Immunocompromised patients often experience pulmonary complications especially acute respiratory failure (ARF) (1–3), themain cause of which is infection (4). To avoid increasing the risk of infection, non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIV) is recommended as a first line treatment for immunocompromised patients (5, 6). However, recent studies have cast some doubts on the protective effects of NIV as a first-line treatment in immunocompromised patients with ARF (7– 9). Meanwhile, a high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) may potentially be a better alternative to NIV or standard oxygenation therapy (SOT) in immunocompromised patients due to its unique functions (4), but the results of studies of the effect of HFNC are also obscure (10–12). It has been determined that the identification of ARF etiology in immunocompromised patients currently contributes extensively to the survival rates of these patients. Recently, Azoulay et al. (13) conducted a large, multinational prospective cohort study named the Efraim study, in which 1,611 critically ill immunocompromised patients with ARF were enrolled. They compared the intubation rate between four groups: standard oxygen only, HFNC only, NIV only, and both HFNC+NIV. Meanwhile, they also included patients who received firstline invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) and all-cause hospital mortality rates were compared between these groups. The study illustrated that the use of NIV did not impact outcomes. Although HFNC reduced the intubation rate, it did not influence all-cause hospital mortality. However, more importantly, they found that the etiology of ARF had an impact on hospital mortality, acting as a vital confounder in the association between oxygenation strategy and mortality, and the study proved that patients with undetermined ARF have a very high mortality rate.


Numerical model of ion kinetics is considered for the axially symmetrical magnetic trap. Magnetic system of the trap consists of long solenoid and two end coils which constrict magnetic field lines and form so-called magnetic mirrors reflecting charged particles. The trap contains warm Maxwellian plasma and strongly non-Maxwellian high-energy (fast) ions. Steady-state fast ion population supported by the ionization of high-energy neutral atoms injected into the plasma. Physical model is based on the kinetic equation with two-dimensional Fokker–Planck collision operator in the velocity phase space. Regimes of plasma exhaust trough the mirrors are considered taking into account possibility of electrostatic barrier formation. Such regimes essentially differ from gas dynamic exhaust of the warm Maxwellian plasma. Parameters of power balance for the system under consideration are discussed.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


Red Globe grape berries were used to study the effect of 6-BA and gibberellin on sugar accumulation and invertase activities.The results showed that more glucose and fructose than sucrose were accumulated in berries of grape treated with 6-BA and gibberellin from slow growth period of berries.In period of young fruit,it is clear that it made downtrend of glucose content and also reduced the rate of glucose and fructose.In period of berries stained,acid invertase in berries by 6-BA and gibberellin were higher than control,especially 10 mg/L 6-BA+40 mg/L GA3 was very cearly,9.86% higher than the control,so it resulted in improving accumulated speed and content of glucose and sucrose.During berries ripe,the content of all kinds of sugar was the higher than control,especially 72 days after bloom.After berries ripe 6-BA and gibberellin reduced the content of total sugar and glucose,in contrast it improved the content of the fructose.


ABSTRACT Various studies in the science and culture fields have long recognised the power of play in facilitating human development and therapeutic processes. This paper focuses on the developmental potential of play in psychodynamic therapy supervision for social workers who function as therapists, but its conclusions might be applied to supervision of other social work interventions. It is suggested that play is represented in supervision by an illusion shared by the supervisor and supervisee of their complete togetherness in the supervisee's clinical struggles and clinical responsibility. This element of play temporarily reduces supervisees' sense of loneliness in their responsibility for clients' welfare and for the integrity of therapeutic processes. This illusion is healthy and growth promoting when supervisees acknowledge reality and when, by repeatedly experiencing this illusion, they assimilate it into their professional self. Through such a process, supervisees eventually internalise a professional community of supervisors, colleagues, and writers, who become symbolic representations that can be projected onto reality and facilitate professional interactions.


A steering gear buffer for a steering gear of a Zahnsegment- or rack and pinion steering system. The steering gear buffer has a plastic body and a ring gear having a plurality of resin teeth, which are adjacent, positioned at a plurality of metal teeth on a sector gear or a rack, which are mounted on a support plate. The plastic teeth can have width dimensions which are larger than the metal teeth. One or more resilient spacers pushing the steering gear out of contact with the support plate.


Matrix Solid Phase Dispersion was applied to the effective and quantitative extraction of Bisphenol A (4,4′-(propane-2,2-diyl)diphenol) from human breast milk. A reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic method was further developed and validated. The mobile phase consisted of CH3CN-H2O (70:30, v/v) and was delivered isocratically. The analytical column was Hichrom Kromasil 100-5C18 (250 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) and was operated at ambient temperature. UV detection was performed at 230 nm. Sample preparation was achieved with matrix solid phase dispersion (MSPD) using the sorbent of Lichrolut cartridges with high recoveries (95.5%). The detection limit of the method was 5.3 µg/kg. Triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) was used as internal standard. Validation of the method was performed in terms of accuracy and precision: within-day assay (n = 6) and between-day assay (n = 3 × 3) and was found to be satisfactory, with high accuracy and precision results. The developed method was comparatively applied to the analysis of commercial cow milk samples with success.


Abstract Polysaccharides are macromolecules used for food development, and their further separation into different molecular weights allows their broader application in the food industry. Here, we performed microwave-assisted ammonium oxalate extraction of soy hull polysaccharide (SHP; MASP), followed by their separation and purification using membrane-separation technology and analyses of the emulsifying stability and MASP mechanism at different molecular weights. Additionally, we compared the composition and structural differences in SHP components and evaluated the separation and grading-emulsification stability properties of the membrane-emulsified components. The results showed improved emulsification stability properties of high molecular weight SHPs that had been separated and purified by membrane separation, with the formed emulsion exhibiting a high degree of viscosity, uniform particle-size distribution, smaller particle size, less interfacial tension, and a high Zeta potential. Moreover, the chemical composition, monosaccharide composition, and molecular weight of SHP were different.


