances in power delivery and information technologies are bringing unmatched changes to energy delivery systems (EDS), automating the management and administration of mission-critical infrastructures, such as the power grid, the oil, and gas industries. While the benefits of these changes are unparalleled, cyberattacks at EDS are also at unprecedented levels, which may lead to consequences ranging from power outages to homeland security breaches. To securely connect and integrate large quantities of these components, the energy community has proposed roadmaps to update the way to plan and operate EDS. These roadmaps come with security requirements that specify the best practices along with regulations EDS and utility should comply with. However, there is a huge gap between these requirements and the actual enforcement. In this paper, we envision a framework that automates the security requirement enforcement so that natural language policies can be enforced without human intervention and with high confidence.


Nowadays,EVA(Economic Value Added)is popular all over the world,which founded in the 1980s by Stern and Steward.Many multinational companies and securities analyzers apply EVA to evaluate the companies' profit and true value.According to this index,investors can make the relevant decision.From the outside investor's angle,small shareholders are outside the company usually,which have the less ability to gain the fund and the information.This paper tries to explain EVA from outside sight.Through this way,EVA can be applied by the outside investors handily and protect the small shareholders' benefits authentically.


Network virtualization increased the versatility in enforcing security protection, by easing the development of new security function implementations. However, the drawback of this opportunity is that a security provider, in charge of configuring and deploying a security function graph, has to choose the best virtual security functions among a pool so large that makes manual decisions unfeasible. In light of this problem, the paper proposes a novel approach for synthesizing virtual security services by introducing the functionality abstraction. This new level of abstraction allows to work in the virtual level without considering the different function implementations, with the objective to postpone the function selection jointly with the deployment, after the configuration of the virtual graph. This novelty enables to optimize the function selection when the pool of available functions is very large. A framework supporting this approach has been implemented and it showed adequate scalability for the requirements of modern virtual networks.


Spatio-temporal land-use change (LUC) modeling provides vital information about land development dynamics. However, accounting for such dynamics faces methodological challenges. This research introduces a Dynamic Spatial Panel Data (DSPD) modeling framework for LUC, incorporating spatial and temporal dependencies. A continuous response variable is introduced to take advantage of traditional spatial regression models. The DSPD model is applied to balanced spatial panel data at the block-group level covering Florida between 2010 and 2019 and incorporating both new and previously used proxy variables. The urban growth impacts of site-specific, proximity, neighborhood, socio-economic, and transportation factors are investigated. This study contributes to the literature by providing extensive insights into spatial autocorrelation, spillover, heterogeneity, and temporal lag effects in urban growth. Also, the study reveals the importance of mobility and mortgage financing in land development. The proposed modeling framework achieves high accuracy. The dynamic structure of this model provides an opportunity to predict future urban growth without the need for a land development scenario. Such predictions provide insights about future land development to practitioners and policymakers.


A particle-in-cell (PIC) code with nonperiodic boundary conditions, including ionization and ion motion, is used to simulate the approach to equilibrium and the decay in the postdischarge of model electropositive and electronegative plasmas in a symmetric RF diode. In the electropositive plasma the density decreases to 1/e in approximately 10 mu s. The electronegative ion plasma density is about four times higher and decreases to 1/e in approximately 50 mu s, with the electron temperature and density decreasing to zero in a few microseconds. During this latter time scale, a weak field is set up to drive the negative ions to the boundaries at the same rate as the ion diffusion velocity. In the postdischarge this is close to thermal, hence some hundreds of microseconds are required to remove most of the negative ions from the system. As negative ions are thought to be the precursors for particulate formation, plasmas pulsed at around 1 kHz will severely decrease the lifetime of the negative ions and thereby reduce the possibility of particulate growth. >


This paper presents the development of two three-level cascaded Z-source inverters, whose output voltage can be stepped down or up unlike a traditional buck three-level inverter. The proposed inverters are designed using two three-phase voltage-source inverter bridges, supplied by two uniquely designed Z-source impedance networks. These three-phase bridges can either be cascaded at their dc sides to form a dc-link-cascaded Z-source inverter or at their ac outputs using single-phase transformers to form a dual Z-source inverter. The dc-link-cascaded inverter has the advantages of not using any clamping diodes and transformers, but does not have redundant switching states within a phase leg for equalizing switching losses among the power devices. This constraint limits the modulation options for the dc-link-cascaded inverter, and indeed, it can only be controlled using the modified carrier disposition technique with appropriate ldquoZ-source shoot-throughrdquo states inserted for achieving balanced voltage boosting and optimal ldquonearest-three-vectorsrdquo switching. On the other hand, the dual Z-source inverter with transformer isolation can be controlled using different modulation approaches due to the presence of redundant switching states within a phase leg. Particularly, using a modified phase-shifted-carrier (PSC) scheme with shoot-through states inserted, it is shown that the dual inverter can be implemented using only a single Z-source network, while still achieving the correct volt-sec average and switching loss equalization. This represents a significant reduction in cost, and can more than compensate for the slightly degraded spectral characteristics of the PSC scheme. To verify the theoretical concepts discussed, experimental testing has been performed with the captured results presented in a later section of the paper.


New organizational forms have emerged based on increased levels of horizontal coordination, streamlined organizational structures and processes, and renewed emphasis on customer satisfaction.

This paper outlines how various dimensions of group decision support systems might be adapted to suggest sources of competitive advantage in the context of new form organizations.


A method is presented for estimating the sign of a sum of random variables from their individual signs. This can make for efficient simulation of hard-limited signals in noise.


The key aspects and features of the 'Have Sum Fun On Line' (HSFOL) program for mathematics are discussed. HSFOL opens the students minds to the very many aspects that mathematics has to offer and thus teachers are strongly urged to try HSFOL with their students.


The possibility of generating a special type of sequence, called de Bruijn sequence, at minimal hardware and software costs to implement nonlinear Boolean functions, and apply them in stream encryption systems, is the main subject of this work. The paper presents the possible structure boundaries (algebraic degree of a Boolean function, the number of monomials in a function) of iterative de Bruijn sequence bitrate generators for various generated sequence characteristics, such as linear complexity and autocorrelation function. The profile of the linear complexity of the studied sequences is closed to the expected value of the linear complexity, as well as for a truly random sequence.


Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com health, the observed repercussion was a natural consequence, and I am writing about how this information reaches patients, and how they interpret it [3]. This is the cause of my concern. To what they ask us or affirm during the consultation: "Doc, PPIs cause dementia!", how should we guide them? And to complement the complexity of the matter, recent analysis of data from the Nurses' Health Study II did not observe the convincing association between PPI use and cognitive function, and do not support the suggestion that PPI use increases dementia risk [4].


Deep learning models have consistently outperformed traditional machine learning models in various classification tasks, including image classification. As such, they have become increasingly prevalent in many real world applications including those where security is of great concern. Such popularity, however, may attract attackers to exploit the vulnerabilities of the deployed deep learning models and launch attacks against security-sensitive applications. In this paper, we focus on a specific type of data poisoning attack, which we refer to as a \em backdoor injection attack. The main goal of the adversary performing such attack is to generate and inject a backdoor into a deep learning model that can be triggered to recognize certain embedded patterns with a target label of the attacker's choice. Additionally, a backdoor injection attack should occur in a stealthy manner, without undermining the efficacy of the victim model. Specifically, we propose two approaches for generating a backdoor that is hardly perceptible yet effective in poisoning the model. We consider two attack settings, with backdoor injection carried out either before model training or during model updating. We carry out extensive experimental evaluations under various assumptions on the adversary model, and demonstrate that such attacks can be effective and achieve a high attack success rate (above 90%) at a small cost of model accuracy loss with a small injection rate, even under the weakest assumption wherein the adversary has no knowledge either of the original training data or the classifier model.


Change is coming. A repeal of the ACA, MACRA, and other vital issues will have to stay on a practice's radar in 2017.


