Stimulated by imperfect competition/sticky prices framework of the new open economy macroeconomics, empirical research has reconsidered the role of exchange rates in international adjustment. This paper reassesses the link between exchange rates and traded good prices by estimating pricing‐to‐market equations for the five main euro area countries over the period 1990–99. We minimize selection biases by keeping all manufacturing products and all destination markets and show that exchange rate pass‐through (ERPT) is much larger, almost complete, than previously estimated. Thanks to a huge variability in terms of exchange rate variations, products and destination markets, we can map differences in ERPT into market structures and, at the same time, reconcile our results with the empirical literature. We find that ERPT is highly incomplete for sales by oligopolistic industries into advanced economies, indeed in the order of 50–60% as previously estimated. ERPT is instead almost complete in emerging and developing economies where therefore exchange rate movements can help adjust external imbalances. We also find that ERPT is largely asymmetric: it is almost complete after an appreciation of the exporter's currency, rather incomplete after a depreciation. This result is very robust across specifications.


Reports how, in an effort to improve research quality, save time and decrease total costs, many businesses have been turning from discrete, arm's‐length, transactional relationships with a multitude of research suppliers towards long‐term, collaborative relationships with just a few research "partners". Some bank clients believe in the benefits of partnering with one or two marketing research suppliers. Other bank clients are concerned that partnering with researchers will breed complacency, thus increasing research costs and decreasing quality. Attempts to examine the impact of partnering and non‐partnering relationships on the research firms' performance in three areas: service quality, product quality and overall customer satisfaction. Empirical evidence indicates a positive relationship between partnering and increased client satisfaction in all three areas.


Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin film was synthesized using the low processing temperature facing targets sputtering (FTS) system with change in the low and high H2 gas flow rates. In this study, an FTS system was adopted, in which the substrate is significantly less thermally damaged by impinging high-energy particles due to the confining magnetic field between the two facing magnetron sources. To monitor the process condition, the substrate temperature change was monitored and an optical emission spectroscopy (OES) diagnostic was performed. According to the structural property analysis, the grain size and crystallization had not changed significantly at a low H2 flow rate change. The grain size is 15.27–17.97 nm at a low H2 flow regime (O2: 0.4 sccm, H2: 0–1.0 sccm) and 16.85–21.36 nm at a high H2 flow regime (O2: 6 sccm, H2: 0–30 sccm). In optical property analysis, the transmittance is over 87% and the optical band gap increased with blue shift from 3.22 to 3.28 eV at a high flow regime. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed that the OH/ZnOx ratio changed from 0.605 to 0.694 at a low H2 flow regime and from 0.386 to 0.554 at a high H2 flow regime. Sheet resistance changed from 100 to 10-3 MΩ/sq. with an H2 flow rate at a low H2 flow regime and from 107 to 8×10-2 MΩ/sq. with an H2 flow rate at a high H2 flow regime. From the results, it is suggested that the H2 flow rates could act as an effective control of the electrical property of the ZnO thin film.


In this study, we aim to find out the lncRNA biomarker of progressive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). After the comparison of the phase II and phase III gene expression downloaded from Therapeutically Applicable Research to Generate Effective Treatment (TARGET) online database, 112 differentially expressed lncRNAs and 73 differentially expressed miRNAs were screened by edge R package. The regulatory of lncRNA-miRNA was found based on the screened differentially expressed gene by using the mircode database. C20orf166-AS1 was analyzed as a new progressive biomarker by comparing the gene expression in different tumors by cancer cell line encyclopedia website. And the impact on ALL progression was proven by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and kmplot survival curve. Introduction Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is a complicated hematological malignant disease. With the progression of this disease, some gene expression would be out of regulation. It had already known that there was regulatory between some lncRNAs and miRNAs. In this paper, we aimed to find out the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in ALL progression and whether the DEGs were in a regulative relationship. The differentially expressed genes which downloaded from Therapeutically Applicable Research to Generate Effective Treatment (TARGET) database website were screened by edgeR package [1-3]. Regulatory of the differentially expressed lncRNAs (DElncRNAs) and differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) were found by mircode database. And the DElncRNA in the regulatory network were considered to be lncRNA biomarkers of progressive ALL. It was analyzed by cancer cell line encyclopedia (CCLE) and analyzed by survival R package [4]. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) and kmplot survival curve were analyzed based on the selected lncRNA biomarker [5, 6]. Materials and Methods lncRNA Matrix and miRNA Matrix In order to find out the relationship between the typical lncRNA expression and the ALL progression, differentially expressed lncRNAs and differentially expressed miRNAs were screened based on the comparison of ALL phase II and III RNA-seq matrix that downloaded from the online TARGET database. The two phase gene expression data of ALL patients' sample were downloaded from TARGET () that was saved as txt files. The lncRNA expression files were merged into one matrix, and so does the miRNA expression matrix. The relative clinical data was extracted from the clinical data excel file. Information of the downloaded gene data are shown in Table I. International Conference on Modeling, Simulation and Big Data Analysis (MSBDA 2019) Copyright © 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Advances in Computer Science Research, volume 91


Aquaculture production systems in developing countries are largely based on the use of unimproved species and strains. As knowledge and experience are accumulated in relation to the management, feeding and animal health issues of such production systems, the availability of genetically more productive stock becomes imperative in order to more effectively use resources. For instance, there is little point in providing ideal water conditions and optimum feed quality to fish that do not have the potential to grow faster and to be harvested on time, providing a product of the desired quality. Refinements in the production system and improvement of the stock used must progress hand in hand. In this paper we deal separately with genetic and non-genetic issues pertaining to the multiplication and dissemination of improved strains. The separation is somewhat arbitrary, and as will be evident from our discussion, there is frequent interaction between the two.


Preferential and lateral subsurface flow (LSF) may be responsible for the accelerated transport of water and solutes in sloping agricultural landscapes; however, the process is difficult to observe. One idea is to compare time series of soil moisture observations in the field with those in lysimeters, where flow is vertically oriented. This study aims at identifying periods of deviations in soil water contents and pressure heads measured in the field and in a weighing lysimeter with the same soil profile. Wavelet coherency analysis (WCA) was applied to time series of hourly soil water content and pressure head data (15‐, 32‐, 60‐, 80‐, and 140‐cm depths) from Colluvic Regosol soil profiles. The phase shifts and periodicities indicated by the WCA plots reflected the response times to rain events in the same depth of lysimeter and field soil. For many rain events and depths, pressure and moisture sensors installed in the field soil responded earlier than those in the lysimeter. This could be explained by either vertical preferential flow or LSF from upper hillslope positions. Vice versa, a faster response in the lysimeter soil could be indicative for vertical preferential flow effects. Dry weather conditions and data gaps limited the number of periods with elevated soil moisture in 2016–2018, in which LSF was likely to occur. The WCA plots comprise all temporal patterns of time shifts and correlations between larger data time series in a condensed form to identify potentially relevant periods for more detailed analyses of subsurface flow dynamics.


The system of Robot soccer simulation game is the excellent platform. With the help of it,the intelligent algorithm is applied to the strategy design of simulation team and validate the feasibility of algorithm by competing with each other. In fact,kinds of intelligent algorithm are used widely to the design of team's fundamental action. Passing ball is one of the basic actions and impacts directly the team's entire efficiency. Since the environment of simulation game is a real-time,dynamic and interfered environment,it is difficult to establish an accurate physical model for the action of passing ball. In view of the ineffective of passing ball based on the past algorithm,the paper gives a new method of passing ball,which integrates the adaptive genetic algorithm and RBF Neural Network in passing ball,namely,using the adaptive genetic algorithm to optimize the structure parameter of RBF Neural Network. It enhances the network learning capability and improves global search efficiency of network. The experiment shows that the success rates of passing ball with RBF Neural Network optimized by adaptive genetic algorithm is improved greatly.


A trend in the global technological progress in the last few decades is the development of microsystem technology, microelectromechanical systems and corresponding technologies. Fluid mixing is an extremely important process widely used in various microfluidic devices (chemical microreactors, chemical and biological analyzers, drug delivery systems, etc.). To increase the mixing rate, it is necessary to use special devices: micromixers. This paper presents the results of a hydrodynamic simulation of Y-shaped micromixers. Flows are analyzed for both low and moderate Reynolds numbers. The passive and active mixers are considered. The dependence of the mixing efficiency on the Reynolds and Peclet numbers, as well as the possibility of using the hydrophobic and ultra-hydrophobic coatings is analyzed. Five different flow regimes were identified: (1) stationary vortex-free flow (Re 400). The maximum mixing efficiency was obtained for stationary asymmetric vortex flow.


Abstract:In a neglected passage from his sixth "How to Define" draft (1910), Peirce offers a brief argument defending the practice of infant baptism. I explain what the controversy of infant baptism was and examine Peirce's defense of it.


This contribution suggests probable genetic connection between
mafic (lamprophyric) and felsic (granitoid) magmatism during
formation of Hercynian post-collisional granitoid pluton.


We present a new vacuum solution of Einstein's equations describing the near horizon region of two neutral, extreme (zero-temperature), co-rotating, non-identical Kerr black holes. The metric is stationary, asymptotically near horizon extremal Kerr (NHEK), and contains a localized massless strut along the symmetry axis between the black holes. In the deep infrared, it flows to two separate throats which we call "pierced-NHEK" geometries: each throat is NHEK pierced by a conical singularity. We find that in spite of the presence of the strut for the pierced-NHEK geometries the isometry group SL(2,R)xU(1) is restored. We find the physical parameters and entropy.


