: Algorithms of neural networks (NN) can search and represent both structured and not structured data, we employ then on financial time-series. This paper describes the use of Long short-term memory (LSTM) for FOREX pair EUR/USD price prediction. Aim of the paper is to test and proposes the best time block to predict based on a daily FOREX data. We employ the mean of absolute errors and the least mean squared errors to assess prediction results in order to find the time block. We tested time blocks from ten to fifty-eight days and 100 or 300 epochs. Training dataset contained daily exchange rate data from 1.4.1971 until 9.5.2019. The best performing network has been trained for 30-day period and 100 epochs. This paper also describes the effect of training for a high number of epochs.


The growing prevalence of obesity and its destructive effects on the hormone's circulation and brain structures has attracted attention to specific dietary patterns. This trial aimed to examine the effect of short-term newly Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) pattern on anthropometric parameters, hunger hormones as well as brain structures in obese women. The study was a randomized restricted controlled trial in which we analyzed 37 healthy obese women with a mean age of 48(5.38) years and mean Body Mass Index (BMI) 32(4.31) kg/m2. Participants were randomly allocated to a hypocaloric modified MIND diet or a hypocaloric waiting list control diet and followed the protocols for three months. Differences in anthropometric and laboratory analysis, as well as brain structures, were determined at baseline and follow up. There was a more significant reduction in weight, BMI, percentage of body fat, waist circumference, and Leptin concentration in the MIND diet group compared to the control group (ps<0.05). Despite a deceased in plasma levels of Ghrelin and GLP-1 in the control group, results have found a significant increase in these hunger hormones in the MIND diet group (ps<0.05). Our results diminished to detect any differences in the whole and regional brain structures between two groups after three months follow up. Our trial for the first time demonstrated that a three-month MIND diet intervention could improve the potentially devastating effect of obesity on metabolic profiles and anthropometric parameters. However, we couldn't find the MIND diet effect on brain structures.


Increasing demands of high speed, heavy duty, and small size for a gear device promote the bulk temperature rise in gear teeth. The temperature rise affects both bending strength and surface durability of the gear teeth as well as the scoring resistance and causes a decrease in accuracy of the gear device due to thermal expansion. To establish an effective lubrication method for ultrahigh-speed gears, this study aims at determining an optimum centrifugal lubrication method to cool spur gear teeth. In this paper, on the basis of the observation of oil jet behavior, we proposed a new centrifugal lubrication method in which oil is injected through a hole drilled on the tooth crest. Oil jetted out from a gear splashes after striking against both addendum and dedendum flanks of a mating gear. A multiple regression equation for estimating the flow rate of oil jetted out through a hole was obtained by dimensional analysis and experiments.


TPS3165Background: ImmTAC bispecifics are unique T cell receptor (TCR)/anti-CD3 bispecific molecules that are designed to redirect polyclonal T cells against intracellular antigens, in contrast to ...


In this paper, we consider the task of deterministically extracting randomness from sources consisting of a sequence of n independent symbols from {0,1}d. The only randomness guarantee on such a source is that the whole source has min-entropy k . We give an explicit deterministic extractor which extract Ω(logk-loglog(1/ ε)) bits with error ε , for any n, d, k ∈ \BBN and ε ∈ (0,1). For sources with a larger min-entropy, we can extract even more randomness. When k ≥ n1/2+γ, for any constant γ ∈ (0,1/2), we can extract m=k-O(d log(1/ ε)) bits with any error ε ≥ 2-Ω(nγ). When k ≥ logcn , for some constant c > 0, we can extract m=k-(1/ ε)O(1) bits with any error ε ≥ k-Ω(1). Our results generalize those of Kamp and Zuckerman and Gabizon which only work for bit-fixing sources (with d=1 and each bit of the source being either fixed or perfectly random). Moreover, we show the existence of a nonexplicit deterministic extractor which can extract m=k-O(log(1/ ε)) bits whenever k=ω(d+log(n/ ε)) . Finally, we show that even to extract from bit-fixing sources, any extractor, seeded or not, must suffer an entropy loss k-m=Ω(log(1/ ε)). This generalizes a lower bound of Radhakrishnan and Ta-Shma on extracting from general sources.


IN 1960 Sapirstein et al.10 concluded that contrary to standard teaching, the splanchnic blood flow is not disproportionately reduced in hemorrhage despite "the teleological attractiveness of such curtailment which has withstood observation to the contrary for more than 30 years." Notwithstanding, in 1964 it was still claimed6 that in shock blood flow to the intestine is reduced more than to other organs and this alleged phenomenon was attributed a prominent role in the mechanism of irreversible shock. A lucid and detailed review of this problem is given by Grayson and Mendell.3 It appears logical to assume that diversity of technics and of species used may account for some of the misunderstanding. Direct observation of mesenteric vessels, collection of outflowing blood, sulfobromphthalein, indicator dilution, bristle flow meter and some other technics were used to measure portal or splanchnic blood flow in rats, rabbits, monkeys, and, most frequently in dogs. Dogs are reputed to have anatomical peculiarities with respect of hepatic veins which are claimed to contract in hemorrhage causing hepatic outflow obstruction. This response was construed as evidence to suggest that shock experiments on dogs may have little relevance to clinical medicine.8 It is generally agreed that oxygen consumption of the gastrointestinal tract di-


The article analyzes issues of political participation. The article discusses main stages and features of formation of the concept of political participation in sociology and political science. Definition of political participation is offered based on the analysis of the interpretations available in professional literature. Political participation is involvement of citizens (in the broader sense including public subjects like organizations, groups, etc.) in political processes, decision making ceremonies, as well as citizen influence on the formation of political systems and institutions, their operation, drafting political decision. Several classifications of political engagement are observed: conventional and unconventional; orthodox and unorthodox, offensive; latent and evident; individual and collective; direct and indirect; acceptable active, acceptable passive, unacceptable active and unacceptable passive, and so on.
Based on logical operationalization, the toolkit for political participation types and index assessment is analyzed. Proposal is made to implement a more comprehensive and sensitive chart. Some attractive results gained after employing a survey in the RA are presented.


Future manycore processors will be energy-constrained, and thus the primary metric for evaluating these architectures will be their energy-efficiency. In this work, we investigate new architectural and microarchitectural mechanisms which enable a wider array of applications to be mapped to energy-efficient vector units.


In this paper we obtain some lower bounds for the unique positive root (the efiective rate of the bond, or efiective rate of an an- nuity) of the algebraic equation x n i n X i=1 aix nii = 0. This is a further improvement of the known results in the flnancial mathematics. Inter- esting numerical examples are presented.


Despite having been deemed unfit for agriculture, the municipality of Sao Joao da Barra - RJ, much of the community-based agricultural economy grew and currently own, despite the difficulties, a significant production. The aim of this study was to describe the socioeconomic characteristics of the watershed of the Rio Doce, Sao Joao da Barra - RJ, taking into account the interaction of biotic and abiotic elements, and to produce scientific knowledge that can serve as a basis for the development of public policies that aim to exploit the environment in a more sustainable way, as well as the improvement in quality of life. This study used questionnaires with open and closed questions. Agriculture is a traditional economic activity in this region, with approximately 60% of farmers having over twenty years of professional experience, mainly producing pineapple, gherkin and okra.


(0,94 vs. 0,84 mg/100 ml) P > < 0.01) in the first hospitalization. The mean time to readmission for a manic phase was 842 days. The average number of readmissions when the first re-hospitalization was for mania was 1,83 > 3. Variables significantly associated in univariante analysis with the subgroup or mixed readmission were: first hospitalization for mixed phase (69,2% vs. 23,2 % P < 0.001), suicide attempt in the first hospitalization (30,8% vs. 1,8%, P > < 0.001). The mean time to readmission for a manic phase was 891 days. The average number of readmissions when the first rehospitalization was for mixed phase was 2,38. > 4. Variables significantly associated in univariante analysis with the subgroup or depressive readmission were psychiatric comorbidity (82%vs. 49,6%, P < 0.05) , onset of bipolar disorder in a depressive episode (82% vs. 46,5% P >< 0.03). The mean time to readmission for a depressive phase was significantly shorter than in the case of readmission for manic or mixed phase (368 vs. 868, P >< 0.05) The average number of readmissions when the first re-hospitalization was for depressive phase was 2,55.


This article proposes a refocusing of the debate on British decline, to concentrate attention on declinism rather than on historical decline itself. In particular, it addresses the ways in which intellectuals have perceived, diagnosed and proposed remedies for decline. Public intellectuals have exerted significant influence on British politics in ways not usually acknowledged in scholarly analysis. We explore three key themes in intellectual declinism: ideology, methodology and national identity. Declinism has proved rhetorically enriching to intellectuals of a variety of ideological hues, the latter drawing on a paradoxically shared reservoir of cultural and symbolic resources. Declinist intellectuals have influentially framed arguments about the English nation, the British state and the supposedly exceptional British developmental experience.


The funding in polymer science of National Natural Science Foundation of China in 2009 years were introduced.Several issues related to preparing proposals and effect aspects on discipline go up to higher stage have been discussed.The summary of strategic forum on the discipline development has been briefly discussed.The guidance for grants in 2010 fiscal year in division of polymer science of department of chemical science was released.


