In men suffering from idiopathic oligospermia and azoospermia the hypothesis was tested that decreased spermatozoa production could be due in part to inadequate hormonal stimulation of spermatogenesis. In 53 healthy male subjects with normal spermatozoa production (n = 10), varying degrees of oligospermia (n = 40), and azoospermia (n = 3), serum immunoreactive LH, testosterone (T), and oestradiol (E2), and immunoreactive and bioactive FSH concentrations were determined. FSH bioactivity was estimated using the rat granulosa cell aromatase bioassay. Mean LH, T, and E2 levels were similar in the control group (spermatozoa concentration > 40 × 106/m1) compared with men exhibiting mild (10‐20 × 106/m1), moderate (5‐10 × 106/m1), or severe oligospermia (1‐5 × 106/ml), and in the azoospermia group. An inverse correlation was found between immunoreactive FSH levels and spermatozoa concentration (P < 0‐05), with elevated levels (twofold increase) of FSH in the combined severe oligospermia and azoospermia (P <0.01) groups. Moreover, augmented (P < 0‐01) bioactive FSH levels were also observed in this group of patients. The mean bioactive to immunoreactive FSH ratio was also negatively correlated with sperm counts (P < 0‐005). In addition, T/LH ratios were inversely correlated with immunoreactive (P <0.05) and bioactive (P <0.05) FSH, which may indicate that altered Leydig cell function is involved in the augmented secretion of FSH. The data presented in this study indicate that immunoreactive FSH, as measured in oligospermia and azoospermia, does not exhibit decreased bioactivity.


It is well known that hyperpigmentation may develop in darker-skinned races after even small doses of x-radiation. The skin of lightly pigmented Negroes may become nearly black after a few weekly doses of 75 roentgens (r) of superficial x-ray therapy. This effect occurs without visible inflammatory change. During the past few years, attention has been called to photosensitivity, or more properly, phototoxic cutaneous reactions in patients exposed to sunlight during demethylchlortetracycline administration. 1,2 The effect has been shown to be a quantitative one, 3 ie, developing mainly when a minimum of 600 mg of this drug was given daily. It was further shown by Schorr and Monash 4 to be potentiated by both ultraviolet rays of wavelength between 2,800 Angstroms (A) and 3,200 A, and by rays with longer wavelength than 3,150 A which pass through common window glass. Report of Case Recently, I observed the development of moderately severe


BACKGROUND
The present study aimed to determine circulating Endothelial Progenitor Cell (EPC) counts by multicolor flow cytometry in healthy individuals and diabetic subjects by means of forming an analysis procedure using a combination of monoclonal antibodies (moAbs), which would correctly detect the circulating EPC count.

METHODS
The circulating EPC count was detected in 40 healthy individuals (20 Female, 20 Male; age range: 26 - 50 years) and 30 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) patients (15 Female, 15 Male; age range: 42 - 55) by multicolor flow cytometry (FCM) in a single-tube panel consisting of 5 CD45/CD31/CD34/CD309/ SYTO® and 16 monoclonal antibodies.

RESULTS
Circulating EPC count was 11.33 (7.89 - 15.25) cells/µL in the healthy control group and 4.80 (0.70 - 10.85) cells/µL in the DM group. EPC counts were significantly lower in DM cases that developed coronary artery disease (53.3%) as compared to those that did not (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
In the present study, we describe a method that identifies circulating EPC counts by multicolor flow cytometry in a single tube and determines the circulating EPC count in healthy individuals. This is the first study conducted on EPC count in Turkish population. We think that the EPC count found in the present study will be a guide for future studies.


On the basis of exploring Wireless Sensor Network technology, an online water quality monitoring system was constructed in this paper based on ZigBee. The system provides the architecture of the water quality wireless sensor network monitoring system, with a focus on designing the hardware circuit of network nodes based on the CC2530 chip. The data transmission process of the network was discussed in detail, and the monitoring host was used to store and display data. The experiment results show that the system can monitor changes in water quality parameters such as turbidity, pH, and temperature, with strong scalability, low power consumption, and high stability. It can fill the requirements of online water quality monitoring and data accuracy, providing more effective monitoring methods and decision-making basis for production operators.


Motion deblurring in dynamic scenes is a challenging task when the blurring is caused by one or a combination of various reasons such as moving objects, camera movement, etc. Since event cameras can detect changes in intensity with a low latency, necessary motion information is inherently captured in event data, which could be quite useful for deblurring standard camera images. The degradation intensity does not show homogeneity across an image due to factors like object depth, speed, etc. We propose a two-branch network structure, Motion Aware Double Attention Network (MADANet), that pays special attention to areas with high blur. As part of the network, event data is first used by the high blur region segmentation module that creates a probability-like score for areas exhibiting high relative motion to the camera. Then, the event data is also injected to feature maps in the main body, where there is a second attention mechanism available for each branch. The effective usage of event data and two-level attention mechanisms makes the network very compact. During the experiment, it was shown that the proposed network could achieve state-of-the-art performance not only on the bench-mark dataset from GoPro, but also on two newly collected datasets, one of which contains real event data.


Partial agreement, which manifests itself in certain coordinate structures in English, offers an unusual opportunity to investigate the nature of the computational system employed in second-language acquisition. The experiment on which we report here suggests that even in the absence of experience and instruction, second-language learners arrive at a system of partial agreement for English that is indistinguishable from the one employed by native speakers. This supports the view that at least certain aspects of the computational system employed for first-language acquisition remain available to adult language learners.


The self-mobile space manipulator (SM/sup 2/) has evolved to adapt to the new pre-integrated I-beam structure of the Space Station Freedom (SSF). In this paper, we first briefly overview the update of the robot configuration and testbed. The new robot is capable of projecting cameras anywhere interior or exterior of SSF, and will be an ideal tool for inspecting connectors, structures, and other facilities on SSF. Experiments have been performed under two gravity compensation systems and a full-scale model of a segment of the SSF. This paper then presents a real-time shared control architecture that enables the robot to coordinate autonomous locomotion and teleoperation input for reliable walking on SSF. Autonomous locomotion can be executed based on a CAD model and off-line trajectory planning, or can be guided by a vision system with neural network identification. Teleoperation control can be specified by a real-time graphical interface and a free-flying hand controller. SM/sup 2/ will be a valuable assistant for astronauts in inspection and other EVA missions.<<ETX>>


The amount of music information available on the Web is rapidly increasing. There is a pressing need for music information extraction. To extract useful information from natural language text, we must recognize music named entities first. This paper introduces a hybrid method to identify the Chinese named entities in music domain. Recently, machine learning approaches are frequently used to solve Name Entity Recognition (NER). So our method uses a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) as the underlying method. Since HMM has innate weaknesses, we incorporate it with rule-based method for pre-processing and post-processing. The combination of machine learning method and rule-based method results in a high precision recognition. And we improve both training and recognizing process of HMM for Music Named Entity Recognition (MNER). In this paper, a novel and convenient Musical Name Entity (MNE) tagging method to generate training data is proposed, which makes HMM method practically usable. In addition, we present an effective method of unknown words tagging in recognition. The experimental results show that our framework brings significant improvements for solving MNER.


Surface topography of human metaphase chromosomes following GTG banding was examined using high resolution atomic force microscopy (AFM). Although using a completely different imaging mechanism, which is based on the mechanical interaction of a probe tip with the chromosome, the observed banding pattern is comparable to results from light microscopy and a karyotype of the AFM imaged metaphase spread can be generated. The AFM imaging process was performed on a normal 2n = 46, XX karyotype and on a 2n = 46, XY, t(2;15)(q23;q15) karyotype as an example of a translocation of chromosomal bands.


In Latvia, the learners of secondary school as a requirement gets acquainted with basics of research – selection of literature, data collection and processing, communication and presentation skills. The present article deals with an analysis of the themes and texts (corpus) of the research papers (RP) in Health Science worked out by the authors of the top-ranked RP presented in the Scientific Conference of High School Learners of Latvia from 2016 to 2019. A logical inductive content analysis of features specific to each RP, and sequential categorization and grouping into a higher level of components were performed. The quantitative data were processed by using AntConc, IBM SPSS Statistics 22 and Microsoft Excel software. The aim of the research was to find out the themes and content variations of RP, and the characteristics of the language – tokens, types and keywords. The results show that there is a thematic uniformity in RP. The statistical characteristics of language differ in terms of lexical diversity and the frequency of keywords and their collocations. Mostly individual keywords dominate. The results obtained can be used to develop recommendations for learners and teachers as a model for theme selection, presentation of research and criteria for evaluating RP.


— An assessment of the state of the fisheries of hake, red mullet and Norway lobster was carried out by using trawl survey data from the MEDITS research programme. The assessment was performed by means of the application of a composite model utilising the total mortality rate Z as a direct index of fishing effort. The studied area covered the whole western Italian coast (Ligurian and Tyrrhenian seas) and the eastern coasts of Corsica. The area was divided into twelve sub-areas, considered to be of similar ecological characteristics with similar initial productivity but considered to experience


Rational engineering of toluene dioxygenase expands the substrate scope of this enzyme, enabling the production of new, amide-functionalized chiral metabolites.


A brief overview of the Green Paper on the National Health Insurance (NHI) policy of South Africa is presented. It describes the intention of the NHI to ensure equity, address the inequalities presented by the current private and public health system and present an ambitious plan to change the face of the South African health care system over the next fourteen years. It provides the context of the currents system that provides the case for the change. It also provides some detail on the structure of the proposed new Re-engineered Primary Health Care system as well as the future financing of this bold new health care system for South Africa. The challenge will be in its implementation.