Healthcare is an integral part of the mankind development. Managing the Healthcare sector has its own sphere of challenges. There are players in the market who have been contributing quit well towards healthcare. These Entrepreneurs who enter the field of Healthcare product demonstrate a unique feature of commercialisation with the moral attributes of producing product that protects the health interest of People. The Healthcare Entrepreneurship which entails to provide the solutions to the Healthcare Needs of the Society has been a great advent in the society since ages. Healthcare Startups have also gained momentum with time. The Healthcare starts ups in the Nation have been adopting innovative practices to solve needs of people. Healthcare Management supports this momentum and involves supervising medical services and facilities to ensure efficient patient care through tasks like planning, organizing, staffing, and resource allocation.
This review paper is a descriptive article attempted by collecting data through the Secondary sources. The study aims to understand the concept & essence of Healthcare Management. It further aims to gather insights on the Healthcare Management through structured review of literature. The authors have contributed a Healthcare Management recommendation based on the review study. The study depicts the knowledge on Healthcare Management and the literary effort can serve as Literature for further studies. The authors have considered Healthcare Management aspects at large rather any specific wing of Healthcare sector. Hence this may be the limitations of the study. The inferences drawn from the study may be indicative in nature rather exhaustive.


Polarization dependent nonlinear absorption in bulk ReS2 is measured by Intensity-scan. Absorption under high peak power shows a transition from saturable absorption to reverse saturable absorption when rotating the polarization with respect to the b-axis.


Analysis is made on side roadblock interference to the vehicle under the condition of mixed traffic and provided the side interference mathematical former according to characteristics of drivers and vehicles.


Considering a two-tier HetNet adopting orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) in downlink, we propose a multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (MA-DRL) scheme to perform channel assignment and power allocation. The goal is to jointly optimize the system capacity and power consumption. In the proposed scheme, the macro base station (MBS) and pico base stations (PBSs) play the role of agents. Each agent consists of a deep $Q$ network (DQN) and a deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) network performing channel assignment and power allocation in serial. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm converges steadily and can be used to improve the system capacity and reduce the power consumption effectively.


Disability researchers have voiced the criticism that the concept of care, together with research based on it, consists of the view that disabled people are dependent non-autonomous second-class citizens. The perspectives of disability studies and care research certainly are different from each other. Disability studies analyse the oppression and exclusion of disabled people and emphasize that disabled people need human rights and control over their own lives. Care research focuses rather on care relationships, informal and formal care, care-giving work and `an ethics of care'. Nevertheless, it is suggested here that the two perspectives are not mutually exclusive and that the two groups could learn from each other's approaches. For example, the relationship between disabled people and their personal assistants has much the same characteristics as the care relationship and requires a balancing of the needs and interests of the two parties. On the other hand, access to adequate care could be perceived as a basic civil and human right.


Abstract Total soil P was determined in six soils differing in pH, and in organic matter, total Fe, clay and sand contents. This study was undertaken to determine whether replacement of a sand bath.digestion procedure by an Al‐block digestion procedure affected the efficacy of an alkaline NaOBr method for determining total soil P. An Al digestion block was used for soil oxidation with NaOBr‐NaOH and the results were compared with a sand bath NaOBr method and a HC1O4 method. Temperature variability was very low in the digestion block (S.D.= ±1.4°C) when compared with the sand bath (S.D.= +20.1°C). The digestion block resulted in a greater precision in total P determination when compared to the sand bath (S.D.= ±3.7 vs. ±5.6, respectively). Linear relationships were obtained with the sand bath digestion technique (R2 = 0.981) and with the HC1O4 method (R2 = 0.982). Using an Al digestion block for NaOBr‐NaOH oxidation of soils for total P determination allows for a simple, precise alternative to sand bath di...


Today, research and development activities are main factor for economic and industrial development to all firms. Developing countries to get to the level of developed countries would be in RD8(7):555-559). (ISSN: 1545-1003). http://www.jofamericanscience.org . 86


VACCINE TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS BY A NE\W METHOD. As to the efficacy of vaccines in the treatment of bacterial infections there have been many opinions, but there must be few who have not felt some degree of disappointment at the slow and limited progress w-hich has followed the classical researches of Pasteur and of Koch. The methods described by Professor Dreyer in the paper an account of which is given at page 1065 aim at the removal of one difficultv, and probably an important difficulty, in the production of active immunitv. If antibodies are to be produced it is essential that the antigen should come into intimate contact with the cells of the body of the patient. Dreyer assumes that the absorption of bacterial antigens is hindered by the fatty envelope by which the body of certain classes of micro-organism is surrounded. This fatty envelope is intimately associated with the staining properties of those bacteria which we designate " acidfast " or " Gram-positive." It is for this reason that antibody formation has been more readily evoked by the injection of Grain-negative bacteria, and that comparativelv little success has been obtained by the inoculation of emulsions of acid-fast or Gram-positive


The manuscript evaluates the Czech transformation process with a focus on phenomenon of private ordering and comments briefly on the law approximation process in the Czech Republic. In the author's point of view, the phenomenon of private ordering has hitherto appeared in the Czech Republic in its negative rather than its positive form. On the other hand, the approximation of the Czech legislation to that of the EC (European Community) had begun at a time when the Czech legal system was not yet properly prepared to absorb such a large change and challenge.


Currently,the retail trade in China is fierce in competition,nearly all large supermarkets are insufficient in brand construction,and their brand value is dissatisfactory.Hence,based on brand recognition and image,the large supermarkets should research the key factors influencing brand value,and make strategies to increase brand value from location,commodity selection,prices,and promotion means.The managers should take the project of customer satisfaction and innovate enterprise culture to increase the brand value and competition.


Accepted for publication 21 May 1992 Epidemiology Of 10 million adults throughout the world with HIV infection, 75% have been infected through heterosexual transmission. This has resulted in an increasing number of women who have been infected, and with it, a rise in the numbers of children. Children under the age of 13 years with AIDS represent about 2% of all the total cases reported to the World Health Organisation. Reporting cases ofAIDS underestimates the size of the problem, and it is estimated that there are about one million children throughout the world infected with HIV. In sub-Saharan Africa, some 900,000 infants have been estimated byWHO to have been bom infected with HIV. In Latin America, about 10,000 children are infected as a result of vertical transmission. The numbers of infected children in South and South-East Asia are not known, but the virus is spreading rapidly through heterosexual intercourse and by the end of this century, more Asians may be infected each year than Africans. In the USA, the numbers ofpaediatric AIDS


Let r, s, t be relatively prime positive integers such that r2 + s2 = t2. Jesmanowicz conjectured in 1956 that for any given positive integer n the only solution in positive integers of the Diophantine equation (rn)x+ (sn)y= (tn)z is x = y = z=2. The author discusses the case n = l, r = a2-b2, s = 2ab, t = a2 + b2, b = 2m, (a, b) = 1, ab0, and proves that the conjecture is true if one of a, b has no prime factor of the form 4k + l, and certain congruence and inequality conditions on a, b are satisfied.


