Peak spectral intensities emitted by seven types of lightning phenomena, viz., first and subsequent return strokes, stepped and dart leaders, cloud-to-air flashes, intracloud pulses, and M components of return strokes, are reported in five narrow regions of the visible and near-visible spectrum. At 3914 A the peak continuum radiation varies from 300 to 107 watts ster−1 A−1, averaged over a 23-A bandwidth and integrated over the whole source. For the average lightning stroke, the spectral intensities at the other regions studied, relative to that near 3914 A, are: 0.95 at 4140 A (continuum), 2.1 at 6563 A (Hα plus continuum), 4.8 at 8220 A (NI[2] plus continuum), and 0.7 at 8900 A (continuum).

Return strokes are usually the most intense lightning phenomena but can vary in intensity by a factor of 1000 from storm to storm and by a factor of 50 within one flash. The most intense return strokes appear to have the highest radiating temperature. Stepped and dart leaders are a factor of 20 to 100 less intense than their return strokes, but the leaders and return strokes have similar spectra. Pulses originating within clouds vary in intensity from the weakest pulses observed to ∼105 watts ster−1 A−1 near 3914 A and are substantially stronger in the near-infrared channels, relative to the 3914-A channel, than the average stroke. M-component brightenings of return-stroke channels are of lower excitation than typical return strokes but are otherwise similar to them. There is no indication in any of these strokes of the strong N2+ 1N (3914 A) radiation present in some slit spectrograms in the literature.


In the signal integrity industry, S-parameters have become the most commonly distributed models for simulating passive components. Because S-parameters are frequency-domain values, many signal integrity engineers are finding it difficult to accurately implement these parameters in time-domain simulations. Addressing transient convolution specifically, this paper shows the need for a new impulse response model and proposes a methodology for its inclusion in time-domain simulations. The paper also solves another difficult problem by presenting a new technique for converting band-limited S-parameters into 'base-delay' causal and passive impulse response models that preserve accuracy to the maximum frequency of the original S-parameters. Fangyi Rao received his Ph.D. degree in physics from Northwestern University in 1997, for research in quantum theory of magnetism and transport. He joined Agilent EEsof in 2006 as a Senior Development Engineer, where he works on Analog/RF simulation technology in ADS and RFDE. From 2003 to 2006 he was with Cadence Design Systems, where he made key contributions to the company's Flexible Balance technology and perturbation analysis of nonlinear circuits. Prior to 2003 he worked in the areas of EM simulation, nonlinear device modeling, and optimization. Design group of Tyco Electronics as a signal integrity engineer, specializing in the analysis & design of high-speed, high-density components. Currently, he is a Member of Technical Staff with Tyco Electronics, where he focuses on high-frequency measurement & characterization of components & materials, full-wave electromagnetic modeling of high-speed interconnects, and the simulation of digital systems. Mr. Morgan's responsibilities at Tyco Electronics include numerous research activities, and he has presented multiple papers at both DesignCon & IMS. Sanjeev Gupta, the Signal Integrity Applications Expert in the EEsof EDA Division of Agilent Technologies, has over eighteen years of experience in high frequency design and simulation. Before joining Hewlett Packard, he worked as a high frequency design engineer/scientist at the Defense Research and Development Organization in India. His background includes the design and development of 100 MHz to 100 GHz active and passive circuits for a wide variety of applications. His most recent activity is focused on influencing the Signal Integrity Design Flow in ADS. He received a Master's Degree in Microwave Engineering from the University of Delhi, India in 1988. Sanjeev was awarded the Hewlett Packard President's Award in 1998 for his contributions to the company. of Simulation Technology, where he made several key contributions to the company's harmonic balance technology, oscillator analysis, and phase noise simulation.


Refugee families who move to a new country have a series of needs that have an impact on their well-being and adaptation process in the new community. Their main needs are easy accessibility to health services, access to education where appropriate, improvement of their socioeconomic position, access to their own social networks as well as those of the new community along with enabling of the acculturation processes. These needs are interrelated and interact with each other. A factor that impacts on these needs is the financial status of the individual as well as the economic state of the new country. This chapter initially discusses the global financial crisis as an economic factor that has an effect on refugees' living conditions and subsequently considers the needs refugees have, and obstacles that they face in a new country.


Information is presented on marriages, births, deaths, and life expectancy in Germany in 1993. Comparisons are made between the former East and West Germany, and some data for earlier years are also provided.


Purpose: This clinical study was carried out with the aim of investigating whether Hatha Yoga (HY) training affects aerobic and anaerobic power in healthy young adults. Material and method: 33 sedentary, healthy, young adult subjects, aged 18 to 26 were divided into two groups according to age, sex and activity levels. 10 female and 7 male (mean 20.06 +/2.41 years, range 18-26 years) young adults were trained with Hatha Yoga (HYG). The aerobic exercise group (AEG) consisted of 9 female and 7 male (mean 19.75 +/1.81 years, range 18-26 years) young adults who performed aerobic type strength and stretch exercises of at least 60% maximal heart rate or higher. Both training programs were given by a supervisor, one hour per day, four days per week, for six weeks. Subjects in both groups were assessed by Cooper's 12 minutes running test for cardiovascular endurance and vertical jump test for anaerobic power before and after training. Results: Aerobic and anaerobic power increased by 9.8%, 5.5% following HY and by 6.6%, 2.3% following aerobic training respectively. A significant increase was found in aerobic power and anaerobic power (p < 0.001) in HYG. There was a significant increase in aerobic power (p < 0.01) in AEG, while anaerobic power of subjects in AEG were consistently higher compared to that of before training, statistically the difference was not significant (p > 0.05). Although there was no substantial differences between the groups concerning cardiovascular endurance (p > 0.05), anaerobic power was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the HYG. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that HY training has positive effects on cardiovascular aerobic and anaerobic power. Therefore HY could be an exercise option for enhancing aerobic and anaerobic power in young adults. Balayogi Bhavanani, Ananda. Yoga compared to sports [exercise]. Yoga Life, Dec 2001, 32(12):10. Bera, T. K. Physical exercise, yoga practices and aging brain. Research Journal of Sports Medicine and Biomechanics, 1988, 1(1):11-14. ___________. Muscular activity in yoga and physical exercise. Research Bi-Annual for Movement, 1993, 10(1):53-56. Bhole, M. V. Yoga and promotion of primary health care. Yoga-Mimamsa, 1983, 22(1&2):80-83. "Various exercises, games, sports and even physio-therapy, occupational therapy and various techniques based on biofeedback system mainly work through the motor cortex making person to 'DO' an action as per his decision. On the other hand, most of the yoga techniques seem to work through the sensory cortex and the neuro-vegetative system and the person is advised to 'FEEL' and 'OBSERVE' various happenings and how these


According to the mean-square deviation corresponding to every pixel and the pixels around the pixel in the image, we propose the adaptive algorithm for real-time image enhancement aiming at the limitation of the conventional Unsharp Masking and analyse the way for realizing the algorithm by hardware. Then contradistinctive experimental results are given of the algorithm and other algorithms for image enhancement. At last we verity the proposed algorithm by FPGA(field programmable gate array). The results show that we can enhance detail regions of image to the greatest extent, avoid excessive overshoot in edge regions, and minimize the degree of enhancement in uniform regions. A pleasant result is achieved by using the proposed algorithm. Furthermore, it can be realized simply by hardware. Accordingly, we can enhance image effectively to satisfy real-time demand.


A process for microscopic measurement of a sample (250), in particular by depth-resolved phase measurements of scattering or multi-layered samples (250), in particular with a measurement device (200) for optical coherence tomography, wherein the sample (250) with light (21) a light source (20) is illuminated, wherein said modified by the sample (250) light (23) with reference light (22) to a light sensor (10) is brought into interference, the resulting light signal from the light sensor (10) into a measurement signal (11) is converted, and a depth-resolved interference signal (30) is determined by recording and processing the measurement signal (11), wherein the depth-resolved interference signal (30) of a wavelength of the light (21) and a total depth region (30.2) is associated with the depth-resolved interference signal (30), and wherein that interference of light (23) is suppressed from other depths or regions of the sample (250) or mainly prevented, the measurement signal (11) processed in such a manner or recorded, characterized, that from the depth-resolved interference signal (30) phase images (42) are determined such that the determined phase images (42) of the depth-resolved interference signal (30) can be associated with respective different wavelengths of light (21) and a selected depth range (30.1), wherein the selected depth region (30.1) is located within the entire depth region (30.2) and has a smaller extension than the entire depth range (30.2), and an unpacked phase image (50) is produced in that at least two of the determined phase images (42) are compared.


Objective: To analyze the clinical onset rule of cerebrovascular accident resulting from acute alcoholism and to explore the experience of pre-hospital care. Method: The clinical data of 21 patients with cerebrovascular accident resulting from acute alcoholism from Aug,2006 to Aug,2007 were analyzed retrospectively. Results: 5 cases were nearly recovery,8 cases were obviously improvement,4 cases were improvement,and 5 cases were dyed of circulatory failure and respiratory failure. Conclusions: Acute alcoholism is one of the high risk factors of cerebrovascular accident,and the rate of misdiagnosis,missed diagnosis and mortality are high.


