This project is made for Spenncon; Spenncon is a producer of prefabricated concrete elements. The thesis is trying to uncover the main reasons for why discrepancies are encountered when Spenncon is assembling their products at building sites. Spenncon does only know that problems are encountered at the building sites, but not why these discrepancies are encountered. Spenncon is delivering a range of different products to different types of building projects. Looking into all kinds of projects would have been too complex so this thesis is looking into why discrepancies are encountered at the building sites where Spenncon is assembling their products in relation to shell based construction projects. In addition Spenncon have several factories in Norway and this thesis is only looking into one of the factories and, that is, the factory at Hønefoss. In order to carry out this research, the firm has been studied and presented. This is done in the 1 st chapter. A research methodology has been presented in order to have a blue print of how to carry out the research. This includes the four research questions that explain the aim of this research. This is presented in the 2 nd chapter. Then a presentation of the problems that Spenncon can suffer when they are assembling their products in shell based construction projects is described in the 3 rd chapter. In order to try and find some ways to reduce the problems that are encountered at the building sites, a theoretical framework is presented. In relation to this project lean was seen as a relevant theory. In this thesis one is looking into the value chain from production to assembly in the construction environment surrounding the building projects. As a result both lean production and lean construction is presented. Both these lean theories in addition to other relevant topics related to lean is presented in the 4 th chapter. Next a data analysis is presented in order to see what the problems actually are when Spenncon is assembling their products. This data analysis is based on day reports made in relation to 2 different building projects that Spenncon participated in. It is also these day reports that uncovered what the main problems are for Spenncon during the assembly process. The analyses were made through the use of computer software inform of Excel and SPSS. Everything regarding these data analyses is presented in the 5 th chapter. The main finding in this thesis was that Spenncon's own value chain was producing most of the deviations that were encountered at the building sites. In the 6 th chapter recommendations are made in order to try and minimize the most iterative categories of discrepancies. These recommendations are based on the theory review presented earlier in the 4 th chapter in addition to some supplementary theory. The tools suggested are the 5 whys analysis, Cross functional management, Poka-yoke Håvard Jahre Frotvedt Page viii of xi 24.05.2012 and Stop the line principle. Last but not least in the 7 th chapter the conclusions regarding this research are drawn. Håvard Jahre Frotvedt Page ix of xi 24.05.2012 Table of


Examination. The palms, soles and borders of hands and feet are erythematous. Small superficial blisters appear which erode leaving a glazed appearance in the centre and scaling areas at the periphery. These scales are tough and tend to form long strips which can be rolled into a ball without disintegrating. Comment. The child presents the typical features of Oudtschoorn skin except for her lack of improvement in the summer months. This may be explained by the differences in climate between Britain and South Africa.


This study aims to explore human resource management practice based on competency in public sector organizations by taking case studies at the Government of Tulungagung Regency. The human resource management practice based on competency  in public sector organizations have been conducted through the application of Law no. 5/2014 about the State Civil Apparatus. This study uses a qualitative approach where data obtained through semi-structured in-depth interviews of 7 (seven) research informants which authorized in public sector human resource management. The results of data analysis shows that the implementation of human resources management practice based on competency is found in the recruitment and selection process, career management and competency development. But human resources management  practice  on competency is not  found  in the performance appraisal. https://doi.org/10.26905/jmdk.v6i2.2208


The paper tackles with the possibility to propose a framework for Web Integrated Information System for risk management of miscellaneous natural disasters. Different methods and tools for risk analysis and estimation are discussed when different types of disasters may occur. The system ability to serve as a unified platform for interdisciplinary research is considered with regard to consolidating researchers with different specialists and individual users that will be able freely to offer information and knowledge exchange through a Web 2.0 dedicated online social network. The proposed framework aims at making efficient management decisions for risk prevention and reduction in emergency situations due to natural disasters.


Safety performance is getting more attention in the automobile design. To simulate a real crash accident, a crash worthiness test or a computer simulation is carried out. The occupant behavior is the most important factor in the simulation. Generally, the well known Hybrid III dummy is utilized for an occupant. The Hybrid III dummy is established very well based on various experiments. However, the Hybrid dummy and other dummies are made from American or European people. In this research, the occupant analysis is carried out for Koreans. Since the human test is not allowed in Korea, the Hybrid dummy is scaled for Korean average size.
For the numerical simulation, MADYMO™(MAthematical DYnamical MOdels) is used.


A brief history of the continuum shell model with full correction for target recoil is provided. Past applications to nucleon induced reactions, nucleon capture, knockout reactions by pions and electrons, and strangeness exchange reactions are provided. Recent progress of the model is reviewed. Examples of continuum states for p-shell nuclei, derived from both two and three-body interactions, are given. Finally, the general model is presented in which any core states and any states of the composite system may be incorporated in a calculation.


A buck dc-dc converter modelled with Cadence OrCAD is presented in this paper. The investigated circuit is suitable for automotive applications. The input voltage $\boldsymbol{V}_{\boldsymbol{IN}}$ of the buck dc-dc converter is equal to 24 V, while the output voltage is regulated to be equal to 12 V. The PSpice models of MOSFET transistor "BSC020N03MS" of the company Infineon are used in this investigation. The short-circuit losses in the power stage are eliminated using small gap time, when both output transistors are switched-off. The maximum efficiency of the modelled buck dc-dc converter is 95 %, when output current $\boldsymbol{I}_{\boldsymbol{OUT}}$ is equal to 7 A.


The subject of the study edited by Prof. Tadeusz Skoczny and Dr. Agata Jurkowska of the University of Warsaw (Centre of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies) is the jurisprudence of the European Community Courts (hereafter, EC Courts) concerning European competition rules. It focuses on the provisions relating to undertakings (Articles 81–82, 86 Treaty establishing the European Community – TEC) while the case law concerning state aid and other forms of infringements of competition law by Member States of the European Union is omitted. The review presents the jurisprudence of the EC Courts both in matters relating to the interpretation of competition rules (issued on the basis of Article 234 TEC) and in matters concerning the legality of the application of these rules (Articles 226–228, 230–233, 235–243 TEC). The jurisprudence under review covers the activities of the Court of Justice of the European Communities (hereafter, ECJ) and the Court of First Instance (hereafter, CFI) from the first judgments concerning competition rules decided in the 1960's1 until the 30th of April 2004. About 650 judgments were issued in the period covered, of which 72 are presented in this book by 27 different authors (including the editors), both scholars and practitioners. The relevant extracts of the judgments are translated from English by the authors. Bearing in mind the subject matter of this book, the choice of which judgments should be incorporated in it is of fundamental importance. The selection of 72 out of the over 600 competition-related judgments is, in itself a challenging task. The book opens with a broad introduction to various European competition law doctrines, developed over the years by the jurisprudential activity of the EC Courts. The introduction is followed by 3 chapters covering the selected judgments presented in chronological order, a table of all judgments issued in competition-related matters, a list of legal acts referred to and an index of key issues discussed in this book. The introduction to the jurisdictional doctrines relating to competition rules, written by the editors (p. 25–66), covers various aspects of European competition law. The editors see 4 main fields of activity for EC Courts in this respect: 1) setting


Abstract During the last purely aboriginal period in the southeastern United States, most, if not all, of the settlements in the interior areas were fortified, implying a cultural pattern of extensive warfare. This paper examines the nature and function of defensive works protecting the sites and advances the hypothesis that warfare at this time resulted from competition for arable land.


Electrospray ionization (ESI) is a soft ionization technique enabling a mass spectrometer to obtain qualitative and quantitative data from sample molecules that were presumed to be unattainable because of their lack of volatility. The method took a quarter of century before becoming reliable and usable by non-experts, but its progress over the last decade has been impressive, mainly because of the application to biomolecules studies, and in particular, genomics. Experts now evaluate a growth of 18% for mass spectrometry equipments in the near future, because of, but not exclusively, the new possibilities offered by instruments combining liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC/ESI/MS).


Survivors of in-hospital cardiac arrest are at risk of anoxic brain damage that can lead to admission to nursing home or need of in-home care. However, studies on long-term outcomes after in-hospital cardiac arrest are scarce with previous research focusing on short term measures such as survival-to-discharge.

 This study aimed to investigate the composite endpoint of nursing home admission or anoxic brain damage among 30-day survivors of in-hospital cardiac arrest within the first-year post-arrest. As a sub analysis, we also investigated the additional need of in-home care.

 All in-hospital cardiac arrests in 13 Danish hospitals during 2013–2015 were identified from the DANARREST register. Inclusion criteria were indication for a resuscitation attempt and survival to day 30. Patients who, prior to arrest, already lived in a nursing home, and/or had anoxic brain damage were excluded. In the sub analysis patients who received in-home care prior to arrest were also excluded. The DANARREST data was linked to nationwide registries including the National Patient Register and administrative nursing home and home care registries using the Danish Civil Registration Number, a unique personal identification number that is given to every citizen in Denmark.

 The primary study population comprised of 454 (26.3%) 30 day-survivors out of 1723 eligible patients. Median age was 67 (Q1-Q3 57–75); 301 (66.9%) were men. In this group, the 1-year risk of anoxic brain damage or nursing home admission was 4.6% (95% CI 2.7%- 6.6%) with a competing risk of death of 15.6% (95% CI 12.3%-19.0%), leaving 79.8% alive without anoxic brain damage or nursing home admission at one-year follow-up (see Figure 1A).
 The sub study population comprised of 343 30-day survivors with a 1-year risk of anoxic brain damage, nursing home admission or need of in-home care of 23.6% (95% CI 19.1%-28.1%). The competing risk of death was 7.6% (95% CI 4.8%-10.4%), leaving 68.8% alive without anoxic brain damage, nursing home admission or need of in-home care at one-year follow-up (see Figure 1B).
 Figure 1

 The majority of 30-day survivors of in-hospital cardiac arrest were alive at one-year follow-up without being diagnosed with anoxic brain damage, admitted to nursing home or without need of in-home care.


