The effect of a water environment on the near-threshold growth of delamination fatigue cracks was investigated with unidirectional laminates made from Ciba Geigy prepregs 914C (T300/914) and from Toray prepregs P305 (T300/#2500). Tests were carried out under mode I opening loading using double cantilever beam specimens. The crack growth rate was correlated to the equivalent stress intensity range without respect to the stress ratio. For 914C laminate, the crack growth rate in water was about one tenth of that in air in the power-law region. For P305 laminate, the effect of a water environment was small in the power-law region. Near the threshold, the crack grew slower in water than in air for both laminates. When the 914C laminate specimen was moisture-conditioned, the rate in water was about 300 times faster than that for the specimen in water without conditioning. These environmental effects were explained on the bases of fractography and fracture mechanisms.


Background: Effective management of hypertension depends on efficacy of therapy as well as patient adherence to medication therapy and non-pharmacological approaches. As one of the important member of primary healthcare team, community pharmacists can play a key role in counseling patients and managing their chronic illnesses. Aim: The objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness of pharmacist counseling on management of hypertension of patients attending community pharmacies in twin cities of Pakistan. Methodology: A randomized, controlled, single blinded, pre-post intervention study design was used. Pharmacists working at community pharmacies included in group A (intervention) were targeted for training while no training was given to the pharmacists working at community pharmacies included in group B (control). The total numbers of patients were 40 in each group while estimating a drop-out rate of 25%. Patients in the intervention group received special counseling sessions by the community pharmacist whereas those in the control group received the usual pharmacy services for six months. Pre-validated tool hypertension knowledge level scale was used to assess disease knowledge. The questionnaire was administered by the pharmacists to the respondents at baseline and after 6 months. Data was cleaned, coded and analyzed in SPSS 21. Results: The results of the present study showed that respondents having hypertension since the past one year had comparatively better knowledge (23.83, ±0.40) after six months of counseling. Mean knowledge scores regarding hypertension among intervention group at baseline was (15.60, ±3.33) which was improved after six months (18.35, ±2.31). The systolic and diastolic blood pressure also improved in intervention group after 6 months of counseling. Significant difference was observed (p≤0.05) in pre-post intervention knowledge regarding hypertension management. Knowledge of patients was improved regarding different aspects of hypertension management after counseling by community pharmacists. Conclusion: The results of the current study concluded that counseling by community pharmacist had a positive impact on hypertension management. Educational programs should be initiated by community pharmacists as this can lead to improvement in blood pressure goals, disease knowledge and medication adherence and enhance the image of pharmacist as a key health care member in management of chronic diseases.


Objective To investigate the expression of serum osteopontin(OPN) in primary sjogren's syndrome(pSS) patients and the association with the clinical significance.Methods The serum concentration of OPN in pSS patients and healthy controls was measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results Significant higher OPN levels were detected in patients of pSS than that controlgroup(P0.01).The expression level of OPN showed positive correlations with RF(r=0.30,P=0.01).There was no correlation between OPN levels and serum concentration of Anti-SSA,Anti-SSA,ANA,C3 and C4 in pSS patients(P0.05).Conclusion The serum OPN level was significantly elevated and correlates with the level of RF.These data indicated that OPN might play certain role in the pathogenesis and progress in pSS.


'The time of human experience' examines whether the sense that time flows or passes can be recovered from within a relativistic image of time. On first encountering the relativistic image of time, many people are puzzled that it looks like a static block of events. Many physicists, including Einstein, thought that relativity theory vindicated the Parmenidean view that the passage of time is an illusion


Recycling crosses the fields of resource engineering, metallurgy and materials sciences, and designers cannot be expected to master all these knowledge areas. However, designers need to have access to this knowledge in a simple and clear form, to be able to design products that allow an optimal recovery with minimum quality losses. This is achieved by developing a QuickScan recyclability assessment method based on an exploded view of a product, in which material compatibility and ease of separation of parts are indicated with a simple color scheme. The requirements for the method is derived based on understanding of the design process and learnings from existing recycling tools. The QuickScan recyclability assessment method was tested on a MR16 LED Lamp for method enhancement.


A mobile terminal is provided that includes a wireless communication unit, a display unit and a controller. The display unit is configured to display a first content including one or more constituent units that contain at least one respective semantic component. The controller is configured to analyze the one or more constituent units and respective semantic components. The controller is further configured to display icons corresponding to the respective constituent units of the first content. The controller is also configured display text related to the content on the display unit responsive to a touch input applied to an icon from among the icons corresponding to the respective constituent units of the first content.


In this study we systematically changed the microstructure of the α phase and γ phase of a SUS 329 J1 steel weld and examined the relationship between this and the toughness. That is, we elucidated the morphology and volume of precipitation of the α and γ phases and the crystallographic relationship between them. Next, we carried out Charpy impact tests at temperatures between room temperature and liquid nitrogen temperature and examined the effect of the weld microstructure and α/γ phase boundary coherency on the fracture mechanism and toughness values


Examination blood glucose can be do with blood sample a vein and capillary blood , venous blood and capillary have different characteristics by which the blood containing various kinds of molecules of food and venous blood is the vessels which carry blood to the heart .Differences in characteristic make writer would like knows the difference blood glucose levels fast with blood sample vein and capillary on a test strip glucometer ( glucodr ) .The kind of research done bersifar analytic and the data obtained is primary data will be presented in the form of table then in analysis in the way of statistics .After that data undergone a kenormalan by test saphirowilk and data berdistribusi normally undergone a different by test sample paired t test .To the examination of blood glucose fast with assay strips on blood sample capillary the highest 149 mg / dl , in venous blood the highest 137 mg / dl .The results of the study significant differences.

Keywords : blood glucose , venous blood and capillary


The Gumbel model is a very popular statistical model due to its wide applicability for instance in the course of certain survival, environmental, financial or reliability studies. In this work, we have introduced a bimodal generalization of the Gumbel distribution thatcan be an alternative to model bimodal data. We derive the analytical shapes of the corresponding probability density function and thehazard rate function and provide graphical illustrations. Furthermore, We have discussed the properties of this density such as mode, bimodality, moment generating function and moments. Our results were verified using the Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation method. The maximum likelihood method is used for parameters estimation. Finally, we also carry out an application to real data that demonstrates the usefulness of the proposed distribution.


A 68-year-old woman developed severe acute pancreatitis immediately after total gastrectomy with regional lymph node dissection for an advanced gastric cancer. Pancreas bed drainage and T-tube drainage of the common bile duct were performed. Cholangiography via T-tube revealed the presence of anomalous arrangement of the pancreatico-biliary ductal system, which might cause mild acute pancreatitis. In this case, hypersecretion of the pancreas and cutting the drainage veins and the lymph vessles from the pancreas and a stasis of the bile and the pancreatic juice due to a rise of duodenal pressure after gastrectomy aggravated the condition of acute pancreatitis. We should entertain a possible association of severe acute pancreatitis in performing gastrectomy for patients with anomalous arrangement of the pancreatico-biliary ductal system and should add reconstruction of the biliary duct as far as nossible.


Ely and Waymire examine the stock market's valuation of firms' reported intangible assets in the pre-SEC era. Their methodology is based on regressions of equity market value against accounting earnings and book value, plus additional terms related to the disclosure of intangible assets and auditor identity. The authors classify 405 firms with required stock price and accounting data in 1927 into three groups: firms that disclosed material amounts of intangible assets (MD firms), firms that disclosed immaterial or nominal amounts of intangibles (ND firms, whose reported intangible assets are less than $100), and firms with no separate disclosure of intangibles (Ambiguous Disclosers or AD firms). 1 Their primary findings are that for 143 MD firms, tangible book value is positively associated with price (7 = .254, t(y) = 2.59), while intangible book value is negatively associated with price (y = -.278, t(y) = -1.82). When an interaction term, earnings*intangible book value, is included, the coefficient and t-statistic on tangible book value are unchanged and the coefficient on intangible book value becomes positive but loses significance (y = .154, t(y) = 1.12). The coefficient on the interaction term is negative (7 = -.065, t(y) = -4.06), indicating that the market discounts a firm's earnings as a decreasing function of its capitalized intangibles. For all regressions, the coefficient on earnings alone is reliably positive. When a dummy variable for top auditor (defined as either Price Waterhouse, the


The spatial layout of Nanzong ancestral temple of Kongs roots in the one of Confucian temple. However, the arrange of parts such as Silu pavilion, Liudai Gongjue temple and Xifeng temple forms its own architecture style.


The solid-state 13 C NMR spectra of the vanadium(V) complexes of oxalate, (NH 4 ) 3 [VO 2 (C 2 O 4 ) 2 ].2H 2 O and K 3 [VO 2 (C 2 O 4 ) 2 ].3H 2 O, and ethylenediaminetetraacetate, (NH 4 ) 3 [VO 2 (C 10 H 12 O 8 N 2 )] and Na 3 [VO 2 (C 10 H 12 O 8 N 2 )].4h 2 O, have been discussed with relation to the structures determined by X-ray diffraction method


Cluster variation method (CVM) and path probability method (PPM) have generally been employed to study replacive phase transitions in alloy systems. Recently, displacive phase transitions have been explored within the realm of replacive phase transition in the CVM theoretical framework by viewing displaced atoms as different atomic species, i.e., by converting a freedom of atomic displacement to a configurational freedom. The same methodology is applied to the PPM calculations in this work, and the kinetics of displacive phase transition from tetragonal to cubic phases in ZrO2 are investigated as well as their equilibrium states.


