Hong Y, et. al. (2009) MR imaging and diffusion studies of soaked rice. Food Research International 42, 237-45 Krishnamurthy, K., Balconi, C., Sherwood, J., & Giroux, M. (2001). Wheat puroindolines ehance fungal disease resistance in transgenic rice. Molecular Plant Microbe Interact, 14(10), 1255-1260.. Tanchak, M., Schernthaner, J., Giband, M., & Altosaar, I. (1998). Tryptophanins: isolation and molecular characterization of oat cDNA clones encoding proteins structurally related to puroindoline and wheat grain softness proteins. Plant Science, 137, 173-184. Wall, M., Wheeler, H., Huebsch, M., Figeys, D., & Altosaar, I. (2010). The tryptophan-rich domain of puroindoline is directly associated with the starch granule surface as judged by tryptic shaving and mass spectrometry. Journal of Cereal Science, 52, 115-120. 10 μm METHODS


The invention discloses a novel compound gasoline antiknock agent comprising the following raw materials in weight ratio: 0.25-0.75% of ferrocene, 2.0-5.5% of tert-butyl acetate, 10-15% of diphenyl benzyl phosphate, 0.30-0.70% of 2,6-di-tert-butyl-p-cresol, 5-13% of calcium petroleum sulfonate with middle based value, 0.04-0.08% of N,N'- bis(salicylidene)-propane diamine, 2-6% of polyisobutylene butanedioic acid pentaerythritol ester and the balance methylbenezene. The novel compound gasoline antiknock agent of the invention can not only obviously improve the octane number of the gasoline and improve combustion performance of the gasoline, but also effectively remove the combustion residues and reduce the exhaust emission, thus having good application prospect.


Greeks gave a resounding "No" to the proposals by the creditors. Whatever the hurdles, mass media terror, opposition parties and European leaders threatening that this would signal Greece's kissing…


The adsorption of homopolymers on spherical particles with a strong attractive potential has been studied using the self-consistent field theory. The particles are immersed in concentrated polymer solutions and the structure of the adsorbed polymer layer has been examined as a function of the particle size, focusing on the average loop and tail length at different bulk concentrations and solvent qualities. The scaling relationship between the average tail/loop length and the degree of polymerization has been investigated. It is found that the average loop length is insensitive to the particle size or surface curvature. However, the average tail length depends strongly on the particle size. In particular, tails become longer for smaller particles or larger surface curvatures. It is argued that this size effect may provide a mechanism for the excess entanglements induced by adding nanoparticles to polymer solutions.


Live migration of Virtual machines (VMs) has become a regular tool for edge and cloud operators to facilitate system maintenance, fault tolerance, and load balancing, with little impact on running instances. However, the potential security risks of live migration of VMs are still obscure. In this article, we expose a new vulnerability in the existing VM live migration approaches, especially the post-copy approach. The entire live migration mechanism relies upon reliable TCP connectivity for the transfer of the VM state. We demonstrate that, if the host server is vulnerable to off-path TCP attacks, the loss of TCP reliability leads to VM live migration failure. We demonstrate that, by intentionally aborting the TCP connection, attackers can cause unrecoverable memory inconsistency for post-copy, leading to a significant increase in downtime and performance degradation of the running VM. Additionally, we present detailed techniques to reset the migration connection under heavy networking traffic. We also propose effective defenses to secure the VM live migration. Our experimental results demonstrate that memory inconsistencies could be devastating to some applications, and it only takes a few minutes to reset a heavy migration connection.


The characteristics of canopy spectrum and growth status of winter wheat under different soil moisture levels were studied in the field. Correlations between FMC and EWT of leaf and spectral reflectance of canopy were calculated and analysed quantitatively, and the sensitive bands to leaf water were found. Simple ratio water index(SWI)and normalized difference water index(NDWI) were constructed with the sensitive bands. Simple statistical models at different growth stages were established using spectral indices data and FMC and EWT of leaf. Bands centered at 469, 645, 700 and 710nm of VIS region, bands centered at 760, 815, 855, 930, 1075, 1100nm of NIR region and bands centred 550, 1600, 1640, 1750, 2130nm of SWIR were defined as sensitive bands to estimate leaf water content. These bands centered atmosphere windows had the potential to be applied in monitoring canopy leaf content of crop. The SWI and NDWI constructed with the sensitive bands could estimate leaf content more accurately than single band. The four band MODIS combined index: R (1640,2130) / ND (855,555) showed a good indicator to detect canopy water content of winter wheat.


"The debate that lasted for a century" is what the political intensive issue of the Oresundbridge been called. Next to issues such as nuclear plants and EU-membership the Oresundbridge been the most debated issue during this time. It was not until 1959 the matter became visualized in the Danish newspaper Politiken. In 1994 the matter was settled – the bridge were to be built and had full governmental support and economic guaranties.
In this essay the matter of the bridge is studied through official documents in the form of official studies and political compilations. Through the usage of the classic Edward L. Ullmans theories of regional interaction the essay studies how the reasoning in the studies considers the barriers and possibilities of interaction within the Oresundregion.


This study investigates the hypothesis that the important aspects of the patch-clamp technique for detailed electrophysiological studies of neurons can be miniaturised and scaled down to micron-size silicon-based microstructures. The work strives to emulate the important characteristics that this electrophysiological method offers for the study of network behaviour of in-vitro cell cultures to improve upon the current limitations of multi-electrode-array (MEA) design. The first part of the study focused on the preparation and assessment of healthy and viable cell cultures of primary rat cortical neurons for the study of network behaviour. Cultures were grown on silicon surfaces of varying composition and roughness to test the feasibility of integrating these cultures on silicon-based electronic devices. Also, the health and viability of neurons growing on non-transparent silicon substrates have been assessed by detailed histological analysis and cell counting using standard immunofluorescence techniques. Neurons extracted from various ganglia of the pond snail Ljmnaea stagnalis have been prepared for patch-clamping using established dissection, isolation and enzymatic digestion protocols. The second part of the project concentrated on formulating a theory of gigascal formation during patch-clamping by a critical review of the literature. The critical factors for highly resistive seal formation were identified and realised on prototype devices, including the patch aperture length and physical nature of the aperture surface. The physical natures of S10 2 and Si3N4 (and modifications by boron deposition) were investigated by wettability experimentation. A relationship between interactive molecular surface energy and the wetting angle was obtained from an established theoretical wetting model. The third part of this study focused on the geometric properties of microfabricated apertures. Apertures were modified by deposition techniques to increase the radius of curvature of the edge profile, thereby mimicking a rounded glass pipette opening. An image analysis algorithm was developed to quantify the radius of curvature of the crosssection profile from atomic force microscopy (AFM) data. A second algorithm was developed to quantify the circularity error of the aperture top-view by analysis of the profile texture. The profile was exacted after the application of contrast enhancement and edge-detection filters from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image data. Lastly, patch-clamp electrodes have been successfully integrated into planar siliconbased devices. This work presents the first patch-clamp microstructure capable of being scaled to a 100-.im inter-nodal spacing for construction of MEA designs. The electrical performances have been tested and found to be comparable to that of conventional borosilicate patch pipettes of similar aperture diameter. A base unit to contain the silicon devices and provide suction has been designed and produced. At the time of writing, electrophysiological recordings from Ljimnaea stagnalis neurons have not been achieved. Seal resistances 600 MQ have been recorded, but it remains unclear whether patch-clamp recordings from neurons can be achieved using siliconbased microfabricated apertures.


smoking prevalence rates in Australia stalled, prompting concerns that the Australian smoking population was hardening and that new approaches, and particularly e-cigarettes, are needed to achieve further prevalence declines. This study investigated three waves of the National Drug Strategy Household Survey (2010, 2013 and 2016) to identify if Australian smokers were becoming increasingly hardcore and resistant to quitting. Methods. Data was derived from three waves of the National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) from 2010, 2013 and 2016. The NDSHS are household based, cross-sectional, and nationally representative surveys. The target population was non-institutional residents of Australia aged 12 years and older. Sampling weights were included in the analysis in order to standardise all analysis performed to the Australian population. We used two definitions of hardcore smoker to determine a range of hardcore smoking rates from the most stringent definition as proposed by Emery et al to the most inclusive with a simple criteria of not motivated to quit. Results. The results demonstrate that Australian smokers are not hardening. The most stringent definition of hardcore smoking had a rate of around 1% of hardcore smoking in the population or around 7% of smokers. Around 30% of smokers said they did not intend to quit. However at a population level, this equates to a smoking prevalence of 5.49% declining significantly to 4.85 (p=0.02). Conclusion. Calls for access to e-cigarettes to further reduce smoking rates on the basis that remaining smokers are unable or unwilling to quit should be critically evaluated. Tobacco control must focus on interventions which will prevent smoking initiation, increase quit attempts, achieve successful and sustained smoking abstinence and address the needs of low socioeconomic and middle aged smokers. LB1867


The present invention a plurality of operating systems (OS) for the purpose of sharing one display in a display device operating in a single processor, a plurality of operating systems in the different display environments such as a color palette. To this end, a display device includes a display switching processing unit 311, a frame memory (321, 322) corresponding to the plurality of operating systems to switch the display of the plurality of operating a plurality of operating systems (303, 304), the display depending on the switching of the operating system by the conversion processing unit 311 has a color pallet (palette color) or the color mode, the display changing the display environments such as the frame address setting change processing unit 310.