Fuzzy level analysis which organically combines the merits of level analysis and fuzzy comprehensive assessment,determines various influential factors at different levels and the indexes with fuzzy comprehensive assessment,and quantitizes the assessment.Finally,the core competitiveness assessment model of university journal has been established,and whose effectiveness has been proved by examples.


although supplemental oxygen is recommended when halothane is used. With a 400 ml oxygen reservoir tube, low oxygen flow can provide satisfactory inspired oxygen concentrations in the systems'. Using ambient air as the carrier gas, a hypoxic mixture cannot be administered. This is in contrast to continuous flow systems utilizing nitrous oxide and oxygen, which are less safe in the absence of gas analysers. Drawover systems are also relatively easy to use and maintain, and are robust and portable. The combination of halothane and trichloroethylene has advantages. The cardiovascular and respiratory depressant effects of halothane are ameliorated by trichloroethylene. However, both drugs increase the potential for arrhythmias, especially if the surgeon infiltrates local anaesthetic and adrenaline mixtures. Trichloroethylene is strongly analgesic and the analgesia persists after recovery from anaesthesia. Trichloroethylene reduces requirement for opioid analgesia, and respiratory depression can be minimized in these patients. Difficult laryngoscopy and intubation are common problems in cleft lip and palate patients. Gunawardena studied 800 patients and reported extensive clefts, retrognathia and age less than 6 months to be associated with difficult laryngoscopy", His incidence of difficult laryngoscopy was 2.95% in patients with unilateral cleft lip, 45.76% in bilateral cleft lip and 34.61% in patients with retrognathia. Our experience was that, while laryngoscopy was difficult in some patients with retrognathia, there were no instances of failed intubation. External laryngeal pressure and the use of an endotracheal tube stylet facilitated intubation. While we did not encounter a 'cannot ventilate cannot intubate' airway situation, laryngeal masks can be life saving in such situations. Even though paediatric laryngeal masks are costly, they should always be available in a cleft palate service. The use of a laryngeal mask for cleft palate surgery in a patient with Pierre Robin syndrome and difficult intubation has been reported>, While surgery can proceed without the need for tracheostomy, the risk of aspiration of blood is increased and surgical access is more limited. Even in experienced hands, we feel that it is safest to postpone surgery in such a situation, to minimize airway manipulation, trauma and oedema, and aspiration. Further growth may make intubation possible and surgery safer. Extubating patients only when they were awake caused some struggling and bleeding, but this minimized the risk of laryngospasm and airway obstruction. The use of oropharyngeal airways was avoided as far as possible to avoid damaging the repair. The prophylactic insertion of nasopharyngeal airways has been recommended in patients who have had lengthy surgery with compression and venous congestion of the tongues, Insertion of a tongue traction suture can be life saving and avoids the need for airway insertion. Perhaps all patients with retrognathia should have prophylactic insertion of a tongue suture. The cost was about US$6.60 for 2 h anaesthesia. Halothane was the most expensive item. Trichloroethylene was relatively cheap and its 'halothane sparing' effect enabled considerable cost savings. Using a syringe to administer intravenous fluids instead of a 'giving' set reduced costs. Pancuronium, instead of suxamethonium, was used in older patients in whom an easy intubation was expected and who were easy to ventilate with bag and mask. Unfortunately, ketamine was relatively expensive. Further study is required on whether ketamine can reduce total costs.


Spatially and temporally resolved ion flow measurements are performed inside the plasma source of an inductive radio frequency plasma thruster. Using the resulting data, the pure effects of the inductive current drive on the ion flow are identified. The cross field ion acceleration and the establishment of the cross field electric field are found in the upstream region, where the azimuthal current is induced by the superimposition of a time-varying magnetic field. Analyzing the electron and ion dynamics with two-fluid equations, the magnetized electrons form the in-plane Hall electric field to satisfy the electron force balance, which results in the electrostatic acceleration of unmagnetized ions. The enhanced density gradient forms a stronger Boltzmann electric field along the magnetic field. It generates a supersonic ion group along the magnetic field line, which increases the field-aligned ion flow velocity and the momentum thrust.


This year, we are celebrating a major milestone for this special issue – the 20th anniversary! For the last two decades, a series of special issues has focused on the fundamental aspects of electrophoresis and derived techniques. Interestingly, the theoretical background of electrophoresis can be described by elegant equations, which can be solved by mathematical and computational tools. It is an attractive challenge for scientists, and we are delighted that for the last 20 years these special issues on Fundamentals of Electrophoresis have formed a platform for their publications. This 20th anniversary special issue consists of 15 papers from world-renowned scientists on experimental, analytical, and numerical studies. We have organized this special issue into four categories. Owing to the fundamental nature of this special issue, 40% of papers are in the General category, while the remaining papers appear in theMiniaturization, Particle and Cell Analysis, and Proteins, Proteomics and 2D categories. Though there is no review article in this special issue, many fundamental aspects of electrophoresis are discussed in several theoretical and numerical papers. These include a novel numerical model for solving the dynamics of electromigration and an analysis of the oscillation of the background electrolytes. This issue also features an interesting method for analyzing eigenmobilities based on the classical moving boundary approach. On the experimental front, capillary electrophoresis coupled with mass spectrometry is presented for noninvasive analysis of metabolites based on amino acid detection from tiny sample volumes. Another experimental work took advantage of nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis and density functional theory to determine the effective electrophoretic mobility and ionization constants of azahelicenes. Miniaturization is a true technical revolution for many electrokinetic phenomena including electrophoresis. Although many electrokinetic phenomena were originally observed in capillary tubes or micropores, miniaturized devices, such as the microchip, have rejuvenated interest in electroosmosis, electrophoresis, and dielectrophoresis in the last two decades. This special issue presents some fundamental developments inminiaturized devices, such as the effect of skimming layer and viscosity in electric field driven phenomena considering the surface charge density. The transition from microto nanochannels is another interesting area of research in electrophoresis, which can be used for the preconcentration or stacking of samples. Through a comprehensive numerical simulation, ion concentration polarization has been demonstrated in a hybrid micro/nanofluidic network. Understanding the dynamics of micro/nanoparticles under a gradient or force field is important in many applications, including cellular, bacterial, and vesicular analysis. New analytical models are presented in this special issue for the motion of soft, rigid, and multiphase microparticles in various electrolytes. Like colloidal microparticles, the fundamental dynamics of proteins under an electric field are key to their separation and detection. We conclude our special issue with the characterization of human serum proteins in a nanopore device using electromotive force where the competition among electrophoresis, dielectrophoresis, and electroosmosis plays a significant role in their distinctions. We would like to thank all authors for their important contributions, anonymous reviewers for their valuable time and constructive comments to uphold the highest standard of our papers, and the journal's Editors-in-Chief for trusting us to organize this special issue. We hope to come back next year with another exciting special issue of ELECTROPHORESIS on Fundamentals. Interested contributors are recommended to look out for the call on the ELECTROPHORESIS site.


In this lecture, one can find an abbreviated historical trajectory of the appearance and development of archaeology as a science. The aim is to demonstrate the perceptions
and biases, which have influenced and still influence the archaeological theory and practice in negative or positive ways. The lecture was prepared for the participants of the program on "Classics and Philosophy" of Novosibirsk State University (October 2018).


The final report, entitled "Using Hand Wash Tool Adjustable Infrared Sensor
Range-Based Microcontroller". The main purpose of this final report is to design a
tool that is expected to wash hands with this tool, make someone in the automatic
hand washing and practical without having to rotate the first tap. Tool wash his
hands of this hardware using ATMega16 microcontroller and an adjustable range
infrared sensors, and software using programming language C. In this tool, the
sensor will be active when the sensor detects the object then the buzzer will be
active as a marker that the sensor is detected, then the microcontroller activates
the relay, active pump, and water will come out automatically.


A k-epsilon turbulence model suitable for compressible flow, including the new wall function formulation, has been incorporated into an existing compressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes code, F3D. The low Reynolds number k-epsilon model of Chien (1982) was added for comparison with the present method. A number of features were added to the F3D code including improved far-field boundary conditions and viscous terms in the streamwise direction. A series of computations of increasing complexity was run to test the effectiveness of the new formulation. Flow over a flat plate was computed by using both orthogonal and nonorthogonal grids, and the friction coefficients and velocity profiles compared with a semi-empirical equation. Flow over a body of revolution at zero angle of attack was then computed to test the method's ability to handle flow over a curved surface. Friction coefficients and velocity profiles were compared to test data. All models gave good results on a relatively fine grid, but only the wall function formulation was effective with coarser grids. Finally, in order to demonstrate the method's ability to handle complex flow fields, separated flow over a prolate spheroid at angle of attack was computed, and results were compared to test data. The results were alsomore » compared to a k-epsilon model by Kim and Patel (1991), in which one equation model patched in at the wall was employed. Both models gave reasonable solutions, but improvement is required for accurate prediction of friction coefficients in the separated regions.« less


AIM: To investigate the changes of cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) induced by a variety of cognitive tasks and to determine the influence of gender and language-related cognitive tasks such as Chinese and English on the relative CBFV (changes). METHODS: Simultaneous bilateral TCD monitoring of CBFV in the middle cerebral arteries (MCAs) was performed in 45 right-handed normal volunteers during 6 verbal tasks and their preceding rest periods. RESULTS: The relative CBFV changes of Chinese word generation were 14.2±4.7 in left and 8.5±2.8 in right and those for English word generation were 13.5±2.9 in left and 8.0±2.3 in right. For Chinese sentence reconstruction, the relative CBFV changes were 13.8±3.2 in left and 8.6±2.2 in right and for English sentence reconstruction they were 11.9±4.0 in left and 7.7±2.8 in right. For Chinese synonyms, the changes were (13.0±)6.4 in left and 7.3±3.1 in right while for English synonyms they were 9.8±4.3 in left and 7.7±3.1 in right respectively. All cognitive tasks induced a significant bilateral CBFV increase in the MCAs and showed a significant left-hemisphere CBFV acceleration. Gender showed higher relative CBFV changes when some tasks were performed. CONCLUSION: (Chinese) and English cognitive tasks can induce a significant lateralized left-hemispheric CBFV acceleration.