A wide range of cyber–physical systems can be modeled as Euler–Lagrange dynamics, whose inherent nonlinearities bring additional difficulties in the design and analysis of controllers for such systems. The objective of this article is to solve the jamming-resilient synchronization control problem of networked Lagrangian systems subject to unknown external disturbances, with the quantized sampling data. Under a jamming attack, a normal communication channel will be blocked with unknown frequencies and intervals. To achieve jamming attack resilience, a robust adaptive controller is proposed. Then a novel auxiliary system is designed for each subsystem over a directed network. By using the quantized sampling data from each subsystem and its neighbors, the jamming attack can be handled by an embedded single-integral subsystem. Sufficient conditions that are independent of the attack parameters are derived to guarantee the global stability of the closed-loop system. Compared with existing jamming-resilient methods, the proposed approach is concise and resilient to any jamming attacks with bounded frequencies and durations.


AP-design, an ecient non-rejective implementation of the ps sampling design, was proposed in the literature as an alternative Poisson sampling scheme. In this paper, we have updated inclusion probabilities formulas in the AP sampling design. The formulas of these inclusion probabilities have been greatly simplified. The proposed results show that the AP design and the algorithms to calculate inclusion probabilities are simple and eective, and the design is possible to be used in practice. Three real examples have also been included to illustrate the performance of these designs.


The dynamic properties of a soil are routinely investigated to describe its engineering behavior under repeated loading. Although the effect of suction on the dynamic response of soils is significant, there have been limited studies in which the post-compacted changes in suction induced by wetting and drying cycles have been considered. In this paper, aspects related to the dynamic properties with special reference to the small strain shear modulus of compacted soils subjected to wetting and drying are described. Further evidence on the dynamic response in terms of small strain shear modulus (G0) of a compacted soil subjected to wettingdrying is presented and novel insights into small strain behavior in multiple cycles of wetting and drying are shown. Particular emphasis is placed on the hysteric behavior and its dependence on the suction history. The results not only confirm the importance of the current suction ratio (or CSR), but also suggest that subsequent wetting-drying cycles further induce hysteretic changes in relation to the small strain shear modulus, particularly when following the wetting paths.


This paper proposes a method of network reconfiguration based on symbiotic organisms search (SOS) algorithm for reducing power loss of the electric distribution system. The SOS is a recent developed meta-heuristic algorithm inspired from the symbiotic interaction strategies of organisms for surviving and propagating in the ecosystem. Compared to other algorithms, SOS does not need any control parameters during the searching process. The advantages of the proposed SOS method have been validated in two electric distribution systems. Three network cases have been considered for each system, consisting of performing network reconfiguration on the system without distributed generator (DG) placement, the system installed type-P DGs and the system installed type-PQ DGs. The comparison results with particle swarm optimization and other previous methods show that the proposed SOS can be a promising technique for the problem of electric network reconfiguration.


Peach rust is a fungal disease commonly caused by Tranzchelia discolor (Fuckel) Tranzschel & Litvinov that attacks plants in the genus Prunus, including peach, nectarine, almond, plum, apricot, and cherry. In the Southeastern United State, the fungus is most common on peach orchards during summer and fall. The peach rust severity depends on the climatic conditions (temperature and rainfall), hosts (peach cultivars) and geographic location. Fungus rust is spread by airborne spores, which depend on moisture for infection. Where warm temperatures and high rainfalls usually result in severe peach rust infections. Florida's summer rainfall provide favorable conditions for peach rust development. Despite, all currently available cultivars of peach in Florida are susceptible to the disease (Adaskaveg et al. 2012). Further studies of subtropical peach cultivars have shown differences for peach rust tolerance, measured by leaf retention, and rust incidence in the orchards (Alves et al. 2014; Citadin et al. 2010)


The increasing need for lightweight structures requires the development of new kinds of materials. The general requirement of those materials is high specific mechanical properties, i.e. the ratio between mechanical properties and mass density. Laminate fiber reinforced materials, which have a very high strength and stiffness in desired directions and lower characteristics in other directions represent a very good choice, and they are already used in various applications like space structures, transportation applications etc. Further behavior improvement of structures made of laminate composites can be achieved by embedding components made of smart material between layers, like piezoelectric patches. In the paper the governing equations of an active layered plate are described based on the Mindlin-Reissner assumption. For a piezoelectric layer the electromechanical-coupled constitutive equations are introduced and the governing equations of piezoelectric actuating loads and sensor output are developed. Then the paper addresses the problem of the finite element formulation of a laminated piezoelectric plate type element.


The invention discloses a static NAT (Network Address Translation) implementation method based on an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). The static NAT implementation method based on the FPGA comprises the following steps: acquiring control information in a data packet to be forwarded; performing NAT processing on the data packet to be forwarded according to the control information to finish IP (Internet Protocol) address and port translation of the data packet to be forwarded, and determining a destination corresponding to the data packet to be forwarded; and transmitting the NAT-processed data packet to be forwarded to the determined destination. The invention further discloses a static NAT implementation device based on the FPGA. By adopting the static NAT implementation method and device, an outer network can access an inner network, and the data access diversity is improved.


Many of the spiritual and philosophical concepts are generally considered off limit to any scientific analysis and evaluation, as the modern scientists consider that science has developed its ideas from the observation of matter, be it in gas, liquid, or solid form. This is far from the truth. There are several examples where philosophical concepts dominated the development of scientific ideas. Some of the contradictory attitude may actually stem more from historical conflicts between religion and the empirical development of scientific principles than a real divergence between the philosophical concepts and scientific ideas. In fact, a sympathetic approach to understand interconnection between science and spirituality/philosophy reveals a more commonality and synergism than conflicts and mutual exclusivity. This article will elaborate on this aspect taking examples of some of the most fundamental concepts such as origin of the universe and time on one hand and understanding the yug cycle on the other. Matrix of Maya In 1993, a mainstream scientist and Nobel Laureate, Francis Crick wrote a book on "the scientific search for the soul". It indicated that scientists are interested in the question deeper basis of the operation of this universe even as they are disillusioned with their search for the most fundamental particles comprising the elements. There is indication that a mental game theory is taking shape from the ancient wisdom of saints and sages in terms of the exploration of Maya. Maya has remained such an integral part of Indian tradition that it has almost become synonymous with life's trials and tribulations for most people living in difficult situations in that part of the world. But for some 'educated' groups of people, the concept of Maya allows them to retain their sanity under the most chaotic conditions created by the time and traits of one's surroundings. While Maya is a refuge mostly for people belonging to the lower stratum of society in India, its value is also being recognized in the elite and enlightened class in the West. The concept of Maya is now being picked up by the popular entertainment industry to drive a message home to a population that can attempt to make sense of Maya in the midst of the chaotic opulence of today's world , and more importantly, perhaps in the world of tomorrow.


