In this paper, the stability of neutral stochastic nonlinear systems with some variable delays is considered. By means of fixed point theory and Ito differential formula, the necessary and sufficient condition of asymptotic mean square stability theorem is derived. It is shown that the approaches developed here extend and improve the ideas presented in recent literatures


The banana fruits of 'FHIA 18' have sensory properties like the 'Prata' ones. However, there is no information regarding to phosphorus (P) requirement of this hybrid and its effects on postharvest quality. This study aims to evaluate the physicochemical properties of 'FHIA 18' banana fruits submitted to different phosphorus levels under the edaphoclimatic conditions of the municipality of Sao Manuel, state of Sao Paulo, during three successive production cycles. Therefore, different levels of Phosphorus (0 [0%], 20 [50%)], 30 [75%], 40 [100%], 50 [125%] and 60 kg ha-1 year-1 P2O5 [150%]) were applied during three production cycles. A completely randomized design and split plot structure was used, the plots consisted of six phosphorus fertilizers doses and three production cycles (2014, 2015 and 2016) in sub plots. For unripe fruits, we evaluated the contents of dry matter, starch, total sugars, reducing sugars and phosphorus. For ripe fruits, we analyzed firmness, peel colour descriptors, total titratable acidity, total soluble solids, maturity index, total sugars and reducing sugars. Results showed that P fertilizer provided an increase in P content in unripe fruits until the application of 100% of the recommended dose; besides an increase in the reducing sugar contents until the application of 61% over the first production cycle. Results also indicated that applying lower phosphorus doses ( ? 100% of the recommended dose) promoted lower total titratable acidity and higher maturity index (52-53% of recommendation) in ripe fruits. Regardless of P2O5 dose, the contents of dry matter, starch and phosphorus increased in unripe fruits from first to third crop cycle, as well as the firmness, total soluble solids contents, maturity index and sugar content in ripe fruits.


In order to improve the theoretical model of prism based single-lens stereovision system,and enhance the precision of three-dimensional reconstruction,a parameter simplifying method for prism as well as a position estimation method that based on geometrical optics were proposed. First,a perspective projection model for prism based single-lens stereovision system was derived. Then,the parameters of prism which could express its position were decreased to six by making use of rotational vector and the relationship between points. At last, these six parameters could be solved out as a result of nonlinear optimization,and an accurate position of prism could be obtained. Experimental results indicated that the average reprojection error of proposed method was less than 0. 5 pixel,the average error for three dimensional reconstruction was 2. 22 mm. This method could be used for calculating the epipolar geometry of stereo matching. It could increase the precision of three-dimensional reconstruction up to 2 ~ 3 times.


An accurate and convenient method of measuring human movements is essential for human motion analysis. In recent days, several types of motion capture system became available. Since each measurement technology has both merits and demerits, their suitable choice depends on each application or varying situations. Therefore, it is important that the motion analysis software should flexibly select and be connected to several measurement systems simultaneously according to target applications. This paper presents a software designed to manage different motion capture systems and to perform the musculoskeletal analysis. It allow us not only to get data from different systems but also give us the capability of synchronizing/merging their data.


A problem on surface sh-waves' propagation in a piezoelectric structure with a coating from a functionally graded material is considered. As a "base" material, a piezoelectric of 6mm class hexagonal syngony is used. The problem solution is based on the approach, which combines analytical methods of constructing the solution for homogeneous components and numerical methods of constructing the solution for inhomogeneous components of a heterogeneous structure. For problems with an electrically open or closed free surface, the transformation of the surface wave field, depending on the character of the change of the coating properties, is studied. Peculiarities of the surface waves' behaviour at different combinations of the coating and substructure materials are investigated. It is demonstrated, that by means of a special change of the coating properties it is possible to obtain the structure, on the surface of which Love waves or Bleustein–Gulyaev waves (BGW) are propagated, or the structure in which surface waves are absent in a definite frequency range.


AbstractOne of the situations presenting major difficulties to the administration of construction contracts is when time is called by the contractor to have become at large. Several circumstances m...


The paper introduce a kind of control system of double-channel rare earth permanent magnet brushless dc motor - PMBLDCM based on TMS320LF2407A DSP. It discusses the controlling principle, hardware structure and software strategy of the whole control system. The control system has simple structure and very high reliability. At last, the result of experiment shows the favorable running performance of the control system.


An echo canceller with flat delay estimation is described. It consists of flat delay estimation and a 64-tap echo canceller with time delay. The cross-correlation method is adopted to estimate the flat delay and the complexity of calculation is decreased for real-time processing according to the characteristics of the echo path. Simulation results indicate good performance in convergence rate and tracking capability for the time variant echo path. A block diagram of the hardware and a flowchart of the program are included.<<ETX>>


Rock salt deposits are used as depositories for hazardous wastes and oil due to their excellent mechanical properties for depositories such as low permeability and self-healing. The creep behavior of rock salt plays a major role in the long-term stability of rock salt depositories. Temperature and deviatoric stress significantly impact the creep behavior of rock salt. This paper studies the influences of temperature and deviatoric stress on the creep behavior of natural single-crystal rock salt specimens using creep experiments. A special triaxial thermal cell was developed to conduct the experiments. Prismatic specimens were cut out of a large mass of a sample that was acquired from Windsor Salt Mine, Ontario, Canada. The prepared specimens were tested in one-dimensional creep experiments at 20, 100, and 150° C temperatures and under 1 MPa confining pressure. Constant deviatoric stresses (σd ) of 4, 10, and 12 MPa were applied to the specimens. Increasing the applied deviatoric stress and temperature caused an increase in the accumulated strain during the experiments and resulted in higher steady-state strain rates. Although the transient strain rate is increased at elevated temperatures, it appears to be insensitive to the applied deviatoric stress.


Tauroursodeoxycholic acid was synthesized by condensation of ursodeoxycholic acid with 2,2'-dithiobisbenzothiazole in the presence of triethyl phosphite and triethylamine to afford ursodeoxycholic acid 2-benzothiazolyl thioester,followed by reaction with taurine with an overall yield of about 76%.


A 67-year-old woman underwent craniotomy and clipping of anterior communicating artery aneurysm. On the tenth postoperative day, she underwent tracheostomy uneventfully. On the fortieth postoperative day, sudden massive bleeding occurred around the tracheostomy site. After orotracheal intubation was performed to explore the tracheostomy site, desaturation and increase in airway pressure occurred. On the physical examinations, this situation looked like a pneumothorax. However, chest radiography revealed a hyperinflation at the affected lung. Flexible bronchoscopy at bedside revealed a large blood clot obstructing the left main bronchus. Ipsilateral lung hyperinflation resulted from the blood clot that acted as one-way valve in the bronchus. Airway obstruction like this situation can be confused as a tension pneumothorax.


The effective method of a simulation system of manipulator with OpenGL based on the simulation of 3D motion for 6-DOF manipulator is presented.The construction of kinetic model and path planning are analyzed emphatically.To the usual 3D simulation system of manipulator,the instance is universal reference.


In the paper a possibility of adequate thermodynamic description of the electron matter component based on a statistical model is discussed. The model represents a combination of Thomas‐Fermi term and four corrections: Scott, exchange, quantum, and shell terms. Relation of quantum correction divergences and Scott correction is shown. Scott correction is defined for any temperature and density. Asymptotic behavior of the treated statistical model is studied in the range where electron gas perturbation theory is applicable.


In the absence of any theoretical guidance, a solution to the question of what is the appropriate functional form for an import demand model can only be found empirically. Examines this question in the context of UK motor vehicle imports by applying a range of tests of functional form to two, alternatively specified, import demand models: the "traditional" price-income model incorporating the popular but restrictive partial adjustment mechanism and a cost-expenditure model that employs a less restrictive lag structure. Finds, principally that the commonly imposed linear or log-linear functional forms cannot be rejected in relation to the price-income specification, but there is some evidence that neither functional form may be appropriate in relation to the theoretically sounder cost-expenditure model of import demand.


$^{1}$ A. B. Meinel, Astrophys. J. 112 562-563 (1950). $^{2}$ A. E. Douglas, Astrophys. J. 117 380-386 (1953). This research was supported, in part, by the Atmospheric Sciences Section, NSF and by the Chemistry Section, NSF.


In recent years, power line carrier communication (PLC) have been a focus once again, which is mainly achieved by orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) Currently. OFDM is a multi-carrier modulation technique with densely spaced sub-carriers, that has gained a lot of popularity among the broadband community in the last few years. This paper details this technique, and designs the PLC system employing OFDM, which is based on embedded system. The system features high performance and the high degree of common use.


This paper performs shape optimization design of permanent magnets to make SPMSM's Back EMF into a sinusoidal waveform. derives design sensitivity using continuum shape sensitivity and expresses the shape change through the adaptive level set method as the optimization is performed. Because same operating characteristics must be maintained for the bidirectional rotation of the electric motor, the permanent magnet is constrained to a symmetrical shape. As a result of the design, it was confirmed that the back EMF was close to the sinusoidal waveform, and through this, the torque ripple was also reduced.


The gated field emitter using carbon nanotubes directly grown into submicron holes is advantageous for small area electron source, such as microwave generator, micro‐display. In order to realize better functions of the spindt‐type gated FEAs using CNTs directly grown into the submicron‐holes, we investigate freestanding CNTs grown on each micron‐sized Co dot without disturbing neighboring patterns and with not exceeding 2.5μm long by Thermal CVD.


Physics limits information processing, and hence the possible forms of intelligent beings and their civilizations. In this review I discuss physical limitations on density, speed, size, energy dissipation and communication, sketching the constraints on very powerful information processing objects.