Fragmentation dynamics of the molecular ion Na+2 irradiated by an intense femtosecond pulse laser is studied using quantum wave packet propagations. It is demonstrated that the pulse duration (20–250 fs) can be used as a control parameter for both the total dissociation probability and the branching ratio between different dissociation channels. This pulse length effect is important when the duration of the pulse is shorter than the vibrational period of the molecular ion in the ground state. The effects of laser intensity (1011–3×1012 W/cm2), wavelength (680–780 nm) and initial vibrational level on the dissociation dynamics are also studied.


RoboCup is a platform designed to promote the research related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics. We also organize a RoboCup soccer team "Hibikino-Musashi" and working on co-operated behavior control system using multiple autonomous mobile robots. In order to realize co-operated behavior in the soccer game, the ball handling system is one of the important issues for dribbling and passing the ball to teammate robots. In this paper, a control method of the ball rotation using two active wheels, which are attached in front of the soccer robot and designed to have friction on the upper side of the ball, is proposed. The forward and inverse kinematics between the ball-motion and two active wheels are derived, and the ball handling mechanism is developed and evaluated based on the results of simulations and experiments.


Semantic segmentation is an active research area for high-resolution (HR) remote sensing image processing. Most existing algorithms are better at segmenting different features. However, for complex scenes, many algorithms have insufficient segmentation accuracy. In this study, we propose a new method CM-Unet based on the U-Net framework to address the problems of holes, omissions, and fuzzy edge segmentation. First, we add the channel attention mechanism in the encoding network and the residual module to transmit information. Second, a multi-feature fusion mechanism is proposed in the decoding network, and an improved sub-pixel convolution method replaces the traditional upsampling operation. We conducted simulation experiments on the Potsdam, Vaihingen and GID datasets. The experimental results show that the proposed CM-Unet required segmentation time is approximately 62 ms/piece, the MIoU is 90.4% and the floating point operations (FLOPs) is 20.95 MFLOPs. Compared with U-Net, CM-Unet only increased the total number of parameters and floating point operations slightly, but achieved the best segmentation effect compared with the other models. CM-Unet can segment remote sensing images efficiently and accurately owing to its lower time consumption and space requirements; the precision of the segmentation results is better than other methods.


Abstract:"My first instinct was to jump into originally planned content when the semester resumed. I already had the assignments ready, and it would have been easy for me to move everything back one week and expect students to proceed as scheduled. But, a feeling stopped me. I was having a difficult time emotionally with plans changing and events canceling. I was exploring what type of educator I could be during virtual learning. If I was experiencing anxiety, my students undoubtedly were as well. Could I really expect them to shut down these feelings and plunge into the curriculum I created before the pandemic? With this in mind, I could not begin the rest of the semester as planned. I sought to create a virtual space where students wanted to participate. This plan meant reevaluating my curriculum."


Graphene scroll is an emerging 1D tubular form of graphitic carbon that has potential applications in electrochemical energy storage. However, it still remains a challenge to composite graphene scrolls with other nanomaterials for building advanced electrode configuration with fast and durable lithium storage properties. Here, a transition‐metal‐oxide‐based hierarchically ordered 3D porous electrode is designed based on assembling 1D core–sheath MnO@N‐doped graphene scrolls with 2D N‐doped graphene ribbons. In the resulting architecture, porous MnO nanowires confined in tubular graphene scrolls are mechanically isolated but electronically well‐connected, while the interwoven graphene ribbons offer continuous conductive paths for electron transfer in all directions. Moreover, the elastic graphene scrolls together with enough internal voids are able to accommodate the volume expansion of the enclosed MnO. Because of these merits, the as‐built electrode manifests ultrahigh rate capability (349 mAh g−1 at 8.0 A g−1; 205 mAh g−1 at 15.0 A g−1) and robust cycling stability (812 mAh g−1 remaining after 1000 cycles at 2.0 A g−1) and is the most efficient MnO‐based anode ever reported for lithium‐ion batteries. This unique multidimensional and hierarchically ordered structure design is believed to hold great potential in generalizable synthesis of graphene scrolls composited with oxide nanowires for mutifuctional energy storage.


Abstract : This monograph begins by defining contingencies and the role they play in supporting national strategy and policies. A brief history of U.S. contingency operations and the reasons they are conducted is presented. The background is completed by developing the primary characteristics of contingency operations, and a discussion of what constitutes a credible contingency force. The proposed contingency army is examined through the lens of versatility, lethality, and deployability to determine the need for heavy forces. The British Army experience in the Boer War, and the American Army's experience in the Korean War are used as historical examples. The monograph concludes that the contingency army must include heavy forces to be credible. In order to conduct a wide range of missions, against all threats, and across the spectrum of conflict, the contingency army needs access to all the capabilities in the Army. To be lethal the contingency army needs heavy forces with their inherent characteristics of mobility, firepower, and survivability. To be truly deployable, these required heavy forces must be an integral part of the contingency army.


Peer-to-peer (P2P) ridesharing is a relatively new concept that aims to provide a sustainable method for transportation in urban areas. Previous studies have demonstrated that a system that incorporates both P2P ridesharing and transit would enhance mobility. We develop schemes to provide travel alternatives, routes and information across multiple modes, which includes P2P ridesharing, transit, city bike-sharing and walking, within the network. This study includes a case study of the operation of the multimodal system that includes P2P ridesharing participants (both drivers and riders), the Los Angeles Metro Red line subway rail, and the Los Angeles downtown bike-share system. The study conducts a simulation, enhanced by an optimization layer, of providing travel alternatives to passengers during morning peak hours. The results indicate that a multi-modal network expands the coverage of public transit, and that ride- and bike-sharing could be effective transit feeders when properly designed and integrated into the transit system.


Following a short summary of our tunneling results for Bi 2 Sr 2 Ca n -1 Cu n O y (Bi22( n -1) n ) ( n =1–3), the tunneling phonon structures of Bi2212 are analyzed according to the Eliashberg scheme assuming a certain normal-state conductivity. The McMillan-Rowell spectral function is similar to a model spectral function in which only the Cu–O vibrations are taken into account and the interaction strength is assumed to increase with decreasing frequency. To ascertain whether excitation other than that of phonons contributes to pair formation, we calculated the tunneling conductance for various composite spectral functions. As far as we could discover, the phonon-only spectral function is the function which best explains the tunneling results.


▪ Abstract ROSAT observations indicate that approximately half of all nearby groups of galaxies contain spatially extended X-ray emission. The radial extent of the X-ray emission is typically 50–500 h−1100 kpc or approximately 10–50% of the virial radius of the group. Diffuse X-ray emission is generally restricted to groups that contain at least one early-type galaxy. X-ray spectroscopy suggests the emission mechanism is most likely a combination of thermal bremsstrahlung and line emission. This interpretation requires that the entire volume of groups be filled with a hot, low-density gas known as the intragroup medium. ROSAT and ASCA observations indicate that the temperature of the diffuse gas in groups ranges from approximately 0.3 keV to 2 keV. Higher temperature groups tend to follow the correlations found for rich clusters between X-ray luminosity, temperature, and velocity dispersion. However, groups with temperatures below approximately 1 keV appear to fall off the cluster LX-T relationship (and p...


A method for setting a beacon slot in a distributed wireless network and a device are provided to make an overall beacon section shorter by previously moving a beacon slot of a device to a front side of the beacon section before the device enters the hibernation state, thereby effectively using a super frame. An alternate device for exchanging a beacon slot is determined in a super frame in which a predetermined device is scheduled to start hibernation among devices which are using a beacon slot located in front of a beacon slot of the predetermined device(510,520). Based on the determination, the beacon slot of the predetermined device is changed(530).


Abstract Personal social networks play a fundamental role in the daily lives of older adults. Although many studies examine how life course factors and personal preferences shape network formation, fewer consider how the places in which older adults live present opportunities and obstacles to cultivate social relationships. In the present study, we explore how geographic context is associated with the ability to interact with non-overlapping social groups within one's personal network (i.e., network bridging). This unique network formation offers older adults access to diverse social stimuli, non-redundant information, and social autonomy. By analyzing data from the Person-to-Person Health Interview Survey (N=709), we found that a minority of respondents reported the ability to bridge social groups within their networks. Respondents residing in rural and semi-rural counties engaged in fewer non-overlapping social groups compared to those residing in urban counties. These findings suggest that the communities in which older adults live condition opportunities for accessing unique social resources. Identifying the link between geographic residence and personal network structure has important implications for how individuals navigate the uncertainty and elevated support needs of later life. Additional research adopting a social network perspective is needed to provide insight into geographic health disparities occurring among the older population.