A strategy for the introduction of asymmetry into Frechet-type dendrons bearing n-alkyl chains is described. Starting from a methyl 3,5-dihydroxybenzoate core, 3,5-bis(octyloxyphenyl)methoxy and 3,5-bis(alkoxyphenyl)methoxy units are introduced in a stepwise manner. The method is illustrated by the syntheses of four representative compounds having mixed n-octyl/n-butyl, n-octyl/n-hexyl, n-octyl/n-heptyl and n-octyl/n-dodecyl substituents. The new compounds have been characterized by spectroscopic and mass spectrometric techniques.


Embedded systems have become extensive, complex, and automated; thus, increasingly, computing platforms for such systems are being transformed into multi-/many-core platforms. Typically, self-driving systems, involve various applications that run simultaneously, and such systems require low power consumption and large-scale computation. A many-core processor with instructions, multiple data architecture can satisfy these requirements. Shortening the time required to execute all tasks (i.e., makespan) is an important objective in task scheduling for parallel real-time systems, such as self-driving system. Machine learning algorithms have been introduced to solve this kind of problem. This paper proposes a reinforcement learning-based scheduling algorithm for parallel real-time systems represented by a directed acyclic graph (DAG), and Kalray's MPPA3-80 is used as a target many-core processor.


In this letter, the standard theory of small reflections (TSR) is generalized for the case of multi-section transformers, composed of conjugately characteristic-impedance transmission lines (CCITLs) connected in cascade, with small discontinuities. Using the assumption of small reflections, the total voltage reflection coefficient looking into the input of the transformer can be approximated, resulting in the TSR for multi-section CCITL transformers with small discontinuities. Numerical results, some physical interpretations and potential applications of results will be discussed in this letter.


Abstract Experiments with broiler chickens usually compare the effects of treatments when birds are killed at the same time. However, producers need to know the value of treatments on birds killed at the same weight, since their goal is to produce birds for a certain market. The curve expressing body weight as a function of feed consumption is described very well by a second-order polynomial (quadratic curve). Given an observed body weight and feed intake and a standard curve, it is possible to produce a curve that describes the relationship of body weight to feed consumption for any flock. Once this curve is estimated for a flock, it is possible to estimate the feed consumption (and therefore feed conversion or efficiency) for any weight of bird that could be slaughtered. This paper describes an electronic spreadsheet template for Microsoft Excel that predicts feed efficiency for any weight of broiler based on the observed body weight and feed consumption of a flock. The prediction may be valuable in comparing research results and rewarding contract growers for truly superior performance.


An interface control approach is formulated for land‐use management that relies on establishing and maintaining interface conditions rather than defining the content of the activity on the land. This is analogous to the system engineering concept of constraining the interface boundary conditions rather than specifying the detailed design. An application to regulating wetlands is examined. This approach has the possibility of producing relatively more stable land‐use regulations by eliciting the intent behind a regulation.


Even if all the wealth in the economy was owned by one agent alone, with zero weight in the social welfare function, the accumulation of wealth should not be taxed. The workers lose by having the capital-rich pay taxes on the accumulation of capital. (JEL: E60, E61, E62)


In tokamak disruptions where the magnetic connection length becomes comparable to or even shorter than the plasma mean-free-path, parallel transport can dominate the energy loss and the thermal quench of the core plasma goes through four phases (stages) that have distinct temperature ranges and durations. The main temperature drop occurs while the core plasma remains nearly collisionless, with the parallel electron temperature Te∥ dropping in time t as Te∥∝t−2 and a cooling time that scales with the ion sound wave transit time over the length of the open magnetic field line. These surprising physics scalings are the result of effective suppression of parallel electron thermal conduction in an otherwise bounded, quasineutral, and collisionless plasma, which is different from what are known to date on electron thermal conduction along the magnetic field in a nearly collisionless and quasineural plasma.


A timepiece component (21) comprising a silicon-based first part (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 27) and a metal-based second part (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 27). According to the invention, a surface (24, 28, 30, 31) of the first part is laser-welded to a surface of the second part in order to securely fasten them.


ABSTRACT This article discusses the recent trends in doctoral education in India in the changing context of higher education in the country. This context is characterised by the gradual withdrawal of state patronage for this level of education and the coterminous rise of the private sector, the formulation and implementation of the national framework for doctoral education in 2016, the adoption of the National Education Policy 2020 by the Government of India, and the devastating effect of the pandemic of coronavirus (Covid-19) since 2020. It focuses on the pattern of enrolment and out-turn of doctoral students, and on the different aspects of doctoral education such as structure, curriculum, supervision, and examination.


The relevance of research on the combustion processes of alkane-based fuels is due to the search for new, efficient, environmentally friendly fuels for the energy and aerospace industries. Paraffin (a mixture of alkanes) is a low-melting material that can be used as an environmentally friendly and high-energy fuel. An important task is to intensify the processes of fuel combustion in the reaction volume. One of the factors of intensification is the electric field. The purpose of this work is to study the laws of the influence of the electric field on the processes of high-temperature heat and mass transfer, melting and burning drops of liquid fuel based on alkanes.The paper developed a methodology for studying the kinetics of melting and burning of liquid fuel droplets using digital imaging of the object of study and computer processing of the images obtained.Studies have been conducted on the effect of a uniform electric field on the combustion of alkane particles in the air. The stages of heat and mass transfer in the combustion process are determined. It is shown that the melting of a particle is the main component of the induction period — the time during which the particle ignites. It was revealed that the melting rate significantly decreases if the electric field strength exceeds a certain critical value. It is established that the effect of the electric field on melting is more pronounced at high gas temperatures. It was found that when an octadecane particle melts in an electric field, the unmelted residual solid phase rotates in the melt. It is proved that this is a special case of the Quincke effect.The kinetics of combustion of octadecane drops of various initial diameters was studied. It has been proven that a linear law of variation of the square of the diameter of a droplet with time (Sreznevsky's law) is fulfilled in a certain area of burning. The influence of the electric field on the burning rate of particles of different initial diameters was studied. It has been established that under the action of an electric field an increase in the rate of burning of alkane droplets occurs. In particular, for octadecane drops, the burning rate in a constant electric field increases by 10 ÷ 23% depending on the initial diameter of the drop. The burning rate constants of octadecane are found.The influence of the electric field on the geometric dimensions of the flame is studied. It is established that under the influence of the field the flame becomes asymmetrical and shifts towards the negatively charged plate of the capacitor. This reduces the height of the flame and increases its width. These phenomena are associated with the action of "ion wind" in the flame and the transformation of the energy of the electric field into heat. As a result of the action of these physical mechanisms, the combustion front approaches the surface of the drop, increasing its rate of evaporation.