In this study, first‐year residents in family medicine (FM), first‐ and second‐year residents in internal medicine, and experienced academic nephrologists were confronted with a series of eight complex nephrology problems, represented by a brief written history and a standard array of laboratory data. Subjects were asked to solve the problem while "thinking aloud."; Results showed a large gradient in diagnostic ability over the three cohorts, ranging from a mean accuracy of 25% for FM residents to 91% for nephrologists. Increased experience was associated with increased clustering of individual data into meaningful relations and more extensive use of causal explanations but no difference in use of forward or backward reasoning. These results are at variance with an extensive literature showing (a) no or little difference in outcome measures of clinical competence related to postgraduate education but (b) greater use of forward reasoning and less use of causal biomedical explanations, associated with incre...


Different tetraalkylammoniums, viz., N+(CH3)4, N+(C2H5)4, N+(C3H7)4, N+(C4H9)4 along with simple ammonium salts of dodecylbenzene sulphonic acid were prepared by an ion-exchange technique. The cmcs of dodecylbenzene sulfonate salts with various counterions were determined by electrical conductivity and surface tension measurements within the temperature range 283–313 K. The counterion ionization constant, α, the surface parameters Γmax and Amin and also the thermodynamic parameters of the micellization process, viz., ΔG0m, ΔH0m and ΔS0m in aqueous solution have been determined by using a pseudo-phase model. The order of cmcs in aqueous solution is found to be NH4+ > N+(CH3)4 > N+(C2H5)4 > N+(C3H7)4 > N+(C4H9)4 at any given temperature. On the other hand, the aggregation number increases with alkyl chain length first due to increasing hydrophobic interactions and then decreases as a function of counterion size passing through a maximum for N+(C2H5)4. Spontaneity of micellization in aqueous solution is supported by large negative ΔG0m as well as the positive entropy change for the micellization process for all the above counterions. At a given temperature, ΔG0m for a surfactant with different counterions followed the order N+(CH3)4 > NH4+ > N+(C2H5)4 > N+(C3H7)4 > N+(C4H9)4. Electrostatic interaction along with effective charge screening and hydrophobicity of the surfactant head group together may give an explanation for the observed variation of aggregation behaviour and the energetics as a function of the nature of the counterion.


Multimedia Information Retrieval is very useful for any application in our daily work. Most of the applications consist of Multimedia data that are images, text, audio and video. Multimedia information retrieval system is used to search an image. There are same meanings for different data which is also known as semantic gap. This problem is solved by fusion of text based image retrieval and content based image retrieval. Weighted Mean, OWA and WOWA are aggregation operators used in this system for the fusion of text and image numeric values. The Scale invariant feature transforms and speeded up robust feature are two algorithms for feature extraction. To increase the speed of system, the speeded up robust feature algorithm is used. Bag of Words and Bag of Visual Word approaches are used in this system for retrieving images. Keywords-Content Based Image Retrieval, Fusion, Multimedia Information Retrieval, Text Based Image Retrieval. __________________________________________________*****_________________________________________________


Distribution of TiO 2 dopants and SiO 2 impurities in the bimodal microstructure of Al 2 O 3 with anisotropic and equiaxed grains is systematically analyzed using analytical electron microscopy (AEM). The TiO 2 -doped ceramic materials were hot-pressed at 1500 °C in a reducing environment. Different amounts of Ti solutes in the anisotropic or equiaxed grains were observed after removal of the contamination signal stemming from Ti on the surface. SiO 2 and TiO 2 exhibit a selective segregation behavior. The boundary between the equiaxed grains is segregated mainly by TiO 2 but the boundary at the (0001) basal plane of anisotropic grains is covered with a thin amorphous film made up of mostly SiO 2 . Precipitation of Al 2 TiO 5 occurs at high TiO 2 doping levels. A bimodal microstructure develops in three stages, characterized successively by segregation, solution, and precipitation. The preferential adsorption of SiO 2 to the (0001) basal plane initiates the anisotropic grain growth, starting at low TiO 2 doping level. At higher TiO 2 doping level, bi-level Ti solution occurs, either as a result of equilibration between segregants and solutes, or incorporated as transient Ti solutes in the anisotropic grains due to fast-moving fronts. Further doping starts Al 2 TiO 5 precipitation, which may result in de-wetting of the basal boundary, possibly due to a change of interface energy. The correlation and competition between segregation, solution, and precipitation characterize and dictate the evolution of microstructure, as monitored by the aspect ratio of anisotropic grains.


The treatment of recurrent lower urinary tract infections in young female patients remains controversial (Naber, 2000; Stamatiou, 2005; Wagenlehner, 2009). Recurrent lower UTI is often associated with sexual intercourse. The association of UTI with sexual intercourse poses both medical and psychological problems for these patients (Stamatiou, 2005). Usually these patients are young females. Repeated courses of antibiotic therapy and postcoital antibiotics prophylactic help some, but not all patients. Conventional antimicrobial therapy has limited success and often has to be repeated (Naber, 2000). A remarkable increase of antibiotic resistance is also noted in uncomplicated UTI (Wagenlehner, 2009). "Intravaginal urethral displacement" during sexual intercourse appears to play a role in both the development of these symptoms and the recurrence of UTI symptoms by contamination of microbial agents in the distal urethra (Stamatiou, 2005), which may often lead to cystitis. The repositioning of the distal part of the urethra may potentially minimize microbial contamination in this area. The operation makes it possible to withdraw the meatus from the area concerned. Careful mobilization of the distal part of the urethra with modern technology and fine absorbable suture materials provides minimal invasion and may be considered an option for patients with recurrent UTI associated with sexual intercourse. In this chapter we shall present detailed surgical techniques and long-term results of distal urethral transposition in female patients with recurrent UTI associated with sexual intercourse.


The present invention Timepiece movement for escapement, more particularly, detent escapement. Escapement, respectively rotate about an axis of rotation X1, X2, X3, toothed escape wheel (1), comprising the balance, and detent the (11,100,110). Detent, when the balance moves along the free arc of oscillation, the first tooth of the escape wheel (200) to block the released state, stops interacting with the tooth along a predetermined penetration length to support the claws (21). Impact pawl (7) which is rotated by the balance, when rotated to the detent to release the escape wheel movement, interacts with the second tooth of the escape wheel (201), the teeth, only one pitch Previous It is again blocked by the stop pawl by interaction with the second teeth (201) and. Escapement also have limited plates (5 and 51), which is rotatably secured coaxially to the balance, cutout (29) is arranged so as to face the stop pawl in the release state only without substantially has an outer peripheral portion with the main portion of circular (52), said limiting plate (5 and 51), the latter from the former when in the position where the main circular portion and the stop pawl face each other defining a safe distance of just separating the dimensions taken in the process, it is shorter than the length invasion. .FIELD 5


In order to make the communication more secure in the dynamic environment, the signal strength is used through which high entropy bit can be achieved. The received signal strength is used to find the nearest node in order to forward the data towards the destination node. In the existing system the secret key is generated only by the source and the destination nodes. In our proposed system, the secret key is generated by each and every hop. The generated key is quantized by the technique called quantization and the bit mismatch is reduced by information reconciliation technique. The bits that are lost during information reconciliation is avoided by distillation. In order to reduce the resultant output bit stream, hash key of the secret key is generated by using Privacy amplification technique. The low output bit stream result in high entropy. Here the predictable key generation is highly reduced. In this we are generating the random number to ensure data integrity and authentication. For this MNF hash function is used which is of 256 bits Privacy amplification is used to ensure that the resultant bit pattern is random. The mismatched bits can also be identified easily. Multiple sensors are involved in increasing the rate of the secret key generation. Generated bit streams are verified by randomness test. Our experiment has been implemented in 802.11A laptops.


The purpose of this paper is to study the Influence Mechanism and Promotion Strategies of Base Official, and to explore the Role of Organizational Identity in this Path. Based on the survey and interview of 350 grass-roots civil servants from China, this paper analyses the relationship among internal and external incentive mechanism, organizational identity and work engagement. The research results show that: the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation have a significant positive impact on work engagement, and the positive influence of intrinsic motive is greater than extrinsic motivation. Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations have positive influence on organizational identification, And in the process of influence, the external incentive has a certain "crowding effect" on the internal incentive. Organizational identification plays a mediating role between extrinsic motivation and work engagement, but the mediating effect of organizational identification on intrinsic motivation and work engagement is not significant. The research results have certain reference value for improving the work input of grass-roots civil servants.


Abstract — Empowerment SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) was a step for Dinas Perindustrian Perdagangan dan Koperasi (Disperindagkop) Salatiga to answer one vision to create empowerment public economics to increase productivity to head a independent and prosperous public in Salatiga. According to data Dinas Perindustrian Perdagangan dan Koperasi (Disperindagkop) Salatiga, in 2016 there are 2730 units SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) registered. There are one of many problems in SMEs there was no media to promote SMEs for public to know and find out the SMEs product in Salatiga. This situation basically happen whole in most region in Indonesia. This research is to design and implement android based applications for promote SMEs in Salatiga. This application is usefull for promote SMEs product in Salatiga with support of LBS (Location Based Service) and Google Cloud Messaging (GCM).


This paper investigates the saw-toothed and sine-curved tailing edge shape of the NACA0012 aerofoil at chord Reynolds numbers of 5.25×104, 1.05×105 and 2.10×105. Firstly, to examine the impact of the tailing edge shape to the flow behaviour and overall drag coefficient of the aerofoil. Secondly, to compare the drag coefficient for various speeds. The CFD RANS-SST with a commercial code ANSYS CFX simulation is performed for the fully submerged NACA0012 aerofoil of 150 mm chord length with three tailing edge shapes: standard straight line, saw-toothed and sine-curved shapes. The results show that a 25% increment of drag coefficient for saw-toothed tailing edge shape compared to the standard tailing edge shapes at Re = 5.25×104, and the increase of 14% at Re = 1.05×105 and 2.10×105. At Re= 5.25×104, the sine-curved tailing edge shape also caused a 16% of drag increment comparing with the standard tailing edge, while at = 1.05×105 and 2.10×105, the sine-curved tailing edge provided same drag results as the standard tailing edge. The result suggests that, in term of drag reduction, there is no benefit of using the alternative tailing edge shapes for NACA0012.