Metals are, of course, significant natural components of all soils where their presence in the mineral fraction comprises a pool of potentially mobile metal species, many essential nutrients for plants and microorganisms, and important solid components that can have a fundamental effect on soil biogeochemical processes, e. g. clays, minerals, iron and manganese oxides. Metals are also present in organic fractions, frequently in bound forms, with some metal recycling occurring as a result of biomass and organic matter degradation and decay. The aqueous phase provides a mobile medium for metal transfer and circulation through the soil and to organisms, but also to the aquatic environment. Microorganisms are intimately associated with the biogeochemical cycling of metals, and associated elements, where their activities can result in mobilization and immobilization depending on the process involved and the microenvironment where the organism is located (Ehrlich 1997). Root-inhabiting rhizosphere microorganisms, including mycorrhizal fungi, have a major influence on plant nutrition by means of effects on phosphate availability for example, but also concomitant metal circulation. Indeed, during the early phases of soil formation the contribution of microbial activities to rock weathering, mineral dissolution and element cycling is significant and also intimately related to metal movements and microbial strategies for metal transformations. Metals exhibit a range of toxicities towards microorganisms, depending on physico-chemical factors, speciation etc., and while toxic effects can arise from natural processes in the soil, toxic effects on microbial communities are more commonly associated with anthropogenic contamination or redistribution of toxic metals in terrestrial ecosystems. Such contamination can arise from aerial and aquatic sources, as well as agricultural practices, industrial activity, and domestic and industrial wastes. In some


A prevailing perception within the research field of energy and buildings is that buildings – and not people – consume energy. Researchers and practitioners often neglect the important effect of the actual behaviour of people living or working in buildings, together with the values, habits, motivation factors, and other practices connected to the energy use. The key aim of this paper is to demonstrate the added value of the ethnographic approaches and interdisciplinary analysis for understanding and influencing human behaviour to support and enhance deep energy renovation of residential buildings. It presents the methodology together with preliminary findings from a demonstration study in Slovenia. It concludes by providing case-specific recommendations in terms of affordability, acceptability and attractiveness by considering everyday lifestyles, motivations, and issues faced by actors involved in the renovation processes.


Efficient control of a marine engine requires an engine control unit (ECU) system that handles fast and precise signal processes for in-coming and out-going signals from fast running engines. In order to handle these roles, the sequential control has been adapted in the ECU system in small and medium size ship engines, which has caused high production cost and complexity of the system. Hence, this paper is focused on developing an distributed ECU system for high speed and high precision control of a marine engine by efficiently combining a CPLD chip and a microprocessor. By sharing load at the MCU with the designed CPLD chip, we could achieve in driving a marine engine with high speed and precise control so that the ECU board has been simplified and its production cost has been reduced.


A fully canonical quantization of electromagnetic field in the presence of a bi-anisotropic absorbing magneto-dielectric cylindrical shell is provided. The mode expansions of the dynamical quantum fields, contained in the theory, is achieved and the ladder operators of the system are introduced. Using the Frobenius's series technique, the Maxwell's equations in the presence of the bi-anisotropic absorbing magneto-dielectric cylindrical shell are solved and the space–time dependence of the quantized electromagnetic field is obtained. Applying the conservation principle of the angular momentum, the net quantum vacuum torque exerted on the bi-anisotropic absorbing magneto-dielectric cylindrical shell is calculated. The net quantum vacuum torque exerted on the cylindrical shell is calculated in the vacuum state and the thermal state of the system. The quantum vacuum torque on the cylindrical shell identically vanishes when the bi-anisotropic absorbing magneto-dielectric cylindrical shell is converted to an isotropic one.


Currently, field electron emission is an indispensable tool for studying advanced materials. Analysis of the current-voltage (I–V ) dependences allows us to derive information about some characteristics of the field-emission cathode (i.e., work function or field enhancement factor values). It is known that in the Fowler—Nordheim coordinates I–V curve is linear. A linear approximation can be constructed with the method of ordinary least squares (OLS). OLS is one of the basic methods of regression analysis used to estimate unknown parameters of regression models. However, reliable confidence intervals for the regression coefficients can only be easily obtained if the model residuals are normally distributed. This is impossible to assume about the log-transformed I–V curve. The scope of this paper is modeling of I–V dependence. The random errors of I measurements are normally distributed. We have constructed estimations of the coefficients in Fowler— Nordheim law (i.e. A and B) using methods of linear and nonlinear regression and shown that those approaches give different results. Errors of determining of the coefficients A and B are presented.


Plague was reported present in San Juan by the local authorities June 19, four days after the first suspicious case was observed, a promptness of action unprecedented in the history of plague. A general cleaning up of the city followed, and tons of rubbish were removed. In response to a request from the acting governor, United States Public Health Service officers experienced in plague work were at once sent to San Juan by Surgeon-General Rupert Blue, and formulated a plan for the eradication of the infection from the island. Before discussing eradicative work in Porto Rico and the epidemiologic features connected therewith, it may be of interest to refer to several features concerning antiplague measures which were considered. The particularly striking aspect of plague infection is the tenacity with which the infection among rodents will cling to a place. This condition obtains seemingly irrespective of social or climatic environment or


With special condition,Western China area has a special requirement for technologies of wastewater treatment and can not copy existing technologies and experiences of Eastern China area.This paper investigated and analyzed status quo,existing problems and development trend for wastewater treatment of Eastern China area.Combining the social and economic situation and the natural environmental characteristics,the technical requirements for wastewater treatment in these towns were analyzed,and feasible and cost-effective technologies of wastewater treatment in Western China towns were presented for the regions with different natural environmental characteristics.


Objective To investigate the mechanism of nitric oxide (NO) cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) messenger pathway in the hippocampal formation (HF) of the rats in kainic acid (KA) induced seizures. Methods 41 rats were randomly divided into the control group (5 rats), the KA for 10, 30 and 60 min groups (6 rats for each group) and the L nitro arginine methyl ester (L NAME)+KA for 10 , 30 and 60 min groups (6 rats for each group). The concentrations of cGMP in HF in different stags during seizures were determined using radioimmunoassay and the effect of L NAME was conducted. Results We found that KA caused an apparent accumulation of cGMP in HF, but pretreatment of L NAME could significantly inhibit the cGMP level in HF 10, 30 min after KA and worsened KA seizures with earlier occurence and greater number of wet dog shakes (WDS), while no significant inhibition effect of L NAME on cGMP accumulation in HF 60 min after KA. Conclusions Our findings suggest that cGMP accumulation was related to endogenous NO during early course of KA seizures and the antiseizure action of NO was in part linked with cGMP messenger pathway.


This paper started from the concrete operation analysis and environmental condition set up. After building the drifting model and scripting for the operation, the visual simulation in different search methods with different types of searching aircrafts are carried out in a particular search range, aiming to find the influence of aircraft performance and operation planning on search efficiency, and to provide references for the real search and rescue operation decision.


Background: Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), previously known as pseudotumor cerebri, is a disease characterized by elevation of intracranial tension with no apparent cause e.g. space occupying lesion or ventricular pathway obstruction. Patients usually complain of headache and sometimes burring of vision. It is believed that impaired drainage of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the dural venous sinuses and decrease spinal fluid absorption or increased secretion contribute to the development of IIH. As the optic nerve is covered by meninges and surrounded by CSF, the elevated pressure is inevitably transmitted to the nerve and can cause damage. Objective: To assess the accuracy of different MRI findings in the early diagnosis of idiopathic intracranial hypertension to achieve better prognosis. Patients and methods: twenty patients and ten controls were enrolled in the study and underwent ophthalmological tests, lumbar punctures analysis for pressure, MRI study of the brain and orbit with IV contrast administration and MR venography. Results: Six signs were analyzed from which intraocular optic nerve protrusion was the most specific (90%) and empty sella sign was the most sensitive (90%). There was statistically significant correlation between empty sella sign (r= 0.784; p = 0.01) and posterior globe flattening (r= 0.65; p = 0.04) with the idiopathic intracranial hypertension. Conclusion: MRI findings can be used to suggest idiopathic intracranial hypertension and increasing accuracy can be made by combining several signs.


Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are being intensively developed for novel electronics. Electron cooling by superconductor-insulator-nanotube (SIN) tunnel junctions could be extremely effective due to the small volume of the CNT. A novel concept of a Cold-Electron Bolometer with a CNT as absorber should demonstrate record sensitivity due to the very low temperature that is predicted to be reached in the CNT (less than the phonon temperature). Objectives of this work is to demonstrate effective electron cooling in superconducting nanostructures comprising a Carbon Nanotube; and develop a supersensitive Cold-Electron Bolometer based on a cooled carbon nanotube as absorber.


PURPOSE: To provide a reflector capable of freely and easily adjusting reflection characteristics and a luminous intensity distribution without using an auxiliary element such as a lens and its manufacturing method. CONSTITUTION: In a reflector to reflect a radiation such as a beam, a sound wave, an impulse, an electromagnetic wave and the like, its section curve R is formed by combining at least two conic section segments r1, r2 so that tangents T1, T2 on a mutually combined point A1, A2 are in conformity to each other, and therefore a luminous intensity distribution different from the conic section can be obtained without using an auxiliary element such as a lens. In addition, a tangent of any point on the section curve R can be found by computation, and thereby, reflection characteristics and the luminous intensity distribution can be not only calculated in advance but also freely and easily adjusted. Furthermore, a uniform luminous intensity distribution can be obtained without producing a bright/dark circle or a band on a luminous intensity distribution pattern. COPYRIGHT: (C)1994,JPO


Purpose – The present paper aims to experimentally investigate the effect of external horizontal vibration on friction property of an aluminium disc sliding against stainless steel pin.Design/methodology/approach – To do so, a pin‐on‐disc apparatus having facility of vibrating the test samples at horizontal direction was designed and fabricated. In the study, a dimensional analysis is done to correlate the friction coefficient of aluminium with sliding velocity, frequency and amplitude of vibration.Findings – At 100 Hz frequency of vibration, it is seen that during the starting, value of friction coefficient is 0.39 which remains constant for few seconds then increases almost linearly up to 0.45 over a duration of 15 s of rubbing and after that it remains constant for the rest of the experimental time. Similar trends of behavior are observed for transverse vibration. These findings are in agreement with the findings of Chowdhury and Helali.Originality/value – It is expected that the applications of these ...