133 Background: Since the results of the ReDOS study were published, starting regorafenib (REG) at a reduced dose is now considered a treatment option for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). However, the impact of starting REG at a reduced dose on treatment outcomes in the real-world setting has not been fully investigated. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed patients who received REG for mCRC at 4 institutions between May 2013 and December 2020. These patients were divided into two groups: those who started REG before (Period A) and after (Period B) the ReDOS study publication (May 2018). The treatment outcomes between Period A and B were compared in this analysis. Results: A total of 573 patients were evaluated (385 in Period A and 188 in Period B, respectively). In Period B, significantly more patients started REG with reduced dose (34.3% vs. 75.5%, p< 0.001). The median time to first dose reduction was 32.0 days [95% CI: 29.1-34.9] in Period A and 61.0 days [95% CI: 33.7-88.9] in Period B, which was significantly longer in Period B (HR = 0.685, p= 0.003). Both any grades and ≥grade3 hand foot skin reaction (HFSR) were significantly less frequent in Period B than in Period A (any grades: 65.5% vs 54.8%, p= 0.017, ≥grade3: 21.3% vs 14.4%, p= 0.054). The median time to onset of any grades HFSR was 16.0 days [95% CI: 13.6-18.4] in Period A and 28.0 days [95% CI: 15.6-40.4] in Period B, which was significantly longer in Period B (HR = 0.738, p= 0.007). The median overall survival was 6.7 months [95% CI: 5.9-7.4] in Period A, and 5.4 month [95% CI: 4.3-6.5] in Period, respectively (HR = 1.105, p= 0.281). The median progression free survival was 2.0 months [95% CI: 1.9-2.1] in Period A and 2.1 months [95% CI: 1.8-2.4] in Period B, respectively (HR = 1.064, p= 0.498). Conclusions: Our results suggest that starting REG at a reduced dose may contribute to reducing the frequency and delaying the onset of HFSR, whereas it may not affect efficacy.


Microfibril angle (MFA) in Chinese fir was tested by X-ray diffraction apparatus and calculated by computer software. The results were as follows: MFA was controlled strongly by inheritance, and there was no significant difference in MFA among interspecies, juvenile and mature wood. In the longitudinal, MFA reduces with the height rising from 0 to 5.5 m, especially in the heights from 0 to 1.5 m. The values of MFA are nearly consistence from 1.5 to 7.5 m. The variation range was between 10.82o and 12.57o from 1.5 to 7.5 m, R2 of power equation achieved 0.932 1, and analysis of variance indicated that the variation of MFA was not significant from 1.5 to 7.5 m. The age of the trees had an important influence on MFA, consequently, the difference in MFA was significant among annual rings in radial, which was maximal in near pith and reduced rapidly from the pith to sapwood, and its decline tendency was slow beyond the ninth annual ring. MFA reached minimum value at the 15th annual ring, and the difference reached more than 20o and R2 of binomial equation achieved 0.755 6.


A new tabulate coral named as Ohnopora hayasakai is described. This is found at the iower part of the Ohno formation, typically developed at Ohno, Kitakami mountains. It somewhat resembles Syringolites, but may be generically distinct from the latter. Age may be the Lower Devonian. Introduction The tabulate coral to be described below was collected by the senior author in 1950 at Ohno, Iwate Prefecture, the type locality of the Ohno formation (Yabe and Sugiyama l937), presumably Lower Devonian in age, when he was mapping there on this formation. The fossils were unexpectedly found as a few fragmental specimens in the tuffaceous sandstone in association with vaiious sized crinoid stems. The material was quite imperfect. The senior author has long been waiting to find more specimens of this coral but in vain. [I"hus the senior author decided to describe this older material in cooperation with the junior author. As a matter of fact, this coral was previously thought by the senior author to be somewhat resembling a tabulate coral belonging to the genus Thecostegites Edwards & Haime 1849 (Minato et al, 1959). In a carefu1 recent study, however the authros became aware of this tabulate coral to be more nearly related to the genus Syringolites Hinde 1879, than 77iecostegites although our material may be generically distinct from both of them. The authors would like to name the Japanese coral as Ohnopora hayasakai. The generic name is derived from the name of the locality where the coral was found, while the specific name is dedicated to our teacher, Professor eiheritus I. Hayasaka who is a pioneer of the study of the Palaeozoic corals of our country. 5S6 M. Minato and N. Minoura Acknowleclgements Before going into description the authors wish to thank Messers I. Niikawa, M. Kawamura and K. Kamada, graduate students of our department who kindly helped us in making many sefial replicas of the polished surface of certain part of corallites. The senior author is specially gratefu1 Dr. D. Hill, University of Queensland, St. Lucia for her kind suggestions given him on the Japanese coral now in concern, at the occasion of his short stay in Paris, Semptember 197'5. He would like also to thank for Dr. A. Stasinska, Warsaw, for kind talking with him on the same coral, also in Paris, 1975. Prof. P. Semenof"Tian-Chansky, Institute de Paleontologie, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle kindly placed many related tabulate corals for the senior author for studyy when he visited Pro£ Semenoff in Paris. Also Pro£ Semeiioff kindly sent him photographs of certain tabulata corals, which the senior author studied at his laboratory in Paris. We greatly acknowledge him for his many helps. Professor Dr. M. Kato of our Department kindly helped us in various ways. Part of the photograph figured in plates was taken by Mr. S. Kumano. Pl.1 Ohnopora hayasakai Minato and Minoura, gen. et sp. nov. Specimen UHR 30189, fig.1. Ca x 1.6; fig.2. Ca x 5.5 Horizontal view of the corailites The material is mostly broken and missing, about l13 of the entire surface is preserved. There, a number of large tubes are exposed, as a result of exfoiiation of the outer surface of corallites. In this photograph tubes are remarkably weli reproduced, while the tabulae and the corallite walls (between the tubes), being parallel to the elongation of the corallites are obscurely shown, although they are locally observable as arrow indicated. Nonetheless, the well developed tabulae (T) and walls (W) dividing each corallite are well visible by the naked eyes. Tubes andlor corallites are radially arranged in the surface plane, which are repeatedly branched outwards. [l]he stirface of tubes apparently as granular and/or iocally porous, but this might be resulted from the nature of the matrix of this fossil, which is tuffaceous , sandstone. Actually, in another specimen to be shown in pls.3,4 and 5, tubes have rather smooth surface, and not perforated. However, if tubes are broken, large round cross section of tubes (Tb) are observed as indicated by arrows; this means, tubes are liollow. OHIVOPOR且H、4 L48.4κ刃∫∫, A聾EW TABULATE CORAL Plate 1 558 M.Minato and N. Minoura


The main purpose of this article is to present the practices of Taiwan's area-based management protection (abmp) through the lens of the legal modernization process of ocean governance. In particular, we divide Taiwan's ABMP modernization process into three periods against the background of Taiwan's democratization development. In the abmp modernization process, the laws enacted from 2010s have provided several contemporary ocean governance principles such as a citizen participatory or integrated management approach. However, we also identify three obstacles which may hinder the future of the abmp modernization process in Taiwan: lack of international and regional cooperation, lack of legal enforcement transparency and the absence of comprehensive/coherent ocean governance principles. Therefore, how Taiwan could contribute to the global and regional maritime conservation in the future, depends on these three obstacles being tackled in the long term marine policies agenda.


The milling stability of thin-walled component is an important problem in the aviation manufacturing industry. The milling stability is influenced by both deflection characteristic and dynamic characteristic of workpiece. Moreover, in the material removal, the deflection and dynamic characteristics of workpiece are time-variant on the change of machining positions. Thus, the milling stability is also time-variant. In order to investigate the time variation of deflection and dynamic characteristics of workpiece, a new computational model was established in this paper. Based on the influences of the deflection and the dynamic characteristics of workpiece, a new stability lobes diagram which can show different stability domains and chatter domains in different process positions was obtained. Experimental testing has been conducted to validate the established new model.


Bronopol was added up to 1.8 kg/t to four forage crops, which were then ensiled in laboratory silos. No apparent benefit was gained from the use of bronopol, either alone or in mixture with formic acid, as an agent for encouraging the primary fermentation or discouraging the secondary (butyric) fermentation in silage.


We present an overview of prior/recent work done at the US Army Combat Capabilities Command—Army Research Laboratory on using acoustic waves for wireless power transfer (WPT). In the past we have demonstrated through-air ultrasonic phased array power beaming, through-metal longer distance transfer using Lamb waves, and power/data transfer to embedded sensor nodes. Acoustic WPT has the advantage of not being shielded by metal, and can achieve higher efficiencies than inductive WPT at larger distances. Part of our recent work is on developing a through-metal acoustic WPT based wireless UAV recharging platform. For the first time, we have demonstrated a self-detachable acoustic WPT receiver, using the switchable magnetic force from electro-permanent-magnets to attach a receiver transducer onto a steel platform to receive power (a transmitter is bonded on the other side of the platform), without the need of any liquid couplant. The magnetic force enhances the mechanical mode coupling, while allowing the receiver to attach/detach freely from the platform. AC-AC power efficiency up to 63% was achieved, and with the appropriate power electronics and matching network, an overall DC-DC efficiency of 44% was achieved when charging a 3-cell LiPo UAV battery with 4.6 W, with higher power levels achievable.


Double-pass laser amplifiers can provide automatic passive regulation of the power in an optical signal. This regulation can significantly reduce the amplitude noise on a laser beam that is intended as a continuous wave light source. Analytic expressions are derived to describe the optical-noise-reduction region of double-pass amplifier operation and the dependence of the self-regulation properties on gain, saturation, and mirror reflectivity.


LH-dependency in pseudopregnant (PSP) rats was determined by the luteolytic response (fall in serum progesterone, shortening of the diestrus duration, and failure of decidual tissue (DT) formation) to treatment with an antiserum to LH (LHAS). PSP rats hypophysectomized and pituitary autotransplanted on day (d) 2 had no luteolytic response to LHAS treatment on either d 8, 9 or 10, while intact PSP rats, bearing a single pituitary homotransplant from d 2 on, had a pronounced response. The pituitary autotransplant-bearing rats had markedly lower serum LH levels than did intact rats; serum prolactin (PRL) was about 60 ng/ml in both autotransplant- and homotransplant-bearing rats. Treatment of the pituitary autotransplantbearing rat with up to 20 μg ovine LH/d from d 2–8 did not induce LH-dependency. Daily treatment of DT-bearing PSP rats (which normally become LH dependent by d 9), however, with LHAS from d 2–11, or from d 2–5 and again on d 9 did not cause any significant change in progesterone secretion, bu...