The matrix effect in Si1−xGex alloys (x ≤ 0.5) grown by ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapour deposition was investigated with an O2+ primary beam in a Cameca IMS 6f instrument. The results showed that the matrix effect in Si1−xGex alloys was significant when the Ge fraction was >0.25, and it turned out to be more pronounced at low impact energies. Nevertheless, the composition of Si1−xGex alloys could be quantified based on the linear variation of appropriate secondary ion intensity ratios against the Ge concentration. The use of polyatomic secondary ions to measure the composition of SiGe alloys is reported in this paper. By this method, both the dopant and matrix elements in a Si/Si1−xGex/Si heterojunction bipolar transistor sample have been quantified by SIMS. The germanium fractions thus determined agree well with values obtained by double‐crystal x‐ray diffraction. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The incidence of esophageal adencocarcinoma (EAC) has increased in last decades. Regardless to improved perioperative chemotherapies and surgical approaches, the prognosis for EAC in advanced stages is poor. CD82 is a tumor suppressor gene, and its downregulation correlates with invasive growth, metastases formation and advanced clinical stages. CD82 might influence the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway.
 We used an in vitro Barrett's esophagus cell culture model, represented by esophageal squamous cell epithelium (EPC1, EPC2), metaplasia (CP-A), dysplasia (CP-B) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (OE33, OE19, SKGT4, FLO1). Antisense LNA Oligonucleotides (GapmeRs, Qiagen) were used to achieve a transient knockdown of CD82 in OE33 and OE19 cells. mRNA and proteins were analyzed by q-RT-PCR and western blot analyses, respectively. A fluorescence antibody specific to CD82 was used for flow cytometry analysis. Proliferation assay, colony formation assay and boyden chamber assay were performed after CD82-knockdown to further analyze cell proliferation, cell growth and survival, colony forming and cell migration.
 CD82 was expressed in all investigated cell lines by flow cytometry with a significant overexpression in OE19 and FLO1 cells. A stable downregulation of CD82 was achieved in OE33 and OE19 cells. Proliferation assays showed a significantly higher proliferation rate at 72 hours after CD82-knockdown in OE33 cells. A significantly higher mRNA expression of vimentin was observed after CD82-knockdown in OE33. Colony formation assay showed a significantly higher colony count after CD82-knockdown in both cell lines. Cell migration was increased after CD82-downregulated in OE33 and OE19 cells.
 CD82 might influence the expression of mesenchymal marker proteins, cell migration abilities and the process of colony forming and thus enhance the metastatic potential of OE33 and OE19 cells. Low expression of CD82 could alter metastasis and cancer progression but further molecular characterizations are needed to elucidate the impact on carcinogenesis of EAC.


OpenMP can be supported in cluster environments by using distributed shared memory (DSM) systems. A portable approach for building DSM systems is to layer it on MPI. With these goals in mind, this paper makes two contributions. The first is a discussion about two software DSM systems that we have implemented using MPI. One uses background polling threads while the other uses processes that are driven only by incoming MPI messages. Comparisons of the two approaches show the latter to be a more scalable architecture that is better suited for the multi-core processors that are becoming commonplace. The second contribution recognizes that a common workaround for sub-team synchronizations in OpenMP is to use the flush directive on shared variables within busy-wait loops. In such a situation, only the flush in the last iteration of the busy-wait loop will result in the conditions necessary for exiting the loop. Thus transfer of the shared value need only be done if there were changes. We implement in our DSM a flush mechanism that eliminates the unnecessary data transfers entirely without any additional support or hints from the programmer.


The flexible polyimide was used as the substrate material to realize the flexibility of Ⅱ-Ⅵ compound ZnS thin films.The ZnS thin films were fabricated by radio frequency magnetron sputtering,and the crystalline structure,composition,and optical properties were analyzed.The experimental results show that the prepared thin films are crystalline sphalerite ZnS structure.The preferred orientation is alone the(111)plane and the grain size is 25.6nm.The composition of thin films is near-stoichiometry and shows slight S-loss.The average transmittance of thin films in the visible and near infrared region is 82.0% and 90.5%,respectively,indicating the promising transmission properties.For comparison,the crystallinity of ZnS thin films on soda-lime glass substrate is higher than that of thin films on polyimide substrate.But the transmittance of glass substrate samples is slightly lower than that of the flexible thin films.The experimental results reveal the feasibility of the preparation of ZnS thin films on flexible polyimide substrate by magnetron sputtering method.


Let C be a nonempty closed convex subset of a Hilbert space H, Y = {T(t): t > 0} be a continuous nonlinear asymptotically nonexpansive semigroup acting on C with a nonempty fixed point set F(9), and u: [0, oo) -* C be an almost-orbit of Zr. Then {u(t)} almost converges weakly to a fixed point of 9, i.e., there exists an element y in F(l ) such that 1 t weak-lim |u(r + h) dr = y uniformly for h > O. t J This implies that {u(t)} converges weakly to a fixed point of 9 if and only if {u(t + h) u(t)} converges weakly to zero as t tends to infinity for each h > O.


The birds of the National Botanical Garden of Cuba have been under study since the 80s, however, in recent years they have attracted lots of attention, due to the gradual increase in the diversity of the birds on the site and their stability, which attracts great number of birdwatchers and researchers. For this reason there is currently a large volume of accumulated and scattered information in relation to the current composition of the bird assemblage in the site. This work offers an updated list of birds in the JBN registered between 1983 and 2019, its frequency and the families to which they belong. For this porpoise, the publications (n = 7), thesis (n = 4), the counts made by the authors (n = 121) and the ebird lists (n = 91) were used. There are 105 species belonging to 35 families, including eight endemic species from Cuba, 12 endemic from the Caribbean and four with some degree of threat. The importance of the National Botanical Garden for the conservation of birds in the region is evident; for more than half, 61 species (58 %) are migratory or have a migratory component while 33 (31%) are nesting in the garden. The results show that the NBG is an important area for birds in Havana and a tourist attraction of great potential for bird and nature lovers. Citation: Mugica, L. & Acosta, M. 2020. Lista de las aves registradas en el Jardin Botanico Nacional de Cuba entre 1983 y 2019. Revista Jard. Bot. Nac. Univ. Habana 41: 45-55. Received: 17 October 2020. Aceppted: 3 March 2020. Online: 3 June 2020. Editor: Banessa Falcon Hidalgo.


Security services lagged behind the construction of information,will inevitably affect the development of university information,the same time,teaching,research efficiency and quality have some impact.To solve this problem of uneven development,in order to better serve the teaching and research services,this paper discusses a new service model: "one-stop service".Analyzed the security services of the current status,problems and defects of university,and analyzed the "one-stop service" as the merits and the possibility of realizing,explored the specific method of "one-stop service "model to achieve,in order to truly realize the "one-stop service",effectively improve the teach-ing,research efficiency and quality.


A GOOD selection of Pliny's letters has long been wanted : now that it has appeared, it is to be hoped that examining bodies will vary with its aid the dullness and difficulty of the more severely classical pabulum with which pass candidates are so often confronted. The selection is a judicious one, representing nearly a third of the whole : short, scrappy letters on the one hand, the somewhat tedious narratives of causes celebres on the other are readily omitted and repetition of theme is avoided—e.g. only one of the villadescriptions is admitted. One misses a few favourites—the recitation fiasco of 6.15, Pliny's wonderful confession of his principles on criticism in 6.17, the letters on Pallas (if 8.6 was too long, 7.29 might have represented it), the request that Tacitus would mention in his Histories Pliny's attack on Massa (7.33 : ' the bare truth only, please— a good deed needs no more,' he says, evidently remembering Cicero's letter to Lucceius), the account of the floods caused by heavy rains in the Tiber and Anio valleys in 8.17, and the rebuke administered to an unnecessarily severe father, 9.12.


To assess cervical dilation, fetal head station, and fetal head position by intrapartum ultrasonography and to compare the approach with digital vaginal examination (DVE).


Research Institute of Natural Science, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 660-701, KoreaReceived September 2, 2002Key Words : 1,3-Bis(3-pyridyl)tetraphenyldisiloxane, Crystal structure, Linear siloxane, N-Donor ligandMuch attention has been directed toward the use ofmultidentate nitrogen donor spacers in supramolecularchemistry.


The Mechanical Engineering Laboratory developed a prototype desktop machining microfactory. The microfactory, which will enable considerable savings in terms of energy, space, and resources, is a downsized production system whose size is very small with respect to the dimensions of the products. The desktop microfactory consists of machine tools such as a microlathe, a milling machine, a press machine, and assembly machines such as a transfer arm and a two-fingered hand. The microfactory can produce miniature machine parts and assemble them as well as an example of an application, a miniature bearing assembly is produced successfully.


Deployment of femtocells have emerged as a promising technique to address the need for the exponentially increasing mobile traffic demand. They can also improve the capacity and coverage for the indoor wireless users. However, the cross-tier interference in such heterogeneous networks between the femtocells and the macrocells is a design challenge which should be answered before such deployment. In this paper, a spectrum-sharing OFDMA femtocell network is considered in which the macrocell base station protects itself and its users by pricing the interference from femtocell access points. A price-based resource allocation is formulated as a Stackelberg game model to jointly maximize the revenue of the macrocell and the utility of the femtocell users (FUEs) while a predetermined tolerable cross-interference constraint at the macrocell is met. In the proposed model, the macrocell determines the subchannel assignment and the interference prices for the FUEs. Then, the FUEs choose their optimal downlink power. To find the Stackelberg equilibrium, the optimization problems of the leader and the followers are solved. For the followers' sub-game, a closed form expression is obtained. To find the leader's sub-game solution, the non-convex mixed integer nonlinear (MINLP) problem is first converted to an equivalent convex MINLP. Then, we employ the outer approximation (OA) to iteratively and efficiently solve the leader problem. The numerical results validate the convergence of the OA algorithm and the operation of our price-based scheme.