Objective: To assess Quality of life (QoL) and its associated factors in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) who taking highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in Wangaya Hospital in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during February 2019 to January 2020 at Wangaya Hospital in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. QoL was assessed using the five-level version of the EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L), EQ-5D index value, and the EuroQol visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS). The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software package version 26.0. Bivariate analysis was tested using the cross-tabulation Gamma, Kruskal-Wallis and post hoc Mann-Whitney test. P value<0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results: A total of 584 PLWHA took HAART for at least 3 mo. The median index value and EQ-VAS were 1.0 (range-0.514–1.0) and 100.00 (range 30-100), respectively. Most patients had problems in 'anxiety/depression' and 'pain/discomfort' domains. Predictors of better QoL included men, married, good adherence, and treatment duration>24 mo (p<0.05). Predictor of poorer QoL included an advanced HIV clinical stage(p=0.001).
Conclusion: The QoL scores of PLWHA receiving HAART in our study were high; hence the QoL of PLWHA was good. The good QoL can be taken as the goal for HIV treatment in order to have a successful HAART therapy.


This paper introduces a framework for behavior modeling of software agents using the Robot Operating System. We developed a framework to simplify behavior design and model conventional software agent design principles as known for example from belief desire intention BDI agents or adaptive agents. We provide a toolbox that is capable of supporting the developer with easy to implement methods written in python. Finally we present two brief example applications and evaluations in both simulation and using a social automated transport vehicle for intralogistical processes.


Surgery as a single modality for the treatment of brain metastases (BrM) results in local recurrence (LR) in 60% of patients. These failure rates are reduced by half with post-operative radiotherapy. The non-invasive nature of BrM has led to the assumption that local recurrence is caused by spillage of cancer cells into the surgical cavity at the time of surgery. We present evidence suggesting that invasion of metastatic cancer cells into the adjacent brain is present in the majority of BrM and is associated with LR, leptomeningeal metastasis (LM), and overall survival (OS).

 We assessed the histopathological growth pattern (HGP) of 164 surgically resected BrM. HGP was correlated with LR, LM and OS. Single-cell transcriptomics (scRNAseq) was performed on 15,615 cells from metastasis center (MC) and surrounding brain (SB) adjacent to the tumor. N=30 orthotopic patient-derived xenograft models (OPDX) were established from BrM.

 56/164 (34%) BrM specimens showed a minimally invasive (MI) HGP between the tumor and adjacent brain while 108/164 (66%) showed significant invasion of tumor lobules or single-cells into the brain (HI-HGP). HI-HGP was associated with LR, LM and shortened OS in BrM patients. scRNAseq identified abundant cancer cells in SB that overexpressed pathways and genes involved in cell survival and stress adaptation compared to matched cancer cells in MC. Validation of these targets with immunohistochemistry in patient and OPDX tissues revealed cold-inducible RNA binding protein (CIRBP) overexpression in HI-HGP patient and OPDX BrM. Modulation of CIRBP expression in OPDX and cell line models of HI-HGP BrM delayed BrM progression and extended OS.

 HI-HGP is a poor prognostic indicator in patients with surgically resected BrM, establishing HGP as an important prognostic factor that should be considered by clinicians treating BrM patients. We identify CIRBP as a functional mediator of this process.


IT professionals need to have the technical skills to practice their profession but in order to improve their career prospects in their working environment, they should also cultivate their soft skills to interact effectively with others and manage efficiently projects and teams. This paper highlights the process that was followed for the design and delivery of a VET training program on specific soft skills for IT professionals within the framework of SEnDIng project. It provides details about the different phases of the training cycle that were followed, adopting the ADDIE model, to design and deliver a 20h program that addresses the needs of IT professionals in soft skills specialized in the domains of Internet of Things and Data Science.


Process-based thinking commonly focuses on enhancing the efficiency of processes, while it is often criticized for not paying enough attention to the customer. This paper argues that customer complaint information can be used as a basis for customer-focused process improvement. Thus, it is not enough to make the complaining customer satisfied, but the complaint information should also feed back to the actual processes where the fault causing the complaint arose and where it can be removed. The empirical component of the study includes the development of a novel construction to utilize customer complaints for process improvements, which was implemented in a large Finnish enterprise operating in the wholesale logistics environment. The results show benefits at both operational and strategic levels.


ABSTRACT Second chambers frequently form part of national institutional configurations, but their impact on policy making can vary from negligible to all-important veto players. The standard approach is to assess their importance via two dimensions: formal powers and compositional differences vis-à-vis the first chamber. In this paper, we conceptualise a third dimension: the legitimacy of second chambers. We subsequently measure the strength of second chambers in 14 countries and develop a new index of bicameralism. Running several quantitative analyses with a total sample of 29 OECD countries, we show how this index is significantly correlated to lower state intervention in the economy and greater regional autonomy.


This paper investigates whether overt wh-movement in Korean, a wh-in-situ language, triggers Subjacency violations in the same set of bounding configurations as English. Yoon (2013) and Jung (2015) showed that Korean wh-islands display Subjacency effects, and we ask whether the Complex NP and Coordinate Structure Constraints are also observed. We find that they are not. We propose that this is because Korean nominal expressions need not project DP. Our analysis supports previous accounts of Korean nominal structure (Kim et al. 2010), which suggest (based on optionality of determiners) that "Korean NP structure is non-configurational or lacks the category D."


In the past decade, parity-time (PT) symmetric quantum Hamiltonian systems have received a great amount of research attention [1, 2], since it was shown that a non-Hermitian Hamiltonians can exhibit an entirely real eigenspectrum, provided that the system is invariant under combined operations of parity (P) and time-reversal (T) symmetry. Although the PT symmetry concept in quantum systems is still under intensive debate, its optics and acoustics analogues can be readily realized by exploiting the formal similarities between the Schrödinger and Helmholtz equations. Optics has emerged as the most versatile platform for studying the PT-symmetric system, since the spatially-modulated distributions of optical gain (e.g., laser) and loss (i.e., optical absorber) are technologically viable. In this talk, we will present a PT-symmetric system in the terahertz (THz) domain, by using the optically-pumped, active graphene metasurface [3, 4] paired with a resistive metallic filament. This PT-symmetric system can achieve an exotic, unidirectional reflectionless propagation of THz waves. The amplified stimulated THz emission and tailored plasmon resonances in the graphene metasurface may effectively realize an equivalent negative-resistance converter at THz and far-infrared wavelengths. By tailoring the geometry of graphene metasurface, the gain, loss, and reactive power can be perfectly balanced in the vicinity of the exceptional point between PT-symmetric and PT-broken phases. Furthermore, we show that the combination of the spectral singularity in a PT-symmetric system and the chemical sensitivity of graphene [5] may lead to exotic scattering responses at the spontaneous PT symmetry-breaking point. At such critical frequency, even a low-level chemical doping may dramatically modulate scattering properties of a graphene-based PT-symmetric sensor, with much higher sensitivity compared to those passive graphene-metasurface micro/nano-sensors. The propose metasurface device may have broad relevance beyond the extraordinary manipulation of THz waves, as it may also open exciting prospects for detecting gas, chemical, and biological agents with ultrahigh sensitivities.


The moon of the near-Earth binary asteroid 65803 Didymos is the target of the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission. This mission is a joint concept between NASA and ESA to investigate the effectiveness of a kinetic impactor in deflecting an asteroid. The mission is composed of two components: the NASA-led Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) that will impact the Didymos moon, and the ESA-led Asteroid Impact Monitoring (AIM) mission that will characterize the Didymos system. In order to provide AIDA constraints on the physical character of the both objects in this binary system, we undertook preliminary numerical investigations to evaluate the stability of the shape of the primary using its rapid 2.26 h rotation. We modeled the primary as a rubble pile. Each model consisted of thousands of uniform rigid spheres collapsed together under their own gravity to form a spherical pile that was then carved to match the current radar-derived shape model of the primary, as well as other comparable shapes (e.g. asteroid 1999 KW4, spheres) that were scaled to match best estimates of the size of Didymos. Each model was given a starting rotation period of 6 h with the spin axis aligned to the pole. At each timestep the spin rate was increased by a small amount so that after about 1 million timesteps the spin would match the observed rotation of 2.26 h. We tested a range of bulk densities spanning the current observational uncertainty (mean 2.4 g/cc) using "gravel"-like material parameters that provide significant resistance to sliding and rolling. We find that at the upper range of the density uncertainty it is possible for Didymos to hold its shape and not lose mass at its nominal rotation period, without the need for cohesive forces. At lower densities or with smoother particles, significant shape change occurs and mass loss is possible. We conclude that based on the radar shape available at the time of this writing, Didymos is marginally stable as a rubble pile with bulk density close to 3 g/cc. Revisions to the radar shape in process may allow for stability at lower bulk densities without cohesion. These results suggest that the moon of Didymos may also not be heavily influenced by cohesion.


In general, high grade gliomas have a dismal prognosis. However, recent advances in disease classification, surgical
 treatment, and adjuvant therapy have increased the overall survival of this patient population. While a significant
 number of resources is used to improve treatment for high grade gliomas, there are few advancements in technology
 development towards an accurate non-invasive assessment of response to these therapeutic modalities. The advent of
 new treatment modalities and especially the increasing number of immunotherapy clinical trials for high grade
 gliomas necessitate the development of new approaches for accurate and timely assessment of treatment response in
 brain tumors. Conventional MRI assessment of response to immunotherapy is inadequate to guide treatment leading
 to a high number of surgical procedures for definitive assessment. In this review, we are outlining the evolution of
 imaging criteria as well as the advancements in imaging technology and computational analysis to address the
 challenges of disease monitoring in the setting of immunotherapy for high grade gliomas. We give particular
 emphasis on radiomics, a new field on image analysis that algorithmically assesses a large number of imaging features
 for an accurate diagnosis.