Preface Physico-chemical criteria for estimating the efficiency of burn dressings Antimicrobial packaging materials from poly(lactic acid) incorporated with pectin-nisaplin(r)microparticles Oxidative Degradation of Hyaluronan: Is Melatonin an Antioxidant or Prooxidant Stereomicrostructure as a determining factor on trapped space charge densities of poly(methacrylate) Influence of Fe(III) porphyrins on radical polymerization Effect of L-glutathione on high-molar-mass hyaluronan degradation by oxidative system Cu(II) plus ascorbate Hyaluronan degradation by reactive oxygen species: Scavenging effect of the hexahydropyridoindole stobadine & two of its derivatives Peroxynitrite: a potent endogenous pro-oxidant agent playing an important role in degradation of hyaluronan biopolymer Fibre reinforced polystyrene concrete: advanced composite Neoglycoproteins of mannan: preparation, characterization, properties, & applications A study on electrospun nanofibers Preparation & study of chitosan polymer complexes with proteins & hydroxylous polymers Modified chitosan films with regulated transport properties Conducting polymers Generation of triphenylamine radical cations by nitrogen dioxide Alkylation of 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol with methyl acrylate catalyzed by potassium 2,6-di-tert-butylphenoxide Potassium & sodium 2,6-di-tert-butyl phenoxides & their properties Working out of a universal method of calculation of the bubbling-vortical device on the basis of optimisation of its regime-constructive paraunderground Kinetic analysis of convective drying Compatibility & degradability of the polyalkanoates/epoxy modified lignin blends Fracture mechanics of polymeric asphalt pavements Three dimensional conjugate heat transfer in porous media Behaviour of some irradiated sold oxides in different media & in presence of additions Thermostability & coke formation ability of diphenyldiacetylene & p-diethynylbenzene polymers The effect of brominated flame retardants on combustibility of cable polyethylene Taylor-made block copolymers of poly(acrylic acid) as pigments surface modification agents Role of radicals in radiation degradation of chitosan Effect of drying methods on wood strength Quantum chemical calculation of the monoaminocarbonic acids Prediction of drying rate in porous media Kinetics of isothermal curing of epoxide composition from measurement of DSC Advances in green composites Free-radical mechanism of chitosan degradation under ?-irradiation"(A.A. Fenin, V.A. Sharpatyi) Antioxidant activity of some officinal plants & fruit extracts Index.


The invention discloses a tightly-packaged fiber and a method for manufacturing the tightly-packaged fiber. The tightly-packaged fiber comprises a fiber body, a resin coating and a tight packaging material. The resin coating is attached to the fiber body, the fiber body is coated with the resin coating, the tight packaging material is attached to the resin coating, and the resin coating is coated with the tight packaging material. The method for manufacturing the tightly-packaged fiber comprises the following steps that the fiber body is coated with the resin coating, and the resin coating is coated with the tight packaging material so as to ensure that a compressing and contracting process is conducted on the tight packaging material. According to the technical scheme of the tightly-packaged fiber, a traditional tightly-packaged fiber structure is simplified to be a three-layer structure, a tearing opening and a breaking layer are arranged on the surface and the interior of the three-layer structure respectively, and therefore the fiber can be conveniently stripped. Furthermore, according to the manufacturing method, production efficiency can be improved, and cost and technical requirements for production personnel can be reduced.


Sharing services is an increasingly viable business strategy involving the consolidation of support functions managed by one agency or known as a shared service organization or shared service center. The intention is to provide a more effective and efficient service to the organization. In order to ensure that the service quality of the shared services is consistently excellent, customer satisfaction is one of the best tools to measure the performance level of the services provided. There have been few studies on shared services relating to the Information Systems domain. Thus, there are many research opportunities, especially for the outcome and evaluation phases. For this research, we need to know the relevant quality dimension for shared services. This paper explores the dimensions and factors of service quality for IT Shared Services. It then develops the service quality model for measuring IT shared services customer satisfaction based on past studies and interviews with shared services IT managers in MAMPU. Three case studies on IT infrastructure shared services in the public sector of Malaysia are used. This article recommends nine (9) dimensions, namely tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, continuous service improvement, change management, technology availability and security. The dimensions identified will assist the shared service organization in giving priority attention to improving service quality delivery.


The research method used is positivistic, descriptive/explanatory causality, data collection using a survey method with a sample size of 648 Simpeda General savers and Simpeda KPE savers selected by multistage proportional convenience sampling technique. The google form questionnaire was distributed via whatsapp group and 400 copies were printed. The 676 copies of the questionnaire that returned after being verified were selected as many as 648 copies according to the initial plan. Data analysis using path analysis technique, data calculation using SPSS Version 25 application.The results of the study found that the quality of e-channel services had a significant positive effect on both satisfaction and customer loyalty. The quality of face-to-face services has a significant positive effect on both satisfaction and customer loyalty. Satisfaction has a significant positive effect on the loyalty of savers. Satisfaction mediates the significant positive effect of E-Channel service quality on saver loyalty. Satisfaction also mediates the positive effect of face-to- face service quality on saver loyalty. The results of this study are useful as a basis for managing decisions to increase saver loyalty through efforts to improve service quality (e-channel and face-to-face) in the context of increasing saver satisfaction at this bank. Keywords: Loyalty, Satisfaction, Service Quality, e-channel, face-to-face, savers


In many parts of the world, drinking water is not available except through desalination. Most of these areas have an abundance of solar energy, with few cloudy periods. Energy is required for desalination and for producing electricity. Traditionally this energy has been supplied by fossil fuels. However, even in those parts of the world that have abundant fossil fuels, using them for these purposes is being discouraged for two reasons: 1) the emission of greenhouse gases from combustion of fossil fuels, and 2) the higher value of fossil fuels when used for transportation. Nuclear power and solar power are both proposed as replacements for fossil fuels in these locations. Both of these energy systems have high capital costs, and negligible fuel costs (zero for solar) Instead of these two primary forms of energy competing, this paper shows how they can compliment each other, especially where a significant part of the electricity demand is used for desalination.Copyright © 2016 by ASME


Aim at the phenomenon of pursuing internationalization and lacking national uniqueness,this paper put forward that the modern art design should be based on folk art,pay attention to the heredity and development of folk art,go along the way of nationalization.In that way,Chinese art design can stand on the global stage.


The identification of physical signals is key to many signal processing applications. In the last decade, artificial neural networks have been shown to be a powerful tool for such pattern recognition tasks. Many signals are transient in nature, that is, they exist for only a limited duration in time. Moreover, much of the information in these transient bursts is conveyed by the dynamic evolution of the waveform in time the temporal structure of the signal. This is especially true of biological signals. Standard feedforward neural networks are not well-suited to capturing this temporal dimension. A neural network is described here that allows time to be represented implicitly within its structure, aiding its efficacy as a classifier of transient signals.


The rapid rise, enduring growth and success of Internet markets and e-commerce platforms have spurred a lively and sometimes heated debate among academics and policy-makers: do Internet markets foster competition or are they prone to concentration, possibly to the point of monopolization? Competition economists and lawyers vigorously discuss the peculiarities of these markets and whether traditional rules and interpretations of competition law are sufficient to deal with potential new competition problems. The cases against search engine Google have received most public and academic attention, closely followed by the e-book case against Apple. In addition, numerous cases concerning vertical restraints in online sales have recently been brought before European courts. These vertical restraints include across-platform parity agreements (APPAs), which are a special form of a most-favored customer clause, general bans on online sales or bans on particular platforms, dual pricing systems, and selective and exclusive distribution systems. This chapter starts with a brief discussion of the peculiarities of online markets and then discusses recent antitrust cases related to the Internet.


The invention relates to a clutch gear (2), in particular dual clutch transmission for a motor vehicle, having at least one clutch (K1, K2) and at least one transition plate (155, 155 ', 157, 157'), wherein the gear plate (154, 154 ', 156 , 156 ') comprises a gear actuator cylinder (155, 155' 'having hydraulically movable) gear actuator piston (173), the gear actuator cylinder (155, 155', 157, 157, 157, 157 ') and the gear actuator piston (173) at least one pressure chamber (169, 171) form, and with a pressure regulating valve (141) through which the pressure chamber (169, 171) providing end with a pressurized hydraulic medium pressure source (263) is connectable with the pressure chamber (169) a in the gear plate cylinder (154, 154 is assigned, '156, 156') disposed leakage orifice (247). It is provided that the leakage orifice (247) at least one non-return valve (269) is connected downstream.


Digital Infrastructure has taken place in each and every industry in today's modern world. Banking has been a backbone to many businesses in the past as well as in the present times. Digitalization of all traditional banking activities and services paves the way for the new concept. This helps the banks to satisfy its customers to the core and delight them. Digitalization benefits the customers for making online deposits, online payments, and online money exchange, account opening, bill payment and tracking of account activity. Though digitization has many benefits, it has its own limitation that still exists. This study focuses on the merits and disadvantages of the digital infrastructure of banks to its customers. For the purpose of the study primary data has been collected with the help of questionnaire and secondary data has been collected from books and journals. This study uses percentage analysis and chi-square test for the purpose of data interpretation. The outcome of the study will help the banks to know their customers better and to maintain its performance in digital field.


The recovery and prediction of Northern American population data, which are closely related to the future development of Northern America and even the whole world, have become significant subjects and captured great attention among sociologists as well as scientists. However, most of the relevant researches are just based on fertility, mortality or other individual quantifiable factors by traditional statistical models and thus lack all-sidedness in their results. As we know, the historical population data are the comprehensive reflection of the population development under the influence of all factors. In this paper, based on the past 513-year population data, a feedforward neuronet equipped with the weights-and-structure-determination (WASD) algorithm is thus constructed for the recovery and prediction of Northern American population data. Besides, the neuronet is activated by a group of Chebyshev polynomials (CP) of the first kind, which is named the CP neuronet in this paper. Moreover, the optimal normalization factor is found and utilized to improve the neuronet's performance. Due to the marvelous learning and generalization abilities of the presented CP neuronet, we recover the missing population data from 1500AD to 1950AD as well as draw up the Northern American population prediction for the next few decades.