Epilepsy by definition is recurrent spontaneous seizures. Epilepsy must begin with first seizures, but not all first seizures mean beginning of epilepsy. This study is aimed to evaluate etiology and clinical profile of adult onset seizures. In a design to analyze etiology, it is desirable to select incident cases instead of prevalent cases. There are hardly any major incidence studies in India which makes our study special. All cases aged more than 20yrs admitted to medical wards with first time seizures formed the subjects of the study except cases of seizures in patients below age of 20yrs, patient with past history of seizures and patients with insufficient clinical data for seizures diagnosis. The study observed that new onset seizures were more common in males and occurred most commonly in age group of 21- 40yrs. Most common seizure type of adult onset seizures were partial seizures while CNS infections were the leading cause for both provoked and unprovoked seizures. Epileptic seizures were described in ancient cultures, including those of China, Egypt, and India. The seizure was attributed to the god of the moon and many supernatural powers. In fact the word epilepsy comes from a Greek word meaning "to be seized by forces from without". Hippocrates wrote the first book about epilepsy almost 2500 years ago. He rejected ideas regarding the divine etiology of epilepsy and concluded that the cause was excessive phlegm that caused abnormal brain consistency. Modern investigation of the etiology of epilepsy began with the work of Fritsch, Hitzig, Ferrier, and Caton in the 1870's. They recorded and evoked epileptic seizures in the cerebral cortex of animals. In 1929, Berger discovered that electrical brain signals could be recorded from the human head by using scalp electrodes; this discovery led to the use of electroencephalography (EEG) to study and classify epileptic seizures (1) . Gibbs, Lennox, Penfield, and Jasper further advanced the understanding of epilepsy and developed the system of the 2 major classes of epileptic seizures currently used. After a long circuit through ages of magic, black humors and black disinterest, medical thought has returned to the affirmation that epilepsy, like many other diseases, is root in natural causes. In terms of today epilepsy is not cryptogenic, born of ignorance, but is merely disturbance of the normal rhythm of the brain. In nature, rhythm is inherent, in man dysrhythmia means disease, in brain, paroxysmal dysrhythmia spells epilepsy. Epilepsy by definition is recurrent spontaneous seizures. Epilepsy must begin with first seizures but not all first seizures mean the beginning of epilepsy. Three fourths of persons with an isolated seizure never have another. There is a substantial difference in the distribution of syndromes in the fresh seizures when compared to a newly diagnosed epilepsy groups. Certain seizure types which are characteristic of specific syndromes are less likely to present to medical attention at the time of an initial event, such as absence, myoclonic, infantile spasms and complex partial seizures, whereas generalized tonic clonic seizures are more likely to come to medical attention. It is important to consider differences among studies using prevalent cases of epilepsy and those who recruit newly diagnosed epilepsy when considering etiology. In a design to analyze etiology, it is desirable to select incident cases instead of prevalent cases. There are hardly any major incidence studies in India, which makes our study special, as it is first of its kind to evaluate etiology and clinical profile of adult onset seizures.


Nanofibers are a type of nanomaterial with a diameter ranging from ten to a few hundred nanometers with a high surface-to-volume ratio and porosity. They can build a network of high-porosity material with excellent connectivity within the pores, making them a preferred option for numerous applications. This review explores nanofibers from the synthesis techniques to fabricate nanofibers, with an emphasis on the technological applications of nanofibers like water and air filtration, photovoltaics, batteries and fuel cells, gas sensing, photocatalysis, and biomedical applications like wound dressing and drug delivery. The nanofiber production market has an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6% and should reach around 26 million US $ in 2026. The limitations and potential opportunities for large-scale applications of nano-fibrous membranes are also discussed. We expect this review could provide enriched information to better understand Electrospun Polymer Nanofiber Technology and recent advances in this field.


Subtitle: A recent study done in conjunction with Logistics Management and Supply Chain Management Review revealed that running a tight fleet will put you in the best position to implement and maintain a long-term sustainability strategy. Here are some eco-friendly fleets management tips and a look at how The Kroger Co. is taking green to the bank.


Benzphetamine is known to metabolize to methamphetamine and amphetamine in biological systems. An animal study was conducted to understand the distribution of these metabolites in various tissues. Rats were divided into control (n = 6), 2-hour (n = 6), and 4-hour (n = 6) groups. The latter two groups were administered (IV) 30 mg/Kg benzphetamine and scarified 2 and 4 hours after drug administration. A relatively simple analytical scheme, including liquid-liquid extraction, asymmetric chemical derivatization ( l-N-trifluoroacetyl- 1-prolyl chloride or l-TPC), and GC-MS analysis, was developed for simultaneous determination of methamphetamine and amphetamine in kidney, liver, brain, heart, and serum. Calibration curves (50–1000 ng/g) established for methamphetamine and amphetamine in various tissues exhibit good linearity (correlation coefficient >0.999). Major metabolites of benzphetamine are d-enantiomers and the concentration of d-amphetamine was found higher than d-methamphetamine in all tissues, indicating N-demethylation as a major route of the metabolism. The concentrations of the metabolites in various tissues are in the order of kidney > brain ~ liver > heart # serum. These metabolites' concentrations increase during the first two hours and start to descend between two to four hours after dose.


Underwater acoustic communication typically involves vertical arrays that provide spatial diversity to mitigate channel fading and intersymbol interference when the array elements are well-separated. For closely-spaced arrays (e.g., one-half wavelength), an array gain is achieved by a beamforming process provided that the noise is uncorrelated while the signal is coherent across the array. A recent experiment (LRAC10) showed that coherent long-range acoustic communication (200-300 Hz) is feasible in deep water over ~550-km range between a source and a horizontal towed array (~100 m aperture). This paper demonstrates that beam diversity with a larger horizontal array (~200 m aperture) can be exploited to further improve the communication performance, achieving an error-free data rate of 50 bits/s for BPSK modulation at ~550-km range.