Disclosed is a lighting means (1, 1 ', 11, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 70', 80, 80 '90, 90') with a light emitting unit (27, 56, 75, 87, 96), at least two separate contact portions (2, 3) and an electrical connection between the light emitting unit (27, 56, 75, 87, 96) and the contact portions (2, 3), wherein each contact portion (2, 3) at least one electrical Contact (4) for connection with a corresponding socket (24, 32, 34, 45, 74, 84, 101). To be able to operate other bulbs as gas discharge lamps in designated frames is safe, provided that at least one protective device (5, 5 ', 12, 21, 36, 41, 51, 61, 71, 71', 81, 91) to prevent an electric shock to at least one of the electrical contacts (4) in a partially assembled state of the luminous means (1, 1 ', 11, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 70', 80, 80 '90, 90') in a corresponding socket (24, 32, 34, 45, 74, 84) is provided, and that the protective device (5, 5 ', 12, 21, 3, 6, 41, 51, 61, 71, 71', 81, 'is) is adapted in the assembled state of the luminous means (1, 1' 91, 91, 11, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 70 ', 80, 80', 90, 90 ') a deactivated position and in the disassembled state of the luminous means (1, 1 ', 11, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 70', 80, 80 '90, 90') occupy an activated position.


Two non-linear, machine-learning/statistical methods, i.e., Bayesian neural network (BNN) and support vector regression (SVR), plus multiple linear regression (MLR), were used to forecast surface wind speeds at lead times of 12, 24, 48 and 72 h. Three different schemes, a statistical downscaling model (Scheme 1) using daily reforecast data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global Forecasting System (GFS), an autoregressive model (Scheme 2) based on past wind observations, and a full model (Scheme 3) combining the two, were investigated in this study for the October–March winds from two meteorological stations in the Canadian Arctic (Clyde River and Paulatuk). At very short lead times, Scheme 2 provides better wind speed prediction than Scheme 1, but its forecast scores decrease rapidly with lead time. Scheme 3 generally performs best, especially at shorter lead times. All the linear and non-linear downscaling methods have significantly higher forecast scores at the two stations than the GFS reforecast. The non-linear methods tended to have slightly better forecast scores than linear methods (MLR and the linear version of SVR). There is particular interest in high-wind events, defined as having wind speeds over 22 knots (11.3 m s−1). After rescaling, the continuous wind predictions from Scheme 3 were classified into two types — high-wind event or non-event. For high-wind event forecasting, the non-linear methods have marginally better binary forecast scores than the linear methods for Clyde River but not for Paulatuk. The alternative approach of using support vector classification (SVC) did not perform better, but weighting the high-wind events more heavily than the non-events during model training improved the binary forecast scores.


AbstractThe mechanism of SO2 and NO removal by chemical absorption enhanced with electromigration in corona discharge has been studied. The experiments were performed to investigate the effect of d...


Social Media are the main subject of this paper and specifically the case of adult users, while its main purpose is to record the current knowledge on the subject of Social Media use by adults, and especially their use in the field of Adult Education. Through the critical review of the literature we intend to examine the pros and cons of Social Media specifically for adults, and also to examine the opportunities and difficulties regarding their use in Adult Education. The main lines of research questions addressed are communication, collaborative learning, accessibility, and sharing information and resources. The results of the literature review show that Social Media can contribute positively in the educational process, but further investigation is required, as the considered subject is constantly evolving.


During combined microwave-hot air drying, a temperature gradient occurs inside the sample due to the temperature difference between the hotter center and the colder surface. Larger temperature difference leads to larger temperature gradient inside, which makes the diffusion due to the concentration difference and the condensation due to flowing to colder area both easier when the vapor moves outwards. So it is a challenge to determine how to change the temperature gradient is beneficial to dehydration. In order to solve the problem, a combined microwave-hot air drying system with temperature control was built to construct the needed temperature gradients, and then drying processes under different gradients are researched based on vapor diffusion theories and thermodynamics. The results show that the drying time consumption does not change monotonously with the temperature gradient. There is a temperature gradient which is the most suitable for dehydration, but leading to terrible product quality. When the temperature gradient under which the vapor diffuses outwards slowly is used, the taste of the product is still not satisfactory. When a proper temperature gradient under which the rate of vapor diffusion outwards is medium is achieved, products with better quality can be obtained although the drying process is not the fastest.


Denial of Service(DoS) is one of the most popular attack type on Internet,which has various attack methods and makes extensive influence.DoS,especially Distributed Denial of Service(DDoS) brings a very serious threat to the security of the Internet.The losing was immeasurable while under such attack.The paper analyses the theory and types of the DDoS and gives the defense mechanisms against specifically DDoS.


Lawyers routinely deal in fictions, so much so that they are sometimes criticized as professional liars. But can this proficiency with storytelling actually bring us closer to the truth?


............................................................................................................x INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 The TIMSS Report..............................................................................................2 The National Assessment of Educational Progress ............................................3 No Child Left Behind..........................................................................................4 National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) ................4 Teacher Preparation and Learning ......................................................................6 Human Constructivism .......................................................................................7 Biology Reform ..................................................................................................9 Rationale for the Study .....................................................................................11 Research Questions...........................................................................................12 Definition of Terms...........................................................................................12 Gowin's Vee .....................................................................................................13 LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................15 Knowledge Construction ..................................................................................15 Situated Knowledge ..........................................................................................16 Knowledge Dependency ...................................................................................17 Human Constructivism .....................................................................................19 Meaningful Learning ........................................................................................20 Conceptual Change ...........................................................................................21 Alternative Conceptions....................................................................................22 Cooperative Learning........................................................................................24 Multiple Intelligences .......................................................................................25 Inquiry-Based Learning ....................................................................................26 Concept Mapping..............................................................................................27 Plant Science Concepts and Principles .............................................................29 Research Methodology .....................................................................................31


In this paper, we consider the problem of detection of sparse stochastic signals with quantized measurements in sensor networks. The observed sparse signals are assumed to follow the Bernoulli–Gaussian distribution. Due to the limited bandwidth in sensor networks, the local sensors are required to send quantized measurements to the fusion center. First, we propose a detector using the locally most powerful test (LMPT) strategy, called the quantized LMPT detector, for the problem of distributed detection of sparse signals with quantized measurements. Then, the local quantizers are designed to guarantee the near optimal detection performance of the proposed quantized LMPT detector. When the designed quantization thresholds are applied at the local sensors, we show that 1) the proposed 1-bit LMPT detector with 3.3L sensors achieves approximately the same detection performance as the clairvoyant LMPT detector with L sensors; 2) the proposed LMPT detector with 3-bit measurements can achieve detection performance comparable to the clairvoyant LMPT detector. Simulation results demonstrate the performance of the proposed quantized LMPT detector and corroborate our theoretical analysis.


Hair loss, hair thinning, poorly growing hair and powerless or dull hair are" common complaints in clinical dermatology. There is a need for products, which support the hair growing process and control some of the disturbances in the hair cycle dynamics. In context of a randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial efficacy of a fenugreek seeds containing food supplement against hair loss is evaluated. The results indicate a successful treatment of low to moderate hair loss in women and men. Additionally, positive effects on hair growth were demonstrated.


Corn (Zea Mays L) has multipurpose functions, as food, feed, industrial raw materials, and source offarmers' income. Rainfed rice fields are one of the potentials which have not been optimally utilized foragriculture, especially corn. Planting distance will affect productivity in two ways, 1) the use of plantingdistance that is too tight, plants will experience competition with other plants nearby and 2) plantingdistance that is too wide may reduce yield per unit area. This study aims to determine theperformance of productivity, income and feasibility and aslo to determine the break-even point ofproduction and prices. The study was conducted in Boloh Village, Toroh District, Grobogan Regencyon MT-3 in 2016 covering an area of ± 5 ha. The study was set out with 3 treatment distanceplanting, 75 x 20 cm (1 seed per hole), 75 x 40 cm (2 seeds per hole) and 50 x 50 cm (2 seeds perhole). The results showed that the 70 x 40 cm spacing treatment gave the highest productivity andincome. Hybrid maize farming with distance planting of 70 x 40 cm, both technically and financially, isthe most feasible to be developed in rainfed rice fields.