It is shown that homogeneous and heterogeneous metal-catalyst can enhance the removal efficiency of organic pollutants in wastewater.The technology of metal-catalytic ozonation and its degradation mechanism of effluent,process and application in water treatment are reviewed.Furthermore,the development trends of metal-catalytic ozonation,such as the developing and designing of catalyst and new reactor,research of reaction mechanism and effect factors etc.were proposed.


It is not a good measure at present to solve the loss for water supply in cities at all which is universal appearance. The paper analyses some paths of loss for water supply in cities and gives several points to deal with the issue with scientific, economic and lawful methods.


Background: The main problem with shoulder subluxation is the instability of the shoulder joint. The anatomy of this joint permits a large range of movement, but it sacrifices stability. Available splint options for shoulder subluxations are a lot but they are not providing the full range of motion of the joint. Considering this we have designed and developed a new Dynamic Multiaxial Adjustable Shoulder Splint. Objective: This study aimed to design an Indigenous Dynamic Multiaxial Adjustable Shoulder Splint for the Management of shoulder subluxation which will reduce the subluxation and pain. Study design: A case report Methods: A 52-years-old lady diagnosed with right shoulder subluxation was fitted with the newly designed Indigenous Dynamic Multiaxial Adjustable Shoulder Splint for the reduction of pain and subluxation. The Western Ontario Shoulder Instability Index (WOSI) was assessed to measure the shoulder-related quality of life in patients with symptomatic shoulder instability. Before and after the test was conducted with and without the newly designed splint with an intervention period of 4 months. Results: The WOSI score of 9.8% was achieved after the intervention period of 4 months and the reduction of subluxation was immediate and provided total relief from the pain. Conclusion: This Indigenous Dynamic Multiaxial Adjustable Shoulder Splint can be considered as a very excellent splint for the orthotic management of shoulder subluxation and it also can be used as a standard design that can be prescribed for patients with brachial plexus injury, frozen shoulder and rotator cuff injury, post-operative cases, etc.


The effect of focal mechanical stress on the localization of TRPV2 was investigated in HT1080 cells, where only mRNA for TRPV2 was detected among members of the TRPV channel family. Mechanical stress was applied by adding negative pressure using a glass pipette. When focal mechanical stress was applied, subplasma membrane Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]s) was increased beneath the pipette, which propagated throughout the cell. The increase in [Ca2+]s was blocked by ruthenium red or by knocking down TRPV2. Elevation of [Ca2+]s was not observed by removal of extracellular Ca2+, by an addition of a phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase inhibitor LY29034, and by transfection of dominant‐negative Rac. In cells expressing GFP‐TRPV2 and RFP‐Akt, administration of focal mechanical stress induced accumulation of GFP‐TRPV2 beneath the pipette. RFP‐Akt was also accumulated to the same site. Gadolinium blocked the elevation of [Ca2+]s induced by focal mechanical stress and also attenuated accumulation of TRPV2. When GFP‐TRPV1, GFP‐TRPV3, GFP‐TRPV4, GFP‐TRPV5, or GFP‐TRPV6 was transfected ectopically in HT1080 cells, only GFP‐TRPV4 was accumulated beneath the pipette in response to the focal mechanical stress. These results indicate that TRPV2 translocates to the site receiving a focal mechanical stress and increases [Ca2+]s.


Based on published experimental data of R p , a proposed relative correction method combining with numerical solution program of LSS equation was used to calculate the electronic stopping power of B + implantation in GaAs, as follows NS e (E) = 12.4E 0.605 ,Using this expression, the range statistic parameters R p ,△R p and R⊥for B + implanted GaAs were calculated.


JANUARY 2004 -S 16 ABSTRACT. Low-carbon steel and aluminum Alloy 5052 sheets were diffusion welded using different conditions of time, temperature, and pressure in order to understand the kinetics of diffusion and the microstructure of the interface layer. High pressures accelerated intermetallic compound formation at the interface. The interface layer consisted of aluminum-rich brittle intermetallic compounds (FeAl3 and Fe2Al5), which made the joints brittle. In laser roll welding, steel and aluminum sheets in a lap-joint configuration are subjected to laser heating and immediate rolling for intimate contact. Laser heating provides high temperature in a short time for melting of the aluminum alloy and diffusion. It results in formation of a thin interface layer. When the temperature is above 1473 K (1200°C), formation of iron-rich (Fe-rich) intermetallic compounds (FeAl and Fe3Al) is encouraged. Travel speed and roll pressure were varied and resultant joints were characterized by optical microscopy, electronprobe microanalysis (EPMA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction, and tensile shear testing. The laser roll welded interface layer contains brittle aluminum-rich (Al-rich) intermetallic compounds on the aluminum side and slightly ductile Fe-rich intermetallic compounds on the steel side. As the travel speed increases, thinner interface layers are formed and the percentage of Fe-rich intermetallic compounds in them increases. This increases the shear strength of the joints from 11.0 to 55.9 MPa. Interface layers with a thickness of 4 to 5 μm, containing 25 to 40% Fe-rich intermetallic compounds, gave maximum shear strength.


to developments during the rest of the nineteenth century. Some discussion on how the British perceived and tackled endemic diseases, such as Goitre in northern India, would have enriched the overall quality of their work. M.F. Macnamara's work on 'Disease of the Himalayan India' (1880) drew attention to the close connection of goitre with rivers, marshes and canals. Arnold's bibliography refers to Macnamara's work mentioned above, but he does not discuss it in the text. It is equally surprising to find nothing at all about the role of Indian medical personnel known as licentiates in promoting the Western medical system. Licentiates formed the core of Western medical delivery system in India, and the Indian perception of the efficacy of Western medicine depended to a large extent on their interaction with the licentiates. Licentiates had their own journal to express their views on medical and public health policies of the government. The books have explored a largely uncharted area and many of the sources which they have used are as yet unknown to scholars in this field. One is however surprised at the omission of any reference to Ronald Ross' collection.


Mycotic aneurysm is an arterial dilatation due to vessel damage caused by an infection. It encompasses primary infection of native artery resulting in aneurysm as well as an infection of pre-existing aneurysm. Mycotic aneurysm is a rare complication of salmonellosis and can be fatal if not diagnosed and treated at early stages. Here, we describe a rare case of abdominal aortic aneurysm caused by non- typhoidal Salmonella (Salmonella Enteritidis/Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis) which was successfully managed by a combination of surgical intervention and antibiotic therapy.


ABSTRACT Programs and websites developed for recreational and hobby purposes can be adapted for use by academic and specialty librarians to accomplish tasks at speeds that were unthinkable even two years ago. This column will profile two such innovations and discuss how they can benefit librarians in the behavioral and social sciences areas.


The paper provides an overview of developments in the Australian shipbuilding industry in the past decade, and assesses the prospects for further development. It identifies the national benefits of such development and some misconceptions in recent economic assessments by the Industry Commission. The paper discusses both the commercial and the naval markets, and identifies factors critical to successful industry development. It emphasises the need to nurture and develop capabilities for ship design, while maintaining and strengthening links to the main international centres of technological development. It offers some proposals for the Marine Industries Development Strategy to be developed by the newly established Australian Marine Industries and Sciences Council.


This paper reports finite element multi-scale simulations of ballistic impact damage of three-dimensional angle-interlock woven composite (3DAWC) penetrated under a hemispherical rigid projectile. A multi-scale geometrical model of the 3DAWC was established for the numerical simulation. The multi-scale geometrical model of the 3DAWC consists two parts: one is the microstructure model and another is the continuum model. The microstructure model has the same microstructure with that of the 3DAWC composite panel, including the fiber tows' diameter, fiber tow configuration and fiber volume fraction. The continuum model has the same mechanical properties with the 3DAWC. The commercial-available finite element software package Ls-Dyna was used for the ballistic penetration damage simulations. The ballistic impact damages of the 3DAWC and the residual velocities of the rigid projectile under the different strike velocities have been calculated and compared with those in experimental. Good agreements were found between the finite element analyses (FEA) and experimental. From the FEA results, the impact damage development and the stress wave propagation in the 3DAWC panel can be extracted to find the influence of the microstructure parameters of the 3DAWC on the ballistic impact capacity. With the efforts, the ballistic impact capacity of the 3DAWC could be designed in a more precise way.


Recent work in literary sentiment analysis has suggested that shifts in emotional valence may serve as a reliable proxy for plot movement in novels. The raw sentiment time series of a novel can now be extracted using a variety of different methods, and after extraction, filtering is commonly used to smooth the irregular sentiment time series. Using an adaptive filter, which is among the most effective in determining trends of a signal, reducing noise, and performing fractal and multifractal analysis, we show that the energy of the smoothed sentiment signals decays with the smoothing parameter as a power-law, characterized by a Hurst parameter H of 1/2 <; H <; 1, which signifies long-range correlations. We further show that a smoothed sentiment arc corresponds to the sentiment of fast playing mode or sentiment retained in one's memory, and that for a novel to be both captivating and rich, H has to be larger than 1/2 but cannot be too close to 1.


The technological competition will become heated in the international markets. The economic growth and technical improement mainly depend on technological innovations. And the capacity of technological innovations is the most essential. This article pressents an objective analysis and valuation on Chinese enterprise capacity for technological innovations and the effective factors. It also gives suggestions about it.


Enantioselective construction of a C2-symmetric spirobi(1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline) fra mework has been achieved through an intramolecular Cu-catalyzed C‐N bond coupling of 1,3propanediamide substrates possessing bromophenyl substituents. The use of N,N'-dimethyl-1,2diphenylethylenediamine as the chiral ligand was fo und to be essential in this asymmetric catalysis. Optically pure compound was shortly obt ained by a single recrystallization of the enantioenriched product, which was successfully der ivatised to a new chiral diphosphine ligand.