Introduction: Dyspepsia is a common gastrointestinal (GI) condition around the world. Dyspepsia is a symptom complex that includes a variety of upper GI symptoms such as epigastric pain or burning, early satiety, and post-prandial fullness. Treatment with complementary and alternative medicines, particularly herbal remedies, is one option for treating dyspepsia symptoms. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to evaluate the effectiveness of ginger tea on symptoms of dyspepsia among adults Methods: A one-group pre-test and post-test research design with 30 samples who met the inclusion criteria was used. Demographic and clinical data were collected using a self-structured questionnaire. During the pre-test, a questionnaire (LDQ) was used to assess the severity of dyspepsia symptoms using an interview method. Following the pre-test, 100ml of freshly prepared ginger tea was given once a day, seven days a week, in the morning before meals. The same tool was used for the post-test after seven days of ginger tea administration. Data has been subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics Result: During the pre-test, 13(43.33 %) of the 30 samples had moderate dyspepsia, 9(30%) had severe dyspepsia, and 8(26.67%) had mild dyspepsia, whereas in the post-test, 14(46.67%) had moderate dyspepsia, 12(40%) had mild dyspepsia, and 4(13.33%) had severe dyspepsia. Ginger tea is effective when the pre-test and post-test values are compared. At the p<0.001 level, the calculated paired 't' test value of t = 9.104 was found to be statistically highly significant. Demographic variables such as marital status and clinical variables such as dyspepsia duration and smoking history show a significant association with post-test dyspepsia level at p<0.05. Conclusion: According to the study findings, the overall pre-test symptom score was mild to moderate. The post-test symptom score of dyspepsia patients who were given ginger tea showed a significant reduction in symptom severity. It was concluded that ginger had a greater impact on symptom relief in dyspepsia patients than other foods.


The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the benefits of using multiterminal DC links in distribution systems. A three level control strategy is considered to obtain an optimal power flow and to improve the voltages transient behavior. Analysis and simulations are carried out over a medium voltage benchmark distribution network from IEEE/CIGRE. Power losses reduction and improved voltage profiles can be obtained by an adequate control of the power flows. Two transient analysis showing the fault ride through capability and voltage sag mitigation are performed. In addition a scaled experimental setup is used to validate simulation results.


Light scattering was used to study nucleation in a quenched binary mixture exposed to a uniform shear. Shear deforms and ruptures droplets once they have grown to sufficient size. In the resulting steady state, the droplets are monodisperse in size. A plot or the cloud point line exhibits two segments or different slopes with a crossover near the temperature corresponding to the Becker-Doring limit. An energy-based argument explains a number or our observations


This paper aims to develop a stochastic model (SM_EID_IOT) for estimating the inundation depths and associated 95% confidence intervals at the specific locations of the roadside water-level gauges, i.e., Internet of Things (IoT) sensors under the observed water levels/rainfalls and the precipitation forecasts given. The proposed SM_EID_IOT model is an ANN-derived one, a modified artificial neural network model (i.e., the ANN_GA-SA_MTF) in which the associated ANN weights are calibrated via a modified genetic algorithm with a variety of transfer functions considered. To enhance the reliability and accuracy of the proposed SM_EID_IOT model in the estimations of the inundation depths at the IoT sensors, a great number of the rainfall induced flood events as the training and validation datasets are simulated by the 2D hydraulic dynamic (SOBEK) model with the simulated rain fields via the stochastic generation model for the short-term gridded rainstorms. According to the results of model demonstration, Nankon catchment, located in northern Taiwan, the proposed SM_EID_IOT model can estimate the inundation depths at the various lead times with high reliability in capturing the validation datasets. Moreover, through the integrated real-time error correction method integrated with the proposed SM_EID_IOT model, the resulting corrected inundation-depth estimates exhibit a good agreement with the validated ones in time under an acceptable bias.


Browsing to identify frame contents in a large collection of videoclips is tedious and time consuming if annotation or indexes are lacking. This paper presents a novel approach for presenting relationships among videoclips in a space-time aware manner, using a structure we call a VideoWeb. To construct such a VideoWeb, each individual clip is parsed into structural elements in accordance with its semantic meaning. Spatio-temporal correlations are then inferred among clips, based on structural similarity, in a whole-to-part manner. These correlations result in a set of strong relationships linking temporal sequence and spatial views, and weak relationships of spatial co-occurrence; both are graphically represented on a navigation board. Visualizing connectivity among clips provides clues enabling users to easily browse the videoclip collection in a purposeful manner. A VideoWeb faithfully represents the relationships among the videoclips, and it can be interactively manipulated to explore clips in a collection. Experimental results and user studies show that our approach can greatly facilitate browsing of a videoclip collection.


The subsolidus phase relationships in the ZnO–InO1.5–SnO2 system were investigated at 1275°C using X-ray diffraction. Each of the end members of the ternary diagram is a transparent conducting oxide. There are two substantial solid solutions in the ternary phase space, the bixbyite solid solution In2−2xZnxSnxO3 (x=0–0.40), and the indium substituted zinc stannate spinel, Zn(2−x)Sn(1−x)In2xO4 (x=0–0.45). The bixbyite solid solution is an outstanding TCO, whereas the spinel is only moderately conducting. Along the ZnO–InO1.5 binary, there is a series of transparent conducting homologous compounds (ZnO)k·In2O3 (where k=3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11). Within ternary phase space, these homologous compounds were found to exhibit negligible Sn solubility, and were always found to be compatible with the spinel. Equilibrium was difficult to achieve in the phase space between the homologous series compounds and the spinel, owing to sluggish kinetics. A procedure involving mixtures of prereacted spinel and the Zn11In2O14 (k=11) compound was developed, which allowed for more rapid approach to thermodynamic equilibrium, thereby allowing for the establishment of phase relationships near the ZnO corner of the phase diagram.


The use of biological products based on effective strains of microorganisms with a range of useful properties is one of the aspects of biological farming. The long-term field experiments were conducted in the soil and climatic conditions of the Crimea. А positive effect of the combined use of mineral fertilizers (NPK calculated at P30) and pre-sown inoculation of seeds (biopreparation based on L. nimipressuralis CCM 32-3) on the yield and quality of winter wheat grain was shown. The increase in grain productivity of winter wheat by 31 % compared to control (on average for 3 years) and grain quality indicators: protein and gluten – up to 12.5% and 28.0 % (in the control 9.9% and 19.2%, respectively) was revealed.


This note is intended to clarify an issue that has been raised regarding one section of a recent paper by this writer [Hillier, Frederick S. 1963. The derivation of probabilistic information for the evaluation of risky investments. Management Sci. 9 (3, April) 443-457.]. This issue concerns the proposed method for calculating the cumulative distribution function of internal rate of return. The most relevant passages from the paper follow.


CEO compensation in U. S. based companies has undergone considerable scrutiny in recent years. Among the common observations are that U. S. executives are highly paid relative to those of other countries and that the disparities in compensations are increasing over time. In this study, we investigate the effects that backdated stock options, compensation committee structure and process, and ownership factors have on levels or executive compensation. Combining agency and organizational theory perspectives, we find CEO compensation positively associated with the presence of backdated stock options, few large-block stockholders, and small compensation committees.


Research has indicated that the attitudes of teachers are often reflected in their students.1 If so, then what are the attitudes that potential community consumer educators may pass on to the people in their localities?

Is there a relationship between their knowledge of consumer rights and responsibilities, and their opinions and behaviours? The knowledge, opinions and behaviours concerning consumer rights and responsibilities of community consumer educators may be reflected in their effectiveness in conducting community programs. Are they knowledgeable of their consumer rights and responsibilities? Do their own reported marketplace behaviours support their attitudes, or are they different? This study was designed to seek answers to these and related questions.2


Nowadays, the information processing system plays crucial part in the internet's. Online information security has become the top priority in all different sectors. Failing to provide online information security may cause loss of critical information or someone may use or distribute such information for malicious for various purpose. Recently QR barcodes have been used as an effective way to securely distributing information. This paper presents the survey on information hiding techniques which can share high security information over network using QR barcode.


a new type of data transmission technology SDSL(symmetric digital subscriber line)that communicates digital signals by symmetric digits and subscribers' dot-to-dot wideband is introduced;This transmission technology has a maximum speed of 1.5Mb/s,when using a telephone line makes a two-way symmetric digital signal transmission.A coalmine multimedia emergency rescue system is developed by applying SDSL technology.The composition,function and traits of this system are detailed.This system can achieve the timely transmission of multimedia data from disaster area in coalmine,and solve the difficulty to transmit the video and audio data about disaster to underground rescue base,ground control center and national mine rescue commanding center under the special environment of mine.