1. The Emerging Cultural Turn in Peace Research 2. Decentralization, Revitalization and Reconciliation in Indonesia 3. Conflict and Peacebuilding in Maluku 4. Reconciliation and the Revival of Tradition 5. The Reinvention of Traditional Leadership 6. Indigenous People, Migrants and Refugees: A Clash of Individual and Cultural Human Rights 7. Concluding Reflections: Toward a New Anthropology of Peace


Abstract Macrovascular disease accounts for more than 70% of deaths in people with diabetes, mostly from myocardial infarction, congestive cardiac failure and stroke. Risk factors for the development of macrovascular disease in diabetes include age, race, cigarette smoking, hypertension, raised cholesterol, HbA1c, and obesity. There is little support for the suggestion that the macrovascular disease of diabetes is histologically or biochemically different from athersclerosis in the non-diabetic individual, but there may be some differences in the extent and distribution of disease. There is evidence that metformin reduces myocardial infarctions when used as first-line treatment in overweight patients with type 2 diabetes. For patients with type 1 diabetes intensive insulin therapy over a period of 6.5 years significantly reduced macrovascular events in the subsequent 10 years. Aggressive treatment of hypertension can reduce microvascular and macrovascular complications of diabetes, and there is a substantial evidence base for the benefit of statins as both primary and secondary prevention in patients with diabetes. Thrombolysis is of proven benefit for diabetic patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction, but the role of intensive intravenous insulin in managing hyperglycaemia in diabetic patients following myocardial infarction remains controversial. Evidence from several sources indicates that coronary artery bypass grafting is better at reducing mortality than percutaneous coronary interventions in the diabetic patient with triple vessel disease or left-main stem disease, and for patients with severe congestive cardiac failure diabetes is not an absolute contraindication to cardiac transplantation.


Background: More than one-third of US adults are obese and the prevalence has remained stable since 2003. In the largest cohort of 515,912 men and women participating in the Million Veteran Program...


In this connection I may specially refer to Dr. C. R. )[arshall's excellent summary of the "1Ion" question, published in the Practitioner, February, 1898. In this paper, which broached the subject for the first time in an English medical journal, he gave an abstract of Kr6nig and Paul's theory of the action of antiseptics in the light of the electrolytic dissociation theory, and also of Loeb's views on the physiological effect of various radicals. But, furthermore, we have to take into account not only the number and kind of atoms in the molecule, and their interior arrangement and grouping (constitution), but certain physical properties of compounds previously inexplicable have found their explanation in another development of chemical theory which has proved extraordinarily fertile. I refer to stereochemistry-that is, the doctrine of the spatial configuration of the molecule. This theory has done much to elucidate the difficult problems of isomerism in organic chemistry, and we cannot doubt that it will shed light upon chemical transformations occurring in the organism. Dr. Emil Fischer has published in the Zeit8ch. f. Phy8iolq. Chem., I899, an important paper in which he seeks, in conjunction with Thierfelder, to explain the selective action exhibited by the enzymes, either in effecting fermentation or in producing hydrolysis. It is well known, for example, that a glucoside-for example, salicin-may be attackedby one enzyme (emulsin) and not by another (yeast enzyme), and accordingly Fischer and Theirfelder conceive the hypothesis that between the enzymes and those substances which they attack there must exist a correspondence in molecular configuration which they compare to that of a lock and its key. And, again, of two isomeric sugars closely allied-for example, glucose and xylose-one (glucose) may be oxidised in the body or converted into glycogen, whereas the other (xylose) may pass unaltered through the system. All such methods of investigation are to be welcomed by us as tending to aid In the unravelling of pharmacological problems. Yet, although we shall ever strive to combine science with practice, we need not run away with the notion that pharmacology will surely inaugurate the golden era of therapeutics, and enable us to give a satisfactory reason for each medicine we prescribe. In the future, as at present, it will probable always hold true that in order to meet the complex and shifting needs of the daily practice of our profession, pharmacology must be wedded to careful and well-balanced clinical observation, and practical therapeutics not infrequently outruns pharmacology. For, as Dr. Cuming well remarked in his scholarly Presidential Address at the Belfast meeting in i884, " The true dignity as well as the great attraction of our studies lies in their practical usefulness." And Bacon has said: " They be the best physicians, which being learned incline to the traditions of experience, or, being emnpirics, incline to the methods of learning." But here we are constantly made to feel our difficulties and limitations, and the wise doctor is not addicted to boasting of his therapeutic successes. In therapeutics, as in theology, opposite conclusions can be drawn from the same text. What are we to say to such a fact as this ? In the Practitioner some months ago there appeared'a highly interesting series of papers upon pneumonia and its treatment. Yet upon a definite and apparently simple point, namely, the administration of opium in acute pneumonia, two men whose powers of observation have been developed to the highest possible degree by constant exercise for more than half a century, expressed diametrically opposite opinions. While Sir Samuel Wilks announced his firm belief in opium, Sir William Gairdner was of opinion that, in most cases, opium in pneumonia is a remedy to be entirely distrusted, and even severely proscribed.


PURPOSE: The present study involves the preparation of floating microspheres (1) of Famotidine with Ethyl cellulose in the different ratio of drug and polymer. The aimed of Floating microspheres were to achieve an extended retention in the upper GIT (2) which may result in enhanced absorption & thereby improved bioavailability. Famotidine is a non- imidazole blocker of those histamine blocker that mediate gastric secretion. METHODS: Microspheres were prepared using solvent evaporation method (3). RESULTS: The average particle size was found to be 59.85µm. The maximum % yield of the microspheres was found to be 86.05 ±2.74. Powder had good flow property. In-vitro drug release was satisfactory presenting sustained release effect and it is showing good floating ability (>12hrs). CONCLUSION: The concept of floating microspheres can be utilizes the minimized the irritant effect of drug in the stomach by avoiding direct contact with mucosa and increasing gastric residence time (4).


51 Ewing sarcoma is a pediatric bone cancer defined by a chromosomal translocation fusing one of 52 the FET family members to an ETS transcription factor. There have been seven reported 53 chromosomal translocations, with the most recent reported over a decade ago. We now report a 54 novel FET/ETS translocation involving FUS and ETV4 detected in a Ewing sarcoma patient. 55 Here, we characterized FUS/ETV4 by performing genomic localization and transcriptional 56 regulatory studies on numerous FET/ETS fusions in a Ewing sarcoma cellular model. Through 57 this comparative analysis, we demonstrate significant similarities across these fusions, and in 58 doing so, validate FUS/ETV4 as a bona fide Ewing sarcoma translocation. This study presents 59 the first genomic comparison of Ewing sarcoma-associated translocations and reveals that the 60 FET/ETS fusions share highly similar, but not identical, genomic localization and transcriptional 61 regulation patterns. These data strengthen the notion that FET/ETS fusions are key drivers of, 62 and thus pathognomonic for, Ewing sarcoma. 63 64 Implications 65 Identification and initial characterization of the novel Ewing sarcoma fusion, FUS/ETV4, 66 expands the family of Ewing-fusions and extends the diagnostic possibilities for this aggressive 67 tumor of adolescents and young adults. 68 69 70


When a fault occurred on a distribution system, it is isolated. After isolation of the fault, the distribution system can be reconfigured to restore the out-of-service area. The distribution system configuration can be changed by doing switching actions on the feeders. This paper proposes an agentbased approach combined with graph theory for service restoration in smart distribution systems. The proposed multi agent has three different types of agents: feeder agents, zone agents and switch agents. The agents can communicate and cooperate with other agents to supply services to out-of-service customers. Graph theory is used in the proposed agent architecture for making restoration plan. The restoration plan is built during the restoration process considering system conditions, operational constraints and fault location based on local data. Different loading conditions have been considered under different scenarios and the result of proposed multi agent approach for each scenario have been compared. Simulation results show the efficiency of proposed agent architecture. Keywords— Self-Healing; Multi Agent Systems; Service Restoration; Graph Theory; Smart Grid; Distributed Control.


history of sociology in the order named. The divisions suggest roughly the character of the material discussed. The authors have aimed to make the book meet the requirements of a text for college teachers and the needs of the general reader interested in the subject. Each chapter is followed by a small number of references to supplementary reading and a list of questions and exercises. In designing a text for elementary college requirements and the use of the general reader, the authors have done their work well. There is a good deal of illustrative material, concrete and easily understood by the average student, and it is fairly well arranged. This quality of concreteness is a commendable feature. The book does not meet the needs of the advanced student since it contains nothing distinctively new or original. Giddings' definition of sociology is followed pretty closely and some material is borrowed from Ross. The authors make no claim to completeness of treatment. The reader is directed along the general lines of the development of sociology and certain movements of society and the laws which govern them. The book fulfills in a fairly satisfactory way the stated purpose of the authors, which is a useful and timely one. JAMES G. STEVENS. University of Illinois.


. According to Kant, pure intuition is an indispensable ingredient of mathematical proofs. Kant's thesis has been considered as obsolete since the advent of modern relational logic at the end of 19 th century. Against this logicist orthodoxy Cassirer's "critical idealism" insisted that formal logic alone could not make sense of the conceptual co-evolution of mathematical and scientific concepts. For Cassirer, idealizations, or, more precisely, idealizing completions, played a fundamental role in the formation of the mathematical and empirical concepts. The aim of this paper is to outline the basics of Cassirer's idealizational account, and to point at some interesting similarities it has with Kant's and Peirce's philosophies of mathematics based on the key notions of pure intuition and theorematic reasoning, respectively


Silica glasses are important materials for laser application because of high thermal resistance and relatively lower non-linear refraction index than in silicated glasses. A new preparative technique for obtaining silica gel-glasses is presented. This technique permits us to prepare the silica glasses at low temperature. The preparation of silica gel-glasses with a small contamination of OH and CH maoities is possible by baking the samples in F2 or Cl2 atmosphere. The obtained glass rods were then drawn into fibers. The fiber attenuation was measured on 200 micrometer core diameter fibers using the cut-back technique and in agreement with the IEC 875-1 norm. It was found that the new glass has much lower attenuation characteristics at 1.55 micrometer. We believe that optimization of sol-gel processing will completely eliminate water impurity absorption.