Objective:To investigate the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic assisted rectal cancer resection.Methods: Data of 21 cases of colorectal carcinomas that underwent laparoscopic assisted resections in our hospital were retrospectively reviewed.Results: Operations were successfully preformed under laparoscope on all patients,the amount of bleeding during operation was between 50~100 mL,the function of intestines came back within 72 h,the mean hospital stay was 10.5 d after operation,1 case died of transformation in liver and lung,and the others were still alive with cancer.Conclusion: With less complications and smaller incision,laparoscopic assisted rectal cancer resection is safe,feasible and showed the same curative effects as abdominal rectal cancer resection.


In domain modelling, practitioners manually extract analyzable and more concise domain models from problem descriptions which express requirements in natural language. With automated domain modelling support using existing approaches, some challenges remain unaddressed - inadequate accuracy of extracted models, no support for traceability of modelling decisions, and no facility for system-modeller interactions. To address these challenges and better support practitioners, we present our bot-assisted solution. Furthermore, we evaluate the effectiveness of our solution and find promising results which warrant further research in this direction.


Child abuse is not only done by the parents as the closest person but also done by the whole neighborhood, such as at school or in the society, so that the collaboration is needed that will give a good empact for the process of growth, teaching learning prosess, and in child social life. On the other hand, the school can also do an anti-abuse care programme to the whole stakeholder at school to prevent verbal and our verbal bullying at school so the teaching prosess can work out the way it was supposed to. This nesearch used literatune shidy by analyzing from varios research sources, e.book article, and interview results


The aim of this paper is, by Gramsci's hegemony concept, to analyze Brazilian and Venezuelan media behavior by its political opinions. Gramsci's theory claims that the media are hegemony's private apparatuses whose purpose is to assure society's intellectual and moral organization in order to obtain the consent about the dominant ideology. Brazilian media has a conservative and opinionative behavior in facing national politics. During Lula's government, the media oppositional view was so strong that it received the title of "Partido da Imprensa Golpista – PIG" (Media's Coup Party). In Venezuela's case, the media became the Chavez-opposition representative and even organized a Coup d'etat. This paper is divided in four parts, being the first one the presentation of Gramsci's theory; second and third parts consist in case studies of Brazil and Venezuela respectively. The final part presents the conclusions where it is possible to observe the ideological conflict between both States and their hegemony private apparatuses, which ideologies remain coupled with the previous historic blocs.


I READ with interest the letter from Chris May and Simon Swift ( VR , October 1, 2011, vol 169, p 367) which raises some important and interesting issues relating to governance, specialisation, self-assessment and measuring competency. While I would agree that the evidence suggests that humans (not just vets) are generally not naturally very good at self-assessment, I think a broader look at the evidence may lead to rather different conclusions than those drawn.

The Dunning-Krugger effect (illusory superiority/inferiority) reflects a continuum and any population will have individuals placed at many points on the continuum. It was first described within American populations where illusory superiority is more common and this is recognised to be less in European populations, high academic achievers and, I believe, women. My experience suggests a leaning towards illusory incompetence may be the more common …


In this thesis extensions and modifications of Åström-Hägglund autotuning are investigated. A method where relay autotuning is extended to multi-input-multi-output control systems is suggested. The method is based on identification of n×n simple two-parameter transfer functions through n identification experiments. The method is experimentally tested on a water-mixer and a pilot-plant distillation column. Two methods where the relay, used in standard autotuning, is replaced by some other nonlinearity are suggested. In the first method, the relay is replaced by a two-parameter nonlinearity so as to improve the accuracy of the identification. In the second method, the r lay is replaced by two relays operating in parallel, one on the process output, and the other on the integral of the process output. W ith this construction, a point on the Nyquist curve at a userselected angle in the third quadrant is identified, something that has certain advantages with respect to controller tuning. Moreover, a method where the ideas of autotuning are utilized for an oscillating (unstable) PI control loop is suggested. An oscillating control loop provides a useful possibility for process identification and subsequent controller tuning. This method has proven to be useful for retuning of unstable PI control loops and for rapid start-up of feedback-controlled chemical processes.


This paper selected RE nitrate under treatments of different concentrations as experimental materials and studied the applied feasibility to forage production. The studies showed that optimum applied range of RE is 500 mg/m~3 for leguminous forage plants and 400~500 mg/m~3 for gramineous forage plants which can promote photosynthesis and forage production greatly by seed soaking or continuous leaf spraying.


Researchers have generally agreed that stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) must be avoided if high-quality fiber-and-grating pulse compression is to be achieved. We investigate depletion of 1.06-μm pulses by multiple-order SRS in single-mode fibers and carefully examine the implications for subseqeunt pulse compression. Intense SRS (with walk-off) clamps the pump pulse energy and steepens its rising edge; subsequent self-phase modulation results in nonsymmetric spectral broadening and a nonlinear chirp. Attempts at compression lead to asymmetric compressed pulses with broad energetic wings. As the laser power is increased, group velocity dispersion helps to linearize the frequency chirp; at powers high enough for third Stokes generation (1.9 W in our 400-m fiber), more than 80 % of the spectrum is compressible. In these conditions highly stable transform-limited pulses as short as 600 fs are obtained. We describe the evolution of the power spectrum and frequency chirp and the role of group velocity dispersion as a function of optical power in the fiber. Pulse compressibility is discussed, and stabilization due to multiple-order Raman scattering is emphasized. Finally, we discuss high-resolution picosecond pulse shaping and encoding made possible by Raman stabilized pulse compression and propose that such encoding could be utilized for an optical code-division multiple-access self-routing switch.


Humanβdefensin-3(HBD-3) is an important endogenous defensin which is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptide.The recent advances of HBD-3 including its molecular properties,mechanisms of antimicrobial activity,medicinal value,and outlook in medical application were reviewed.


This special issue of Labour & Industry is a collection of articles based on papers presented at the 31st Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ) Conference hosted by the School of Business at UNSW Canberra. The focus of the conference was 'Reconsidering Gender and Industrial Relations'. Gender equality, diversity and inclusion issues have increasingly featured at AIRAANZ conferences, consistent with the feminisation of the discipline. From once being a male-dominated discipline focused on traditional industrial relations (IR) issues such as collective bargaining, unions and wages, the field of IR has expanded over the years to focus on gender equality issues. Work and family, flexible working arrangements, pay equity, gender and collectivism, equal employment opportunity and women working in male-dominated industries and occupations are now all IR staples. One of the main streams of the 31st AIRAANZ conference explored care work – an area which is of increasing importance within the IR community. This special issue is a collection of papers presented in that stream. This issue commences with an article from one of the keynote conference presenters – Professor Gill Kirton from Queen Mary University of London. In her article, Kirton traces the involvement of women in the union movement to increase their representation in union leadership and to progress gender equality issues within union agendas. Kirton identifies pivotal points in feminist activism and academic research to create a more inclusive and gender equitable labour movement and concludes that even though a seismic change has occurred, a significant gender gap remains within union leadership and that 'the gender democracy project is unfinished business'. At the same time, new forms of resistance have emerged, including social media 'trolling' and mainstream media's continued antipathy and hostility towards women unionists. Kirton concludes that while proportional representation of women in unions is essential, there is a continued need for issues of importance to women to be included in union bargaining agendas. Following the Kirton article, the special issue contains a selection of articles on the work of care. In the context of late neoliberalism and growing inequity, the work of care is fraught with tensions and contradictions. Despite this, as the authors of this special issue confirm, promising practices co-exist alongside these challenging conditions, particularly in terms of how care work is organised, including a number of workercentred employment reforms and various forms of resistance from workers themselves (Baines and Armstrong 2015). Scholarship on paid care work has been burgeoning in the last decade, using multiple methods as best suits a complex arena of study. Growing scholarship also involves different levels of analysis from macro level national or crossnational studies (see for example, León and Pavolini 2014); to meso-level analyses of LABOUR AND INDUSTRY, 2017 VOL. 27, NO. 4, 257–260 https://doi.org/10.1080/10301763.2017.1433286


In the traditional filtering method to preprocess the image, the edges of target and background are usually blurred while the noise information being weakened, which is not conducive to the further processing of the image information. Aiming at this problem, this paper proposes image preprocessing techniques based on image fusion: firstly applying improved median filtering algorithm and improved Sobel edge extraction algorithm respectively on the same degraded infrared image, then using the pixel level image fusion algorithm to combine the two processing results. The final fusion results show a clear image with significantly enhanced edge portion with a simple operation. In a word, this preprocessing method is conducive to the target detection and recognition in following treatment and achieves the image preprocessing requirements.


The title compound, C5H9N3S, which exhibits a hypoglycemic effect, crystallizes in space group P21/c. The structure is held together by a network of intermolecular N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds.


The title of this project is 'Parametric Design and Analysis of Automotive Suspension Coil Spring'. There are various approach used by the design engineer in creating a coil spring. However, today rapid developing technology has lead many design engineer to move to a better approach in creating geometry. This project proposes some of the method to design coil spring by using parametric modelling. CATIA V5R21 was used as a platform to design a complete coil spring and integrate the coil spring design with table designed by using Microsoft Excel. Four method of designing coil spring geometry by using parametric modelling has been proposed through this research. Best method of designing a coil spring has been chosen among the proposed methods. Comparisons were done between all methods in order to determine the most suitable method which can help to reduce time consumption and worker's work load. Subsequently, it can also boost up the production rate. Besides, coil spring geometry was meshed using Hyper Mesh and exported to Hyper Crash. A linear static analysis is done to extract the coil spring stiffness and maximum stress generated on a point along the spring geometry by using RADIOSS. Comparison between coil spring stiffness obtains by theoretical calculation with coil spring stiffness obtains from analysis is done to prove the process of designing a coil spring. As a result of this method implementation, time consumption and workers work load can be reduced.