Simple Summary Between May 2018 and December 2020, three orangutans (P. p. pygmaeus and P. p. abelii) were housed at a holding facility (Veterinary Medical Center, VMC) during an extensive period of construction of a new primate habitat at the Oregon Zoo. Over 1400 fecal samples were collected and analyzed to quantify adrenal responses of orangutans while housed in the VMC holding area versus their original habitat (Red Ape Reserve, RAR). Using a previously validated corticosterone enzyme-immunoassay (CJM006), fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGM) concentrations were monitored to track adrenal activity across three time periods: the initial housing at the RAR (RAR1), temporary housing at the VMC (VMC), and the return to RAR (RAR2). The results showed significantly elevated fGM concentrations in samples collected at the VMC when compared to RAR2 for orangutans "B40236" and "1149"; and when compared to RAR1 for orangutan "1149". However, the actual transfers between the different types of housing did not result in a significantly elevated fGM peak for any orangutan. This finding may provide some indication that intensive pre-transfer training by animal care staff potentially helped to alleviate stress responses to intra-institutional transfers. Overall, our study highlights the importance of monitoring intra-institutional transfers and responses to temporary housing with the same scrutiny that is increasingly being applied to inter-institutional transfers in order to identify best practices and response. Abstract Considerable research has been conducted on the effects of inter-institutional transfers, but far less consideration has been given to intra-institutional transfers and extended housing in off-habitat holding. On 15 May 2018, The Oregon Zoo's orangutans (n = 3) were moved from the Red Ape Reserve (RAR) to the Veterinary Medical Center (VMC) indoor holding areas and remained there until 22 December 2020, resulting in over two years of housing in a facility not specifically designed for orangutans. This study aimed to quantify potential changes in fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGM) typically associated with increased adrenal activity as a result of transfers, as well as potential differences in fGM concentrations associated with housing in the two different types of locations. We collected fecal samples from all orangutans during three time periods: the initial housing at RAR (RAR1), the time spent at VMC holding (VMC), and the return to RAR (RAR2). Samples were analyzed using enzyme-immunoassay (EIA) analyses and compared using two-way ANOVA tests with Games–Howell post-hoc evaluations. The results of our analyses showed the following: (1) significant differences in fGM concentrations based on location in two orangutans, with the highest fGM concentration occurring in fecal samples collected at the VMC; and (2) a lack of significant fGM peaks following multiple intra-institutional transfers for all three orangutans. Though requiring further corroboration through future studies, we speculated that pre-transfer behavior training and intensive, continued care by familiar animal care staff may have helped to mitigate the stress responses commonly associated with transfers and major changes in housing. Furthermore, this study highlights the individualistic nature of the stress response, as illustrated by the substantial variation in fGM concentrations across different housing regimens in the three orangutans.


This article presents an account of how contested spaces: shared places have played out in the South African education context by tracing how the historical, political, social and educational contexts of South Africa created and determined shared places. The article draws on findings from a range of research projects that I conducted over the past 15 years and that utilised the meta-theoretical framework of social constructivism and the methodological framework of qualitative case studies, narrative inquiry and portraiture. Findings from this collection of research studies reveal that the creation and evolution of shared spaces though activated by political, social and educational policy intent that was good and at times exceptional, 'knowledge in the blood' coupled with a passion for power witnessed policy in action transform these shared spaces into largely contested spaces. Intriguingly, within these spaces sparks of 'goodness' emerged that hold promise for a brighter future.


Network services must self-adapt dynamically in order to accommodate available resources, system errors, and changing requirements. This need for self-reliance will increase with the growing flexibility and heterogeneity that characterizes such network technologies as sensor (ad hoc) networking, grid computing, and pervasive computing. The downside of traditional distributed network management techniques is that they do not take into account the design of each individual network node. We propose a bottom-up approach, i.e. providing a solid and adaptable architecture at the core of each network node, and on top of it a coordination and management platform that exploits the underlying flexibility. This paper proposes a node-architecture for decentralized cooperative management, structured as three clearly separated planes: (1) a communication plane that is designed with adaptability in mind, (2) a coordination plane that enables individual nodes to cooperate, and (3) a management plane that monitors the communication plane and adapts it when necessary.


Australia produces a combined production of 24.3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG of which the North West Shelf (NWS) provides 16.3 mtpa, Darwin LNG 3.7 mtpa and Pluto LNG 4.3 mtpa. This figure is set to rise by 25.3 mtpa once Queensland's three new LNG export facilities become fully operational, providing over 5% of global supply and making Queensland the sixth-largest producing region worldwide ahead of Russia.


In the article the issue of mechanisms, which determine correlation of power/might and threat perception, is under discussion through the context of the theory of state image. The author argues that threat perception is connected not only with the absolute indicators of might and power, but with its dynamic features which are revealed in the result of comparison of political values and status positions, reflected in the mutual images of states. In particular, perception of threat is based on the value differences and divergence of the principles of functioning of political institutions of interacting states. Besides, the subject comes to the conclusion about the existence of threat if the state performs actions, which result in strengthening its position on the international arena and/or weakening status of its interaction partner.


Language is a kind of important and special social resource,and belongs to the category of soft resource.Language resource outlook advocates taking language as resource on the basis of looking language as tool.Language resource outlook has significance for language theory research.Under the guidance of language resource outlook,the research object of language theory is extensive,scope extends,field of vision is wide,language theory suits for integral research and interface research among language factors.


This article shows differences,defects and advantages between Chinese students' uniforms from uniform's fashion,choices of materials,integrity of cloths,school's attitude's toward students' uniform,then give some beneficial suggestions to development of Chinese students' uniform.


The Rüstem Pasha Caravanserai in Edirne and its kiosk masjid have an important place among the Ottoman period staging-post structures, with the kiosk masjid constituting the subject of this study. Rüstem Pasha Caravanserai is located in Edirne's city center and was built by Mimar Sinan in 1560-61 by order of the Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha. The building consists of two parts, with a large courtyard and a small courtyard, and is considered the most advanced example of a two-story caravanserais. The middle of the large courtyard in the caravanserai, was known to have had a kiosk masjid on top of the shadirvan. This kiosk masjid no longer exists, having been destroyed during the Ottoman-Russian War of 1877-1878. The building, has yet to be adequately studied, and a drawing of the building in the Süheyl Ünver archive and dating from 1830 states the building


Uma Lengge is a traditional house of Bima tribe located at Maria Village, Sumbawa Island, West Nusa Tenggara, with main raw material consisting of species of woods, bamboos and reeds. As one of the cultural heritage in West Nusa Tenggara, a study that support the  cultural preservation efforts is needed, including the preservation on plants used in its construction. This ethnobotanical research aims to reveal the local wisdom and other ethnobotanical aspects contained in Uma Lengge architecture. This descriptive exploratory research applied qualitative and quantitative ethnobotanical research methods based on data collection carried out through observation, interviews and documentation. Informants selection used purposive sampling and snowball sampling method. Qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed descriptively based on the observations, interviews, and calculations of Reported Use (RU) and Index of Cultural Significance (ICS). The result showed that local wisdom contained in Uma Lengge architecture is still applied by the local people from generation to generation in term of plants utilisation in Uma Lengge construction, ancient habits, customs, and the preservation of annual traditions or rituals that have good values to be passed on. There are 11 species used as materials in Uma Lengge constuction, namely Bambusa vulgaris , Artocarpus heterophyllus , Dalbergia latifolia , Tectona grandis , Areca catechu , Gossampinus malabarica , Imperata cylindrica , Ficus benjamina , Cocos nucifera , Gigantochloa apus and Swietenia macrophylla . Plant utilisation in Uma Lengge is used in 10 categories: poles, floors, beams, sloofs, roofs, unifiers, rodent insulation boards, wind breakers, stairs and fences. Conservation efforts for species involved in Uma Lengge construction need to be done, especially for species with limited availability. It is recommended that this cultural site should get more attention and efforts to preserve the cultural heritage along with all local wisdom related to plants and environmental utilisation contained in it.


The synergy current drive by combining electron cyclotron wave(ECW) with lower hybrid wave(LHW) can be used to either increase the noninductive current drive efficiency or shape the plasma current profile.In this paper,the synergy current drive by ECW and LHW is studied with numerical simulation.The nonlinear relationship between the wave powers and the synergy current of ECW and LHW is revealed.When the LHW power is small,the synergy current reduces as the ECW power increases,and the synergy current is even reduced to lower than zero,which is referred as negative synergy in the this context.Research shows that the mechanism of the negative synergy is the peaking effect of LHW power profile and the trapped electrons effect.The present research is helpful for understanding the physics of synergy between electron cyclotron current drive and lower hybrid current drive,it can also instruct the design of experiments.


LITERATURE REVIEWS are an important preliminary step towards a research project or dissertation, as well as being an important source of information in their own right. But despite their value, literature reviews often present a major challenge to students at undergraduate and postgraduate level.


