Ball mill is a grinding machine used in mineral processing, comprising of a rotating cylindrical shell filled with steel balls and the material to be ground. The ball mill is inevitably accompanied by vibration during operation since the main cause of this vibration is the tumbling of steel ball and material to be ground. This vibration may lead to resonance and even to failure of the structural components. The aim of this study is to analyze the vibration of the ball mill structure using finite element analysis and discrete element analysis. The dynamic analysis of the charge inside the ball was done using Discrete element, EDEM software which resulted in the time varying load applied on the drum. This load was then applied to the FE model using ANSYS software for dynamic analysis of the ball mill structure. The ball mill was modeled in Autodesk Inventor 17. The first ten modes of vibration are extracted and the response of the ball mill structure under time varying load is obtained. It was observed that ball mill is safe in its range of operation as far as resonance is concerned. Also results showed that the ball mill is subjected to small deformation and stress in vibration condition, which will not affect the strength of the ball mill structure.


In 1967, Alan Westin [1] set in motion the foundations of what most Western democracies now think of as privacy when he published his book, Privacy and Freedom. He defined privacy as "the claim of individuals, groups, or institutions to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others." His careful collection of sociological, legal, and historical perspectives on privacy came at a time when people worried that human dignity would erode or that governments would tend toward tyranny, becoming tempted to misuse their newfound power over private data. Computer scientists shared these concerns. Following Westin's emphasis on privacy as confidentiality, much of the security and privacy research over the last four decades has concentrated on developing more and more robust access control and confidentiality mechanisms. Today, despite the fact that technical innovation in cryptography and network security has enabled all manner of confidentiality control over the exposure of identity in information systems, the vast majority of Internet user remain deeply worried about their privacy rights and correctly believe that they are far more exposed today than they might have been a generation earlier. Have we just failed to deploy the proper security technology to protect privacy, are our laws inadequate to meet present day privacy threats, or is have business practices and social conventions simply rendered privacy dead? While there is some truth to each possibility, the central failure to achieve robust privacy in the information age can be traced to an a long-standing mis-identification of privacy with confidentiality and access control. Privacy protection in an era in which information flows more freely than ever will require increased emphasis on laws that govern how we can use personal data, not just who can collect it or how long they can store it. Much of our current privacy views are based on controlling access to information. We believed that


Anthracnose and stem-end rot caused by Colletotrichum gleosporioides and Botryodiplodia theobromae, respectively are the most important postharvest diseases of mango (Mangifera indica L.) causing huge economic losses. In this study, biocontrol efficacy of Pseudomonas fluorescens was evaluated against anthracnose and stemend rot of naturally infected mango fruits during their postharvest storage. Physiologically mature mango fruits were treated with P. fluorescens formulations (107 cfu/ml and 108 cfu/ml) by dipping them for 5 min. Following treatment,fruits were air-dried and stored at ambient condition (30º ± 2ºC) for 12 days. Among the treatments, P. fluorescens 108 cfu/ml showed significant reduction (5.92%) in decay loss of mango fruit compared to control (24.52%). Respiration and ethylene evolution rates were also brought down by P. fluorescens treatments. Loss of firmness, total phenolics content and titratable acidity were also found lower in P. fluorescens treated fruits. No significant differences in a* and b* values of fruit colour was recorded between control and treated fruits while, the L* value was lowest in control fruits. The fruits treated with P. fluorescens @ 108 cfu/ml maintained highest total carotenoids and total soluble solidscontent than other treatments. Therefore, P. fluorescens @ 108 cfu/ml treatment may be used as a potential biocontrol agent in reducing anthracnose and stem-end rot, and maintaining desirable fruit quality attributes of mango during postharvest storage.


1 We owe our title to the present Deputy Principal of Homerton College, Tim Ever‐ton. The work described in this paper was made possible by a small research grant from Homerton College. The teaching methods used were developed with the help of an ERTEC grant in 1990 and through the support of the then Acting Deputy Principal, Sylvia Williams.


The conversion of renewable energy into hydrogen (H2) by power-to-gas technologies involving electrolysis is seen today as a key element in the transition to a sustainable energy sector. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) could be integrated into future green H2 networks as users of oxygen (O2) produced alongside H2 in water electrolysis. In WWTPs, O2 is required for biological treatment steps, e.g., in activated sludge (AS) systems. However, the production costs of electrolysis O2 should be competitive with those of conventional O2 production processes. In this study, mathematical models of a polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyser (PEME) plant and the WWTP of the Benchmark Simulation Model No. 2 (BSM2) were used to simulate electrolysis O2 supply to an AS system and estimate net costs of production (NCP) for produced O2 via a techno-economic assessment (TEA). Assuming that produced H2 is sold to a nearby industry, NCPs for O2 were calculated for two different PEME plant dimensions, four alternatives regarding electricity supply and costs, and three sets of assumptions regarding system performance and market conditions. The analyses were performed for 2020 as a reference year and 2030 based on forecasts of relevant data. Results of the dimensioning of the PEME show the O2 demand of a municipal WWTP with an installed capacity of 80,000 population equivalents (PE), such as the one of the BSM2, can be covered for more than 99% of the simulated period by either a 6.4 MW PEME operated for 4073 full load hours or a 4.8 MW PEME operated for 6259 full load hours. Investment costs for the PEME stacks and the operational costs for electricity make up most of the NCP of electrolysis O2. The projected decrease in PEME stack costs and renewable energy prices in favourable market conditions can result in a competitive NCP for electrolysis O2 in 2030. The approach described in this study can be applied to analyse O2 supply to biological wastewater treatment in WWTPs with different characteristics, in processes different from AS, and under different assumptions regarding economic conditions.


The present invention aims at providing a portable electronic device, the portable electronic device comprising: a first portion including circuitry, and having an outer side, the inner side (24), and a bottom side; the second part, also includes a circuit, also has an outer side, the inner side 22 ), and a bottom side; at least one hinge (36), the bottom side of the first and second portions connected to each other, allowing a portion rotatable with respect to another portion; and at least one first set of flexible electrical conductors (32), near its bottom at the outer side is connected to the first portion, the second portion is connected to the inside near its bottom side (22). The first portion may also include a camera lens on the inner side, and the second portion may include a display screen (28) disposed on the inside.


There is no consensus on the judgment of the adequacy status of the old-age pension benefit in China at present. Therefore, clarification of various types of indicators and benchmarks of pension adequacy is urgently needed. According to the theoretical development of pension adequacy, this paper offers a comprehensive analysis of the benefit level of basic pension from the perspectives of poverty alleviation, income substitution, and financial sustainability. The calculation results based on local administrative data show that the current pension benefit in urban China is unbalanced: on the one hand, the average pension level of self and flexible employees cannot keep track of the local average consumption level or even the relative poverty standard in particular years and the individual replacement rates for a few nonstandard employees are less than the minimum standard of 40% set by the International Labor Organization, which means the pension benefit performs poorly in terms of consumption smoothing. On the other hand, the lifelong pension rights are much higher than the lifelong contribution obligations for new retirees. Under the trend of population ageing, the extremely high benefit–cost ratio means that the current retired generation is eroding the welfare of the current working generations, and the long-term financial sustainability of the pension system is facing challenges. In the future, in order to improve the benefit level of the basic old-age pension system in a sustainable way, we need to increase the average and individual replacement rates and reduce the benefit–cost ratio by consolidating contribution bases and delaying the number of contribution years.


Hadronization is the non-perturbative process of QCD by which partons become hadrons. It has been studied at high energies through various processes, we focus here on the experiments of lepto-production of hadrons in cold nuclear matter. By studying the dependence of observables to the atomic number of the target, these experiments can give information on the dynamic of the hadronization at the femtometer scale. In particular, we will present preliminary results from JLab Hall B (CLAS collaboration), which give unprecedented statistical precision. Then, we will present results of a phenomenological study showing how HERMES data can be described with pure energy loss models.


Objective To observe the influence of Tanshinone ⅡA on acquired multi-drug resistance(MDR) model chemosensitivity,Apoptosis,P-glycoprotein(P-gp),lung cancer resistance protein(LCR) and Topoisomerase Ⅱ(TOPOⅡ) in MDR mice with S180's tumor.Methods The mice,induced as the S-180 MDR mouse model,were randomly divided into CTX,Tanshinone ⅡA+CTX,tanshinone ⅡA and MDR model groups,and treated 4 weeks,then,the sizes of tumor were measured and the tumor inhibitory rate was counted.The mouse S180's ascites tumor model was established,randomly divided into model,CTX,CTX +tanshinone ⅡA groups,treated 2 weeks,the apoptosis rates of tumor cells were measured with flow cytometry and the change of P-gp,LRP and TOPOⅡ with fluorescence detection.Results The tumor inhibitory rate in CTX +Tanshinone ⅡA group were significant higher than that in CTX group(P0.01);The apoptosis rate of tumor cell in CTX +Tanshinone ⅡA group was significant higher than that in CTX group,and the expression of P-gp,LRP and TOPO Ⅱ in CTX+Tanshinone ⅡA group were significant lower that that in CTX group(P0.01).Conclusion Tanshinone ⅡA can reverse the acquired MDR of mouse S180 tumor.which may have some relate to the decreasing of P-gp,LRP and TOPOⅡ.


eral thoracic paravertebral block was performed with 40 mL of 0.5% ropivacaine at T8. Thirty minutes after skin incision, dopamine (3 g · kg 1 · min ) was initiated because of persistent hypotension and bradycardia. Twenty minutes after dopamine was started, the patient developed sudden polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (Fig. 2). The cardiac rhythm spontaneously converted between sinus and ventricular tachycardia several times and finally sinus rhythm was maintained. The patient spontaneously awoke from general anesthesia without neurological consequences or further cardiovascular consequences. The patient was transferred to the intensive care unit, where the dopamine was discontinued. There were no further episodes of arrhythmia. Subsequent echocardiography confirmed that there was no structural abnormality of the heart, establishing the diagnosis of Brugada syndrome.