The article discusses the issue of choice at the level of the far Eastern Federal district (FEFD) priority development areas export of products of agro-industrial complex (AIC). The purpose of the study: to assess the export potential of agricultural products of the Far Eastern Federal District in comparison with Russia and the world. The novelty of the study determined that with enough thoroughness in the scientific literature, issues of trade flows exports of agricultural products research of regional features of an assessment and formation of directions of development of export potential of agricultural products represented slightly. To analyze the export potential, the study used the Balassa index, which allows identifying industries that have an export advantage in the production of
export-oriented a8groproducts. The authors analyzed the export potential of the region in comparison with the macro- (Russian Federation) and mega- (World) levels; studied the export volumes of the agro-industrial complex of the world, the Russian Federation and the Far Eastern Federal District by product groups in dynamics for 2017–2020. The study made it possible to determine the growth points of the agro-industrial complex of the region in terms of the formation of export potential – commodity groups on which to focus the main attention and investment support. The predominant role of raw material export directions (fish, grain, oilseeds) is shown at the present time. The main problems of realizing the export potential of agricultural products in the Far Eastern Federal District are identified and promising directions for the development of the agro-industrial complex are identified. It is proposed to take into account the results of the export potential assessment when forming the priority directions of the region's foreign economic activity. Attention is focused on the fact that when identifying industry points of growth in the export of agricultural products of the Far Eastern region, one should not ignore possible restrictions due to the diversification of exported product.


Abstract It is well known that soil humus becomes a definite type under a definite environmental condition. When the soil condition is changed, the humus is brought into transformation, and after a period of time it is adjusted to an equilibrium state depending on the newly established condition. Previously K. Kobo 1) showed that the soil humus of newly ploughed up volcanic ash soil was transformed, increasing the degree of humification, under cultivation. In relation to this work, we studied the effect of several microorganism on the transformation of humus for the purpose of elarifying the humification process.


2-(Benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-4-chloro-3-oxobutanenitrile (2) was utilized for the synthesis of several new benzothiazole derivatives. Compound 2 reacted with aniline, hydrazine hydrate, ethanolamine, and ethyl glycinate hydrochloride to yield benzothiazole derivatives 3–6, respectively.


The article deals with the problems that occur in practical application of the articles 150 and 151 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, particularly with the controversial aspect of the completion of a crime, with the absence of legislative definition of "involvement" and with the detection of key factors that can be significant for criminological research of the given category of cases.


Basic data on the volume and structure of solid waste in the world and Ukraine are presented. The need to improve the ways of handling plastic solid waste as one of the most dangerous for the environment and promising from the point of view of using their properties is shown. A detailed classification of methods for handling plastic solid waste is proposed and a critical analysis of each of them is given. Particular attention is paid to the methods of disposal of plastic solid waste, in particular, recycling, which makes it possible to effectively use secondary plastic raw materials directly for their intended purpose. The features of physical, chemical, biological and combined processing methods are also considered, in particular combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, plasma decomposition of plastic solid waste, as well as their decomposition under the influence of sunlight and microorganisms. The main ways of solving the problem of plastic solid waste in Ukraine are proposed. Bibl. 83, Fig. 3, Tab. 3.


We conduct a multiparametric study of driven magnetic reconnection relevant to recent experiments on colliding magnetized laser-produced plasmas using particle-in-cell simulations. Varying the background plasma density, plasma resistivity, and plasma bubble geometry, the 2D simulations demonstrate a rich variety of reconnection behaviors and show the coupling between magnetic reconnection and the global hydrodynamical evolution of the system. We consider both the collision between two radially expanding bubbles where reconnection is seeded by the pre-existing X-point and the collision between two flows in a quasi-1D geometry with initially anti-parallel fields where reconnection must be initiated by the tearing instability. At a baseline case of low-collisionality and low background density, the current sheet is strongly compressed to below scale of the ion-skin-depth scale, and rapid, multi-plasmoid reconnection results. Increasing the plasma resistivity, we observe a collisional slow-down of reconnectio...


Abstract : We have organized a team of subject matter experts and engaged in the iterative process. Our clinical team chose a supermarket as the virtual scenario where veterans could receive cognitive and emotional challenges (create and follow a shopping list, purchase items, make change, shopping cart collisions, disputes at check out). A virtual supermarket was constructed that allows a therapist and patient, each at their own computer, to enter the virtual supermarket together, to choose items from shelves and place them in a cart. The therapist can allocate money that is placed in virtual wallet, can animate other avatars such as the cashier, can chose the noise level and the number of shoppers in the environment, as well as their appearance. A virtual personal digital assistant (PDA) is available to the shopper. CONCLUSION: Therapeutic VWEs for mTBI/PTSD are feasible, and show great promise to fill treatment gaps in current care delivery. Not only are new therapeutic milieus possible, but therapy can be delivered to patients regardless of distance with VWEs. IMPACT: This project shows great potential to expedite and expand care to veterans and wounded warriors in a short time frame, and in a cost effective manner.


Generalizations of the Kovalevskaya, Chaplygin, Goryachev–Chaplygin and Bogoyavlensky systems on a bundle are considered in this paper. Moreover, a method of introduction of separating variables and action–angle variables is described. Another integration method for the Kovalevskaya top on the bundle is found. This method uses a coordinate transformation that reduces the Kovalevskaya system to the Neumann system. The Kolosov analogy is considered. A generalization of a recent Gaffet system to the bundle of Poisson brackets is obtained at the end of the paper. Dedicated to the 150-th anniversary of S.V.Kovalevskaya It was the 150-th anniversary on January 15, 2000 of Sofia Vasilievna Kovalevskaya, an outstanding women-mathematician, whose works made a great contribution into development of the world science. Her literature works also were of great importance for the Russian culture where she developed progressive and even revolutionary ideas. REGULAR AND CHAOTIC DYNAMICS V.6, No. 1, 2001 Received December 12, 2000 AMS MSC 70E17, 70E40


Regionalism has been a prominent feature of Western Canadian political culture even prior to Alberta and Saskatchewan joining confederation in 1905. One manifestation of this regionalism is through intergovernmental conflict, particularly jurisdictional disputes between the provincial and federal governments. These disputes have generally seen provincial governments of various ideological leanings cooperate, and yet decentralization–or expansion of provincial jurisdiction–is a position that has largely been advanced by conservatives in recent decade.1Is there an ideological connection between expansion of provincial jurisdiction and conservatism? This essay contends that the conservative ideology particular to Western Canada was uniquely influenced by the dynamic of federal-provincial relations in Canada because of particular features of the region's brand of conservatism. This essay will demonstrate that ongoing disputes between western provinces–Alberta in particular–and the federal government, particularly over natural resource issues, have reinforced a dynamic of regionalism within Western Canadian conservatism, leading it to become the perennial feature of conservative policy, federally and provincially, that it is today.[...]


The shape of a conformal antenna is mainly determined by radiation and scanning requirements, or by considerations, other than electromagnetic, such as aerodynamic/hydrodynamic shape demands. One way of analyzing conformal arrays is to use the separation of variables. This method can be generalized to include an arbitrary number of dielectric layers. The structures under consideration have one property in common: they are homogeneous in two dimensions and vary in the third. For each spectral component of the source, the excited electromagnetic field in the two directions for which the structure is homogeneous has the same harmonic variation as the source. Therefore, the original three-dimensional problem is transformed into a spectrum of simpler one-dimensional problems. Since each one-dimensional problem is solved in the spectral domain, this approach is called the spectral domain (SD) method. If the structure to be analyzed has a general, non-canonical shape (i.e. the structure is neither circular-cylindrical nor spherical), one can approximate the structure shape locally as cylindrical or spherical, or one can use some approximate method like the uniform theory of diffraction (UTD) (Pathak, P.H. et al., 1981). Although there are benefits in applying UTD, it is an approximate method and requires extra precautions before applying it. For example, it is very hard to analyze structures covered with a dielectric, especially if the dielectric is multilayered (Persson, P. and Rojas, R.G., 2003). The paper examines a hybrid SD-UTD analysis method.


Massive stars are expected to play an important role in predominately supplying metal elements and dust particles into the interstellar space in the early universe due to their short lifetime in the main sequence. The amount of newly formed dust in the ejecta of a supernova obtained from the observational results, however, remains only in a range of 10-3-10-5Msun, which is much smaller than the amount of dust needed for a SN to form to account for the dust content in the early universe. Recent observations of dust-forming type-Ib supernova 2006jc made with AKARI and Spitzer have shown that the newly-formed dust in the SN ejecta is also only in the range of 10-4-10-5Msun (Sakon et al. 2009; Mattila et al. 2008), but they recognize the presence of pre-existing circumstellar dust possibly formed in the mass loss wind associated with the events prior to the SN explosion. Recent studies reveal that many of the Wolf-Rayet stars form in binary system and that around 10% of WR stars may form carbon-rich dust in their windwind collision zone whenever the secondary passes by the periastron point of the primary. Therefore, whether or not such WR binary systems should have made significant contribution toward supplying dust particles in the early universe has to be verified from the observational point of view. In this presentation, we present the results of the multi-epoch Mid-Infrared observations of a long period (P=7.93years; Williams 2011) colliding-wind Wolf-Rayet binary


Summary and Conclusion 1. Using an immunochemical system, inhibition of the adjuvant effect of endotoxin by development of refractoriness to the "toxic" properties of endotoxin is demonstrated. 2. The basis for enhancement of immune body formation by endotoxin is discussed.