Advocacy organizations have come to rely heavily on a new generation of private information intermediaries that have become synonymous with the contemporary Internet. In the field of Internet governance, private information intermediaries have been defined as "private systems that do not provision actual content but rather facilitate information or financial transactions among those who provide and access content" (DeNardis, 2014, p. 153). There private information intermediaries can increasingly determine how citizens and activists engage politically online through the technical architectures and policies they choose to implement—a phenomenon that can often disrupt the work of activists. Based on 16 in-depth interviews with present and former online strategists at several U.S. climate change and environmental advocacy organizations, this paper addresses the strategic importance and uses that online strategists assign to different types of private information intermediaries; their experiences using these tools and their responses to such experiences; and their perceived need to use these intermediaries to conduct their work and ability to use alternative tools.


The extensive production and consumption of antibiotics have led to an increasing occurrence of antibiotic residuals in various aquatic compartments, presenting a significant threat to both the ecosystem and human health. This study aimed to investigate the removal of cephalexin (CEX) antibiotic from aqueous solutions by ultrasonic/persulfate/nickel oxide NPs (US/S2O8/NiO) hybrid process. To increase the removal efficiency, affecting parameters on the US/S2O8/NiO hybrid process were investigated and optimized by adopting the Taguchi design of experiments approach. The controllable factors such as solution pH, reaction time, initial concentration of CEX antibiotic, S2O8 concentration and NiO nanoparticle were optimized. Under optimum conditions (pH = 3, reaction time = 90 min, CEX = 20 mg/L, NiO = 5 mg/L and S2O8 = 400 mg/L) and using the US/S2O8/NiO process, the CEX, COD and TOC removal efficiencies were 96.05%, 68.02% and 47.14%, respectively. The studies to determine the percentage contribution of each controllable factor was also carried out. The pH of the solution was identified as the most influential factor, and its percentage contribution value was up to 70% in the studied process. Considering the parameters of the kinetics, it was found that the removal CEX antibiotic using the hybrid process obeys the pseudo-first-order kinetics. The results showed that US/S2O8/NiO hybrid process could be optimally used to treat the wastewater containing antibiotics such as CEX and could be considered as an effective and ecofriendly method.


The isolation of endophytic fungi (penicillium sp) from binahong stem had been undertaken with the objective to determine its content of secondary metabolites and its antibacterial activity. The content of secondary metabolites was analyzed with HPLC and its antibacterial activity was measured using paper disc diffusion method. The results showed that there were four compounds in the HPLC chromatogram detected at 235 nm. The antibacterial activity for methanol and ethyl acetate extracts were observed for its diameter of zone inhibition at 18.2 mm and 16.7 mm for S.aureus and 17.8 mm and 16.3 mm  for E. Coli.


We address the problem of providing knowledge management support to business innovation. We consider the context of virtual enterprise environments, where knowledge is often fragmented and heterogeneous, and interoperability is a crucial requirement. We propose a knowledge repository and management infrastructure, called Production and Innovation Knowledge Repository (PIKR), to support open innovation in virtual enterprises. The PIKR provides a set of reference ontologies to semantically describe enterprise knowledge resources, and semantics-based services for accessing and reasoning over such descriptions. The proposal is being conceived in the framework of the BIVEE European project and adheres to the Linked Data approach.


Abstract The story of John Henry, the "steel-drivin' man", is well known to Black men in the United States. John Henry is considered a hero because he demonstrated tremendous strength and self-determination. The MANUP diabetes program used the John Henryism, defined as high-effort active coping in the face of adversity, as the basis of a diabetes intervention for Black men. MANUP conducted four community-based focus groups identifying topics of concern to Black men with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Interestingly, the men reported that high-effort active coping was crucial for successful diabetes self-management. MANUP then developed and implemented a longitudinal culturally targeted self-management program for 33 Black men with T2D in Flint, Michigan. MANUP included discussion groups, physical activity, and an app incorporating text-messaging, group-chat, and a blood glucose monitoring dashboard to improve glycemic control (A1c). This single-group, repeated measures intervention assessed A1c three times over a six-month period. Improvements in A1c were observed at: baseline – time 2: 8.9% vs 8.6%, p=0.14; time 2 – time 3: 8.6% vs 8.1%, p=0.21; and baseline – time 3: 8.9% vs 8.1%, p=0.005. After controlling for age and insulin use, the significant reduction in A1c over 6 months remained (p=0.01). These findings demonstrate that combining mobile health technology and moderate physical activity with culturally targeted discussion topics can improve T2D self-management and reduce A1c in Black men. More community-driven longitudinal intervention studies that improve diabetes self-management among Black men are needed to achieve gender and racial health equity.


The Direct Transcription approach, also known as the direct simultaneous approach, is a widely used solution strategy for the solution of dynamic optimization problems involving differential-algebraic equations (DAEs). Direct transcription refers to the procedure of approximating the infinite dimensional problem by a finite dimensional one, which is then solved using a nonlinear programming (NLP) solver tailored to large-scale problems. Systems governed by partial differential equations (PDEs) can also be handled by spatially discretizing the PDEs to convert them to a system of DAEs.
The objective of this thesis is firstly to ensure that direct transcription using Radau collocation is provably correct, and secondly to widen the applicability of the direct simultaneous approach to a larger class of dynamic optimization and optimal control problems (OCPs). This thesis aims at addressing these issues using rigorous theoretical tools and/or characteristic examples, and at the same time use the results for solving large-scale industrial applications to realize the benefits.
The first part of this work deals with the analysis of convergence rates for direct transcription of unconstrained and final-time equality constrained optimal control problems. The problems are discretized using collocation at Radau points. Convergence is analyzed from an NLP/matrix-algebra perspective, which enables the prediction of the conditioning of the direct transcription NLP as the mesh size becomes finer. Several convergence results are presented along with tests on numerous example problems. These convergence results lead to an adjoint estimation procedure given the Lagrange multipliers for the large-scale NLP. The work also reveals the role of process control concepts such as controllability on the convergence analysis, and provides a very important link between control and optimization inside the framework of dynamic optimization.
As an effort to extend the applicability of the direct simultaneous approach to a wider class of problems, a PDE-constrained optimal control problem, the spatial discretization of which results in a DAE-constrained problem with an arbitrarily high-index inequality constraint, is studied. Optimal control problems with high-index path constraints are very hard to solve, numerically. Contrary to the intuitive belief that the direct transcription approach would not work for the high-index optimal control problem, an analysis is performed to show that NLP-based methods have flexibility with respect to constraint qualifications, and this can be put to use in the context of high-index inequality path-constrained problems to obtain meaningful solutions. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)


Free polyamines in rat tissues were determined by high performance capillary electrophoresis using fluorescence detection. After precipitation of proteins with perchloric acid, the sample solution was derivatized with fluorescamine using a microscale procedure. Ethylenediamine was added to the medium to avoid adsorption of polyamines onto the capillary wall. An internal standard of 6-amino-n-caproic acid a was used. To improve detector sensitivity, the fluorescence signal was collected with a cylindrical lens. The minimum detectable amount and concentration of the sample for the present method were around 200 fmol and 10 nmol mL−1, respectively.


This article reviews the current literature on known risk factors for recidivistic arson, with a particular focus on factors that could be used to differentiate serial from "one-off" arson offenders. The relevance of risk factors for general reoffending to recidivistic arson is discussed, including the role of criminal history, mental illness, and sociodemographic factors. The specific roles of offence-related affect, cognitions, and the offender's interest in fire are considered, with recommendations for how theories from other areas of forensic psychology, such as the sex offender assessment and treatment literature, might be applied to the issue of deliberate fire-setting. Finally, protective factors are briefly discussed and the need for a structured risk assessment tool for deliberate firsetters is canvassed. Given that research into risk and recidivism in fire-setting is underdeveloped, suggestions are made throughout the review for the focus of future research into risk factors for serial arson.


Abstract The article investigates the reasons that led the Bolsheviks to grant autonomous status to South Ossetia in 1922. The conflict between Ossetians and Georgians during the civil war started as a social dispute but rapidly turned into an ethnic confrontation. The Ossetians turned to the Bolsheviks for support, but by 1920 they were defeated and largely expelled from their territory. After the Sovietisation of the region in 1921 the Bolsheviks needed to solve the conflict: the solution adopted was to grant autonomous status. This was not—as is often believed—the result of a divide et impera policy but an attempt at conflict resolution that in the long run satisfied neither side.


Aim: To evaluate the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of saliva in caries active and caries free children from a tribal school of wardha district. Materials and method: A total of 40 children aged between 5-14 years were selected by using simple random sampling. They were divided into two groups; Group I and Group II, comprising of age groups 5 to 9 years and 10 to 14 years, respectively. Both the groups were then sub-divided into caries-active and caries-free groups, with 10 children in each group. 2ml of unstimulated saliva was collected and was stored in glass vials at -20 degree celcius. Estimation of total antioxidant capacity of saliva of each sample was done by Phosphomolybdenum method. Results: On comparison of TAC between the age group of 5-9 years, TAC in caries active children was 19.83 mcg/ml which was significantly higher than TAC obtained for caries free children which was 9.10 mcg/ml. Similar results were found on comparison of TAC between both the groups between the age group of 10-14 years i.e. TAC was significantly higher in caries active children which was 31.82 mcg/ml than caries free children which was 15.33 mcg/ml. On comparison of TAC between both the age groups, TAC was found to be significantly higher between the age group of 10-14 years which was 23.68 mcg/ml than between the age group of 5-9 years which was 14.46 mcg/ml. Conclusion: Total antioxidant capacity of saliva was found to be more in caries active tribal children between the age group of 5-9 years and 10-14 years than caries free children. It was also reported that TAC was more in tribal children between the age group of 10-14 years than 5-9 year old tribal children.