Collisions between ships contribute to ship losses even in modern time, and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) strives towards a more risk-based view on addressing the damage stability of ships. The current paper makes use of a methodology for computing the consequences of ship collisions. This methodology is comprised of structural analysis of a collision scenario followed by dynamic damage stability simulations of the struck ship. The emphasis of this investigation is on uncertainties related to structural computations of the collision event. Explicit finite element analyses are presented for a case study of a collision scenario. For comparison, the model of the bow of the striking ship is considered as either rigid or deformable in separate analyses. The consequences from the model representation of the bow, uncertainties in material properties and failure model (three different ones are presented) in terms of shape and size of the damage opening are studied. This variation also has an impact on the time to capsize of the struck vessel, which is studied in the subsequent damage stability computations for different sea states. One conclusion is that the methodology that has been used is important for future efforts in the research on safety at sea. The study presented demonstrates the importance of incorporating uncertainties in the analysis chain and studying the effect of these on the final results: the time to capsize.


A current transformer (CT) is a preferred device to harvest power in the high-voltage utility grid to power monitoring equipment. Widespread CT use is foreseen in future smart grid deployment. The most common CT use involves a laminated transformer iron split core installation around a high-voltage cable with a particular number of turns to power a load or burden. Less common is a gapless core installation to improve reliability and prevent CT degradation by avoiding gap corrosion. Even laminated high resistivity cores still suffer from eddy current loss. The goal is to design a core able to deliver the desired power at optimum number of turns, minimized dimensions, and minimal loss. This article focuses on the core permeance as a complex parameter, on core size, losses or efficiency, load impedance optimization, flux level, power factor performance, and the relationship between these parameters. A similar size split core shows reduced loss compared to a gapless core. Lossy cores can still operate relatively efficiently at low flux levels indicating that the load current should preferably approach the short circuit current. Notwithstanding nanocrystalline and ferrite material advantages, silicon-doped laminated iron remains the preferred choice for 50/60 Hz inductive power harvesting.


For many years the European Commission has been seeking to have harmonised legislation throughout the European Union for the maximum weights and dimensions of motor vehicles and vehicle combinations. Progress, whilst slow, has been made and Council Directive 96/53/EC represents the current legislative position for motor vehicles circulating in the European Union. However, further progress, particularly with regard to legislation on the maximum weight of vehicles, will depend on greater political willingness to control vehicle weights - an area where WIM can be of major importance. For the covering abstract see IRRD E102667.


Students enrolled in a senior-level psychology course used a computer-aided personalized system of instruction (CAPSI) to write tests, and give and receive feedback on their writing at a mastery level. Weekly measures of the number of unit tests requested, the number of unit tests cancelled, and informal student feedback all indicate that a change in the feedback to allow revision of answers increased student persistence and activity in CAPSI. Keywords: Writing, Computer-aided PSI (CAPSI), student persistence and activity ********** In Spring 2004, Delta State University surveyed freshmen and seniors using the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE, 2000; see Bridges & Kuh, 2004). The results of the NSSE report indicated many significant strengths of Delta State, including high levels of student-student and student-faculty interaction and many positive aspects of writing (e.g., preparing several drafts, and receiving prompt feedback). However, the NSSE results did indicate that students at Delta State engage in less writing than students at comparable institutions. As suggested by Tierney and Shanahan (1991), there is a strong link between writing and thinking. Thus, one area that Delta State has targeted is to increase is the amount of writing that students produce during their four-year undergraduate degrees. The current study began as a way to increase student reading and writing skills within an upper-level psychology course at Delta State University. This course incorporates stress on the written word through use of a computer-aided personalized system of instruction (CAPSI, see Pear & Crone-Todd, 1999). With its basis in Keller's (1968) personalized system of instruction (PSI), CAPSI incorporates many of the features of the original system (Grant & Spencer, 2003), including: (a) the written word as the main means of learning the material; (b) mastery criteria for passing unit tests prior to continuing on in the testing; (c) self-paced method for students to progress at their own speed; (d) use of proctors, tutors, or peer reviewers to provide feedback and help administer the program; (e) lectures as motivational aids, rather than as the main means of transmitting information. The growth of PSI-taught courses coincided with research indicating its clear effectiveness as a pedagogical tool that increased performance well over the previous gains using lecture or discussion-based learning (Buskist, Cush, & DeGrandpre, 1991; Johnson & Ruskin, 1977; Kulik, Kulik, & Cohen, 1979). This work showed that PSI students learned more than students taught using conventional methods. When compared with other methods, PSI courses were perceived by students as more demanding, yet were also rated as more favorable in quality and enjoyment. Despite this early advantage for PSI, the system fell out of favor for a variety of reasons. One of the key reasons was due to the amount of time for instructors to set up and administer these courses (Buskist et al, 1991). However, recent advances in technology have resurrected an interest in the PSI methodology. In particular, CAPSI (Pear & Crone-Todd, 1999; Pear & Kinsner, 1988) has been used for the last few decades at the University of Manitoba to teach several undergraduate courses in psychology, and is now being made available through the internet to serve locations throughout Canada and the United States. CAPSI incorporates the principles of PSI by focusing on small units of study. The students are provided with open-ended study questions that correspond to each unit. Students are allowed to proceed at their own pace to master the units on tests based on these study questions. These unit tests are reviewed by the instructor or two peer-reviewers to determine if mastery is met. Feedback on each question is provided, and if the answers to all questions meet mastery criteria, the test is evaluated as a pass. …


This paper presents a spreadsheet model of an electricity market that can be used to simulate two types of auctions, a single price auction and a paid your bid auction. This model can be used in a variety of pedagogical applications. From the perspective of management science and operations research MS/OR, this application emphasizes model use and integrates several important concepts. From a business perspective, users can explore various bidding strategies and their implications, depending on the auction rules. From a public policy perspective, students can learn how market design decisions may influence market outcomes and the exercise of market power.


ABSTRACT This study attempts to determine whether and to what extent stock prices in the Chinese stock market are driven by firms' operating performance. We use a sample that consists of the top 10% performers listed in the Shanghai Stock Exchange from 1996 to 2000 in terms of annual stock returns. We use several measures to proxy for the firms' operating performance. Simple and multiple regressions are performed to determine, at the firm level, whether and to what extent these variables are related to stock price changes and what portion of the stock price movements can be explained by these firm performance variables. Our results indicate that while firm performance measures had some explanatory power of the stock price changes in the first two years during our testing period, the operating performance measures' explanatory power of the stock price movements generally declined as the stock prices went up. Our results suggest that the significant stock price increases from 1998 to 2000 were not driven by firms' operating performance. Instead, they were driven by several non-performance factors. INTRODUCTION The relationship between a firm's stock price movements and its operating performance has been a subject of considerable research interest in recent years but the results of the studies are not conclusive. Lamont (1998), Shiller (1984), Fama and French (1988), and Sivakumar and Waymire ((1993) find that the firm's operating performance can explain a significant portion of the stock price movements but Lev (1989) conducts a review of several studies on the information content of earnings and reports that earnings changes are only weakly related to contemporaneous stock returns and that the operating performance is not significantly related to contemporaneous stock returns. This paper extends this line of research into the Chinese stock market, which has experienced significant growth since the Shanghai Stock Exchange opened on Dec. 19, 1990. The purpose of the study is to determine whether and to what extent stock prices in the Chinese stock market are driven by firms' operating performance. This is of particular interest because the Chinese stock market is widely viewed as a very speculative, policy driven market. On the macro level, there appears to be a disconnect between the overall stock market returns and the GDP growth. From 1993 to 2003, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index experienced a cumulative increase of 79.53%, from 833.8 to 1497.04 (The annual returns of Shanghai Stock Exchange Index from 1991 to 2000 are presented in Table 1). But during the same time period, the real GDP increased from 3.46 trillion RMB to 11.66 trillion RMB, a cumulative increase of 236%. Clearly, the stock market has not been a good indicator of the macro economic development even though the number of listed companies in Shanghai Stock Exchange increased from 169 to 559 and the total trade volume increased from 64 billion shares to 231 billion shares from 1994 to 2000. In our study, we use a sample that consists of the top 10% performers listed in the Shanghai Stock Exchange from 1996 to 2000 in terms of annual stock returns. We use several measures to proxy for the firms' operating performance. These proxies are changes in earnings per share, changes in sales, profit margin, total asset turnover, returns on equity, and returns on assets. Simple and multiple regressions are performed to determine, at the firm level, whether and to what extent these variables are related to stock price changes and what portion of the stock price movements can be explained by these firm performance variables. Our results indicate that while firm performance measures had some explanatory power of the stock price changes in the first two years during our testing period, the operating performance measures' explanatory power of the stock price movements generally declined as the stock prices went up. Our results suggest that the significant stock price increases from 1998 to 2000 were not driven by firms' operating performance. …


PURPOSE: A motor for a damper including an overcharge preventing circuit is provided to construct an opening/closing driver connected to a blade of a damper and a forward/reverse motor using a magnetic coupler and a hall sensor to protect components from charging delay. CONSTITUTION: A motor for a damper comprises a transformer(31), a bridge diode(32), an electrolysis condenser(33), a transistor(34), a relay(35), a rectifier circuit(36), a charging condenser(37), and an opening/closing driver(100). The opening/closing driver comprises a magnetic coupling(110), an opening hall sensor(120), and a closing hall sensor(130). The magnetic coupling rotates the forward/reverse motor forward when power is applied as the relay is driven and transfer current charged in the condenser to rotate the forward/reverse motor reversely when power supply is cut so as to open/close a blade of the damper. The opening hall sensor and the closing hall sensor are located opposite to each other on a circuit board corresponding to the magnetic coupling and rotated by the relay.