The effects of repair, motion, and the integrity of the secondary ligamentous restraints on healing of the medial collateral ligament were studied in a rat model. Healing was assessed by measuring ligamentous laxity and tensile strength. All healing ligaments were weaker and more lax than their controls. Repair did not have a statistically significant effect on the laxity or the strength of the medial collateral ligament. Allowing active motion had a statistically significant beneficial effect on the strength of the medial collateral ligament. Stability was adversely affected by active motion if the secondary restraints had been transected; however, when the secondary ligamentous restraints were intact, active motion was beneficial and immobilization was harmful. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Individuals who treat injured knees should be aware that most previously reported laboratory studies have used models in which the secondary restraints were intact. This study provides supporting evidence that treating an isolated injury of the medial collateral ligament with active motion, without an operation, is beneficial. A more severe injury, with damage to the secondary restraints, may require immobilization to prevent reinjury during the healing process. The effects of repair on ligamentous healing have been studied in animal models by many investigators. Clayton et al. and O'Donoghue et al. demonstrated biomechanical superionity of repair in immobilized medial collateral ligaments. Jack thought that in unrepaired ligaments the surrounding areolar tissue prevented the retracted torn ends of the ligament from making contact. Work by Korkala et al. with the scanning electron microscope showed that sungically repaired ligaments have a microstructune that is similar to that of controls, while unsutured ligaments have a variable appearance (extensive scar tissue). Frank et al. noted the formation of scar tissue in unrepaired medial collateral ligaments. These ligaments were biochemically different from and biomechanically weaker than normal ligaments even forty weeks after rupture. * No benefits in any form have been received or will be received from a commercial party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article. Funds were received in total or partial support of the research or clinical study presented in this article. The funding source was a grant from the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation. t Burnett-Womack Clinical Sciences Building, 229H, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514. Several workers have noted the benefits of physical activity and, conversely, the deleterious effects of inactivity on uninjured ligaments8"'2. With delayed mobilization, recovery is slow and only partial8'2. However, the effects of physical activity on injured ligaments are not as clear. Clayton et al. noted no appreciable difference in tensile strength or ligamentous laxity when comparing sutured and unsutuned canine medial collateral ligaments after mobilization. On the other hand, Woo et al. found that canine transected medial collateral ligaments were stronger and less lax after early mobilization than after immobilization'4. They also found that early motion decreased laxity, even when comparing repaired immobilized ligaments with unrepaired mobilized ligaments. These investigators did not consider the effect of the secondary stabilizers of the knee. Intact secondary stabilizing ligaments in an experimental animal in which the medial collateral ligament has been surgically transected may allow active motion without danger to the repair. In the clinical situation, frequently the secondary stabilizers are damaged, creating an unstable knee. In this instance, immobilization may be necessary to prevent displacement that would be sufficient to pull out sutures and produce additional damage. Therefore, it was the purpose of this study to investigate, in an animal model, the following hypotheses: (1) experimentally transected ligaments that are treated by primary repair are biomechanically stronger and have less ligamentous laxity compared with transected ligaments that are treated non-operatively, (2) experimentally transected hgaments that are treated with active motion are biomechanically stronger and have less higamentous laxity compared with those that are treated with immobilization, and (3) the secondary stabilizing ligaments must be intact for treatment by active motion to be successful. Materials and Methods For the purposes of this study, the secondary stabilizers of the medial collateral ligament in the rat were defined as structures other than the medial collateral ligament that resist valgus stress. In order to determine what structure or structunes in the knee of the rat constitute secondary stabilizers of the medial collateral ligament, the following preliminary study was initiated. Six hindhimbs from the cadavera of three male Sprague-Dawley rats (weight, 400 to 600 grams) were dissected. A constant valgus load of 0.3 newton was applied to the distal end of the tibia, four centimeters distal to the origin of the medial collateral ligament (producing a 0.0 12-


ABSTRACT This experiment was conducted to study the effectiveness of different preservative solutions on vase life and quality of angelica cut inflorescences cv. Single. The concentrations of citric acid at 100, 200 and 300 mg L-1, sucrose at 3% and 4% and H2O2 at 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3% were used as preservatives, while distilled water was used as control. The single factor experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. Citric acid and H2O2 solutions effectively inhibited bacterial growth-related blockage in the vascular tissues, but had adverse effects on the vase life. The inflorescences stored in sucrose (3% and 4%) solutions remained fresh up to 10 days after preservation (DAP), maintaining good solution uptake, controlling transpiration loss and gaining higher relative fresh weight. Different quality parameters like floret diameter and number of opened florets were also significantly higher in inflorescences preserved in sucrose (3% and 4%) solution, followed by control, citric acid and H2O2, respectively, in different DAP. Overall, the inflorescence of cut tuberose preserved in sucrose, particularly at 4% solutions, showed better postharvest quality than other preservatives and maximum vase life.


The technical systems that compete for drivers' attention in cars and trucks are increasing both in numbers and complexity. This may not be a problem on a straight and sound highway but definitely decreases the focus on the actual driving and if something unexpected was to happen there could be dangerous consequences, due to too much distraction and information overload. The purpose of the project was to develop a system to present only relevant and desired information to drivers of trucks and busses in critical traffic situations, for the Swedish truck manufacturer Scania. This will enable the driver to focus more on the driving thus creating a safer and more comfortable driving situation. On one hand the system had to detect what type of traffic situation the truck is in. On the other hand it had to determine what type of information would be suitable for the driver in that situation. With a literature study, statistics, interviews and the authors' judgments as a basis the project first identified a number of tasks (like phone calls and occurring warnings) that can take place in the cab of a truck and then assess how much they respectively would raise the workload of the driver. The same was done for a number of common traffic situations that were considered as critical and demanded more attention than just driving straight ahead. All these tasks and situations were graded on how much they would raise the load on the senses most used in a driving situation: visual, auditory, motor and cognitive. Matrices were made cross-referencing the tasks and situations with the grades on each modality and was used as the basis for the three concepts for the system that was developed. The concepts called Jigsaw, Fever and Three's a crowd were evaluated in a workshop at Scania and the first two were realized in the form of prototypes which were made in the software GUIDE. The logic was made up of state machines and Boolean operators and if- and while-conditions.


SASC - The State of the Art of Stream Ciphers, October 14-15, Brugge, Belgium : Special Workshop hosted by the ECRYPT Network of Excellence


Previous experiments with high-performance Java were initially disappointing. After several years of optimization, this paper investigates the current suitability of such object-oriented middleware for High-Performance and Grid programming. Using a middleware offering high level abstractions (ProActive), we have replaced the standard Java RMI layer with the optimized Ibis RMI interface. Ibis is a grid programming environment featuring efficient communications. Using a 3D electromagnetic application (an object-oriented time domain finite volume solver for 3D Maxwell equations) we have first conducted benchmarks on single clusters, including comparisons with the same application in Fortran MPI. Finally, Grid experiments have been conducted simultaneously on up to 5 different clusters. Overall, the paper reports extremely promising results. For instance, a speed up of 12 on 16 machines (vs. 13.8 for Fortran), a speedup of 100 on 150 machines on a Grid.


Observed choices in Social Dilemma Games usually take the form of bounded integers. We propose a doubly-truncated count data framework to process such data. We compare this framework to past approaches based on ordered outcomes and truncated continuous densities using Bayesian estimation and model selection techniques. We find that all three frameworks (i) support the presence of unobserved heterogeneity in individual decision-making, and (ii) agree on the ranking of regulatory treatment effects. The count data framework exhibits superior efficiency and produces more informative predictive distributions for outcomes of interest. The continuous framework fails to allocate adequate probability mass to boundary outcomes, which are often of pivotal importance in these games.


Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics and treatment , prognosis in patients with the primary malignant melanoma of vulva and vagina. Methods: The clinical data of 20 patients with primary malignant melanoma of the vulva and vagina admitted to our hospital from June 1976 to March 2006 were analysed retrospectively. Results: The mean age of the patients was 48.5 years,55% of them was post-menopause women,19 of the 20 patients were treated with surgery,and one case only chemotherapy through arteria epigastria inferior. After the operation,2 of the 8 patients with primary malignant melanoma of the vulva were found having inguinal lymph nodes in volvement, 2 of the 12 patients with primary malignant melanoma of the vagina were found having inguinal lymph nodes in volvement and 2 having pelvic lymph nodes in volvement.The 5-year survival rate of vulva malignant melanoma was 25%,and mean survival time was 40.7 months. The 5-year survival rate of vagina malignant melanoma was 16.7%,and mean survival time was 19.7 months. Conclusion: The malignant melanoma of female vulva and vagina is an high malignancy tumor and its prognosis is poor, main therapy is operation.Its prognosis is influenced by clinical stage,tumor site, tumor size,lymph nodes involvement and therapy.The main causes of its poor prognosis arelocal recurrence and early metastasis.


| Edema of gastrointestinal parasitic infestation is very common in food animals. Cattle (n=4 cases) brought to Large Animal Medicine Outpatient Unit of Veterinary College and Research Institute, Orathanadu with history of inappetence, foul smelling diarrhoea and jowl edema were taken for this study. Clinical examination revealed pale pink mucous membrane, jowel edema and malodorous watery diarrhoea with blood clots. Faecal examination revealed eggs of Amphistome spp. (in 3 cases) and Strongyloides spp. (in one case). Haemato-biochemical examination revealed anaemia and hypoproteinemia. No radiographic abnormalities could be seen. Percutaneous thoracoultrasound revealed displaced abomasum, dilated intestinal loops and hepatic vessels in three cases. Malodorous diarrhoea and jowl edema due to helminths infection was confirmed by differentiated from other edema causing diseases of cattle. All the affected animals were treated with oxyclozanide and levamisole at the rate of 5 ml/10 kg bw twice a day along with supportive therapy. Out of four, 03 animals were recovered.


The variation of the eigenvalues and eigenf unctions of an ordinary linear self-adjoint differential operator L is considered under perturbations of the domain of L. The basic problem is denned as a suitable singular eigenvalue problem for L on the open interval ω< s < ω+ and is assumed to have at least one real eigenvalue λ of multiplicity k. The perturbed problem is a regular self-adjoint problem denned for L on a closed subinterval [a, b] of (ω_, ω+). It is proved under suitable conditions on the boundary operators of the perturbed problem that exactly k perturbed eigenvalues μ*δ --»Λ as a,b—> ω-y ω+. Further, asymptotic estimates are obtained for μ*b — λ as a,b—>ω-f ω+. The other results are refinements which lead to asymptotic estimates for the eigenf unctions and variational formulae for the eigenvalues.