Background/Aims
 While BASDAI is one of the most widely used tool it has limited face and construct validity. ASDAS on the other hand is considered more objective ,however in absence of blood investigations, it might not be an ideal measure. We aimed to study correlation and agreement between ASDAS-CRP with BASDAI score. We correlated these outcome measures with MRI activity
 Methods
 This was a multi-centre study, conducted at rheumatology department of two teaching hospitals in United Kingdom and India. Anonymised data of all consecutive patients with the clinical diagnosis of SpA were analysed. We compared outcome measure variables ASDAS-CRP with BASDAI at baseline and follow-up with subgroup analysis of BASDAI cutoff of 4. We also analysed radiological parameters and compared disease activity of patients with active changes of SpA in MRI versus those with inactive changes . SPSS software and Cohen's kappa statistics used
 Results
 Total 250 patients with SpA were analysed with median age of 34 years and total duration of 5.9 +6 years. Mean BASDAI 4.9 +8.8, Mean ASDAS-CRP 3.04 + 3.5, Mean CRP 19.32 +12.8 mg/l. The Correlation between BASDAI and ASDAS-CRP (r) was 0.76 and the correlation coefficient of agreement between ASDAS-CRP and BASDAI >4 was 0.75.The cutoff point of ASDAS with the best agreement with BASDAI was 3.5 (global agreement 78%, kappa 0.55). Both BASDAI and ASDAS showed a higher correlation with patient's global assessment (PtGA) (r = 0.82 and 0.74, respectively) than with physician's global assessment(PhyGA) (r = 0.76 and 0.7) The discriminant validity analysis showed that both ASDAS and BASDAI were able to discriminate patients above and below median PtGA (d = 1.15 &d=1.3) and PhyGA (d = 0.75 and d = 0.9) respectively however BASDAI was better than ASDAS to discriminate patients above and below the median PhyGA (p = 0.05)60 patients were followed up with mean duration of follow-up of 6.2 +1.6 months. Both ASDAS and BASDAI decrease significantly (p = 0.03 and 0.02 respectively) however effect size was greater for ASDAS(0.8) than BASDAI (0.6). There was no difference noted in the degree of spinal inflammation as evidenced by MRI when patients with BASDAI >4 were compared to < 4. (p = 0.43, OR 0.6). The correlation between ASDAS and BASDAI was much higher in patients with active MRI lesions (r = 0.84), without any difference in CRP or BASDAI (p = 0.8 and p = 0.66 respectively)
 Conclusion
 This is a first study involving India and UK, which systematically compares the disease activity and outcome measures. Although BASDAI and ASDAS correlate well, the agreement is better for patients with high disease activity. ASDAS is more sensitive to change and shows larger effect size on follow-up. The outcome measures correlated more with active MRI lesions. Thus the cutoff value of BASDAI >4 for active disease might need a revision in clinical practice
 Disclosure
 N. Jain: None. S. Pandya: None. P. Srivastava: None. D. Shukla: None. A. Moorthy: Honoraria; Speaker and Conference fee MSD, Novartis Abbvie.


Northampton will be turned into a forest of twinkling Christmas trees this year with a 60 foot tree – thought to be the largest ever seen in the town – as the sparkling centrepiece.


A 27‐year‐old woman was referred to the gynaecological endocrine clinic because of infertility and secondary amenorrhoea. Serum luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone levels were raised and oestradiol concentrations were sub‐normal. In spite of these findings, spontaneous resumption of menstrual cycles associated with a fall of gonadotrophin concentrations was followed by a normal pregnancy.


In most countries on the European continent, arts education takes place both in the strict school environment and in extracurricular activities. In this article, we aim to address such issues as: the organization of school and extracurricular / extracurricular artistic and cultural activities, the type of these activities, the ways and criteria of evaluation, collaboration with the artistic and cultural environment.


A Cobb-Douglas production function was employed to construct the production function of sericulture which was further used to conduct quantitative analysis on the statistical data of sericultural production from 1991 to 2009 in China to explore the effects of land,labor,capital,and amount of silkworm eggs for distribution on the production of sericulture.In addition,the impact of technology improvement on sericultural production was comparatively analyzed between Zhejiang Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.It comes to the conclusion that the influence of labor and land input on China's sericultural production has weakened gradually,while capital input and technology improvement has become the main factors that promoted the growth of sericultural production in China.Technology of sericultural production in Zhejiang Province was more advanced and thus its unit land output level and quality of silkworm eggs were higher than Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.Therefore,it is suggested that to stabilize production scale,increase capital input,speed up scientific and technological progress,and improve production efficiency are the general directions for future sericultural production in China.Specifically,the eastern sericultural regions should keep mulberry gardens and stabilize the production bases of high quality silkworm cocoons,while the western sericultural regions should speed up scientific and technological progress so as to increase efficiency of sericultural production.


Knowledge, application and interpretation of the limits in which the trade can be carried out in accordance with current legislation ensures investments security and stability of business relationships. The professional and the enterprise are two technical terms that replace the words merchant and commerce actions. The economy of the text of the law necessarily requires the determination of the differences between the professional and the simple individual, and those between the firm and the simple activity. The doctrine on this matter is still in the process of conceptual clarification and deepening of the legislative novelty elements.


Objective: To observe the effects of modified Buzhong Yiqi Decoction (Middle Qi Tonifying Decoction) in the treatment of chronic cervicitis of spleen deficiency type. Methods: From May 2021 to December 2022, 80 patients from our hospital (The First People's Hospital of Huangzhong District) were randomly divided into two groups (40 cases/group). Patients in the control group were treated with Western medicine, whereas patients in the observation group were treated with Buzhong Yiqi Decoction (Middle Qi Tonifying Decoction) on the basis of Western medicine. The effects (curative effect, traditional Chinese medicine [TCM] symptom scores, and incidence of adverse reactions) were compared between both groups. Results: Before treatment, the differences in TCM symptom scores and incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Compared with the control group, the observation group had significantly lower TCM symptom scores after treatment and higher curative effect (P < 0.05). Conclusion: For patients with chronic cervicitis of spleen deficiency type, Buzhong Yiqi Decoction (Middle Qi Tonifying Decoction) is effective. Significant improvement in symptoms is evident with the use of Buzhong Yiqi Decoction, and it has little side effects. Given its outstanding therapeutic advantages, its application should be advocated in clinical practice.


The title compound, [Cu(C(24)H(46)N(6)O(2))]Cl(2).8H(2)O, contains a centrosymmetric cation, with the anions and water molecules on general sites. The coordination geometry around the Cu(II) ion is an axially elongated octahedron, with Cu-N distances of 2.0448 (17) and 2.0847 (17) A, and a Cu-O1 distance of 2.3138 (16) A.


Ac conductivity - temperature dependencies of Au/polyaniline/Au structures with the electrodeposited thin film polyaniline are presented. The data for the reduced and reversibly oxidized polymer samples of estimated thickness being in 10 - 1 -10 0 μm range are shown. The charge transport laws are found similar to that observed for the chemically prepared conducting polymer. The observed crossover in the conductivity - temperature dependence coincides with the increase in the electrical capacitance of the polyaniline electrode reported earlier.


The World Health Organization said this week that more than 450 000 of the people who died from tuberculosis in 2007 were infected with HIV, more than double the estimated global total of 200 000 in 2006.

But it attributed the increase mainly to a big rise in testing for HIV among people being treated for tuberculosis, particularly in Africa.

"These findings point to an urgent need . . . to test for HIV in all patients with TB in order to provide prevention, treatment, and care," said Margaret Chan, WHO's director general.

"Countries can only do that through stronger collaboration programmes and stronger health systems that address both diseases," …


The phytocenotic diversity of the desert steppes is preserved due to the presence of the Bogdinsko-Baskunchaksky Nature Reserve and Elton Natural Park in the southern steppe subzone of the Russian Caspian Sea region. Steppes in the TransVolga region are more diverse than those in the Sarpinskaya lowland. Agropyron desertorum + Artemisia taurica petrophytic steppes do not stretch as far as the west of the Volga. Petrophytic series of communities on the slopes of Bolshoye Bogdo Mountain and halophytic complexes along the shores of Lake Elton include rare communities of species found on western and eastern distribution limits. These include communities of Artemisia semiarida, since Bolshoye Bogdo Mountain is the farthest western habitat of this wormwood, far from the main range of the species. The spectrum of communities of dwarf semishrub perennial saltworts (Anabasis salsa, Atriplex cana, Camphorosma monspeliaca) and wormwoods (Artemisia lerchiana, A. taurica, A. semiarida) features the specificity of the desert steppes of the Russian Caspian Sea region.