The socioeconomic development of the scheduled castes (SCs) and their respectful integration with the mainstream and bringing them on par with the others is a constitutional responsibility and a national goal. Achieving this goal calls for effective planning and implementation of programmes for the development of SCs. The special component plan strategy is essentially a means of earmarking benefits to the SCs in physical and financial terms in each sector of the state plan/central plan. In this article, an attempt has been made to analyse the agricultural dimensions of SC development with special reference to the special component plan approach under Mysore district. Agricultural development programmes were initiated for improving the socioeconomic status of the SCs in society. The impact of the special component plan on the SCs with reference to agricultural development programmes in Mysore district is seen here. This paper has concluded that income-generating programmes initiated under the special component plan for the economic development of the SCs are not making a desired level of impact on their socioeconomic status at the policy and implementation levels. There is an urgent need to enhance budgetary allocation with effective monitoring and evolution of physical and financial targets of SCP programmes, so that the intended benefits could reach poor SC families (Maurya, 2001).


A backrest construction for a chair, comprising a backrest (31) that includes first and second rigid support portions connected by a flexible portion (125 ?, 126); characterized by a backrest frame (30) that is mounted on a base of the chair and whose backrest frame is operatively fixed to the backrest (31) in an upper connection (32) and is operatively fixed in a lower connection (33), the first rigid portion being arranged to provide thoracic support, the second rigid portion being arranged to provide pelvic support, and the flexible portion (125 ?, 126) being arranged between them to provide lumbar support, the lower connection (33) being located ) in front of the supporting portion of the pelvis, and next to or behind the hip joint of a seated user, the upper (32) and lower (33) connections and the thoracic, pelvic and lumbar portions being constructed in such a way that when a user sits down their lower back, the pelvis portion of the back moves pivotably downward and backward, the portion lumbar support moves in a flexible manner generally backwards to form a flatter arrangement with the pelvic support portion and the thoracic support portion of the back pivots around the upper connection (32), so that the back (31) in combination with the back frame (30), is adapted to provide posture support for the back of a seated user, which is comfortable and supports the posture for flexion and movement of the lathe and spine of the user sitting.


The utility model is suitable for a mobile terminal, providing a potable mobile terminal with the function of identifying fake paper money or ticket, which comprises a shell body, a screen, a camera, and an authentication module, wherein the authentication module consists of an infrared filter and a driving decoding module; the infrared filter is installed in a light path switching mechanism, comprising an infrared filter holder and a switching device, the switching device is used to drive the infrared filter holder to move in the direction of the camera in a switching condition, when the infrared filter comes into the camera 's optical path, the authentication module is triggered, infrared anti-counterfeiting feature information of the paper money or ticket to be identified is taken by the camera and is decoded by the driving decoding module, and the results are shown by the screen. The identification of fake paper money or ticket is realized on the mobile terminal conveniently and directly, and the mobile terminal has light weight, is easy to carry, and has low cost.


: Background: Children routinely undergoing endoscopy experience severe procedural distress accompanying with negative feelings mainly anxiety. Purpose: to evaluate the effect of developmental psychological preparation on behavioral distress of children undergoing endoscopy. Research design: A quasi experimental design. It was conducted at endoscopy unit of National Liver Institute Menoufia University. Sample: A convenient sample of 78 children who had liver diseases and undergoing endoscopy. Instruments: four data collection instruments were used; Social characteristics structured questionnaire, Physiological evaluation likert scale, Observational scale for behavioral distress (OSBD) and Pediatric End Stage Liver Disease (PELD) Score. Results: there was highly statistical significant difference in behavioral distress between study and control group on posttests (p  .001). Conclusion: children in the study group who are engaged in developmental psychological preparation exhibited lower behavioral distress level on posttests than patients in the control group. Recommendations: The study recommended that developmental psychological preparation should be importantly integrated in endoscopic units as a routine care to lower negative consequences of this stressful experience.


In this paper we propose a family of tests for exponentiality against the IDMRL alternative. Here we assume that the turning point or the proportion before the turning point is unknown. We derive the asymptotic null distributions of the test statistics and obtain their asymptotic critical values based on Durbin's approximation method. A simulation study is conducted to evaluate the proposed tests.


The article is aimed at representing the activities of technical evaluation carried out on the examination of the experimental program for the geological storage of carbon dioxide. The paper describes the experimentation program and the related plants, focusing attention on the assessment of the relevant risks for the environment and health, with specific aspects related to the safety, prevention and mitigation plans for significant releases of CO 2 . In particular, the corrective measures of prevention and protection are specified, connected both to purely technical and plant aspects, as well as to management and organizational aspects. The discussion ends with a series of assessments about the strengths of this experimental installation.


Compound having the formula I: ** ** Formula or a salt, solvate or stereoisomer pharmaceutically acceptable thereof; or taut6mero or a salt, solvate or stereoisomer 5 pharmaceutically acceptable thereof; or a mixture thereof, in Quex is 0; W, Y and Z are all CH; R1 is selected from H, (C1-C6), alkenyl (C2-C6) -alkenyl or (C2-C6); Rla is H; R2 is selected from F or alkoxy (C3-C6); R3 is alkoxyl (Ci-C2); R4, R5 and R6 are independently selected from H and alkyl (C1-C4) -alkyl and at least two of R4, R5 and R6son (C1-C4), and two of R4, R5 and R6 may join together to form a 3- to 7-membered; R7 and R8 are H; R9 and R1 ° is independently selected from H and alkyl (Ci-C4); each R11 is independently selected from F, Cl, (C1-C4) alkyl or (C1-C4) and m is 0; ycada R12 is independently selected from F, Cl, (C1-C4) alkyl or (C1-C4) and n is 0.


Abstract The paper deals with determination losses of two-stage power electronic system with two-phase variable orthogonal output. The simulation is focused on the investigation of losses in the converter during one period in steady-state operation. Modeling and simulation of two matrix converters with R-L load is shown in the paper. Results of simulation are compared to experimental verification ones.


To investigate the failure mode of the cable-stayed pipeline bridge under seismic loading, this study focuses on an oil and gas cable-stayed pipeline bridge as the research subject. A full-scale finite element calculation model of the structural system is established using ANSYS Workbench 14.0 software, considering the stress characteristics and structural properties of the oil and gas pipeline. Additionally, a fluid–structure coupling effect finite element model is developed to account for the influence of medium within the pipeline. The analysis includes evaluating deformation, stress, strain, and other responses of the oil and gas pipeline subjected to seismic waves from different directions. The results indicate that the overall damage in the pipeline is consistent with maximum deformation, stress, and strain, concentrated at both the inlet/outlet ends and side spans; however, variations exist in terms of seismic damage depending on wave directionality. Furthermore, by considering interactions between various components within the oil and gas cable-stayed pipeline bridge's structural system during strong earthquakes, this study analyzes failure mechanisms caused by the support–pipeline interaction as well as excessive displacement-induced failure patterns in bridge towers. Finally, a proposed failure mode for pipe bridge systems resulting from longitudinal slip between supports and pipelines, along with excessive displacement of bridge towers, is presented.


Supplementary sequences and maps. Supplemental sequence 1. TYLCV 2.3 genome sequence and map. Supplemental sequence 2. IR-gRNA (TYLCV) sequence and map. Supplemental sequence 3. CP-gRNA (TYLCV) sequence and map. Supplemental sequence 4. RCRII-gRNA (TYLCV) sequence and map. Supplementary sequence 5. IR-gRNA (BCTV Worland) sequence and map. Supplementary sequence 6. RCRII-gRNA (BCTV Worland) sequence and map. Supplementary sequence 7. BCTV (Worland) sequence and map. Supplementary sequence 8. MeMV sequence and map. Supplementary sequence 9. Non-specific-sgRNA sequence and map. (PDF 3031 kb)


In this article author presents the results of an empirical study aimed at the assessment of real state of marketing concept within Croatian banking system. State of marketing in Croatian banks is not satisfactory, but there is a rational explanation of such a situation. Croatian banks are in process of market transformation and even they realise, but slowly, the importance of 'being market oriented' They not only lack knowledge, but also real incentive to make it happen. Since the money supply is significantly lower than the money demanded, there is no increased pressure to use sophisticated marketing methods.


Deconstructing democracy and security: a discourse theory approach ................................................4 The case study: Israel, a state at the apex of the security/democracy tension .......................................6 Grasping the discursive constructions of the security-democracy nexus ............................................. 10 Methodological background.............................................................................................................. 11 The structure and content of the study ............................................................................................... 14


Large basis set ab initio calculations have been carried out on the three-dimensional near- equilibrium potential energy surfaces of the spectroscopically unknown species OCCl+, ONP, ONS+, and ArCN+ and the isoelectronic reference molecules OCS and NCCl, using a correlation consistent polarized valence quadruple zeta (cc-pVQZ) basis set and the coupled cluster method with single and double substitutions, augmented by a perturbative estimate of triple excitations [CCSD(T)]. A complete set of spectroscopic constants for each species has been obtained from the CCSD(T)/cc-pVQZ potential energy surfaces using the standard second-order perturbation theory formulas. In order to predict equilibrium bond distances of the unknown species as accurately as possible, their resulting CCSD(T) structures have been corrected based on identical calculations on both the diatomics CO, CN, NO, CS, CCl+, and NP and the linear triatomics OCS and NCCl. The second-order spectroscopic constants and anharmonic force fields for OCS ...