Huangqi area is tectonically located in the southeastern end of Yingkou-Kuandian anteclise of Jiao-Liao platform uprise in the east of Sino-Korean paraplatform. The study area belongs to the east of Early Precambrian tectonic division of Eastern Liaoning, where Mesozoic magmatic complex and Paleoproterozoic magmatite and strata occur and Paleoproterozoic Liaohe Group is widely developed. Metamorphic rocks are mainly schist, granulite, leucoleptite, arkose quartzite,calcsilicate rock and marble. The petrochemical characteristics of the metamorphic rocks are as follows: 1)The average content of Si O2 in silicate rocks is 47.32%- 78.6%, generally K2ONa2O; 2)Carbonate rocks are generally rich in Ca and Mg, with Ca OMg O. The metamorphic rocks in Liaohe Group take very similar trace element content, high content of F and Rb and relatively high Clarke values of concentration. The REE average ΣREE of the metamorphic rocks is 205.9×10-6, with average LREE/HREE of 12.8 and δEu of 0.56. The REE distribution pattern is gently gradient to the right, with better differentiation of LREE than that of HREE, enrichment in LREEs and negative Eu and slightly negative Ce anomalies.Combining with the characteristics of protolith formation of Liaohe Group regionally, it is concluded that the study area was a geosyncline tectonic setting in Paleoproterozoic Era, reflecting that Liaohe Group strata formed a complete volcanicsedimentary formation series on the whole.


The genus Bolborhinum Boucomont (Coleoptera: Geotrupidae: Bolboceratinae: Bolboceratini) is revised and now contains eight species: B. geotrupoides (Laporte), B. laesicolle (Fairmaire), B. nasutum (Fairmaire and Germain), B. seai (Martinez), B. shajovskoyi (Martinez), B. tricorne (Solier), B. trilobulicorne new species, and B. tubericeps (Fairmaire). The genus Bolborhinum is redescribed and a key to species in English and Spanish, a checklist, distributional and temporal data, and designation of lectotypes and neotypes are given. All species in the genus are diagnosed and illustrated, and distributional records with maps for all species are included. Additionally, some observations on the natural history of Bolborhinum species are presented. One new synonym is proposed: Bolboceras binasutum Fairmaire and Germain is synonymized under Bolborhinum geotrupoides. Lectotypes are designated for the following species-group names: Bolboceras binasutum Fairmaire and Germain (a junior synonym of Bolborhinum geotrupoides), Bolboceras distinguendum Fairmaire and Germain (a junior synonym of Bolborhinum geotrupoides), Bolboceras laesicolle Fairmaire (now Bolborhinum laesicolle), Bolboceras nasutum Fairmaire and Germain (now Bolborhinum nasutum), Bolboceras tetraodon Redtenbacher (a junior synonym of Bolborhinum tubericeps), Bolboceras tricorne Solier (now Bolborhinum tricorne), and Bolboceras tubericeps Fairmaire (now Bolborhinum tubericeps). Neotypes are designated for the following species-group names: Bolboceras andicola


The genus Xiphophorus is an important model for investigating the etiology and genetics of sunlight‐induced melanoma as well as other cancers. We used immunological techniques to determine the induction, distribution and repair of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPD) and pyrimidine(6‐4)pyrimidone dimers ([6‐4]PD) in different tissues of Xiphophorus signum exposed to ultraviolet‐B light. We found that the (6‐4)PD was induced at 5 to 10‐fold lower frequency than the CPD and that scalation provided considerable photoprotection against both photoproducts. Photoenzymatic repair (PER) was very efficient in X. signum with most of the lesions removed within 20 min; PER of CPD occurred at about twice the rate of (6‐4)PD. Nucleotide excision repair (NER) was much less efficient than PER and the rates of CPD and (6‐4)PD removal were comparable. PER was more efficient in the caudal fin compared to the lateral epidermis; the opposite was true for NER. Although the initial rate of CPD excision was five‐fold faster in the lateral epidermis compared to the caudal fin a considerable amount of residual damage remained in both tissues. The diverse photochemical and photobiological responses observed in X. signum suggest that heritable traits governing deoxyribonucleic acid damage induction and repair may be involved in the susceptibility of other Xiphophorus species to melanomagenesis.


. Let p be a prime different from 3, and (cid:96) be an odd prime different from 3 and p . In terms of generator polynomials, structures of constacyclic codes and their duals of length 3 (cid:96) m p s over F q are established, where q is a power of p . We discuss the enumeration of all cyclic codes of length 3 · 2 s (cid:96) m , that generalizes the construction of [15] (2016), which is the special case of m = 1. In addition, as an application, the characterization and enumeration of all linear complementary dual cyclic codes of length 6 (cid:96) m p s over F q are obtained.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study of seven patients who had elective surgical repairs of a hydrocele was to try to differentiate by microscopy and chemical analysis hyperechoic hydrocele fluid from the more typical anechoic hydrocele fluid.

CONCLUSION
Hyperechoic hydrocele fluid is related to the presence of cholesterol crystals. Cholesterol crystals were noted on microscopic examination in all three patients with hyperechoic hydrocele fluid. No cholesterol crystals were evident in the four patients with typical anechoic hydrocele fluid.


This study is based on the consumer's attitude towards the infomercial and impact of attitude on the purchase decision. Infomercial is a method which is used in the direct response television marketing. Direct response television marketing is direct marketing which is done through television. Therefore, direct marketing and direct response television marketing is mentioned in the first chapter, and consumer behaviour and purchase decision process is mentioned in the second chapter. This study establishes a model which effects the consumer perception towards the infomercial, infomercial shopper's specification, infomercial's content affect of consumer attitude towards the infomercial and consumer attitude towards the infomercial that effects the purchase behaviour, and examined the relationship between eachother. Combination of both qualitative and quantitative research methods are used as research method in this study. Focus groups are applied as the qualitative research and surveys are applied as the quantitative research. The aim is making a contribution to direct marketing, direct response television marketing and infomercial literature with the findings and the model of the research.


BACKGROUND
Dysregulation of HDACs has been associated with tumour development and therefore inhibiting HDAC's have surfaced as promising therapeutic strategy in malignancy.

METHODS
Vorinostat analogues with different biological activities were investigated for underlying structure-activity relationship.

RESULTS
Out of six activities and their multiple QSAR models, HDAC1 and HDAC8 produced statistically fit, stable and predictive linear (MLR) and non-linear (SVM) QSAR models. In case of HDAC1 activity as end point, linear (R2=0.8089, R2 CV=0.7343) and non-linear (R2=0.9801, R2 CV=0.8952) QSAR models turned reliable to investigate SAR. Similarly, HDAC8 activity based linear (R2=0.9454, R2 CV=0.9049) and non-linear (R2=0.9899, R2 CV=0.9232) QSAR models produced statistically improved and stable models.

CONCLUSION
Molecular descriptors derived from 3-D Morse and Radial Distribution Function indices were found to be selective in all the models. These molecular descriptors which encode common SAR among Vorinostat derivatives were evaluated for their potent HDAC inhibition activity.


The sandlands around Qinghai lake were statisticised using,remote sensing technique and geo- graphy information system.The results showed that there were four pieces of continuous sandlands in the area ,two largest sandlands distributed the east and western of lake,the measure of area was 558.038 km~2 and 81.91km~2 respectively.The stabiliby of continuous and uncontinuous sandlands were analyzed,the results showed that the uncontinuous sandlands were less stable that the continuous ones,Finally ,the conforming cause of the sandlands was discussed.


Effective and timely surveillance for Influenza to provide early warning and to predict the outbreak have always been the challenging issue. This study aim to determine the predicting factors associated with the occurrence in clusters of Influenza-Like-Illness and early epidemic. We analyzed the surveillance information during 2012-2014 from Influenza surveillance, Clusters Reporting from Event-Based Surveillance and Outbreak Investigation of the Bureau of Epidemiology, Influenza-Like-Illness (ILI) electronic reporting from hospitals network and Laboratory Influenza Sentinel Network, Department of Medical Science. Findings: Pattern of  clusters followed the seasonal and majority occured during 2 periods: January-February and June-September with minor variation. Regression analysis identified ILI level > 5.00% and proportion of Influenza virus tested positive > 15.00% were significantly and independently associated with the frequency of clusters. The number of clusters increase 2 times when ILI increase from under 4.00% to 7.00% and the proportion of tested positive increase to 15.00-30.00%. The interaction of ILI and proportion of tested positive was observed at the early epidemic. Inter-quartile differences of ILI decrease as the epidemic increased. ILI at 5.00% and proportion of virus positive tested more than 15.00% are optimal early warning signals. ILI is the sensitive indicator for early warning and laboratory surveillance provide specificity. Both variables are useful to monitor the course of epidemic and should be used in national control program and pandemic preparedness.


The binding to confessions in a postmodern era We are experiencing a paradigm shift between Modernism and Postmodernism in almost every sphere of life, and also in the sphere of church and theology. This paradigm shift has far-reaching consequences, especially for churches in the reformed tradition and the practice of reformed theology as far as the binding to the confessions is concerned. From the viewpoint of Postmodernism, there is no absolute truth. This applies also to Scripture. As far as their hermeneutics is concerned, they adhere to the principles of deduction as formulated by Derrida. According to these principles, a text has no intrinsic meaning but rather creates meaning. There is nothing outside the text. This leads to radical relativism. Over against the postmodern view, reformed hermeneutics maintain that Scripture is the infallible Word of God and proclaims everlasting truth. In the confessions this truth is formulated. Confessions belong to the very essence of the church. The binding to the confessions therefore applies to every member as well as all office-bearers and also professors in theology. In this regard there can be no compromise with Postmodernism.