This workshop provided a forum to discuss the strategies, technologies, procedures, best practices, research, and development that can significantly improve thermal imaging technology for the first responder community. The goal of the workshop was to identify barriers that impede advances in the application of thermal imaging technology to emergency response. The program included experts from the first responder community, thermal imaging camera and component manufacturers, fire fighter trainers, and those doing research on thermal imaging, speaking on today's safety challenges. After hearing presentations, the workshop divided into three breakout sessions to discuss the following four questions: What technological advances are needed? What are the research needs for first responders? What performance metrics are needed and how do they differ from current methods? What standards are needed? The results of each groups' deliberations were discussed when the full workshop reconvened. The responses from each group were coalesced and listed so that attendees could vote on the issues that they felt were most important. Attendees were grouped by their affiliation with industry or the first responder community. The combination of issues that relate to image quality (a collection of research, performance metrics, and standards needs) was voted to be the most important topic overall, and the most important subject for industry representatives. The development of camera durability (or ruggedness) metrics and standard testing methods was the second-most important subject overall, and the second-most important subject for industry representatives. Training and certification for personnel, and human factor/dynamics/ergonomic research were the first and second-most important topics for first responders.


There are many methods to make the equipment acquisition plan.The paper applies the conception of equipment service periods,studies the effect of equipment service periods on the equipment acquisition plan,and points out the method of serial time of equipment acquisition making.


For the difficulty of operation and maintenance of wind turbines, anomaly detection technology was derived to identify faults early. In the research of power curve modeling, multivariable and nonlinear problems need to be involved. This paper proposes a wind generator abnormal state analysis method based on the power characteristic curve. Based on the data of wind turbine SCADA system, double threshold is used for data cleaning and Bin method is used for data packet in this method. Using nonlinear fitting to set up a parametric Logistic mathematical mode of the power curve. The control pattern is used for the operating condition's monitoring and abnormal analysis, and limits of the control pattern are obtained by calculating the average residual and standard deviation. Finally, simulation results verify the effectiveness of the wind generator abnormal state analysis method based on the power characteristic curve. In conclusion, to identify the abnormal state of the wind turbines, this thesis studies correlation between the historical data of the wind farm and power characteristics of wind turbines, and the modeling method. It is not only an attempt and exploration of the related theories and technical methods to wind power big data, but also provides a basis for the performance evaluation of wind turbines and has practical application value.


There are many taboos, especially those connected to sexual features of societal standards, yet little is known about how they affect people's private lives. For the better understanding of these perceived taboos, there is need to assess their impact on sexual behavior. Therefore, the aim of the study was to explore the sex taboos prevailing in our society and develop a tool to measure them. Focus group was conducted including 6 participants who were Muslim married men and aged 25 and above. Developed scale was then administered on 340 participants. Sample was selected by purposive sampling strategy. The results showed that the Perceived Sex Taboos scale has 33 items in total, with two variables discovered by Exploratory Factor Analysis. Significant correlations between all components were found by comparing the subscales. Findings have practical implications for the identification of taboos, to provide new dimensions for future researches and to help in developing a sense of strong emotional connection with the spouse.


Abstract The symposium has shown the dynamism of this rapidly evolving discipline. I shall concentrate here on some highlights and some complementary informations. I conclude on open questions with some perspectives on solar & stellar activity and related planets.


A modification of the known Worst pigtail probe is introduced for use in canalicular lacerations in adult patients. The instrument features an increased diameter of its curved parts allowing for a better manipulation in adults. It also allows passage of the smallest available silicone elastomer tubing through an enlarged French eye at the tip of the probe.


Biostratigraphic diatom analyses were carried out on two sediment cores from Igaliku Fjord, South Greenland, in order to reconstruct hydrographic and climatic fluctuations during the late Holocene (AD 550 to present). Pronounced differences in hydrographic setting of the coring sites provide palaeoenvironmental information of both local and more regional character. Five diatom zones were identified from the subfossil diatom records, each describing a hydrographic setting. Two major climate periods, the 'Mediaeval Warm Period' (AD 800–1250) and the 'Little Ice Age' (ad 1580–1850), that were separated by a variable transitional period, were recognized. Prior to these periods, a cold and presumably moist climate regime prevailed between ad 500 and 700. Cooling events were identified during the 'Mediaeval Warm Period' in the period ad 960 to 1140. The diatom data demonstrate that marked hydrographic changes occurred in the course of a relatively short timespan beginning at about ad 1300 and culminating around ad 1500. These changes occur during a crucial period in which the Norse are believed to have disappeared from South Greenland. Thus, our results support the hypothesis proposing that one of the main reasons for the loss of the Norse settlements was climatic deterioration.


ABS TRACT Using Trademarks which are the same in principle as registered trademarks of other parties are regulated in Article 91 of the Act Number 15 of 2001 About Trademarks. Decision on case Number 4/Pid.Sus/2015/PN.Bla has been declared guilty and threatened with 10 (ten) months in prison and a fine of Rp. 10,000,000 (ten million rupiah). (1). How is the application of criminal acts against the perpetrators of criminal acts in the case decision Number 4/Pid.Sus/2015/PN.Bla? (2). How is the judge's consideration in applying the crime against the perpetrators of criminal acts in case Number 4/Pid.Sus /2015/PN.Bla? This type of research is normative juridical, the source of the data used is secondary data sources which include library materials in the form of documents, books, reports, journals, archives and literature relating to this problem. Conclusions of the study. (1). Criminal offenders against using the same mark in principle with a registered trademark of another party in case Number 4/Pid.Sus/2015/PN.Bla applied is Article 91 as in the subsidiary indictment, and sentenced to a prison sentence of 10 (ten) months and a fine of Rp. 10,000,000 (ten million rupiah). (2). Judge's considerations in applying a crime against a criminal offense use the same mark in principle with a registered mark belonging to another party in case Number 4/Pid.Sus/2015/PN.Bla according to the Juridical Aspects namely facts, witness statements, defendants, and goods the evidence revealed in court and non-juridical aspects are mitigating and aggravating. K e ywords : Application, Criminal, Using, Trademark.


In the last decade diode pumped solid state lasers have become an important tool for many industrial materials processing applications. They combine ease of operation with efficiency, robustness and low cost. This paper will give insight in latest progress in disk laser technology ranging from kW-class CW-Lasers over frequency converted lasers to ultra-short pulsed lasers. The disk laser enables high beam quality at high average power and at high peak power at the same time. The power from a single disk was scaled from 1 kW around the year 2000 up to more than 10 kW nowadays. Recently was demonstrated more than 4 kW of average power from a single disk close to fundamental mode beam quality (M²=1.38). Coupling of multiple disks in a common resonator results in even higher power. As an example we show 20 kW extracted from two disks of a common resonator. The disk also reduces optical nonlinearities making it ideally suited for short and ultrashort pulsed lasers. In a joint project between TRUMPF and IFSW Stuttgart more than 1.3 kW of average power at ps pulse duration and exceptionally good beam quality was recently demonstrated. The extremely low saturated gain makes the disk laser ideal for internal frequency conversion. We show >1 kW average power and >6 kW peak power in multi ms pulsed regime from an internally frequency doubled disk laser emitting at 515 nm (green). Also external frequency conversion can be done efficiently with ns pulses. >500 W of average UV power was demonstrated.


Localized ground‐water mounding beneath larger on‐site sewage disposal fields (leach fields) may be a major problem which previously had not been adequately addressed. Existing methods to predict mounding, mainly developed for ground‐water recharge spreading basins, are reviewed for applicability to sewage disposal fields. A most appropriate and accurate method is selected and considerably simplified to provide a convenient, straightforward prediction procedure for regulatory agencies and designers. The major simplification, to a single equation, is particularly accurate after longer wastewater application times, of say 10 to 20 years, when mounding is of most concern. Sensitivities of the procedure to the various simplifications, site factors, and design and management options are discussed and presented in graphical form where significant. Alternative means to reduce mounding are reviewed. Mounding problems and potential mitigation measures should be made more widely known, and long‐term field verificat...


A new lifetime model, which extends the Weibull distribution using the generalized transmuted-G family proposed by Nofal et al. (2016), called the generalized transmuted Weibull distribution is proposed and studied.
Various of its structural properties including ordinary and incomplete moments, quantile and generating functions, probability weighted moments, ROnyi and q-entropies and order statistics are derived. The maximum likelihood method is used to estimate the model parameters. The new
distribution is applied to two real data sets to illustrate its ‡exibility. It can serve as an alternative model to other lifetime models available in the literature for modeling positive real data in many areas.


The presentation steps on the idea how user satisfaction, which is completely subjective factor, raises the efficiency experience of the libraries, by applying multi-functional library card. The New Bulgarian University Library (NBU Library) membership card saves time, efforts and minimizes the necessity to use additional identification proves.


Significance Our work reveals the breadth of NK cell immune variation present in the Mus musculus species as represented by the highly diverse Collaborative Cross (CC) mouse resource. We identify unique CC strains that provide an opportunity to study NK cell differentiation and function, and we identify genomic loci driving the variation of relevant NK cell parameters including lung NK cell numbers, frequencies of CD94+ NK cells, and expression levels of NKp46. Finally, our results reveal the similarities of NK cell immune variation between genetically highly diverse human and mouse populations, highlighting the potential of CC mice as a preclinical model for the development of immunotherapies targeting NK cells. Natural killer (NK) cells are innate effectors armed with cytotoxic and cytokine-secreting capacities whose spontaneous antitumor activity is key to numerous immunotherapeutic strategies. However, current mouse models fail to mirror the extensive immune system variation that exists in the human population which may impact on NK cell-based therapies. We performed a comprehensive profiling of NK cells in the Collaborative Cross (CC), a collection of novel recombinant inbred mouse strains whose genetic diversity matches that of humans, thereby providing a unique and highly diverse small animal model for the study of immune variation. We demonstrate that NK cells from CC strains displayed a breadth of phenotypic and functional variation reminiscent of that reported for humans with regards to cell numbers, key marker expression, and functional capacities. We took advantage of the vast genetic diversity of the CC and identified nine genomic loci through quantitative trait locus mapping driving these phenotypic variations. SNP haplotype patterns and variant effect analyses identified candidate genes associated with lung NK cell numbers, frequencies of CD94+ NK cells, and expression levels of NKp46. Thus, we demonstrate that the CC represents an outstanding resource to study NK cell diversity and its regulation by host genetics.