Is this Note is studied the relationship between non-existence of global solution of system of particles which behave following Carleman equations, and negativeness of Cauchy Data. We give two complementary results. The first one extends classical results (I. Kolodner, L. Tartar) and states global existence of solutions (for positive values of time) when negativeness at a point of one Cauchy Data is dominated by positiveness of the other Data. The second result uses progressive waves which propagate with a velocity greater than characteristic velocities, in order to construct arbitrarily small Cauchy Data which generate solutions with a blow-up at finite time. For these Cauchy Data, negativeness of one Data is not under control of positiveness of the other Data On examine le lien entre la non-existence globale de solutions de systemes de particules regis par les equations de Carleman et la negativite des donnees de Cauchy. On donne l'existence globale de solutions pour des temps positifs lorsque la negativite en un point d'une donnee de Cauchy est compensee par la positivite de l'autre donnee de Cauchy. On analyse des ondes progressives, se propageant a une vitesse superieure aux vitesses caracteristiques. On conclut a l'existence de solutions correspondant a des donnees de Cauchy arbitrairement petites qui explosent en temps fini: la negativite d'une donnee de Cauchy n'est pas controlee par la positivite de l'autre donnee


In qualifying and analyzing the performance of group interaction, interaction processing analysis (IPA) defined by Bale is considered a useful approach. IPA is a system for labeling a total of 12 interaction categories for the interaction process. Automatic IPA can manually encompass the gap in spending manpower and can efficiently qualify group performance. In this paper, we present computational interaction processing analysis by developing a model to recognize categories of IPA. We extract both verbal features and nonverbal features for IPA category recognition modeling with SVM, RF, DNN and LSTM machine learning algorithms and analyze the contribution of multimodal features and unimodal features for the total data and each label. We also investigate the effect of context information by training sequences with different lengths with an LSTM and evaluating them. The results show that multimodal features achieve the best performance with an F1 score of 0.601 for the recognition of 12 IPA categories using the total data. Multimodal features are better than the unimodal features for the total data and most labels. The results of investigating context information show that a suitable length of sequence enables a longer sequence to achieve the best F1 score of 0.602 and a better performance for recognition.


The early development and growth of Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus larvae are described from laboratory – reared specimens. Fertilized eggs were collected from wild parental fish which were made to hatch inside bamboo tube. The larval length increased from 6.65mm at hatching to 16.50mm at the end of 10-days of endogenous feeding. Two 'critical periods\' associated with high larval mortality were observed on the 3rd – 4th and 7th – 8th days after hatching. These two periods accounted for 46.40% of the total morality rate of 62.22%. A survival rate of 37.78% was recorded. Keywords : Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus , larval development, growth, survival The Zoologist Vol. 6 2008: pp. 27-33


This paper tries to bring out the role of Indian state as an actor in responding to the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) policy with special reference to the two task force reports highlighted in for carrying out this study. Response is here understood as the 'role' played by the Indian state towards putting policy statements into practice. The underlying intent of the theories is the belief that information would be the prime mover in information or knowledge societies. It is strongly believed that ICT will propel India into the league of developed nations. The literature review particularly on technological determinism and social shaping of technology gives us important perspective to explore the objectives of the study. At the same time they raise some important issues and questions: What are the broad objectives of major policies on ICT for development? To what extent policies formulated at the highest decision-making bodies find their way for implementation? Is there a gap between 'Theory' and 'Practice'? To what extent ICT policies influenced different stakeholders in the society? And what kinds of responses have been generated by different policies? The aim focus of this study is on the responses of different stakeholders especially the state with respect to the ICT policies and discourse. This will reveal developmental concern for the overall built environment especially in education, health, energy and transportation systems sectors, but the structure and orientation of ICT policy initiatives, in a large measure are directed towards market-oriented demands of globalisation.


I would like to focus on two issues: capital inflows, which is a very relevant issue for emerging market economies, and the recent agreement of the Basel Committee on Banking Regulation. For this purpose I will start with a brief review of some facts regarding capital inflows. Then I will discuss the policy toolkit to deal with them. I will take a look from a macro perspective and then from the point of view of financial stability. Finally I will make some comments on the Basel agreements, focusing on the Chilean banking system and its financial regulation framework.


Pin-on-plate wear testing of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) was performed in a PEEK-on-PEEK configuration to explore the tribology of this rather uncommon contact configuration. To illustrate its possible application, a total level cervical arthroplasty system was described. Also, it was noted that previous pin-on-plate and simulator studies of this type of material pairing had been conducted. The present study continued the protocol of testing under an adverse loading regime that was originally introduced by Austin et al. to investigate the sensitivity of all-polymer PEEK articulations to previous wear damage. A gravimetric wear assessment protocol was used that avoided vacuum drying. The lower wear of polyacrylonitrile carbon fibre-reinforced PEEK compared with unfilled PEEK, as found by many other studies, was confirmed. PEEK was shown to have remarkably low wear despite previous adverse load testing. The coefficient of friction was found to be quite high (up to 0.5) and this might have clinical implications. Finally, it was noted that the comparison of wear factors and wear amounts from the present study (and other previous studies) with those of the very similar study by Scholes and Unsworth suggested that their laboratory model might be overstating the wear of all-polymer PEEK articulations for potential applications in orthopaedic tribology.


On the first appearance of the aspirator in surgical practice, I felt that by it we had a means of easily and safely treating certain cases of retention of urine; and when I showed it to this Society nearly two years ago, I alluded to such possible uses, in addition to the more evident and familiar advantages it possesses, as a means of diagnosing and treating abscesses and collections of fluid. The literature of the various uses of this instrument is already very extensive. I have notes of cases in English, American, German, French, and even Russian surgery, in which it has been used to diagnose and empty abscesses, cysts, cases of spina bifida, encephalocele, hepatic abscess, hydatid cyst, hernial tumours, urgent distention from flatus, etc. A few cases of its use in retention of urine have also been recorded, but very few j and the one I am now going to read is, so far as 1 can discover, the first in which this instrument has been used for this purpose in Scotland, and one of the very earliest in Britain ; besides, it in itself was a ease of great urgency and difficulty, and consequently of some interest.


Abstract : When the Mk82 ballute retarder system was received from the contractor to be qualified for flight testing, certain areas of analyses usually required had been omitted from the data package. This report details the completed in-house design work and the ground testing necessary to verify the analyses and to qualify the retarder system.


This chapter discusses the current state of the crypto land and argues that stable crypto tokens, which can be viewed as an electronic analogue of cash, can help augment the existing TCP/IP (Transition Control Protocal/Internet Protocol) with a much-needed mechanism in order to bring existing banking and payment systems into the twenty-first century. It describes three existing approaches to designing such tokens—fiat collateralization, cryptocurrency collateralization, and dynamic stabilization—and concludes that only regulatorily compliant fiat-backed tokens are viable in the long run. It also discusses asset-backed cryptocurrencies and argues that in some instances they can provide a much-needed counterpoint for today's fiat currencies, and pave a way forward toward ensuring world-wide financial stability and inclusion.


Objectives To investigate the gender differences of aspirin resistance in patients with coronary artery disease. Methods A total of 312 patients with coronary artery diseases were diagnosed by coronary angiography in Beijing Anzhen Hospital. There were 204 male and 108 female patients. They toke aspirin 75–100 mg per day more than 1 month before they were admitted to the hospital. We used light transmission aggregation to evaluate aspirin resistance with detection of optical platelet aggregation induced by arachidonic acid and adenosine diphosthate. It was divided into aspirin resistance (AR), semi-resistant to aspirin (ASR) and aspirin sensitivity (AS) according to the response of aspirin. We tried to investigate the gender differences and influential factors of aspirin resistance in patients with coronary artery disease. Results Coronary heart disease patients with AR, ASR, AR+ASR and AS followed by the percentage of women were 60.5%, 60.4%, 60.5%, 16.5%. Compared with men, women were more susceptible to AR and ASR. Logistic regression analysis showed that gender and age were significantly associated with AR and ASR. Conclusions AR and ASR occurred easily in female patients with coronary artery disease than male and age was also a risk factor of AR and ASR.


In this paper, an electrically small inverted L‐shaped asymmetric coplanar strip‐fed antenna with a split‐ring resonator structure is proposed for multiband applications. It possesses an extended monopole antenna and a rectangular split‐ring resonator (RSRR) structure. A monopole is responsible for generating the first and last resonance frequencies. Similarly, the RSRR structure produces center frequency (5.5 GHz) among three resonance frequency bands and improves impedance matching at a higher frequency. The antenna has an electrical size of 0.176 λ0 × 0.096 λ0 × 0.012 λ0. The proposed antenna has a triband resonance response at 2.45, 5.5, and 7.5 GHz with a bandwidth of 560 MHz, 680 MHz, and 3 GHz, respectively, which covers WiBro (2.3 GHz), WLAN (2.4/5.2 GHz), WiMAX (2.5/5.5 GHz), X‐band downlink (7.4 GHz), and ITU band (8.5 GHz). The antenna design is simulated and validated with measured results and has better radiation characteristics in all the required frequency bands. The presence of metamaterial property in the proposed RSRR is analyzed. The design is an electrically small antenna, and it has a radian sphere (ka) = 0.64. Further, the proposed antenna performances are compared with the various existing literature.