This thesis is concerned with the question of how to efficiently model and represent historic buildings in the computer. Since detailed 3D modeling can often require considerable amounts of effort, automation is a natural goal to strive for. This automation can be provided by procedural modeling. Common procedural modeling techniques excel at the generation of a vast amount of simple buildings for entire virtual cities. While simple box-shaped buildings can be easily described, for more complex buildings such as complex historic buildings procedural techniques can be used only sparely. Virtually generated buildings and cities are increasingly demanded by virtual worlds, movies, and video games. Modeling them in detail requires a huge amount of resources and historic buildings are one part that is not well covered today. Historic buildings have different parts that need different modeling techniques. This thesis investigates some of those parts and tries to find new answers on how to model them procedurally. The introduced modeling techniques comprise a technique to model complex roof landscapes of historic cities, a technique to procedurally model the geometry of round building parts, and a technique to capture the forms of ornamental decorations in historic buildings. Further it compares domain specific methods from software design to procedural modeling techniques and draws comparisons there. The basis for all the research forms a common programming language that is designed for procedural modeling. iii ATTENTION: The Singapore Copyright Act applies to the use of this document. Nanyang Technological University Library ATTENTION: The Singapore Copyright Act applies to the use of this document. Nanyang Technological University Library


Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are related conditions with an increasing incidence. The mechanism of their relationship remains undefined. Here, we aimed to explore the potential mechanisms, diagnostic markers, and therapeutic options for HFpEF and NAFLD.


Precipitation records from highland and central plains sites in Uganda were used to validate the CLIGEN (CLImate GENerator) weather sequence generator. Daily records from twenty years and recent records of recording rain gauge data were used to evaluate the generator. Results show that the generator was successful in modeling the annual and monthly precipitation totals, the monthly probabilities of wet and dry days, and average storm duration. There were some differences in some of the standard deviations between observed values and generated values.


Wideband indoor measurements were performed in different scenarios with a 300 MHz bandwidth chirp sounder to generate 100 channel impulse responses every one second. To study the frequency selective fading for OFDM and WCDMA systems, the 300 MHz bandwidth was divided into either 15 sections with 20 MHz bandwidth or into 60 sections with 5 MHz bandwidth. Statistical analysis was then performed on the fading results. The paper provides a brief description of the sounder parameters and the environment of the measurements. Fading results are provided for the sub channels, in the three different environments. The results show that the variation of the signal level due to frequency selective fading is within 7 dB for 90% of the locations.


The article examines the century-long history of Polish reception of Imagism. The author focuses on terminological twists, which are conspicuous in the fact that five different names of the movement can be found in Polish critical and academic works, and reconstructs reasons for various misunderstandings in reception. The abundance of names has resulted in the deficit of knowledge – i.e. Imagism has constantly been confused with the Russian Imaginism. One of the questions addressed in the article is the problem of the actual connections between the Anglo-American movement and the Russian one. The author also discusses transcultural similarities between the poetic and metaliterary output of Polish interwar and postwar authors (Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, Tadeusz Peiper, Stanislaw Grochowiak) and the works of Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, and Richard Aldington.


Small satellites can be constructed at a fraction of the cost of a full-size satellite. One full-size satellite can be replaced with a multitude of small satellites, which offers a benefit in covering more area at the same time, achievable through formations. However, the shortcoming to the smaller size is usually a lack of thrusting capabilities. Furthermore, current designs for small satellite deployment mechanisms are only capable of low deployment velocities (on the order of meters per second). Prior research in using a pneumatic launcher shows that it is possible to achieve higher deployment velocities (75–125 m/s). This is beneficial in that it opens the possibility for limited but useful orbit placement and small satellite formations. Achieving a formation is done by reformulating the classical orbital mechanics equations to find the required deployment velocity vectors that yield the desired formation.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


I address the problem of corporate governance. I o¤er a theory of CEO replacement, using Nash bargaining game. CEO replacement involves the board monitoring of the CEOs and the CEO succession policy, which is in regards to the inside promotion or the outside recruiting of the new CEO when the incumbent CEO is …red. I argue that CEO replacement decisions made by the incumbent CEO and the incumbent directors may exhibit ine¢ ciencies from the point of maximizing corporate pro…t, and instead, these decisions tend to favor the incumbent directors and the CEO themselves. Keywords: Corporate Governance; CEO Succession Policy; Board Monitoring; Incumbent CEO; Rent JEL Codes: G30, D79, K22 University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. University of Southern California (2008-2009), Los Angeles, CA, USA. Email: email@example.com I would like to thank Hideshi Itoh, Kazuya Kamiya, and Richard A. Braun for their invaluable advice and their constructive comments from the early stages of my research. I am also grateful to Ricardo Alonso, Harrison Cheng, Keiichi Kubota, Kevin Murphy, and Hiroshi Osano for their very helpful comments. I acknowledge the …nancial support from Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences (JSPS).


Canadians are not fond of hearing news about people losing their hard-earned pensions because their employer misused the money. The thought of some Working Joe or Jane being deprived of a pension, after a lifetime of working for a company, is naturally repugnant. That is why regulations around defined-benefit pension plans are designed to force employers to keep their pension funds sufficiently solvent. But there are many ways to achieve that end and, while the rules that Canadian companies must follow might serve to help preserve pension savings, they also be very expensive — to employers and regulators — compared to other policies that can do the same thing. In fact, more flexibility in the rules might even make it easier for companies to offer richer pension benefits to employees than they already do. Some of Canada's outdated pension-funding rules have created the opposite problem: There are now pension plans that are actually overfunded if one assumes the company and the plan will continue. That means money the sponsoring companies could be using to hire more workers, to offer employees better pay and benefits, or to invest, is tied up in pension coffers. The problem lies in the divergence between a "going-concern" valuation — which assumes that the plan continues indefinitely — with the more prescriptive "solvency" valuation that is central to Canadian regulations. It examines funding adequaciy if one assumes the employer is going to go out of business (even if the vast majority of large employers are at any given time at no risk of that). In the days when fixed-income returns were lucrative, companies relied on pension fund investments to top up the funds, reducing sponsor contributions to unsafe levels. The solvency rules required plans that were reaping higher returns in the stock market to continue making some contributions to their plans. Back then, the gap between a going-concern valuation and a solvency valuation was small, and so the rules were not an unacceptable burden. Those rich returns are gone. Now, that gap between valuations has grown dramatically. In B.C., for example, a recent analysis found that when using a going-concern evaluation, 75 per cent of 143 defined-benefit plans registered in the province in 2015 had at least 100-per-cent funding, while the median funding ratio was 124 per cent. Using a solvency model, the median funding ratio was instead estimated to be a much lower 85 per cent. Closing that gap would require onerous pension contributions. More importantly, the contributions it triggers might never be needed to cover benefits. Quebec is the first province to recognize that pension-funding rules need to be revisited and made more responsive, with new rules coming in that will reduce the unnecessary burden on employers while also adapting to changes in the economic environment. Ontario is showing signs that it will take steps in the same direction. Regulators everywhere should be revisiting pension rules to: remove the solvency-valuation requirement for well-funded plans, while allowing the regulator to assume a worst-case scenario in the uncommon case where they believe it to be warranted; to develop a method to rate the credit risk of a plan; to be less stringent and more realistic about plan liabilities (by allowing some types of liabilities to use a longer amortization period); but still restricting plan changes for underfunded plans. The result would not only reduce the cost and work of over-regulating well-funded, well-run plans, while freeing up cash . By reducing pressure on the cash flow for sponsors, and adding more flexibility, the policymakers will ultimately make defined-benefit pension plans more sustainable. They might even see defined-benefit plans making a comeback among employers who found heavy contributions enough to drive them out of the DB world.


Intelligence agencies might benefit from assessing existing medical practicesfor possible use in improving the accuracy of intelligence analysis and itsincorporation into policymaking. The processes used by the medicalprofession to ensure diagnostic accuracy may provide specific models forIntelligence Community use that could improve the accuracy of analyticprocedures. The medical profession's way of accumulation, organization,and use of information for purposes of decisionmaking could also providea model for the national security field to adopt in its quest for moreeffective means of information transfer. Some limitations to the analogyareinevitableduetointrinsicdifferences between the fields, but the studyof medicine could provide intelligence practitioners with a valuable sourceof insight into various reforms with the potential to improve the craft ofintelligence.A LITTLE-EXAMINED ANALOGYThe analogy between medical diagnosis and intelligence analysis has been athin thread running through the intelligence literature. In 1983, historianWalter Laqueur, in ''The Questionof Judgment: Intelligence andMedicine,''


First, Ramsay surveys professional medicine, and then popular medicine: the former reformed by the Revolution, but showing strong continuities none the less; the latter much less affected by legislation or institutional change. He gives data on incomes and distribution, distinguishes carefully between various kinds of practitioner, and provides well-chosen exemplars to flesh-out the story. He is judicious, writes well, and the book is extraordinarily well-informed. And yet, it is easier to skim through the book than to read it thoroughly, and it is not at all clear how our understanding of French medicine, or medical practice generally, is changed. Indeed it is not clear that Ramsay claims any substantial revision of accepted opinion. Yet the achievement is substantial. If historians wish to understand patterns of regular medical practice c. 1800, then Ramsay can escort them around France better than any other single author for any other country. His survey of practitioners of popular medicine seems far more thorough and useful than any other available, partly because he combines both statistical and interpretive approaches. In collecting such material, Ramsay has obeyed a common command in recent historiography of medicine go down from the elite, find out who was dealing with common illnesses in common (or remote) places. It is hard to see how the command could be more conscientiously obeyed. And yet the book fails to gr'POne sometimes senses, behind the empirical social historian, a repressed theoretician. The introduction recalls his encounters with Foucault and Illich, but then largely discounts their influence. One of the more engaging passages concerns medical empiricism as a liminal phenomenon between agricultural and industrial ages, between the countryside and the cities, at the frontier; but this discussion is not reached until the book is almost ended. Maybe the problem is a certain mismatch of problematic and scale. It is a pity Ramsay did not witness any 'popular healings'; we might then have enjoyed the kind of thick description which gives life to ethnographies of non-western healing (or magical) practices. Or he might have ranged more widely across time and space (as in his excellent essay on the comparative history of medical professions in G. L. Geison (ed.), Professions and the French State, 1700-1900, Philadelphia, 1984). Instead, he takes sixty years, where the history of the medical profession was, supposedly, the history of France writ small. There is a second volume to follow, on professional monopoly. Maybe the grand design will be more evident thereafter.