Machine learning (ML), and supervised learning in particular, can be used to learn what makes it hard for a network to be feasible and try to predict whether a network configuration will be feasible without executing a conventional schedulability analysis. A disadvantage of ML-based timing verification with respect to schedulability analysis is the possibility of "false positives": configurations deemed feasible while they are not. In this work, in order to minimize the rate of false positives, we propose the use of a measure of the uncertainty of the prediction to drop it when the uncertainty is too high, and rely instead on schedulability analysis. In this hybrid verification strategy, the clear-cut decisions are taken by ML, while the more difficult ones are taken by a conventional schedulability analysis. Importantly, the trade-off achieved between prediction accuracy and computing time can be controlled. We apply this hybrid verification method to Ethernet TSN networks and obtain, for instance in the case of priority scheduling with 8 traffic classes, a 99% prediction accuracy with a speedup factor of 5.7 with respect to conventional schedulability analysis and a reduction of 46% of the false positives compared to ML alone.


The study of spatial thinking and knowledge in medieval Scandinavia and its development as an area of enquiry are hampered by a dearth of information on place names in East Norse compared to West N ...


Knowing consumer preferences on the demand of different products is the key to success for different businesses. Different customers have different preferences regarding the demand for goods and services. Factors affecting demand determine the quantity required for a good. Some of these factors are: sales price, consumer income, consumer preferences, consumer forecasts for the future, substitute and complementary goods prices, etc. By knowing and analyzing these factors well we are able to determine consumer choices for goods and services. In this paper we will analyze how some of the factors determining demand affect apple consumption. The study refers to a survey conducted for casual consumers in the Tirane area on the preferences and quantities consumed by this product.


This paper examines permanent teeth hardness (microhardness) using the Vickers method. An original methodology was developed and adopted for preparing the experimental material, i.e. the cross sections into four characteristic locations on the tooth: corona dentis, cervix dentis, pars medialis radicis dentis and apex radicis dentis. A new 'hardness profile' was introduced, which connects hardness and location along the cross section of the tooth. Hardness was measured 664 times on experimental cross sections with total a average hardness of 73.17 HV according to Vickers and a standard deviation of 55.68 HV. The derived descriptive statistical indicators of tooth hardness were calculated for equivalent cross sections, individual teeth, teeth groups and tooth localizations. Two algorithms were developed for determining the rank of tooth hardness - one for estimating the rank of arithmetic mean of the hardness of the cross sections of the teeth, and the other for estimating the rank of hardness for individual teeth. .


FIELD: electricity. SUBSTANCE: group of inventions relates to device for generation of electric current by non-contact way, lighting system and bicycle equipped with above lighting system. Device contains responding element and rotary element. Rotary element comprises magnet and winding. Rotary element is configured to generate magnetic field in working position caused by eddy currents in electric-conductive reacting element forming continuous circular path to allow at continuous displacement of reacting element and rotor element relative to each other in reacting element inducing eddy currents is continuously against each other and opposite directed magnetic fields. Under action of formed this way magnetic eddy current interaction of rotary element is made with possibility of movement together with responding element. Lighting system comprises above described device for generation of electric current and one lighting facility, which is electrically connected to winding. EFFECT: simplified and cheaper design. 22 cl, 10 dwg


On March 9, 1993, in the first ruling of its kind, the Maryland Court of Appeals declared that physicians and hospitals may be sued for failing to inform patients of a practitioner's human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status. What is more significant, these suits may be pursued even in instances when the physician has followed universal precautions and the patient did not contract the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The Maryland court addressed two central questions in Faya v. Almaraz. First, do HIV-infected physicians have a legal duty to inform their patients of their HIV status? And, second, can patients recover damages for fear induced by a physician's conduct? While one finds numerous precedents that authorize actions to recover damages based purely on fear of disease and emotional distress, the Faya court's holdings on the issue significantly expand the scope of potential liability. Moreover, the court's analysis of the informed consent and HIV-infected physician issue is incomplete, inconsistent, and represents an unjustified and unwise departure from traditional informed consent theory. It, and its progeny, may have widespread and dire repercussions.


This study reports on an investigation of the potential of Concept Based Language Instruction (C-BLI) for enhancing EFL learners' understanding of the concept of tense/aspect in English and their use of associated forms; past simple, past continuous, and present perfect. C-BLI was compared to a grammar presentation approach based on the Presentation-Practice-Production (PPP) model. Participants included 45 adult learners of L2 English from an Algerian University. Drawing on a pre-, post-, delayed post-test research design the study revealed the effectiveness of C-BLI over PPP for improving the participants' understanding of the concept of tense/aspect as well as their use of the three target forms.


Objective: To explore the feasibility of observing hemodynamics on ischemia/reperfusion(I/R) rat heart model in vivo by studying the changes of hemodynamics,myocardial zymogram and electrocardiogram. Methods: Twenty SD rats were randomly divided into 2 groups(n=10)(IR group and control group).The left anterior descending coronary artery was ligated or left untouched,a catheter was put into the left ventricle to trace the pressure change index and peak pressure of left ventricle,and to record ST segment changes of ECG.At the end of experiment,the levels of myocardial zymogram were determined.The results of two groups were compared. Results: Compared with control group,IR group showed reduced dp/dt max,declined LVSP,raised ST segment in ECG,and elevated myocardium zymogram. Conclusion: Our I/R rat heart model in vivo is feasible and stable to explore the cardiac hemodynamics.


AIMS: To Correlate Breast Parenchymal Densities among Northern Women who attended Clinic Screening in relation to age and Parity. Study design: Retrospective study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Human Anatomy College of Medical Sciences University of Maiduguri and Department of Radiology, University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), between July 2010 and March 2011. Methodology: Parenchymal densities of Screened mammograms were assessed visually on both cranio-caudal and medio-lateral oblique views. The documented parenchymal densities were categorised using BIRADS categorization based on the 'BR' technique used in Department of Radiology, University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH). The 'BIRADS' technique involves four values given to a mammogram depending on its density. BR1 – Predominantly Fatty; BR2 – Scattered Fibro glandular Densities BR3 – Heterogenously Dense; BR4 – Very Dense Breast Tissue The subcutaneous and retromammary fat regions in each breast were excluded during the determination of dense tissue. In patients with asymmetric tissue, breast with greater density was categorized. For each patient, benign or probably benign calcifications were not recorded. Results: Parenchymal density on mammograms decreased progressively from the age cohort of 25-29 years old in which 38% had predominantly fatty breasts through the cohort of 75-79 years old, in which 100% had predominantly fatty breasts. In cohort of 40-44 years, 32% had scattered fibro glandular densities. In cohort of 45-49 years, 31% of patient had scattered parenchymal densities. Five or more pregnancies were associated with predominantly fatty breasts in 34 women compared with null parity or one pregnancy. Conclusion: Younger age and fewer than two pregnancies are significantly associated with, but not highly predictive of increased parenchymal density on mammograms. Significant percentages (38%) of women 25-29 years old have predominantly fatty breast tissue on mammograms that should not impede selective mammographic screening or diagnostic effort in this age group. Further investigations could be carried out with other parameters such as benign or malignant calcifications seen on mammographs so as to predict and prevent breast cancer at early stage.


The last Merapi volcano eruption in 26 April 2006 begun since lava dome was formed and the peak occurred in 14 June 2006 when the hot avalance could reach 7 km towards Kali Gendol (Gendol river). Merapi eruption 2006 direction has changed from South West (since 1961) to South East (i.e. Kali Gendol).
The objectives of this paper were to describe the changes of hazard status of the Southern-South eastern Merapi volcano due to the 26th April 2006; (2) to evaluate the risk of some populated areas in the Southern-South eastern Merapi volcano; (3) to formulate the recommendation for settlement improvement as well as the master plan in the stu.dy area.
Thmethod applied to achieved the objectives were including the satellite imageries interpretation, new topographic map interpretation, current landuse status evaluation, and field check. The data were evaluated and analyzed descriptively based on the spatial arrangement of hazard - risk status and settlement area.
This changes affect the potential hazard at South - South East district covered Kali Gendol, Kali Kuning, and Kali Boyong. The villages are only 4 km distance from the eruption center, and the higher population factor would increase the risk. To minimise the ri sk of volcanic hazard in future, it is really needed to rearrange the master plan at South - South East district


Economists have applied the methodology of information economics and contract theory (mechanism design) to problems in procurement and regulation. With the standard adverse selection and moral hazard components, the principal should offer a menu of incentive contracts from which the employed firm (agent) will select a contract that reveals its hidden information. In reality, such menus are not observed. Researchers in engineering management have also studied the costs and benefits of alternative contractual arrangements. In this literature, time to completion, project complexity, construction change orders, and risk management are the fundamental problems in the contracting environment. A central conclusion is that "cost-plus" contracts minimize total completion time, while "fixed-price" contracts minimize total project costs. We develop a parsimonious model that formalizes these results and shed new light on the procurement process.


The two systems c(2 x 2)0/Cu(001) and (..sqrt..2 x 2 ..sqrt..2) R45/sup 0/ O/Cu(001) have been studied by normal photoelectron diffraction (NPD), with the use of O(1s) line. In the c(2 x 2) structure oxygen occupies the fourfold hollow site, with d/sub perpendicular/ = 0.80(5) A. The ..sqrt..2 x 2 ..sqrt..2 structure has a similar NPD curve, indicating the same local site geometry for the c(2 x 2) sublattice.


A new taxonomic status may be supported by significant morphological characters for the populations of the Cnemidophorus lacertoides species group scattered on the eastern emboss ments of the Sierras de Córdoba, from Tolumba to the Punilia department. The northermost .Argentine populations of Cnemidophorus lacertoides Dumérii & Bibron 1839 may be indicated for the Achiras hills west of Rio Cuarto northwards. Beyond the Sierra of Tolumba a dry, Chacoan area, widely colonized by Cnemidophorus ocellifer, appears as an extensive ecological barrier separating our Cnemidophorus sp. nov. from the northernmost populations of Cnemidophorus lacertoides reported by Peracca as C. leachei (1897).