Summary Aircraft longitudinal ride-bumpiness during flight at high speed and low altitude is described in terms of the response to discrete gust patterns. Results are expressed statistically in a form that incorporates data from recent turbulence measurements. Effects of basic airframe parameters and of active controls are illustrated and data from a computer-simulation study are used to confirm the validity of the prediction method.


The aim of the  study  was to study  the  performance of nickel-based  catalysts  in the  production  of synthetic  natural  gas from synthesis gas (CO and H,). Nickel-based catalysts are preeminen ...


Environmental factors induce several interactions in okra ( Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench), resulting in plant modifications both on the vegetative and reproductive phase. Environment can also cause variation in values of some genetic parameters. In order to estimate the genetic variability and some genetic parameters and to study the correlations among some yield characters eleven okra cultivars were evaluated in two seasons (winter and summer), during two years. The experimental design used was a randomized block, with five replications. There was enough genetic variability among cultivars for all the studied characters. Estimated heritabilities showed high values for fruit length, diameter and weight, plant height and number of branches per plant. High correlation coefficients observed for height of first fruiting node and plant height, number of fruits and yield and earliness and yield, demonstrate the possibility of the development of early, short and high-yielding cultivar. The lowest heritability to the easily measurable characters and the highest values of cultivar x environment interaction for all the studied characters except fruit length and average weight suggests that okra breeding programs must employ methods that assure a good environmental control.


The focus of this section is on mental health in a life course perspective and cultural aspects on the Sense of Coherence. According to Aaron Antonovsky the key concept, the Sense of Coherence (SOC ...


The diverse biological properties of platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) make them ideal for use in the development of new tools in therapy, diagnostics, and other biomedical purposes. "Green" PtNPs synthesis is of great interest as it is eco-friendly, less energy-consuming and minimizes the amount of toxic by-products. This review is devoted to the biosynthesis properties of platinum nanoparticles based on living organisms (bacteria, fungi, algae, and plants) use. The participation of various biological compounds in PtNPs synthesis is highlighted. The biological activities of "green" platinum nanoparticles (antimicrobial, anticancer, antioxidant, etc.), the proposed mechanisms of influence on target cells and the potential for their further biomedical application are discussed.


Filter media comprising an adsorbent material, along with methods of using an adsorbent to remove siloxane contaminants from the gas stream, the adsorbent material are disclosed. The method includes the steps of providing a sorbent material which has been washed with an acid, to reduce the siloxane levels in the gas, and a step of passing the gas into the adsorbent material. Filter media for reducing the siloxane levels in the gas, and a second adsorbent material comprising a first adsorbent material comprising adsorbent is washed with an acid, an adsorbent acid impregnated.


The patient was a 41-year-old white woman who had been hoarse for 3 months. She had previously smoked one pack of cigarettes per week, but stopped after the onset of hoarseness. Indirect laryngoscopy revealed a supraglottic mass beneath normal mucosa. Computed tomography with contrast demonstrated a large mass which filled the left pre-epiglottic space. The mass extended superiorly to the base of the tongue, inferiorly to the false cord, and posterolaterally to the arytenoepiglottic fold (Fig. 1). On direct laryngoscopy, a submucosal supraglottic mass, which began at the left false cord area and did not appear to involve the true cords, was seen. Biopsies taken from the left false cord and base of the tongue were initially interpreted as hemangioma. Subsequently, through an incision in the thyroid cartilage, the mass was resected in one piece, without disruption of the mucosa of the vallecula or base of the tongue. The patient's recovery was uneventful and there is no evidence of recurrence or metastasis at 3% years. Pathology. The laryngoscopic biopsies showed a proliferation of thin-walled vessels. The subsequently resected mass was smooth, yellow-tan, and measured 3.2 X 2.6 X 2.4 cm. Microscopically, it was a cellular neoplasm composed of cells arranged around anastomosing, endothelial-lined vascular channels. Only rare mitotic figures were seen and there was no necrosis or hemorrhage. The vessels ranged in size from small slit-lie capillaries to larger branching vessels with "staghorn" appearance (Fig. 2). The tumor is considered a hemangiopericytoma with no obvious malignant features. At the periphery of the neoplasm were numerous vessels that appeared similar to those in the initial biopsies. Electron microscopic examination demonstrated that the neoplastic cells surrounded endothelial-lined vascular spaces. The tumor cells contained rough endoplasmic reticulum, ri-


The speed of both fault calculation and relay coordination will evidently decrease while the simultaneous variations of operation conditions of multi-components,such as switching of operation conditions of substations or plants as well as line repair,are taken into account.For this reason a fast fault calculation method considering switching of operation conditions of substations or plants is proposed.Adopting fault calculation model based on nodal impedance matrix and by means of preforming equivalent network parameters in the form of single-bus and two-bus Π-type for plants or substations under different operation conditions,the switching of operation conditions of plants or substations can be changed into equivalent simple network operation.At the same time combining the features of relay coordination,the sequence of adding branches and the modification times of elements in nodal impedance matrix related to fault calculation are optimized,and a stratified order-reducing modifying mode of related nodal impedance matrix is used.Results from calculation examples and actual power network calculation show that the proposed method can effective decrease the modification times of elements in impedance matrix and speed up the fault calculation and enhance the efficiency of relay coordination software for large and complicated power grid.


Due to the population decrease and urbanization process, a new round of rural primary and middle school pattern adjustment has been implemented since 2000. When the teaching quality is improved, a series of problems also occur, including the security of students, increasing burden on farmers, especially, abundant vacant schools have been produced due to the integration of schools. These schools have a great significance for the developing China. However, due to the problems in land ownership and property right of schools, the re-application rate of these vacant schools is quite low, and then how to improve the usage rate of vacant schools by combining with the new rural construction and urbanization has been the significant problem in the current study. In this paper, the causes, processes, results achieved and existing problems of primary and middle schools, as well as the amount of vacant schools have been explored in details, and then the current situation and existing problems have been discussed, hoping to provide certain reference for the government and researchers.


Take the yellow croaker as the research object,we carried on an experiment to test how food and weight influence the ammonia nitrogen excretion.As a result of the test,the yellow croaker's ammonia excretion rate significantly was affected by the feed,the ammonia excretion rate was approximately 2 times in the group which feed on the mixed fish than that in the group which feed on the miscellaneous feed,and differ greatly in groups of different food(p 0.05).The average ammonia excretion rate of groups feed on the mixed feed reach at higher rates of 5.82±0.94 mg·(h·kg)-1(116.7 g),4.80±0.48 mg·(h·kg)-1(204.9 g),3.43±0.53 mg·(h·kg)-1(313.5 g) respectively,while the groups feed on the miscellaneous fish reach lower rates of 3.16± 0.20 mg·(h·kg)-1(116.7 g),2.41±0.18 mg·(h·kg)-1(204.9 g),1.93±0.11 mg·(h·kg)-1(313.5 g) respectively;The yellow croaker's ammonia excretion rate was also significantly affected by the weight,and reduced with increasing of weight,The relationship between the two can be expressed as U = · 0.006 1W + 3.798(R 2= 0.896 3)(miscellaneous fish) and U = ·0.012 1W + 7.251(R 2= 0.752 7)(mixed feed).


The invention provides an azoxystrobin and hexaconazole-containing antiseptic composition, which comprises the active ingredients of the azoxystrobin and hexaconazole in weight percent ratio of 5-80:50-1. After being mixed, the azoxystrobin and the hexaconazole have synergy with in a certain mixing ratio range. The active ingredients of the composition are added with an assistant and an excipientto prepare a wettable powder, water dispersible granules, a suspending agent, an aqueous emulsion or a microemulsion. The composition is suitable to be used for preventing and controlling common diseases of fruit trees, particularly altemaria mali Roberts, sigatoka and grape powdery mildew.


We present the results of an extensive series of self-consistent calculations for cesium between the equilibrium atomic volume and the critical density. Paramagnetic, ferromagnetic, and antiferromagnetic ordering on bcc, sc, and diamond lattices are considered. We find that, for all three lattices, antiferromagnetic ordering occurs before ferromagnetic ordering. In all cases, a metal-insulator transition occurs at a density rho/sub M/I lower than the density at which magnetic ordering occurs. There is a considerable spread in the values of rho/sub M/I for the different structures clustered about the experimental critical density rho/sub c/ = 0.41 g/cm/sup 3/. Calculated electron densities at the nucleus do not, however, reproduce the experimentally observed trend even when a restricted dimerization of the structure is taken into account.


The preparation and writing of the practicum lecture schedule in the Informatics Education computer laboratory has not been optimal. In addition, the laboratory loan process has not been efficient in terms of time, because lecturers and students have to contact and come directly to the laboratory. The purpose of this study was to design and test a laboratory scheduling information system for the informatics education study program at Universitas PGRI Sumatera Barat using the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) method. This research resulted in an information system that can help labor technicians, lecturers, students and related stakeholders. The results of beta testing research on expert validation obtained an average validation of 87.4% with very good information and the user assessment questionnaire obtained an average value of 89.8% with very good information.