On the basis of an analytical solution of the problem describing the drying process of a cylindrical body with a combined heat supply (continuous convective and intermittent infrared), the influence of the temperature mode of heating the body on the drying time and the consumption of electrical energy consumed by an infrared emitter is analyzed. The dynamics of intermittent infrared heating of a cylindrical body was modeled on the basis of an analytical solution of the problem, which takes into account the irregularity of irradiation using a unit Heaviside function and the absorption of electromagnetic energy exponentially, as well as convective heat and mass transfer of the body surface with the environment of constant parameters. The kinetics of body drying has been calculated by analytically solving the problem of moisture diffusion in the material with the third type mass transfer boundary condition provided that phase transformations occur at the surface of the body. An internal mass transfer analysis has been performed with deep drying of granular polymers, on the basis of which the diffusion mechanism of moisture transfer inside the material was substantiated, for which PA-6 polyamide in the form of a cylindrical rod has been chosen. The analysis showed that the drying process of the specified polyamide rod occurs in the intra-diffusion region, characterized by the condition that the moisture content of the rod near its surface immediately after the process starts takes an equilibrium value, which was calculated during the analysis of the drying temperature regime. A numerical simulation of the interconnected process of drying and heating a cylindrical rod of polyamide PA-6 under conditions of a combined convective-infrared power supply was conducted, on the basis of which conclusions were made about the choice of the temperature mode of the process.


It is demonstrated that an isotype subgroup of a simply presented abelian group can be simply presented without being a separable subgroup. In particular, the conjecture based on a variety of special cases that Warfield groups are absolutely separable is disproved.


This paper demonstrates how, without mechanically applying any formula like Nelson-Siegel or Nelson-Siegel-Svensson straight cut, a short term yield curve can intuitively be constructed with traded securities and then plugging the gaps with regression and cubic splines on case by case basis, which contains market information and gives enough room to scenario analysis for designing portfolio strategies. Opportunity of short run arbitrage is found non-existent. In terms of further research there is scope of running time series regression of short rates on 3 month MIBOR and one dummy variable for the news of RBI's auction of dated securities. The patterns of spot rates, forward rates and par rates are similarly flat because the market participants seem not take any trade decisions on the eve of RBI auction and inflationary information content.


The use of porous polytetrafluoroethylene (Proplast II), as a framework for prefabricated, composite transplants was investigated in 28 New Zealand rabbits. A port ion of Proplast II was implanted into an inguinal fat flap, explanted after six weeks, followed by a prefabricated free flap covered with a skin graft transplant in three variations. In eight specimens, the microvascular transplantation was from the inguinal to the neck region. This transplantation procedure was possible due to vascularisation and proliferation of connective tissue interwoven into and throughout the Proplast II which was used as an interface matrix. Histological findings in the microangiographic and Tc 99m examination technique showed vascularisation of Proplast II and the presence of a capillary network between Proplast II and the dermal transplant. The employment of porous PTFE as a framework for prefabricated free flaps is a promising one.


During the course of our studies aiming the discovery of new antineoplasic and antiparasitary compounds, we recently described the synthesis of the aza-dehydropterocarpan 1a (Figure 1). 1 In order to know more about the structural features required for the observed activities of 1a, we report in this work the synthesis of compounds 1b-d and 2a-c. Our first goal was to modify the substituent at the nitrogen atom in the C-ring (1b-c) to see if this moiety is part of the pharmacophore. In analogues 2a-b, halogen atoms at D-ring were introduced to target diverse set of relevant medicinal proteins due to halogen bond 2 . Trying to understand more about the mechanism of the antineoplasic activity, cell death was evaluated by flow cytometry.


ABSTRACT At a time when inclusion is valued, an important question is how it can be put into practice. This study investigates how one Swedish preschool and one of its units achieve inclusion. It adopted a mixed method research approach and a case study design. Participating in the study were one head teacher, five preschool staff members and five children with attachment difficulties/an attachment disorder. The data were collected by way of structured and semi-structured observations, a focus group interview and one retrospective interview. Thematic and statistical data analyses as well as pattern-matching were conducted. The study shows that preschool inclusion was achieved by means of a new unit, a specialised organisational typology, full inclusion, a two-tiered system of integrated support, a shared vision, high expectations of all children, positive attitudes, qualified staff, staff support and sufficient funding as well as a set of factors and inclusive practices that were implemented to a high level of quality (nearly excellent; m = 6 on a 7-point Likert Scale). The pattern of the results, with two exceptions, supports the predicted pattern with a basis in previous studies and frameworks. The study answers the question and can form a basis for interesting discussions.


In the recent years, Cannabis and hemp-based products have become increasingly popular for various applications ranging from recreational use, edibles, beverages to health care products and medicines. The rapid detection and differentiation of phytocannabinoids is, therefore, essential to assess the potency, therapeutic and nutritional values of cannabis cultivars. Here, we implemented the SpiderMass technology for the in vivo detection of cannabidiol acid (CBDA) and tetrahydrocannabinol acid (THCA) and other endogenous organic plant compounds to access distribution gradients within the plants and differentiate cultivars. The SpiderMass system is composed of an IR- laser handheld microsampling probe connected to the mass spectrometer through a transfer tube. The analysis was performed in situ on different plant organs from freshly cultivated Cannabis plants in only a few seconds. SpiderMass analysis easily discriminated the two acid phytocannabinoid isomers by MS/MS and the built statistical models differentiated between four Cannabis cultivars. Different abundancies of acid phytocannabinoids were also found along the plant as well as between different cultivars. All together, these results introduce the direct analysis by SpiderMass as a compelling analytical alternative for forensic and hemp industrial analysis.


In this work the solubility of two polymorphic forms A and B of erlotinib hydrochloride in isopropanol (IPA) and acetone were determined by means of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in the temperature range from (273.15 to 303.15) K. The experimental data were correlated with the modified Apelblat equation. In particular, the effect of the surfactant Tween 80 on the solubility of both polymorphs was studied as well. The results show that the solubility of both polymorphs generally increases with the temperature, and polymorph A has a higher solubility than polymorph B which indicates that polymorph A is the metastable form. The modified Apelblat equation shows a good agreement with the experimental data with a percent error less than 3 %. Furthermore, the solubility of both polymorphs increases in a linear fashion with increasing the content of Tween 80 in organic solvents, wherein Tween 80 presents a same solubilization capacity to both polymorphs and a higher solubilization capacity in acet...


The World Bank Group's Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF) in partnership with its regional partners has been working with researchers and scientists to refine satellite technology for index insurance product design. The International Research Institute on Climate and Society (IRI)'s Financial Instruments Sector Team—a GIIF partner—for instance, has worked in over a dozen countries on index contracts with tens of thousands of policies purchased by farmers vulnerable to climate change. The team partners with farmers and international institutions such as the World Bank Group (WBG) to explore the potential for using index insurance in developing countries to assist emerging markets, increase productivity of small farmers, and reduce threats to crops and livelihoods from climate risk.