The use of radio for educational purposes in high schools expanded considerably between 1920 and 1970. Education scholars generally qualify radio for schools as a failure. This conclusion is based on the accessibility of radio sets in schools, the interest of teachers in radio for schools, and the budgets allocated for the purchase of radio sets. A wider investigation shows that educational radio resulted from collaboration among school personnel, radio broadcasters and the political authorities. We agree with communication scholars that using a means of communication for educational purposes involves many spheres of society. An examination of the origins, development and decline of radio broadcasting for schools also reveals that this was a technical substitution phenomenon; one means of communication was replaced by another. The use of radio in schools gradually declined, following the introduction of television in schools during the 1960s. Taking all these aspects into account, our study identifies the social mechanisms whereby radio was used for teaching in high schools. This clearly illustrates on a more general level the change in use of audiovisual tools in schools. The Montreal Catholic School Board (CECM) — the largest French‐language school board in Canada — is an institution of particular interest for the study of radio broadcasting for schools. Because of it size, the CECM had sufficient resources and personnel to be a pioneer in education. From 1931, CECM personnel went on the air on CKAC radio to popularize instruction in music, literature and language. Members of Montreal's educational community, parents and students alike, and listeners interested in learning, began to view radio as a means of conveying knowledge. In 1936, Société Radio‐Canada (SRC), the French‐language section of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, appeared on the Quebec radio scene, and educational radio gradually became more clearly defined. The programs that were aired, of which the best known was Radio‐Collège, gave the green light to educational radio in francophone Quebec. Before emulating SRC initiatives, the CECM used radio as a tool for social communication. In the early 1950s, the school board used radio mainly as a forum for explaining educational issues to the public; for example, teachers' salary negotiations. From autumn 1950, the CECM School and Family Committee aired a series of ten programs about the role of the school in society. Post‐war Montreal society was in a state of flux. Urbanisation and the emergence of mass communication and consumption were transforming the entire social structure. The francophone elite was starting to question traditional values taught by the Church, and religious practice was declining. Reacting to these new realities, the CECM appealed to parents for their help to ensure that together, family and school would succeed in the task of educating children. The board also used CKAC to discuss the shortage of schools. When parents demanded schools for their children, speakers from the School and Family Committee explained how the problem would be solved. As these examples show, Montreal schools initially made use of radio for social communication. Maurice Debesse & Gaston Mialaret, Traité des sciences pédagogiques (Paris, 1969); Jean Vial, Histoire et actualité des méthodes pédagogiques (Paris, 1982); Robert Lefranc, "Les technologies éducatives", in Robert Lefranc, Louis Legrand, Joseph Majault & Olga Wormser‐Migot (Eds), Aperçus sur l'enseignement dans le monde, situations et tendances (Tournai, 1982), pp. 88–117; Geneviève Jacquinot, L'Ecole devant les écrans (Paris, 1985); Larry Cuban, Teachers and Machines: The Classroom Use of Technology since 1920 (New York/Londres, 1986). In 1954, following the third congress on the French language in Canada (Troisième congrès de la langue française au Canada), the CECM devised a wide‐ranging campaign to improve the spoken language of students. This was the beginning of educational radio. With the help of executives at CKAC radio, the board created school broadcasting designed to improve everyday language in students from grades 1 to 12. After the first series of programs proved a success, the board repeated the project the following year, broadcasting twice as many lessons. The glory years of Améliorons notre langue parlée would follow, with the series airing continuously from 1954 to 1963. As a result of this enduring venture, the government extended teaching by radio to other school boards across the province of Quebec. This marked the institutionalization of school radio broadcasting. Transistor radios, the democratisation of high school teaching and active pedagogy were all elements that boosted the use of radio in schools. Radio was now present in every classroom, but television was also being introduced. Radio had earned pride of place but was gradually superseded by television. The range of academic subjects widened, and the numbers of hours set aside for television broadcasting increased. Meanwhile, the use of school radio broadcasts gradually diminished. We therefore attribute the decline in radio broadcasting for schools to the emergence of television for schools, in other words, a phenomenon of technical substitution. Finally, our research shows that the contribution by social agents incidental to schools and the influence of various factors external to schools are of major importance in explaining the mechanisms whereby educational radio became part of school life. It shows that radio changed in status from a public communication tool in the 1930s, to a pedagogic tool supporting the teaching of French twenty years later. Our study also shows that radio for schools was created not only by school‐related actors and institutions but also by the mass media and government. Far from being a failure, as education scholars maintain, educational radio was a success, but was replaced by television in the late 1960s.


Abstract : Two computational methods are considered for a class of non-uniform, continuous, multiple time-delay linear systems, which have been developed in the modeling of lossless layered media. The first approach discretizes the time axis and inserts states of intermediate delays, to arrive at a set of standard finite-difference equations. For our particular system, matrix multiplications can be reduced to simple scalar multiplications. The second approach defines mapping rules for the transformation of states at an interfaces, and keep a state reference table for look-up and branching. The procedure is similar to ray-tracing. Several experimental results are presented to show the trade-off between storage requirement and CPU time-spent for the two methods.


An objective of quality control for cervical cytopathology is reducing high rates of false‐negative results of laboratory tests. Therefore, methods to review smears such as rapid prescreening and 100% rapid review, which have shown better performance detecting false‐negative results, have been widely used. The performance of rapid prescreening and the performance of 100% rapid review as internal quality control methods for cervical cytology examinations were evaluated.


A detection and predetermination calculational method for rapid variation light power comprises steps of: respectively obtaining characteristic parameters and a threshold value of an instant slope ratio of all gears of a TIA circuit which are stored in a parameter table; calculating the instant slope ratio value of output signals of the TIA circuit in real time, and comparing the real time instant slope ratio value and the threshold value of instant slope ratio; when input light signal varies quickly, determining the beginning power value of input light variation, and calculating the real variable quantity of the input light power according to the instant slope ratio of the output signals of the TIA circuit; adding the beginning light power of input light variation and input light power variable quantity obtained by predetermination calculation to obtain determination light power when input light rapid varies to serve as the real instant power of the input light, comparing the light power value obtained by predetermination and the light power value obtained according to the output signals of the TIA circuit, finishing the predetermination calculation when the predetermined light power value and the light power value are closer, using the light power value as the real instant power of the input light. The method greatly speeds up light power detection speed and can accurately display the light power value of fast variation.


Image culture based on local culture is an innovation in the world of education with the use of contextual learning media based on local culture as a source of learning. The purpose of this study was to improve skills teachers in designing image media as a source of learning for elementary school teachers in Sigi District who had implemented the 2013 curriculum. The research method applied was Classroom Action Research (CAR) which referred to Kemmis Mctaggart consisting of two cycles and every silkus consists of four stages, namely 1) planning, 2) implementation, 3) observation and 4) reflection. Data collection techniques use analysis Qualitative Observation, interviews, documentation. The results of this study indicate that the application of image media based on local culture as a source of learning in elementary schools can be useful for teachers and in implementing provides an overview of how to implement image media integration as a source of learning local wisdom in SD Sigi Regency, Central Sulawesi so as to carry out active and enjoyable learning which can improve student learning outcomes.


Throughout the developed world, people are living longer, healthier lives
and as a result the proportion of older people has been increasing steadily
over the past century. In 2011, Ireland had the highest proportion of young
people (21.3%) in the EU, and the lowest proportion of old people (11.7%).
However over the next thirty years this is about to change and the numbers
of people aged over 65 years will be between 1.3 and 1.4 million in 2041,
compared with 460,000 in 2006 and the number of "oldest old" - persons
aged 80 years and over is projected to quadruple from a level of 110,000 in
2006 to about 440,000 in 2041.
These significant changes in the structure of our population will have major
implications for policy development, forward planning and integrated service
delivery by Government, state agencies and others involved in provision of
services and supports for older people. While Ireland has a short breathing
space in which to plan the best possible future for everyone, we need to
conceptualise new social roles for older people which take account of their
additional healthy and active years and which focus on the opportunities as
well as the challenges of an ageing population.
What is needed is new thinking, backed by evidence, that focuses on the
'demographic bounty' by promoting quality of life and well-being, valuing
the contribution older people make in their communities, promoting their
independence, and removing the barriers, whether legal, attitudinal or
income related, which limit or inhibit the capacity of older people to live life
to the full. Taking this approach will not only benefit older people but will
bring benefits to our communities for people of all ages.


Quality has become a key determinant of success in all aspects of modern industries. It is especially prominent in the semiconductor industry. This paper reviews the contributions of statistical analysis and methods to modern quality control and improvement. The two main areas are statistical process control (SPC) and experimentation. The statistical approach is placed in the context of recent developments in quality management, with particular reference to the total quality movement. In SPC, Hotelling T2 has been applied in laboratories with good result; however, it is rarely used in mass production, especially in the semiconductor industry. An advance process control (APC) of R&D study, involving Hotelling T2 and principal component analysis (PCA), is performed on a high density plasma chemical vapour deposition (HDP CVD) equipment in the 12-inch wafer fab. The design of experiment (DOE) of gas flow and RF power effects is used to work the feasibility of PCA for SPC and examine the correlation among tool parameters. In this work, the Hotelling T2 model is shown to be sensitive to variations as small as (+/ − )5% in the tool parameters. Compared with classical PDCA and qualitative analysis, applying statistical in process control is more effective and indeed necessary. This model also is especially suitable to the semiconductor industry.