Previous studies of controller-pilot communication have identified communication problems but not how often or why they occur. A more complete picture of these problems requires an understanding of how controllers and pilots successfully communicate during routine operations. We describe a field study of routine controller–pilot communication and the problems that disrupt this communication. Guided by a model of collaboration during communication, voice tapes of communication during terminal operations were coded and analyzed. Two kinds of communication problems were examined: (a) procedural deviations (e.g., partial readbacks) and (b) inaccuracies (e.g., incorrect readbacks). The results suggest that these problems are infrequent events in routine communication. However, they are associated with communication factors such as air traffic control message length and composition and traffic level. These relations suggest potential causes of problems that disrupt routine controller–pilot communication.


Listing enterprises are the key economic entity in securities market and their behaviors contribute to the efficiency of market and the investors' confidence in it.Listing enterprises keep their words to lay the foundation to the wealth effect of the investors,and then their fraudulent behaviors lead to the securities market's irregular moving.This paper analyzes the motives and causes of listing enterprises in China and then comes up with that in the short run it is very necessary to set up a good corporate governance,accounting audit,securities regulation and stress information disclosure,while in the long run it should set up the mechanism of keeping good faith by listing enterprises.


This paper put forward the method that by making pictures of important information and covering them on the surface of terrain,users obtain what they need only through paying attention to pictures,to quickly achieve comprehensive and correct cognition.This method could improve users' cognition efficiency and cognition depth in some way.


Sandy land area in Chifeng is wide distribution, serious endangering, and difficult to control. Lead to the fact the desertification of land is comprehensive function of long-term natural factor and the human factor. Through administration for over half a century, improve to ecological environment farming and animal husbandry comprehensive productivity already makes the preliminary effect now. The paper points out, the work of sand protection and control shoulders heavy responsibilities, at the same time, there are still exist a great deal of un-favorable factors in managing the work at present. To the existing problem, the paper summarizes past experience and puts forward the effective way to sand control, sets up human-oriented realization to realize the sustainable development path of economics and society of sand district


In the design of single point mooring systems, wave loading is a dominant factor. Usually a distinction is made between wave frequency and low frequency excitation. In the wave frequency regime, a Rayleigh distribution is often employed to obtain the extreme values required for the design. In the low frequency range, extreme values are usually derived from an exponential distribution. Although the justification is based on theoretical considerations and experimental investigations in laboratory conditions, the lack of reliable full-scale data to verify the underlying assumptions is often mentioned. In this paper the results obtained from large-scale, long- duration in-situ measurements are presented. The probability distributions derived for the surge forces in both the wave frequency and the low frequency regime, confirm the theoretical considerations, provided crest-to-trough values are used. In the experiments a consistent difference was observed between crest-amplitudes and trough amplitudes, in the order of ten to twenty percent, which could not completely be accounted for, but could be due to the particular test configuration. From numerical simulations the damping of the mooring system was established at around five percent of the critical damping value.


Virtual test systems of shipbuilding industry need to model in CAD software,analyze in CFD software.But there is no direct interface between the two procedures available.The method of establishment standard intermediate file in program designed of CAD-CFD interface was proposed.the format of standard intermediate file was described.The interface program was designed to extract datum of ship offset and create automatically the hull model in UG.The computational domain parameters and grid information was gotten to create the computational domain and mesh of ship model.The 'msh' format data of Fluent software can be exported to carry out the fluid analysis.The method can resolve the problems of fussy and non-system work by hand.


This paper describes an application of an intelligent system consisting of an expert system and artificial neural networks (ANN) for the evaluation of the thermal rating and temperature rise of overhead power lines. The hourly solar irradiance is determined by the ANN and regression best-fitting techniques. The neural network was trained for the prediction of hourly or instantaneous values of the irradiance dependent on astronomic and meteor-climatic conditions. The developed intelligent system can be used to assist operators in loading of power transmission lines in different operating, ambient, cloud and ground reflection conditions. It can also assist the operators to determine the permissible duration of the conductor overload.


Abstract This paper attempts to shed light on the question: What motivates China to invest so heavily in U.S. Treasury securities, despite the fact that U.S. Treasuries provide real rates of return that are either close to zero or negative? Such an investment strategy can be perceived as economically irrational. A linkage can be presumed between China's investment practices and the tactical decision to moderate the United States' influence on economic, political, and military issues. We hypothesize, however, that China does not have a better investment option because holding an ever-increasing amount of U.S. dollar-based liquid assets gives China the ability to manage the value of the yuan in order to force its desired trade surpluses. In other words, China's main mechanism to secure a positive trade balance and increase its foreign direct investment is by maintaining an undervalued currency, which requires an ever-increasing foreign-exchange reserve. From what we know, our study is the most comprehensive empirical examination of motivations for China's heavy purchases of U.S. Treasury securities by analyzing nearly 25 years that begins in 1987 and covers the period over which China dramatically increased its holdings of these instruments.


Basically, product quality is one of the important factors that becomes one of the benchmarks for the success of a product and the future of a company. Even though the production process is carried out well, the resulting product is often not as desired, or in other words it produces a damaged/defective product. The presence of defective products will reduce product quality and this causes losses to the business. To meet consumer satisfaction, business actors must be able to maintain product quality in accordance with consumer needs, in quality control which is very much needed to control the production process so that it conforms to predetermined standards. Small and Medium Industrial Factory (IKM) Bapak Warianto is one of the tempe production factories where in the tempe production process he found several tempe defects ranging from color, shape, to the packaging of the tempe that could not be sold. This research, which was conducted at tempe factory Bapak Warianto, aims to identify quality problems in tempe products, analyze the causal factors in tempe products and provide solutions to improve the tempe production process. The Seven Tools Method is the method that will be used in this research, where this method consists of several statistical tools that are used to determine product quality. From 10 sampling times, there were 4 types of defects in tempeh, of which the four types of defects were eaten as the most dominant/frequent defects. This is because the storage area for tempeh when fermented is not clean and not covered enough so that small animals can still enter. Lack of air circulation and human factors where workers are not careful are also some of the causes of damage to tempe.


Recent developments in IoT-enabled cloud computing and interactive applications have made researchers rethink how healthcare services are currently provided. The IoT-cloud-based systems facilitate remote monitoring and support for patients. However, in the existing area, much emphasis has not been given to making the healthcare systems green. So, in this paper, we present an integrated framework for green healthcare and use cutting-edge technology to make an interactive user interface. We have also ensured the system's scalability and performance ratio. This system interface has been designed and developed for patients and doctors, where patients can send their healthcare data using wearable sensors, and doctors can receive those data in real-time. For data identification and analysis, we have adopted Hierarchical Clustering Algorithms. Finally, we have come up with a solution for how to make the interactive healthcare experience better for everyone.


Two titrimetric, one spectrophotometric and one kinetic methods were developed and validated for the estimation of Dihydroartemisinin (DHA) in pharmaceuticals. The methods were based on the oxidative bromination of DHA, by active bromine generated in situ by the action of acid on Bromate-Bromide mixture. The first method was the direct titration of the Bromate-Bromide mixture with DHA in acid medium using methyl orange as indicator. In the second titrimetric method the excess bromine generated after the oxidative bromination of DHA by BromateBromide mixture was determined iodometrically. In the spectrophotometric method a measured excess of Bromate-Bromide mixture was reacted with DHA in acidic medium, the residual Bromine was determined by a fixed amount of methyl orange resulting in a chromogen whose absorbance was measured at 520mm. In the Kinetic method, the time taken for the liberated bromine to bleach the methyl orange when different concentration of DHA was reacted with the Bromate-Bromide mixture at 4-5 o C was measured and plotted against the drug concentration. The two titrimetric methods were stoichiometric in the ratio of 1:1 (DHA : kBrO3) and applicable within the range of 5.0-20mg/ml and 5.0-30mg/ml, respectively. In the spectrophotometric method Beer's law was obeyed, with a linear regression equation of (A = 0.0113C + 0.0009, r = 0.9998, n=10 ) and applicable in the range of 0.5-40mg/ml. the molar absorptivity and Sandell sensitivity of 2.10 x 10 4 L/μ g/cm and 1.35 x 10 -2 ug/cm 2 respectively. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.75μg/ml and 1.72μg/ml respectively. In the kinetic method the time taken for the bleaching of the methyl orange was proportional to the DHA concentration in the range of 5-60mg/ml with the regression equation of T = 0.0188C + 0.006 (r = 0.9979, n=5). The methods were evaluated statistically via relative error (accuracy) and relative standard deviation (precision) the intra and inter day variations were < 3%. The method were compared statistically with a pharmacopoeial method and successfully used to assay DHA in tablets and paediatric powders. The accuracy and applicability were confirmed by recovery studies via standard addition method with the results showing no interference from pharmaceutical excipients.