This study was conducted to investigate the efficiency of TiO2 photocatalytic nanomaterial as a novel environment-friendly disinfectant to control plant fungal diseases (Sphaerothecaf uliginea) by its photochemical sterilization ability in cucumber plants. Anatase nano-TiO2 sol, a neutral, viscous aqueous colloid of 1.4% TiO2, was synthesized by sol-gel method. Control efficiencies of nano-TiO2 sol in preventing from powdery mildew were measured by field experimental method with cucumber seedling naturally infected Sphaerothecaf uliginea. Results showed that spraying certain content of nano-TiO2 sol could form continuous and stable antibacterial films on blade surfaces which could not only significantly reduce lesion areas, disease incidences and disease indexes of powdery mildew but also make the leaves turn much greener. It was initially confirmed that nano-TiO2 sol could effectively delay and inhibit the development and pervasion of cucumber powdery mildew. These results indicate that nano-TiO2 sol can be developed as environment-friendly fungicide in preventing from plant disease developments.


A camera can assist a robot to detect and track objects when it is used in a scout robot system, and hence, help the robot to navigate. This paper discusses problems of tracking a human face where an active camera is installed on a 2 DOF pan and tilt. Kinematics model between object in motion and image of camera is built. The face detection and tracking algorithm is introduced which uses complexion color as a feature. Opening operation in morphology is carried, and the person in motion is successfully found. The centroid of the human face is computed, and transformed to the move of pan and tilt in degree, respectively. Then, commands are sent to the motion controller so as to drive the motors to track the face. Principle and algorithm of the motion controller are presented. Experiments show that the face can be effectively detected and tracked based on these methods.


This paper discusses the institutions, access, and entitlements to water supply in urban households in slum clusters and developed regions.The major institutions of water supply in the area of study are the municipal tap, self provision by groundwater sources, and water vendors. The planned urban limit and the unplanned urban limit are the sole factors that determine the institutional arrangements for water supply and the availability of combination of sources between the regions. Sen's entitlements approach is applied for estimating access to water supply among different income groups, institutions, and regions.The study finds that the quantity of water access differs between the developed regions and the slum clusters, which highlights the inefficiency of institutional arrangements and the prevalence of inequality in water access.


Large robotic collectives provide advantages such as resilience to mechanical failure of single agents and increased capabilities for search and coverage based applications. However, a lack of rapid and free-form manufacturing processes remains a barrier to high-volume fabrication of mechanically heterogeneous robotic swarms. Self-folding laser-machined structures have the potential to enable heterogeneous robotic swarms. As an initial step to realizing a functional robotic collective, we focus on the design and characterization of the locomotion of an individual laminate manufactured robot. We look to a vibration-based locomotion technique that uses flexible structures or bristles to enhance the effects of vibration, allowing for fast locomotion (i.e. a "bristle-bot"). However, previous bristle-bot implementations have not allowed for controllable steering behaviors with high locomotion speeds. We describe the extension of existing two dimensional bristle-bot models to a three dimensional model that explores parameters that govern linear and angular velocity. We implement an autonomous laminate-manufactured bristle-bot inspired robot capable of linear velocities of up to 23 cm/s and turning rates of 2 rad/s. Moving towards automated manufacturing, we also demonstrate a self-folding bristle-bot structure that uses a linear compression laminate to achieve a uniform leg fold angle.


Overall kinetics of the growth of boron doped carbon film deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) from the mixture of boron trichloride (BCl3),methane (CH4) and hydrogen (H2) are determined by a magnetic suspension microbalance.Effect of temperature (850~1200℃) on deposition rates is measured,apparent active energy is calculated,meanwhile,the morphology and composition of films at 900℃,1000℃,1100℃,1200℃ are observed and analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) respectively.The results show that the deposition of boron doped carbon from BCl3-CH4-H2 by CVD is a typical thermal activation process.Five regions are distinguishable in studied temperature range corresponding to five different reaction control regimes according to the significant imparity among the apparent active energies calculated.The compact density and B/C molar ratio of deposits decrease obviously with temperature increasing,indicating high density and high B/C molar ratio films can be obtained at relatively low temperature.


The eleven countries of Southeast Asia are diverse in every way, from the ethnicities and religions of their residents to their political systems and levels of prosperity. These nations—Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Brunei, and East Timor—are each unique, yet shared traditions mean that each country is also typically Southeast Asian. Southeast Asia: A Very Short Introduction traces the region's history from the earliest "mandala" kingdoms to the colonial era and the present day. Synthesizing the ideas of leading scholars, it provides an analysis of contemporary Southeast Asia that accommodates its bewildering ethnic, religious, and political complexities while exposing the underlying patterns that make it a unified world region.


ParticiPants and MethOds: This double-blind, randomized, parallel-group, multicenter study was conducted between September 18, 2008, and February 9, 2009. Adults with a history of jet lag symptoms on previous flights through multiple time zones flew from the United States to France (a 6-hour time zone change) for a 3-day laboratory-based study period. Participants received armodafinil (50 or 150 mg/d) or placebo each morning. Wakefulness was assessed by the coprimary outcomes, mean sleep latency on the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) (average of all MSLT sessions across days 1 and 2) and Patient Global Impression of Severity in relation to jet lag symptoms (averaged across days 1 and 2).


TWELVE ECCENTRICALLY COMPRESSED RC MEMBERS WERE TESTED UNDER DIFFERENT HEAT-LOADING PATHS. DIFFERENT FIRE RESISTANCE PROPERTIES OF THE MEMBERS ARE REPORTED UNDER DIFFERENT HEAT-LOADING PATHS. AN INCREMENT NONLINEAR ALGORITHM IS DEVELOPED TO CALCULATE THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE SPECIMENS. THE RELATIONS OF TEMPERATURE AND CURVATURE, LOAD AND CURVATURE, AND THE ULTIMATE LOAD OF THE SPECIMENS ARE GIVEN, WHICH ARE VERIFIED BY THE TEST DATA.


Aim: To investigate the expression and localization of growth differentiation factor-9 (GDF-9) in rat ovary. Methods: The expression and distribution of GDF-9 in different developmental stages of rat ovary is examined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. Results: Immunohistochemistry's result shows that no GDF-9 is detected in 0~2 days of rat ovary, on the 3rd day postnatal, GDF-9 begins to express in oocytes of some primordial follicles, and it is distinctly detectable in oocytes from primary to matured follicle. And it is further demonstrated by Western blot that there is no GDF-9 protein in 0~2 days of rat (ovary,) and GDF-9 is detectable in the rat ovary from the 3rd day postnatal to the last stage of folliculogenesis. Conclusion: GDF-9 is secreted in the early stage of ovary, and expressed consequently from then on. It suggests that oocyte may regulate the folliculogenesis with some factors like GDF-9.


Problems of use of biological diversity in bioindication is based on the ability of some species of living organisms in varying degrees, to respond to environmental pollution In reservoirs good indicators of water quality are shellfish, that make one of the many groups of benthos. They occupy one of the first places in the purification of polluted water allahtonnymi organic substances. Among the perfect aquatic filter tors are members of the class of bivalves [1]. For example, one individual Sogd mussels, reaches the age of 7 years and 25 27 cm in length, filters to 200 liters of water per day [23]. It follows that the molluscs are important for cleaning polluted water and therefore required thorough and systematic research.


The isotope effects of magnesium in amalgam systems have been
investigated employing different organic solvents. It has been
observed that the isotope effect is caused by the equilibrium
mechanism and that the light isotope is always enriched in the amalgam
phase. The isotope effect has also been studied at several
temperatures between -5 and 65°C. It was found that the isotope
separation coefficient decreases with increase in temperature. The
temperature dependence of the isotope effect is fitted to an equation,
e=a/T+b/T
 2
, which
has been shown to fit to other observed amalgam systems, such as Li,
Rb and Ba. In the Mg(Hg)/MgCl
 2
–DMF system at 293 K,
the separation coefficient for 26
Mg–
 24
Mg
has been measured as (1.04±0.21)×10
 -2
.


This study examined the relationship between profit achievement and emotional regulation strategies, using Kelley's Negotiation Game to measure profit achievement. The game involves bargaining for the prices of three products. Emotional Regulation Strategies were measured by The Emotional Regulation Questionnaire. Scores were obtained from 104 lower level managers of a bank in Turkey. Their average age was 32.0 yr. (SD = 3.7), (39 women and 65 men). A correlation of .65 (p < .01) was obtained between scores on profit achievement with scores on Cognitive Reappraisal strategy and –.50 (p < .01) with scores on Suppression strategy.