Anxiety is a strong influence that interferes with the learning process to run well. Zoom cloud meeting is a collaborative, cloud-based videoconferencing service offering features including meetings, group messaging services, and secure recording of sessions. This research implemented a qualitative approach. A case study was applied as a research design. Research data were online classroom observation (non-participants observation) and interviews (semi-structured). The data analysis of this research was transcribing data,  coding, and concluding. The participant of this research was chosen purposively and it is an English teacher and third-grade students in Vocational high. The result from classroom observation determines 5 anxious students' and it showed that the teacher give an impact on anxious students especially when the teacher adds media such as PowerPoint during classroom interaction through Zoom cloud meetings. Base on the result of the interview concluded that Zoom cloud meetings as a platform give students positive impacts to reduce their speaking anxiety in classroom interaction. This study concludes that Zoom cloud meeting makes the students' felt easier and be confident to reduce their anxiety in classroom interaction. For further researchers, it is hoped that they will be able to explore more about the effectiveness of using Zoom cloud meeting to reduce students' speaking anxiety in classroom interaction.    Keywords: Speaking, Anxiety, Zoom Cloud Meeting


In order to improve the prediction accuracy for imbalanced software defect data,a novel method is presented.Firstly,a K-Nearest Neighbour(KNN) algorithm is chosen as a basic classifier.Then Non-negative Matrix Factorization(NMF) algorithm is introduced to mine the imbalanced software defect data for potential characters.Its purpose is to reduce the computational effort while the KNN algorithm processing lots of attributes.Meantime,aim at the problem of NMF easily falling into local-optimal resulted from random initialization,a Fuzzy C-means(FCM) method is used to initialize its basic matrix,thus improving the prediction accuracy.Finally,two case studies are used to validate the method.The experimental results show that the proposed method is effective.


The present work involves the discrete modelling of corrosion induced cracking and its influence on the bond between reinforcement and concrete. A lattice approach is used to describe the mechanical interaction of a corroding reinforcement bar, the surrounding concrete and the interface between steel reinforcement and concrete. The cross-section of the ribbed reinforcement bar is taken to be circular, assuming that the interaction of the ribs of the deformed reinforcement bar and the surrounding concrete is included in a cap-plasticity interface model. The expansion of the corrosion product is represented by an eigenstrain in the lattice elements forming the interface. The lattice modelling approach is applied to the analysis of corrosion induced cracking and its influence of the bond strength. The model capabilities are assessed by comparing results of analyses with those from unconfined pull-out tests reported in the literature. Future work will investigate the influence of the stiffness of interface elements and the effect of lateral confinement on corrosion induced cracking.


Epitaxial lateral overgrowth of GaN with () facets was realized by metal–organic chemical vapour deposition on GaN/sapphire (0001) substrates with an SiO2 stripe mask. After wet etching of the mask, periodic AlGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) were grown on the whole surface. Cross section transmission electron microscopy showed that the average growth rate on the () facet is lower than on the (0001) plane. The concentration of Al of AlGaN/GaN MQWs was higher on the (0001) facet than on the () surface, as measured by secondary ion mass spectrometry and high resolution x-ray diffraction (HR-XRD). Micro-Raman scattering spectroscopy revealed a significant relaxation of compressive stress in the laterally overgrown GaN. Micro-photoluminescence spectra confirmed quantum confinement of electrons in MQWs. The achieved optical quality of MQWs on the () facet is comparable with that on the (0001) plane.


In this study, the sensor using nanostructure was fabricated and the characteristics of the sensor were analyzed for high-sensitivity. Since the nano-structure has a surface-area-to-volume ratio than the film type, much research has been done in the sensor field. The nano-structures were formed by hydrothermal synthesis. Hydrothermal synthesis has the advantages of low-cost, simple manufacturing process, low-temperature growth and large-area growth. In this study, the sensitivity and stability of the sensor were improved by forming the nanostructure on the active layer. In addition, the sensitivity was enhanced by using GZO with excellent thermal stability. ZnO, which is widely used as a sensor, and GZO were fabricated from a film type and a nano-structure type sensor. The sensor confirmed the nano-structure using a scanning electron microscope. The sensitivity was measured by measuring the gas sensing according to the temperature change. From these results, it is expected that a sensor with high-sensitivity can be fabricated by applying nano-structure and GZO.


Executive Summary.Why would an individual or couple who are age 55 or older have a mortgage on their primary residence or second home? Life-cycle financial patterns of behavior suggest that mortgages should be paid-off by this age. The purpose of this study is to examine the option of seniors to finance their primary residence and/or second home and the resulting difference(s), if any, in their asset allocations. Results indicate that the majority of seniors do have a mortgage. Based on probit and regression analyses, respondents are more likely to have a mortgage if they have a higher market value for their primary residence, a home equity line of credit, a second home, are not retired, and/or have a lower level of liquid assets.


According to the characteristic of nonlinearity,uncertainty,time variation,this paper presents high-tech knowledge innovation capacity evaluation index system,and puts forward an improved fuzzy neural network evaluation model combined with particle swarm optimization.This model can combine multiple concurrent time-varying fuzzy neural network algorithm and realize network of learning and accurate reasoning,by evolution preset network connection weights,threshold and compensation parameters with particle swarm optimization.Through simulating application,it has been proved that this model structure and the algorithm are feasible and facilitate for computer implementation,and get the overall convergence speed and generalization ability,convergence precision of superior original learning algorithm.


Creativity is an understudied topic in elementary school mathematics research. Nevertheless, we argue that creativity plays an important role in mathematics, but that more research is needed to understand this relation. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate this relation, specifically between domain-general creativity, domain-specific mathematical creativity, and mathematical ability. Measures for these constructs were administered to 342 Dutch fourth graders. In order to examine the nature of the relation between creativity and mathematics, two competing models were tested, using Structural Equation Modeling. The results indicated that models in which general creativity and mathematical ability both predict mathematical creativity fitted the data better than models in which mathematical and general creativity predict mathematical ability. This study showed that both general creativity and mathematical ability are important to think creatively in mathematics.


A 10 year research programme at Lincoln University, investigating the use of Trichoderma species for biological control of soil-borne diseases of vegetable crops, has resulted in the development of two commercial products. Trichodry(superscript TM) 6S and Trichoflow(superscript TM) 6S based upon Trichoderma hamatum isolate 6SR4, are used to control Sclerotinia lettuce drop disease. The Trichodry 6S product is formulated as a dry flake, which is incorporated into nursery seedling mix and the Trichoflow 6S is a wettable powder which is used as a top-up drench before planting. The treatment stimulates seedling establishment and vigour and protects the developing seedling from Sclerotinia minor infection after transplanting in the field. The second commercial product is Trichopel(superscript TM) Au 52, based upon Trichoderma atroviride isolate C52, which is used to control Sclerotium cepivorum, the causal agent of Allium white rot disease. The product is formulated as a granule and applied into the furrow at planting time. The fungus proliferates in the rhizosphere region and protects the growing seedling from pathogen attack by a combination of nutrient competition, antibiosis and mycoparasitism. The use of Trichopel Au 52 under low to medium disease pressure in Pukekohe, the main vegetable growing region of New Zealand, gave a three fold cost benefit through yield increases in the 2003-2004 season. Current field development work involves the use of a wettable powder formulation of T. atroviride distributed via a T-tape irrigation system to target mid-season applications of the product to the onion roots. Both products perform well under low to moderate disease pressure but, when there is high disease pressure, an integrated programme is required to give satisfactory control. Current research is focused on gaining a greater understanding of the biotic and abiotic factors, which influence biocontrol activity under field conditions as a means to enhance integrated control approaches. For example, T. atroviride C52, when applied to the planting furrow, is compatible with procymidone, benomyl and captan but not thiram when applied as onion seed treatments. It is also compatible with the majority of other fungicides applied to the onion crop to protect against foliar diseases such as Botrytis and downy mildew. The product can be integrated with the use of the germination stimulant diallyl disulphide (DADS) as long as the Trichoderma product is applied at least two weeks after DADS application. The product is not compatible with the use of nitrogen fertilisers due to the sensitivity of the Trichoderma mycelium to high N, thus, care must be taken to separate fertilizer application from that of the biocontrol product Expansion of the range of crop diseases targeted by the biocontrol products is currently under investigation with promising results obtained against a number of Botrytis diseases.


It discloses a process for the preparation of the active ingredient coated with a silicon-containing polymeric structure / encapsulated. The method has the steps of: providing an insoluble active ingredient; dispersing the active ingredient in a liquid medium to form a suspension of the active ingredient; adding a silicon-containing polymeric structure of the precursor to the suspension; and enabling the reaction to form the precursor-containing silicon polymeric structure. The silicon-containing polymeric structure is formed in the periphery of the active ingredient, the active ingredient thereby forming a polymeric structure containing silicon coated / encapsulated. The silicon-containing polymeric structure coated / encapsulated active ingredient itself may be used instead of the active ingredient used.


Abstract– In control rats and in rats rendered epileptic by insertion of cobalt slivers into the cerebral cortex, total free fatty acids, free cholesterol, esterified cholesterol, triglycerides and phospholipids were measured in normal and lesion areas of cerebral cortex. The cortical lipid profile of the adult rat resembled that of the whole brain of very young rats rather than that of adult whole brain, with the principal differences from whole adult brain being lower total lipid content, increased proportions of phosphatidyl choline in the phospholipid fraction, and higher levels of cholesterol esters. Cobalt‐induced epilepsy was associated with significant changes in cerebral cortical lipids in the area of the lesion and in the non‐necrotic tissue adjacent to the lesion. The total lipid in the area of the lesion decreased sharply as a result of reductions in free cholesterol and total phospholipids. The levels of cholesterol esters and triglycerides increased in the area of the lesion, and cholesterol esters were also increased in the adjacent tissue. In addition there were decreases in the proportion of phosphatidyl ethanolamine in the phospholipids from the lesion site and adjacent tissue and decreases in the proportions of oleic, arachidonic and nervonic acids (unsaturated acids), and an increase in the proportions of lignoceric acid in the phospholipids. In the site of the lesion only, we observed a decrease in phospholipid palmitic acid and an appreciable increase in the proportions of an unidentified long‐chained fatty acid.