Gestalt therapy is validated by important discoveries in the area of neurosciences. All contact or movement mobilizes the right hemisphere, directly connected to the limbic emotional brain, through the ―perforant pathway‖. All emotion is accompanied by a production of neurotransmitters, circulating inside the brain and then body, but also outside (pheromones). These pheromones are analyzed by the Vomero-Nasal Organ (VNO), which has no connection with the cortical zones and therefore is totally unconscious. In 1920, Freud wrote: Biology is a domain with unlimited possibilities; we cannot imagine the answers it will give within a few decades – which could destroy the whole artificial building of our psychoanalytical hypotheses. ―Several decades‖ have passed: where are we today? We know, for instance, that the myelination of the frontal lobes (allowing decision making) is not achieved before 25 years – which could explain the behavior of adolescents and borderline personalities. Is psychotherapy an unsuspected ―chemotherapy‖? No more opposition between chemotherapy and psychotherapy, neither complementary association, but an identity of a process with two faces. A subtle and personalized biochemistry: a microgram of oxytocin induces a maternal behavior. Testosterone is responsible for both aggressiveness and sexual desire (also in women). We lead a therapeutic interview like we drive a car: constantly stepping the brake and the accelerator pedals (serotonin and dopamine). The matter acts over the mind and the mind acts over the matter. Inherited and acquired: we are not born as equals. Our character is 1/3 inherited, 1/3 congenital (during pregnancy) and 1/3 acquired after birth. The genetic predispositions can be developed or inhibited by education or psychotherapy (gene's expression)


The U.S. Department of Defense with the Joint Aerial Layer Network (JALN) program has invested significant funds to develop and deploy airborne high capacity backbone systems. These systems are intended to augment and even replace existing satellite backbones which typically offer low capacity and high latency connections. One key challenge of this technology is topology formation and maintenance with highly directional links. Previously we have presented a flexible topology man-agement(TM) system for topology formation and coordination of aerial high capacity backbone networks [1] and various topology algorithm [2]. But the previously presented topology algorithms assumed that the number of antennas available to make connections was greater than the number of connections to be made and that all nodes for these connections were within radio range. In this paper, we present a generalized algorithm that allows nodes to discover and make only the connections that optimize the system as well as as a new feature to extrapolate orientation to improve the prediction of node position. Various dynamic scenarios are evaluated for comparison to previous static scenarios. 1


The objective of this study was to develop the NIRS equations for silage fermentation attributes based on scans of fresh and dry silage samples of Leymus chinensis. The silage fermentation attributes included pH, ammonia nitrogen, lactic acid, acetic acid, butyric acid, and propionic acid. Concentrations of ammonia nitrogen and lactic acid in fresh silage samples could be successfully predicted using NIRS with scans of dried silage samples. The NIRS predictions of all fermentation attributes, except for pH, were more accurate when equations were based on scans of dried instead of fresh silage samples.


This paper presents a novel architecture to handle serverless functions with adaptive timeout, leveraging prediction to foresee how long the incoming request will take to finish based on historical data. This decision-making process aims to ensure that no request will be discarded, while maximizing execution throughput and offloading requests from the fog to the cloud when needed.


Critical thinking is the basic element for college students.By using argumentative writing,this paper put the focus on six skills to do the study on students of English major,who were freshmen and seniors.The result shows that after four-year study the students possessed the skills of interpretation,analysis and explanation,but the skills of evaluation,inference and self-regulation have been found insufficient.


The data-intensive and computation-intensive characteristics of the geo-processing require scalable, flexible, and distributed geo-computing platforms. We employ P2P and Grid technologies to construct a prototype of P2P-Grid GIS, which can integrate distributed spatial data and computing resources to accomplish complex and large-scale spatial processing tasks. The JXTA is a general P2P toolkit originally used in our system. It has many modules and functionalities unnecessary for the prototype, which prove to decrease the system performance. Therefore, we design our own P2P communication scheme called CoreP2P. In this paper, we firstly give a brief description of the architecture of P2P-Grid GIS. We also identify the group communication requirements in the P2P-Grid GIS, which include spatial data transfer and control message transmission. Then, we discuss the components of CoreP2P and their respective functionalities in detail. Finally, we build the P2P-Grid GIS based on CoreP2P and compare the performance with JXTA-based system.


This paper summarizes the results of a comprehensive study of scientific irrigation scheduling practices in the Pacific Northwest, sponsored by Bonneville Power Administration in a collaborative effort with the Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative, and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. The goal in the study was to characterize the irrigation water management practices in the Northwest and to determine water and electricity savings resulting from such practices. Research began with a survey of a large regional sample of farmers. Water use was monitored in an experimental setting for two matched samples of 22 treatment and 22 control fields in the Columbia Basin area to measure actual water use during the 2004 irrigation season. Water savings were calculated by comparing the differences between water use under "ideal" and actual water application for the two samples and comparing the results to estimate net impacts. Water savings were then converted to power requirements to derive estimates of energy savings.


This thesis, is based on theoretical and analytical devices from French guidelines Discourse Analysis (DA), analyses the "Pacto Nacional pela Alfabetizacao na Idade Certa (PNAIC)" proposal, its repercussion and results as a continuing in-school-training for literacy teachers-specifically in Santa Catarina State, focused in the county of Palhoca. This thesis has the PNAIC training books – literacy and language – as analysis sources as well their related training units, the portfolio produced by the literacy teachers, and the reports produced by the study mentors. According to DA perspective, on this thesis the form such materials were produced is not privileged, but how the texts work, producing meaning effects. The analysis of the materials, performed to meet the proposed objectives, suggests that PNAIC adopts the same production conditions, which generated previous policies that cooperates to playback and maintenance of political-ideological speech towards the literacy teacher training. Analyzing, as a political educational document, the units that compound the literacy and language books, this thesis indicates that PNAIC is a public training teachers policy, like so many others implemented by the federal government. In relation to the teacher"s discursive demonstrations, suggests the underlying discourses to PNAIC moving towards those ones from Pro-letramento, although separated in time and space: both are determined for quite similar production conditions, as the objects (the selected themes, the approached concepts, the subjects), in such a way the PNAIC discourse refers to Pro-letramento discourse. PNAIC has always worked by default from Education Secretary departments, that would have the task to guide in a pedagogic way the literacy practice in schools- that is what this thesis shows after the discursive demonstrations analysis made by the studies mentor. The discursive analysis of relations established by Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) to PNAIC implementation, another goal of the thesis, shows that UFSC is the institution that legitimates the in-school training model to PNAIC standards, constituting as a reference, specially to more fragile municipalities in terms of training, as is the case with Palhoca (SC). Regarding the effects of In-School Training implementation Department Setor de Formacao Continuada (SFC), this thesis suggests that, counteracting the working modes of pedagogics, the Setor de Formacao Continuada (SFC) practices of training were produced through permanent dialogue between teachers and the trainers, what has transformed schools into singulars training teachers spaces. In particular, the meaning effects that were produced in analyzed materialities, suggests that even with all the investment - only in the case of PNAIC it were R$ 3 billion – broad training policies as PNAIC, do not respond to specific teachers demands in schools, that is why this thesis advocates training policies less ambitious, which cover the municipal area, where the bigger chances such policies respond to local fragilities are. Certainly with such amount of available resources to counties, well succeed experiences like SFC could be enlarged and, thus, change reality education in many other Brazilian municipalities that still depend on federal government when the topic is in-school teachers training.


Driving simulation,the analog of the natural environment can increase the user's sense of substitution,and improve the user's real experience.Usually driving simulation system is easy to ignore the effects of rain and snow on the windshield,the only traffic area of rain and snow environment simulation.Instead window rain and snow effects have a direct impact on the user driving experience,but not too much attention.Studies the law of motion of raindrops on the windows and simulation results.Because a large number of raindrops on the windshield of a vehicle,the complexity of the course of the campaign,which makes real-time simulation of raindrops become very difficult.In this paper,the problem of how to construct a simulation model as well as to reduce the computational complexity expand.We use a GPU Advanced shader Language,GLSL,using the Geometry shader optimization model rendering,instead of the traditional Billboard algorithm,so that the particles parallel computing,greatly improve the efficiency of computing and rendering.Authenticity using normal maps to simulate raindrops refracted reflection effect with high fidelity.


Excerpt Syncope and sudden death are common clinical features of primary pulmonary hypertension (1-20). A number of hypotheses have been proposed to explain these phenomena, but none has been fully...


Scan-based side-channel attacks have become a new threat to cryptographic chips. Existing countermeasures require a secret test key to unlock the scan chain before in-field testing is allowed. However, test key disclosure poses tremendous risks to multiple crypto chips that share a common test key. We address this open problem of in-field testing by leveraging physical unclonable function (PUF) to make the derived test key unique to each chip. The PUF's response is invoked only once and hardened into a one-time programmable pad. The PUF response required by the designer to derive a test key of each crypto chip can only be recovered at the time of locking the scan chains without directly reading it out. The manufacturer can test the chip normally with no test time penalty before the passed chips are locked. The proposed solution is analyzed to be secure against all known scan-based side-channel attacks and the overhead incurred for the added security is negligibly small.


Flexural strengthening of RC members with high strength wire mesh and polymer mortar is a new method of structural strengthening with the advantages of resistance to fire,corrosion and ageing.Based on the different failure modes of RC members strengthened with high strength wire mesh and polymer mortar,a practical calculating method for flexural strength of RC members strengthened is put forward.Calculations results with the method agree with the experimental results with reasonable reliability.