It is known that upon heating or UV irradiation perfluoroiodoalkanes R/sub F/I split hexaalkyldistannanes R/sub 3/SnSnR/sub 3/, giving trialkylstannyl iodides and trialkylperfluoroalklstannanes R/sub F/SnR/sub 3/. The authors showed with reference to trimethylstannylphenylacetylenes that upon IV irradiation perfluoroiodoalkanes react with trialkylstannylacetylenes to give primarily perfluoroalkylacetylenes. Yields of target products reach 50%


Hypermobility is found in a number of syndromes including Ehlers-Danlos and Marfan. Hypermobility as a distinct entity was first described in 1967. It affects 4% to 7% of the population and has a female preponderance. The diagnosis can be made using the following maneuvers (three of five necessary for diagnosis): (1) extension of the wrist and fingers parallel to the forearm, (2) apposition of thumb to forearm, (3 and 4) hyperextension of the elbow and/or knee 10 degrees or more, (5) touching palms to floor with knees extended.
 Patients with this syndrome may complain of arthralgias of the hypermobile joints and a propensity for multiple joints to be so involved. Joint effusions may occur on occasion, but signs of inflammation (eg, elevated ESR value) are normal unless there is a secondary diagnosis.


This paper reviews the origin of forward delivery housing market and its development in China,and then theoretically analyzes the causes for the failure of the complete housing prices and the stabilizing effect of the forward delivery housing market on complete housing prices.Finally, based on the practical experiences from other countries and regions,with the perspective of adjusting and maintaining the functions of forward delivery housing market,this paper suggests that the direct finance function of forward delivery housing market shall be limited while the indirect finance function shall be developed.Meanwhile,the marketing function shall be well protected and the price stabilizing function shall be further promoted.


The structure and shaping process of a plastic table leg were analyzed.The core-pulling and demolding mechanism of an injection mould for the deep cavity part were introduced.The mechanism runs reliably and automatically.


India has an ancient heritage of floriculture, still, 98.5% of flowers are grown under open cultivation and hardly 1.5% of flowers are grown in a greenhouse. Commercial floriculture is now recognized as an important sector with the potential for generating employment and earning valuable foreign exchange. There has been tremendous growth in the demand and consumption of floriculture products in the last two decades. The research study was conducted in the Ujjain district of Madhya Pradesh in the year 2016-2017. Ujjain district is one of the important flower-growing districts and hence, it is considered under National Horticultural Mission (NHM) program by taking 120 flower growers. Out of the total of 25 villages, 4 villages were selected by random sampling method and data was collected by using an interview schedule. The adoption behavior of respondents, in the present study, refers to the extent of improved flower production technology and practices adopted by the respondents under the NHM program on their farm as per the recommendations. For measuring the level of adoption behaviour, an adoption index was developed which consisted of 14 practices. The Education level, annual income, source of irrigation, farm mechanization, marketing behavior, information-seeking behavior, mass media communication, risk-taking ability, and knowledge level of the flower growers were found to be positively and significantly associated with their adoption behavior of improved flower production technologies. Hence it is concluded that there is a need to promote flower cultivation for better livelihood of the flower growers.


Analyses of interaction patterns across geographical space have always been at the forefront of interest in the spatial sciences. Although a wide variety of contexts have been examined, in this paper we shall restrict our attention to those situations in which patterns of communication are affected by the existence or imposition of barriers. According to Nijkamp, Rietveld and Salomon (1990), obstacles in space or time that impede the smooth transfer or free movement of information-related goods can be regarded as barriers to communication. For our present exploratory purpose, significant discontinuities in the flow intensity of communications may signify the existence of barriers. Their effects on communication patterns are generally nonlinear and often stepwise in character. They may not approximate traditional frictions of distance - which are mostly continuous in character.


Available UBV data for stars in the cluster NGC 6649 are reexamined with a view to a resolution of the discrepancy noted by Flower (Astrophys. J. 224, 948 (1978)) between the evolutionary status of the Cepheid V367 Scuti and that of other likely cluster members. The data of Madore and van den Bergh (Astrophys. J. 197, 55 (1975)) and Talbert (Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac. 87, 341 (1975)) are combined, and it is shown that a significant amount of differential reddening is present in the cluster. With the effects of this removed, the cluster color-magnitude diagram exhibits far less scatter than has been found previously. As a consequence, the age estimated for cluster members is consistently near 5( +- 1) x 10/sup 7/ yr, in agreement with the estimated age of V367 Scuti. Possible uncertainties in the evolutionary status of the luminous B giant members are demonstrated to be a problem inherent to other moderately rich clusters of similar age, and may indicate the need for changes to standard evolutionary models of intermediate-mass stars which account for convective overshooting in the core. It is concluded on the basis of its derived reddening, luminosity, and evolutionary status that V367 Scuti is almostmore » certainly a member of NGC 6649.« less


Because of their unique physical structures and advanced heat transfer and flow properties, porous metals are sought after for a wide range of applications. This study focuses on finding potential applications of four differing samples of a new porous fibrous metal made by Mitsubishi Materials based on the analysis of the effects of permeability on the flow and heat transfer properties. Two different experiments were used to measure the average flow velocity and pressure drop in order to find permeability. Computer simulations were used to further identify flow behaviors based on the average flow velocity and pressure drop. It was found that in both the experimental and simulation methods, all samples showed high permeability value estimations. Both methods showed that as porosity and wire diameter increases, permeability increases. Generally, higher permeability values were found to be desirable for applications with fluid or air flow. In finding and understanding the properties of the samples used in this study, and how these properties affect their performance in a wide range of applications, they can used to their full potential.


BackgroundRevision total ankle arthroplasty (TAA) can be extremely challenging due to bone loss and deformity. We present the results examining the preliminary indications and short term outcomes for the use of the Salto XT revision prosthesis.Material and methodsWe conducted an IRB approved prospective review revision TAA performed in two institutions using the Salto XT. There were 40 patients (24 females and 16 males with an average age of 65 years (45–83), who had undergone previous TAA (Agility 27, Salto 4, STAR 4, Buechal Pappas 1), and 4 patients who underwent staged procedures for infection. The primary indications for the revision were loosening and subsidence (34), malalignment (17), cyst formation (8), infection (4).ResultsSevere bone loss of the talus (30) and distal tibia (5) caused by erosion or cysts (8) were treated with cancellous bone graft (33), cement (7), or a combination (12). A press fit of the tibial component was obtained in 25 cases, and of the talus in 17. The talar component was...


The goal of this project was to implement a device, which can measure the illuminance and the correlated color temperature (CCT) of a light source and also works as a webserver. The analyzation of light sources is very important in our everyday life. With the use of a webserver the measured values are easily accessible and the calculation methods can be changed without any changes on the hardware. It also provides a solution to store and analyze the results without further human interaction. Therefore the device is capable of collecting and analyzing a large amount of data. For these criterions we chose a PIC microcontroller, an Ethernet chip and two different sensors. One of the sensors is an RGB sensor and the other one is a LUX sensor. Both of the sensors are using photodiodes to sense the different attributions of a light source. Through this article we show the basic theory behind the project, the implementation and calibration of the device; then the results of the measurements and finally we mention some possibilities for future improvements. Keywords— webserver; correlated color temperature; illuminance; sensor; microcontroller; light source; data collection; calibration; measurement; photodiode; chromatical diagram; planckian locus


Carson favors using the New International Version (NIV) which he claims is the best English translation now available. Because this book is directed toward evangelicals, Carson considers only the KJV, the NASB, and the NIV since these three translations are the ones that he considers most likely to be adopted by evangelicals. He does not treat the TEV, considering it unlikely to be much used by his intended readers.


In this study, enhanced linearity and wide linear range current adder and subtractor circuits based on cascode current mirrors are presented. Among other analogue signal processing devices, the described circuits can be employed in operational transconductance amplifiers (OTA), Gm-C filters, and amplifiers. To enhance current mirroring performance, the suggested circuits use the cascode current mirror topology. A 1.8-volt supply and TSMC 0.18-micron CMOS technology were used to model the suggested circuits. The suggested circuits have an allowed error percentage of less than 2.5% and perform well in the current range of 0 to 80 A. The outcomes of the SPICE simulation have shown how well the proposed circuits work.


The development of softwares, which explore graphic and simple use tools, are efficient for the educational development of students, primarily in areas correlated to engineering, as numbers and graphs are broadly explored. That way, this article aims to develop a tool through the software Excel in order to verify the operation of relays 50/51, 67 and 21, for both impedance and admittance, which are essential to the protection of the electric power system. Through an intuitive user friendly interface, the software is adequate with the available literature and stimulates learning in a simple manner.