Obstructive cholestatic jaundice appearing in the last trimester of pregnancy has been called idiopathic hepatopathy of pregnancy,' hepatite benigne de la grossesse,' and idiopathic jaundice of pregnancy.3 Perhaps recurrent intrahepatic cholestatic jaundice of pregnancy is the most appropriate term.4 5 Many patients experiencing generalized itching in the last weeks of pregnancy may be suffering from this condition, for jaundice is rarely deep and may be inapparent. So the physician should seek evidence of dark urine and pale stools. After delivery pruritus ceases, and in one to two weeks the jaundice disappears. The condition is apt to recur in subsequent pregnancies. The serum shows an increase in conjugated bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase. Serum transaminase levels are normal or slightly increased, but occasionally very high values are found. Needle biopsy of the liver shows mild focal and irregular bile stasis. Hepatocellular necrosis and cellular reaction are absent. Electron-microscopy shows the dilatation, blunting, and swelling of the microvilli which is constantly found in all forms of cholestasis.' The jaundice is probably due to an unusual cholestatic reaction to a steroid produced in pregnancy. Whether this is an unusual response to a natural steroid or caused by the production of an unknown cholestatic steroid remains uncertain. Changes in oestrogen metabolism are more likely to be secondary to the jaundice and the circulation of oestrogens in the liver than a primary defect.7 Normal women in the last trimester show increased difficulty in transfer of the test substance bromsulphalein into the biliary canaliculi. Bilirubin is in many ways analogous to bromsulphalein, and the response in recurrent cholestatic jaundice of pregnancy may be an exaggeration of the normal


In the western Gulf of Alaska (GOA), we compared age-0 juvenile walleye pollock body weight, food habits, and expected growth rates between two regions during 3 years. The benefit to rearing off Kodiak Island vs. in the Semidi Islands vicinity increased among years with body length because larger fish consumed more euphausiids, and euphausiids were apparently more available in the Kodiak region. This explains previously observed regional variation in body size, condition, and growth rates within the GOA population and points to potential importance of the Kodiak region as awalleyepollock nursery. During September 2005, 2007, and 2009, Kodiakmidwater was cooler and saltier than Semidi midwater, presumably due to a relatively narrow continental shelf and greater oceanic influence. Zooplankton composition differed between regions with the greater euphausiid population density off Kodiak being most relevant to walleye pollock food habits. As found historically, age-0 walleye pollock abundance was lower in the Kodiak region than in the Semidi region. However, the Kodiak fish were larger in both length and length-specific weight, and had fuller stomachs than Semidi fish, although differenceswere not significant in all years. Regional differencesweremost pronounced during the relativelywarmyear 2005whenfishwere particularly large. Fishdietarymasswasdominatedbyeuphausiids, especially forKodiakfish≥55 mmstandard length. Bioenergeticsmodel output suggests that the greater euphausiid dietary proportion translates into faster growth of the Kodiak fish. The midwater habitat off Kodiak Island might therefore support above-average production of recruits to the GOA adult population due to better condition and likely survival of walleye pollock juveniles, especially when fish are large and thus able to more fully exploit euphausiids, but confirmation of above-average production of recruits depends on our ability to determine spatial structure in juvenile-adult population connectivity.


To meet the challenge of excellent tracking performance even under complicated nonlinear disturbance, a desired compensation neural network adaptive robust control (DCN-NARC) strategy is proposed for an industrial linear motor motion system. The proposed control scheme seriously concentrates on attenuating the effects of various model uncertainties and unknown nonlinearities, such as inertia load variation, force ripple, measurement noise, and external disturbances. Particularly, a three-layer radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is employed to compensate the unknown nonlinearities. Online parameter adaptation is then utilized to reduce the effect of parametric uncertainties and to update the neural network weights. In addition, to facilitate the controller gain tuning process and attenuate the effect of measurement noise, the desired trajectory states are used in the adaptive model compensation following the desired compensation concept. The residual modeling error and unknown uncertainty are handled through certain robust control term. Theoretically, the proposed DCNNARC can achieve not only prescribed transient performance but also excellent tracking accuracy in general. Comparative experiments are conducted on an industrial linear motor system, and the results consistently demonstrate that the proposed scheme can achieve excellent tracking performance with remarkable disturbance rejection ability even under complicated disturbances. The proposed strategy also could be extended to other industrial control applications.


Category: Trauma Introduction/Purpose: The United States Medical Corps has continued to evaluate and define the injury patterns of our service members in an effort to prevent injury and improve combat casualty care. The pattern of injury can be predicted by the mechanism of injury. One of the more recently described and studied mechanisms has been coined the 'dismounted complex blast injury. This injury pattern involves traumatic amputation of at least one leg with a second injury involving another extremity in addition to an injury to either the pelvis, the abdomen, or the urogenital region. The purpose of this study was to better define and describe the injuries occurring to the non amputated extremity. Methods: This is a retrospectively review of data from the US and UK Joint Theater Trauma Registries (JTTR) of consecutive patients admitted to the UK Role 3 hospital at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, from January 1, 2009, to February 29, 2012. Data was obtained from the US JTTR (Joint Theatre Trauma Registry). Each patient was assigned an Injury Severity Score (ISS) and an Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) score. Only those patients with an AIS of 3 or greater (a serious injury) were included. All xrays and CT scans were evaluated by two board certified orthopaedic surgeons and one board certified musculoskeletal radiologist. Fisher's exact test was used to compare categorical data and binomial logistic regression was be used to compare proportions of types of injuries by traumatic amputation level observed. Results: There were 295 patients with lower extremity injuries identified. 201 had traumatic lower extremity amputations, 140 with bilateral lower extremity amputations, 61 with single leg amputations. The mean age was 23.38 +/-3.77 years. All were male. Below the knee amputation was the most frequent amputation type observed, representing 55.7% of the amputations (29/52), the next most frequent was the through knee amputation representing 25%. The least frequent was the through ankle amputation. The presence of a symes level amputation was associated with an 8.1% increase in the odds of the presence of a skeletal foot injury in the rear lower extremity. There was also an association found between AKA level amputation and skeletal injury in the contralateral upper extremity . Conclusion: This is among the first studies to correlate level of injury and associated musculoskeletal injury for the Afghanistan theater of operations. The results of this data set demonstrate that proximal lower extremity amputation levels are significantly associated with distal upper extremity skeletal injury. In addition, the Symes level of amputation is significantly associated with contralateral foot fractures. Amputation levels proximal to the ankle often present with associated Genitourinary injuries. Unique to this study is the demonstration of a significant association of upper extremity injury with a more proximal lower extremity amputation level .


Introduction: Patient satisfaction is an essential tool in measuring the quality of health care services; as it gives an idea of the staff's  progress towards patients' desires and is found to be useful in measuring patients' expectations. The study aimed to assess patient's  level of satisfaction with the quality of nursing services they had received at the surgical outpatient department of ATBUTH Bauchi,  Bauchi state, Nigeria.
Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted at the surgical outpatient department (SOPD) of ATBUTH,  Bauchi, using a SERVQUAL questionnaire.
Results: The result from the study shows that 110 (56.4%) of the respondents were males, while  85 (43.6%) respondents were females. and their ages ranged from 33 to 37 years. The majority 50 (25.6%) of the respondents were  business people. The variation in socio-demographic characteristics of patients was found to affect satisfaction by 27.5% among patients  receiving care in SOPD ATBUTH, with p<0.05. The patients' levels of satisfaction differed between the different nursing services but were  overall satisfied with the services they received.
Conclusion: The level of satisfaction of patients revealed by the grand mean score (4.11)  shows that the respondents generally agree that they were satisfied with the care they received. The study concludes that overall, the  patients were satisfied with the quality of nursing services they had received in the S.O.P.D of ATBUTH but recommended an investment  in modern technologies and training by the hospital management to help improve the quality of these services.


Purpose - Import-export activities normally require the involvement of different sectors needing proper plans to make the trade-flow stably grown. This paper is aimed at establishing an accurate forecasting model for trade volume. Design/methodology/approach- In this study, a new forecasting model named ARIMAF/ SARIMAF was proposed by combining the Fourier series with the conventional ARIMA/ SARIMA forecasting model. Findings- In the cases of historical data of the volumes of imported and exported air cargo in Taiwan, SARIMAF(3,1,1)(1,1,1)12 and SARIMAF(2,1,3)(1,1,1)12 models were found fitting well with the mean absolute percentage error values of 0.0104 and 0.0096, respectively. Using these two models, the monthly volumes of air cargo in Taiwan in 2012 are predicted. Originality/value- The using Fourier series to modify the residuals of the traditional ARIMA is first proposed in this paper.


I described the development of degenerate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers for intron-containing regions of nine candidate wing patterning and pigmentation genes in Heliconius butterflies. Primers were developed by comparing sequence data from Drosophila melanogaster, Precis coenia, and a variety of other insects so they are likely to be applicable widely among the butterfly family Nymphalidae and perhaps Lepidoptera in general. The amplified regions are highly variable and should be useful for inferring relationships among closely related species and estimating the phylogeographical and population genetic structure of individual species.


The grasses of the genus Brachiaria are considered of great importance in the diet of the Brazilian cattle, but its seeds present dormancy as a factor to be overcome for germination. The objective was to evaluate the effect of chemical treatment with sulfuric acid in Brachiaria brizantha cv. MG5 seeds on the germination rate and seedlings early growth. The concentrations tested were the immersion of 2M sulfuric acid and 5.10 per 15 minutes and 5M for 5, 10 and 15 minutes, plus a control. The results indicated that the most appropriate treatments for overcoming dormancy were the five 2M and 5M for 5 minutes and 15 minutes. The use of sulfuric acid in overcome Brachiaria brizantha cv. MG5 seeds dormancy accelerates the initial growth of the radicle and shoot and do not affect the development of biomass of the seedlings.


Objective:To expound the important steering effects of acupoints concept in Neijing in the heat-sensitive moxibustion.Methods:Base on the original definition of acupoints in Nei Jing and the clinical evidence of heat sensitive moxibustion,the present paper expounds the relationship between heat sensitive sense location and acupoints' connotation.Results:(1) The acupoints' connotation is dynamic and sensitive,which is the reactive positions of diseases on body surface and the best therapeutic positions for acupuncture. (2) The heat sensitive sensation location is the heat-sensitive acupoint and the best acupoint for moxibusion therapy,and also the accurate position for moxibusion.Conclusion:The original Acupoints Concept and positioning technique in moxibusion therapy in Neijing is Important in raising the moxibustion curative effect.