Jitter buffers in IP phones have various mechanisms for jitter elimination. To
measure how effective these implementations are, we need to compare quality mea-
sured using IP phone to default quality for each jitter that could occur in real IP
network. Reference model specifying the default quality for each jitter does not
exist so far, therefore we present this idea in this paper, where we present the
methodology that will be used in the future. In this paper we discuss only the worst
possible scenario, where the input flow to the jitter buffer is by modelled by Poisson
distribution.
Keywords: VoIP, QoS, E-model, jitter, jitter buffer, G.117, imbedded Markovian
process, network delay, reference model


In this paper we propose a mathematical model for calculating XPS intensity distribution from a textured sample surface covered with a thin film. The surface roughness is approximated using triangular prisms. Analytical expressions for XPS intensity calculation are given. The results show that the XPS signals vary significantly in the cases of thin overlayers and high values of the prism slope angle. This model is useful when evaluating the surface roughness together with the film thickness.


In a recent influential article, Henrich, Heine, and Norenzayan (2010) presented evidence suggesting that many tenets in psychology and behavioral sciences are wrongly considered de facto psychological universals because they are based on findings drawn from samples in Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies, but these findings cannot be generalized for the rest of humanity. Indeed, WEIRD subjects are the least representative of humanity and claims about the generalizability of findings must scale with the strength of empirical evidence across diverse populations. Authors are required to provide extensive information about the background of participants, which will allow authors of meta-analyses to use this information and be explicit about the generalizability of findings across populations. More importantly through, we need research across diverse populations in order to address explicitly the question of representativeness of theories in psychology and behavioral science. In the last few years the International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology (IJSEP) emerged as the leading forum for international research in sport and exercise psychology. An analysis of the articles that were published in the last 15 years in six journals of sport and exercise psychology revealed that the best representation of countries and regions emerged in the IJSEP, particularly in the last quinquennium (Papaioannou, Machaira, & Vari, 2013). This study also revealed a strong correlation between continents' representation in editorial boards and journal articles. Accordingly, the policy of this journal is to sustain or increase even further the representation of diverse countries and continents in its Editorial Board. This is in line with the policy of the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP) which established the IJSEP not just to address the questions of representativeness and generalizability but more broadly to promote understanding of sport and exercise psychology research and practice around the world. For the same purpose, the ISSP also organizes conferences throughout the world, with the World Congress of Sport Psychology being the largest event. From 20 to 25 of July 2013, more than 700 sport and exercise psychologists representing more than 45 countries will present their findings at the 13 World of Sport Psychology in Beijing. Being a reviewer of several studies that will be presented in this Congress I was amazed by the quality and diversity of research that takes place across many countries. It is a pity that many good studies which are presented at the World Congresses of Sport Psychology never appear in English speaking journals (Papaioannou et al., 2013). Of course it is difficult to publish in journals with high rejection rate. However, international authors might increase their chances to publish in the IJSEP if they explicitly state the contribution of their study to the generalizability of findings. Authors can address more effectively the question of generalizability by connecting their results with other international research which is published in journals like the IJSEP.


Stratospheric aerosols play an important role in atmospheric chemistry and climate. In particular, information about the amount and distribution of stratospheric aerosols is required to initialize climate models, as well as validate aerosol microphysics models and investigate geoengineering. Besides, good knowledge of stratospheric aerosol loading is needed to increase the retrieval accuracy of key trace gases (e.g. ozone or water vapor), when interpreting remote sensing measurements of the scattered solar light. The most commonly used characteristic to describe stratospheric aerosols is the aerosol extinction coefficient (Ext), and there are several datasets providing this parameter in the stratosphere. However, it is well-known, that for the limb-scatter instruments, this parameter contains uncertainties due to the need to assume an aerosol particle size distribution (PSD) within the retrieval process. These uncertainties can be mitigated if PSD parameters are provided for each profile. In this thesis, the methods to retrieve Ext and PSD parameters from the remote sensing instruments measuring the scattered solar light in the limb-viewing geometry are presented. The Ext retrieval algorithm is applied for Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) instrument, which was operating from 2002 till 2012, as well as for Ozone Mapper and Profiler Suite (OMPS) measurements, which started in 2012 and are conducted ever since. These products compose global stratospheric aerosol databases, which are covering over 16 years. Additionally, the aerosol PSD parameters are retrieved in the tropical region (20° N – 20° S) from SCIAMACHY limb measurements, creating a unique product. SCIAMACHY Ext retrieval algorithm is improved since the previous version, and the obtained results are compared to the datasets from Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) II and Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System (OSIRIS) instruments. In the tropical region, the agreement between the instruments is within 20%, while in the high latitudes of both hemispheres the differences increase. This is related to the fixed PSD assumed in the retrieval. Retrieving the Ext profiles from SCIAMACHY and comparing them to SAGE II it is shown, that in the high latitudes the change of the PSD parameters within realistic values is responsible for up to 100% of the errors, while


The aim of this paper is to find various errors and inconsistencies of system design in the early stages of the development process.A method for model checking UML statecharts was proposed,and was used to verify the consistency of the design model and the requirement specifications.The elements of UML statecharts were defined by a tuple system,and the middle representation of the UML statecharts-SC-was given.Based on the definition of operational semantics of SC,the statechart was converted into a state transition system with KRIPKE semantics,and the property which the system must meet was expressed as a linear temporal logic formula.Finally,a model checking method was given to verify whether the state transition system could meet the conditions of the linear temporal logic formula.This method can convert more elements of statecharts,it can also reduce the state space of transition system of statecharts and improve the efficiency of the model checking.


Background: Female genital cutting (FGC) affects over 200 million girls and women globally. It is inimical to health and increasingly being performed by healthcare providers. Medicalization of FGC is proposed by its proponents to reduce and prevent the incidence of its complications and though perceived to be safer, it is unethical and unjustifiable. This study assessed medicalization of FGC in Sapele Local Government Area, Delta State and made recommendations geared towards ending its practice. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among reproductive age women (15 – 44 years) selected using multi-stage sampling. Pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to obtain quantitative data from 502 women while a focus group discussion guide was used to obtain qualitative data. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 and by themes. Results were presented as tables and narratives. Results: Prevalence of FGC was 277 (55.2%), of which 223 (80.5%) were medicalized. The mean age of cutting was 16.8 ± 5.46 years and nurses performed majority 220 (79.4%) of them. Few 44 (8.8%) of the respondents were aware of possible complications of FGC. Qualitative findings indicated that FGC is still being practiced with nurses being reported as major practitioners. Conclusion: Despite concerted efforts to eliminate FGC, its practice is still propagated with increasing heath workers as practitioners. Advocacy and health education for women and girls as well as training and retraining of health care providers is imperative to check this trend. Correspondence to: Prof. Essy Isah Department of Community Health, University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria


Based on the criticism that Uppdrag granskning presented Parken Zoo, I therefore choose to examine their behaviour in media. The paper intends to focus on how crisis communication changes based on ...