In this work, epoxy composites reinforced by one-dimensional (1D) SiC nanowires (SiCNWs)–two-dimensional (2D) graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) hybrids have been prepared using a simple curing process. The direct iron-catalyzed heat-treatment process was designed to grow SiC nanowires on the surface of graphene nanoplatelets, acquiring a particular 1D–2D nanostructure. The SiCNWs–GNPs hybrid nanofillers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, FT-IR spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. These analyses confirmed that single-crystalline β-SiC nanowires had been successfully fabricated with the solid carbon source (GNPs). In addition, the thermal and electrical properties of the epoxy composites with 1D–2D hybrid nanofillers fillers were investigated. The bridging effect of the SiC nanowires contributed to the homogeneous dispersion of the nanofillers in the polymer matrix, which is the key factor for the enhancement of the properties of the composites. In particular, the thermal conductivity of an epoxy composite with 7 wt% SiCNWs–GNPs is 65.2% higher than that of neat epoxy, while the electrically insulating properties of the composite are still reserved.


Objective To study the pathogenesis and treatment of intractable benign paroxysmal positional vertigo(BPPV).Methods Clinical data of 16 patients with intractable BPPV were retrospectively reviewed for possible pathogenic factors and factors affecting treatment outcomes.Results Treatments combining repositioning maneuvers,daily exercise and medications resulted in symptom disappearance with no recurrence in all 16 patients.Conclusion The pathogenesis of intractable BPPV may relate to ischemic internal ear process and lack of physical activities.Our approach to this condition with a combination of positional maneuvers,exercise and medications appears to be effective.


The production of atmospheric-like turbulence is important to evaluate adaptive optics performance. Several techniques are commonly used to produce atmospheric-like turbulence in the laboratory, such as heating airflow, using diffractive and refractive optical components, and the atmospheric turbulence phase plate; however, the atmospheric turbulence phase plate has the advantage of low cost and easy control of the turbulence property. The properties of phase plates have been studied by many authors; however, a practical methodology to characterize the turbulence strength of the phase plate has not been discussed. The purpose of this paper is to propose a practical methodology to characterize the turbulence strength of the phase plate. In order to develop the methodology, a theoretical model of the optical system with the phase plate is derived first and the turbulence strength metric, which is in terms of the incident beam size versus D/r0, is obtained based on a comparison of theoretical and experimental data.


The interaction of the components in the Gd-Mn-Sn ternary system was studied using the methods of X-ray and microstructure analyses, in the whole concentration range. The phase diagrams of the Gd-Mn-Sn system were constructed at 873 and 673 K. At both temperature of investigation the Gd-Mn-Sn system is characterized by existence of two ternary compounds: GdMn6Sn6 (MgFe6Ge6 structure type, space group P6/mmm) and Gd4Mn4Sn7 (Zr4Co4Ge7 structure type, space group I4/mmm). The formation of the interstitial solid solution GdMnхSn2 based on GdSn2 (ZrSi2-type) binary compound was found up to 10 at. % Mn at 873 K and 673 K. The existence of the substitutional solid solution based on GdMn2 (MgCu2-type) was observed up to 5 at.% Sn and 3 at. % Sn at 873 K and 673 K, respectively.


A measurement based model for a microwave system operating in a power range up to several dB¿s of compression over its full operation frequency band is proposed. The model uses a limited amount of parameters, is easy to implement in an existing simulator, does not require the publishing of internal schematics, and predicts the response of the component over its whole working area. This model is hence a candidate for inclusion in data sheets.


Has Chinese elite politics attained a level of institutionalisation that long-term stability can be expected? This article explains the six-phased cadre performance evaluation system widely adopted at local power succession process and analyses the ways in which this system was selectively used in the making of the 18th Party Central Committee. Despite the various loopholes, the system does impose some constraints on arbitrary power; its wide adoption at the lower levels and the flatter power distribution enhance its legitimacy and promotes its institutionalisation.


For many of us, virtual reality is most likely to bring to mind commercial applications in industry or entertainment. However, it's encouraging to be reminded that it is also being used towards other some might say "nobler" ends. One such application is the preservation and recreation of cultural and natural sites around the world. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)World Heritage program is charged with protecting such sites. There are many ongoing efforts to use interactive visual and sometimes immersive computer technologies to help in this effort. In this issue, we are pleased to have Scot Refsland, Executive Officer of the International Society on Virtual Systems and MultiMedia (VSMM) present an overview of nine projects in this area. The projects he describes like the people involved in them are widely spread across the globe. They represent a good cross-section of the diverse work that's being done to help catalogue and preserve these heritage sites, and to educate people about them. In some cases, the work is primarily intended to document the sites and thereby to help protect and maintain them for the future. Other projects use amusement park ride-style experiences to entertain and educate people at the same time. And, while virtual reality technology is certainly not intended to replace these sites (nor could it be expected to), it can allow people to gain a better appreciation and understanding of those locations that they cannot visit directly.


Since the advent of multimedia systems, media synchronization has been an important issue to guarantee the quality of experience (QoE) of any media session. Specially, inter-media synchronization on a single device has been investigated intensively. With the emergence of smart devices, such as smartphone, smart TV, and tablet PC etc, we may own multiple devices and we want to use those devices at the same time or an appropriate device for certain circumstances. The emergence of multiple devices brings about the multi-screen environment in which we can utilize the screens (display areas) of multiple devices simultaneously for the convergence services and interact with multiple screens for better user experience. We discuss the media synchronization issues in multi-screen environments that introduce new pattern in media consumption.


Summary The Mediterranean Basin is a climate-change hotspot of the world. Predicted reductions in annual precipitation, increases in mean temperature, and increases in the variability and occurrence of extreme droughts and heat waves are likely to affect species abundance and distribution. The existence of sympatric plants with different morphological and phenological strategies raises the question how they will respond to novel climate conditions. There is a strong need to improve the mechanistic understanding of key foliar ecophysiological parameters in response to abiotic stressors on a small scale if we are to predict the carbon budget of plant ecosystems in larger scales. We first reviewed contrasting growth responses to temperature of angio- and gymnosperms in the Iberian Peninsula. Secondly, we studied the seasonal acclimation of different foliar ecophysiological traits in two leaf positions of four Mediterranean tree species in extensive field experiments. We aimed to shed light on the mechanistic understanding of the foliar respiratory and photosynthetic responses to abiotic stress such as drought and temperature. We found contrasting demographic responses in Mediterranean conifer and angiosperm trees. Widespread forest successional advance of angiosperms and negative growth responses of gymnosperms to temperature are currently occurring in the Iberian Peninsula. Trait-based differences in these two groups contribute to explain their different responses to temperature and their different role during successional processes. The acclimation behaviour of photosynthetic and morphological traits to seasonal variable growth conditions was strongly pronounced in all tree species. Photosynthetic machineries were resilient to moderate drought, whereas severe drought induced acclimation of morphological traits, photosynthetic downregulation and leaf abscission. The lack of replenishment of soil-water reserves during the early growing season critically enforced the summer drought. We also observed a notable seasonal acclimation of the thermal optima and of the curvature of temperature responses of photosynthetic assimilation. The photosynthetic system was better acclimated to lower temperatures in winter and to heat stress in the drier and hotter year. Mild winter temperatures provided a period of growth and recovery that resulted in biochemical recovery, new shoot growth, and moderate transpiration across all evergreen species. High radiation and sudden low temperatures had a combinatory negative effect on the photosynthetic apparatus leading to photoinhibitory stress - especially in sunlit leaves. Species-specific acclimation partly offset these overall trends in responses to drought and temperature stress. Quercus ilex L. and to a lesser extent Q. pubescens Wild. showed the highest plasticity in photosynthetic traits whereas Pinus halepensis Mill. was most tolerant across the seasons with the most stable temperature response pattern. Arbutus. unedo L. was the most vulnerable to drought and photoinhibitory stress in winter. A. unedo and Q. pubescens had a less sclerophyllic leaf habit and invested the least in acclimation of the morphological structure being most vulnerable to drought-induced leaf abscission. Shaded leaves showed generally a lower photosynthetic potential, but cushioned negative impacts under stress periods. A long-term rainfall-exclusion experiment in a Q. ilex forest increased the foliar carbon-use efficiency and the plasticity of foliar respiratory and photosynthetic traits, but did not affect the biochemical photosynthetic potential. A favourable growth period was thus exploited more efficiently. Overall, our results indicate that Mediterranean climax-species exhibit a strong acclimatory capacity to warmer and drier conditions, but can be sensitive to extreme drought and extreme temperature stress. The performance of the plants during winter might give important insights in the dynamics of Mediterranean forest communities under novel environmental conditions. Leaf position is an indispensable factor when estimating the canopy carbon balance. Angiosperms and gymnosperms had fundamental different photosynthetic strategies of stress-avoidance versus stress-tolerance, respectively


Objective Study on the construction method of Master Patient Index( MPI) based on the hospital information integration platform,to make the sharing of patient information in different application systems become possible. Methods According to the IHE PIX / PDQ integration specification,we build a Master Patient Index server,upgraded the existing application systems about the patient registration services. Results Through the MPI system construction,we could share patient identifiers and other information among the application systems,and lay the foundation for the exchange and sharing of clinical documentation. Conclusion Based on actual situation of hospital,the MPI system can meet requirements of patient information management and sharing in different application systems.