The results of experiments on methane anaerobic digestion of condensate in combination with cow manure are presented. Condensate was obtained during partial gasification of birch chips. The yield of biochar and condensate, sorption parameters of biochar namely the specific internal surface and iodine value are given. The concentration of phenolic compounds in the condensate was determined. The digestion process took place at a mesophilic temperature of 35 °C. Despite the inhibition of the digestion process by phenolic compounds of condensate which led to a longer lag phase there is a conversion of organic matter of condensate into biogas and intensification of digestion. Lag phase during digestion of condensate-containing substrates is up to 2,9–4,8 times longer than a control substrate that does not contain condensate. The maximum allowable concentration of phenolic compounds in the substrate is 103 mg/dm3 at which the digestion process takes place. The yield and composition of biogas, the degree of conversion of volatile solids and phenolic compounds are determined. The cumulative yield of biogas per unit volume of substrate is 40.3–58.6 % higher than that of condensate-containing substrates. The average concentration of methane in the produced biogas is 9.6–13.6 % higher than that of condensate-containing substrates. It has been shown that the volume of biogas produced and the methane content in biogas have increased due to the processing of phenolic compounds. The destruction of phenolic compounds in condensate-containing substrates ranged from 45.5 % to 80.3 %. Based on the obtained experimental results a schematic diagram for the industrial implementation of the above method of condensate conversion is developed. This will allow the physical heat of the generator gas to be used either to maintain a constant temperature inside the biogas reactor or to preheat the substrate. Organic acids, soluble tar and phenolic compounds present in the condensate are processed in a biogas reactor to produce biogas. Ref. 13, tabl. 1,  fig.  2.


1059 Background: Metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is a heterogeneous disease associated with known somatic mutations of variable biological value in different subtypes. Furthermore, the clinical evolution of the disease demonstrates clonal evolution resulting in disease resistance more accurately detected using blood-based sequencing. Few studies have explored differences in genomic features of tumors across populations. Here, we performed circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) sequencing to compare the genomic landscape of patients with hormone-receptor positive MBC at time of first recurrence or de-novo metastatic diagnosis in the United States (US) and China. Methods: Twenty-three US patients from Northwestern University and 65 Chinese patients from Peking University had ctDNA sequencing from plasma performed using the harmonized CLIA-certified, 152-gene PredicineCARE assay in laboratories in the US and China, respectively. The data analysis was conducted in China. Institutional Review Boards at each site approved the study. Fisher's exact test was performed to compare mutational frequencies across populations. Results: Median age of patients at MBC diagnosis was 51 in the US cohort and 55 in the Chinese cohort. 87% of US patients and 82% of Chinese patients had received prior therapy for primary breast cancer, including endocrine therapy. Mutations were detected in 17 of 23 (74%) US patients and 59 of 65 (91%) Chinese patients. CNAs were observed in 57% of US patients and 58% of Chinese patients. The most common mutations detected in US patients were TP53 (26%), PIK3CA (22%), AKT1 (22%), CDH1 (17%), PTEN (13%), and ESR1 (9%) vs. PIK3CA (46%), TP53 (35%), ESR1 (12%), and BRCA2 (11%) in Chinese patients. Frequency of AKT1 and CDH1 mutations were significantly higher in the US population (P < 0.05), while PIK3CA mutations were higher in the Chinese population (P < 0.05). CNA gains in CCND3 and CDK4 were significantly higher in the US cohort, and FGFR1 was significantly more common in the Chinese cohort (all P < 0.05). Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is a first cross-regional comparison study in HR+ MBC patients in the US and China using a harmonized cfDNA NGS platform. At a population level, there were notable differences observed in somatic variants in two cohorts. Future sequencing efforts and clinical trials should include patients of diverse ethnic backgrounds to explore the impact of differences in genomic landscape on probability of benefit from treatments. A larger validation cohort is required to confirm these findings.


This review summarized the functions of the aromatic composition of acids content,esters content,al-cohols content in Chinese spirits,analysed the influence of aromatic composition on Chinese spirits.This can be applied in liquor blending of liquor making.


The genetic and economic effects of two stages of truncation selection in a white spruce seedling orchard were investigated by computer simulation. Genetic effects were computed by assuming a bivariate distribution of juvenile and mature traits and volume was used as the selection criterion. Seed production was assumed to rise in a linear fashion to maturity and then remain constant for the life of the orchard. Expected seed production was used to compute the number of acres that could be planted and volume gain over this acreage was estimated using predicted response to selection and white spruce volume tables. The added volume was compared to the cost of the orchard using the cost-price investment criterion. The cost-price of the volume gain was found to vary little over reasonable intensities of preliminary culling and the optimum intensity remained the same regardless of the juvenile-mature correlation.


We report the fabrication of platinum screen printed electrodes which are electrochemically characterised and evaluated as to their potential analytical application towards the sensing of hydrazine and hydrogen peroxide. In the case of hydrazine a linear range of 50 to 500 μM is possible with a limit of detection (3σ) of 0.15 μM achievable using cyclic voltammetry which can be reduced to 0.12 μM using chronoamperometry. The novelty of these platinum screen printed electrodes is highlighted in that the platinum on the screen printed electrode surface resides as an oxide, which is favourable for the electrochemical oxidation of hydrazine, which need to be formed via extensive potential cycling when using a traditional platinum electrode hence the platinum screen printed sensors alleviate these requirements. The electroanalytical reduction of hydrogen peroxide is shown to be feasible with a linear range over 100 and 1000 μM with a limit of detection (3σ) of 0.14 μM which is competitive with other reported analytical protocols.


On June 30, 1978, the State of Florida completed a year‐long experiment in which television and still camera coverage of trials was allowed. The State Supreme Court must now decide whether camera c...


ABSTRACT What do new materialist activisms and direct theory look like? Something massively distributed yet also micro somehow in relation to persons, indeed crowd-sensible among personal storifyings, is emergent among and as microaggression and microaggressions. Literally we see, in data visualisation, this perhaps hyperobject (see the online Microaggressions Project). A mattering entanglement not simply micro or macro reframes anything personal, person-all. And the connections with movements of re-action, #Baltimore, #Ferguson, and #BlackLivesMatter, matters too along with other massive distributions: of military hardware escalating aggression in police forces, of debt peonage of whole towns, and county, regional, and national citizenry to pay to arm police, against themselves. People gathering in their person at sites of danger to confront these activating realities, as well as to enact the distributive social media and art activisms supporting them and making their actions widely available. All this at scales both intentional and not, sometimes tactical and often spontaneous, escalations fraught with danger and release, and all thoroughly neurologically entangled as mattering motivations: caring, attention, attachment, aggression. These move within and through and among bodies and infrastructural embodiments. Our holobiont/s include/s it all.


Co-based catalysts 15%Co/AC1 and 15%Co/AC2 supported on activated carbon from coconut shell (AC1) and almond shell (AC2) were prepared by the vacuum impregnation method, and their catalytic performance was tested by CO hydrogenation. The results showed that the two carbon carriers had similar porous texture but different types and amounts of surface oxygen-containing groups, which influenced Co phases profoundly and led to different performance of the catalysts. The activity and selectivity of 15%Co/AC1 changed greatly by doping K and Zr. Under the reaction conditions of 3.0 MPa, 495 K, H(2)/CO (V/V) = 2, and GHSV = 500 h(-1), the selectivity for C(1)-C(18) alcohols over 15%Co/AC1 and 15%Co/AC2 were 20.6% and 9.6%, respectively. Under the same conditions except that GHSV = 1500 h-1, CO conversion and alcohol selectivity over 15%Co-0.01%K-2%Zr/AC1 were 28.0% and 34.3%, respectively. The liquid product contained 60.9% of alcohols, and the concentration of C(6)-C(18) alcohols was 20.6%.


The basic principle of the independent component analysis and the calculus steps of the FastICA algorithm were investigated, the corrosion test program of LF3 aluminum alloy was developed. The wavelet analysis was used to denoise the test acoustic emission signals, then the signals were separated by independent component analysis and the separation effect was good. It shows the great applicable potential of the independent component analysis in the processing of acoustic emission signals.


Knowledge Management on the supply chain is a major and competitive issue in many industries, since the importance of value creation through collaboration with the suppliers and the customers has become the business focus. Embracing supply value chain based on the effective knowledge management requires determination of knowledge management issues that can be measured, through which supply value chain be effectively achieved and enhanced. However, the ambiguity of knowledge management assessment where most measures are described subjectively using linguistic terms is a problem; fuzzy logic provides a useful tool. Thus, a fuzzy knowledge management evaluation framework for effective supply value chain management is developed in this study. To illustrate the efficacy of the approach, this study also evaluates the performance of Knowledge Management Dynamics (KMD) in two Turkish textile companies in a supply value chain perspective. Case evaluations demonstrate that the proposed framework can provide analysts with more informative and reliable information for decisions.


Abstract On a fresh HFER zeolite (Si/Al=13.8) at 623 K, the skeletal isomerization of n -butenes is accompanied by various reactions: disproportionation into propene and pentenes, coking, hydrogen transfer (in the decreasing order of significance). While there is a rapid deactivation of disproportionation, coking, and hydrogen transfer reactions, owing to the blockage of the pores by carbonaceous compounds (coke), an increase in the rate of isomerization is at first observed followed by a decrease at long time-on-stream. At the maximum of isomerization only 10% of the pore volume remains accessible to nitrogen adsorbent. Moreover, IR spectroscopy shows that 75% of the OH groups are in interaction with coke molecules, the remaining 25% being inaccessible to ammonia and, hence, to the reactant. Coke was found to be composed of slightly condensed aromatics (with two to four aromatic rings) trapped at the intersections of the eight- and 10-membered-ring channels. Coke molecules result from the transformation of secondary benzenic products, slowly desorbed from the zeolite pores, through two different ways, (i) the classical route via alkylation, cyclization, and hydrogen transfer steps and (ii) dehydrogenative coupling. The large significance of this latter reaction in the formation of HFER coke molecules in comparison to the other zeolites, can be related to the proximity of adjacent channel intersections. To explain the initial increase in the rate of butene isomerization a new reaction process is proposed involving as active sites benzylic carbocations formed from coke molecules trapped in pores located near the outer surface of the crystallites (pore mouth catalysis). The deactivation of this reaction which occurs at long time-on-stream is shown to be due to the growth of the active coke molecules.