ABSTRACT:
Objective: To study postoperative outcome of chronic subdural hematoma by two burrhole technique.
Study Design: It was a descriptive cross sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: It was a hospital based study which was conducted in the Department of Neurosurgery HMC, from 10th June 2014 to 10th March, 2015.
Methodology: This study was conducted on one hundred & ninety-three (193) patients of chronic subdural hematoma. These patients were selected on the basis of history, clinical features and CT scan brain showing presence of chronic subdural hematoma. For data analysis SPSS version 20 software was used.
Results: We studied one hundred & ninety-three (193) patients. Among these patients one hundred & forty-five were male and forty-eight were female with a male to female ratio of 3.1:1. The age range was 20 to 80 years with an average of 65.9 years. One hundred & ten patients (59.0%) gave a history of head injury. Eighty-three patients (43.0%) did not give history of any injury to the head. Twenty-nine patients were operated under local anesthesia while rest of one hundred & sixty-two were operated under general anesthesia. On discharge one hundred & sixty-three (84.5%) patients showed favorable outcome and thirty patients (15.5%) showed unfavorable surgical outcome out of them thirteen patients died with a mortality rate of 6.7%.
Conclusion: Chronic subdural hematoma is an important reversible cause of mortality and disability specially in elder patients. A favorable surgical outcome was observed when patients of chronic subdural hematoma were operated by two burrhole technique and assessed after three days of surgery. Mortality and morbidity of chronic subdural hematoma has decreased markedly in recent years because of improved diagnostic facilities, early surgical intervention, good and minimal invasive surgical procedures.

Key words: Chronic subdural hematoma, CT Scan, Two burr holes craniostomy


Urban tolling or not urban tolling that is the question for many public organizations in charge of the mobility in cities. The urban tolling have been already experimented all over the world with different forms of implementation: from Singapore in 1975, Melbourne and Santiago and more recently in Europe with Oslo, Stockholm and the very well known experience in London. It have been proven that these experiences bring global advantages to the population in term of traffic regulation, pollution reduction, and increase of the city environment. In addition to the tolling mode, the objectives who characterizes the different urban tolling are easing the traffic flow, reduce the pollution and impact on the environment of the road traffic, improve the public transport, and fund the construction of infrastructure or transport services. All these objectives are crucial to select the type of urban tolling (network, zone, or ring), the level of prices applied to the users (variable in function of the level of traffic), and/or variable in function of the level of pollution per users (HOV/HOT lanes, cars/trucks, pollution index of the vehicle)… and the usage of the revenue (development of the public transport, reimbursement of bridge or tunnel, general usage for community) Now, how to go from the idea to the realization of the project ? What are the questions to answer for the implementation of a urban tolling ? First of all, one should verify the governmental or local area law. Is invoicing a driver for entering a certain zone of the city or for the usage of a public road (like a ring for example) authorized by law or not ? For example in France, urban tolling are not authorized, except to fund the construction of a road or a bridge or a tunnel, as for example in Marseille (Prado-Carenage tunnel, or A14 highway in the west side of Paris).


Equity-based crowdfunding (ECF) is a new funding source for Thai startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). However, there has been only one ECF fundraising success story in Thailand during the past three years. A mixed-method research approach is employed to investigate the use of accounting and non-accounting information in the Thai ECF setting. The findings show that the most important information is the business model. The majority of participants focus on estimated revenue & cost and estimated cash flow. They pay a great deal of attention to non-accounting information, which is product/service characteristics and market potential. These results can be used by ECF platform operators to address the information asymmetries between fund-seekers and investors. The experimental findings show that individual investors who view mixed-type information are more likely to invest in the ECF campaign than individual investors who view only one set of accounting information or non-accounting information. The present study asserts that two qualitative characteristics of accounting information that influence investment decisions in the ECF environment are relevance and understandability. From the results, it is clear that cognitive errors and emotional bias are the two investor behaviors affecting individual investors' decision making. These findings imply that although individual investors viewed adequate information, they were negatively influenced by investor bias in their decisions about equity-based crowdfunding. Investment education may be the key to reduce unfavorable investment outcomes resulting from the bias.


This research focuses in the study of political infotainment. Originally, this is a genre linked to television, but now it is present in other media as Internet. This paper proves that many political videos of YouTube satisfy the characteristics of infotainment. Specifically, this paper shows the results of an analysis of the most played videos in YouTube in 2010 of of some representatives of European policy as Nicolas Sarkozy (France), Silvio Berlusconi (Italy), Gordon Brown (United Kingdom) or Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (Spain), as well as the USA President Barack Obama (EEUU).


Submicron polybutadiene particles were prepared using four different methods: one-step batch emulsion polymerization, pressure agglomeration, acid agglomeration, and polymer latex agglomeration. Core-shell elastomers were synthesized by grafting styrene and methyl methacrylate on polybutadiene particles. Transparent methacrylate-acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin was prepared by blending the elastomers with methacrylate-styrene-acrylonitrile matrix resin synthesized by bulk polymerization. The effects of the construction method of submicron rubber particles on core-shell elastomer structure and composite properties were investigated. Additionally, the relationship between the rubber phase structure and composite properties was studied. The obtained results showed that the construction method significantly affected the size distribution and morphology of the submicron rubber particles. The rubber particles prepared by one-step batch emulsion polymerization were grafted easily, with 90.2% grafting efficiency of the corresponding core-shell elastomer. The grafting efficiency of the rubber particles prepared by acid agglomeration was only 69.4%. The former was most suitable as the toughening core of transparent Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin, and the transmittance and haze values of the composite were 90% and 2.4, respectively. Impact and tensile strengths were 185.6 J/m and 39 MPa, respectively. The acid agglomeration method generated submicron rubber particles more quickly, and the transmittance and haze of composite were 90% and 2.9, respectively. However, the impact and tensile strengths were reduced to 170.4 J/m and 31 MPa, respectively.


This chapter presents Mosireen, a non-profit media collective and an alternative media outlet founded by a group of activists, writers, journalists, and filmmakers in the midst of a political change in Egypt. This group developed a special interpretation of the concept of "revolutionary media," and for more than two years have been executing their ideas on the ground. Thus, Mosireen is a case to study the instrumentalization of the Internet in political activism, and the revolutionalization of the use of digital and social media at the time of struggle against the regime.


In this paper, we study the framework of two-player Stackelberg games played on graphs in which Player 0 announces a strategy and Player 1 responds rationally with a strategy that is an optimal response. While it is usually assumed that Player 1 has a single objective, we consider here the new setting where he has several. In this context, after responding with his strategy, Player 1 gets a payoff in the form of a vector of Booleans corresponding to his satisfied objectives. Rationality of Player 1 is encoded by the fact that his response must produce a Pareto-optimal payoff given the strategy of Player 0. We study the Stackelberg-Pareto Synthesis problem which asks whether Player 0 can announce a strategy which satisfies his objective, whatever the rational response of Player 1. For games in which objectives are either all parity or all reachability objectives, we show that this problem is fixed-parameter tractable and NEXPTIME -complete. This problem is already NP -complete in the simple case of reachability objectives and graphs that are trees. its engineering → Formal methods; Solution


Video retrieval is a young field which has its genealogy rooted in artificial intelligence, digital signal processing, natural language understanding, databases, psychology, computer vision, and pattern recognition. The Video Retrieval system includes various steps: Video Segmentation, Key frames Selection, Feature Vector Creation and finally Video Retrieval. Length of these videos may be large. User may require only viewing the summary of video. So in such cases, video content summarization is used. A video comprise of number of frames. Key frame represent the main content of the video. For video content summarization key frame extraction is considered. Thus here used a method to extract key frames from video using Thepade's sorted n-ary block truncation coding. Using this key frames video is retrieved using an input video query. IndexTerms key-frame, Feature Extraction, Local Binary Pattern, Random Sampling, Feature Vector. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Title of dissertation: THE BOREL COMPLEXITY OF ISOMORPHISM FOR SOME FIRST-ORDER THEORIES Richard Rast, Doctor of Philosophy, 2016 Dissertation directed by: Professor Michael C. Laskowski Department of Mathematics In this work we consider several instances of the following problem: "how complicated can the isomorphism relation for countable models be?" Using the Borel reducibility framework from [4], we investigate this question with regard to the space of countable models of particular complete first-order theories. We also investigate to what extent this complexity is mirrored in the number of back-andforth inequivalent models of the theory, denoted I∞ω(T ). We consider this question for two large and related classes of theories. First, we consider o-minimal theories, showing that if T is o-minimal, then ∼=T is either Borel complete or Borel. Further, if it is Borel, then it is exactly equivalent to one of the following: ∼=1, ∼=2, or (36,=), with a, b ∈ ω. All values are possible, and we characterize exactly when each possibility occurs. Further, in all cases Borel completeness implies λ-Borel completeness for all λ. Much of this portion appeared in [21] and extends work from [25], which itself builds upon [15]. Second, we consider colored linear orders, which are (complete theories of) a linear order expanded by countably many unary predicates. We discover the same characterization as with o-minimal theories, taking the same values, with the exception that all finite values are possible except two. We characterize exactly when each possibility occurs, which is similar to the o-minimal case. Additionally, we extend Schirrman's theorem from [26], showing that if the language is finite, then T is א0-categorical or Borel complete. As before, in all cases Borel completeness implies λ-Borel completeness for all λ. This work appeared in [20] and builds heavily on [24]. The Borel Complexity of Isomorphism for Some First-Order Theories


This issue presents some of the latest findings within energy planning research and form a special issue from the 2021 5th Annual Conference of the Portuguese Association of Energy Economics as well as for the 2020 Sustainable Development of Energy, Waste and Environmental Systems conference series. The work presented probes into the effects of the European emissions' trading system on innovation, and the development of the Chinese wind power industry. Notable is also an analysis of people at Portuguese universities revealing lesser knowledge of renewable energy technologies but a more positive attitude towards this among women – and vice versa among men. EnergyPLAN-based energy systems analyses with cases from Iran and Serbia are presented, and different indicators for energy systems analyses are deliberated in a Mexican context. Marine energy developments in Columbia, the United Kingdom, Canada and Denmark are discussed with a focus on siting and barriers.  Also, barriers against solar energy exploitation in Indonesia are explored as are barriers against energy savings in Nigeria.