A method for controlling an extrusion line (1) depending on the material data of a discontinued material (2), wherein material data is captured by at least one detection unit (3) continuously before the material of processing in the extruder (1) is subjected to characterized, in that using the collected material data by data comparison and / or mathematical processes one or more characteristics are determined and then using the / the characteristic value determined (e) a record of the required engine parameters from a database (4) and read to the extrusion line (1) is transmitted.


State criminal laws prohibiting cruelty to animals - which includes both abuse and neglect - have provided the primary means through which our legal system has protected animals. In some states, including Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, these laws include explicit provisions that require owners to provide their animals with veterinary care. In other jurisdictions, such a duty has been implied from more general anti-cruelty language. None of these laws, however, make clear what level of care is required. They also leave unanswered the question of whether the treatment choices of owners who do seek care for an animal can ever be overridden. State anti-cruelty statutes, particularly those with provisions requiring veterinary care, may in fact provide a basis for challenging some owner treatment choices, but should only be used in the most egregious cases. Criminalizing behavior involving treatment choice through cruelty statutes requires a careful balance: statutes mandating veterinary care need to leave room for a range of treatment options, including euthanasia, and should take into account an owner's inability to pay for expensive treatment.


&NA; A national cross‐sectional study correlates the satisfaction ratings of heart failure patients (diagnosis related group 127) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' process‐based quality measures for heart failure treatment for 32 hospitals during the first and second quarters of 2004. Two of the four measures of clinical quality showed statistically significant, moderately strong, positive correlations with a global measure of satisfaction and with, respectively, 5 and 7 subscales of the 10 subscales of satisfaction under examination (Pearson's r ranged between .40 and .67, 2‐tailed; p < .05). Findings demonstrate that quality need not be a zero‐sum issue, with clinical quality and service quality competing for resources and attention.


This policy brief, issued as part of the Trade Insights series, reviews the role of safeguards in the Asia-Pacific region and discusses whether such measures promote or hinder liberalization. It finds that the use of safeguard measures by developing Asia-Pacific economies has been on the rise. The majority of Asia-Pacific countries implement their safeguard measures through an increase of specific tariffs on sectors associated with chemicals and base metals.


BI-RADS (Breast Imaging and Reporting Data System) was first published in the United States in 1993 to unify the mammography language including the coding, the terms used to describe lesions, the statistics and data archiving. Its goal was to obtain a better communication between different physicians in charge of the patient and to facilitate comparison between the research studies. It concerned mammography in the first place (version 1, version 2, version 3 and version 4 published in 2003) and was extended later to include ultrasound (version 1) and MRI (version 1) in 2003 [1-3]. BI-RADS in mammography is the main and largest of the three volumes. It consists of six chapters (Table I). Chapter 1, the lexicon, defines the terms to be used for description of a normal mammography or lesion. This section will be further detailed in this article for all three modalities: mammography, ultrasound and MRI. Chapter 2 is about reporting and it is practically identical for the three techniques. The most important feature is the notorious evaluation categories (BI-RADS 0 to 6) which will be developed later. In Chapter 3, follow-up on results and audit, the interesting elements are definitions of statistical terms "true positive", "false positive", "true negative" and "false negative" and will be detailed later in the text. Chapter 4 contains practical advices, including recommendations for follow-up of category 3. Chapter 5 & 6, data collection and appendices, contain sample forms and provide practical information such as recommended abbreviations, forms for cancer classification and an important dictionary for database explaining how to structure information fields in a database, useful for research or audit. The last section contains illustrated cases. We will first tackle the lexicons in mammography, ultrasound and MRI summarized in an appendix that can be accessed on the online version of this paper. This appendix contains all descriptive terms in two languages, French and English, helping in a better communication between radiologists, physicians and surgeons and even between French and English-speaking doctors. Then, we will consider the other sections common for the three techniques.


Connect is a column that will explore opportunities for libraries to foster, build, and strategically expand connections in the many forms they take. It is true that unifying metaphors, such as connect, have their limitations and can be prone to simplification or generalization, but they can also serve a useful purpose. The idea of connecting has a tangible sense beyond the figurative. It is for this reason I feel that connect works well as a rubric for organizing our thoughts regarding the present state of library services within the changing horizon of academia. It is also why I think that the concept makes a fruitful header for a column dedicated to such exploration. This first article sets the broader stage for the idea of connections, presenting a wider breadth and sampling of views, concepts, and possible issues. Future articles will explore in greater depth topics of relevance to academic libraries that highlight successful connections.


The preparation, installation, and baking processes of grisaille used in stained glass are described in several treatises from the Middle Ages. The present work presents a comparison of information derived from historical sources with analytical studies by electronic sweep microscopy and x-ray microanalysis to determine the structure, chemical composition, and causes of deterioration in thirty samples from Italian stained glass windows of the 14th to 16th centuries. The principal environmental factors influencing the precariousness of preservation of grisaille are: impregnation of the pores with salt deposits (mostly calcium sulphate), and corrosion of the glass beneath the black paints.


A gastrointestinal (GI) fistula is a chronic, life-threatening condition and a therapeutic challenge [1]. Endoscopic closure requires combined approaches with both mucosal ablation and mechanical closure of the fistulous tract [2]. As we recently reported in a multicenter cohort study, the novel strategy of fistula endoscopic submucosal dissection with clip closure (FESDC) is safe and feasible for permanent closure of GI fistulas [3]. This technically demanding procedure could be added to standard endoscopic strategies in first-line treatment or could be proposed as a second-line therapy when the fistula remains refractory to other current approaches [4]. This could be the case in the exceptional occurrence of an aortic fistula at the thoracic level, where surgical management (most frequently performed by the endovascular route) is an immediate emergency but remains poorly codified, with a poor prognosis [5]. When the aortic hole is closed using the endovascular approach, closure of the digestive defect remains a challenge with no previous published case of success. We herein report the case of three patients with aortoesophageal fistulas following aortic surgery and stenting for aortic dissection. Their evolution was marked by infection of the prosthetic material, and the fistulas recurred despite multiple surgical treatments. We therefore decided to perform FESDC. After dissection of the internal fistulous orifice, edge apposition of the dissected fistula tract was obtained by clipping using standard hemostatic clips (▶Fig. 1, ▶Fig. 2, ▶Fig. 3). For all patients, technical success, defined as a tight seal of the orifice confirmed by opacification at the end of the procedure, was achieved (▶Fig. 4). Long-term success, defined as sustainable healing of the fistulas without symptoms or leakage on computed tomography scan after 3 months, was obE-Videos


The separation capability of the charged particles is one of the most important capability for the direct energy converter (DEC) of DHe fusion reactors. An alternative DEC using Helmholtz coils (Helmholtz DEC) is designed to reduce the selfinduced electric field and separate charged particles when the thermal input is large as 250MW (220MW/m). Its numerical analyses with a two-dimensional approximation give the following results. (1) The Helmholtz DEC with 10MW (8.8MW/m) thermal input : The induced electric potential distribution is stable. The separation of ions and electrons can reach as high as 99.4% when both electrodes are grounded. When the electric potential is given to both electrodes as 9 patterns, the highest separation rate is about 95%. (2) The comparison of Helmholtz DEC with closer collector-type Cusp DEC : When both electrodes are grounded the separation rate becomes over 95% with both DEC. When the anode is given 100kV the separation is successful with only Helmholtz DEC. (3) The Helmholtz DEC with 250MW thermal input : This is the thermal input planned with ARTEMIS. The separation is successful using Helmholtz DEC. Inside of the DEC, however, the self-induced electric potential is too high to convert the kinetic energy of ions into electricity. Figure 1: D-He Fueled FRC Fusion Reactor "ARTEMIS" ∗Copyright c °2002 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All right reserved. †Senior Member, Professor ‡Member, Emeritus Professor


In this study, a powerful and useful simulation method using a simple CA-model is proposed to approach the live design of buildings. If buildings are used by the general public, it must be done to guarantee safety and security in them in case of emergency such as fire, earthquake, terrorism, and so on. Two examples such as an office floor and a shopping area are treated in fire emergency to show the validity of this proposed method. The complex phenomenon such as an evacuation process for pedestrian is modelled by simple transition rules, and then the pedestrian dynamics in emergency is reproduced and its effectiveness is verified visually by the use of a computer graphics technique. In concrete, the process that people rush to the exit is verified. And the process for inducing the pedestrians to exits is reproduced. In addition, the evacuation action from flame is also reproduced. Such a complex phenomenon is difficult to express and solve by a conventional differential equation. However, the simulation method using a simple CA-model can overcome the difficulty easily. .


Electro-optical and radar technologies are being merged in the form of coherent infrared radars. In this paper we discuss the potential military applications of these devices. We begin by reviewing the factors favoring coherent infrared radars over alternatives such as conventional radars or electro-optical sensors. These include increased resolution, adequate weather penetration, and signature stability. Next we outline the military applications of existing sensors and indicate those applications where coherent infrared radars offer the potential of improved performance. Finally, the state-of-the-art in coherent infrared radar technology is indicated by a brief summary of several current development programs.