Abstract The practice of including students with disabilities in art education has existed longer than efforts to increase access to general academic instruction. However, most teacher education programs do not offer sufficient coursework or field experiences in training pre-service art teachers to teach students with disabilities. To examine how pre-service art teachers are trained to provide inclusive art instruction, semi-structured interviews were conducted with art education faculty and instructors across six institutions in the Midwest of United States and interview data were systematically analyzed at three levels, including within case, cross case, and conversation. Results indicate that while all programs offer a required course related to special education, exposure to students with disabilities in field experiences is limited and collaboration between art teachers and special education teachers or paraprofessionals is not emphasized. Recommendations for strengthening teacher education programs in teaching art to students with disabilities are offered based on study findings.


This paper examines the ways in which non-graduate clergymen prepared for ordination in the diocese of York, in particular the use of a network of clerical tutors officially approves by the archbishop. It considers the links between these men and larger clerical associations, such as the Elland Clerical Education Society.


Agile and lightweight software based projects have requirements that are not always easily identified because they are not always well developed and documented in the same way large projects are documented. This work presents some aspects that can be included to improve these projects in a semi-structured approach.


UpValve is a fully variable valve actuation (VVA) system, allowing for continuous adaptation of valve opening duration and correlated peak lift throughout the complete engine map. This mechanical approach was already presented on this conference in 2015 [1]. Here an example of application is given, where both intake and exhaust side are equipped with UpValve. The target engine is dedicated for stoichiometric combustion of compressed natural gas (CNG) [2]. On the intake side the VVA system cuts the pumping work at part load thanks to an optimized intake valve closing (IVC) time. In addition, in the higher load area external compression and subsequent intercooling in combination with Miller valve timings reduce charge temperature and knock limitation, gaining the potential for higher BMEP, elevated compression ratio (CR) and/or more downsizing [3]. The exhaust side VVA system controls the flow split to the turbines of an innovative, twostage boost system, supporting both steady-state torque as well as driveability, which are often concerned for heavily downsized engines. This engine and valve train concept was drafted, designed, procured and tested within a challenging time schedule. Currently the full potential is explored on the engine dyno. Subsequently, vehicle tests will complete the project. After outlining the motivation for an innovative CNG application and presenting the project scope the paper will • explain how UpValve works and is tuned for the actual application • describe the necessary modifications on cylinder head and surroundings • show how the challenging package constrains were met • report results of VVA measurements and some initial engine testing.


Background: Moxifloxacin (MFX, M) is currently a second-line antituberculosis drug as initial therapy of pulmonary tuberculosis and one of the main anti-TB drugs in drug-resistant TB, which can kill both intracellular and extracellular Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We started a trial to study the efficacy and safety of the substitution of pyrazinamide and ethambutol with moxifloxacin during the intensive phase of treatment of newly diagnosed susceptive pulmonary tuberculosis. Methods/design: This is a prospective, open, randomized, parallel-controlled, single-center clinical study. The study consists of three phases: a screening period, a treatment period of 6 (or 7) months, and a follow-up period of 1 year. Patients selected for the study will be allocated to the trial group or the control group randomly. The control group will be given six months of a standard regimen(2HRZE/4HR). The trial group will be given a total of six months of treatment with substitution of pyrazinamide and ethambutol with moxifloxacin during the intensive phase(2HRM/4HR). The primary outcome is the rate of adverse outcomes within one year of completion of therapy. The Secondary outcomes include the rate of treatment success at the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th months, the rate of sputum Mtb(Mycobacterium tuberculosis) negative conversion at the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th months, the time of sputum Mtb negative conversion at the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th months, and the number of patients with adverse events within one year of completion of therapy. Comparisons will be performed using two-sided tests with a statistical significance level of 5%.Discussion: This trial will reveal the effectiveness and safety of 2months of use of moxifloxacin instead of pyrazinamide and ethambutol during the intensive phase of treatment for newly diagnosed susceptive pulmonary tuberculosis. If the new regimen including isoniazid, rifampicin and moxifloxacin during the intensive phase of treatment (2HRM/4HR) is no less effective and safe than the standard regimen(2HRZE/4HR), it could be a new alternative treatment for newly diagnosed susceptive pulmonary tuberculosis in the future. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04187469. Registered on 5 December 2019.


Diagnosis: Traumatic aortic rupture. The chest roentgenogram on admission (Fig 1) shows enlargement of the aortic knob, widened mediastinum, and density along the descending aorta. There is a small pneumothorax on the right and bilateral juxtahilar alveolar infiltration characteristic of pulmonary contusion. A chest tube was inserted into the right pleural cavity. After this, a thoracic aortogram was performed through a transfemoral approach (Fig 2). The aortogram shows an irregularity of the aortic margin just beyond the left subclavian artery, representing the site of aortic tear. Immediately distal to this, an elongated false aneurysm filled with contrast medium terminates inferiorly where the aorta resumes its normal caliber. There is a residual right pneumothorax and fluid in the left pleura, probably blood. At operation, a complete tear of the aorta was found, with almost 3 cm of separation between the torn ends. The false aneurysm was walled off by organized blood


Regular expression matching is a key technology in current deep packet inspection. Basic ideas and methodology for storage-oriented regular expressions were introduced. The paper discussed the classification of algorithms,compared the main algorithms,and found out many factors of regular expression syntax that have influence on the algorithms. Finally,the key techniques and the difficulty were explored,and the study made suggestions on the algorithms design in future.


Trust is harmonious strength which economic society needs to develop itself.It is also a problem that is attracted in the area of social sciences.This article will try to put the behavior of the economic man's seeking for profit in the market with constructory interaction of the moral person's rational choice in the bidirectional interactive trusting relationship,by trust credible,trust and each other trusting relationship interaction,discussion trust question and in-depth meaning.


This chapter introduces three types of top-down modeling approaches and two types of bottom-up modeling. These three types of top-down approaches include: single objective programming models for cost- benefit-risk trade-offs; multiobjective decision analysis; and multiattribute decision analysis, all of which may be applied to support-integrated solid waste management (ISWM). The chapter discusses the holistic view of systems analysis for ISWM, which emphasizes possible trade-offs among cost, benefit, and risk criteria as a unique example of multicriteria decision-making (MCDM). It talks about multiobjective decision-making (MODM) with the inclusion of two popular types of models: compromise and goal programming (GP) models. This is followed by a complementary discussion of multiattribute decision-making (MADM). The two types of bottom-up modeling approaches include multiagent decision models and system dynamic models. The former can be formulated to the evaluation of specific ISWM problems. The latter is introduced to delineate the waste flow control.


Abstract Recombinant human IL-4 (rhuIL-4) has been evaluated in a series of preclinical studies. These studies have demonstrated that rhuIL-4 is a very potent cytokine with a wide range of pharmacologic and toxicologic effects. Target systems/organs included the cardiovascular system, liver, spleen, and bone marrow. The incidence and severity of effects correlated strongly with both the dose level and the duration of rhuIL-4 administration. The major dose-limiting toxicities identified included death, cardiac inflammation and necrosis, hepatitis, and hepatic necrosis and occurred at sc doses ≥25 μg/kg/day, while a sc dose of 5 μg/kg/day was the highest tested that did not result in major dose-limiting toxicity. Clinical trials in humans have demonstrated that sc administration of Escherichia coli -derived rhuIL-4 is safe and well tolerated at doses up to and including 5 μg/kg/day and up to 10 μg/kg when administered 3 times/week.


A printhead assembly including a printhead module and a mounting structure is described. The printhead module is mounted on a receiving surface of the mounting structure and includes a first edge and a second edge opposite the first edge. The first and second edges extend beyond edges of the receiving surface by a first distance in a first direction and are positioned between featured edges of the mounting structure in a second direction that is substantially perpendicular to the first direction. Each featured edge includes a first feature protruding from the featured edge by a second distance in the first direction, where the second distance is greater than the first distance. The first features extend beyond the first and second edges of the printhead module. Each featured edge includes a recessed second feature configured to receive a first feature of a neighboring mounting structure.


On May 29, 1926, the writer found several Gomphus nymphs on the muddy bottom of the Credit river at Erindale, Ont. It was on a quiet pond-like part of the river, where there are patches of cat-tails (Typha latifolia L.) and some other emergent plants, but only a few yards below a considerable stretch of shallow rapids.


The photodetection mechanisms in GaAs MESFETs have been investigated by several researchers. The authors have previously performed an in-depth study of the MESFET as an optical detector under constant illumination involving both experimental and theoretical modeling. In this work, they discuss the compressive nature of that photodetection process. Experimental results involving constant illumination, modulated light and pulsed illumination verify the theoretical conclusions. A suggested structure for an RF logarithmic amplifier based on the above phenomenon is presented. >


: This paper proposes a dual-band planar antenna composed of asymmetric dipole elements backed by a conducting re fl ector that is realized by incorporating a LC trap circuit. The proposed antenna achieves the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz dual-band operations for the purpose of WLAN applications. It is shown that the measured gains were 3.0 dBi at 2.44 GHz, 5.3 dBi at 5.25 GHz, and 5.8 dBi at 5.6 GHz, respectively. It is also con fi rmed that this antenna approximately retains a unidirectional property and a superdirectivity as well.