This paper deals with the semantic web and web ontology. The existing ontology development processes are not catered towards casual web ontology development, a notion analogous to standard web page development. Ontologies have become common on the World-Wide Web[2]. Key features of this process include easy and rapid creation of ontological skeletons, searching and linking to existing ontologies and a natural language-based technique to improve presentation of ontologies[6]. Ontologies, however, vary greatly in size, scope and semantics. They can range from generic upper-level ontologies to domain-specific schemas. The success of the Semantic Web is based on the existance of numerous distributed ontologies, using which users can annotate their data, thereby enabling shared machine readable content. This paper elaborates the stages in a casual ontology development process.


Extraction by supercritical fluids (SCF) is a relatively new technology which offers several key advantages over traditional methods, especially enhanced solubility and rapid diffusion. Because the molecular properties of SCF are intermediate between those of liquids and gases, well‐known heuristic design rules may not apply to SCF systems. In the present, work progress in the areas of predicting and correlating thermody‐namic and transport properties of supercritical fluids are outlined. In addition, specific fruitful areas are delineated wherein proven applications have evolved. Some specific examples include SCF leaching of contaminated soil samples, oxidation of hazardous waste, and regeneration of adsorbents.


Objective: To assess if an integrated pest management (IPM) program can impact pest infestation levels and the health of urban children with asthma Methods: Within a larger randomized controlled study in private and subsidized urban homes, all families who reported pest infestations were offered an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program consisting of an in-home education session about reducing pests, supplies to seal food and trash, and two treatments from a professional pest control service. Families who completed the program were surveyed about pest infestation levels and their child's asthma severity before and after pest management services, and asked to make qualitative comments about the IPM program. families their of correlated well with mouse urinary protein levels MUS from baseline dust samples asthmatic child's Respondents who rated their prior to IPM as higher baseline MUP level (mean=l,213.2) (p=0.009). 37% of families reported their child's asthma as "severe" or "very severe" prior to IPM, compared to only 9% after IPM (p=.002). Conclusion: An IPM program may reduce pest infestations of both cockroaches and mice in urban homes. During the above IPM program, children's asthma severity, as rated by parents, improved. IPM programs may improve urban childhood asthma in the setting of pest infestations and deserve further investigation.


To the Editor:— The drainage of ureteral catheters into sterile bottles and receptacles has been a traditional but most unsatisfactory practice for years. The use of rubber tubing for drainage has not been practical because the lumen of a small tube is predisposed to clogging by urine and its constituents, whereas adaptors for larger tubing are usually bulky and unsatisfactory. This problem has been met satisfactorily by the use of discarded intravenous polyethylene tubing. One end of the tube has already been designed to fit perfectly into the hub of a needle (see illustration). The lumen of this plastic tube is much larger than that of a rubber tube of comparable size, and its smooth surface lessens the tendency of blood and urine precipitates to adhere to its walls. Sterilization is carried out by cleansing with a detergent, flushing with saline solution, and soaking in a 1:500 solution of benzalkonium


Korean is an agglutinative language where grammatical categories are realized with morphemes. As compared to Indo-European languages which are inflecting languages, Korean grammatical forms are relatively simple and regular. Further, ellipsis is rare phenomena in Korean grammar. Taking these into consideration, issues and methods for a study of Korean grammar must be determined by careful examination of grammatical characteristics observed in the empirical data rather than by grammatical theories proposed for Indo-European languages. The word order of Korean sentences has been described as 'SOV', but this generalization is couched in terms of sentence structure of Indo-European languages. There are many utterances that do not have 'subject'. Further some sentences appear to have more than two 'subjects', and there is no fixed ordering between subject and object. This necessitates a careful reexamination of the traditional generalizations: the generalization that a sentence consists of subject and predicate and the generalization that the concept of 'subject' is necessary for a sentence structure in Korean. This study analyses sentences as consisting of 'topic+comment', not of 'subject+predicate'. Accordingly, word-order in Korean should be described in terms of 'topic' and 'comment'. This ordering of 'topic-comment' is very strict, and so is the ordering of 'modifier-modified'.


It is very important to let the judicial officers work independently, in order to build a society, which is ruled by law, and to achieve the great goal of governing our country by law. How to realize the judicial independence has already become one of the hot spots in our society. This paper discussed the outer and inner relationships that influence the judicial independence and the facts as the lawyer's status, economic positions and their qualities putting emphasis on analyzing the intrinsic links of these relations and the malpractice of our country's current judicature system in our country. The writer gives some personal advice to plunge us to ponder over.


We present a least-squares algorithm for time delay (range) estimation of dual-tone spectrally sparse signals that minimizes bias errors. Dual-tone waveforms obtain near-optimal delay estimation performance by maximizing the mean-square bandwidth of the signal spectra, reducing the error bound. However, the choice of estimator may introduce bias, particularly for dual-tone waveforms with bandwidth (tone separation) that is small or is close to the Nyquist rate, and when the delay yields discretization errors. We address this problem by combining a matched filter with least-squares (MF-LS) optimization. We compare this with a simple matched filter and interpolation approach, and with a matched filter and sinc-function nonlinear least squares (NL-LS) fit. We demonstrate that the MF-LS algorithm has lower bias errors than interpolation and NL-LS over both bandwidth and delay. We present experimental 2.8-GHz measurements of two-tone delay estimation implemented in a software-defined radio and demonstrate that the MF-LS algorithm achieves a reduction in root-mean-square error (RMSE) of nearly an order of magnitude compared with interpolation or NL-LS.


/spl gamma/-Fe/sub 2/O/sub 3/ small particles (/spl les/10 nm) with various dispersion rates were studied by static magnetic measurements at low and medium applied fields. The results raise various questions concerning the determination of the non-relaxing magnetic moment and of the particle volume, the role of the particle surface and interactions. >


This paper deals with the semi-quantitative vulnerability assessment of the elements of hydrogeological structure and technological equipment of the source of ground water, which has been selected for the emergency supply of the population with drinking water. The vulnerability assessment stems from the application of the register of hazards and a potential threat to individual water source elements within each type of hazard. The semiquantitative assessment used the former general register of vulnerability together with the index assessment of vulnerability of source elements depending on the range of impact, i.e. its disturbance, damage, or destruction due to the activation of the source of the hazard. The outcome of water source vulnerability assessment was the assignment of a vulnerability index to each potential type of hazard and each threatened element. The acquired vulnerability indexes will become a basis for a source damage/destruction risk assessment in the case of each vulnerability/hazard pair and the following identification of critical risks and a source classification for the needs of crisis planning.


According to the list of persistent organic pollutants (POP), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of organic substances whose usage has been outlawed in the majority of nations. In addition to been used in paint, flame retardants, plasticizers, and lubricants, they were principally employed in transformers, capacitors, and other industrial purpose. PCBs have been found everywhere over the world because they are capable of being released into the environment through primary and secondary sources, travel over great distances in the atmosphere and are thus persistent. PCBs were examined in soil from area around transformer installations at several sites in Warri South Local Government Area (LGA), Delta State, Nigeria. Using Agilent 6975 GC-MS at three different locations, the evaluation was conducted for both total PCBs and congeners. The soil samples were cleaned with column chromatography using silica gel and hexane as the eluting solvent and extracted with a 1:1 hexane-acetone solution in an ultrasonic bath. With the following results recorded - Ubeji (0.148 ± 0.019 mg/kg), Ogunu (0.531 ± 0.063 mg/kg) and Edjeba (0.415 ± 0.34 mg/kg), the assessment demonstrate that all locations were polluted with PCBs that were below the maximum limit of 2.0 mg/kg as allowed by the United States Toxic Substance Control Act (USTSCA). The total cancer risk calculated in these chosen locations corresponds to Ubeji (5.41×10−7), Ogunu (1.95×10−6) and Edjeba (1.52×10−6). This result showed that all the locations assessed have very low to low cancer risks compared with the value advised by USTSCA.


Chara tenuispina A. Br. is an extremely rare species of the genus Chara L., which inhabits freshwater and shaded, shallow water environments on calcareous peat bogs, as compared to C. globularis Thuill., which is a widespread species. To re-examine the taxonomic system proposed by Wood & Imahori (1965), who treated C. tenuispina as a variety of C. globularis, we studied the morphology of both species, as well as their phylogenetic relationships, based on three cpDNA gene sequences (atpB, matK, rbcL). In general, the species do not differ significantly in their general appearance, but certain details, such as prolonged stipulodes in upper rows below the branchlet, or the extremely long spine cells in C. tenuispina, may be noted as distinguishing characteristics. In addition, the results of sequence analysis demonstrated that these species are phylogenetically separated, forming distinct clades. This supports the taxonomic interpretation that C. tenuispina is a distinct species rather than variety of C. globularis.