The present use of graphite-epoxy composites in aircraft primary structures causes the knowledge of their fatigue behaviour to become an important task. Fatigue behaviour of these materials is usually characterized by S-N experimental curves. A significant parameter in the performance of the dynamic tests is the frequency of the applied load. The objective of this paper is to study the effect of different values of frequency on the configuration of the S-N curve for a graphite-epoxy composite. For this purpose, two types of materials have been considered: unidirectional tape and fabric laminates. Fatigue tests under tension-tension at different orientation angles and for several frequency values have been carried out. The results show that, only in the case of fabric laminates under off-axis tension, the effect of frequency becomes a remarkable parameter in the fatigue behaviour.


various parts of the country's archipelago and how the state structurally coerces the adherents of such unofficial groups to assimilate in one of the five recognized religions. A secular state cannot exclude religion from public policy as they are inextricable. If the state formalized Islam, compliance with Sharia rules would not be automatically forthcoming, but if the spirit of Islam infused the state, Muslim aspirations would inevitably be accommodated. Securing the religious neutrality of the state within the connectedness of Islam and politics has no categorical solution. Moreover, he argues there is nothing 'un-Islamic' about the concept of a secular state as the medium for negotiating the organic and legitimate role of Islam in public life. In fact, he asserts, the secular state as defined in his book 'is more consistent with the inherent nature of Shari'a and the history of Islamic societies than are false and counterproductive assertions of a so-called Islamic state' (p. 268). An-Na'im appeals to historical inauthenticity by stating the notion of an Islamic state is a postcolonial innovation 'based on a European model of the state and a totalitarian view of law and public policy as instruments of social engineering by the ruling elites' (p. 7). Although he is opposed to a world in which an 'enlightened West' leads humanity to secularization, he does not countenance a cultural/ideological counteroffensive from Muslim societies that acts as a counter-model of modernity believed to be representing an exclusively Islamic framework to match that of the West. The biggest oversight of this book is perhaps the omission of the tax ( jizya) non-Muslims have the option to pay if they do not wish to accept Islam, in return for military protection and exemption from conscription, since only thereafter is war sanctioned by scripture (p. 129) based on the refusal of the first two choices, not before them. On p. 2 Rashid Rida is misspelt as 'Ridda' which in Arabic means apostasy. A chapter focusing on a modern 'Islamic' state such as Saudi Arabia or Iran would have been more germane to analyze how Sharia is understood idiomatically today and being implemented, as it would provide a more robust and grounded interlocutor. An-Na'im lays no claim for the superiority of his proposition but demands, as per Islamic tradition, that just as the opinions of Muslim scholars historically became part of the Shari'a through the consensus of believers over many centuries, and not by the spontaneous decree of some ruler, so also should unconventional ideas like his (even heresies) be given the opportunity for scrutiny before civic reason. Overall, this book contains some compelling arguments and deserves to be widely read for all those who are interested in understanding the modus operandi of a secular state that can successfully reconcile Sharia in a non-condescending, non-authoritarian and non-threatening manner.


Background Low birth weight (LBW) has been associated with increased cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, during adulthood. Nephrogenesis impairment in LBW may lead to an increase of uric acid and hypertension. Objective To assess for a correlation between uric acid and blood pressures in LBW children. Methods This study was conducted from January to April 20 12. A comparative and correlative analytic-observational study with a cross-sectional method was done in children aged 7-8 years, born at Prof. Dr. RD Kandou General Hospital and living in Manado. Forty-eight LBW children and 48 normal birth weight (NBW) children were included in this study. All children underwent uric acid level and blood pressures measurements. Results Mean uric acid level in LBW children was significantly higher than in NBW children (P = 0.001) . There was no correlation between uric acid and blood pressures in LBW children(r=0.13, P> 0.05 for systolic blood pressure; r=0.05, P> 0.05 for diastolic blood pressure). Conclusioru; LBW children have higher uric acid levels than NBW children, but no correlation is found between uric acid level and blood pressures.


The use of the millimeter-wave and terahertz (THz) systems are becoming very important in various scientific and military applications. In many applications i.e. radio-astronomy, THz imaging, remot ...


Primary sarcomata are uncommon in the lung, and few cases have been reported. The majority of these tumours have proved to be leiomyosarcomata; other varieties have been found very rarely. The literature on pulmonary leiomyosarcomata has been reviewed both by Agnos and Starkey (1958), who were able to find 18 previously recorded cases and added two of their own, and also by Yacoubian, Connolly, and Wylie (1958), who reported an additional case. There have since been accounts by Merritt and Parker (1957), who found the tumour in a child, and by Glennie, Harvey, and Jewsbury (1959), who described two further cases. The diagnosis of any of these tumours is histological and is straightforward for welldifferentiated lesions. On the other hand, it may be difficult to distinguish between a poorly differentiated sarcoma and the common anaplastic carcinoma. It is possible that leiomyosarcoma may occur less infrequently than is generally believed. The following five cases are presented to show their main pathological and clinical features.


It is thought that the future production of fiber optic gyros and other optical sensors depend on the development of integrated optic circuits to replace the various bulk optic components and labor intensive components presently utilized in all waveguide systems. This paper will present recent data for integrated optic chips and components specifically designed and fabricated for fiber optic sensor applications.


Introduction: This study was performed to understand how fixed clinical teams affected informal learning in Emergency Medicine Residents. Better understanding the effects of team dynamics on informal learning may help to optimise learning and improve performance.
Methods: From 8th February 2020 till 27th September 2020, the Singapore General Hospital Emergency Department adopted a fixed team system. Zoom interviews were carried out amongst Emergency Medicine Residents who worked in the fixed team system using a semi-structured iterative interview guide. A qualitative content analysis was used for this exploratory study. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, anonymised and coding via template analysis performed. Data collection and analysis were performed until data sufficiency.
Results: The themes identified centred around relationship dynamics, team composition and motivation for learning. The first was how improved relationships led to improved trust, communications and camaraderie among team members. This improved peer learning and clinical supervision and provided a more personalised learning experience. A balanced team composition allowed learners to be exposed to experts in various subspecialties. Finally, there was an initial increase in motivation, followed by a decrease with time.
Conclusion: In postgraduate medical education, working in a fixed team system with balanced members had positive effects on informal learning by strengthening relationships and communications.


A novel polyamide containing trans-2,5-linked tetrahydropyran rings in the main chain, poly(trans-tetrahydropyran-2,5-diyliminocarbonyl) (trans-polyamide 6), was synthesized by the two-stage polycondensation of ethyl or 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl trans-5-aminotetrahydropyran-2-carboxylate (5b or 5c). The polycondensation was carried out first in m-cresol at 180°C. The isolated polymer of a relatively low molecular weight was then allowed to react further in a solid state at different temperatures between 180 and 230°C under vacuum. The trans-polyamide 6 thus obtained was soluble only in protic solvents such as m-cresol, 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol, 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-isopropanol, and trifluoroacetic acid. The viscosity numbers of 6 were up to 0.46 dL/g in m-cresol at 25°C. DSC and TGA analyses of 6 showed that the thermal decomposition occurred at about 350°C in nitrogen, whereas a rapid weight decrease due to the thermooxidative decomposition started at about 300°C in air. The moisture sorption isotherm was determined on coarsely ground samples of 6 at 25°C and compared with those for the structurally-related polyamides 2 and 4. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten delay times with motion-compensated video processing and to execute the motion compensated video processing with a device in less expensive and simpler configuration. SOLUTION: A frame group composed of plural video frames is encoded into the group of 'I' frames and 'B' frames, and the 'I' frames are rearranged. This rearrangement is executed for integrating the respective 'I' frames into the next frame group, and because of this rearrangement, timing delays in case of decoding can be shortened in comparison with timing delays in the case of decoding non-rearranged frame group. Inside each frame group, the 'B' frames may be rearranged as well.


Technique Mice.-The animal is anaesthetized with ether and ethyl chloride and is then placed on its back on a cork board. An assistant extends the neck by retracting the lower jaw with forceps, at the same time holding back the front paws with the thumb and first index finger (Fig. 1). A transverse incision, 5 mm. in length, is made lateral to the midline of the neck in the course of the intemal jugular vein (Fig. 1). This vein is large, easily identifiable, and can be punctured with


Strategy and results based on stoichiometry is presented for simulation on the conventional methods of evaluating volumetric dilatation due to gas nitriding and of elastic-plastic stress considering the fact that the process is limited in the very thin layer near substrate surface. One dimensional diffusion equation is solved to know the nitrogen concentration after some incubation time, where nitrogen atoms diffuse as interstitials inα-iron followed by the compound formation process. Some part of diffused nitrogen converted to form nitrides, such as γ'-Fe4N, ε -Fe2N and other MxNy . In the former case, diffused nitrogen itself enlarges the lattice parameter, and the nitrides induce the volumetric dilatation, both of which gives the intrinsic, or initial strain in the body. A conventional stress estimation method is proposed in the framework of total strain theory under the consideration that stress equilibrium equation and strain compatibility condition lead to the non-zero stress and strain in plane without shear stress and strain. If simple elastic-plastic stress-strain constitutive relation is assumed, the stress/strain profile along the depth direction is easily obtained to avoid complicated numerical calculation. Some obtained results of the simulation are compared with experimental data.