Abstract There is substantial evidence suggesting that the process of suburbanization creates new job opportunities that are not equally exploited by all workers. In order to explain this phenomenon, a simple model is developed which incorporates borrowing constraints as an important restriction on moving decisions, obstructing the necessary labor flows between jurisdictions required to equalize (net) wages. In essence, people who cannot borrow will be restricted in terms of their capability of changing residence location and therefore will have limited possibilities of working in distant labor markets, or they will be subject to excessive commuting. Furthermore, the labor allocation induced by households' behavior facing these constraints affects consumer welfare, production, and producers' profits. The outcomes with perfect credit markets and with borrowing restrictions are calculated and the economic welfare levels are compared. As wages are flexible, they adjust to reflect the relative scarcity of workers present in each jurisdiction. Consequently, some of the negative effects of the borrowing constraints are compensated, so the outcomes cannot be easily compared. Some numerical examples are constructed to have an idea of the possible outcomes under different conditions. Finally, it is found that allowing for moving cost deductions from taxable income may help to alleviate the problem.


Four reinforced concrete rooms are used in this study, with varying floor areas, openings, and fuel loads. These rooms are office, Classroom, computer, and chemical laboratories of institutional buildings. The time versus Eurocode (EC) parametric fire relationship is determined and compared with ISO 834 and ASTM 119. The performance of the slab is evaluated based on the EC target reliability index of 3.8 for 50 years design period using the First Order Reliability Method (FORM). The probability of failure and structural reliability of each fire compartment at different fire duration is determined. Variables used were concrete compressive strength, a reduction factor of concrete compressive strength, steel yield strength, concrete cover, slab depth, unit width, and area of steel reinforcement provided. The reliability is determined at each 30 minutes fire duration for all fire compartments. The starting point is ambient temperature, then after every thirty minutes until the time when the maximum gas temperature is reached. The fire compartments were able to show fire resistance for two hours and then started to drop over time. Yield strength reduction factor, concrete cover, and area of reinforcement respectively were the most significant variables to determine the reliability index. The structure was able to withhold fire until two hours with a reliability of more than 3.8after that, the slab reliability was less than the target reliability and will need a repair.


Abstract Evagrius of Pontus (345–399 AD) presents in his spiritual doctrine the concept of "pure prayer," that is, prayer not only devoid of any contact with material things but also divorced from any concrete image in the νοῦς (i. e., the mind/intellect). Upon reaching this state of deep purification, the νοῦς sees during such a prayer the light of God and also perceives himself as radiant. Evagrius specifies that the νοῦς sees itself in the colour of the sapphire or in sky-blue, or even as a star. Scholars have been asking for a long time whether, for Evagrius, this light originated within the mind itself, or came from God. It seems that monk of Pontus joins these two lights together, although considering them always as separate. The light of νοῦς itself is but a reflection of the divine light, in the same way like the moon reflects the light of the sun. Even if the νοῦς is not the source of its own light, nevertheless its light is real. In a time of deep spiritual union with God, His light illuminates the human νοῦς and turns it into radiance.


Based on the dispersion of Lagrangian particles relative to the contours of a quasi-conservative tracer field, the present study proposes two new diffusivity diagnostics: the local Lagrangian diffusivity and local effective diffusivity , to quantify localized, instantaneous, irreversible mixing. The attractiveness of these two diagnostics are that 1) they both recovers exactly the effective diffusivity Keff proposed by Nakamura (1996) when averaged along a contour and 2) they share very similar spatial patterns at each timestep and hence a local equivalence between particle-based and tracer-based diffusivities can be obtained instantaneously. From particle perspective, represents the local magnifying of the mixing length; from contour perspective, represents the local strengthening of tracer gradient and elongation of the contour interface. Both of these enhancements are relative to an unstirred (meridionally sorted) state. While Keff cannot quantify the along-contour variation of irreversible mixing, is able to identify the portion of a (quasi-conservative) contour where it is leaky and thus easily penetrated through by Lagrangian particles. Also, unlike traditional Lagrangian diffusivity, is able to capture the fine-scale spatial structure of mixing. These two new diagnostics allows one to explore the interrelations among three types (Eulerian, Lagrangian, and tracer-based) of mixing diagnostics. Through a time mean, has a very similar expression with the Eulerian Osborn-Cox diffusivity. The main difference lies in the definition of their denominators. That is, the non-eddying tracer background state, representing the lowest mixing efficiency, differs in each definition. Discrepancies between these three types of diffusivities are then reconciled both theoretically and practically.


The invention relates to the technical field of urban comprehensive emergency management, in particular to a rapid momentum plotting system and method based on a GIS platform and touchscreen device. The system comprises a display and control terminal, an operating tool set, a data processing layer and a system supporting layer. The display and control terminal is used for displaying a GIS system and plotted contents on a screen and completing touch operation to draw graphics. The operating tool set is mainly used for completing key operations of the entire draw process. The data processing layer is used for processing key plotting processing algorithms and techniques. The system supporting layer comprises a plotting database, the GIS system, a GIS server and a network used for communication between a touchscreen and the server. By the aid of the system, problems that map plotting operation is complex and the like are solved, and the system can be used for rapid momentum plotting of the geographical information platform.


Given two varieties % and %" of inverse semigroups, define Wr( Z, %") to be the variety of inverse semigroups generated by wreath products of semigroups in % with semigroups in K The principal result of this work is a description of the fully invariant congruence on the free inverse semigroup corresponding to Wr( 8, 7 ) in terms of the fully invariant congruences corresponding to % and %", where % and T are varieties of inverse semigroups. This description makes use of a graphical representation of inverse semigroups with presentations, due to Stephen, which is the inverse semigroup theoretic analogue to the Cayley graphs of group theory. We further show that Wr, considered as a binary operator on the lattice Y(3) of varieties of inverse semigroups, is associative. Thus, the lattice of varieties of inverse semigroups is a semigroup (Y(3), Wr ) under the . . operation Wr. . . . Using these results we investigate properties possessed by varieties of the form W r Z, T ) . We show that when % is a group variety, Wr(Z, T ) is the more familiar Mal'cev product variety % 0 K The principal result also provides us with a solution to the word problem for the relatively free objects in Wr( Z ! , %") given solutions to the word problem for the relatively free objects in the varieties % and K We show that when the varieties % and Y have E-unitary covers over the group varieties 5V and 2, respectively, then Wr( Z, T ) has E-unitary covers over the group variety Wr( 52"). Further properties of varieties of this form are presented as well as a discussion of the basic properties of the semigroup (Y(3,Wr). We conclude this work by showing that several special intervals in Y(.Y) corresponding to v-classes and whose , maximum member is of the form Wr(Z, 9 1) are infinite, where Z is a variety of abelian groups and 33' 1 is the variety of inverse semigroups generated by the five element Brandt semigroup with an identity adjoined. ... 111 I wish to thank my Senior Supervisor, Dr. Norman R. Reilly, for his encouragement, guidance and patience during the preparation of this thesis. I must also thank my family and fiiends for their unflagging support over the years. A special thanks to Steve White for his help in preparing this manuscript. Financial support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and Simon Fraser University kept me alive and is greatly appreciated.


Summary Data have been presented to demonstrate that methionine and cystine reduce the growth of Sarcoma R-1, increase the body weight, increase food efficiency, and increase Δ body/tumor ratios. Supplementation with guanidoacetic acid proved to be toxic, this toxicity being overcome when combined with the sulfur amino acids. Guanidoacetic acid or glycine in combination with methionine resulted in increased food efficiency and body/tumor ratios, a response which suggests a specific role for these acids.


Relevance. Ischemic heart disease is still the leading cause of death in Lithuania (Higienos instituto Sveikatos informacijos centras, 2018). Early diagnosis and treatment of the disease has been shown to improve the patient's disease prognosis (Adams, Bojara, and Schunk, 2017).
 Aim. To eveluate the peculiarities of patient preparation for radionuclide myocardial perfusion diagnostics.
 Objectives:
1. Theoretically explain the essence of the radionuclide myocardial perfusion study.
2. To reveal patients knowledge of radionuclide myocardial perfusion studies.
3. To distinguish the peculiarities of patient preparation for radionuclide myocardial perfusion examination.
 Methods. The theoretical part of the thesis is based on the analysis of the scientific literature, the quantitative method of the research is chosen for the empirical part - the questionnaire. Data analysis - statistical. The information was analyzed and processed using Microsoft Excel. 50 respondents who underwent a radionuclide myocardial perfusion test participated in the study. Bioethics approval was received to do research.
 Results and Conclusions. Analysis of Patient Preparation Peculiarities for Radionuclide Myocardial Perfusion Research has revealed that radionuclide myocardial perfusion study is one of the most effective in diagnosing cardiovascular disease. It is a study that allows for the determination of heart muscle damage, during physical or medical load. What patients knowledge of the study, results showed that the majority of respondents knew and were properly prepared for the study because they were fully informed by the sending doctor. Examination of the results of the study showed that the peculiarities of preparation for myocardial perfusion research are the restriction of the use of certain groups of drugs, drinking coffee before examination, and the contagious diseases.


The present paper summarizes recent developements about twosample tests for randomly right censored data. The tests are derived for hazard oriented models. In particular, it is reviewed how asymptotically efficient tests can be constructed and how to prove the asymptotic efficiency of a large class of linear survival tests. The quality of competing tests can be compared by the local asymptotic Pitman efficiency ARE. Special attention is devoted to the martingale approach which corresponds to the sequential nature of survival data. Typically, central limit theorems for continuous martingales are applied. A new discrete martingale approach is presented in section 5. This point of view has the advantage that common central limit theorems for partial sums of martingal difference arrays may substitute more technical continuous martingale arguments. This approach is not only of interest for teaching courses.