The Whitney extension theorem is a classical result in analysis giving a necessary and sufficient condition for a function defined on a closed set to be extendable to the whole space with a given class of regularity. It has been adapted to several settings, among which the one of Carnot groups. However, the target space has generally been assumed to be equal to R^d for some d $\ge$ 1. We focus here on the extendability problem for general ordered pairs (G\_1,G\_2) (with G\_2 non-Abelian). We analyze in particular the case G\_1 = R and characterize the groups G\_2 for which the Whitney extension property holds, in terms of a newly introduced notion that we call pliability. Pliability happens to be related to rigidity as defined by Bryant an Hsu. We exploit this relation in order to provide examples of non-pliable Carnot groups, that is, Carnot groups so that the Whitney extension property does not hold. We use geometric control theory results on the accessibility of control affine systems in order to test the pliability of a Carnot group. In particular, we recover some recent results by Le Donne, Speight and Zimmermann about Lusin approximation in Carnot groups of step 2 and Whitney extension in Heisenberg groups. We extend such results to all pliable Carnot groups, and we show that the latter may be of arbitrarily large step.


This study investigates the stability of horizontal granular filters which protect the underlying soil, i.e., the base layer, from erosion by static and fluctuating loads. The head usually characterizes the static load over hydraulic structures, whereas the fluctuating load represents turbulence caused by the geometry of hydraulic structures or by the roughness of the top layer. The erosion resistance or strength of granular filters is mainly characterised by the geometrical properties of the materials used. In general, two types of granular filters can be distinguished, namely geometrically closed and geometrically open filters. Here filter equations based on accepted theories are discussed for laminar and turbulent flow in horizontal filters. When the top layer is influenced by bed turbulence generated in open channel flow, filter equations are also derived.


In the present study I am going to explore negative aspects  of marriage and the ways it  is viewed  and conceptualized in the body of Anglo-American anti-proverbs (i.e., deliberate proverb innovations (also known as alterations, parodies, transformations, variations, wisecracks, mutations, or fractured proverbs) and wellerisms (a form of folklore normally made up of three parts: 1) a statement, 2) a speaker who makes this remark, and 3) a phrase that places the utterance into  an  unexpected, contrived situation. The meaning of the proverb, proverbial phrase or other statement is usually distorted by being placed into striking juxtaposition with the third part of the wellerisms). Another aim of the study is also to depict those who adhere  to the institution of marriage, that is, wives and husbands, and analyse their nature, qualities, attributes and behaviours as revealed through Anglo-American anti-proverbs and wellerisms. My discussion is organized in two parts. The anti-proverbs and wellerisms discussed in the present study were taken primarily from American and British written sources.  The texts of anti-proverbs were drawn from hundreds of books and articles on puns, one-liners, toasts, wisecracks, quotations, aphorisms, maxims, quips, epigrams, and graffiti   collected in two dictionaries of anti-proverbs compiled by Anna T. Litovkina and Wolfgang Mieder (see  Mieder & Tothne Litovkina 1999;  T. Litovkina & Mieder 2006). The texts of wellerims are primarily quoted from the dictionary of wellerisms (see  Mieder & Kingsbury 1994).


Coffee ranks among the most popular beverages worldwide and is an important commodity in developing nations. While coffee beans harvested from Coffea arabica are considered to have a superior rich and balanced flavour, they are susceptible to disease and climatic variables like temperature, precipitation, and oxygen availability, each of which varies with altitude. We performed a comprehensive proteomic comparison of two C. arabica cultivars, the high-altitude Rwanda Shyira (RS) and the lower-altitude Brazil Flor de Ipe (BFDI), using liquid chromatography MS/MS analysis. Five of the identified 531 proteins exhibited statistically significant differences in expressional intensity between the two cultivars. These differences may correspond to bitter flavonoid concentrations along with adaptations to cold, hypoxic, and disease stressors at different altitudes and geographic niches. These substantial proteomic differences identified between these elevations provide a greater understanding of the effects of altitude on the C. arabica plant and its coffee, which has implications for the global market.


The object of this study was gluten-free flour confectionery. In order to improve the structure of the assortment and create products for specialized purposes, the hypothesis was tested that ultra-high-frequency processing can help reduce the microbiological contamination of raw materials and improve the organoleptic characteristics of finished products. For this purpose, recipes for gluten-free flour confectionery products were developed, making it possible to obtain the best values of the specific volume of finished products – custard semi-finished products and gluten-free cupcake. Based on the implementation of second-order rotatable plans, regression models were built, and the resulting response surfaces were transformed to the canonical form. Based on this, it was established that the rational ratios of the components of the cupcake in the formulation are: 80 % flour from ultra-high-frequency processed chickpea flour, 15 % rice, and 5 % amaranth flour. The ratio of components of the custard semi-finished product from ultra-high-frequency processed chickpea flour and corn flour was approximately 50:50 %.
Prototypes of gluten-free flour confectionery products were produced, and the main quality indicators were determined. It was found that when flour from ultra-high-frequency processed chickpeas was introduced into the recipe of a cupcake from rice and amaranth flour, the amount of limiting amino acid lysine increased by 1.08 times compared to unprocessed chickpea flour. In the custard semi-finished product, the amount of the limiting amino acid arginine increased by 1.97 times compared to unprocessed chickpea flour. In general, the biological value of enriched cupcake and custard semi-finished product on average exceeds the control sample by 1.5 times.
In terms of safety, the developed gluten-free flour confectionery products meet the requirements of regulatory documentation.


Included in the recommendations of each of the three Australian inquiries into the legacy of out-of-home "care" has been a call for more history, but what would such a history involve? Commissioned histories rarely respond to the need of "care" leavers to have their lived experiences recognised and validated while broader histories of the child welfare sector struggle to move beyond an analysis of policy and practice. This article offers the perspectives of a "care" leaver and two historians on the issues involved in writing a history which is sensitive and responsive to its multiple audiences, and discusses Pathways, the Victorian online contextual archive designed to make history accessible and available to those whose past lives it records.


This study characterizes the prosodic structure of the TV news speaking style in Brazil and compares it to the speech of interview subjects on a television talk show. Fifteen distinct metrics, designed to characterize both temporal and melodic characteristics of speech, were evaluated on the two speaking styles. The results of the analysis show that the TV news speaking style is characterized by a lack of filled pauses, a fast speaking rate, few and short silent pauses, and a high percentage of dynamic tones. However, the only metric for which the difference in speaking styles was shown to be statistically significant was the intra-vocalic mean melodic movement.


We use Brueckner–Goldstone perturbation theory to calculate the ground-state energy of the half-filled Hubbard model in infinite dimensions up to fourth order in the Hubbard interaction. We obtain the momentum distribution as a functional derivative of the ground-state energy with respect to the bare dispersion relation. The resulting expressions agree with those from Rayleigh–Schrödinger perturbation theory. Our results for the momentum distribution and the quasi-particle weight agree very well with those obtained earlier from Feynman–Dyson perturbation theory for the single-particle self-energy. We give the correct fourth-order coefficient in the ground-state energy which was not calculated accurately enough from Feynman–Dyson theory due to the insufficient accuracy of the data for the self-energy, and find a good agreement with recent estimates from quantum Monte Carlo calculations.


The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been researching the application of solid-oxide electrolysis cells for large-scale hydrogen production from steam over a temperature range of 800 to 900oC. From 2003 – 2009, this work was sponsored by the DOE Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative (NHI). Starting in 2010, the HTE research program has been sponsored by the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) program. HTSE research priorities in FY10 are centered on understanding and reducing cell and stack performance degradation to an acceptable level to advance the technology readiness level of HTSE and to justify further large-scale demonstration activities. This report provides a summary of our FY10 experimental program, which has been focused on advanced cell and stack development and degradation studies. Advanced cell and stack development activities are under way at five technology partners: MSRI, Versa Power, Ceramatec, NASA Glenn, and St. Gobain. Performance evaluation of the advanced technology cells and stacks has been performed by the technology partners, by MIT and the University of Connecticut and at the INL HTE Laboratory. Summaries of these development activities and test results are presented.


A scenario-based serious game for teaching about healthcare solutions was developed and tested in multiple iterations. The serious game captures the complexity of a real-world healthcare scenario, projecting it into a "scenario system" that can be accessed by the game participants to explore and experience the playthrough of a critical healthcare situation. The aim is to teach about existing health technology, and its uses and interactions between healthcare professionals, technologies, and patients. The platform for the serious game is mobile, such that different locations can be chosen for different scenarios. Actions of the participants trigger further actions, tasks, and storyline progress in the scenario so that a self-paced experience with defined dynamics can be created for the participants. The scenario-based serious game was tested with high school students and senior citizens in multiple iterations.


Magnetic induction (MI) method has been extensively used in non-destructive testing of materials. In biomedical applications, it attracted lots of attention for the contact-less advantages it provides. Sleep monitoring through detecting conductivity changes in lungs and heart during breathing and cardiac activity
is the purpose of our studies. The low conductivity of biological tissues increase the complexity of the design of such systems. One challenge is to separate the effects of magnetic field from the electric field; achieving a pure magnetic contribution is difficult since the received signal is contaminated by the unwanted capacitive coupling. Our hypothesis is that for a periodic vital sign monitoring like breathing and heart activity, part of this secondary coupling could be considered as a desired effect to take the advantage of both contributions. In this paper, the coupling mechanisms existed in our system have been simulated and studied using finite element and Orcad simulations to
estimate different contributions we would have in the developed MI system.