The presented work will provide an overview of 3D microfabrication capabilities enabled by concurrent use of holographic optical tweezers and two-photon lithography in a single system. The hybrid nature of this technique allows for fabrication, manipulation, and assembly of microparticles in 3D. Exploiting these capabilities has enabled fabrication of some unprecedented metamaterials such as engineered microgranular crystals and lattices with embedded strain energy. We also demonstrated in situ characterization of 2PL structures by the means of optical manipulation and image processing.


Abstract Rich collections of foliicolous lichens were made, especially from submontane and montane areas, in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania during the Usambara Rain Forest Research Project expeditions in 1982, 1984 and 1985. An enumeration of the identified species is provided together with taxonomic, ecological and geographical notes. This first part treats 36 species from the Arthoniaceae, Opegraphaceae and all genera with pyrenocarpous ascomata. New records include 14 species for the Usambaras, eight for Tanzania, and three to Africa. Porina sphaerocephaloides sp. nov., widely distributed in the study area, is described.


The lack of an accurate low‐cost technique for real‐time monitoring of ablative therapies such as HIFU has limited its clinical adoption. Ultrasound based monitoring would enable a more widespread usage of HIFU therapy. We have developed an acoustic radiation force (ARF) based technique for controlling the lesion size and placement during HIFU therapy. A series of experiments were performed in excised bovine liver tissue to evaluate the proposed technique. Two different parameters were developed to perform real‐time monitoring of lesions. The first parameter, normalized displacement difference (NDD), is defined as the difference between normalized displacement induced by ARF at the therapy endpoint and a reference determined from the data. This parameter was accurate in determining lesion sizes below 8 mm in diameter as independently determined by histological examination. The lesion dimensions estimated with this noninvasive approach matched histology to within ±2 mm. A second approach was based on the s...


Marriage to a native has a theoretically ambiguous impact on immigrant employment rates. Utilizing 2000 U.S. Census data, this paper empirically tests whether and how marriage choice affects the probability that an immigrant is employed. Results from an ordinary least squares model controlling for the usual measures of human capital and immigrant assimilation suggest that marriage to a native increases an immigrant's employment probability by approximately four percentage points. The estimated impact of marriage to a native increases to 11 percentage points in models which take into account the endogeneity of the intermarriage decision.


Following the pandemic, customers, preference for using e-commerce has accelerated. Since much information is available in multiple reviews (sometimes running in thousands) for a single product, it can create decision paralysis for the buyer. This scenario disempowers the consumer, who cannot be expected to go over so many reviews since its time consuming and can confuse them. Various commercial tools are available, that use a scoring mechanism to arrive at an adjusted score. It can alert the user to potential review manipulations. This paper proposes a framework that fine-tunes a generative pre-trained transformer to understand these reviews better. Furthermore, using "common-sense" to make better decisions. These models have more than 13 billion parameters. To fine-tune the model for our requirement, we use the curie engine from generative pre-trained transformer (GPT3). By using generative models, we are introducing abstractive summarization. Instead of using a simple extractive method of summarizing the reviews. This brings out the true relationship between the reviews and not simply copy-paste. This introduces an element of "common sense" for the user and helps them to quickly make the right decisions. The user is provided the pros and cons of the processed reviews. Thus the user/customer can take their own decisions.


This paper builds a framework of the SOE information disclosure, analyzes the SOE information disclosure system and practices in Australia、Austria and Sweden based on the framework in five aspects, tires to find the international experience, it may provide some suggestion to build and improve SOE information disclosure system in China.


Vehicle Position Detector with GPS Censor and Android Application (Transmitter) is a device that can use as a detector of the vehicle position which has attached this device. Vehicle Position Detector with GPS Censor and Android Application (Transmitter) just need voltage supply in amount of 5 Volt DC to work. This device equipped by a GPS receiver module and GSM/GPRS module. The GPS receiver that already set in this device will continuously receive geographical information from the vehicle position, and will forward it to ATMega16 which is type of microcontroller that furthermore process the data that received by GPS receiver until the position of vehicle knowable. After knowing the vehicle position, that constitute latitude and longitude, GSM/GPRS module will send those information to database which will accommodate the data, until it can accessed by the owner of the vehicle from its own handphone which is installed by a special android application.
Keyword : ATMega16, GPS Receiver, GSM/GPRS Module, database, Android Application.


In this paper, we consider the asymptotic behavior of the solutions for the quantum Zakharov system in one dimension, with the inclusion of phenomenological damping terms in both equations for the envelope electric field and for the density fluctuation. The existence of solutions and attractors are obtained, respectively, in different Sobolev spaces via a prior estimates and the Galerkin method.


Objective To study the changes of the expression of MMP 13 after up-regulated or down-regulated the miRNA146 a in the normal chondrocytes and the middle and late stage of the OA chondrocytes.To explore the role of miRNA 146 a in the development and progression of osteoarthritis.Methods We collected 4 cases of normal cartilage and 12 cases of arthritic cartilage which were divided into middle stage and late stage by Kellgren-Lawrence imaging protocol.Chemical transfection was used in every group of chondrocyes.And we studied the changes of MMP 13 after up-regulating or down-regulating the miRNA146 a chondrocytes.Results The protein expression level of MMP 13 turned out to be up after up-regulating the miRNA 146 a in the normal chondrocytes.The result is stastically significant.The expression of MMP 13 turned out to be down after downregulating.The result was not statistically significant.The protein expression of MMP 13 was higher in the middle stage OA chondrocytes than the late OA stage chondrocytes,and the result was statistically significant.The protein expression level of MMP 13 turned out to be up after up-regulating the miRNA 146 a in late stage of the OA chondrocytes.The result was statistically significant.The protein expression level of MMP 13 turned out to be down after down-regulating the miRNA 146 a in late stage of the OA chondrocytes.The result was stastically significant.Conclusion miRNA 146 a has an effect on the chondrocyte through MMP 13.Thus plays a role in pathology of OA.


The chapter describes how young singers, female and male, can be helped as they traverse times of great vocal challenge. If psychological and emotional needs are not met, it is likely that adolescents will not endure vocal difficulties and will stop singing. Until coordination of the vocal mechanism returns, students must be provided with something to keep them going, to keep them from quitting singing. This chapter focuses on ideas of resolve that are essential to the navigation of voice change; perseverance is explored under the designations of grit, vulnerability, and relentlessness. An additional section considers perseverance in practice and provides strategies for music students and educators to utilize during voice change challenges and beyond.


Based on Kane's method,the dynamic model of parallel manipulators is derived in this paper.Because the velocity of moving platform is used as pseudo-velocity of the dynamic system,the dynamic model is established in the task space.In the case of task space redundancy,the acceleration items of the dynamic model are utilized to optimize the active joint force.According to the inherent characteristic of the parallel manipulators,redundant degrees of freedom in the task space are employed to improve the force transmission performance for optimizing the active joint force.


This article describes the use of symplectic cut-and-paste methods to compute Gromov-Witten invariants. Our focus is on recent advances extending these methods to Kahler surfaces with geometric genus p_g>0, for which the usual GW invariants vanish for most homology classes. This involves extending the Splitting Formula and the Symplectic Sum Formula to the family GW invariants introduced by the first author. We present applications to the invariants of elliptic surfaces and to the Yau-Zaslow Conjecture. In both cases the results agree with the conjectures of algebraic geometers and yield a proof, to appear in [LL1], of previously unproved cases of the Yau-Zaslow Conjecture.


In the consumer's theory, a crucial problem is to determine the substitution effect and the revenue effect in the case of one good price's modifing. There exists two theories due to John Richard Hicks and Eugen Slutsky which allocates differents shares of the total change of the consumption to these effects. The paper makes an analysis between the two effects, considering the general case of an Allen utility function.


This interim evaluation reports on the effect of participation in a complementary health intervention program, the Health Enhancement Lifestyle Program (HELP) conducted at Cedar Court Hospital, Melbourne. The HELP program comprises group processes, yoga, diet, exercise and other physical and existential activities and is supported by the hospital's administration; including its support for staff to attend, advertising of HELP as part of the hospital's marketing activities and the creation of the Department of Complementary Therapies. The evaluation employed a one-group pretest-posttest design using program participants. There was no control group. Of the 80 participants enrolled in HELP, 44 completed both pre- and post-HELP questionnaires. The post-HELP questionnaires were administered three months after HELP. Examination of demographic and pre-HELP questionnaire data showed the follow-up group were not dissimilar to other HELP participants. The health outcome improvements suggested HELP had small to moderate, but significant, therapeutic impacts lasting for at least 3 months post-participation in the areas of general health and illness, vitality, anxiety, hostility, guilt, psychological well-being and health-related quality of life. The data were also suggestive of improvements in social relationships, mental health and overall physical health, although these just failed to reach statistical significance. There appeared to be no impact on participants' physical health status or positive affect. These results are, however, subject to the caveat that participants were well educated, employed in high status professions and were fee-paying. Given these characteristics of participants in this evaluation, it is not known whether the findings can be extrapolated to the general population or whether the impacts noted in this report lead to long-term health improvements. Subject to this caveat, sufficient evidence was found to conclude that the HELP program appeared to be of benefit to participants at three-month follow-up; as shown by significant improvements in the general health, level of illness, vitality and psychological well-being; and significant reductions in negative affect, hostility, guilt and anxiety.


For the HEPPS buffer under investigation, there are seven buffer solutions without NaCl and eight buffer solutions that contain Cl(-) and have an ionic strength (I = 0.16 mol·kg(-1)), which is similar to that of blood plasma. These buffer solutions have been evaluated in the temperature range of (278.15 to 328.15) K using the extended Debye- Hückel equation and the Bates-Guggenheim convention. The previously determined E(j) values have been used to determine the operational pH values of HEPPS buffer solutions at (298.15 and 310.15) K. These are recommended as secondary standard reference solutions for pH measurements in saline media with an isotonic ionic strength of I = 0.16 mol·kg(-1).