A neural state estimator for nonlinear stochastic discrete-time systems is addressed. The statistics of noises are not known. The estimator is designed according to the sliding-window paradigm to minimize a quadratic estimation cost function. The noises are assumed to be additive with respect to both the state equation and the measurement channel. Sufficient conditions are devised to guarantee the convergence of the estimator and explicit asymptotic bounds on the estimation error are computed. The weights tuning technique is based on a min-max algorithm in order to guarantee the convergence of the state estimates. The estimator is designed off line in such a way as to be able to process any possible measurement pattern. This enables it to generate its estimates almost instantly.


There are many problems in traditional chemical industry, such as environmental pollution, low production efficiency and high energy consumption. Nowadays, energy and environment become two main bottlenecks in the development of chemical industry. As non-renewable fossil resource, petroleum and coal are still widely used in the modern world. The excessive use of fossil resource will accelerate the deterioration of environment. Therefore, it is necessary to find new kinds of energy for the sustainable development and environmental protection. Biomass is renewable, environmentally friendly and abundant in the natural world. According to the statistics, the total energy produced from photosynthesis is nearly ten times more than that of fossil fuel used in the world every year. However, the utilization rate of biomass energy is less than 1%. Although the preparation of ethanol from glucose and starch has already been employed in industry for a long time, the universal shortage of food restricts the application of this method in the large-scale production of clean energy. Therefore, it is very important to produce green energy and bio-products from lignocellulose which is the most abundant biomass (Pu et al., 2008; Zhu, 2008). Lignocellulose is hard to be dissolved and separated with common solvents due to its complex structure, strong intraand inter-molecular hydrogen bonding. Traditional acid and basic systems used in the lignocellulose industry are environmentally polluted, and can not be recycled (Li et al., 2007). Therefore, development of new efficient solvents is the first step for the transformation and utilization of lignocellulose. As novel green solvents, ionic liquids (ILs) have many attractive properties, including negligible vapor pressure, non-flammability, thermal stability and recyclability, and have been used in organic synthesis, electrochemistry, catalysis, extraction and among others (Qian et al., 2005; Dupont et al., 2002; Scurto et al., 2002; Kubo et al., 2002). In 2002, Rogers and co-workers (Swatloski et al., 2002) found that some hydrophilic ILs are effective solvents for the dissolution of cellulose. The high solubility of cellulose in the ILs attracts great attention of the scientists and engineers in the world. Since then, significant progress 4


In order to make the tourism products distinguishable, place identity has been acknowledged to play a vital role in determining the success of tourism destination. The local sense of place, as the emotional bond between residents and their spatial localities, requires to be revealed to reflect the characteristics of a particular location. This paper is a conceptual work to addresses the importance of local sense of place in reconstructing place identity to guide the future development of tourism destination.


Background
Valproic acid (VPA) is an antiepileptic agent with histone deacetylase inhibitor activity shown to enhance overall survival and progression free survival in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM). This reports on the late toxicity of the VPA/radiotherapy (RT)/temozolomide (TMZ) combination in the long-term survivors of a phase 2 study evaluating this regimen.

Methods
37 patients with newly diagnosed GBM were initially enrolled on this trial and received combination therapy. VPA/RT/TMZ related late toxicities were evaluated in the 6 patients that lived greater than 3 years using the Cancer Therapy and Evaluation Program Common Toxicity Criteria (CTC) Version 4.0 for toxicity and adverse event reporting as well as the RTOG/EORTC Radiation Morbidity Scoring Scheme.

Results
The median duration of follow-up for these 6 patients was 69.5m. In this cohort, the median OS was 73.8m (60.8-103.8m) and median PFS was 53.1m (37.3 - 103.8m). The most common late toxicity of VPA in conjunction with RT/TMZ were the CTC classifications of neurological, pain, and blood/ bone marrow toxicity and most were grade 1/2. There were only two grade 3/4 toxicities.

Conclusions
The addition of VPA to concurrent RT/TMZ in patients with newly diagnosed GBM was well tolerated with little late toxicity. Additionally, VPA may result in improved outcomes as compared to historical data and merits further study.


This document represents a final report of four years of activities at UNC Pembroke concerning DOE grant number DE-FG02-96EW13510, entitled An Environmental Studies Enrichment Program at UNC Pembroke. The four-year cycle has been extremely successful. An overview of the training program is presented and success of program graduates is estimated.


Turkey is the world's second largest raisin producer after the United States and the leading exporter, accounting to 25% of the world's total raisin production and 40–45% of total raisin exports. The European Union is the top export destination for Turkish raisins receiving an average of 80 percent of all Turkish raisin exports. The main objective of the study is to forecast Turkey's raisin export. A time series modeling approach (Double Exponential Smoothing) has been used to forecast raisin export in Turkey. The forecasts for the export of raisin in Turkey have been made for the next five years using by annual data on 1982–2015 years in this study. The forecast results have shown that the raisin export in Turkey will be around 209,738 tons in 2016.


One of the most peculiar aspects of the banquet scene in Macbeth is that Macbeth is the only one, among those gathered, who sees Banquo's Ghost. He is at once distinguished and isolated by what he sees. What is the connection between Macbeth's isolation through what he alone sees, and the manifest purpose of the scene —namely, Macbeth's attempt to establish his position as sovereign through a public, theatrical display of hospitality? What does Macbeth's visual isolation say about the connection, so prevalent in the late sixteenth-century, between sovereignty, theatricality and spectatorship? I suggest that Macbeth's alienation from others in the banquet scene through what he alone sees announces not only the dissolution of Macbeth's sense of self and of his relation with those gathered but also a consequent failure of the theatrical model of sovereign presence which held sway in the Renaissance. I argue that indeed Macbeth presents us with a failure of the theatrical sovereign, a sovereign that is therefore incompatible with —and which puts into question— the dominant interpretation of theatrical sovereignty in Renaissance scholarship of the past 25 years. That is, I suggest that Macbeth's failure to share what he sees with those gathered, and his simultaneous failure to remain socially and visibly related with his subjects, marks the undoing of the conventional interpretation of sovereignty in the period —namely, a model through which the sovereign acquires his or her positions precisely through a manifestly theatrical, public display, like the banquet scene. In this way, Macbeth opens the way for the contractual model of sovereignty that the work of Thomas Hobbes will introduce a generation later.


A national program started in 1989 to drive researches, on Ruditapes philippinarum brown ring desease cor elated with a vibrio called PI. The researches have concerned epidemiological surveys on spats and adults, treatment methods, diagnostic techniques, and anatomical and functional studies about the vibrio-clam relations. The transmissions of the desease appeared mainly related to contaminated manila clam seeds, with secondary horizontal propagation. The brown ring formation appeared to be caused by a periostracum deterioration. Taking into account some of these results, an adapted cultural technique including special care of seeds and decreased densities was proposed to the farmers.


The aim of this thesis is to describe sparse district heating conditions and explore how to improve them. Few sparse areas are heated by district heat, which reflects the economic competitiveness. A method that could be used by the district heating companies to identify the boundaries of profitable district heat is presented. Important key figures are identified when investigating the boundaries of competitive district heat. This method was identified using data gained from research on sparse areas in Goteborg, Sweden and demonstrates what to focus on in order to improve competitiveness. It is concluded that distribution heat losses must decrease in future connected sparse areas to be an efficient and competitive heating alternative.