The article focuses on the issue of creative freedom exercised by the self-educated folk carvers – the so-called dievdirbiai (literally, "god-makers"), discussing whether the "godmaker" was free to create or if his creative freedom was limited, and if so – by whom, to what extent and why.In the 19th – the first half of the 20th century, the "god-making" constituted a branch of the wood processing craft, and its practitioners were primarily artisans seeking to make their living from this trade or earn some additional income. No artisan worked without first receiving demand or requests. These people were exceptional individuals characterized by high creative capacities, outstanding mastership in various crafts, resourcefulness, sometimes also by peculiar ways of behavior, appearance or mode of life that deviated from the traditional established patterns, therefore frequently labelled as weirdos.In order to be in demand and enhance their selling rate, the "god-makers" sought recognition as renowned masters. The recognition chiefly rested on the opinion of the parish priest. Priests frequently denounced works characterized by primitive plastics, even declining to sanctify them. However, according to the popular opinion, sanctifying of the statuettes meant their positive recognition. Besides, the unsanctified "gods" were widely believed to have no power. Therefore, masters endeavored to comply with the customers' wishes, also adhering to the demands that essentially involved following the standards of the Christian iconography and implied making easily recognizable saints. Another popular request was making the statuettes as realistic as possible.The masters usually complied with the above-mentioned demands, therefore adhering to the main schemes of iconographic composition. However, they exercised certain degree of freedom in terms of interpreting attributes, details and colors of clothing (particularly in case of female saints), and introducing certain motives related to the folk worldview or peculiarities of peasant daily life and clothing.Occasional connections of iconographic types occurring in folk sculpture can also be regarded as manifestations of creativity and rather liberal interpretation of plots. The "godmakers" were particularly prone to integrate several plots related to Virgin Mary, perhaps attempting to enhance the expressive qualities of the statuettes and highlight the importance of the God's Mother in the human life. Especially Mary's head used to be ingeniously adorned in an attempt to emphasize her image as the Heavenly Queen.Thus, some "god-makers" retained originality in their work: rather than mechanically copying prototype compositions, poses and details, they would reshape them in their own way, integrating into a harmonious whole, preserving their distinctive style of carving, enduing statuettes with certain emotional expression, varying the same plots in terms of poses, details, and clothing. However, others approached the produce of the church workshops, adding nearly no individual features and just closely reiterating the prototypes.In the traditional village community of the 19th – the first half of the 20th century, creativity and craft went hand in hand. The "god-maker" was both an artisan and an artist. The opposition between craft and creative work acquired distinct shape only in modern times. Previously, neither customers' requests nor established notions regarding following of the prototypes seemed to the "god-maker" as limiting his creative freedom. He created interpreting things against the framework of specific rules at the time when object of art was not yet separate from the object of worship. Thus, requirement to adhere to the iconography seemed natural, since the prime concern for people of the time was the message conveyed by the statuette, i. e. the meaning of its plot rather than its artistic expression.From the modern point of view, we should discuss the question of relationship between creativity and craft in the "god-making" only in regard to the individual masters – by comparing their compositions, expressive means and details. In some cases, there would be ample creative features, while in others creativity would appear scant, or just an attempt at precise copying of the prototype would be spotted. However, an approach based on the recent scholarly discourse is also possible, suggesting transcending the typical modernist notion and promoting wider perception of creativity, that would diminish the gap between notions of original and its copy, art and craft, innovation and tradition in the daily life. Then the works of the "god-making" masters striving at precise copying of the prototypes may also be regarded as manifestations of creativity.


Background: Stunting is a serious health problem and deep rooted in southern Ethiopia of poor diet, in adequate food intake, disease burden, population growth, poor health service delivery and repeated drought. Objective: to assess the prevalence of stunting and associated factors among under five year's old children in the study area. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in Wondo Genet Woreda from February, 25 to March 15, 2011. The sample size was determined using formula for estimating single population proportion. The sample size was determined using formula for estimating single population proportion. Three Kebele's were selected by stratified two stage cluster sampling method and study households were identified by simple random sampling technique from each 'Kebele. The data was analyzed using SPSS v.16.0 statistical software version16.0. For all statistical significance tests, the cut- off value set will be p


We present the complete structure of the nonlinear N=2 super extension of Polyakov-Bershadsky, $W_3^{\left( 2 \right)} $, algebra with the generic central charge c, at the quantum level. It contains two extra pairs of fermionic currents with integer spins 1 and 2, besides the currents of N=2 superconformal and $W_3^{\left( 2 \right)} $ algebras. For c→∞ limit, the algebra reduces to the classical one, which has been studied previously. The "hybrid" field realization of this algebra is also discussed.


The goal of this paper is to discuss a series of qualitative results for the solutions to a differential equation modeling nucleons, as it was introduced by Tony Skyrme in a series of seminal papers [2, 3, 4]. These results are part of the outcomes of an article written by John McLeod and William Troy [1] on the subject.


Erector spinae plane block (ESPB) is an interfascial plane block where a local anesthetic is injected below the erector spinae muscle. It is supposed to work at the origin of spinal nerves based on cadaveric and contrast study. It has emerged as an effective and safe analgesic regional technique. We report ten cases of thoracic and abdominal surgeries using this technique. We compared the hemodynamic stability through systolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, and heart rate before and after ESPB. Postoperative analgesia was given through patient-controlled analgesia or continuous opioids. The opioid needed and pain scale were assessed 24 h post surgery.


Framework technology reduces development difficulties of J2EE and improves its reusability.At the same time it improves effi-ciency and economices on cost.Aiming at three usual framework this article explores and analyzes its characteristics.


Methods of identifying the sex of eels at the seaward migrating period were studied.Expernal characteristics,by comparing the diameter of eyes,interorbital space,the shape of snout,etc,are sufficiently reliable for the identification of both sexes.These morphological dimensions when calculated with the aid of distinguish function,confirm the differences between the two sexes.Consideration of morphological dif-ferences of the 400—600mm size group,permits separation of the sexes with 90 percent accuracy.Plotting of size distribution separates naturally one sex from the other.Those above 600 mm are nearly all females,and those below 400 mm are almost allmales.The relationship between length and weight of both sexes may be expressed asⅣ=0.0000001285L~(3.015).The regression coefficient of these two variates of eel between400—600 mm in body length is different for male and female.The former is 0.887(W=0.887 L—280.20),and the latter,1.150 (W=1.150 L—376.73).In the caseof the condition factor,the male s found to be 1.15±0.052,the female 1.42±0.053.Differences of both figures are significant.


High quality clastic deeply buried reservoirs are widely distributed in China,varying greatly in geological conditions in every areas.The main controlling factors of porosity and permeability of deeply buried strata,including depositional environment, geotemperature, time of deep burial, dissolution and cementation, hydrocarbon injection, abnormal pressure, and chlorite coats,are discussed systemically.Finally three models are suggested to predict distribution of deep reservoirs.


In this paper a control strategy for robotic manipulators based on the so-called generalized projection identification algorithm is further developed. By adding a forward compensator (the model of the robotic manipulator, which can be obtained by off-line and/or on-line estimation or identification) to the system, its properties are considerably improved. It is shown by simulations that the system has a high accuracy and a strong robustness.<<ETX>>


Abstract Spring migration of birds, particularly waterbirds and raptors, was monitored from dawn till dusk from an observation point located on the levee on the northern side of the Medvedce reservoir (Dravsko polje, NE Slovenia) in three separate years (1-17 Mar 2009; 25 Mar-10 Apr 2011; 28 Feb-12 Apr 2012). In all three years, 42,045 individuals of 89 species (66 waterbirds, 23 raptors) migrated over the site. 38,238 of these were waterbirds. The most numerous species was Lapwing Vanellus vanellus (11,813 individuals), followed by Blackheaded Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus (10,515 individuals). In total, 3807 migratory storks, raptors and Cranes Grus grus were counted. Harriers (2303 individuals) were by far the most numerous group. The prevailing direction of migration was SW-NE. Half of all migrating birds were observed in the altitudinal belt between 10 and 100 m above ground level. Harriers were mostly observed up to 100 m above ground level, whereas storks, other raptors and Cranes were observed most often in the altitudinal belt between 100 and 500 m above ground level. The highest numbers of waterbirds were observed between 10 and 100 m above ground level. In the first five hours after sunrise, 61.3% of all waterbirds, 44.0% of all storks and raptors and only 20.5% of Cranes were observed. Although other parts of Dravsko polje have never been studied in such detail, it is possible that a significant portion of migrating birds from a larger area gathers at this site. This study confirms the importance of the area for migrating and staging birds, especially for Great Egret Ardea alba, Marsh Circus aeruginosus and Hen Harriers C. cyaneus, Osprey Pandion haliaetus, Crane, Ruff Calidris pugnax and Black-headed Gull that all reached at least 0.1% of their respective biogeographic populations. Internationally significant are particularly the numbers of migrating Marsh (1079 individuals in 2012) and Hen Harriers (408 individuals in 2012), as there are only few sites where these species migrate in such high numbers in spring.


Thin anatase films were successfully sputter-deposited on a glass substrate at temperatures as low as 200°C. Photocatalytic activities, evaluated through the decomposition of acetic acid under UV irradiation, showed a strong dependence on oxygen pressure during sputtering and were found to have a close relationship with the oxygen vacancy concentration in the films. Possible explanations for the vacancy concentration of films and their photocatalytic activity have been discussed.


The instantaneous vibrational frequency of I2 in argon solvent confined by single walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) has been calculated by the mixed quantum‐classical molecular dynamics simulations. The variations of vibrational line shift with the tube radius are obtained to investigate the confinement effect. The results show that the frequency shifts for the confined systems are slightly blueshifted compared to the bulk system. Moreover, the shift moves to stronger blue as the tube radius increases. In addition, the mechanistic information correlating the shifts to solvent configurations, geometry confinement is explored at an atomic/molecular level.


Concurrent strength and endurance training is undertaken by numerous athletes in various sports in an effort to achieve adaptations specific to both forms of training. Literature findings to date, investigating the neuromuscular adaptations and performance improvements associated with concurrent strength and endurance training have produced inconsistent results. Some studies have shown that concurrent training inhibits the development of strength and power, but does not effect the development of aerobic fitness when compared to either mode of training alone.


In order to research the revelation of the ZARA's brand value,supply management,merchandising characteristics to our Chinese garment enterprise,by means of the careful and study,the 3V's(Valuable customer,Valuable proposition,Valuable network) was analysed systematically.The result is that ZARA's picturesque business model and profit modus are production vertical integration,powerful ability of the planning and designing,quick response to the fashion.Our Chinese garment enterprises are proposed that learning from ZARA and innovation,make full use of our advantage,so that to improve the market competition and the influence of our Chinese garment industries.