This paper presents the effects of import-related international technology spillovers on the change of the total factor productivity rate.Our empirical research demonstrates that there is a long-run equilibrium relation between RD of spillovers of trade partners and the total factor productivity.But its effect must be constrained by the human capital and the openness to trade.And at last we give the relevant policy recommendations


An FTIR study reveals the complex zwitterion (R2C−–Py+–H) in a polymeric
 chain of poly(4-vinylpyridine), which results from self-protonation
 of the latter in a pyridine solution. Presumably this
 complex ion, together with the observed strongly hydrogen-bonded
 network, is responsible for the formation of
 a gel with unique tunable emission properties.


Recent studies of the {lambda}(1520) resonance within chiral unitary theory with coupled channels find the resonance as a dynamically generated state from the interaction of the decuplet of baryons and the octet of mesons, essentially a quasibound state of {pi}{sigma}{sup *}(1385) in this case, although the coupling of the {lambda}(1520) to the KN and {pi}{sigma} makes this picture only approximate. The {pi}{sigma}{sup *}(1385) decay channel of the {lambda}(1520) is forbidden in free space for the nominal mass of the {sigma}{sup *}(1385), but the coupling of the {pi} to ph components in the nuclear medium opens new decay channels of the {lambda}(1520) in the nucleus and produces a much larger width. Together with medium modifications of the KN and {pi}{sigma} decay channels, the final width of the {lambda}(1520) at nuclear matter density is more than five times bigger than the free one. We perform the calculations by dressing simultaneously the {lambda}(1520) and the {sigma}{sup *}(1385) resonances, finding moderate changes in the mass but substantial ones in the width of both resonances.


Species richness is a very sensitive index of biological diversity and a partial small estimation of species number.Thereby,the index of biological diversity is a partial set.Sampling estimation of biodiversity index should not use average value of forested land.Shannon index as standard diversity index has the property of average rarity.The index dissatisfying with average rarity is named as marginal diversity index.Sampling estimation of diversity indices in 14 dominant stands were acquired based on experimental data in Zhangguangcai District of Changbai Mountain.According to the concept of intrinsic diversity,right trail and curve value of 14 dominant stands were obtained and transacted by multiple comparisons.The results show that species right trail and envelope curve were the line between(0,1) and(S,0).


Today, the Malaysian standard of living keep on improving has led to large increase to vehicle popularity. The automobile industry had changed their focus from sales division to after sales service division. Since the rise of Malaysia car consumer consciousness, provided outstanding service quality and customer relationship management are key factor that influences their future repurchase intention. The purpose of this research is to investigate how Service Quality and Customer Relationship Management affect to repurchase intention. Questionnaire survey was conducted to customers that serviced their car at HONDA Batu Pahat Service Center, Malaysia. The questionnaires had been pre-tested and revised before issued. A total of 202 copies of the questionnaires were successful returned with an 84% of valid response rate .The measurement scale is based on Likert seven-point scale. The retrieved questionnaires were analyzed via SPSS12, and statistical methods utilized for data analyzing include Reliability Analysis, Descriptive Analysis, Difference Analysis, Correlation Analysis and Regression Analysis. The research findings are shown below: 1) The result of Descriptive Analysis towards Service Quality and Customer Relationship Management shown that Women had significant effect to Repurchase Intention rather than Men. The results also shown that Races had significant effect signal especially Chinese groups had low acknowledgement toward all research perspective. 2) The result of Regression Analysis shown that Assurance and Empathy of Service Quality had significant influences toward Customer Relationship Management. Besides that Identity and Customize of Customer Relationship Management also had significant influences toward Repurchase Intention。That means by provided better services of Assurance and Empathy of Service Quality and also Identity and Customize of Customer Relationship Management; the customer Repurchase Intention will be higher. The better acknowledgement of Service Quality will bring positive influences to Customer Relationship Management cognition 3) The final compilation survey results will provide analytical of managerial implications and improvement suggestions to car services centre.


This article compares the itineraries of two men—one European, one Mesoamerican—accused of bigamy at the turn of the seventeenth century. While the European repeatedly remade his life in new locales, the Mesoamerican returned to the same places time and again, revealing a pattern of circular migration by multilingual Oaxacans along the southern Pacific coast. The European's travels enabled his manipulation of the Spanish Inquisition, while the Mesoamerican's expanding social geography became his undoing. Reading these two cases in tandem pushes us beyond their apparent similarities, a product of their framing by the Spanish Catholic legal system, and toward their profound incommensurability despite overlaps of time, place, and circumstance.


The objective of this work was to perform a review on the epidemiological, physiological and treatment aspects of the burned elderly. Predominant sites: residence (42-98%), kitchen (17-65%). Main agents: direct fire or flammable liquid (36 to 74%) and scald (17 to 66%). Inhalation Injury: 12-41% of the elderly. Mortality rate: 6 and 65%. A multidisciplinary team must attend the burned elderly patient.


Excellent enantioselection is observed in the reduction of a wide variety of prochiral ketones using LiAlH4 modified with biphenol 4.


1. Introduction The theme of the 3 rd Eilene M. Galloway Symposium on Critical Issues in Space Law clearly was a very appropriate one in view of the extraordinary career of Dr. Galloway. One of the key features of Article VI of the Outer Space Treatyl being the requirement of authorisation and continuing supervision of non-governmental entities' "national activities in outer space", Article VI represents a major aspect of the obligations of mankind, in particular the leading space-faring nations, to use outer space responsibly that have always been defended so staunchly by Dr. Galloway. It states that "activities of non-governmental entities shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty", and thus recognizes their proper place as part of the overarching paradigm of the responsible usage of outer space, to be guaranteed by one state or another. The present paper tries to analyse how this issue has been tackled in the specific European context, and whether perhaps something akin to a 'European approach' can be discerned here.


In this report, the modeling and simulation of a double pass solar air absorber was carried out using combination of Simscape and Simulink modeling tools. The solar system air mass flow rate and the porous media were critically investigated by using local weather data of Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia. Optimal inlet air flow rate of 0.034kgm-2s-1 was obtained and one of the packed beds, sandstone extended the thermal transfer period of solar collector system by 1150s which displayed good agreement with the reported model and experimental outcomes. The results obtained have shown that it is a promising alternative tool for solar thermal experimentation modeling.


We evaluated seed consumption by fish in an altered tropical dry forest river in Mexico. Non‐natives fishes more than natives ingested significantly more seeds in the rainy season. Fishes follow the peak of seed availability after a flood pulse released them from the soil seed banks.


Lunde, T. M., Godo, O. R., and Rosland, R. 2008. Reliability of trawl surveys on cod in Norwegian fjords. - ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 937-945.According to ICES, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, populations of coastal cod (CC) in Norway north of 62°N have been declining since 1994. The estimates are based on analytical assessment in which the most recent estimates are tuned with survey information. We evaluate the quality of bottom-trawl surveys conducted in four North Norwegian fjords during autumn of the years 1995-2004. Surveys tended to be carried out later in autumn in the more recent years than in the earlier years. Consequently, there was a significant decrease in sun's altitude from 1995 to 2004 at the time the surveys were carried out. Further inconsistency among years dominated when comparing catch per unit effort (cpue) by year class and age over time. Often, the observed cpue at age a + 1 in year y + 1 was greater than in year y at age a. Spearman's rank correlation of cpue vs. year also demonstrated inconsistencies in the data. The problems related to separating CC and northeast Arctic cod are discussed.


Serum homovanillic acid (HVA),FSH,LH and testosterone (TS) were examined in healthy first degree relatives of schizophrenic patients and in normal control subjects.The results showed that serum HVA concentrations in total (male and female) group of first degree relatives were significantly higher than that in normal control subjects,and serum FSH,LH and TS concentrations tended to increased.These data suggest that there is a tendency of familial influence on the aetiopathology of HVA and gonadal hormones in schizophrenia.


72 The Journal of American History June 2012 In 1938, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the photographer Dorothea Lange turned her camera to a mundane feature of the American landscape: a sign advertising gasoline prices. Unlike most such signs, however, this one broke down its 201⁄2 cents-per-gallon price: gasoline, 51⁄2 cents; state, 5 cents; Uncle Sam, 1 cent; city, 1 cent; railroad, 23⁄4 cents; agent, 11⁄4 cents; and "Me," 4 cents. (See figure 1.) The joke lay partially in what many saw as the modern equivalent of highway robbery. Yet the humor also depended on another, equally important characteristic of gasoline prices, which always took the form of a flat, pergallon rate: the rate of taxation was neither listed nor even necessarily known by the seller. Unlike goods with itemized sales taxes, gasoline appeared to be tax free, even if buyers and sellers both typically knew this was not the case. The invisibility of gas taxes is partly a historical accident—the tax has always been an excise tax collected from wholesalers rather than a sales tax collected at the pump—but it also symbolizes the significant, yet opaque role that gas-tax revenues have played in underwriting the expansion of the nation's vast automotive infrastructure. When automobile ownership began to surge in the late 1910s and early 1920s, gas taxes provided a new, almost magically large source of revenue that allowed states to embark on aggressive roadconstruction campaigns. But when strapped state governments in the early 1930s attempted to allocate a portion of gas-tax income to nonhighway purposes, opponents launched a successful campaign that prompted a growing majority of state legislatures to earmark gas taxes for highway expenditures. This system, coupled with new highway-planning methods that prioritized "self-funding" highways, resulted in a powerful, self-replicating system in which new highways generated new traffic, which in turn generated new revenues that were legally reserved for more new highways.1 When the U.S. Congress created an inviolate Highway Trust Fund in 1956—into which federal gas-tax revenue flowed, obligated entirely for interstate highway bills—it greatly expanded the system by elevating it to the federal level. Yet if the interstates themFueling the Boom: Gasoline Taxes, Invisibility, and the Growth of the American Highway Infrastructure, 1919–1956


This article represents the present situation of service life of the dam concrete in the world and in China,and the problems in this respect to which crucial attention must be paid.As one of the criteria in design of a concrete dam,the service life should be considered.The international construction world considered that the durable lift of a concrete dam should be at least 100 years. Through investigation,the authors figure that the average lifetime of the concrete dams in China is about 30-50 years.It is estimated that China will spend much money on the repair and reinforcement of the deteriorated dams in the 21st century. The Hoover Dam of U.S.A,one of the ten greatest buildings in the 20th century,is a famous long life dam in the world.The giant dams in China should take Hoover Dam as an example.