Accepted logistics theory states that short lead times are consistent with high accuracy of customer service and low levels of inventory. Yet global or theatre based manufacturing strategies are lengthening lead times, extending supply chains and increasing risk of both excessive inventory and poor customer service. Logistics strategies to manage the conflicting interests of manufacturing and marketing and distribution have proved difficult to evolve. Strategic Lead Time Management is a computer modelling approach designed to identify and maximize the value added: cost added ratio in supply chain design. It is based on simulating the relationship between organisational process and procedure and the flow of inventory through the supply chain. This paper describes the approach and the results that can be achieved.


We are three Master of Arts students from the Everyday Design Studio at Simon Fraser University's School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT). We are looking to understand how to design with appropriation through the perspective of defamiliarization. As part of our research we extend existing work around defamiliarziation, surrealism and ambiguity for informing our design process.


Personalized news recommendation systems have become essential tools for users to navigate the vast amount of online news content, yet existing news recommenders face significant challenges such as the cold-start problem, user profile modeling, and news content understanding. Previous works have typically followed an inflexible routine to address a particular challenge through model design, but are limited in their ability to understand news content and capture user interests. In this paper, we introduce GENRE, an LLM-powered generative news recommendation framework, which leverages pretrained semantic knowledge from large language models to enrich news data. Our aim is to provide a flexible and unified solution for news recommendation by moving from model design to prompt design. We showcase the use of GENRE for personalized news generation, user profiling, and news summarization. Extensive experiments with various popular recommendation models demonstrate the effectiveness of GENRE. We will publish our code and data 1 for other researchers to reproduce our work.


OBJECTIVE To analyze the risk factor of hospital-acquired pneunmonia(HAP) caused by imipenem-resistant non-fermentive bacteria in intensive care unit(ICU) and antibiotic-resistance of the bacteria in order to decrease the incidence of HAP caused by imipenem-resistant non-fermentive bacteria and control effectively the resistance of imipenem-resistant non-fermentive bacteria.METHODS The clinical information and the results of bacterial susceptibility testing from sputum culture of 54 cases of HAP caused by imipenem-resistant non-fermentive bacteria in ICU from four 2009 to December 2009 was restrospectively analyzed.According to the bacteria susceptility testing of non-fermentive bacteria to imipenem,54 cases were divided into HAP caused by imipenem-resistant non-fermentive bacteria(group Ⅰ) and HAP caused by imipenem-senstive non-fermentive bacteria(groupⅡ).The data were analyzed by SPSS 17.0.RESULTS Univariate analysis confirmed no less than three categories of using antibiotic was a risk factor for HAP caused by imipenem-sensitive non-fermentive bacteria.Multivariate analysis cnfirmed mechanical ventilation for no less than 5 days and no less than three categories of using antibiotic were the two high risk factor for HAP.Non-fermentive bacterias in two groups HAP was primarily Pseudomonas aeruginosa,Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Acinetobacter baumanii,which showed high antibiotic-resistance.38 strains of bacterias were isolated in 27 cases of HAP in groupⅠ,in which pathogens of P.aeruginosa were 27 strains,which accounted for 71.05%,antibiotic-resistance rat of it was 51.85%-100%.37 strains of bacterias were isolated in 27 cases in groupⅡ,in which pathogens of P.aeruginosa


The duration of twelve short and long stressed vowels in disyllabic nonsense words, embedded in a carrier sentence, recorded 10 times by each of five speakers, was measured. The vowels can be grouped (roughly) in five tongue height categories, and duration was found to increase significantly from category 1 (highest) through 5 (lowest), in about 1 cs steps. Unstressed vowels show the same tendency but the increase in duration with lower tongue height is considerably smaller. Variation in speaking rate (even rather considerable) did not significantly influence the relationship between high and low vowels. In contradistinction to earlier investigations, it seems that the difference in duration between long and short vowels is constant over different tongue heights, i.e. Vshort = Vlong – b, where b is a constant (approximately 5 cs).


The performance and complexity of turbo decoding using rate k/n constituent codes are investigated. The conventional, minimal and sectionalized trellis modules of the constituent convolutional codes are utilized. The performance metric is the bit error rate (BER), while complexity is analyzed based on the number of multiplications, summations and comparisons required by the max-log-MAP decoding algorithm. Our results show that the performance depends on how the systematic bits are grouped in a trellis module. The best performance is achieved when the k systematic bits are grouped together in the same section of the module, so that the log-likelihood ratio (LLR) of the k-bit vector is calculated at once. This is a characteristic of the conventional trellis module and of some of the sectionalizations of the minimal trellis module. Moreover, we show that it is possible to considerably reduce the decoding complexity with respect to the conventional trellis if a particular sectionalization of the minimal trellis module is utilized. In some cases, this sectionalization is found within the best performing group, while in some other cases a small performance loss can be traded off for a large complexity reduction.


Epidemiologic evidence suggests that women with diabetes have increased risk of breast cancer. Moreover, diabetes may dramatically increase mortality in patients with cancer, and there exists some important distinction between the breast cancer patients with and without diabetes in the regimen selection and outcomes of cancer therapy. There is an urgent need for more effective and specific clinical treatment for diabetes-associated breast cancer. Our previous studies have suggested that hyperglycemia, via PKC/GSK3β and ROS/NF-κB pathways that are involved in PP2Cδ activation, suppresses the tumor-suppressor p53 function and inhibits DNA damage-induced apoptosis, inducing proliferation in the epithelium and the development of breast cancer. HG inhibition of p53 activity and induction of cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were significantly blocked by CCT007093, a known PP2Cδ inhibitor. The structure similarity between a group of curcumin mimics (compounds 1-33) and CCT007093 spurred us to investigate the inhibitory ability of compounds 1-33 on PP2Cδ. The growth inhibition assay screening identified that compound 23 (C19H26N4O) has a striking cytotoxicity on MCF-7 cells instead of MCF-12A cells versus CCT007093. More interestingly, the impressive cytotoxicity of 23 is fully mirrored by their much stronger inhibitory ability on PP2Cδ in cells (as assessed by phospho-P38 measurement) than CCT007093. Docking simulation for binding modes of these inhibitors to PP2Cδ phosphatase domain suggests that the carbonyl oxygen and the nitrogen on the heteroaromatic ring of compound 23 form two hydrogen bonds with side chains of Arg258 and Asp105, respectively. This leads to a stable binding model of compound 23, which is inconsistent with its stronger inhibition on PP2Cδ. Furthermore, compound 23 dramatically induces heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27), ablating HG-induced ROS production and NF-κB activation, which partially blocked HG induction of PP2Cδ protein expression. Thus, compound 23 significantly blocked HG inhibition of p53 activity and induction of cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Finally, using streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic nude mice bearing MCF-7 cells, we demonstrate that hyperglycemia promoted the development of breast cancer in vivo and that compound 23 significantly inhibited xenografted breast cancer growth in mice. Taken together, these results suggest that the identified novel PP2Cδ inhibitor compound 23 inhibits HG-induced breast cancer progression in vivo through regulating expression and activity of PP2Cδ. These findings provide the first evidence proposing an alternative approach for the therapy of breast cancer patients with diabetes. Citation Format: Ke Wu, Xiaoting Yu, Xianghua Yi, Zhimin Huang, Ying-Li Wu, Yahya Elshimali, Yanjun Liu, Donghui Zhu, Shilong Zheng, Qiao-Hong Chen, Guangdi Wang, Yong Wu, Jaydutt V. Vadgama. Compound 23 inhibits high glucose-induced breast cancer progression in vivo through regulating activity and expression of PP2Cδ [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Advances in Breast Cancer Research; 2017 Oct 7-10; Hollywood, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2018;16(8_Suppl):Abstract nr B19.


Patient Reported Outcomes developed according to the 2009 FDA PRO guidance require an initial step of structured patient interviews or focus groups. The guidance does not provide sample size suggestions or methodology. This paper proposes statistical methodology and sample size guidance that address this gap in the FDA PRO guidance. This paper also appears to be the first to provide a definition of Type I error in interviews for a PRO methods for assessing sample size and a new definition of saturation based on a probability distribution to confirm whether enough interviews have been prepared. Type I error is declaring saturation when it has not been achieved during the interviews. Two worked examples applied to actual interview data and published data, are presented. Guidelines are proposed for the estimation of sample size useful for PRO experts conducting interviews for a PRO. These methods are applied in the setting of qualitative research. Future research for other methods of interviewing and determining saturation is required.


Objective To investigate the feasibility,methods and value of establishment of 3D digitized wrist model in vivo based on helical CT thin-slice axial images.Methods Fifty-two patients with one wrist injuries by foreign object underwent helical CT(arterial and venous phases contrast-enhanced CT scanning in 21 cases) with scan slice thickness and interval of 5 mm and reconstruction of 1.25 mm.Post-processing on a ADW 4.2 workstation by using VR Opacity software to generate the wrist 3D images of dorsal side,palmar side and cross-section views respectively through sliding mouse slowly to adjust the minimum threshold value from-600 Hu to 120 Hu(the maximum threshold was always set up as 600 Hu).Results The rate of 3D display layer by layer of from skin surface to bone was 100% in the wrist 3D images of dorsal and palmar side views.The best 3D depiction of skin,subcutaneous vein,muscle tendons,joint and bone was on the VAI with-300,-200,-100,0,100 Hu of the minimum threshold value respectively.And the 3D demonstration rate of the wrist extensor and flexsor tendons,subcutaneous vein,and bone was 100%.All arteries or deep veins were hundred percent depicted distinctly only in the 3D images reconstructed from enhanced arterial or venous phase CT,and the anatomic relationship among these vessels,bones and foreign objects was observed more excellently with from 80 Hu to 110 Hu of the minimum threshold.The wrist retinaculi and carpal tunnel structures were three-dimensionally shown clearly only on the 3D images of cross-section view in particular based on enhanced source data,which the more appropriate threshold was 0 Hu.The size,length,depth,distance of the structures shown on the 3D images were all measured accurately.Conclusion CT volume rendering visualization based on the sequential threshold carry out noninvasively the 3D to show and observation in vivo of the wrist anatomy and disorders and the 3D digital modeling of human wrist based on CT axial images.It may be considered as an effective means of anatomy teaching,operation simulation,pre-operation assessment,operation guidance and following up.