Since the 1980s, carbon fullerene materials have been investigated for medical applications in humans. Fullerene materials are composed of carbon atoms and are compatible with the human body. They reduce free radicals in cells, provide anti-inflammatory effects, and inhibit tumor growth in the body. However, the primary antioxidant benefit of fullerene materials might be through the activation of Nrf2. Nanocarbon onion-like fullerene (NOLF) materials have a high surface area to volume ratio, making them viable for transportation in the cardiovascular system. These NOLF materials regulate the effects of free radicals in humans and animals, reducing tumor formation. They aid in targeted drug delivery systems for various conditions, such as cancer therapy. However, nanocarbon onion-like fullerene materials' safety, manufacture and dosage should be further evaluated and established for their therapeutic use in humans [1].


In this paper fiber/matrix interface debond growth in unidirectional composites subjected to mechanical tensile loading is analyzed using fracture mechanics principles of energy release rate (ERR). ...


The solar wind provides a unique opportunity for a study of the propagation of energetic particles in irregular magnetic fields on scales which are of astrophysical interest. Problems concerning the conduction of such a study are related to the great number of different factors which affect the motion of the solar particles. Observations related to solar particle propagation are considered, taking into account approaches involving the adjustment of parameters in analytical models to produce fits to the observed time-intensity and time-anisotropy profiles, and new classes of solar particle events, long and short-term modulations of galactic cosmic rays are discussed, giving attention to observations of modulation at high energies, a low energy solar cycle modulation, and mechanisms of modulation.


......................................... .......................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................... ................................................................. v TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................. ................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES..................................... ........................................................................... x CHAPTER 1 LEADERSHIP AND SCHOOL AS COMMUNITY: POSITIONING THE RESEARCH PROBLEM................................... ............................................ 1 1.


A class-E amplifier in the 2 GHz band is presented. It is realized as a coplanar MMIC using a high-voltage GaAs-HBT process. At 37 dBm output power, a high PAE of 65% with 71% collector efficiency are achieved. The gain of the amplifier in the switch-mode region reaches 11 dB. These are very competitive values for PAE, collector efficiency, and output power and the highest ones using GaAs-HBT technology. The measured data is supported by in-depth circuit simulation results highlighting the special conditions and requirements of switch-mode operation.


BACKGROUND
There are limited data on the influence of seasons on the outcomes of acute myocardial infarction-cardiac arrest (AMI-CA).

METHODS
Using the National Inpatient Sample from 2000-2017, adult (>18 years) admissions with AMI-CA were identified. Seasons were defined by the month of admission as spring, summer, fall, and winter. The outcomes of interest were prevalence of AMI-CA, in-hospital mortality, use of coronary angiography, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), hospital length of stay, hospitalization costs and discharge disposition.

RESULTS
Of the 10,880,856 AMI admissions, 546,334 (5.0%) were complicated by CA, with a higher prevalence in fall and winter (5.1% each) compared to summer (5.0%) and spring (4.9%). Baseline characteristics of AMI-CA admissions admitted in various seasons were largely similar. Compared to AMI-CA admissions in spring, summer, and fall, AMI-CA admissions in winter had slightly lower rates of coronary angiography (63.3%-64.3% vs 61.4%) and PCI (47.2-48.4% vs 45.6%). Compared to those admitted in the spring, adjusted in-hospital mortality was higher for winter (46.8% vs. 44.2%; odds ratio [OR] 1.08 [95% confidence interval {CI} 1.06-1.10]; p < 0.001), lower for summer (43% vs. 44.2%; OR 0.97 [95% CI 0.95-0.98]; p < 0.001) and comparable for fall (44.4% vs. 44.2%; OR 1.01 [95% CI 0.99-1.03]; p = 0.31) AMI-CA admissions. Length of hospital stay, total hospitalization charges, and discharge dispositions for AMI-CA admissions were comparable across the seasons.

CONCLUSIONS
AMI-CA admissions in the winter were associated with lower rates of coronary angiography and PCI, and higher rates of in-hospital mortality compared to the other seasons.


This research explores the corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance of listed companies in Taiwan by looking at how companies meet their CSR obligations and by exploring how employing supply chain certified public accountants (CSRSCPAs) affects the quality of their earnings. However, despite the benefits stemming from enhanced information corroboration and expertise spillover, CSRSCPAs face the challenge of potential information collusion. It finds that the CSRSCPA has a negative effect on discretionary accruals. Hence, this study looks at supply chain CPAs in the context of the company's CSR performance to find out the impact of the company's financial statements. In addition, the results of this study indicate that both a positive earnings quality and a positive public response ensue when the Big 4 audit firms audit CSR companies. Our results show that market participants highly value Big 4 supply chain CPAs with industry experience and that these impressions extend to their evaluation of clients. The inclusion of different supply chain streams reveal that upstream CSRSCPA are more likely than middlestream and downstream CSRSCPA to receive favorable reactions from market participants. This is an indication that market participants are impressed by the specific expertise and knowledge of these professionals.


Research in technical communication in 1989 is assessed. The analysis indicates that systematic research in technical communication is still in a limited stage of development. One major problem is the lack of a clear distinction between an illustrative case and a case study in the empirical sense. In the few articles presenting systematic research, the most frequently used methodology is survey/questionnaire. Problems include sample selection and generalizability. In several studies, however, surveys were just one of several tools in a qualitative approach. While some projects were carefully designed, overall, the quality of the methodology is uneven. A comparison of the areas being researched with those designated by technical communicators as needing research revealed that more research is needed in management. Also needed is more systematic research into visual aspects of technical communication. >