A radio receiver system for delivering rich-media content associated with a broadcast radio signal, having at least an audio stream, comprises: an antenna interface coupled to antenna 104, receiving a broadcast radio signal; a receiver unit (chipset) 102 having an input coupled to the antenna interface output, the receiver unit extracting an audio stream from the broadcast radio signal and generating a data (additional information) stream from the received broadcast radio signal, and outputting 110 the audio stream and data stream; a data interface 116 having an input coupled 110 to the receiver unit output, and an output for outputting the data stream generated from the received broadcast radio signal; and a removable display 112 coupleable to the data interface 116. Removable, detachable display 112, when coupled to data interface 116, accesses rich-media content stored on a content server 128 in response to the received data stream, the content being associated with the broadcast radio signal; the removable display displays the rich-media content (concurrently with radio, audio output). The internet-enabled display device 112 may be a smartphone, laptop, tablet computer or Internet-enabled TV.


An aerobic, Gram-stain-negative, straight or curved rods, prosthecate bacterium designated as LZ-16-1T was isolated from phycosphere microbiota of highly-toxic and laboratory cultured dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella LZT09. This new isolate produces active bioflocculanting exopolysaccharides (EPS). Cells were dimorphic with non-motile prostheca, or non-stalked and motile by a single polar flagellum. Growth occurred at 10-40 °C, pH 5–9 and 1–8 % (w/v) NaCl, with optimum growth at 25 °C, pH 7–8 and 2-4 % (w/v) NaCl, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA indicated that strain LZ-16-1T was affiliated to the genus Maricaulis, and closely related to Maricaulis parjimensis MCS 25T (99.48%) and M. virginensis VC-5T (99.04%),. However, based on genome sequencing and phylogenomic calculations, the average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digtal DNA-DNA genome hybridization (dDDH) values between the two strains were only 85.0 and 20.9%, respectively. Strain LZ-16-1T owned Q-10 as predominant isoprenoid quinone; summed feature 8, C16:0, C17:0, C18:0, C18:1 ω9c and summed feature 9 as dominant fatty acids; and sulfoquinovosyl diacylglycerol, glycolipids and unidentified phospholipid as major polar lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content is 63.6 mol%. Physiological and chemotaxonomic characterization further confirmed the distinctiveness of strain LZ-16-1T from other Maricaulis members. Thus, strain LZ-16-1T represents a novel species of the genus Maricaulis, for which the name Maricaulis alexandrii sp. nov. (type strain LZ-16-1T=KCTC 72194T=CCTCC AB 2019006T) is proposed .


We examine the association between changes in supply chain networks and firm dynamics. To determine the causal relationship, first, using data on over a million Japanese firms, we construct machine learning-based prediction models for the three modes of firm exit (i.e., default, voluntary closure, and dissolution) and firm sales growth. Given the high performance in those prediction models, second, we use the double machine learning method (Chernozhukov et al. 2018) to determine causal relationships running from the changes in supply chain networks to those indexes of firm dynamics. The estimated nuisance parameters suggest, first, that an increase in global and local centrality indexes results in lower probability of exits. Second, higher meso-scale centrality leads to higher probability of exits. Third, we also confirm the positive association of global and local centrality indexes with sales growth as well as the negative association of a meso-scale centrality index with sales growth. Fourth, somewhat surprisingly, we found that an increase in one type of local centrality index shows a negative association with sales growth. These results reconfirm the already reported correlation between the centrality of firms in supply chain networks and firm dynamics in a causal relationship and further show the unique role of centralities measured in local and medium-sized clusters.


Argument We present, and place in its context, a previously unpublished paper by Nicholas (Nils) Collin, one of the eighteenth-century pioneers of the American Philosophical Society. Collin may have been one of the first to bring eighteenth-century advances in probability theory to the United States at the very time that applied probability was gaining importance in the design of constitutions and in the design of annuities. Specifically, Collin transmitted at least some of the revolutionary social mathematics of Condorcet to the Society and therefore into American intellectual life.


In the framework of the stochastic formulation of quantum mechanics we derive non-stationary states for a class of time-dependent potentials. The wave packets follow a classical motion with constant dispersion. The new states define a possible extension of the harmonic oscillator coherent states. As an explicit application, we study a sestic oscillator potential.


BACKGROUND: It is not certain that whether human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells express telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT). OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells express telomerase reverse transcriptase or not. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: The cytology in vitro experiments were performed at TEDA Life and Technology Research Center, Institute of Hematology and Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College in August 2009. MATERIALS: Adult adipose tissue was obtained from 5 healthy donors undergoing liposuction at the Tianjin Yili Medical Cosmetology Plastics Outpatient. Hela cells were supplied by the Cell Center of Basic Medical Sciences, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. METHODS: Human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from 20 mL human adipose tissue of each healthy donor by collagenase digestion. Cells were digested by trypsin when 80% confluency. Hela cells served as controls, and treated with 1640 medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum, and then digested using trypsin when 80% confluency. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Morphology, phenotype and differentiation of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells. TERT of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Telomerase activity was measured by telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay ELISA (TRAP-ELISA). RESULTS: Human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells adhered to the flask, presented spindle shape, and whirlpool-shape when cell density was large. Human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells were labeled positively for CD73, CD90 and CD105, but negatively for CD19, CD34, CD11b, CD45, and HLA-DR. Following adipogenic induction, oil red O staining showed significant red oil drop. Following osteogenic induction, Von Kossa staining showed black particles, which indicated calcium deposition. Human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells at P1, P4 and P7 did not express telomerase reverse transcriptase gene. Human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells from 5 different donors did not expression telomerase reverse transcriptase gene. Hela cells had telomerase activation, but human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells did not express telomerase activation. CONCLUSION: Human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells do not express mRNA of hTERT, nor the activity of telomerase reverse transcriptase.


Objective To study the effects of different concentration and different culture time of brucite on metabolite and enzyme of escherichia coli.Methods Number of escherichia coli,pH value of culture medium,contents of Mg 2+ ,glucose,and pyruvic acid,and changes in activities of β galactosidase were observed.Results With the increase of brucite concentration and culture time,the content of glucose decreased gradually,while pH value,number of escherichia coli,content of pyruvic acid,and the activity of β galactosidase increased gradually.After 12 h incubation at the dose of 1 600 μg/ml,all the data changed significantly,so did 24 h incubation at the dose of 800 μg/ml.Conclusions Brucite could promote metabolism of escherichia coli.


This research work entitled "SERVICE QUALITY AND THE DEGREE OF
SATISFACTION OF USERS AFFILIATED WITH AN EPS OF CLINIC
MOTHER-CHILD NORTH S.A.-TRUJILLO: 2015"; the general objective
was: To determine the influence of service quality on the degree of
satisfaction of users affiliated to an EPS of Clinic Mother-Child North S.A. -
Trujillo: 2015, based on issues of quality, service and user satisfaction.
For this research report the design used was descriptive - cross and
methods: deductive-inductive, analytic, synthetic and statistical method. In
the techniques of data collection the survey was used.
From the results obtained, we can highlight that users and/or patients
affiliated with a EPS of the clinic, perceived the service quality in general,
as a service of high quality, and that the degree of user satisfaction and/or
patients is a high degree too, also the best service attribute perceived by
users and/or patients is reliability, which refers to the sincere interest in
solving problems, promising to do something and stick and proper service
first; followed by empathy.
These results were the basis for proposing actions to improve user
satisfaction and/or patients.
For these reasons, it was concluded that the quality of service itself
favorably influences the degree of satisfaction of users affiliated with an
EPS of Clinic Mother-Child North S.A.-Trujillo: 2015.


Significance Novel membrane processes and materials are needed to combat global water scarcity. The advancement of membrane materials for water purification processes such as desalination is hindered by our limited understanding of structure–property–performance relationships. We address this knowledge gap by elucidating the mechanisms which govern the ionization behavior of nanoporous polyamide films and their influence on membrane performance. Polyamide ionization is key to enhancing the separation efficiency of charged constituents in aqueous solutions. Our results illustrate that a large portion of the ionizable moieties in polyamide films remain uncharged during typical operation due to extreme confinement effects, thus going unutilized. Complete ionization of state-of-the-art polyamide membranes offers selectivity improvements that could markedly improve desalination process efficiency. Escalating global water scarcity necessitates high-performance desalination membranes, for which fundamental understanding of structure–property–performance relationships is required. In this study, we comprehensively assess the ionization behavior of nanoporous polyamide selective layers in state-of-the-art nanofiltration (NF) membranes. In these films, residual carboxylic acids and amines influence permeability and selectivity by imparting hydrophilicity and ionizable moieties that can exclude coions. We utilize layered interfacial polymerization to prepare physically and chemically similar selective layers of controlled thickness. We then demonstrate location-dependent ionization of carboxyl groups in NF polyamide films. Specifically, only surface carboxyl groups ionize under neutral pH, whereas interior carboxyl ionization requires pH >9. Conversely, amine ionization behaves invariably across the film. First-principles simulations reveal that the low permittivity of nanoconfined water drives the anomalous carboxyl ionization behavior. Furthermore, we report that interior carboxyl ionization could improve the water–salt permselectivity of NF membranes over fourfold, suggesting that interior charge density could be an important tool to enhance the selectivity of polyamide membranes. Our findings highlight the influence of nanoconfinement on membrane transport properties and provide enhanced fundamental understanding of ionization that could enable novel membrane design.