Human interaction with bio-inspired collectives provides an interesting setting for studying shared control. A human will often have knowledge of global objectives and high-level plans, but the collective will often have more detailed lower-level knowledge about the particulars of the situation at hand. Thus it is important to understand how control can be appropriately shared between the human and the collective. We analyze human interaction with bio-inspired collectives using graph theory, and propose that there are two human-side elements that determine how well control is shared: span and persistence. We additionally propose that there is a collective-side element that determines how well control is shared: connectivity. We study two examples of shared-control between a human and a bio-inspired collective: shaping a spatial formation and causing a collective to switch between stable collective states. Our empirical results show that span, persistence, and connectivity combine to affect (1) how influence is shared between the human and the collective and (2) the resulting success of human-collective interactions.


This is the first of two papers devoted to physical interpretation of Rybicki's quadratic and bilinear relations. The fundamental equations obtained on the basis of Ambartsumian's invariance principle and regarded as its extension to all depths in the atmosphere, imply that the Q and R relations have with more general structures than those known up to the present. These equations allow a simple probabilistic interpretation. Some bilinear relations are derived to connect the transfer problems of different sorts. For the sources distributed in the semi-infinite atmosphere by exponential law, the separate Q and R relations are obtained. It is shown that the two-point quadratic Q relation may be derived directly on the base of physical considerations used in the invariance technique.


This survey presents methods that use neural networks for implicit representations of 3D geometry — neural implicit functions. We explore the different aspects of neural implicit functions for shape modeling and synthesis. We aim to provide a theoretical analysis of 3D shape reconstruction using deep neural networks and introduce a discussion between researchers interested in this research field.


The present paper aims to propose an implement of perturb and observe (P&O) technique for photovoltaic systems using a boost converter driven by Arduino MEGA 2560 in a view of providing an efficiency improvement of PV system. This method has been further characterised by considering its fast ability of tracking the (MPPT) and reducing the computational time using digital controls of the Arduino MEGA 2560 microcontroller. In the present paper, we proposed a simple method for implementing the P&O technique by interrupts of the Arduino MEGA. Indeed, the (P&O-MPPT) technique implementation technique has been carried out with regard to the usage of the developed costless instruments. oreover, the regulation of (P&O) MPPT technique which is responsible for the switching of MOSFET exists in the dc-dc boost converter so that it can extract the MPP. This work has been therefore simulated by Matlab/Simulink and programing by C code, and consequently, in a view of the above, the (P&O) algorithm has been applied in a real time by Arduino MEGA to decrease the cost of the MPPT controller and to show the results of the performance for the proposed technique.


electrophoresis andaminoacid inhibition studies. Comparison wasmadewiththeadult formofintestinal alkaline phosphatase, aswell aswithalkaline phosphatases isolated fromcultured foetal amnion cells (FL)andahumantumour cell line (KB). Twonon-identical subunits wereisolated fromthefoetal intestinal isoenzyme, onehaving thesamemolecular weight and isoelectric point asplacental alkaline phosphatase, andtheother corresponding toa glycosylated subunit oftheadult intestinal enzyme. TheFL-cell andKB-cell alkaline phosphatases werealsofoundtocontain twosubunits similar tothose ofthefoetal intestinal isoenzyme. Characterization ofneuraminidase digests ofthenon-placental subunit showedittobeindistinguishable fromthesubunits oftheadult intestinal isoenzyme. Thisimplies thatnonewphosphatase structural geneisinvolved inthe transition fromtheexpression offoetal toadult intestinal alkaline phosphatase, butthat themolecular changes involve suppression oftheplacental subunit andlossof neuraminic acidfromthenon-placental subunit. Enzyme-inhibition studies demonstrated anintermediate response totheinhibitors tested forthefoetal intestinal, FL-cell andKB-cell isoenzymes whencompared withtheplacental, adult intestinal andliver forms. Thisresult isconsistent with themixed-subunit structure observed fortheformer setofisoenzymes. Insummary, this study hasdefined themolecular subunit structure of thefoetal intestinal formofalkaline phosphatase andhasdemonstrated its expression in ahumantumour cell line.


The concept of measure functions for generalization performance is suggested. This concept provides an alternative way of selecting and evaluating learned classifiers, and it allows us to define th ...


Magnetic viscosity measurements consist of placing an ensemble of small magnetic particles in a very large magnetic field, which tends to align the magnetic moments, mp, of the particles in the direction of the field and then observing the decay, with time, of the magnetization when the field is removed. In measuring the magnetic viscosity, it is possible for magnetization data to be unavoidably lost due to the time delay between removing the applied field and making the first magnetization measurement. It is shown that, by taking the inverse Fourier transform of the frequency-dependent complex susceptibility, chi ( omega )= chi '( omega )-i chi ''( omega ), of the sample, it is possible to recover data corresponding to that which would have been measured during the period of the time delay.


Predictive statistical mechanics is a form of inference from available data, without additional assumptions, for predicting reproducible phenomena. By applying it to systems with Hamiltonian dynamics, a problem of predicting the macroscopic time evolution of the system in the case of incomplete information about the microscopic dynamics was considered. In the model of a closed Hamiltonian system (i.e. system that can exchange energy but not particles with the environment) that with the Liouville equation uses the concepts of information theory, analysis was conducted of the loss of correlation between the initial phase space paths and final microstates, and the related loss of information about the state of the system. It is demonstrated that applying the principle of maximum information entropy by maximizing the conditional information entropy, subject to the constraint given by the Liouville equation averaged over the phase space, leads to a definition of the rate of change of entropy without any additional assumptions. In the subsequent paper (this http URL) this basic model is generalized further and brought into direct connection with the results of nonequilibrium theory.


The emergence and unprecedented popularity of social media among consumers has dramatically changed the balance of forces involved in the attention economy: who pays attention to what, who influences these decisions and how they are monitored and measured, which is the response speed, and most importantly, how all this is monetized. The social component of the Internet is not just hype, it's a fundamental change in the way consumers shop, play, communicate, get information, interact, collaborate or create and the whole relational universe of an individual is involved. Taking this into account, the article presents the main outcomes of an exploratory qualitative research investigating the marketing activities of companies in the consumer goods sector (FMCG) in Romania (with a focus on online marketing activities), with the purpose of investigating the use, overall knowledge, importance and evolution of specific social media tools for the companies' marketing communications mix. The article comprises a summary of relevant research related to social media marketing, the description and analysis of the research methodology and the main outcomes, followed by limitations and conclusions.


In this paper, we consider a Huygens filter for a specified frequency lying within a broad spectrum of a pulsed THz radiation which represents simplest two-zone plate. The condition of the infinite plane wave and the Gaussian beam are separately used as the initial source has been discussed. A property method of terahertz spectral filter has been explored.


In this paper, we present a new multi-antenna modulation scheme, termed as space-time index modulation (STIM). In STIM, information bits are conveyed through antenna indexing in the spatial domain, slot indexing in the time domain, and M-ary modulation symbols. A time slot in a given frame can be used or unused, and the choice of the slots used for transmission conveys slot index bits. In addition, antenna index bits are conveyed in every used time slot by activating one among the available antennas. M-ary symbols are sent on the active antenna in a used time slot. We study STIM in a cyclic-prefixed single-carrier (CPSC) system in frequency-selective fading channels. It is shown that, for the same spectral efficiency and single transmit RF chain, STIM can achieve better performance compared to conventional orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). Low-complexity iterative algorithms for the detection of large-dimensional STIM signals are also presented.


Opioid drugs like morphine are the gold standard for the treatment of chronic pain, but are limited by adverse side effects, such as tolerance, constipation, and reward/addiction. In our earlier work, we showed that Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) has a crucial role in regulating opioid signaling that differs between brain and spinal cord; Hsp90 inhibition in brain blocks opioid pain relief, while inhibition in the spinal cord enhances it. Building on these findings here, we injected the non-selective Hsp90 inhibitor KU-32 directly into the spinal cord of male and female CD-1 mice, showing that morphine anti-nociceptive potency was boosted by 1.9-3.5 fold in the pain models of tail flick, post-surgical paw incision, and HIV peripheral neuropathy. At the same time, morphine tolerance was reduced from 21 fold to 2.9 fold and established tolerance was rescued, while the potency of constipation and reward (as measured by conditioned place preference) was unchanged. These results demonstrate that spinal Hsp90 inhibition can improve the therapeutic index of morphine. However, we also found that systemic non-selective Hsp90 inhibition resulted in a brain-like effect, blocking opioid pain relief. We thus sought a way to circumvent the effects of brain Hsp90 inhibition by investigating the molecular Hsp90 isoforms active in regulating opioid signaling in both regions. Using selective small molecule inhibitors and CRISPR gene editing, we found that 3 Hsp90 isoforms regulated spinal cord opioid signaling (Hsp90α, Hsp90β, and Grp94) while our previous work showed only Hsp90α was active in brain. We thus hypothesized that a systemically delivered selective inhibitor to Hsp90β or Grp94 could selectively inhibit spinal cord Hsp90 activity, resulting in enhanced opioid pain relief and decreased side effects. We tested this hypothesis using intravenous delivery of KUNB106 (Hsp90β) and KUNG65 (Grp94), showing that both drugs enhanced morphine potency in tail flick and paw incision pain while rescuing anti-nociceptive tolerance. We also found that intravenous KUNA115 (Hsp90α) fully blocked morphine anti-nociception. Together, these results suggest that selective inhibition of spinal cord Hsp90 isoforms is a novel, translationally feasible strategy to improve the therapeutic index of opioids.