Discussion regarding sports and athletes is somewhat contradictory. On one hand, professional athlete is thought of as a profession that brings high financial returns for an individual. On the other hand, it seems that there is a severe lack of money for many Finnish elite athletes. As each individual is different, so is each sports career. Yet, there are certain similarities that apply for most cases. The purpose of this study is to find whether or not investing in a sports career is financially profitable for an individual and where the possible profits come from. The biggest advantages, joy and enjoyment of participating, from sports are not taken into account in this study. There are two ways to profit from one's sports career. The first way is to become good enough to receive salary, bonuses or prize money during the sports career itself. The other possibility is to use the skills learned and contacts made during sports career later in life to earn money. The background information and theory for this study comes from earlier research on the topic done both in North America and Finland. As for the information on the life and working career after sports, a survey was conducted for former Finnish top athletes in icehockey, track and field and swimming. The results of this study show that even though the very best athletes earn noticeable amounts of money, the probability of becoming such a high-earner is so low that the NPV from the actual sports career is negative when taking into account probabilities of different scenarios and the forgone income caused by training. Yet, investing in sports career seems to be also an investment in human and social capital. Former athletes have mostly placed well in the workforce and 78% of these former athletes see their career as helpful in their later life in the workforce. Similarly to the studies conducted in North America, former athletes, on average, earn higher than average wages also in Finland. It seems that while an individual athlete does personal choices that may be financially negative during the actual sports career, the increased human and social capital bring such advantages later in life that the combined financial returns turn positive.


Abstract The association of property liability insurance (PLI) consumption with economic growth in the post liberalized era has already been established justifying the need to analyze the economic factors which lead to PLI development. The empirical examination reveals that income and trade development have a positive relation with PLI consumption whereas negative relationship is obtained for interest rate movement and financial development. However, inconclusive relation is derived for infrastructure development and price of insurance. The findings will assist the policymakers, insurance regulator and insurance statutory body in stimulating PLI consumption by focusing on the identified economic factors and devise policies to support the growth in PLI sector.


Abstract This paper presents several innovative solutions in the view of transferring gate signal orders for power semiconductor devices. While considering both monolithic and heterogeneous integration approaches, three different solutions are presented both theoretically and experimentally. The first integration scheme for the required signal insulation unit is based on integrated optical detectors; optical detectors are designed, fabricated and characterized when integrated within vertical power semiconductor devices and within a CMOS gate driver. The DC and AC performances of the first prototypes are compatible with the requirements and specifications for power converters. As a complementary and competitive integration approach, integrated coreless transformers within CMOS gate drivers are designed and characterized. A particular experimental investigation of high frequency coupling is described. A CMOS gate driver containing both a coreless transformer and other necessary functions is applied to a buck converter. Such an integrated circuit is then used to drive a high side and low side power transistor.


Machine Learning techniques in Industry. Application to oil refining In recent years, the increasing integration of the Internet of Things into production industry is at the genesis of a new digital industrial revolution known as Industry 4.0 [1]. The core component of Industry 4.0 is the concept of the digital twin. The main objectives of digital twin are to replace or reduce expensive, time-consuming physical experiments with rapid, inexpensive computer simulation [2]. Accurate and reliable predictive models for physiochemical properties of Hydrocracking process (HCK) products are extremely important. It can help petroleum refinery industries to save time and expansion on costly experiments. In our case, this is the main motivation to synthesize the available knowledge base of HCK process to build a digital twin capable of predicting the product properties of valuable petroleum fractions based on scientific principles. However, for the efficient execution of digital twins is it required to use the different steps of the Knowledge Discovery in Databases-process (KDD-process) [3]. That means automatic extraction of non-obvious, hidden knowledge from large volumes of data [4]. Ideally, the twin would enable: 1. Data cleaning and preprocessing to handle: • missing data items by deletion or imputation approach, • unexpected values (variables under consideration are expected to have values within a predefined range) by expert pre-processing. 2. Outliers Detection to identify and remove unwanted samples from data. In this work, we use the Local Outlier Factor (LOF) technique [5]. 3. Variables selection to select optimum number of variables from a large pool of variables. In the present work we applied leaps [6] and Random Forests [7] algorithms to determine suitable descriptors. 4. Machine learning to build models that characterize the impact of different physicochemical properties of the product. For this, Linear Regression, Kriging ,Support Vector Regression , Random Forest and Gradient Boosting Machine are proposed 5. Validation of the models using either a dedicated database or cross-validation techniques. The proposed twin was tested to predict the specific gravity of the vacuum gasoil (VGO), diesel and heavy naphtha cuts in Mild HCK (process that uses low to intermediary pressures and relatively low conversions). The results from this work will be presented. Results are promising but many unforeseen difficulties had to be addressed. In the future, the proposed framework can also be used to predict other properties (cetane number, sulphur and nitrogen content, etc.) with several process (High Pressure Hydrocracking, FCC ...). Furthermore, this type of methodology is also extended to predict industrial deactivation.


Based on some international and national theory of strategic alliance,under the background of development of regional economy,this paper analyzed the necessity of complex strategic alliance of small real estate enterprises under the central plains economic region background.Small real estate enterprises can choose the object of cooperation under the background of construction of the central plains economic region and its resource condition,and search proper city complex pattern.


Monshi and Zieglmayer's case study presents Sri Lankan participants as having views on the privacy of health information that differ radically from those commonly found in Western nations. This article explores 2 questions that their case study raises for the ethical review of research in international settings: First, are allegedly universal ethical principles—of the sort promulgated in the Belmont Report (National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, 1978)—useful in international settings?, and second, how should research oversight bodies address the challenges that arise in international behavioral and social science research?


BACKGROUND
Patients with high blood pressure (hypertension) in the community frequently fail to meet treatment goals: a condition labelled as 'uncontrolled' hypertension. The optimal way to organise and deliver care to hypertensive patients has not been clearly identified.

AIM
To determine the effectiveness of interventions to improve control of blood pressure in patients with hypertension.

DESIGN OF STUDY
Systematic review of randomised controlled trials.

SETTING
Primary and ambulatory care.

METHOD
Interventions were categorised as following: self-monitoring; educational interventions directed to the patient; educational interventions directed to the health professional; health professional- (nurse or pharmacist) led care; organisational interventions that aimed to improve the delivery of care; and appointment reminder systems. Outcomes assessed were mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure, control of blood pressure and proportion of patients followed up at clinic.

RESULTS
Seventy-two RCTs met the inclusion criteria. The trials showed a wide variety of methodological quality. Self-monitoring was associated with net reductions in systolic blood pressure (weighted mean difference [WMD] -2.5 mmHg, 95%CI = -3.7 to -1.3 mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure (WMD -1.8 mmHg, 95%CI = -2.4 to -1.2 mmHg). An organised system of regular review allied to vigorous antihypertensive drug therapy was shown to reduce blood pressure and all-cause mortality in a single large randomised controlled trial.

CONCLUSION
Antihypertensive drug therapy should be implemented by means of a vigorous stepped care approach when patients do not reach target blood pressure levels. Self-monitoring is a useful adjunct to care while reminder systems and nurse/pharmacist -led care require further evaluation.


An easily constructed heating stage has been designed for a Cambridge Scientific Instruments' Stereoscan Scanning Electron Microscope. This heating stage is capable of reaching temperatures of at least 1273 K. The stage is a simple design which can easily be built from non‐magnetic stainless steel and a natural stone consisting mainly of pyrophyllite. All heat shielding is made from these materials without the need for any liquid coolant surrounding the stage. The use of this heating stage as an instrument for the study of morphological changes during heating processes up to 1273 K is described briefly.


textabstractIs leadership development within a specific context possible, and if so, what are the
preconditions necessary to achieve the intended effect? This study tests a concrete method
for leadership development which has come from a theoretical framework and has been
applied in practice in three different concrete case studies, and then further developed after
reflection. The context-specific design per case study, working from a fixed frame of
reference, is inherent to the method elaborated here, referred to henceforth as the Reference
Method (Referentiemethode®).
The Reference Method is designed as a research method which is not limited by the formal
organisation and which takes account of the interdependence of the individual, the
organisation and society. These three perspectives are defined as essential for the
development of contextual leadership, which is a synthesis of different leadership styles,
sources and roles.
The study shows that leadership development based on the Reference Method is possible
within a specific context if:
1. the insights of contextual leadership are used, making a connection between society, the
specific organisation to or within which leadership is being given, and the leader as a
person: contextualisation;
2. the organisation's strategic ambitions and values are taken into account: ambition;
3. the method creates a positive climate for development in the leader's environment:
learning;
4. the method makes development measurable: measuring.
The power of the Reference Method is thus not in the model but in the dialogue that is
initiated, resulting in sense-making, assigning significance and authentic choices by the
leader. It includes a diagnostic approach in order to take snapshots of the organising
process, in which various different reality definitions or social contexts are ascertained
simultaneously.
The processes of adapting and sense-making ask a lot of professionals implementing the
method. They are required to reflect, to look at things repeatedly and methodically and to
intervene. In order to apply the Reference Method adequately, three roles are therefore
distinguished, namely the programme manager (internal), the consultant (external) and the
counsellor (external).


In order to overcome the disadvantages of traditional quick k NN classification algorithm,this paper proposes a quick k nearest neighbour classification algorithm based on near neighbour searching. By pre organizing the feature space, this method makes classification possible in the super ball whose center is the sample to be classified, thus the searching space is reduced effectively. Finally we make tests on super ball searching algorithm, primitive k NN algorithm and traditional quick k NN algorithm——timely termination algorithm according to their performances. The resuits show that, with the same recognition rate and k, the recognition speed of the super ball algorithm is better than that of the other two algorithms, moreover, the super ball algorithm is not sensitive to the searching order of training sample.