In one of his valuable publications on Italian painting, Roberto Longhi tells us how he was fortunate enough to rediscover two panels (Fig. 1) which, in spite of their poor state of preservation, he decided to identify as fragments of a predella painted by Marco Zoppo.1 In the following paragraph I shall give an abridged translation of the sentences with which Longhi introduced this find to his readers, and I shall italicize some passages which are apt to set the reader thinking about a methodical problem of perhaps somewhat more than passing interest.


This paper presents investigations with digital spectral and textural classification of urban environment using SPOT XS imagery and grey level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) approach. The results indicate that a combination of texture and spectral features significantly improves the classification accuracy compared to a classification with pure spectral features only. This improvement is about 9% for an addition of one texture feature.


Currently, Indonesia in regulating buildings refers to PP No: 16 of 2021, this regulation was made by the government. This regulation contains all the regulations regarding the layout of architectural forms, including the area limits relating to the area of the site and the allowable height limits. It is suspected that the concept of this regulation adopted from a European country so that its application often encounters problems, because the concept that is suspected of adopting one of the European countries has not been adapted to the geographical conditions of Indonesia. The regulation regulates the floor area which is calculated as the edge of the building with the percentage of the site area, even though for Indonesia's geographical conditions, shade is needed which takes up an additional area beyond the floor area. The rule regarding the height of the building is measured by the height of the top floor, even though according to Indonesia's geographical characteristics, where the sun passes through, it requires a roof that can reduce the heat and accelerate the drainage of rainwater. In Indonesia, which is known for its many varieties of architecture that follow local characteristics, it gets less attention. As a result, several traditional house architectural characters disappeared, which were quite numerous and varied. In this discussion, we look for formulas for building regulations that take into account geographical conditions and architectural variations


This thesis presents three papers united by a common focus on the experiences of individuals with severe and enduring mental illness (SEMI).

Chapter 1 presents a systematic review exploring befriending interventions for individuals with SEMI. Database searches identified 20 relevant studies; seven studies of volunteer befriending (VBF) and thirteen studies which used befriending control therapy (BCT) in trials of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). These studies were limited by methodological problems, particularly oversampling. Initial findings indicate that VBF provides increased social support but has little effect on clinical outcomes. When successful, VBF may provide increasing benefits over time. Studies investigating BCT found that it often performed comparably to CBT, indicating that BCT represents an active therapy rather than a control condition. These findings suggest that social support can have considerable benefits for individuals with SEMI.

Chapter 2 presents an empirical study examining the experience of Christians diagnosed with psychosis. Semi-structured interviews with eight participants were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, producing two superordinate themes. The first theme describes participants' struggle to find meaning and certainty amidst the confusion of psychotic illness. Participants described faith as both exacerbating and alleviating this confusion. The second theme describes participants' search for acceptance from others. Participants described encountering unhelpful attitudes held by mental health professionals (MHPs) and other Christians, leaving them feeling devalued. By contrast, when professionals and Christians were accepting and supportive participants described feeling more fully human. This study highlights the importance of MHPs considering patients' spiritual needs and suggests that Christians with psychosis may be a significantly marginalised and misunderstood group.

Chapter 3 presents a reflective account of the researcher's experiences in conducting the empirical study presented in Chapter 2. The focus of this paper is on the researcher's experience of managing the roles of Psychologist, Researcher and Christian.


"People are the active resources of the organization because their potential, experience and passion, their initiatives and development actively contribute to the increase in efficiency and effectiveness of the organization" (Manolescu, 2007), having the ability to boost the results of the engaging of the other resources. This is beyond doubt the reason for which organizations are constantly preoccupied with finding the ideal employee – competent and loyal, capable of performance. How can organizations keep hold of valuable employees? How can they win their employees loyalty? How can they determine them to adhere to the organization's values? These are questions that employers are asking themselves more and more often. A possible answer to this could be the employer brand.


The monitoring of the clean-up workers genome can give us an opportunity to estimate the genetic risk for the most affected by Chernobyl accident group. In this work we fulfilled the comparative analyzes of the cytogenetic status of clean-up workers and control group. During the dynamic investigations it was shown that the frequency of the unspecific chromosomal aberrations had trend to increase with the time. This fact could have a special role in the prognosis of delayed effects of radiation.


Calculating a buried conductor (25) of a depth detector (1), comprising: a plurality of conductive probe (25) of electromagnetic radiation antenna (B, M, T); based on antenna B, M, T the detection means for calculating the depth of the conductor (25); and a depth of said conductor means when a predetermined value or more when satisfactory, showing calculated. The utility model detector is mainly used to detect conductive areas for detecting buried conductors.


This paper examined the mode of inheritance and the influence of genes on weight of grains per plant in F1 and F2 generations in 7x7 half diallel crosses of rice. On both studied generations most combinations have dominant mode of inheritance of analyzed property. The results of the analysis of combining ability show significant activity of genes whit additive and genes with non-additive action. Data of components of genetic variance and regression analysis indicate a greater role of the dominant component in the inheritance and absence of inter allelic interaction.


This report presents guidance for the selection and design of left-turn accommodations at unsignalized intersections. Eleven case studies of typical situations illustrate the use of the guidance. The report will be useful to geometric designers and traffic engineers who deal with unsignalized intersections.


Low-fat mango yoghurt was enriched with calcium lactate, an ionizable source of calcium,
prior to fermentation. The calcium lactate fortified yoghurt mix was observed to be heat labile. For
this reason the calcium lactate was added following pasteurization. Calcium lactate fortification had
no influence on the flavor and microstructure of yoghurt up to 50 mg calcium / 100 ml of yoghurt mix
level of fortification. Also calcium lactate addition at this level produced a calcium-fortified yoghurt
which compared favorably (in physical and rheological properties) with the non-fortified yogurt. Effect
of calcium enrichment on mango yoghurt microstructure was studied using florescent microscopy
and no significant difference in fat globule size distribution was observed. However rheological
measurements revealed higher viscosity of calcium-fortified yoghurt compared to that of control. Also
water holding capacity of calcium fortified fruit yogurt was observed to be significantly higher than the
control sample. It is concluded that calcium lactate has a positive influence on the rheological
properties of yoghurt.


The article tends to analysis the spatial-temporal metaphor in the way of talking about temporal movement in Chinese with Lakoff and Johnson's temporal theory.It mainly discusses QIAN/HOU in QIANTIAN/NIAN and HOUTIAN/NIAN which means BEFORE/AFTER in "the day/year BEFORE yesterday/last year" and "the day/year AFTER tomorrow/next year".The future is ahead of human beings and the past lies behind."QIANTU" does not refer to the time,but it's placed in the future.QIAN/HOU in Chinese temporal concept is decided by the temporal motion and sequence.


Abstract OBJECTIVES To compare, in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): 1) the effects of 12 weeks of continuous training at high intensity (CTHI), continuous training at the ventilatory threshold (CTVT) and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on cognition; and 2) the maintenance of these effects at a 1-year follow-up. METHODS Participants were randomized to CTHI, CTVT, or HIIT and underwent 12 weeks of three times weekly training on cycle ergometers. Training intensity and duration were set based on group allocation. At program completion, all participants were given standardized exercise recommendations from the exercise supervisors, but no active maintenance intervention was offered. Assessments were made at baseline (week 0), program completion (week 12) and 1 year after baseline (year 1). Cognition was assessed with a neuropsychological testing battery and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). RESULTS In 36 participants (64% women, mean age: 67.5 ± 9 years) with moderate COPD (FEV1: 59 ± 17% predicted), the 12-week effects of exercise training on cognition were small (Cohen's d z: −0.063-0.448). One exception was the Rey-O Complex Figure (copy), assessing visuoconstructive abilities, in which larger effects were detected, especially in participants with mild cognitive impairment at baseline (Cohen's d z = 1.122, 95% CI[0.406, 1.809]). Between intervention groups, results were heterogeneous. CTHI was the only group with medium-to-large effects in each cognitive domain. At year 1, gains and losses in cognition were seen across groups. CONCLUSION In COPD, 12 weeks of exercise training led to small changes in cognition, with heterogeneity between exercise protocols and across cognitive domains.


ONE IN six nurses has been bullied at work in the past year, a major survey by the RCN has revealed.


This article reports the results of a two-year study of the development and expression of creativity in Japanese companies and describes the relationship between human resource development (HRD) and corporate creativity. The distinction between individual and corporate creativity is discussed, and a definition of corporate creativity is proposed. The results of this study indicate that HRD policy, and in particular education and training, can influence corporate creativity through the promotion of information movement within the company and the selective acquisition of diverse stimuli. Implications for HRD policy and practice are described.