This study selected the upstream of Soyang Lake and investigated the flow and water quality during rainfall and non-rainfall periods in 2008 and 2009 and inquired into the changing conditions of concentration of water quality depending on runoff capacity. Water quality grades were compared, using FWMC and as a result, it was confirmed that the first and second grades during the non-rainfall period and the water condition aggravated below the third grade during the rainfall period. And as the flow gained due to a great increase in the discharge of contaminated substances during the early rainfall period, small amounts of contaminated substances occurred continuously. Also, this study suggested regression equation of pollution load depending on the flow in each drainage area through regression analysis and computed annual delivery pollution load in drainage areas, using annual rate of runoff capacity.


MOS scale is integrated by 20 items. Item number 1 refers to the Social Network size and the other 19 to for dimensions of functional social support: emotional, instrumental, positive social interaction and affective support.  MOS Social Support Scale can be considered a completely valid and reliable instrument to measure social support and it can be used to detect situations of social risk, specially in population exposed to traumatic situations, due to the fact that the importance of perception of social support in the prevention of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has been broadly validated.


The paper summarizes the biostratigraphic results of eighteen dives of the French submersible Cyana at the Mazagan Escarpment (CYAMAZ cruise), based on calcareous nannoplankton and foraminifera. This paper is restricted to the study of the Early Cretaceous to Quaternary post-platform series. Most of the stratigraphical data are based on the determination of calcareous nannofossils (P. Cepek) which, however, are mostly poorly preserved and of rare occurrence. From the 170 studied subsamples 49 are barren of calcareous samples are listed according to the species epithets, separated for the Cretaceous and Tertiary. The biostratigraphy based on foraminifera and the microfacies was studied in thin-section (H. hagn). Foraminiferal microfaunas of Late Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene-Oligocene and Quaternary age are described and shown in Plates.


While numerous years of surveillance have identified some common influenza trends (i.e., the general time of onset and peak), these trends are not absolute—even core aspects can change in a given year, as was evident during and the 2003–2004 season. Both locally and nationwide, the season peaked several weeks earlier than expected. But even more surprising and unusual was how widespread and simultaneously activity peaked; instead of peaking sporadically across the nation, nearly all states reported their peak activity at about the same, and again, earlier in the season than expected. Similarly, despite numerous years of public health education and vaccination campaigns, the public's reaction to each influenza season is also unpredictable. During most years, the public, as a whole, is apathetic, and considerable effort is required to encourage vaccination—but then in other years, demand and concern soars. Mirroring the quick and widespread peak in influenza activity during the 2003–2004 season, the public's reaction also underwent an astoundingly rapid shift from disinterest in early November to extreme concern and fear by December. This was fostered by intense media attention and especially by reports of influenza-related pediatric deaths that occurred in Colorado in lateNovember. While there were no shortages, delays or substantial demand for vaccination at the beginning of the season, the public's sudden and unpredicted attitude change caused shortages and long lines at many facilities. However, despite the intense concern and attention influenza received during this season, a review of local and national surveillance measures indicates the overall severity of the season was actually quite typical—while more severe than the previous three years which were exceptionally mild, the season was comparable, if not lower, in levels of morbidity and mortality to other seasons characterized by a type A viral strain, such as the 1999–2000 season. The following summarizes the major events that occurred during the 2003–2004 influenza season as well as surveillance efforts that detail the occurrence and impact of influenza.


Scholars of the medieval past are often drawn to a kernel of historical truth that might guarantee the truth of their inquiries, but medievalist scholarly and cultural practice reveals the impossibility of this secure knowledge. Affective responses to the past continue to structure our understanding of historicity and temporality; just as the strange familiarity of the Middle Ages in the present is a form of "uncanny" knowledge and feeling. Medievalism is a social and cultural practice, not a secure epistemological category. Indeed, as a practice, medievalism constantly troubles the apparently simple alterity of the Middle Ages, leading to intellectual and affective discontent from both medieval scholars and medievalist practitioners.


In the future, vehicles that use fossil fuels will be replaced by electrical vehicles. The reason are fossil energy sources will be focused on electricity generation and besides that the availability of fossil energy is also running low. Another reason to prefer electrical vehicles is not produce air pollution or can be called environment friendly vehicle. There is an additional instrument to support the existence of electrical vehicles, namely battery charging station (BCS). Electrical vehicles use batteries as electricity storage. There are several electrical vehicles use hybrid system like uses battery, and solar panels on it to produce electrical energy. Based on these backgrounds, this article will discuss the about interconnection of battery charging station and renewable energy in electrical power system. Types of renewable energy in this paper are photovoltaic and wind power plant. Both of these power plants have role as distributed generation to help power system charge the BCS. In this study using standard 14 bus IEEE electrical power system. In the test method, several study cases will be made to be compared. The first study case is to analyze changes in voltage in the electric power system. The second study case is to analyze short circuit in the distributed generation to electrical power system. The final results of all scenarios will be compared to determine the impact of chargers, photovoltaics, and wind power plants when connected to the electric power system.


Brain magnetic resonance (MR) images are significant for brain studies because of their excellent contrast of soft tissues, non invasive characteristic and a high spatial resolution. However, Intensity inhomogeneity is an undesired phenomenon that represents the main obstacle for brain MR image segmentation. In this paper, we propose a novel model which can overcome the intensity inhomogeneity problem of Brain MR images without the bias field correction. In this model, a simple and effective initialization method is taken to speed up the curve evolution toward final results; a new multiphase level set method is proposed to segment the brain tissues. This model not only extracts brain white matter (WM), gray matter (GM) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) simultaneously, but also provides smooth and accurate boundaries or surfaces of the object. We test our model on two-dimensional and three-dimensional brain MR images and obtain the satisfactory segmentation results. Furthermore, we also use our method to segment nature images and get the ideal results. Experimental results show that our method outperforms the state-of-art methods, yielding higher Tanimoto coefficient.


— d hoc networks are a new wireless networking paradigm for mobile hosts. Unlike traditional mobile wireless networks, ad hoc networks do not rely on any fixed infrastructure. Instead, hosts rely on each other to keep the network connected. The military tactical and other security-sensitive operations are still the main applications of ad hoc networks, although there is a trend to adopt ad hoc networks for commercial uses due to their unique properties. One main challenge in design of these networks is their vulnerability to security attacks. In this paper, we study the threats an ad hoc network faces and the security goals to be achieved. We identify the new challenges and opportunities posed by this new networking environment and explore new approaches to secure its communication. In particular, we take advantage of the inherent redundancy in ad hoc networks — multiple routes between nodes — to defend routing against denial of service attacks. We also use replication and new cryptographic schemes, such as threshold cryptography, to build a highly secure and highly available key management service, which forms the core of our security framework. In ad hoc networks the communicating nodes do not necessarily rely on a fixed infrastructure, which sets new challenges for the necessary security architecture they apply. In addition, as ad hoc networks are often designed for specific environments and may have to operate with full availability even in difficult conditions, security solutions applied in more traditional networks may not directly be suitable for protecting them. A short literature study over papers on ad hoc networking shows that many of the new generation ad hoc networking proposals are not yet able to address the security problems and they face. Environment-specific implications on the required approaches in implementing security in such dynamically changing networks have not yet fully realized.


A slightly different way of looking at the traditional model of production applies an hedonic approach to vintage capital in order to resolve and clarify various problems of the traditional model in describing capital goods. In particular, for processes making production constraint is the hedonic price function. Such constraints involve economic as well as technical factors that may make them unstable. Preliminary analysis of the price function for the U.S. steam-electric generating industry indicates poor substitution opportunities at the plant level between equipment, fuel, and labor. Economies of scale in capital costs, using a non-substitution model, are found to be small with respect to plant size, while economies of fuel are large in respect to unit size and economies of scale in labor are substantial for all plant sizes. All the observed improvement in fuel efficiency appears to be due to economies of scale. The number of men required to operate a plant of given size, conversely, has declined steadily. The hedonic price index based on the price function indicates that existing conventional price indices have grossly overestimated the increase in the price of capital equipment as a result of failing to make adequate allowance for quality change. 16 references.