The insulation properties of flexible district heating pipes, widely used when connecting sparse areas, are an important issue when improving the energy efficiency. The long term insulation properties of flexible district heating pipes are experimentally investigated by studying the cell gas transport in semi-flexible polyurethane foams. The results show that the insulation properties are impaired more rapidly than for traditional straight pipes. The flexibility of the material is partly achieved at the cost of faster gas transport. An effective diffusion barrier hindering this gas transport is thus important.

A new method to determine the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity of flexible district heating pipes is presented. The method is based on the fact that the temperature decline of hot water in a district heating pipe placed in cool water depends on the thermal conductivity of the polyurethane foam. The temperature decline of the water inside the service pipe is measured and modelled numerically. The difference between measured and calculated temperatures is used to determine the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity and the specific heat by fitting. The method is based on simple measurements of the temperature decline of the service pipe water, and it is applied on single and twin pipes. A single experiment gives the thermal conductivity for a large temperature span.


The effect of lead magnesium niobate titanate (PMNT) particle size on the dielectric and ferroelectric properties of PMNT- Portland cement (PC) composites was investigated. PMNT of various particle sizes (75–425μm) were used at 50% by volume to produce the composites using the mixing and pressing method. Dielectric properties at various frequencies (0.1–20 kHz) and ferroelectrics behavior of the PMNT-Portland cement composites were investigated at room temperature. The results show that the dielectric constant of PMNT- Portland cement composite are found to increase ( = 154 for particle size 75 μm and = 275 for particle size 425 μm (at 1 kHz)), while dielectric loss decreased with increasing particle size of ferroelectric PMNT ceramics. Furthermore, the "instantaneous" remnant polarization (Pir ) of composites was found to increase with increasing PMNT particle size.


e23167Identification of novel EGFR ectodomain (ECD) mutations based on a database of clinical circulating cell-free DNA sequencing testsBackground: The Cancer Genome Atlas primarily sequenced early...


OBJECTIVE
SK3, one of the small conductance calcium-activated potassium channels, is the key substance of the endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor (EDHF) passway. This study aimed to investigate the expression of SK3 in the cavernous tissue of rats with diabetes mellitus (DM).

METHODS
Twenty-six DM models were made by injection of streptozocin (STZ) out of 50 male Sprague-Dawley rats, and another 15 that failed to be modeled were included in an STZ group. Ten healthy male rats were taken as blank controls. Eight weeks later, the penile erectile function of the rats was detected by injection of apomorphine (APO) at 80 microg/kg, and the expression of SK3 in the cavernous tissue was determined by RT-PCR and Western blot.

RESULTS
Penile erection was observed in 14 (54%) of the 26 DM rat models and in all the rats of the STZ and blank control groups. Both the mRNA and protein expressions of SK3 were significantly lower in the DM (0.50 +/- 0.09 and 0.65 +/- 0.06) than in the STZ (1.15 +/- 0.03 and 1.28 +/- 0.04) and blank control groups (1.21 +/- 0.04 and 1.34 +/- 0.05) (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between the STZ and blank control groups in either penile erection or mRNA and protein expressions of SK3 (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION
Diabetes mellitus can significantly reduce erectile function in rats, which may be related to the decreased expression of SK3 in the corpus cavernosum.


The oxidation of Ce~3+ to Ce~4+ and simultaneous deposition of copper powder by anion-exchange membrane coupling electrolysis were studied in order to solve industrialization electro-oxidation of Ce~3+ to Ce~4+ . The results show that anode and cathode current efficiencies reach 95% and 80%, respectively, and oxidation rate reaches 98% when sulfuric acid concentration in catholyte is 34 mol/L and current density combination is suitable. The powdering rate and powdering current efficiency for ocopper are 93% and 85%, respectively. The energy consumption for oxidation of Ce~3+ is 33.6% and 40% of constant-current electrolysis in the simultaneous electrolysis and varying current density electrolysis respectively. The results of enlargement experiment is much approximate to that of bath ones. The experiment results show that oxidation of Ce~3+ to Ce~4+ and simultaneous deposition of copper powder by anion-exchange membrane coupling electrolysis are practicable to solve electro-oxidation of Ce~3+ to Ce~4+ in industry.


Semantic web facilitates the effective sharing and reuse of existing information. Institutional repositories (IRs) are built to organize and manage the intellectual output of an institute. They generally use relational databases for maintaining metadata of digital documents. The focus of this research is to share the information of an existing IR with other information systems for discovering common interests. To process the data in semantic context, a relational database needs to be transformed into an ontology. The existing relation to ontology transformation systems produces odd results if they are applied on an IR database because its schema is meta-schema. The proposed system first creates an intermediate database, having a normalized schema for the data model of an institute preserved in an IR database and then transforms it into an ontology. Finally semantic correspondence is established between entities of source and target ontologies in order to integrate them. The system has been implemented and evaluated for its correct and lossless transformation. The results demonstrate that the transformation is correct and the information is preserved.


The paper presents an analytical-numerical solution for the potentials and currents excited along buried conductors (earth return circuits) by the conductive effects of the quasistationary electric flow field produced in the earth by earthing arrangements. It is assumed that the system considered is linear and that the earth is an isotropic, homogeneous medium of finite conductivity. The reaction of currents floating in the underground conductor on the currents in the earthing devices is disregarded. The transmission line model of the earth return circuit, a segmental approximation of the curve of the primary potential distribution along the conductor and the concept of superposition have been used in the method. The method may be useful for an evaluation of the conductive effects on the earth return circuits in many practical cases, which are connected with power supply systems, electric traction and cathodic protection as well. The technical application of the method presented is illustrated by an example.


This article presents a methodological framework for enhancing ferry service across the Gibraltar Strait. The study examines the opinion of users and then proposes an action plan for enhancing the quality of service. The actions are classified according to a priority index which is computed with the following attributes: feasibility, relevance, economy, legal requirements and demand. Then the actions are grouped according to their priority index into three levels. Two are the main findings of the study. From the customer point of view, the overall service level of the Port Authority is sufficient, while the overall service level of the ferry operators is still low. In regard to the second phase, only one third of the actions included in the action plan should be implemented in the short term. As a result, some policy recommendations for enhancing the quality of service are discussed.


One of the primary goal of the watershed management is to maximize water yield with maximum quality in the fresh water producing. In order to fulfill this objective, some watershed management practices have been conducted. Amount of water consumption by trees and its precisely determination is important in terms of water balance equation in the watersheds. Measurement of tree transpiration by sap flow method has not been carried out so far in Turkey. Therefore, objectives of this study are to provide detailed information about measurement of transpiration by sap flow method, explain its superiorities compared to other methods and discuss its importance in watershed management concept.
Keywords: Sap flow, Transpiration, Trunk heat balance, Watershed management, Vegetation management


This article investigates in cloud computing systems about problem of delay optimal Virtual Machine (VM) scheduling holds constant resources with full infrastructure like CPU, memory and storage in the resource pool. Cloud computing offers users with VMs as utilities. Cloud consumers randomly demand different VM types over time, and the usual length of the VM hosting differs greatly. A scheduling algorithm for a multilevel queue divides the prepared queue towards lengthy and various queues. System is allocated with single queue in to several longer queues. The systems are allocated to one queue indefinitely, usually on any basis of process property, like memory size, process priority, or process sort. Every queue will have its self-algorithm for scheduling. Likewise, a system that's taking in a less preference queue is so lengthy, a high-priority queue can be transferred. Using Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm (MQPSO), Multi-level queue scheduling has been done. To evaluate the solutions, it explores both Shortest-JobFirst (SJF) buffering and Min-Min Best Fit (MMBF) programming algorithms, i.e., SJF-MMBF. The scheme incorporating the SJF-ELM-specific scheduling algorithms depending SJF buffering and Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) is also being proposed to prevent work hunger in an SJF-MMBF system. Furthermore, the queues must be planned, which is usually used as a preventive fixed priority schedule. The results of the simulation show that the SJF-ELM is ideal inside strong duty as well as maximum is environment dynamically, with an efficient average employment hosting rate.