Context. Although neurological toxicity from elemental mercury vapor and organic mercury exposure has been commonly reported in the literature, it is rarely reported from soft tissue injection of elemental mercury. We present a case of neurological dysfunction from subcutaneous injection of elemental mercury. Case details. A 35‐year‐old Latin American man subacutely developed gait ataxia, diplopia, and vomiting 1 year after subcutaneous injection of elemental mercury, a practice common in Afro‐Caribbean and Latin‐American cultures. Physical examination showed an indurated plaque on his right shoulder at the injection site, left third nerve and bilateral sixth nerve palsies, nystagmus, dysarthria, and gait and limb ataxia. The patient's serum and 24‐h urine mercury levels were significantly elevated; he underwent excision of the mercury reservoir and chelation with dimercaptosuccinic acid but experienced only mild improvement after 1 year. Discussion. Neurological sequelae from elemental mercury, specifically cognitive dysfunction, tremor, cortical myoclonus, and peripheral neuropathy, have been reported but cranial neuropathies, ataxia, cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis, and the presence of anti‐Purkinje cell type‐Tr antibody have not. Treatment involves removal of any existing mercury reservoir and chelation; however, improvement in neurological dysfunction after treatment has rarely been reported in the literature.


A new differential photothermal deflection configuration was presented. This optical system has advantages including its ability to need only a single position sensor, to adjust the distance between the sample and reference cells conveniently, to align electronic compensation and differential optical system easily, and to eliminate the effect of the solvent absorption and power fluctuation in pump source efficiently. The principle of the differential configuration, the formula of differential response and the basic experimental parameters were discussed. The detection limits of 8.0×10~(-10)mol/L of crystal violet and 60ng/ml of cobalt were obtained respectively, which correspond to minimum measurable absorbances of 1.2×10~(-8)and5.4×10~(-8).


Chemical element balance and chemical tracer techniques are used to identify the source types contributing to particulate air quality in the South Coast Air Basin. An inventory of fine particle trace metals emissions in that air basin is constructed for the year 1976. It is shown that over 80% of the fine lead emissions come from highway traffic, 81% of the nickel arises from fuel oil fly ash, and more than 90% of the iron and manganese comes from soil-like materials. Then, using these metals as tracers for their most prominent source types, the ambient aerosol burden at 10 air monitoring sites is subdivided into contributions from particular source types. It is found that most monitoring sites are exposed to aerosol containing about 20% highway vehicle exhaust, 1% to 2% fuel oil fly ash, 20% to 50% soil dust or road dust, with sulfates and nitrates each present at about 15% of total mass. Source assessments based on currently available trace metals air monitoring data can be constructed and used to improve the accuracy of particulate emission control strategies.


This study aimed to evaluate the applicability and reliability of Moyers' probability tables in a sample population of youngsters in the Northeast of Brazil. A total of 200 plaster casts of the mandibular arch were evaluated, whom 99 were men and 101 females, aged 15-19 years. For this purpose a digital pachymeter was used to measure the mesiodistal widths of the tooth crowns. The values of the mesiodistal diameters obtained were submitted to statistical analysis by simple linear regression. Only the canine/premolar segment presented significant difference (p<.001) between the mesiodistal diameters of the individuals of the male and female genders, and the male gender presented broader teeth. The regression equations for the mandibular arch for men, Y= 13.42 + 0.37(X) and women, Y= 8.79 + 0.55(X), demonstrated that Moyers' tables with 75 percentage levels, tended to underestimate the real sum of the mandibular permanent canine and premolar of individuals of the male and female gender, however, without statistical difference (p>.05). It could be concluded that there was sexual dimorphism in the size of the teeth for the canine/premolar segment, with men presenting broader teeth. Moyers' probability tables were shown to be reliable for application in white individuals in the Northeast of Brazil.


The child health associate is a new category of allied health professional capable of providing a wide range of diagnostic, preventive, and therapeutic services to children. Working principally in ambulatory settings as colleagues and associates of physicians, child health associates have the knowledge and the skill to care for a large percentage of the patients seen in a typical pediatric practice. Child health associates and similar health workers in other branches of the health professions have the potential to be major providers of primary health care in the future. Evaluation of the pediatric knowledge and the diagnostic ability of child health associates students and interns indicates that they compare favorably with medical students and approach pediatricians in these areas.


This paper presents a measurement-based burst error model for storage devices that use multiple parallel channels when they are affected by external disturbances. The burst errors are modeled using a set of Markov processes and channel error measurements are exploited to specify the parameters of the Markov processes and to determine the correlation of errors in the various channels. The application of the proposed model to AFM-based probe storage devices is presented and numerical results for various cases of external noise sources are given.


This work investigates the spatial knowledge of a domain composed of non-trivial objects such as strings and holed objects. To this aim, we consider the formalisation of puzzlelike examples as the starting point for the development of Knowledge Representation systems. The present paper concentrates on the representation of "loops" (or loop-like regions) that can be formed by a flexible string, and that may play an essential part in the solution of physical problems involving strings. Introduction Understanding the reasoning processes involved in spatial knowledge is one of the key issues in the investigation of cognition, as space not only shapes our actions in the commonsense world, but also serves as the scenario in which our everyday experiences take place. Research inQualitative Spatial Reasoning (QSR) (Ligozat 2011) attempts the logical formalisation of spatial knowledge based on primitive relations defined over elementary spatial entities. For instance, QSR theories include a mereotopological theory based on the connectivity between spatial regions (Randell, Cui, and Cohn 1992), the definition of occlusion and parallax (Randell, Witkowski, and Shanahan 2001; Randell and Witkowski 2002), spatial vagueness (Cohn et al. 1997; Guesgen 2002a), the abductive assimilation of sensor data (Santos and Shanahan 2002; 2003; Santos 2007),as well as the definition of qualitative theories about distance(Hernández, Clementini, and di Felice 1995; Guesgen 2002b), boundaries (Meathrel and Galton 2001), shapes (Schlieder 1996; Clementini and Felice 1997) and so forth (Cohn and Hazarika 2001). An interesting and, perhaps, less studied family of QSR problems has to do with domains composed of non-trivial objects such as strings and holed objects. In a series of papers (Cabalar and Santos 2006; 2011; Santos and Cabalar 2008) we have previously introduced the formalisation of puzzle-like examples involving holes and strings. The use of puzzles as starting point for the development of Knowledge Representation (KR) approaches usually has the advantage of offering a simple scenario with a small number of objects while keeping enough complexity for a KR challenging problem. In our previous work, however, several important limitations were considered to focus on a family of puzzles with common features. Among them, we disregarded the representation of knots, the formation of string loops, and we omitted the intermediate steps where a holed object was crossing another hole. This paper is a first step towards removing the last two restrictions. We outline and identify the main representational problems derived from the introduction of loops in a flexible string and we consider the representation of states where holed objects (or loops) are crossing other holes. We sketch some possible formal solutions whose complete development is still under study. Problems with previous formalisations Previous work (Cabalar and Santos 2006; 2011; Santos and Cabalar 2008) has concentrated on the formalisation and automated solution of a family of puzzles whose goal is to release a ring from an entanglement of objects, including one or several strings, and (possibly holed) rigid objects, maintaining the objects' physical integrity. The main representative of this family of puzzles is probably the socalled Fisherman's Folly (shown in Figure 1). The elements of this puzzle are a holed post (Post) fixed to a wooden base (Base), a string (Str), a ring (Ring), a pair of spheres (Sphere1, Sphere2) and a pair of disks (Disk1, Disk2). The spheres can be moved along the string, whereas the disks are fixed at each string endpoint. The string passes through the post's hole in a way that one sphere and one disk remain on each side of the post. The spheres are larger than the post's hole, therefore the string cannot be separated from the post without cutting either the post, or the string, or destroying one of the spheres. The disks and the ring, in contrast, can pass through the post's hole. (a) Initial (b) Goal: the ring must be free Figure 1: A spatial puzzle: the Fisherman's Folly. In the initial state (shown in Figure 1(a)) the post is in the middle of the ring, which in its turn is supported on the post's base. The goal of this puzzle is to find a sequence of (non-destructive) transformations that, when applied on the domain objects, frees the ring from the other objects, regardless their final configuration. Figure 1(b) shows one possible goal state. As we would do in natural language, saying that "the string passes through the sphere" (hole) or that "the post passes through the ring" (hole), we will simply identify holes with their host objects (if an object hosted several holes, a more elaborated notation would be required). A simple planning system capable of finding a solution to the Fisherman's Folly puzzle was presented in (Cabalar and Santos 2006), where the states of the puzzle were represented as lists containing the sections of a long object between hole crossings. Based on the hole ontology from (Casati and Varzi 1999), in (Santos and Cabalar 2008), a mereotopological representation of the domain objects was presented. The work in (Cabalar and Santos 2011) developed a representation of the puzzle actions in a Situation Calculus (McCarthy and Hayes 1969) framework developed in Quantified Equilibrium Logic (Pearce and Valverde 2008), where we were interested in a solution that was tolerant to elaborations. As said before, in the previous formalisations there were several possible states that were disregarded, since they were irrelevant for the puzzle solution. One of them is the formation of knots and multi-knots, which we keep aside for a future study, but the other two, the formation of string loops and the possibility of holes crossing other holes are in fact relevant for other similar puzzles that could not be captured before. These two features are respectively shown in Figures 2(a) and 2(b). (Cabalar and Santos 2011), for instance, assumed that, when pulling from a string that was crossing a hole, it was always done until loops were undone. Similarly, when a holed-object crossed another hole, it was always done in a complete way, disregarding intermediate states like Figure 2(b).