Electromagnetic (EM) interference and its suppression are one of the major issues in most current systems design. The electric device such as railgun generates the EM fields that unintentionally propagate away from the structure. Railgun that have significant amounts of radiated emissions may interfere with the normal operation of other devices in close proximity. Also during the accelerating run of rail launchers, and particularly during the ignition of the armature, the radiated EM fields can compromise the life of electronic devices, can influence the signal to noise ratio, and can generate electrical shock hazard. The short duration pulse signal, such as current pulse of railgun, switching and arcing between components of railgun is typically rich in frequency spectral contents. It should be noted that the propulsive force of current pulse in each time push the armature in motion direction and change the propagation parameters of railgun as a time varying antenna and can affect on the radiation pattern in the various frequency ranges. Furthermore, in each component of current pulse, armature is in special position in direction of motion along the barrel and the impedance of railgun that power source see in front is different with previous stage and radiation pattern is different too. In this paper, the relationship between pulse form of input current and electric field around railgun are analyzed and simulated with finite-element method, then by attention of the armature position in each time it will be investigated the radiation pattern of railgun.


Objective To investigate the effects of lovastatin on the expression of bone morphogenetic protein 2(BMP-2) and ALP activity in the primary cultured osteoblast cells, and to elucidate the mechanism of lovastatin in treating the osteoporosis. Methods Osteoblast in adult murine calvarial bone were cultured in vitro, after treated with different concentration of lovastatin(0.2,0.5,1.0 μmol/L)for 72 hours, BMP-2 expression was examined with immunohistochemistry, and cellular ALP activity changes in the osteoblasts were also detected by cytochemical and enzymological methods. Results After lovastatin treatment for 72 hours, BMP-2 expression of osteoblast increased, while in the control group, there is nearly no BMP-2 expressed. Cellular ALP activity of osteoblast increased in a dose-dependent manner. The ALP activity in experimental groups in which lovastatin concentration being 0.2,0.5,1.0 μmol/L were (716.39±294.61),(849.70±230.09),(983.48±208.35) U·g -1·L -1, respectively, and (705.56±171.40) U·g -1·L -1 in the control group. There were significant difference between the group of 1.0 μmol/L and the control group(P0.05). Conclusions The effect of lovastatin in ossification might be related to its promotion of the BMP-2 expression in osteoblastic cell via the auto- or para-crine of BMP-2 and the increases of ALP activity. It might be the mechanism of lovastatin in treating osteoporosis.


Every baby that is born with a congenital atresia of the intestine and is not operated upon during the first few days of life dies. The successful treatment of one of these babies gives it a normal expectation of life. In the past the mortality among cases of atresia and stenosis has been high, but with early diagnosis and operation the survival rate has recently shown marked improvement. Gross (1953) gives the results of operation in 211 cases of intrinsic obstruction, showing a fall in mortality from 77% in 1940 to 32% in 1952. O'Neill et al. (1948) reviewed the 36 cases which had survived up to 1948; of these, only seven followed operations performed after the fifth day of life. Stevens (1951), Sweetnam et al. (1953), and Heanley (1954) report the survival of infants operated on at 4 and 3 days of age. Baronofsky (1951) describes the case of an infant operated on at 13 hours. There is vomiting of green material, which is often effortless. Usually the earlier the vomiting the higher in the intestinal tract is the lesion. Abdominal distension is present. A normal-looking meconium-coloured stool may be passed, but more commonly there is absence of stool. A straight x-ray film of the abdomen with the patient erect shows dilated gut and fluid levels. It should not be necessary to use barium for this investigation, but, if used, care must be taken that it is washed out before operation. If left, there is a greatly increased risk, following operation, of obstruction due to the barium or a barium leak causing a fatal peritonitis. CASE REPORT A female child was admitted to hospital on August 22, 1953. She had been born 23 hours before admission. Her birth weight was 6 lb. (2.7 kg.). Six hours after birth the mother noticed that dark green fluid was coming up through the child's nose and mouth. This did not appear to be vomit. The same thing occurred on two other occasions during the night, and again on the morning of the day of admission. The child passed urine normally but no meconium. On admission the infant was apparently normal; she was not clinically dehydrated. Shortly after admission she regurgitated meconium-like material. The abdomen was full, especially in the epigastrium. No peristalsis was seen. Normal bowel sounds were present. Nothing abnormal was felt on palpation. Examination of the anus showed that a sphincter was present, and the little finger could be passed without difficulty for 1 in. (2.5 cm.). When withdrawn there was no evidence of meconium on the fingerstall. The heart and lungs were clinically normal. Straight x-ray films of the abdomen, taken erect and also inverted, showed distended intestinal loops with fluid levels. As there was no dehydration she was immediately prepared for operation. A Ryle tube was passed into the stomach and aspirated. Operation was performed under general anaesthesia. An atresia of the lower ileum was found, the gut ending blindly 4 in. (10 cm.) from the ileo-caecal valve. The intestine above this was dilated. The terminal ileum was collapsed and not attached in any way to the upper blind loop, and there was a defect in the mesentery. The collapsed small bowel was distended with air, and meconium was aspirated from the distended gut to deflate it. Intestinal continuity was restored by an anti-peristaltic lateral anastomosis. Gas was seen to traverse the completed anastomosis. No further lesions were seen. Post-operative Care.-The child was nursed in an oxygen incubator. She was given 250,000 units of soluble penicillin and 0.25 g. of streptomycin twice daily. During the first 12 hours after operation 60 ml. of normal saline was given subcutaneously and the stomach was aspirated hourly. After 24 hours the child was given sips of water. More fluid was retained than. aspirated. On August 24 she passed two meconium-coloured stools and oral feeding was begun, using half-strength expressed breast-milk. On August 27, progress being satisfactory, the Ryle tube was removed. Breast-feeding was started on August 28. She was discharged home on September 12, weighing 5 lb. 5 oz. (2.4 kg.), with the wound healed. Her bowels were moving normally. When seen a year later (August 22, 1954) her mother reported that she had developed normally. She was not constipated, and weighed 19 lb. 2 oz. (8.7 kg.).


Blood samples taken from healthy donors are diluted with 0.9% saline, to obtain samples with hematocrit values ranging from 31 to 50. Bio-impedance spectroscopy is then performed on these samples. Complex impedance measurements in the frequency range from 100 kHz to 1 MHz were fitted into Cole-Cole diagrams, using a LMS algorithm. Data were interpreted in terms of an equivalent resistor-capacitor circuit. In this hematocrit range, all four Cole-Cole parameters R/sub c/, R/sub i/, F/sub c/, and /spl alpha/, are shown to be a linear function of hematocrit. With increasing concentration of red blood cells, the intracellular conductivity is also increased while extracellular conductivity is reduced and, Cole-Cole plots are shifted upwards to the right, in the complex plane, indicating a higher /spl alpha/ and a lower F/sub c/. We suggest that, parameters R/sub c/, R/sub i/, F/sub c/, and /spl alpha/, are a potential index for clinically evaluating blood samples.


In this paper we explore the possibilities of building on the complementarities of practice and discourse, specifically community of practice and discursive positioning, as a way of developing accounts of the child's experience in the classroom. Our accounts are based on interpreting extracts of classroom practice which are drawn from a broader project concerned with describing participation in schooling. Our aim is. to develop conceptual resources for understanding particular moments of interaction in a social setting.


Observations of marine surface scalar wind speeds from the advanced microwave scanning radiometer 2 (AMSR2), onboard the global change observation mission-water satellite (GCOM-W), were evaluated by comparisons with offshore moored buoy measurements, output from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast Reanalysis Interim, and observations by the RapidScat (RSCAT) scatterometer onboard the International Space Station. In general, the AMSR2 wind speeds agreed well with the reference data. The root mean square difference between the AMSR2 and buoy measurements was 1.09 ms–1, which is slightly larger than the mission goal of 1 ms–1 . Underestimation at low wind speeds (<5 ms–1) was found in the comparisons. The AMSR2 wind speeds were found to contain a slight scan bias; namely, wind speeds in the right swath are higher than those in the left swath by 0.2–0.3 ms–1. Systematic dependence of the wind speed bias on the wind direction relative to the AMSR2 looking direction was found in a residual analysis. Results of the triple collocation analysis suggest that the random errors in the AMSR2 wind speed are less than 1 ms–1 and are smaller than those in the outputs from the numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, if random errors in the reference wind data (buoy, NWP, and RSCAT) are considered explicitly.


In airworthiness assurance, while there is a long tradition of measuring inspection reliability for machine-aided Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI), the more common visual inspection has received little attention. Yet inspection reliability measurements are needed if we are to set appropriate inspection intervals for airframe components. Visual inspection of aircraft is characterized as using multiple senses (despite its name) and having to inspect for multiple fault types, in contrast to NDI which is used for single specific fault types. The study here used 12 professional inspectors to perform nine visual inspection tasks on a long-service Boeing 737 aircraft. Each inspector worked over two days. Measures were taken of performance, strategy and individual differences. Only a fraction of the results are presented here, with a major finding that aircraft visual inspection has approximately the same reliability as industrial inspection. Individual differences were found, as well as correlations between certain aspects of performance and individual characteristics such as Field Independence and Peripheral Visual Acuity. However, there was little correlation between an individual inspector's performance on the different tasks, showing the difficulty of designing selection and placement procedures for such a wide-ranging job.


The driving force for enterprise organizational behavior from the corporate business organizations within the organization and the external environment.These dynamic needs of the enterprise-level organizations,business organizations will be different from the behavior characteristics.Therefore,enterprise organizational behavior is not by chance,have their own laws.Based on different needs,macro managers,enterprises make use of guide enterprises to rationalize the needs of the organization,and rational.Also the needs of enterprise organizations characteristics necessary to adopt the norms of control.