Liu Hsiang (77 B.C. 6 B.C.), a prolific editor of the Western Han dynasty, was the author of the first extant work on Lieh-nii , entitled Lieh-nii chuan (Biographies of Women).1 It contains about one hundred and twentyfive biographies of women, from legendary times down to the Han dynasty. The work, didactic in purpose and intended for the Emperor, begins with the virtuous and proceeds to the virtueless,2 because Liu Hsiang believed that a nation's prosperity and adversity had always been highly influenced by women.3 Each category began with a short introduction and ended with a summary as well as a eulogy on the virtuous or a warning about the virtueless, who were described as bad examples for society. Although most official histories of the various dynasties and compilations by individual scholars after Liu Hsiang all have one or more biographical sections on women, the biographies contained are only of women known for their distinguished virtue. These sections were also known as Lieh-nii chuan.


The article describes the mechanisms of developing and functioning of formal texts at the language system level, where these mechanisms are determined by a series of language antinomies. The object of the analysis is the antinomy "artificial natural and the peculiarities of its actualization in formal language.


This paper presents a new approach to the design, testing and analysis of a magnetorheological brake which uses a multi-path magnetic circuit to satisfy the braking demand of vehicles. In contrast with a general braking system, an automotive brake exhibits an outstanding performance for high torques and long reaction times. We use a proposed power-law model and finite element analysis to obtain the magnetorheological braking performance for a high shear rate and a high-intensity magnetic field. Finite element analysis with different structures is adopted to determine the parameters of the magnetorheological braking and the layout of the magnetic circuits. An integrated prototype is also fabricated and tested. The test results show that the brake torque is relatively high, and the torque can be accurately controlled by the input current. The reaction time is less than 100 ms. We also analyse the experimental results and use these as the basis for fabricating a full-sized prototype. The full-sized prototype generally exhibits a high torque capacity and a fast dynamic response, thereby validating the feasible application of magnetorheological fluids in automotive braking.


The current applicant of laser holography in some scientific as well as industrial fields is introduced.Some strong points and problems existing in the related field is analyzed.The development trend of laser holography in certain subjects is discussed.It is shown that with new technology integration,laser holography will find more and more application foreground.The aim is definitude direction and promoting development.


Coccidioidomycosis is a dimorphic fungus endemic to the southwestern United States, Central and South America. We report a case of a previously healthy person who presented with respiratory failure and disseminated Coccidioidomycosis who eventually had a fatal outcome. Coccidioidomycosis, or "Valley Fever" has been called the "great imitator" (1) as it can have a wide variety of clinical presentations. This case is unique as it represents the first described case of an immunocompetent host with rapidly progressing, disseminated coccidioidomycosis with clinically apparent splenomegaly and hepatomegaly.


Ultrasonic irradiation is known to enhance various physicochemical processes. In this work, the effect of ultrasound on the dissolution of sugarcane bagasse was studied, with the specific aims of quantifying the effect at low solids loading and mild reaction conditions, and determining whether the enhancement of dissolution by ultrasound is independent of temperature. The effects of agitation speed, reaction time, and sonication were examined on the dissolution of the biomass substrate at varying reaction temperatures during the pretreatment process. Sugarcane bagasse was mixed with a 0.3 M solution of sulfuric acid in a reaction vessel to undergo pretreatment. A kinetic model was applied to the mass dissolution of the biomass, as sonicated runs showed higher mass losses at each reaction time, compared to the non-sonicated runs. The ultrasonic enhancement in mass dissolution was seen to increase for an increase in the reaction time. It was observed that the induction period for the dissolution was eliminated by the application of ultrasound. Ultrasound was found to be more effective than temperature at enhancing mass dissolution at low solids loadings, and the effect of ultrasound was also found to be dependent on the temperature employed.


The objective of the present article is to emphasize that isothermal solution calorimetry (ISC) can be used to determine kinetics of reactions of interest in biotechnology. The major advantage of this technique is that it enables to characterize drug release profiles in real time noninvasively. Here ISC was used to monitor pyrimethamine release incorporated in hydrogels of oxidized alginate, ADA, and oxidized alginate blended with chitosan, ADA-Chit. The mechanism of pyrimethamine release was analysed using the semi-empirical equation so-called power law. From plots of cumulative heats concerning drug release, Qrel(t), versus time, values of apparent rate release, k, and diffusion exponent, n, were determined. The values of n were found to be 1.22 for ADA and 1.09 for ADA-Chit, indicating that the drug release is controlled by polymer relaxation.


Abstract A compact planar ultra-wideband (UWB) monopole antenna with quadruple band-notched characteristics is presented. The notched band at 3.3–4.2 GHz (C-band) is obtained by embedding a pair of Z-shaped slots on the elliptical radiation patch. Meanwhile, a modified U-shaped slot is etched in the radiation patch to create the notched band at 4.9–5.4 GHz for WLAN. In addition, by introducing E-shaped stubs on the back layer, the notched bands at 5.5–6.1 GHz for WLAN and 7–8.15 GHz for downlink of X-band satellite communication system are obtained. The antenna is fabricated and measured, showing broadband matched impedance and good Omni-directional patterns with high fidelity and phase linearity (outside the notched bands).


His Excellency Hussain Muhammad Ershad,Former President of Bangladesh,His Excellency Dimitrios Christofias,Former President of Cyprus,Distinguished guests,Ladies and gentlemen,Good morning!It's really an honor to attend the Roundtable on Cooperation&Development of Cities along the Silk Road Economic Belt.On behalf of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee and the Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament(CAPAD),I'd like to take this


Whether we are said to be living in the Anthropocene, the Capitalocene, or are witnessing the start of the Chthulucene, as feminist science studies scholar Donna J. Haraway (2016) would describe the current post-anthropocentric era, there is a demonstratable need for affective, entangled, transversal forms of thinking-doing today. Writing this editorial almost a year after the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, and that as inhabitants of Belgium and South Africa—countries with complex ongoing capitalist-colonial legacies, socio-political presents, and heavily but also differently hit by said pandemic—we more than ever feel that these are times of entwined crisis, chaos, and hardship, overflowing with cravings for pedagogical-philosophical responses that are affirmative, productive, and future-oriented. Reactions that are moreover part theory, part praxis, counter the nihilistic, and are future-focused while still grounded in the present, as to not defer responsibilities to future times (see Geerts & Carstens, 2019).


Rhodium (Rh) nanoparticles were embedded in the mesopores of TUD-1 siliceous material and denoted as Rh-TUD-1. Five samples of Rh-TUD-1 were prepared with different loadings of Rh that ranged from 0.1 to 2 wt% using the sol-gel technique. The prepared samples were characterized by means of several chemical and physical techniques. The obtained characterization results show the formation of highly distributed Rh0 nanoparticles with an average size ranging from 3 to 5 nm throughout the three-dimensional silica matrix of TUD-1. The catalytic activity of the prepared catalysts was evaluated in the solvent-free hydrogenation of cyclohexene to cyclohexane at room temperature using 1atm of hydrogen gas. The obtained catalytic results confirm the high activity of Rh-TUD-1, in which a turn over frequency (TOF) ranging from 4.94 to 0.54 s−1 was obtained. Moreover, the change in reaction temperature during the reaction was monitored, and it showed an obvious increase in the reaction temperature as an indication of the spontaneous and exothermic nature of the reactions. Other optimization parameters, such as the substrate/catalyst ratio, and performing the reaction under non-ambient conditions (temperature = 60 °C and hydrogen pressure = 5 atm) were also investigated. Rh-TUD-1 exhibited a high stability in a consecutive reaction of five runs under either ambient or non-ambient conditions.


SpiralS is a partial reimplementation of the SPIRAL program synthesis system in Scala, covering the generation of fast numerical kernels for the discrete Fourier transform. The main goal of SpiralS, however, is not (only) the pursuit of performance but rather to propose a systematic and principled approach that allows for a more maintainable and re-usable construction of such generators. In this thesis, we follow these proposals and present a prototypical extension of SpiralS by the domain of multigrid methods. Specifically, our multigrid solver accepts a mathematical specification of a discretized square 2-dimensional Poisson equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions and outputs performance-optimized code in C. We focus on the implementation of the generator in particular and describe how it was realized. We craft different domain-specific languages (dsls) to represent algorithmic and domain-specific knowledge on multiple levels of abstraction. The derivation of an appropriate solving algorithm for the given equation is driven by recursively rewriting dsl expressions. The application of performance optimizations is achieved by gradual refinement of the algorithm's structure. For this, we also discuss the translation between dsls and we demonstrate how stencil codes can be used to improve both the implementation of the generator and the performance of parts of the generated code. In the end, we present and analyze the code output for various small example use cases.


Self circulation thin-film evaporator is an important equipment in low concentration of soda production system,its performance is key to quality of soda.In order to improve evaporator′s performance,Fluent6.3 package were used to simulate the 2-D two-phase flow in the self circulation thin-film evaporator and obtained the distribution of velocity field and temperature field in evaporator,and at the same time analyzed the added vapour outlet dimensions' influence on evaporator′s performance.Simulation results will be helpful in optimizing process conditions and structure of the self-circulating thin-film evaporators in soda production system.


In the article, the authors examined the role of assessing the resource potential of agricultural land use in the land management system. A literature review was carried out to determine the resource potential of agricultural land use. The concept of the resource potential of agricultural land use is clarified. The article proposes a methodology for assessing the intergral resource potential of agricultural land use. It determines the resource potential of the specific agricultural land use of LLC Aurora of the Babyninsky district of the Kaluga region on the basis of financial, labor and land indicators. A classification of factors has been developed to assess the resource potential of agricultural land use. The article also proposes levels of assessing the resource potential of agricultural land use.