The world's richest countries will assume the debt burden of 18 of the world's poorest countries—about $40bn (£22bn; €33bn)—after a final agreement reached in London last weekend by finance ministers meeting ahead of next month's summit of the G8 (the world's most industrialised countries) in Scotland.

The deal will include all debts owed by the qualifying countries to the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. Fourteen of the countries included in …


The Sierra de la Silla aquifer is the smallest (10 km2 of permeable outcrops) and westernmost aquifer forming part of the Grazalema Natural Park, situated to the NE of the Cadiz province. Previous works suggested its detailed investigation, due to the fact that it was supposed to be a representative subsystem of the karstic aquifers forming the hydrogeological unit of Sierra de Grazalema and, in addition, a straightforward system to be studied. The continuous monitoring of the flow rate of La Esparragosilla sprong (though to represent the main discharge zone of the whole aquifer) and the comparison of such flow rate with diverse and independent estimations of the value of the recharge (daily soil water budget, chloride mass balance and the APLIS method), allowed us to prove that the recharge in this aquifer is markedly higher than the discharge of the cited spring. The distribution of the outflows through different sectors of the aquifer and its small dimensions hinders the development of organized conduit network, being this circumstance different from other know karstic aquifers of the Grazalema Natural Park. For these reasons, the hydrogeological functioning of the carbonate aquifer of Sierra de la Silla was found to be poorly representative of the majority of the carbonate aquifers of Sierra de Grazalema.


Objective To quantitatively assess cardiac intervals with tissue Doppler imaging(TDI) and normal reference values. Methods Apical 4 chamber, 2 chamber and long axis views of two-dimensional TDI were acquired in 29 healthy individuals(using GE Vivid 7 commercially ultrasound machine). The basal and middle segments in left ventricle(anterior septal, anterior, lateral, posterior, inferior and septal wall) and in the free wall of right ventricle were analyzed with tissue velocity imaging(TVI) model.Cardiac intervals of each segment, which included the isovolumic contraction time, contraction to peak time, insovolumetric relaxation time, rapid filling time and artrial contraction time were measured using TVI in the left ventricle and free wall of the right ventricle. Results The successful rate of sample was 100% in basal segment of each wall. There were significant differences between the left and right ventricle in the isovolumetric contraction time, the systolic accelaration time, contraction to peak time, isovolumetric relaxation time, early diastolic time, diastasis and artrial contraction( P 0.05 or 0.01). There was no significant difference in the cardiac systolic intervals in all of the walls, but there were significantly differences in rapid filling time, isovolumetric relaxation time, diastasis and the time of R wave to peak for artrial contraction between the septal and lateral walls, which was statistically made in paired-samples t test. Conclusions Cardiac intervals can not only be evaluated with TVI in the left ventricle, but in the right ventricle, which is a new and reliable quantitative method of cardiac intervals.


Mixed methods approaches are increasing advocated for researching complex problems in the social sciences, but they are not widely used by postgraduate students of public management. This article describes a study where qualitative and quantitative methods lecturers worked collaboratively to design and teach both methodology courses in an integrated way to encourage public management master's students to see the two methods as complementary, and thus possibly be more open to consider using the mixed methods approach in their research. A multi-method research design was used in this study. Students' prior studies of qualitative and quantitative research methodology were not found to predict their summative course marks significantly on qualitative and quantitative components, respectively, but initial cognitive competence in the study of statistics correlates with summative performance in the quantitative component. Qualitative and quantitative summative scores correlate strongly, with those students with higher qualitative and higher quantitative summative scores tending to score higher on a task where they reflect on the value of both approaches to their own proposed research. However, students with lower scores, who comprise the majority of the sample, are not able to demonstrate appreciation of the possibilities or status of applying both methodologies to their own research. They tend to misunderstand foundational concepts when applied to their research design and/or show limited ability to apply their understanding to design their own work accurately or in a workable way. This study suggests that, where postgraduate students have prior limited exposure to research methods, improving the quality of student research and their engagement with mixed methods may require more mastery of both methods and methodologies than the scope and pacing of taught master's programmes usually allow.


Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is an autosomal dominant genetic disease manifested by formation of telangiectasias and visceral vascular malformations of organ systems, including the skin, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, brain, and liver. Hepatic involvement may lead to portal hypertension, high-output cardiac failure, and biliary strictures.1 Diagnosis requires patients to have 3 of 4 clinical characteristics: epistaxis, telangiectasia on the skin, visceral lesions, and a first-degree relative with HHT.2 Management involves controlling the source of bleeding by packing the nasopharynx, endoscopic therapies, or pulmonary or hepatic embolization.3


This study evaluated the chemical behavior of an oily byproduct which was formed in the exhaust tube during the silicon carbide epitaxial growth process using various precursors, such as silanes, chlorosilanes, propane, hydrogen chloride and hydrogen. Most of the precursors were spontaneously emitted from the oily byproduct, when the oily byproduct was kept under a nitrogen gas flow at atmospheric pressure and at room temperature. When the oily byproduct was exposed to 2-5 % chlorine trifluoride gas in ambient nitrogen at room temperature, various gaseous fluorides were produced, accompanying a slight temperature increase.


In the northwest corner of the United States, farmers have attempted to defend their place-based knowledge and heritage against the scientific and regulatory strategies of local Native American tribes who have sought to restore salmon habitat in farming areas. The apparent irony of this scenario stems from a set of relatively unique circumstances in the American Northwest. Ethnographic and historical evidence shows how a century of tribal activism to regain treaty fishing rights has converged with new forms of activism amongst farmers, whose counterdiscourses depict themselves as ecological stewards of the land. [Political ecology, Environmental science, Salmon habitat restoration, Agriculture, Native Americans] Introduction: An Unusual Scenario In the Skagit River Valley of Washington State, in the northwest corner of the United States, farmers are resisting efforts by environmental advocates to convert their land into salmon habitat. They complain that the people behind these efforts are urban outsiders who have learned about the environment through television and books, and who are attempting to impose a romantic vision of nature onto a working landscape. They express offended outrage that the


In contrast to solid-state NMR, which allows analyses of proteins with a theoretically unlimited molecular size, solution-state NMR techniques are limited by the molecular mass of proteins. However, recent progress, especially in the development of transverse relaxation-optimized spectroscopy (TROSY), has expanded the upper limit of the molecular mass to higher than 100 kDa. Furthermore, the binding interfaces of larger protein complexes can be identified by transferred cross-saturation (TCS), paramagnetic relaxation enhancement (PRE), etc. These solution-state NMR techniques for larger protein complexes were applied to GTP-binding proteins (G proteins) and the G protein-gated inwardly rectifying potassium channel (GIRK). The residues at the complex interface and those undergoing structural changes upon binding revealed the mechanism of GIRK channel regulation by G proteins.


The influence of weakly nonlocal effects on the speed of second sound along or against the direction of a nonvanishing average heat flow is explored in a formalism based on a dynamical nonequilibrium temperature. The restrictions from the second law of thermodynamics on the nonlocal evolution equation of this temperature are studied from a gradient extension of classical Liu procedure, and the corresponding form of the entropy is derived. Stability requirements obtained from the second differential of the entropy are seen to restrict a nonlinear dependence of the thermal conductivity on the temperature gradient.


There have been a number of experimental investigations on condensing heat transfer to cryogenic fluids. The investigations with nitrogen and oxygen have shown reasonable agreement between experimental data and those predicted by Nusselt's theory. On the other hand, in the previous investigations with much colder fluids, such as hydrogen, deuterium, and helium, the experimental condensing heat transfer coefficients are smaller than those predicted by Nusselt's theory, and these differences become much larger when the film Reynolds number or decreasing temperature difference across the condensate film is decreased. In the present investigation, hydrogen and nitrogen were condensed inside a vertical tube (d = 15 mm, L = 30 mm) under steady-state conditions, respectively, and condensing heat transfer coefficients were precisely measured. From the experimental results, the condensing heat transfer coefficients for saturated hydrogen and nitrogen vapors agree with those predicted by Nusselt's theory within ±20%. The results of the present study suggest that deuterium and helium might also behave as predicted by Nusselt's theory. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Asian Res 30(7): 542–560, 2001


The management problems posed by a growing microfiche collection of government documents are, the author asserts, as different from those posed by a paper collection as microfiche itself is different from paper." Thus, the documents librarian's special management concerns must be modified to include: overcoming fear of user resistance, document mobility, collection development and control through automation of records systems, use of statistical profiles, and storage environment.