This paper proposes a filtering method for highdensity impulse noise removal based on the fuzzy mathematical morphology using t-norms. The method is a two phased method. In the first phase, an impulse noise detector based on the fuzzy tophat transforms is used to identify pixels which are likely to be contaminated by noise. In the second phase, the image is restored using a specialized regularization method using fuzzy open-close or fuzzy close-open sequences applied only to those selected contaminated pixels and applying then a block smart erase algorithm. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm presents a better performance in terms of edge preservation and noise suppression than other nonlinear filtering methods, including the presented in [1], in which this method is based on.


Sensory analysis was performed on fresh fruits, frozen non-cooked jam and traditionally cooked jam of 14 strawberry cultivars. The purpose was to characterise and compare the sensory quality of different strawberry cultivars and different types of jam. The results of the investigation were presented by means of multivariate modelling methods such as principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares regression (PLS). The sensory profile of cooked jam differed from that of fresh fruits and frozen jam, explaining 75% of the total variation in the first component. Cooked jam scored high for sweet taste, stickiness, bitter taste, earthy flavour, off-flavour and total intensity of taste. Frozen jam had many of the same sensory characteristics as fresh fruits and scored high for strawberry flavour, fruity flavour and whiteness, while fresh fruits scored highest for colour strength, hue and sour taste. As analysed by means of PLS, sensory colour and flavour variables of fresh fruits were able to predict 35% of sensory cooked jam variables. Analysing early cultivars alone, sensory fresh fruit variables were able to predict 69% of sensory cooked jam variables.

© 2000 Society of Chemical Industry


This article presents a semiotic approach to study three petroglyphs sites in Cerro Tuququre, Valle de Putaen-do, central Chile with the aim of detecting internal spatial structuring patterns and determine the role of these places in the construction of social landscape during Incas occupation in the region. A theoretic-methodological frame based on Pierce's semiotics is proposed, emphasizing two different levels of analysis: syntactic and prag-matic. The results from syntactic analysis show that there is a dual structure constructed by the same spatial logic in the three sites. To achieve pragmatic analysis, regional contextual data and previous stylistic analysis are considered, taking into account two different levels of structural variation in rock art: landscape and style. Some contextual similarities with another petroglyph site of the region suggests that both places played an active role in the re-signification of social landscape in Aconcagua upper basin during Inca expansion. In this context, stylistic changes may reflect the circulation of messages under a novel situation shared with other regions of Collasuyu, which produced the modification of iconographic codes.


This paper covers the design and simulation results of an analog front-end (AFE) designed for capturing electroneurogram (ENG) signals. The AFE outputs a latency value that can be used by physicians to diagnose disorders affecting the nervous system such as muscular dystrophy. The latency value is calculated as the time between the peaks of two subsequent ENG triphasic responses. To extract an accurate latency, a set of filtering stages are required before the final processing stage. A Verilog analog-mixed signal (-AMS) model is constructed prior to the circuit design to examine the feasibility of the applied technic. The circuit designed and laid out in 0.18 μm TSMC Mixed Signal 5 V process and post-layout results demonstrate a 90 dB increase in the ENG amplitude achieved with a 0.92 mW power consumption showing the success of the filtering stages in removing unwanted noise such as stray electromyogram signals.


The essential oil of Ardisia mamillata was extracted by supercritical fluid extraction(SFE),analyzed by combined capillary GC-MS.46 compounds were identified and their relative contents were determinated.The components with mass percentage higher than 1.0% are caryophyllene 17.20%,α-caryophyllene 9.02%,3,7,11-trimethyl-1,6,10-dodecatrien-3-ol 7.03%,globulol 5.54%,borneol 5.51%,α-terpineol 5.02%,methyl salicylate 2.23%,linalool 2.10%,benzyl alcohol 2.19%,α-cadinol 4.45%,caproic acid 4.55%,α-bisabolol 2.51%,caryophyllenyl alcohol 2.11%,farnesol 1.78%,β-bisabolene 1.71%,3-hexen-1-ol 1.67% and caryophyllene oxide 1.62%,which take 87.24% of the amount of essential oil.


This paper deals with the gender gap phenomenon as displayed by Italian students participating in mathematical competitions - gifted students. In particular, the results obtained by the entire student population participating in district competitions from 2017 to 2020 were analyzed. The combined analysis of the competition results and of the final questionnaire, allowed us to highlight and deepen possible causes of the gender gap. It has been observed that girls underestimate themselves, sometimes giving up participating in competitions. Particularly during the upper secondary school years, increasingly fewer girls choose to attend mathematical competitions. Analysing the results, although the percentage of correct answers between the two genders is fairly similar, the rate of girls who prefer not to answer to avoid mistakes is higher than that of boys.


A quantitative analysis of the electronic deformation (electronic strain) contribution to the photoacoustic signal in semiconductor sample was done. The photoacoustic effect was investigated as a function of the modulation frequency in a transmission detection configuration. The theoretical model for this configuration was given for the thermal and elastic processes besides the carrier transport characteristics and the relation for electronic elastic deformation was derived by the theory of the elastic plate vibrations. The experimental photoacoustic data for Si-samples were measured and it was found that they are in a good agreement with the theoretical model.


According to the theory analysis and experimental research of the Bessel beam with different degree of temporal coherence and spatial coherence,we can conclude that spatial coherence plays more important role than that of temporal coherence on the generation and propagation of Bessel beam.The green light-emitting diodes,broad-stripe edge-emitting semiconductor lasers and vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers are presented as the light source of generating Bessel beam.Compared with former results,we find that the quality of Bessel beam can be significantly enhanced by improving the spatial coherence of light sources.


Against the background of the document Called to Transformation – Ecumenical Diakonia, published in June 2022 by the World Council of Churches and ACT Alliance, this article argues for a comprehensive approach to diakonia in which community projects and programmes, education, and training should emphasize social justice, people's participation, and the role of people's movements and the need for networking between them. This approach also stresses that diakonia must go beyond mere service, charity, and relief and engage in radical transformation.


The acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a common and catastrophic form of acute respiratory failure, caused by a number of direct and indirect insults to the lung. Inflammatory pulmonary edema and alveolar collapse are central to ARDS. Numerous redundant mechanisms are involved which include oxidants neutrophils products and other inflammatory mediators. Surfactant is damaged or destroyed. Supportive treatment with low tidal volume ventilation and positive end expiratory pressure is the standard of care. No specific pharmacologic agent has been shown to alter the course of disease. Survivors may have varying degrees of pulmonary insufficiency, or may be normal. Most survivors have a good prognosis and quality of life.


Self candidacy and campaign for particular political position by someone can be accepted in Islamic laws as long as he fulfills two important points. First, he or she possesses capacity, capability, and acceptability to assume positions he or she applying and campaigning for. Second, his or her genuine motivation is to seek for God's willing and to realize public's own good sake as well instead of striving for his or her own personal goals and medium for for things that are destructive for public needs.


Rationale: For measuring the height of the arch of foot either standing navicular height or talar height of the medial longitudinal arch was accepted in earlier days, where as the 'standing normalised navicular height' is taken by modern day by authors as a yardstick. But being troublesome and time consuming, we practically not opt for them in busy OPD schedule; rather go for measuring the arch-height in supine posture. Objectives: So this study was aimed to derive the regression between the standing arch-height values with the supine counterparts, so that former can be predicted easily from later. Methodology: It was carried out among 103 adult subjects in the purview of North Bengal Medical College & Hospital. From the x-ray films of their feet in supine and standing posture the navicular and talar heights were determined and the records were analysed. Result: Statistically significant correlation followed by regression analysis could reveal simple linear regression-equations for predicting the standing arch-height values from the supine values; derived separately in both males and females. Conclusion: Thus, from a known supine arch-height value, we can derive the respective standing archheight, as well as the 'standing normalised navicular height' indirectly avoiding the entire troublesome maneuver in regular practice. So the present study recommends this method in clinical fields as because this is more rational and ideal approach to estimate arch height.