In order to realize fast location and detection of abnormal status during running of industrial furnace, especially abnormal status of firing, this article studies and designs a fault diagnosis expert system based on fault tree theory. Firstly, formalized definition of industrial furnace fault diagnosis expert system is given in the paper, then all component elements of the expert system are analyzed and designed in detail, finally the principles and methods of design knowledge base are introduced to us by using the fault tree theory, and also reasoning algorithm is put forward, which is used to reason the fault by way of fault tree. The project practice indicates that this system knowledge model has good suitability, and what's more it is used simply and conveniently, also the outcome of fault diagnosis is reliable and steady.


The principle of the fiber diameter measurement through optical deffraction with a CCD camera is introduced and image processing with computer is described in detail.


We analyze Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV with a novel framework based on the dynamical core--corona picture that describes particle productions from both equilibrium and non-equilibrium components. We remark the possibility of the contribution from non-equilibrium components at very low transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) region and show that such contributions significantly affect $p_{T}$-integrated four-particle cumulants. These results strongly suggest the necessity of non-equilibrium components when one extracts properties of the quark-gluon plasma from experimental data using sophisticated dynamical models based on relativistic hydrodynamics.


A B S T R A C T The effects of various carbonization parameters on the COD reduction of Rhodamine B dye aqueous solutions using carbonized Elaeis guineensis frond fiber (EGFF) chars have been studied experimentally. The adsorbent with the particle size of <45 µm has been carbonized at temperature from 500-900 o C with carbonization duration of 1-3 h at a heating rate of 10-30 o C/min and nitrogen gas flow rate of 100-500 cm 3 /min. Carbonization temperature, carbonization duration, heating rate and nitrogen gas flow rate were significantly affecting the carbonization process. Statistical analysisresponse surface methodology (RSM)- face centered composite design (FCCD) was used to obtain the optimal carbonization conditions. The optimum condition for carbonization of EGFF was obtained at carbonization temperature of 899 o C, carbonization duration of 2.7 h, heating rate of 10 o C/min, and nitrogen flow rate of 243 cm3/min with 98.88 % of COD reduction of Rhodamine B


The pulsations and translations of cavitation bubbles obey combined ordinary differential equations, and their nonlinearities are studied by the bifurcation diagram and the phase diagram in a strong ultrasonic field. Bubble pulsation can change regularly or irregularly with changing driving pressure in the time domain. The bifurcation diagrams of the pulsation versus driving pressure show that the pulsations and translations of bubbles have nonlinear characteristics, and the nonlinear translations of bubbles can disorder the pulsations for certain parameters. Disorder of the pulsation can also be caused by nonlinear pulsation itself. In addition, the phase diagrams also show that the nonlinear translations make a large contribution to the pulsations. The same result can also be obtained when the ambient radii of two bubbles are different.


Liquefied natural gas was gelled with two gelants, water and methanol, using a vapor condensation technique. Gelant particle structure analysis, by X-ray diffraction, composition determination and microscopic observation showed that the particles were crystalline clathrate solids with hydrogen bonding between gel particles likely responsible for the observed gel structure. Rheological properties of the gels, derived from their responses to an oscillating shear field, revealed Bingham plastic behavior. Gel yield shear stresses varied from 1 to 100 N/m2 and were dependent upon gelation conditions, increasing both with increasing gelant concentration in the gel and with reduced gelant loading in the carrier gas. LNG gels may offer safety benefits in transporting natural gas. Measurements of LNG gel vaporization from a water surface showed that the gels boiled at rates about one-half those of normal LNG. With rheological data used to predict gel spreading behavior, it was estimated that a typical gel could reduce the maximum distance for flammable mixtures fivefold. Energy requirements for production of LNG gels were estimated. With water as gelant, a gel of yield shear stress 50 N/m2 would require at least 0.073 kg gelant/kg LNG in gel. Production of such a gel by the present vapor condensation process more » would entail boiling off approximately one kg of LNG for every kg of LNG gelled; thus the energy requirement for producing gelled LNG would be double that for production of normal LNG, an increase of 100 percent. « less


Our present information on the gluon polarisation ∆g/g is reviewed. The data from fixedtarget lepton–nucleon experiments are in context with the r ec nt data from the RHIC polarised pp collider. The main tools to study ∆g/g in lepton–nucleon scattering are scaling violations of the g1 structure functions and longitudinal spin asymmetries in h adron production. Results from highpT hadron pairs, inclusive hadrons as well as open-charm produ ction are discussed. At RHIC the most precise data presently came from inclusive π0 and jet production. All data indicate that the gluon polarisation is small compared to earlier expectations, bu t still can make a major contribution to the nucleon spin.


Investigates Chih-i's masterpiece the profound meaning of the Lotus Sutra in an endeavour to unravel his approach to Buddhism and his Buddhist philosophy in religious salvation.


With regard to their historical contexts, both pastoral theology, and Catholic social teaching can be viewed äs sciences of crisis (Krisenwissenschaften). This means that the foundation of these disciplines can be viewed äs a reponse by theology and the church to difficult crises associated with social change. With regard to both of these fields, the increased differentiation of ecclesial and religious praxis in society on the one hand, and the emergence of the so-called "social question" on the other hand, both can be viewed äs crises which brought them into being. In light of the similarity of their origin, it is surprising that both disciplines began to develop a self-conscious relationship only relatively recently. The reasons for this are complex, äs documented in this article. On the whole, however, the historic indifference of these two fields proves to be problematic with regard to the possibilities of ecclesial praxis in the present and future.


Evapotranspiration (ET) from a small area on a grass-covered slope with an inclination of 8.7 degrees was estimated using the bucket-with-a-bottom-hole (BBH) model of soil hydrology. The BBH model has seven parameters, two of which were determined by experiment. The other five parameters were identified by trial and error, based on the decision criterion that the root mean square (RMS) of the difference between the predicted and measured values of soil moisture contained in the active soil surface layer (ASSL) takes a minimum value. Estimates of ET made using the BBH model were compared to the measurements taken using the Bowen ratio method. If the measurements can be regarded as the true values, the results are summarized as follows:  - The estimates of annual ET made using the BBH model are reliable, although they may be somewhat smaller than the true values.  - The estimates of monthly ET made using the BBH model can be used in analyses of water balance if an accuracy of better than ±10% is not required.  - The accuracy of estimating daily ET using the BBH model was about ±60%.  The main characteristics of water balance on the grass-covered slope obtained using the BBH model were summarized as follows:  - Only less than one quarter of precipitation was allotted to ET on the slope.  - Spatial variation in ET within an area several meters in size on the grass-covered slope was shown to be rather large, especially in the summer months. During the winter months, however, it was insignificant. The variation in annual ET among the three observation points within the area was about 20% as great as their mean.


SUMMARY– The phenomenon of concentration polarization operates to reduce the efficiency of solvent-solute separation in the processing of foods by reverse osmosis. The viscous nature of most food concentrates aggravates the problem. Disrupting the boundary layer by mechanically inducing turbulence in the fluid stream improves the permeation efficiency. Flux improvement of up to 3-fold is possible with dynamic turbulence promotion involving plastic spheres moving randomly with the orange juice concentrate. Concentrate (and sphere) movement is pulsed alternately from one end of the membrane flow channel to the other. The spheres are confined within the flow channel to avoid the problem of moving them through the recycling pumps. A net movement of concentrate results when the pump volume is greater in one direction than the other. The permeation rate with dynamic turbulence promotion does not drop off significantly with time. The long-term effects of sphere movement on the membrane surface are not known but are believed not to be serious.


Abstract Sales is a broad and well explored field of research. However, conceptual frameworks for sales planning and management emphasize just one aspect or another and may lack managerial orienta-tion towards an organized group of actions for sales managers. Besides, the industrial sector may ask for new considerations and a deep exploration on aspects that are briefly discussed in general frameworks. This research aims at proposing a framework for industrial sales planning and man-agement and integrates recent sales research advances. The sales organizations of three firms were closely followed and documented during two years and the critical aspects on sales faced by them were contrasted to the existing sales literature and classical sales management frameworks. A se-quence of actions is proposed linked to the theoretical foundations used in the work and to the critical sales aspects showed by the firms. Key words: 1. Introduction Sales is a broad and well explored field of research. Sales literature could be grouped into five main topics. First,


Figure 1. Panel A shows the end of an entrainment run from the RV. From top to bottom: leads I, II, and V1 and recordings from the RA roof, anterior RA from high (A1) to low (A4), septal RA from low (S4) to high (S1), CS from proximal (CS1) to distal (CS5) and right pulmonary artery (RPA). Panel B shows the effect of an RV extrastimulus with proximal (His P) and distal (His D) His-bundle area recordings. The right lower panel shows the approximate location of the atrial recording catheters. Case Report A 48-year-old man underwent aortic and mitral valve replacement in 1986 for rheumatic valve disease. In 2004 reoperation was needed for prosthetic thrombosis and a transeptal incision was made to access the left atrium. Before reoperation he had episodes of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation but after the new procedure palpitations were


A horizontal N -dimensional plane, having a diffusion of its own, exchanges with the lower half space. There, a reaction-diffusion process, modelled by a free boundary problem, takes place. We wish to understand whether, and how, the free boundary meets the plane. The origin of this problem is a two-dimensional reaction diffusion model proposed some time ago by the second author, in collaboration with H. Berestycki and L. Rossi, to model how biological invasions can be enhanced by a line of fast diffusion. Some counter-intuitive numerical simulations of this model, due to A.-C. Coulon, have been explained by the first two authors by transforming the model into a free boundary interacting with a line, and a careful study of the free boundary. At this occasion, it was noticed that the free boundary very much like that of the obstacle problem. The goal of the paper is to explain how this analogy with the obstacle problem can be pushed further in higher space dimensions.