This study examined the predictive validity of the Graduate Record Examinations Aptitude Test, Verbal and Quantitative scores (GREV and GREQ) and undergraduate grade-point average (UGPA). Criterion variables consisted of graduate grade-point average (GGPA), the Master's Comprehensive Examination scores (MCE), and grades in individual required courses. Subjects were 91 students enrolled in the Department of Educational Psychology Master's degree program at a large metropolitan university. G REV correlated .31 with GGPA, but failed to correlate significantly with any other criterion. GREQ correlated .45 and .59 with grades in two research methods courses, but failed to correlate with any other criterion. UGPA was not significantly related to any of the criteria. These somewhat atypical findings stress the need for local validation of graduate admissions measures.


National Research Center of the Helmholtz Association • 3 sites within the Ammer catchment, 30 km north-south distance (Terrestrial Environmental Observatories network (TERENO) Fendt: plateau (130 m agl) to the west Rottenbuch: surrounded by gentle hills Graswang: surrounded by mountains (1000 m above ground level (agl) Variability of the mixed layer height derived by ceilometer measurements in the Bavarian pre-Alps


One MIHF is obtainable events on the other MIHF, or provides a mechanism or technique that allows to obtain a found type of information (for the information service), the event. This mechanism, the MIHF is it possible one instance of the event MIHF issued to support (push model), as a result, it makes it possible to report to the other instance of the MIHF (e.g., the first is present in the terminal, the second one in the network). Furthermore, this mechanism is one instance of the MIHF is a specific event MIHF (e.g., first one is present in the network, the second one is present in the terminal) supported by the other instances of to request whether or not to have it possible to (pull model) it, or make it possible to request all the events of the supported list. In particular, the mechanism is one of the media independent handoff function (MIHF) is provided with a way to discover the type of acquisition possible events or information in other MIHF, the method, specific event, event list of any of certain methods or combinations thereof, makes it possible to request whether it is supported by the other MIHF. The method the one MIHF is it possible to retrieve a specific event, or makes it possible to receive the type of list or information about the event.


The conviction that Howard Davis had for using knowledge as a tool is well known. Equally important was his interest in encouraging others who shared this conviction to study and apply knowledge in the human services areas. As one who participated in the active exchange of research and ideas, I realize increasingly the benefits from that encouragement. The research reported here, use of knowledge by mental health consultants, reflects his interest both in expanding our knowledge, and in using it. In his research on knowledge use, and in his teaching others the importance of using knowledge, Howard Davis made a lasting impact.


OUTPUT FEEDBACK CONTROL IN THE PRESENCE OF UNCERTAINTIES: USING EXTENDED HIGH-GAIN OBSERVERS WITH DYNAMIC INVERSION By Joonho Lee Control design for uncertain nonlinear systems is an important issue. Uncertainties always reside in nonlinear systems due to incomplete mathematical model description or intended approximation factors in system models, e.g. linearization for system models. Furthermore, unexpected external disturbances and unmeasured system states increase the uncertainties in the systems. In this dissertation, we consider an uncertain nonlinear systems that takes the form of a chain of integrators and introduce control design methodologies based on output feedback control: using extended high-gain observers and dynamic inversion. The proposed output feedback controller results in a closed-loop system with a threetime-scale structure; an extended high-gain observer estimates unmeasured states and uncertainties in the fastest time scale and dynamic inversion is used to deal with nonaffine control inputs or input uncertainties in the intermediate time scale whereas the plant dynamics evolves in the slowest time scale. The dynamic inversion algorithm, based on sector conditions, results in fast convergence into inputs under state feedback control. Together with the extended high-gain observer, dynamic inversion results in performance recovery of a target system. The time-scale-separation approach is well-suited to underactuated mechanical systems to overcome the lack of the number of inputs. Since the time separation is created between subsystems in plant dynamics, subsystem dynamics are viewed as virtual inputs for the other subsystems. In this dissertation, we apply the time-scale separation strategy to two examples of underactuated mechanical systems in the presence of uncertainties, the inverted pendulum on a cart and the autonomous helicopter.


In this article,the author shows two kind of soft ground teatment methods,and compares the two kind of methods from the theoritical analysis and monitor result after the soft ground,gains a kind of scientific,feasible and effctive treatment method.


Salmonella species have shown a great ability to adhere to solid surfaces and form biofilms. These may serve as pathogens reservoirs enhancing the risk of public health issues. In nature, biofilms are not usually formed by a single-species and the presence of other organisms may affect Salmonella population dynamics on surfaces. In this study, the Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis ability to adhere to different surfaces when in pure culture or co-cultured with Escherichia coli, was investigated.


Partial discharge (PD) occurring inside a bus duct would emit electromagnetic (EM) wave in wide frequency that propagates and leaks to the outside, and it also excites the surface current on the metal wall of the duct. It would produce a transient earth voltage (TEV) as a result of current and impedance of the material. Simulation is performed with a bus duct model to study the characteristics of the surface current giving rise to TEV signal by Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method. Simulation results reveal that the surface current is influenced by PD source magnitude and frequency, sensor location, bus duct structure, equipment inside, and the opening part for the EM wave leaking out. We can estimate the PD location by using multiple observation points as TEV sensor.


This paper examines and summarizes rules, guidelines and methods for how an e-commerce site should be designed, which elements it should contain and where these should be placed. Our approach consi ...


Summary Structures of rail vehicles are designed for a useful structural life of 30 years. However, structural problems which reduce the mechanical performance of the structure might appear due to normal operation conditions and, in some cases, make it unsuitable for a safe operation. This document presents the structural diagnosis of a metro system and the method for the redesign of structural elements of rail vehicles that was derived from this diagnosis, so that the structural performance of both the element and the whole structure is improved. It is based on the European standards related with aluminium and railway applications, and considers the necessary aspects to produce a safe solution for the final design.


Purpose: The aim of this study is to formulate and evaluate pulsatile tablet in capsule device of Amlodipine and Olmesartan by using Eudragit RL100 and Eudragit RS100 polymers. Method: In this present investigation, we prepared Amlodipine immediate release blends (formulation code A1, A2 and A3) and Olmesartan coated tablet by Eudragit RL and Eudragit RS (formulation code F1, F2 and F3). Then Olmesartan coated tablets and Amlodipine immediate release blend were incorporated in hard gelatin capsule size "1" simultaneously. Finally, capsules were evaluated to obtain suitable results.


We present the stellar mass–[Fe/H] and mass–[Mg/H] relation of quiescent galaxies in two galaxy clusters at z ∼ 0.39 and z ∼ 0.54. We derive the age, [Fe/H], and [Mg/Fe] for each individual galaxy using a full-spectrum fitting technique. By comparing with the relations for z ∼ 0 Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies, we confirm our previous finding that the mass–[Fe/H] relation evolves with redshift. The mass–[Fe/H] relation at higher redshift has lower normalization and possibly steeper slope. However, based on our sample, the mass–[Mg/H] relation does not evolve over the observed redshift range. We use a simple analytic chemical evolution model to constrain the average outflow that these galaxies experience over their lifetime, via the calculation of mass-loading factor. We find that the average mass-loading factor η is a power-law function of galaxy stellar mass, . The measured mass-loading factors are consistent with the results of other observational methods for outflow measurements and with the predictions where outflow is caused by star formation feedback in turbulent disks.


A geographical difference in reproductive status of moths in populations of C. medinalis Guénée was recognized in autumn paddy fields of north Kyushu, south‐west Japan. This geographical variation in mating frequency of the population resembled the intensity of immigrant density in early summer: the proportion of mated females in the population was high in the west coast regions of Kyushu and low in inland areas. Light trap catches of moths in 1985 suggested overseas invasions from China in the autumn to westerly regions of north Kyushu. The potential autumn immigrations of moths in ripening paddy fields would satisfactorily explain the variations in reproductive status of moths with locality in the same season. These migrations are apparently non‐adaptive because immigrants or their progeny would soon be killed at harvest or from cold weather.


Untrusted data validation is an important part of software security, yet most current validation techniques fall short in two ways: they lack practicality when it comes to validating data in large scale, real life applications, and they do not clearly identify the different goals of handling untrusted data securely. In this paper, we clarify the different, independent problems that "data validation" should solve, and we provide a clear and detailed three step process to data validation: a "data validation" step to protect the application itself against malicious users, a "data neutralization" step to protect other applications from malicious users of the application, and a "data footprint" step to protect against attacks on future, unforeseen components that will be connected to the application.


The profile of five battles fought by Australians in the Great War (1914–1918) was traced over the past century using the frequency by which they were cited in the popular media. The pattern of these frequencies appeared to remain much the same from 1915 until the 1990s with battles involving very large numbers of casualties at Pozières and Passchendaele having a higher media frequency than smaller battles at Fromelles and Villers-Bretonneux. Gallipoli's status as Australia's best known battlefield has been consistent from 1915 until the present day. Over the past decade however, the media frequencies suggest that there has been a re-prioritization in the importance of these five battles. The discovery of lost graves at Fromelles and the introduction of a Dawn Service at Villers-Bretonneux has elevated the importance of these two sites, with the result that tourist visitation to them has also increased.


This article uses the ailing body of King Charles XI of Sweden (1655–97) to explore how the king's physicality was intimately connected not only with the nature of his kingship, its sacredness and legitimacy, but also with his personal faith. It shows that, while Charles's body was exceptional in that it was the body of the king, at the same time it was reacting to illness and sin like any other Lutheran body. It also projected the body's capabilities on a larger scale. In particular, the lethal putrefaction inside his belly came to play an important part in interpreting his kingship. These ideas had an impact that extended from his own stomach pains, via the anxiety of his suffering people, to the ending of absolute rule. By following the analogies that contemporaries drew from the king's autopsy and his physicians' notes, from sermons, official proclamations, diaries, weather reports, poetry, correspondence and prophecies, this article uncovers the powerful resemblances that connected Charles's body with nature, his people, the realm and the divine. In the end it was the gathering of the cosmos into Charles's body that paved the way for direct criticism of absolutism itself.