An electric-field pulses driven magnetoelectric memory cell in a single layered ferromagnetic thin film was fabricated by direct-current magnetron sputtering Ru/Fe65Co35 on ferroelectric (110) [Pb(Mg1/2 Nb2/3)O3]0.68-[PbTiO3]0.32 (PMN-PT) substrates. The magnetization in the orthogonal directions can be reset by the positive/negative electric fields pulse in PMN-PT/Ru/FeCo heterostructures due to the strain mediated converse magnetoelectric effect. The high (low) resistance state was realized under the negative (positive) electric fields pulse due to the anisotropy magnetoresistance of FeCo films. Then, a non-volatile magnetic memory cell with resistance and electric field, respectively, as the media and writing field was realized.


Research about Analysis of Service Level Road Network is aiming to : 1) to analyze the extent to which the level of comfort this time and circumstances of Physical street in Surakarta, so it can been suggested that these roads are according to function, 2) to analyze the similarities and differences in the factors that affect the level the comfort of the road network in the city of Surakarta.
The method used in this research is survey method with purposive sampling method .Data of samples taken at the time of the survey include the volume of vehicles, extensive measurement of the effective way. the calculation of the vehicle, the operator is placed in the middle of the road and on the both side edges of the road are observed.
 The Results of this study are 1) level of services the worst in the morning peak hour is Jend.Sudirman street, roads that have a good level of service traffic in the morning peak hour is the Major Sunaryo street. In the afternoon peak hour roads that have high levels of services the worst is Yos Sudarso street, while the roads at peak hours during the most excellent level of services are contained Major Sunaryo street. Level of service roads is at peak hours in the afternoon, roads that have high levels of services the worst is the Captain Mulyadi street and Sudirman street. Roads that have bettrer levels of services at peak hours afternoon that Major Sunaryo street, 2) factors that influence the service level is the level of road use, speed, density and barriers that occur


The speaking for equipment contract validity (SECV) is an important issue in equipment building. In the paper, dealing with the problem of information asymmetric becomes a core objective, the mathematical models applied in analyzing the equipment contract mechanism are built. In the end, several strategies for enforcing the SECV are put forward.


propriate long-term intravenous antibiotics treatment. It has been reported that contrast enhancement did not disappear completely, although DWI demonstrated low signal on the followup2). Recently, several studies have reported that brain abscesses have high uptake of 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)3,8,12,17,19). Tsuyuguchi et al.19) suggested that positron emission tomography (PET) studies might more directly reflect the degree of the inflammatory response in a brain abscess than the enhancement pattern of the computed tomography (CT) or MRI; their findings showed decreased PET tracer uptake with treatment. Moreover, postoperative abscess containing bloody lesions may confuse the interpretation of the signal intensity on MRI. However, FDG-PET scan can still be helpful for analyzing an abscess with a small hemorrhage. A method that is capable of reliably evaluating treatment response would be of great benefit both for assessing the therapeutic outcome and for minimizing high cost, long-term antibiotics with all of its known side effects. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of FDG-PET for the evaluation of the response to intravenous antibiotic treatment of brain abscesses. INTRODUCTION


A sealed vacuum moulding technology for producing slotted roller, plain roller, slotted roller collar and plain roller collar features that metallic particles and dry sand are used as moulding material, sealed vacuum moulding process is used to form casting mould, and sand jacket, cold iron ring and sand core are also used. Its advantage is low cost of production.


Jewish-Christian Dialogue: Drawing Honey from the Rock, by Alan L. Berger and David Patterson. St. Paul: Paragon House, 2008. 317 pp. $19.95. This book is well worth recommending for an audience ranging from scholars to students to the general lay readership. Even so, I believe the value of the book will depend on making more precise what the ultimate aim of the argument of the book is. I offer some alternative readings of the text for the reader of this review to judge. First, the authors are clear in saying that this book aims to provide a specifically Jewish view of both Jewish-Christian relations and efforts over the years for a post-Holocaust Jewish Christian dialogue. A subtext to this goal appears to be that from the view of the authors (they claim no privilege to speak for Jews in general), the dialogue over the last several decades has not been very successful on two fronts. First, it has too often avoided the hardest questions that should be central to the agenda of the conversation. In that sense, the dialogue has failed to take with appropriate seriousness the real and remaining suspicions, anger, fear, and pain of many if not most Jews that have emerged especially from the devastation of the Holocaust. Second, the dialogue has failed in that it has been far more limited in achieving observable results, at least with regard to the most central concerns of Jews, than is often presumed. The authors illustrate these shortcomings by offering examples of current events that are unfortunately ignored by the dialogue. In fact, most of us who have been engaged in dialogue over these years are likely to agree with the authors. Where we might disagree, the book includes a valuable chapter that justifies the claims of the authors, as three noted Christian thinkers take on the arguments of the book and offer critiques that might be in the minds of many readers. This chapter of honest dialogue is a bold and tricky move by the authors both to open themselves to criticism and to model the kind of dialogue they think should be happening. The problem, of course, if this is the aim of the book, is that conclusions truly depend on what measures are used to arrive at judgments. While the authors do a credible job of rehearsing the history of interactions between Christians and Jews as well as more recent efforts at genuine dialogue, the text surprisingly fails to mention a number of important voices and critical efforts. I hesitate to make this claim too harshly, as a short volume can only do so much. However, the authors express concern about what has happened in Catholicism and the problems that have emerged in the ambiguity of both Vatican documents and actions. They examine the impact of a film by MeI Gibson, but they are not as thorough in accounting for the meaning of the immediate and forceful responses to the film, often in texts that showed an amazing cooperation and unity of voice between Christians and Jews. …


Aequidens paraguayensis laid their eggs on small rather than large, and unweighted rather than weighted artificial leaves. Before spawning the fish moved available leaf litter into the deeper section of a two-depth aquarium. After spawning the parents moved the egg-bearing leaf into areas of relatively deep water and dense cover, especially in response to the presentation of a predator model. Female parents moved the leaf with eggs more often, but performed fewer aggressive acts towards the predator model, than male parents did. All of these behaviours are seen as adaptations to counter egg predation, and possibly also to cope with rapid changes in water levels, which frequently occur in the natural habitat.


As the Japanese population has been aging, the study of the spatial aspects of aging socie ties and the aged has gathered the attention of Japanese geographers. In spite of the accumula tion of studies, however, gerontological geogra phy received less attention in Japanese geogra phy than in Western countries. One of the reasons for this is that most Japanese studies have been undertaken on an ad-hoc basis. An other reason may be the lack of consciousness about relevancy of studies. We should pay more effort to explore issues that are needed to study. So, the organizers planned to hold this symposium to discuss what gerontological ge ography should study in Japan, today. The contents were as follows. Part 1: Spatial distribution and migration of the elderly 1. Changes in the elderly population and eld erly migration in suburban areas (HIRAI Makoto, Kanagawa University); 2. The spatial differences of aging in the Metropolitan sub urbs (NAGANUMA Sae, Graduate student, Uni versity of Tokyo). Part 2: Community and the elderly 3. Growing older in the suburbs; "aging in place" in German metropolitan suburbs (IWA DARE Masako, Gakushuin Senior High School); 4. Who could share care for the elderly in Ka magasaki? (INADA Nanami, Graduate student, Ochanomizu University); 5. Practice of welfare community: a case study of Kotobuki Hall in Bunkyo Ward (NISHI Ritsuko, Graduate stu dent, Ochanomizu University). Part 3: Social services, local finance and the elderly 6. Are the facilities for the elderly annoying?: a case study of the location of community wel fare center for the elderly (WADA Yasunobu, Gyosei Junior and Senior High School); 7. Eco nomic and political implications of elderly mi gration (TAHARA Yuko, Kokugakuin Univer sity); 8. Examination regarding spatial justice of welfare services in internal autonomy (HATAKEYAMA Teruo, Graduate student, Ni hon University); 9. Geographical perspectives and directions on social services for the elderly under the Long-term Care Insurance System in Japan (SUGIURA Shin'ichiro, Meijyo Univer sity). In the first part, HIRAI and NAGANUMA focused on population aging in suburban areas of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. HIRAI ana lyzed the influence of elderly migration on population aging in suburb area and clarified that the influence of elderly migration was greater in the outer zone (40-70km) than the inner zone (20-40km). In paper 2, population projection (cohort component method) in micro scale showed that changes in the working-age population made regional differences in popula tion aging between communities. In the discus sion on this part, the importance of focusing attention on the influence of urban internal structure upon population aging was sug gested. In the second part, conditions of aging in


Background: There is evidence in the literature to suggest that black patients access different pathways to mental health care. These pathways are influenced by clinical diagnosis as well as previous satisfaction with services. Aims: To study pathways into care of both black and white patients to the Maudsley Hospital who had come into contact with secondary care services for the first time or after a gap of 1 year. Method: After identifying the ethnicity and mode of entry into psychiatric services, patients were approached to participate in the study. In addition to sociodemographic details, pathways to care encounter and GP satisfaction scales were given to the patients. A total of 156 white patients and 85 black patients were recruited. Results: As expected black patients were less likely to come through primary care services and were are also more likely to be dissatisfied with primary care compared with white patients. They were more likely to suffer from schizophrenia. It is likely that dissatisfaction with primary care services may lead to more coercive pathways into secondary care. Declaration of interest: The study was funded by the Department of Health.


A polymeric catalyst, and methods of using the catalyst, comprising at least one of a monosulfonated ion exchange resin, monosulfonated gel, and macroreticular resin having a particle size of less than 560 µm and metal impregnated within the resin, where the metal is palladium, platinum, iridium, rhodium, ruthenium, copper, gold, and/or silver.