LL-D253α, a chromanone metabolite of phoma pigmentivora, has been shown by analysis of the 1H-coupled 13C n.m.r. spectrum and synthesis to be 7-hydroxy-8-(2-hydroxyethyl)-5-methoxy-2-methylchromanone.


The paper presents an attempt to evaluate the wear of piston-cylinder assembly with the aid of a vibration signal recorded on spark ignition (SI) engine body. The subject of the study was a four-cylinder combustion engine 1.2 dm. Diagnosing combustion engines with vibration methods is especially difficult, due to the presence of multiple sources of vibration interfering with the symptoms of damages. Diagnosing engines with vibro-accoustic methods is difficult, also due to the necessity to analyse non-stationary and transient signals [5]. Various methods for selection of a usable signal are utilised in the diagnosing process. Changes of the engine technical condition resulting from early stages of wear are difficult to detect for the effect of mechanical defect masked by adaptive engine control systems [3]. According to the studies carried out, it is possible to utilise artificial neural networks for the evaluation of the clearance in piston-cylinder assembly.


Recently, we are trying to predict the emotion from various information and to convey the emotion information that the supervisor wants to inform the audience. In addition, audiences intend to understand the flow of emotions through various information of non-dialogue parts, such as cinematography, scene background, background sound and so on. In this paper, we propose to extract emotions by mixing not only the context of scripts but also the cinematography information such as color, background sound, composition, arrangement and so on. In other words, we propose an emotional prediction system that learns and distinguishes various emotional expression techniques into dialogue and non-dialogue regions, contributes to the completeness of the movie, and quickly applies them to new changes. The precision of the proposed system is improved by about 5.1% and 0.4%, and the recall is improved by about 4.3% and 1.6%, respectively, when compared with the modified n-gram and morphological analysis.


Background: This scoping review concerns deaf adult sign language users from any country (e.g. users of South African Sign Language (SASL), British Sign Language (BSL), American Sign Language (ASL) and so forth). It concerns well-being understood to include subjective well-being and following the WHO's (2001) definition of well-being as "mental health as a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully and is able to make a contribution to his or her community." Well-being has three components (Steptoe, Deaton, and Stone, 2015; Stewart-Brown, Tennant, Tennant, Platt, Parkinson and Weich, 2009): (i) Live evaluation, also referred to life satisfaction, which concerns an individual's evaluation of their life and their satisfaction with its quality and how good they feel about it; (ii) hedonic well-being which refers to everyday feelings or moods and focuses on affective components (feeling happy); (iii) eudaimonic well-being, which emphasises action, agency and self-actualisation (e.g. sense of control, personal growth, feelings of purpose and belonging) that includes judgments about the meaning of one's life. Well-being is not defined as the absence of mental illness but rather as a positive state of flourishing that encompasses these three components. The review is not concerned with evidence concerning mental illness or psychiatric conditions amongst deaf signers. A specific concern is deaf sign language users' perceptions and experiences of well-being.


Based on the strength reduction technique for nonlinear finite element analysis of slope stability the arc-length control method for calculating the fracture loading of structure and tracking the softening of structure deformation is introduced to improve the calculation.By using this method the deduction degree of soil strength parameter can be automatically adjusted in the process of iteration,so that the false iteration caused by excess reduction of strength can be avoided and the convergence of calculation is accelerated.The calculation result of example in engineering practice show that by using this proposed method the safety factor obtained is more accurate and the convergence of iteration in finite element calculation is improved.


Ternary quantum circuits have recently been introduced to realize ternary logic functions. In this paper realizations of ternary half- and full-adder circuits using generalized ternary gates (GTG) are proposed, which are more efficient than the previously published realizations.


The paper presents a smart power transducer implementation as IoT based solution. The essentials of IoT concept are outlined. The possibilities for application of cloud computing in the electric power system management are discussed. The block diagram of a smart transducer with extended network capabilities is described. The remote user interface is shown.


Background and purpose CaV1.2 channels contribute to action potential upstroke in pacemaker cells, plateau potential in working myocytes, and initiate excitation-contraction coupling. Understanding drug action on CaV1.2 channels may inform potential impact on cardiac function. However, literature shows large degrees of variability between CaV1.2 pharmacology generated by different laboratories, casting doubt regarding the utility of these data to predict or interpret clinical outcomes. This study examined experimental factors that may impact CaV1.2 pharmacology. Experimental approach Whole cell recordings were made on CaV1.2 overexpression cells. Current was evoked using a "step-step-ramp" waveform that elicited a step and a ramp current. Experimental factors examined were: 1) near physiological vs. room temperature for recording, 2) drug inhibition of the step vs. the ramp current, and 3) Ca2+ vs. Ba2+ as the charge carrier. Eight drugs were studied. Key results CaV1.2 current exhibited prominent rundown, exquisite temperature sensitivity, and required a high degree of series resistance compensation to optimize voltage control. Temperature-dependent effects were examined for verapamil and methadone. Verapamil's block potency shifted by up to 4X between room to near physiological temperature. Methadone exhibited facilitatory and inhibitory effects at near physiological temperature, and only inhibitory effect at room temperature. Most drugs inhibited the ramp current more potently than the step current—a preference enhanced when Ba2+ was the charge carrier. The slopes of the concentration-inhibition relationships for many drugs were shallow, temperature-dependent, and differed between the step and the ramp current. Conclusions and implications All experimental factors examined affected CaV1.2 pharmacology. In addition, whole cell CaV1.2 current characteristics—rundown, temperature sensitivity, and impact of series resistance—are also factors that can impact pharmacology. Drug effects on CaV1.2 channels appear more complex than simple pore block mechanism. Normalizing laboratory-specific approaches is key to improve inter-laboratory data reproducibility. Releasing original electrophysiology records is essential to promote transparency and enable the independent evaluation of data quality.


This study aims to assess the potential development of selected agroforestry options for three provinces in the Northwest of Vietnam. Available spatial data including Land use/land cover maps and forest inventory maps were used as the base maps in combination with supplementary data and field survey to determine the potential agroforestry areas. Soil types, soil depth, soil texture, elevation, slope, temperature and rainfall were used to evaluate the biophysical suitability of ten typical agroforestry options in the study region. For assessing the impact of climate change to agroforestry suitability in the future, temperature and precipitation data extracted from two climate changes scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 and 8.5 in 2046–2065) were used. The results showed that the suitable areas for agroforestry development in Dien Bien, Sơn La and Yen Bai provinces were 267.74.01 ha, 405,597.96 ha; and 297,995.55 ha, respectively. Changes in temperature and precipitation by 2 climate change scenarios affected significantly to the suitability of Docynia indica + livestock grass, Teak + plum + coffee + grass and Plum + maize + livestock grass options. The map of agroforestry suitability can be served as a useful source in developing and expanding the area of agroforestry in the target provinces, and can be applied for other provinces in the same region in Vietnam.


Abstract This is the case of a 52-year-old male patient with tetraplegia and muscle respiratory failure, due to an extradural compressive cervical ganglioneuroma (C1-C2), with a history of neurological symptoms for 3 years. The tumor was completely surgically removed and the patient followed a neuro-muscular rehabilitation program (NMRP) for 4 months, consisting of rehabilitation nursing, physical and occupational therapy. At the end of NMRP the patient's achievements were: unilateral supported walking, partial autonomous daily living functioning, the improvement of quality of life and facilitation of social and professional participation.


Pipeline systems are safe and economic infrastructures for transporting gas and oil. However, leakage failure is the most common problem encountered with the use of pipeline and affects operation. The accuracy in locating a leakage point predominantly depends on the flow parameters in the given pipeline. Numerical modeling is a useful tool that allows separate analysis of the different hypotheses used to describe the fluid flow process and parameters. In this study, the distinctive features in the dynamic pressure fluctuation of gas are modeled by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. The model was simulated with a transient operation to reveal the effect of one and two leakage points on the dynamic pressure in the pipeline by varying the leak orifice number and size, after being validated with experimental data. Finally, a consistent response was exhibited: as the leak orifice size or number changed, the leakage rate and dynamic pressure magnitude in the pipeline changed.


Abstract:The current national surface water monitoring programme in Ireland includes 224 lakes. Monitoring data from the period 2012–14 are used to evaluate the performance of ecological assessment metrics in responding to eutrophication pressure, as indicated by average total phosphorus concentration (TP). For 70 surveillance lakes, the r2 or relationships with TP was 0.65 for phytoplankton, 0.65 for macrophytes, 0.59 for phytobenthos and 0.32 for fish. Following normalisation of the Ecological Quality Ratios (EQR) to a 0–1 scale; averaging together the results for phytobenthos, phytoplankton and macrophytes resulted in a higher r2 of 0.84 with TP. Using the ecological boundaries intercalibrated across the EU, the corresponding TP concentrations for the high/good and good/moderate boundary ranged from 8 to 11 and 16 to 30 μg l−1 respectively. Non-parametric multiplicative regression was used to examine the strength of influence of typological parameters on the relationship between the assessment metrics and TP. Typological factors found to be significant for these models included lake area, mean depth and alkalinity. However, the most important model parameter, as indicated by higher sensitivity values, was TP. This was in part because metrics were designed to detect eutrophication pressure, but also because typological factors are already considered in both metric application and through type-specific EQR boundaries (for example, through incorporating depth or alkalinity in typology). Marl lakes may represent a more sensitive lake subtype requiring derivation of separate, more appropriate environmental quality standards. Further analysis in this regard is required.