In recent times, due to the increased use of the reactive power, it is important to bill the electrical power consumption based on both the active and reactive power components. Reactive power is a very significant factor in electric power systems since it affects the efficiency of these systems. For this reason, the measurement of reactive energy is also important. Several methods are used to measure reactive power. Reactive energy meters provide accurate measurement only if the input is fundamental, because meters are constructed for operating under sinusoidal conditions. Due to the widespread use of nonlinear loads and natural disturbances such as lightning, the power quality of the waveforms is considerably deteriorated. As the corrupted waveforms are composed of nonstationary components also, in order to estimate the true reactive power of the power system fundamental component, a time-frequency analysis is required. Therefore, in this paper, a DWT based algorithm is proposed to effectively estimate the reactive power component of the power system.


Seventy-two Nigerian (Igbo) children learned reversal (R) or extradimensional (ED) shifts under one of the two conditions of locality (Urban or Rural) and one of three conditions of Age (4, or 7, or 10 years). Results showed three significant main effects of shift (p < 0.001); Age (p < 0.05), and locality (p < 0.025). Shift by age interaction was also significant. Reversal shift was more difficult for the younger subjects but performance improved as age increased. The ED-shift did not follow a developmental trend: the 7-year-olds found it more difficult than either the 4-yearor the 10-year-olds. Urban subjects learned both shifts faster than their rural counter-parts, and the 7-year-olds from both localities experienced greater difficulty with the ED-shifts problem than either the 4-year-olds or 10-year-olds. The result were interpreted as consistent with the Kendlers' (1962) mediational theory.


The paper illustrated the theory and process of virtual assembly technology,with which extrusion assembly was designed,interference was checked,and animations were created to demostrate assembly sequence and path. This product was ssuccessfuly designed by computer in virtual environment.


Analysis of Austrjapyx Silvestri, 1949, and Hapljapyx Silvestri, 1949, suggests that these genera may be synonymous, and that Silvestri assigned females to the former, males of the same species to the latter genus. Both males and females of 2 new species from southern Brazil are described and illustrated, namely Austrjapyx teutonius from Nova Teutonia and A. chapecoi from Chapeco, Santa Catarina.


Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic multi‐system autoimmune disease characterized by the presence of circulating autoantibodies, systemic and localized inflammation, prevalent hypertension, renal injury, and cardiovascular disease. Onset of the disease typically occurs in young women of child‐bearing age, a time when women are typically protected from cardiovascular risk factors like hypertension. Although kidney involvement is common to patients with SLE, and renal hemodynamic dysfunction is evident in patients with active renal disease, surprisingly little is known about early changes in renal hemodynamic function that may contribute to the pathogenesis of hypertension during autoimmune diseases. We hypothesize that the loss of immunological tolerance and subsequent production of autoantibodies in SLE leads to impaired renal hemodynamic function that precedes the development hypertension.


Solar cells made from hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) degrade under illumination as well as under current injection. In order to improve the stability of a-Si:H solar cells, the question has to be answered whether recombination or trapping of excess carriers generates the new detrimental defects, which can be done by distinguishing between double and single carrier injection. This was achieved by light and current induced degradation of nin, pip, and pin diodes made of a-Si:H. The status of the sample was characterized by the constant photocurrent method (CPM) and in addition by measuring the space charge limited current of the pip and nin diodes. The CPM-spectra of nin and pip diodes were measured for the first time. The experiments show that there is only degradation with double carrier injection and single carrier injection of holes. This leads to the conclusion that degradation is induced by recombination as well as by the presence of excess holes.<<ETX>>


SummaryAlphonso mangoes picked at any stage of maturity (starting from fruit-set) and stored at room temperature show typical respiratory changes characteristic of a fully matured mango. Fruits picked during the earlier and later stages of development show respiration climacteric within 6–10 days. During the middle stages of development the preclimacteric trough continues to extend and the climacteric occurs after 10 days. Fully mature, tree-ripe mangoes do not show a respiratory climacteric during post-harvest storage.Chemical constituents, such as titratable acids, apparent ascorbic acid, carbohydrates and carotenoids, estimated both at harvest and in ripe fruits from different pickings show changes similar to those characteristic of a fully matured ripening fruit.Possibilities of reducing losses from pre-harvest fruit drop and post-harvest decay by resorting to early harvesting are discussed.


A control device for a discharge lamp for controlling a discharge lamp, wherein the discharge lamp comprises: a closed vessel with a gas encapsulated therein, a cathode consisting of a cylinder disposed in the closed vessel thread, an anode which is arranged in the closed vessel, and an aperture member having a first opening, which is arranged on a discharge path between the cathode and the anode, wherein the control device comprises: a variable resistor which is disposed between the anode and a current source and having a resistance value which can be switched between a high resistance value and a low resistance value and is set during a stable discharge to the low discharge value, and a control device that can perform at a first time, a second time, a third time and a fourth time at a fifth time, numbered in accordance with the timing, the following operations: Starting the power supply to the ...


This paper deals with the blow-up properties and asymptotic
behavior of solutions to a semilinear integrodifferential system
with nonlocal reaction terms in space and time. The blow-up
conditions are given by a variant of the eigenfunction method
combined with new properties on systems of differential
inequalities. At the same time, the blow-up set is obtained. For
some special cases, the asymptotic behavior of the blow-up
solution is precisely characterized.


The geographical distribution and persistence of meteorologically sensitive areas (derived using adjoint forecast‐error tracking techniques) are investigated with respect to the occurrence of cloud. Using sensitivity patterns and cloud structures simulated from the ECMWF forecast model a high degree of correlation is found which, if realistic, could limit the ability of space‐based advanced infrared sounders to measure important meteorological features. The result underlines the need to develop techniques to use infrared sounder observations in the presence of cloud. Copyright © 2002 Royal Meteorological Society


This paper deals with cost allocation problems arising from connection situations where edge costs are closed intervals of real numbers. To solve such problems, we extend classical solutions from the theory of minimum cost spanning tree games. We study the properties of such solutions and suggest how to use them under uncertainty conditions. Key-words: cooperative cost games, minimum cost spanning tree situations, robustness, worst-case scenario, input interval data, uncertainty.


The May 2023 victory by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in his campaign for re-election has ensured governing continuity, but not necessarily stability. Turkiye's economy is on the precipice of full-blown crisis, with living standards having fallen due to a surge of inflation that began in late 2021. Ankara faces important questions about the status of the estimated 3.5 million Syrian refugees in the country, and also about Ankara's broad foreign-policy orientation, with Erdoğan arguing that his confrontational attitude towards the West is proof that Turkiye had been transformed into an independent power.


This study aims to investigate effective teaching criterion through socioscientific issues-based instruction "Global warming" at 80/80, to find out effectiveness index of socioscientific issues-based instruction, to compare analytical thinking between before and after students had learned by socioscientific issues-based learning activities, and to study learning satisfaction of fifth grade students after they had learned through socioscientific issues-based instruction. Participants of the study were 24 fifth grade students. Research instruments comprised of 9 lesson plans, 20-item achievement test, 20-item analytical thinking test, and 10-item questionnaire on learning satisfaction. Data were gathered and analyzed by dependent t-test. Results revealed that socioscientific issues-based instruction had effective teaching criterion at 85.38/81.25; effectiveness index of socisocientific issues-based instruction was 0.6959; post test score of analytical thinking higher than those pre test score at .05 statistical significance level; and students had learning satisfaction on socioscientific issues-based learning activities at highest level. This study can be showed that socioscientific issues-based instruction helps students reach to the nature of science. Also, it can promote individuals' development in terms of both cognitive, analytical thinking, and learning satisfaction.


The invention discloses a safe mild detergent which is prepared from the following raw materials in parts by weight: 15-20 parts of sodium pyrophosphate, 5-10 parts of fatty acid antimicrobial peptide ester, 15-18 parts of fatty acyl glutamine, 15-20 parts of sodium carbonate, 20-25 parts of isopropanol-ethylene glycol mixture, 0.5-1 part of cellulase, 15-25 parts of antimicrobial peptide and 15-25 parts of deionized water. The product has the advantages of no injury and mildness to skin, low irritation, low toxicity, high stain removal power, high biodegradability, environmental protection and the like. The product is neutral, does not hurt the hands in deed, can not be accumulated in the body even if not being cleaned, can be discharged out of the body, is free of phosphate, and has no toxic or side effect.


Background: Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a flavivirus related to dengue, yellow fever and West Nile viruses, and is spread by mosquitoes. JEV is the main cause of viral encephalitis in many countries of Asia with an estimated 68000 clinical cases every year. Although symptomatic Japanese encephalitis (JE) is rare, the case-fatality rate among those with encephalitis can be as high as 30%. Permanent neurologic or psychiatric sequelae can occur in 30-50% of those with encephalitis. This study was conducted to find the incidence of JEV IgM in patients presenting with acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) in Raiganj govt. medical college and hospital, Uttar Dinajpur, West Bengal, India.Methods: Blood and CSF samples were collected from patients presenting with AES. IgM antibody capture ELISA was performed on the CSF and serum samples by JE virus MAC ELISA kit.Results: The overall prevalence of JEV IgM was 13.8%. Among the positive cases male comprised of 71.4% and female 28.5%. The most common age group affected was above 16 years of age. JEV prevalence was present throughout the year with high number of cases between the monsoon and post monsoon seasons.Conclusions: This study demonstrates the endemicity of JEV in Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal, India. As most of the JE cases are asymptomatic strengthening the existing surveillance system is required to find out the actual scenario of JEV in West Bengal. Control of vectors, early diagnosis and treatment, vaccinations are the key to decrease the morbidity and mortality caused by JEV.