Vehicle detection is a key problem in computer vision, with applications in driver assistance and active safety. A challenging aspect of the problem is the common occlusion of vehicles in the scene. In this paper, we present a vision-based system for vehicle localization and tracking for detecting partially visible vehicles. Consequently, vehicles are localized more reliably and tracked for longer periods of time. The proposed system detects vehicles using an active-learning based monocular vision approach and motion (optical flow) cues. A calibrated stereo rig is utilized to acquire a depth map, and consequently the real-world coordinates of each detected vehicle. Tracking is performed using a Kalman filter. The tracking is formulated to integrate stereo-monocular information. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system on a multilane highway dataset containing instances of vehicles with relative motion to the ego-vehicle.


Present day estimates of the Hubble constant based on Cepheids and on the cosmic microwave background radiation are uncertain by roughly 10% (on the conservative assumption that the universe may not be perfectly flat). Gravitational lens time delay measurements can produce estimates that are less uncertain, but only if a variety of major difficulties are overcome. These include a paucity of constraints on the lensing potential, the degeneracies associated with mass sheets and the central concentration of the lensing galaxy, multiple lenses, microlensing by stars, and the small variability amplitude typical of most quasars. To date only one lens meets all of these challenges. Several suffer only from the central concentration degeneracy, which may be lifted if one is willing to assume that systems with time delays are either like better constrained systems with non-variable sources, or alternatively, like nearby galaxies.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html


this study, we reviewed biometric template protection schemes in subsisting literature and established that there is no reliable, efficacious and foolproof technique that assures diversity, revocability, security and optimal performance as is required of an ideal biometric template security scheme. This status of affairs motivated us to contrivance an approach that derives biometric encryption keys from biometric fingerprint templates. The technique we proposed involves a two-step enrollment and authentication of fingerprints while encrypting fingerprint templates with encryption keys derived from other biometric fingerprint templates before archiving them to a database. The system was implemented using Java, developed on Netbeans 8.0 IDE, MySQL RDBMS was used for back-end database and utilized Source AFIS java library framework for fingerprint verification and identification. Test results were carried out to determine the system's efficacy.


s: Quality control is the premise for traditional Chinese medicine efficacy and safety, but there are some problems in quality control of molygalae oadix. The records of the modern pharmacopoeias for its medicinal species are not consistent with them in the ancient herbal books. Habitats of molygala tenuifolia are endlessly changed in the ancient herbal books, which leads to an unclear genuine producing area. According to the traditional medicine theories, the reason why people feel dysphoria after taking m. tenuifolia is xylem and m. tenuifolia is bad for the throat without processing. However, the chemical composition that causes these side effects is not very clear. This paper reviewed the medicinal species, genuine producing area and the reasons for side effects of m. tenuifolia by consulting ancient herbal books, monographs, and literature. In the past, there are many other polygala plants used widely in all over the country. Shanxi province has become the genuine habitat for m. tenuifolia. The reason why people feel dysphoria after taking m. tenuifolia is saponins. All saponins, methylbenzene, and alkaloids cause these side effects for throat, but processing can reduce it. This review on processing aspect can provide evidence for reducing toxicity of m. tenuifolia.


Perovskites have shown to be an excellent material for photovoltaics applications, due to its opto-electronic properties and low cost of fabrication. This paper is focused on assessing the performance of different pseudopotentialsinpredicting some opto-electronic properties of methyl ammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) cubic phase perovskite in comparison with experimental results using ab initio density functional theory (DFT) as implemented in Quantum-espresso software. The pseudopotentials used were; Projector Augmented Wave (PAW) and Ultra-soft (US). From the study, it was observed that Perdew Burke Enzerhof (PBE) functional with Ultra-softpseudo potential gave a lattice constant of 6.20 A 0 while the mixed pseudopotentials gave a band gap value of 1.64 eV, which were in closer agreement with experimental results of 6.27 A 0 and 1.60 eV respectively. These simulated results suggested that PBE-US pseudopotentials give a better lattice constant estimate, while the mixed pseudopotentials give a better estimate of the band gap of cubic phase MAPbI3 perovskite.


Disclosed is a device for filtering out a null packet in a data stream for example an MPEG-2 TS (Transport Stream) to avoid bandwidth waste when it is transmitted to a backbone network. The device includes a plurality of receiving interfaces, a filter unit, and a controller. The receiving interfaces receive parallel data, such as DVB-ASI (Digital Video Broadcasting-Asynchronous Serial Interface) inputs as channel-by-channel MPEG-2 data. The filter unit counts the respective numbers of data packets and non-data packets of the data input from the receiving interfaces and filters a null packet in the data. A network transmission unit transmits the filtered data to a backbone network. The controller calculates a bit rate based on both of the count numbers received from the filter unit.


The pseudo-tumours of Castleman, irrespective of whether their histological type is plasmocytic or hyalino-vascular, are most often found in the mediastino-pulmonary area. 2 rare aspects of their thoracic localisation are reported with the occurrence of a pleural effusion and the localisation to the chest wall itself.


The goal of this research is to make the design of multimedia based on mathematics learning using Java. This research method is research and development. The method of this research is research and development (RnD). The location of the researches is at elementary school which based culture in Purwakarta Regency. Then the team conducted a SWOT analysis and designed "plane" applications with realistic approaches mathematics education based ethno mathematics. The material used is plane figure using a realistic mathematical approach. The result of this research is the design of mathematics learning which will be used as the material of making application which used in the process of learning mathematics in elementary school.


In conventional engine control system some sensed parameters, such as rotor speed and pressure ratio, are used as controlled signals. The signals can be used to calculate the real interested para-meter-the thrust. Due to this unaccuracy of the calculated thrust, large margins are built to protect aeroengines. Direct control of the thrust can reduce these margins and exploit potential performance of the engine. But the engine thrust cannot be measured when aircrafts are flying. In this paper,correlation analysis and neural networks techniques are used to design nonlinear thrust estimators, which can calculate aeroengine thrust in real time with several sensed parameters as the inputs. The estimator designed in this paper is used for estimating the thrusts of normal engine and abnormal engine. Simulation results show that the estimated thrust closely tracks normal and abnormal engine thrusts. It provides a way to reduce engine safety margin and increase the thrust-to-weight ratio.


The mismatch between system training and operating conditions often has negative influences on automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems. Noise in the operating environments is commonly encountered. ASR model adaptation is an important way to enhance the system performance in noisy environments. This paper proposes a feature-based statistical data mapping (SDM) approach for robust noisy digit recognition. The recognition tasks are carried out on the AURORA 2 database. Compared to other model adaptation methods such as MLLR, the SDM approach has more robust performances.


We develop a multi-mode time-domain model for theoretical description of mode competition in a planar gyrotron with sheet beam of rotating electrons and transverse energy extraction. Within the frame of this model, we demonstrate an improvement of mode selectivity and power increasing in the case of excitation of high-order cyclotron harmonics in terahertz-range planar gyrotrons. The obtained results are confirmed based on direct 3D PIC (particle-in-cell) simulations.


NRL is developing an intense laser acoustic source using underwater shaped plasmas. Recent experiments include near-field acoustic source characterization using high energy lens-focused pulses of a Q-switched Nd:YAG 532 nm laser. The laser-generated plasma evolves into a piston expanding at supersonic speed, which launches an intense shock in the near field. The size and shape of this super-heated piston determines the acoustic waveform and energy spectral density (ESD). We have demonstrated the ability to change the ESD centroid from 15 kHz to a few MHz, with lower frequencies generated using highly elongated plasmas generated by a single laser pulse. We will discuss ongoing laser acoustic source experiments and research plans at NRL involving shaped underwater plasmas, including both demonstrated single-laser-pulse techniques and proposed two-laser-pulse techniques (T. G. Jones, et al., "Two laser generation of extended underwater plasma," U.S. patent application 13/711,752). Two-laser-pulse acoustic ge...


Objective To investigate the correlation among glomerulosclerosis and endothelin-1(ET-1) and nitric oxide(NO), and the effect of blocking renin-angiotensin system(RAS) on rat glomerulosclerosis. Methods 30 SD rats underwent unilateral nephrectomy plus adriamycin (6mg/kg) injection through caudal vein to establish rat glomerulosclerosis models. These rats were divided randomly into glomerulosclerosis group (group D), Benazepril treatment group (group DB) and Losartan treatment group (group DL). Another 10 SD rats served as sham-operation group (group C). 6 weeks after treamtent, the mRNA and protein expressions of ET-1 and iNOS in renal cortex were detected using RT-PCR and Western blotting analysis respectively, and the content of fibronectin(Fn) was measured using immunohistochemical method. Results Group D occurred massive proteinuria, hypoalbuminemia and hypercholesterolemia, which had significant differences compared with group C (P0 05). Compared with group C, the expression level of ET-1mRNA and protein in the renal cortex of group D increased 2 58 and 1 83 times respectively, the expression level of iNOS mRNA and protein increased 3 28 and 2 15 times respectively, and there was a significant increase in the content of Fn as well. 6 weeks after treatment, there was significant improvement in the blood and urine biochemical indices and renal pathological lesions in groups DB and DL, the mRNA and protein expressions of ET-1 and iNOS were down-regulated, and the expression of Fn protein also decreased(P0 05). Conclusion ET-1 and NO played important roles in the early stage of rat glomerulosclerosis. Blocking RAS using Benazepril or Losartan could decrease the glomerular extracellular matrix deposit.


This article discusses the one-prey, one-predator, and the super predator model with different types of functional response. The rate of prey consumption by the predator follows Holling type I functional response and the rate of predator consumption by the super predator follows Holling type II functional response. We identify the existence and stability of critical points and obtain that the extinction of all population points is always unstable, and the other two are conditionally stable i.e., the super predator extinction point and the co-existence point. Furthermore, we give the numerical simulations to describe the bifurcation diagram and phase portraits of the model. The bifurcation diagram is obtained by varying the parameter of the conversion rate of predator biomass into a new super-predator which gives forward and Hopf bifurcation. The forward bifurcation occurs around the super predator extinction point while Hopf bifurcation occurs around the interior of the model. Based on the terms of existence and numerical simulation, we confirm that the conversion rate of predator biomass into a new super-predator controls the dynamics of the system and maintains the existence of predator.