Though the Secretary of Labor has lost every case tried to completion alleging that so-called "repetitive motion" or "ergonomic" injuries violate the Occupational Safety and Health Act's General Duty Clause, it is the recent unappealed Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) decision in Secretary of Labor v. Dayton Tire that deals the sharpest blow to the Secretary's attempts to regulate supposed repetitive motion tasks in American workplaces. The ALJ held that the Secretary failed to prove even the first element of the alleged General Duty Clause violation--that a hazard existed in the Dayton Tire workplace. More significantly, the ALJ also held the testimony proffered by the Secretary's experts was inadmissible because it did not meet the standards for scientific validity that the Supreme Court set forth in Daubert v. Merrill Dow Pharmaceuticals. The Solicitor's Office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has chosen to chalk up its losses in Dayton Tire, but OSHA's new administrator has predicted the agency will propose an ergonomics standard by fiscal year 1999.


A few years ago, the expert public was discussing the consequences of consolidating the EU countries' representation in the IMF's Executive Board. The main idea was that EU members should be split into two constituencies. - the first one with members of the eurozone and the other a members outside the eurozone. The subject of this paper is to analyse the voting power in the Executive Committee of the International Monetary Fund using the Penrose-Banzhaf Index (PBI) and the Koleman's Index (CI). The aim of the paper is to express the power of voting and the possibility of blocking certain decisions in relation to the position in the constituency. We will also take a look at the characteristics of the official missions of the IMF in order to determine the importance of the results and recommendations arising from the visit of the IMF team to the country.


A powerful number is a positive integer such that every prime that appears in its prime factorization appears there at least twice. Erdös, Mollin and Walsh conjectured that three consecutive powerful numbers do not exist. This paper shows that if they do exist, the smallest of the three numbers must have remainder 7, 27 or 35 when divided by 36. A powerful number is a positive integer such that every prime that appears in its prime factorization appears there at least twice. Equivalently, it is a positive integer that can be expressed as the product of a perfect square and a perfect cube. Powerful numbers have been studied by Erdös and Szekeres [1], Golomb [3], and Mollin and Walsh [4]. It is an unsolved problem in mathematics whether three consecutive powerful numbers exist, although Erdös, Mollin and Walsh have conjectured that such numbers do not exist [2, 4]. This paper will show that if three consecutive powerful numbers do exist, the smallest number must be congruent to 7 mod 36, 27 mod 36 or 35 mod 36. Theorem 0.1. If three consecutive powerful numbers exist, they must be of the form (36k +7,36k +8,36k +9), (36k +27,36k +28,36k +29) or (36k −1,36k,36k +1) = (36(k − 1)+35,36k,36k +1) for some integer k. Proof. Three consecutive powerful numbers must be (even,odd ,even) or (odd ,even,odd). However, in the (even,odd ,even) case, either the smallest number is congruent to 2 mod 4 or the smallest number is congruent to 0 mod 4, in which case the largest number is congruent to 2 mod 4. Whichever number is congruent to 2 mod 4 will be divisible by 2 but not by 4, so 2 will appear in the number's prime factorization only once. However, by the definition of a powerful number, every prime that appears in the prime factorization must appear there at least twice, so this number cannot be powerful, and we have a contradiction because all three numbers have to be powerful. Therefore, the (even,odd ,even) case is impossible, so the powerful numbers must be (odd ,even,odd). The middle number is even, so 2 must appear in that number's prime factorization at least twice by the definition of a powerful number. The middle number is therefore divisible by 4. Also, the three powerful numbers are consecutive, so one of Mathematics Subject Classification. 05B30


This is the third of three papers which explores the growing influence of problem-based learning (PBL) within professional curricula. Part 1 documented the emergence of PBL in a climate of world-wide change. Part 2 presented the model of Dimensions of Learner Experience and argued that it offers a framework for broadening current understandings of learner experience on diverse PBL programmes. Part 3 discusses the findings of the study, which extend earlier work around the concept of disjunction in learning, and the notion of enabling and disabling forms in relation to three different understandings of learner stance. Disjunction is a concept seen by many as a starting point for learning and, in this study, particular issues appeared to arise from PBL, often in the form of paradoxes, which prompted different forms of disjunction. The study concludes by suggesting that the concept of learner stances offers a framework that challenges current understandings of learner experience on programmes that adopt PBL. It argues that PBL may prompt new forms of transition in relation to students' past, present and future constructions of learning and of themselves as learners.


The present invention, high-capacity, and also safety and chungbang conductive and cycle characteristics is provided an excellent non-aqueous secondary battery, the negative electrode, and contains a material, and the graphite carbon material containing Si as the constituent element as the negative electrode active material, the positive electrode is , to show to the general composition formula (1), and further containing a lithium-containing complex oxide containing sulfur in the range of not less than 0.01% by mass less than or equal to 0.5% by mass as a positive electrode active material. y is, -0.3≤y <0.3 and, M is, Ni, Co, Mn, and represents a five or more kind of element groups containing at least one of Mg and, Al, Ba, Sr, Ti and Zr, the configuration M when the total proportion of Ni, Co, Mn and Mg to mol% units, respectively a, b, c and d in, and Al, Ba, Sr, Ti and Zr for the entire element to hayeoteul to e by mol% units, 70≤a≤97, 0.5


Using the building energy simulation program EnergyPlus, the authors studied and analysed measures to weaken the influence of solar radiation on peak cooling load in office buildings. The peak cooling reduction effect on exterior wall outside surface solar radiant absorptance and different kinds of exterior window constructions were analysed by simulation. The results show that using a low solar radiant absorptance dope on the exterior wall of old buildings will have a good effect on peak load reduction. Its utilisation in new buildings also has a considerable effect. The results can offer important information to building designers.


The main task of object detection is to simultaneously detect all objects in an image. Detecting objects of different scales often places conflicting demands on neurons' receptive fields, therefore, a single receptive field in each convolutional layer cannot effectively solve the problem of scale variation. In this paper, we propose SKNetV2, an improved version of Selective Kernel Networks. The realization of Selective Kernel (SK) convolution is an adaptive fusion of convolutional branches with different kernel sizes under the guidance of attention. The SK convolution considers only channel attention and ignores spatial attention, which is equally important, so the receptive fields of the neurons are still spatially fixed for the same input. We propose an SKv2 convolution that simultaneously applies spatial attention and channel attention to fuse branches of different kernel sizes and then unifies the two attention results. The cooperation of these two attention mechanisms achieves fully selectable receptive fields. We derive SKNetV2 from SKNet by replacing the SK building block with a proposed SKv2 block. We demonstrate the effectiveness of SKNetV2 through extensive experiments on the challenging MS COCO dataset. Without bells and whistles, we achieve an AP of 45.5%, which surpasses the most recently proposed detectors.


Knowledge is the fundamental aspect of every health care organization. to devotion to necessary of immediate newborn care. Objective: To assess the information, attitude, and practices of nurses and midwifery staff  in two maternity hospitals in Lahore regarding abrupt newborn care. Methods: Data were collected from 200 participants using a structured questionnaire. The results indicated that while the study population had fair knowledge, their performance level in terms of practices towards immediate newborn care was poor. Results: The findings suggest a significant need for training and education for nurses and midwives in this area. The participants had high levels of knowledge and practice, but their attitudes were highly skewed to the right, indicating a potentially problematic distribution. Conclusion: The  information of nurses' midwives regarding instant care of the newborn in labour room was reasonable 53% performance of the participants were poor. Worldwide precautions are not fallowed properly in these two mentioned hospital. Overall, this study highlights the importance of ongoing education for healthcare professionals to ensure the best possible care for newborns.