A novel type of dual-lanthanide-complexs doped Ag@silica fluorescent nanoparticles with amino functionalized has been developed by a facil water-in-oil (W/O) microemulsion method. The struc-tural and optical properties of the nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), fluorescence spectra and UV-Vis spectra, respectively. The results show that the fabricated nanoparticles are spherical, core-shell structure, highly fluorescent and highly photostable. Measurements of the luminescent emissions from the Ag@SiO 2 nanoparticles, in comparison with control silica nanoparticles without silver cores, showed that the presence of the silver cores can increase the fluorescence intensity ap-proximately 3-fold. This enhancement offers a potential increase in detection sensitivity with increased photostability. The nanoparticles are expected to be utilized in super-sensitive bioassays systems such as time-resolved fluorescence


Halo implants are used in modern CMOS technology to reduce the short channel effect. However, the lateral non-uniformity of the channel doping has been proven to degenerate the mismatch performance. With this paper we want to discuss the influence of the halo profile on MOS transistor mismatch. The analysis is conducted through random dopant fluctuations simulations on both short and long transistors.
Parameters such as doping level and lateral diffusion are varied having a huge effect on the transistor mismatch performance. Therefore we show that, by engineering the halos, the matching can be improved significantly even when the devices nominally have the same electrical performances


The main goal of this research is to study the feasibility of recovering Phosphorus (P) from industrial and municipal wastewaters in Uruguay with a view to reuse it as a fertilizer. P is a non-renewable and strategic resource, essential for sustainable population growth. Each year in Uruguay, 200,000 tons of P-fertilizer are incorporated to the open P cycle ending in the water bodies. P is usually the limiting nutrient in aquatic ecosystems. The 70% of the Uruguayan water bodies are eutrophic, 20% of the total P present is due to point contamination sources and the other 80 % to field erosion. Because of its concentration, it is more achievable to recover P from point and P rich sources. The experiments in this research evaluate the recovery of the soluble inorganic fraction of the total P in 7 agroindustries with Mg or Ca addition. National data regarding industrial discharges was statistically processed. The industrial areas selected for study were: swine food industries, slaughterhouses, blood meals, feedlots, dairy farms, dairy and cheese industries, and large municipalities. Most companies reached had a positive reaction to the research. A sampling campaign covered 7 industrial areas and 19 samples. The sample characterization included the determination of TP, inorganic P, NH4, Mg, Ca, and COD concentrations, pH and the flow. Except for the municipalities, all the samples had more than 5 mgP/l, the national TP discharge standard. The inorganic P removal efficiency was in most cases above 80% and 90%. The only negative results corresponded to the dairy farm, possibly because of the high solid content in the effluent. Higher P removal efficiency were obtained with Ca addition. The solids obtained were quantified in height and weight. Nutrient content in the inorganic fraction of the precipitates were compared to the commercial fertilizers under EDS (Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy) and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) techniques. The commercial fertilizers P content rounded 15%. The best result for the inorganic fraction of the precipitates was 25%. The rest of the results are between 5% and 15%. No heavy metals were detected. Higher P % were obtained for Mg-P precipitates. In the preliminary economic analysis P recovery was profitable for the slaughterhouse, swine food industry, feedlot, and the dairy and cheese industry. The IRR (Internal Rate of Return) for the projects were around 20% and the payback period about 4 years.


Gas turbine compressor and turbine blade tip clearance (i.e., the radial distance between the blade tip of an axial compressor or turbine and the containment structure) is a major contributing factor to gas path sealing, and can significantly affect engine efficiency and operational temperature. This paper details the creation of a generic but realistic high pressure turbine tip clearance model that may be used to facilitate active tip clearance control system research. This model uses a first principles approach to approximate thermal and mechanical deformations of the turbine system, taking into account the rotor, shroud, and blade tip components. Validation of the tip clearance model shows that the results are realistic and reflect values found in literature. In addition, this model has been integrated with a gas turbine engine simulation, creating a platform to explore engine performance as tip clearance is adjusted. Results from the integrated model explore the effects of tip clearance on engine operation and highlight advantages of tip clearance management.


converse problem of assembling a subject group that may be treatment-resistant regardless of the intervention or who would likely do unusually poorly in the control group. Another investigator told us that he would stop participating in a multi-site study if a series of subjects at his site did poorly (the complement of only recruiting subjects who are likely to do well), illustrating the dangers of someone who ignores the distorting effect of small numbers in pursuit of patients' interests. Other respondents told subjects who entered open-label studies because they wanted the experimental intervention that they should simply drop out if they found that they were randomized to the control group. Once subjects have been recruited, the opportunities for mischief abound. Although no one we interviewed admitted tampering with randomization to obtain the treatment they thought best for a particular patient, the literature is not without examples of such behavior (Shulz 1995). Moreover, we heard from respondents who said they would deviate from the research protocol if it would improve patient care (e.g., by adjusting dosages of medications in ways not permitted by the study), allow patients to remain in a presumably beneficial study even though the protocol might strictly require them to be dropped, and remove some subjects based on a clinical judgment of what their best interests required even though they did not meet criteria specified in the protocol. (Of course, many protocols grant clinicians precisely this flexibility, so that harm does not result from unanticipated circumstances.) The end result of these behaviors is that data are corrupted by practices other than the ones under study, resulting in conclusions of uncertain validity because the intervention and the study population are subject to undetermined fluctuations. These examples, of uncertain frequency at this point, demonstrate the dangers of allowing—much less encouraging—researchers to believe that the differences between the ethics of research and clinical care, if they exist at all, are minor. Clinical research requires deviations from a primary devotion to patient care in all the ways that were subverted by the researchers with whom we spoke: selection of studies that are not clearly likely to benefit subjects, recruitment of subjects on grounds other than their likelihood of benefit, adherence to a protocol so that the data are interpretable as resulting from defined interventions, and decisions about retaining or releasing subjects from a study that adhere to predetermined criteria, except when unanticipated harm is threatened. The real danger of telling researchers that they must still put patients' interests first is that some number of them will do so in the very circumstances in which research requires them to act otherwise. (We do not have the space to address here what justifies their acting contrary to patients' interests, but would suggest that patients' knowing consent to research and the sacrifice of personal interest that it requires is a critical element of any such justification.) Chiong's approach, then, produces ethical incoherence, as researchers are told that the usual clinical devotion to patients applies (although there may be unclear exceptions). Hence, subjects' clinical needs may intrude at any point, wreaking chaos in the research setting. Clinical care and research are different. They have differing goals, procedures and justifications. As a consequence, the ethical frameworks within which they are conducted are different as well. However comforting the denial of that reality might be, the consequence is a serious threat to the integrity of the research process and, consequently, to the sacrifices that patients make to participate in generating scientific knowledge.


Transfer of Undertakings (Protectionof Employment) safeguards will be familiar to some nurses who work in organisations that have been subject to reorganisation or service changes.


Objective: The indications, management, and results are discussed in 45 patients who underwent the concurrent functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) and rhinoplasty. Study Design: Retrospective clinical study. Patients and Methods: There were 27 women and 18 men with a mean age of 28 years. 28 patients had chronic rhinosinusitis and 17 patients had nasal polyposis refractory to medical therapy underwent the combined procedure by the same otolaryngologist. Results: A review of our 45 combined procedure performed between 2000 and 2005. There were no lifethreatening severe complications noted in this population. The patients were also satisfied with the aesthetic outcome. Conclusion: Combined rhinoplasty and endoscopic sinus surgery can be performed safely, cost- effectively and with perfect results in selected patients.


The international human right to water has gained remarkable momentum in the last three years. To ensure universal application while simultaneously respecting the variety of domestic approaches is the challenge a multi-faceted right like the right to water must meet. This chapter discusses recent approaches to conflicting legal orders, namely the Kadi decision by the two European Courts and the Medellin decision by the US Supreme Court, and asks what their application would mean for the right to water. The international human right to water is, like any human right, best understood as setting out a required minimum standard to be adhered to by any State and under any circumstances. States are, however, not hindered, but rather encouraged, to commit themselves to higher domestic levels of protection. It remains their choice whether they do so on the level of their constitution or through their ordinary laws. Keywords: domestic levels of protection; European Courts; Kadi ; Medellin ; right to water; US Supreme Court


The Rytov approximation is known in near-infrared spectroscopy including diffuse optical tomography. In diffuse optical tomography, the Rytov approximation often gives better reconstructed images than the Born approximation. Although related inverse problems are nonlinear, the Rytov approximation is almost always accompanied by the linearization of nonlinear inverse problems. In this paper, we will develop nonlinear reconstruction with the inverse Rytov series. By this, linearization is not necessary and higher order terms in the Rytov series can be used for reconstruction. The convergence and stability are discussed. We find that the inverse Rytov series has a recursive structure similar to the inverse Born series.


High-angular-resolution Fraunhofer diffraction data were collected from several samples with interfaces between dissimilar metals using synchrotron x-radiation. The refractive index profile in the vicinity of the interface of each sample was reconstructed with spatial resolution of about 80nm by the phase retrieval x-ray diffractometry technique, using only limited a priori knowledge of the sample. These studies have demonstrated the viability of the technique as a nondestructive method of characterization of internal interfaces within multiphase materials.


The optimal conditions for transformation of a chloromethyl sulfide into the corresponding Grignard reagent (2) in a high yield are established and (2) is shown to react with various functional groups such as an alkyl halide, an aldehyde, and a sulfinic ester, revealing its usefulness in organic syntheses.


Benzimidazole is a Heterocyclic Aromatic Organic compound. Imidazoles are the solids at room temperature. Having very much usefulness in current therapeutic applications in medicinal chemistry and pharmacology. This compounds having the bicyclic in nature having the fusion of benzene and imidazole the basic moiety present in Benzimidazole is the N-ribosyl- dimethyl Benzimadazole, which serves as an axial ligand for cobalt in vitamin B12 like activity benzimidazoles also known as benzoglyaxalines.