This study analyzes the way in which Mexico's access to the growing process of economic and financial globalization from a position of disadvantage reached a crisis as a result of its negative effects on production and its openness to short-term, speculative foreign capital. The reduction of the gross domestic product, the excessive increase in the current account deficit and political problems led to the crisis whose international effects forced the country to agree to a huge credit which will aggravate and prolong the crisis, according to the author.


This article describes an evaluation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Consumer Voices for Coverage, an initiative supporting consumer health advocacy coalitions in 12 states, and suggests approaches to building and measuring capacity for advocacy or other nonprofit activities for funders to consider. The foundation based part of the program's strategy on a study that identified six core advocacy capacities, and designed it to strengthen these capacities. The level of funding, substantial and targeted technical assistance, and the program's three-year time frame contributed to observed increases in five capacities. Fundraising remained the lowest-rated capacity for most of the coalitions and may require different strategies.


laboratory no evidence of strong rainbow scattering effects. found that it is possible to simultaneously fit low and high energy data with the same energy independent Woods-Saxon optical potential. the for fits is greater than or equal to the real potential in the surface region a marked is found for a real well depth of about MeV, determined in the of the nuclear surface.


The radiation damage of the positron source target for the International Linear Collider (ILC) has been studied. The displacement damage in target material due to multi-MeV photons has been calculated by combining FLUKA simulations for secondary particle production, SPECTER data for neutron displacement cross-sections and the Lindhard model for estimations of displacement damage by ions. The radiation damage of a stationary Ti6Al4V target in units of displacements per atom (dpa) has been estimated for photons from an undulator with strength 0.92 and period 1.15 cm. The calculated damage is 7 dpa. Approximately 12.5% of displacement damage result from neutrons.


Introduction: Endothelial cell (EC) migration is vital for healing after percutaneous coronary interventions. Activation of canonical transient receptor potential 6 channel by flufenamic acid (FFA)...


This chapter focuses on the last fajia thinker, Han Feizi (c. 280–233 BCE), who was a grand synthesizer of many aspects of all classical Chinese moral-political discourse in his effort to perfect the operation of the impartialist state. His political project explicitly rejected the XQZP model by problematizing its every aspect. He sought an alternative model that provided the intellectual foundation for a system of impersonal and uniform bureaucratic machinery that could dispense reward and punishment automatically with as little interference from the ruler as possible. His goal of instituting a set of impartial, transparent, and uniform administrative and legal code and standard in governing the state, often in defiance of the interest of powerful aristocratic families, points to the principle of justice operative in his statist project. However, he could not solve the core tension between the monarch and the monarchy, dooming his project of building an impartial political order.


The extensive applicability of cassava and its derivatives in various industries in Nigeria is constantly increasing, thus the necessity to evaluate the chemical composition in order to ascertain the nutritional value of these products. This study investigated and compared the proximate composition of eight samples of processed cassava products (Niji® Foods Cassava Flour, IFGREEN® Odourless Fufu Flour, Ayoola® Fufu Flour, Aiteefills® Fufu flour, Niji® Foods Garri, Golden Penny Garri, GGEE® foods Ijebu Garri and local brand cassava starch) obtained from supermarkets and local markets in Lafia town from January to March, 2023 using standard official methods for proximate analysis. The results were analyzed by Minitab version 20.0 by one way ANOVA and pair-wise comparison was made post hoc using Tukey t-tests. The moisture, ash, crude protein, crude fibre, crude fats and carbohydrate ranged from 4.34 – 12.70 %, 0.34 – 1.63 %, 1.30 – 10.06 %, 0.02 – 0.81 %, 4.01 – 12.53 % and 70.83 – 85.73 %. The study revealed that the results of the proximate composition in all the samples varied significantly (P ≤ .05). Crude protein and Crude fibre contents in all the samples agreed with the recommended limits by FAO/WHO and SON. The high moisture content in Aiteefills Fufu Flour may impart a shorter shelf life on the product. Findings from the study also suggested the possibility of formation of metal-ion pigment complexes in GGEE® foods Ijebu Garri, Ayoola® Fufu Flour, Niji® Foods Cassava Flour and Local Brand Cassava Starch due to high ash contents. However, all samples meet the basic nutritional requirements for crude protein, crude fibre, fats and carbohydrate contents in cassava products. The study recommended regular routine proximate composition checks on new and existing products available to consumers to further maintain high nutritional standards in processed cassava products.


In IEEE 802.16 networks, a subscriber station (SS) could be a single mobile user, a residence house, or an office building providing Internet service for multiple customers. Considering the heterogeneity among SSs which have diverse traffic demands, in this paper, we introduce the weighted proportional fair (WPF) scheduling scheme for the Best Effort (BE) service in IEEE 802.16 networks to achieve the flexible and efficient resource allocation. We develop an analytical model to investigate the performance of WPF in terms of spectral efficiency, throughput, resource utilization, and fairness, where the Rayleigh fading channel and the adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) technique are considered. Extensive simulations are conducted to illustrate the efficiency of the WPF scheduling scheme and verify the accuracy of the analytical model.


Knowledge can be difficult to capture and codify, interpret and reuse. Knowledge management is an important determinant of an organisation's competitive edge. It can impact organisational agility and hence customer satisfaction. The rise of the corporate call / support centre and helpdesk bears witness to this phenomenon. In this paper we consider some of the knowledge management issues facing the corporate support centre. We use the support centre of a large multinational high-tech organisation dealing with the complexities of the burgeoning Information Technology (IT) field as our example. While vendor solutions focus on tracking incoming problem cases, and separately tracking and archiving solutions in a corporate knowledge-base, we observe that there is a huge stone left unturned in the form of problem diagnosis, where-to-search, and what-to-search-for knowledge. As a solution we offer the ripple down rules (RDR) knowledge acquisition technique, which has addressed many of the shortcomings of first generation expert systems. We review some of the key RDR implementation issues and describe our planned extensions to fit the complexity and volatility of the support centre. Introduction The move from product-based to service-based industries in developed countries is clearly seen in the central role now played by an organisation's support centre. In many cases the success of the organisation will depend not on the superiority of their product but on how well they handle support for that product. This is particularly true for the IT industry due to the complex nature of IT products. We are presently involved in a project to improve the success of a sizeable multi-national support -centre operating in the IT industry. In this context, success can be measured by the effectiveness and efficiency by which customer problems are handled, for example: reduced problem incidence, increased customer self-service, increased automation of problem diagnosis and solution matching, increased accuracy of solution matching as measured by reduced case revisits, increased solution re-use, reduced duplication of solutions, rapid fault and enquiry resolution times, increased customer satisfaction, increased in-line self-learning by call-centre staff, increased staff satisfaction, and reduced staff turnover. The knowledge management technology used in our support -centre needs to push past the limitations of past-generation knowledge management systems to provide an exhaustive and complete approach to collaborative and knowledge centred support that deals with the complexity and constant change of the environment being troubleshot. It also needs to integrate neatly into the natural workflow of the support centre, so that it saves staff and customers time, and offers them better results. This paper is organized as follows: in the next section we identify the problems that IT organisations face in their management of software and hardware products; existing technical solutions that assist information management; the trend from information to knowledge management; the progress offered by expert systems in the 1980s; the shortfall of existing vendor solutions; and the key issues to address to achieve the success of our proposed solution in the support centre. We then introduce the Ripple Down Rules technology that we have adopted; and an overview of various implementations based on that approach. Following that we describe the extensions needed to support the specifics of the call-centre domain. In the final section we provide our conclusions and the current state of the project.


Objective In order to know the infectious state of hepatitis G virus(HGV) in various groups of patients with viral hepatitis and their clinical manifestations and prognoses. Methods Anti HGV antibody in sera was detected by using recombinant antigens enzyme immunoassay(ELISA). Results The positive rates of anti HGV in hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis D and hepatitis E hepatitis patients were 3.8%, 16.7%, 25.3%, 26.7%, 2.0%, respectively and it showed that infectional rates of HGV in viral hepatitis patients with HBV, HCV, HDV were higher than those in hepatitis patients with HAV and HEV. Conclusions It is important to detect anti HGV in sera of patients with viral hepatitis.


The history of pressure sensitive paint (PSP) development and wind-tunnel applications is accompanied by efforts to exclude or minimize "non-pressure" differences between "wind-off' and "wind-on" conditions-in illumination levels, temperature fields, model displacements, and deformations. Time expenses for data processing were of second-order value. This paper describes technical solutions that can significantly reduce data-processing time to achieve near-real-time pressure field visualization. The key components are bi-luminophore PSP, a color CCD camera and time-optimized data processing.


Abstract The breadth and depth of subjects and the size of user population of a major university library demand a well-organized reference service. To manage such diverse disciplines and clientele, librarians rely on each other for shortcuts recorded and saved in a staff-access vertical file. A team approach of sharing useful reference sources helps all reference librarians improve their service to library users. If reference staff can efficiently store and organize fugitive material that can be shared by all staff members, they can use that material to meet immediate ready reference needs, and later develop sophisticated information-access tools such as pathfinders and knowledge bases.


[Problem] To provide, in place of injected agents (nucleoside-based anticancer agents or antivirus agents) clinically used as therapeutic drugs for cancer or virus infections, a medicine that has high stability with respect to various hydrolytic metabolic enzymes, is absorbed into the body even by oral administration, and exhibits a cytocidal effect by being incorporated into a DNA and RNA biosynthetic route and inhibiting the modification and extension of DNA and RNA or inhibiting reverse transcriptases or inhibiting protein synthesis. [Solution] The aforementioned problem is solved by a novel compound represented by formula (I). (In the formula, D is the 5'-position moiety of a nucleoside-based anticancer agent or an antivirus agent, and R1 and R2 are each a benzyl group that may have the same substituent or different substituents.)