The usefulness of single, random measurements of serum FSH and LH in the diagnosis of primary amenorrhea by radioimmunoassay was investigated. The 16 patients were divided into 3 groups by the level of serum FSH and LH. The first group with increased level of serum FSH and LH is five patients, all of these are related to the acquired or congenital abnormality of the ovary. Further studies indicated include buccal smear, chromosome analysis, gynecography and laparosocopy. The second group with normal serum FSH and LH is nine patients, four patients of these are related to the developmental anomaly of the Mullerian duct and five patients are undo etermined origin. Further studies indicated include laparoscopy and gynecography. The third group with decreased serum FSH and normal or decreased serum LH is two patients, one of these is related to the pituitary function, isolated FSH deficiency, the other is undetermined origin. Further studies indicated include the pituitary function test, LH-RH stimulation test, skull radiography. Determination of serum FSH and LH levels does not permit a specific etiologic diagnosis of primary amenorrhea. However the serum levels of FSH and LH can be used to differentiate the principal area of the investigation and can be of assistance in choosing more specific testing procedures.


Power system operation is confronted with the problem of how to reduce the damage that caused by the ice on the transmission lines as much as possible. Due to the indeterminacy of icing thickness on the transmission lines, accurate prediction of the icing thickness is essential in order to effectively guide the transmission line route planning and ice-resistant design of electric grid. Currently, there are relatively few research results on the medium and long term prediction of the icing thickness on the transmission lines. This paper presents a transmission line icing thickness prediction model that based on fuzzy Markov chain prediction, combining with the practical measured data from the Czech Studnice Observatory between 1940 and 1999. The model was verified through forecasting the range of the annual maximum of icing thickness during 1994-1999. The result shows that the accuracy of this method reached 80%.


Won Seok Jang, Moon Sic Kwon, Sung Yul Park, Jin Seon Cho From the Department of Urology, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea The nested variant of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) is rarely found in the bladder. Only about 80 such cases have been reported in the literature. Irregular nests and tubules of TCC infiltrating the lamina propria, with no involvement of the mucosal layer, characterize this disease. These characteristics make it difficult to diagnose the nested variant of transitional cell carcinoma. In this study we reported on a new case and review the relevant literature. This case was accompanied with hydronephrosis. We report on this case with its accompanying hydronephrosis because of its rarity and unusual histology, and also its prognostic significance emphasizes the need to distinguish it from classic TCC. (Korean J Urol 2007;48: 754-756) 󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏


The aim of the present study was to assess the dietary habits and oral hygiene practice of dental students in a new dental school. A self-administered structured closed-ended questionnaire on demographic characteristics, medical history, oral hygiene and dietary habits was distributed to dental students. Results showed that One third of students indicated that they don't consume low pH beverages (soft drinks) at all, while 48.9% drink a soft drink or two a day. Students took varying amount of time to consume their drinks. The majority of participants consumed citric juices, fruits and/or pickles at least once a day. 91.3% of students use either soft (41.8%) or medium (49.5%) toothbrush. Only a fifth (16.9%) of the students brush their teeth after drinking soft drinks and 58.2% brush their teeth after vomiting. In conclusion, young adults need to be aware about their dietary habits & oral hygiene, and also a proper dental health program needs to be applied.


A population of the little-known species Aorolaimus banoae was collected in the municipality of Cananeia, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, in a remnant of the once far more extensive Brazilian Atlantic Forest. As the original description of this species was based on only three females and nine males, additional morphometric and morphological data, including SEM studies, are presented. It is suggested that A. banoae is a member of the original fauna associated with the coastal Atlantic forest.


addition, the classical organization of a project is too formal for open innovation projects. Instead it seems that the temporary organization is more natural in this context and enables participation and social interaction. University-company -collaboration in the field of design research illustrates particular effectiveness, which grows from the social interaction in the crossroads of different cultures of action. The study points out, that companies see effectiveness strongly associated with active participation, which the form of a temporary organization facilitates naturally. Abstract: This study attempts to shed light on intellectual capital (IC) performance of Hong Kong companies and its possible associations with business performance. Audited accounting data were collected from the constituent companies of Hang Exchange between 2005 – 2008. In order to compute a set of IC efficiency indexes based on VAIC™. Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC™) is a quantitative IC measurement method which was pioneered by Pulic (2000) of the Austrian IC Research Centre. Four accounting ratios: market-to-book value (MB), return on assets (ROA), asset turnover (ATO) and return on equity (ROE) were used as proxies for measuring business performance. VAIC™ and its associated indexes, and the accounting ratios of sample companies are submitted to regression analysis for the detection of their associations. No conclusive evidence was found to support the associations between VAIC™ and the four financial indicators. However, components of VAIC™ were found to be able to predict a substantial variance in business performance. For example, Capital Employed Efficiency (CEE) has been found to be the key factor in predicting business financial performance. In addition, Structural Capital Efficiency (SCE) has an effect on market valuation by MB as well as profitability as measured ROE. Interestingly, negative correlations observed between Human Capital Efficiency (HCE) and the financial indicators which, provided some new insights to the stakeholders of Hong Kong companies in utilizing IC, particularly the noted impact of structural capital. While physical and financial assets, still, appears to be taking on an important role as the key resources in delivering business success, IC, or to be exact, structural capital may be silently making headway into the fabric of Hong Kong's economy as illustrated by its impact in delivering return on equity (ROE).


Learning resources and media are currently very helpful in the learning process. One that can be used as a source and learning media effectively is the laboratory. The laboratory has a very important role in learning at the senior secondary level such as Madrasah Aliyah. The purpose of writing this article is to determine the urgency of laboratory learning media and sources as well as the role of laboratories in madrasah aliyah. This research uses a qualitative approach. The method used is the case study method with descriptive analysis techniques. Data collection techniques in this study are observation and interviews. This research was conducted at Madrasah Aliyah Nahdlatul Ulama Kepuharjo Karangploso. The application of practical methods / scientific methods to Islamic madrasah learning requires a laboratory as a means or a place to carry out practical activities. The use of laboratories or practical activities is part of the teaching and learning process. In addition, laboratories can help students to better understand something that is conveyed by educators. Moreover, the use of laboratories for students at the madrasah aliyah level, which later students can use various laboratory facilities for practical activities according to the subject directly. Thus, the laboratory has an important role as a source and medium of learning so that teaching and learning practicum activities run well.
Keyword: Urgency of learning resources, Laboratory, Madrasah aliyah


The first direct observation by IR spectroscopy in the cryogenic SbF5 matrix was made of the rearrangement of 2- and 3-chlorobicyclo[3.2.0]heptanes (3) and (4), respectively, to the 7-norbornyl cation 1 and its subsequent transformation into the 2-norbornyl cation 5.


A fibrous polyaniline (PANI) thin film has been fabricated from prepared PANI nanofiber solution by Marangoni flow. The PANI retained its original fiber morphology after being deposited into films and formed highly interconnected network structures, which leads to an excellent electrochemical catalytic activity. This PANI thin film was applied in dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) as counter electrode. A power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.8% of the DSSC by this PANI counter electrode was obtained without optimization of synthesis conditions, compared with 5.1% PCE by traditional Pt counter electrode. Better performances are attainable by improving the conductivity of PANI with acid doping process to decrease the sheet resistance of this electrode. Facile synthesis process and good performance of these nanofibrous PANI thin films highlight the potential large scale applications for low-cost counter electrode in DSSCs.


Silicon carbide is characterized by a wide range of beneficial electrophysical, anti-corrosion, and strength properties. A promising raw material for the synthesis of silicon carbide is the waste of rice production, which includes compounds of silicon and carbon-containing organic substances. The cheapness and availability of such raw materials necessitate the development of technologies to obtain silicon carbide from it. An important direction in silicon carbide synthesis technology is to obtain a high purity product. To remove impurities from rice husks, it is necessary to carry out its pre-extraction treatment. It has been established that the extraction treatment of rice husks with acid solution makes it possible to clean the raw materials from metal compounds and the excess amount of carbon-containing components. To remove impurities of metal compounds and the excess amount of carbon-containing compounds from rice husks, it has been proposed to perform the extraction with an aqueous solution of the mixture of 10 % sulfur and 15 % acetic acids. We have derived the time dependences of the degree of extraction of cellulose from rice husks. Two temporal sections of the process have been identified. It is shown that the extraction of cellulose from rice husks obeys a pseudo first-order reaction. We have calculated the constants of speed and activation energy in the course of extraction for the two time sections of the process. The activation energy of extraction over a first period is 10.75 kJ/mol; over a second period, the activation energy value is 26.10 kJ/mol. It has been established that an increase in the extraction temperature from 20 to 100 °C leads to a two-fold improvement in the process efficiency. It is shown that silicon carbide, synthesized from rice husk after its extraction treatment, is a pure crystalline material whose particles' size is from 1 to 20 micrometers


This paper addresses the development of a nonconforming axisymmetric quadrilateral variable-node element which is designated as NAQV. The NAQV element is an improved version of the axisymmetric quadrilateral variable-node (AQV) element by adding nonconforming modes selectively. Both NAQV and AQV elements are effectively used in overcoming some problems in connecting the different layer patterns in the adaptive h refinement on a quadrilateral mesh. The use of elements with variable nodes eliminates the necessity of imposing displacement constraints on irregular (hanging) nodes in order to enforce the interelement compatibility. Therefore, the NAQV and AQV elements can be used effectively in the local mesh refinement for the axisymmetric structures which have stress concentrations. As verified through some numerical tests, the NAQV element shows excellent performance and can be used in the analysis of practical problems.