Lipoid proteinosis (LP), also known as Hyalinosis cutis et mucosae or Urbach-Wiethe disease (OMIM 247100) is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder characterized by generalized thickening of skin, mucosae and certain vis- cera (1). Histologically, there is widespread deposition of hyaline material and disruption/reduplication of basement membrane (2). It is caused by loss-of-function mutations in the extracellular matrix protein 1 (ECM1). We conducted mutation analysis of the ECM1 gene in a 23 year old male with lipoid proteinosis. He presented with hoarse voice, asymptomatic skin lesions, scarring beaded eyelid papules and a thickened sublingual frenulum since his childhood. Skin biopsy showed widespread deposition of hyaline material in the dermis and thickened basement membrane. The coding region of ECM1 was amplified and sequenced and were shown to have mutations in introns 5, 6, 9 and exons 6, 7, 8. These mutations were concurrent with the mutations of previous studies.


An existing renewable energy source within our territory which has not been massively introduced is the low power wind energy. This kind of installations has only been used for electricity generation in off-grid systems. This paper describes a pilot scheme in which five 5kW wind turbines will be installed in the Municipality of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The first stage has consisted on the determination of the wind potential within the Municipality of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which has been determined taking as a reference the data from the study performed by the AEMET (Spanish Meteorological Agency) and the data comprised in the Canary Islands Wind Resource Cartography. Once this has been done, a study of physical variables related to the wind flux over the Canaries has been performed by taking data generated by a computer simulation of weather conditions in the course of a year. After the calculation of the eolic data and after the selection and location of the five turbines has been determined, a description of the turbines to be installed is given along with an overview on the territorial legal framework applicable to this type of installations.


Genetic studies have revealed a network of three unlinked regulatory genes that control the developmental expression of the family of endogenous lectins in Dictyostelium discoideum. Mutations in the disA and disB loci have a null phenotype and do not express the discoidin I or II lectins. The third mutation, drsA, is a second-site suppressor of the disB mutation, which restores expression of all lectin species. Cells carrying this mutation express the discoidin lectins during growth, which is in contrast to wild-type cells in which lectin synthesis is developmentally regulated. In addition to this basic level of genetic control, the conditions of growth dramatically influence the patterns of discoidin expression. Growth-phase wild-type cells do not express lectin if the cells are grown on plates in association with bacteria. However, wild-type cells growing in bacterial suspensions express high levels of lectin during growth. Synthesis of the discoidin lectins in growing cells is sensitive to the levels of extracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and folic acid. These results suggest that the drsA mutation renders cells insensitive to cAMP and/or folate and thus allows expression of lectin during growth.


Inspired by manifold learning,sparse representation and discriminant analysis theories,a discriminative manifold-based uncorrelated sparse projective nonnegative matrix factorization( DM UPNM F) algorithm was developed in this work. By exploiting local and nonlocal geometric discriminant information of the data and the merits of the linear projective NM F,the extracted features were approximately uncorrelated and the decomposition results of DM UPNM F were sparse and better part-based representation. Multiplicative updating rules were introduced to slove the optimization problem of DM UPNM F and its convergence proof was given as well. Moreover,projected gradient decent optimization method was developed to enhance the convergence speed of the method. An approach was proposed to select the informative data points from training dataset,which reduces the computation burden and storage space resulted from a large amount of objects for traditional NM F. Simulations demonstrated that the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-ofthe-art algorithms on real-w orld problems.


Project Summary Collaborative learning in general and Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) in particular can positively impact student learning. Several studies have shown significant impacts in SMET and other courses [25, 38, 45]. How it impacts student learning is still an open matter. We know that dialog has an impact on student learning [46, 28], but we know that that's not the only mechanism engendered by collaboration which impacts learning, and it may not even be a necessary one [18]. One way that collaboration seems to impact student learning is by sustaining student interest and motivation (to remain active within a class) which can result in improved retention. We have examples in the literature of collaborative learning situations dramatically impacting retention in a SMET course with historically low retention (e.g., [40, 17]). However, we know that, in very similar courses, collaboration can fail to have any impact at all [20]. We propose in this project to explore the ways in which CSCL can impact student interest and motivation as factors in retention in SMET courses. Our goal is to be able to make predictions about student retention based on classroom culture and CSCL practices. We then propose to directly apply the results by selecting courses with low retention and testing our predictions by attempting to improve retention by direct intervention in classroom practices and through implementation of CSCL-based activities. The broader impact is a deeper understanding of retention in SMET and developing a research agenda around directly applying learning science technologies toward classroom practice problems. This work is in ROLE Quadrant Three, in that we are seeking to improve SMET learning by improving retention via a CSCL-based approach. The third year of the project, where we seek to change particular classes through our approach, will requirement development of a systemic approach to identifying and addressing retention problems, which starts moving the research into Quadrant Four. 1 Introduction: The potential of CSCL to impact SMET learning Collaboration can be a significant factor in student learning. Through collaboration students can reach understandings that none of the collaborators held previously [46]. Through collaboration, students can learn how to collaborate better—a significant result in fields where professionals must collaborate, e.g., Engineering. Accreditation for Engineering curricula requires collaboration [1] both because of the belief that it aids in learning and because of the desire for students to learn about collaboration itself [3]. Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) …


The article describes the steps for creating a land registry, cadastre of real estate, their analysis, the issues that need to be addressed.


This paper presents the design and implementation of three different didactic platforms, which are based on the SCADA systems principles and architecture. Principles from real industrial applications were put together in these modules in order to familiarize students with the domain and give them useful practical abilities. In this way, after they graduate, they will be able to faster integrate in the working field and meet more requirements an engineer should fulfill. All three platforms have been implemented in a laboratory in Politehnica University of Bucharest. Keywords—didactical platforms, SCADA systems, industrial systems for students


Abstract : Well-being is generally recognized as a vital and multi-dimensional component of health in both civilian and military contexts. The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Moreover, well-being has been identified as a critical aspect of military readiness by the recent United States Department of Defense Suicide Prevention Task Force and the current Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. However, the concept of well-being poses challenges, including the lack of universally accepted definitions, its multi-dimensional structure, and the broad, eclectic understanding of health that it implies. This review will include a summary of 1) definitions, 2) dimensions, and 3) measures of well-being. This paper will also review the well-being literature in the context of both suicide risk/prevention and resilience in order to better understand the concept of well-being and how it relates to preventing suicide and enhancing resilience. In addition, this work will provide practical tools and recommendations for enhancing well-being and resilience in military groups, while reducing the risk for negative outcomes such as suicide.


Objective To analyze the cost-benefit of laparoscopic and open hepatectomy and evaluate the practicality of laparoscopic hepatectomy in economics.Methods The consecutive patients undergone hepatectomy were selected in General Hospital of PLA from Jul.2002 to May 2004.51 patients received laparoscopic hepatectomy(LH) and 75 patients received open hepatectomy(OH).All relevant direct medical costs and indirect costs of these patients were compared and analyzed.Result The mean direct medical costs were higher for LH than for OH(P0.05).However,the indirect and total costs were significantly lower for LH than for OH(P0.01and P0.05).Conclusion Compared with those of OH,the total costs of LH to patients decreased by reducing the indirect costs.Both of patients and hospitals could benefit from LH.


Shortly after the completion of Firdausī's Šāhnāma, historical epics in modern Persian were being written. While sharing in the tradition of šāhnāma-nivīsī, these epics deal with a more recent past. This paper maps out the characteristics of Persian historical epics by means of three examples (ʿAbdallāh Hātifī: Timurnāma and Šāhnāma-yi Hātifī; Qāsimī Gunābādī: Šāhnāma-yi Ismāʿīl). Not only during the Ilkhanid era, but also during later eras these kinds of works were actively being produced in Iran, even though they are as yet largely unexplored. The three aforementioned epics dating from the late Timurid and early Safavid periods (15th and 16th c.) shall illustrate continuities in form and content that transgress the limits of dynastic history, while at the same time acknowledging the three epics' characteristics to be understood within their particular historical context. It will become clear then that historical epics tied together poetry and historiography consciously. For centuries, the respective authors sought to follow up on Firdausī's opus and thus to embed the depicted ruler or dynasty/dynasties in a narrative of Iranian history, which apparently greatly appealed to their envisaged audience.


A mathematical model has been developed which predicts the annealing kinetics of electron, proton, and neutron damage in lithium-doped silicon solar cells. The model to be presented uses the diffusion-limited reaction theory modified to account for excess lithium consumption and varying defect capture radius. Experimental data from short term radiations with 1 and 10 MeV electrons, 0.25, 1.0, and 2.0 MeV protons, and reactor neutrons are shown for comparison with calculated annealing curves. Data from a 24-month real time test in a simulated space environment of vacuum, Compton electrons, 100 keV protons, and UV radiation are also presented to illustrate the success of the model in predicting long term effects in cells where simultaneous damage introduction and annealing is occurring. These data are particularly interesting because they indicate that 1) the annealing of electron and proton damage is similar and apparently involves the same lithium-defect interactions, 2) that the annealing of neutron damage, while its annealing kinetics are similar and can be described by the same mathematical model as electron and proton damage, involves different defect-lithium interactions and the neutron annealing appears to be independent of prior cell histories in electron and proton environments, and 3) irradiations in combined environments of electrons and low-energy protons produce synergistic effects that are not predicted by any current damage models in both conventional cells and lithium doped cells.