At the beginning of the seventh decade of the twentieth century, a time of change in the patterns of immigration when the ethnic pride flourished remarkably, the Americans began to consider the merits of the idea of proclaiming the English language as the official language of the United States. Those who support the adoption of such a law argue that language diversity threatens to undermine one of the last binders of a pluralist society. Their opponents, on the other hand, state that the proclamation of the supremacy of the English language would serve as an instrument of exclusion rather than as an instrument of assimilation of ethnic minorities and that such a step is not necessary, since immigrants have always shown a great capacity to adapt1.Examining the arguments underlying the movement for proclaiming the English language as the official language, we can conclude that a very large and surprisingly heterogeneous part of the U.S. population believe that speaking English is an important element of the American identity. What is necessary is a language policy to support the fundamental principles promoted by the two divergent opinions - education designed to enable all American citizens to use English in their country, coupled with the respect for other languages and traditions in the sphere of private life.In recent years, America's ability to reconcile political unity in cultural diversity has been questioned again. A massive wave of immigrants coming from Latin America and Asia has transformed the character of many local communities and has generated many requests of establishing bilingual government services. In turn, the diversity of language has caused concerns about the national cohesion and gave birth to a movement whose aim is proclaiming the English language as the official language of the United States.The controversy between the supporters of "language rights" and the promoters of a law meant to establish the exclusivity of the English language is based on a deeper controversy regarding the specificity of the American identity and the means for its protection. Could we assume that speaking English is a condition of full membership to the American society? Should we assume that state's support of bilingualism creates an erosion of the foundations of national unity or that such a policy promotes ethnic harmony?Although the authors of the U.S. constitutional code eventually decided not to grant the English language a special legal rank, they assumed that the young nation was to assert a common language and that it would be English. A confirmation of the validity of this assumption is the fact that researchers consistently find that a typical phenomenon of language manifested among immigrants is a fast shift from foreign monolingualism in the case of the first generation to bilingualism in the case of the second generation and then to English monolingualism for the third generation. During most of the nineteenth century, this phenomenon occurred in the absence of pressure from the state and despite some laws that made keeping mother tongue be relatively advantageous. The immigrants and their descendants quickly learned English not because they were forced to do so, but because English helped them raise their standard of living in America.However, at the beginning of the twentieth century an opinion trend emerged; it supported "the exclusiveness of English" once a wave of immigrants coming from Southern and Eastern Europe provoked xenophobic sentiments. Later on, the strong anti-German sentiments caused by World War I stimulated the notion that the stability of the American values and institutions depended on the existence of cultural homogeneity. The Americanization movement that flourished at that time emphasized the need for a common language that should accelerate the assimilation of immigrants with foreign traditions; 15 of the federal states enacted laws proclaiming English as the only language of instruction in schools. …


GRADUATED PHYSICAL LOAD AS A METHOD OF INCREASE OF QUALITY OF FEMALE STUDENTS OF NON-SPORTS FACULTIES M.N. Mashtakova, postgraduate student A.N. Erokhin, associate professor, Dr.Med. Russian research centre Restorative traumatology and orthopedy named after academician G.A. Ilizarov of Federal agency for high-tech medical assistance, Kurgan V.Yu. Losev, associate professor, Ph.D. Surgut state university, Surgut Key words: physical load, functional condition, quality of life. The research was aimed at allocation of the influence of the complex of graduated physical load on functional condition and quality of life of 2 and 3-year female students of non-sports faculties of Surgut state university. Conclusion. The research proved that graduated physical exercises in the volume and methods realization developed by the researchers rendered recreational impact on the organism of female students of non-sports faculties. Finally positive shifts in the functional condition of female students of the experimental group reflected on the quality of their life, reflected in statistically-valid differences with parameters of the control group by scales of PF and RE tests SF-36. Regular graduated loads in the course of intensive educational activity promotes formation of more stable emotional condition. It not only strengthens health, but also creates favorable psychological background for educational process and increase of the level of mastering knowledge.


This paper focuses on a class of neutral delay systems. We are concerned with the design of dissipative static state feedback controller such that the closed-loop system is strictly dissipative. Sufficient conditions for the existence of the dissipative controller is obtained by using a linear matrix inequality(LMI) approach. Furthermore, we provide a procedure of constructing such controller from the solutions of LMIs. The findings shows that the solvability of dissipative controller design problem is implied by the feasibility of LMIs. It contains control rate and passive control supply rate as its special cases.


The discussion about the relationship between globalization and journalism has stressed the westernization of information flows, contra-flows, and the globalization of news practices. Beyond information flows and news practices, it is important to examine the impact that globalization has on news narratives. With the emergence of the extra-national WikiLeaks, it is possible that the 'national narrative' through which journalists interpret information is eroded and replaced by an increasingly autonomous journalism. This study tests this possibility by examining how an Israeli newspaper and an Australian newspaper incorporated leaked documents into news coverage and how they framed WikiLeaks' contribution to journalism. It finds that the papers in each country mined the leaks for geopolitical relevance to their respective countries, but did so in a way that facilitated debate about what the national interest should be. In doing so, the papers reframed WikiLeaks from a problem for the state to a whistleblower against their countries' and US officials. By extension, the papers positioned themselves as whistleblowers and democratic facilitators. A 'national lens' continues to inform newswork, but the 'national narrative' has eroded.


This special issue on content and language integrated learning (CLIL) in The Language Learning Journal forms a continuation to the issue 42(2) published in 2014. In the introduction to the first issue, we briefly outlined and contextualised CLIL, an educational approach that aims at simultaneous content and language learning objectives and discussed the relationship of CLIL to other forms of bilingual education as well as its defining features. We also identified a number of research needs in the field, pertaining, for example, to the need to expand the types of research objects or foci and the types of context explored as well as doing research that is more directly geared towards the development of pedagogy. The seven articles in this second issue contribute to these identified research gaps in ways explicated below. In unison, they provide valuable insights into the various factors involved in CLIL, suggesting that content and language integration is indeed a complex matter and one that deserves proper conceptual framing (see Nikula et al., in preparation, as an attempt to that end). In this issue, the individual studies have been organised according to their focus so that the first three studies are concerned with classroom interaction, followed by three articles that deal with writing and reading in CLIL. The last paper approaches CLIL from the perspective of materials design, in so doing addressing both its epistemological and pedagogical concerns. The first study by Yuen Yi Lo and Ernesto Macaro is a welcome addition to the CLIL research scene in that its attention to English-medium schools in Hong Kong expands the more usual research focus on European educational settings to those in Asia. More specifically, the authors compare two secondary education settings with a difference in the length of students' exposure to CLIL, the students in the first setting having had CLIL provision for the first three years of secondary education while the students in the second setting had just started CLIL. The findings show that in the latter case, classrooms were characterised by clearer teacher dominance, by students' difficulties in expressing meaning in L2, and by prevalence of constrained interactional sequences. In the groups with longer experience in CLIL, the teachers were able to provide more interactional scaffolding for the students' knowledge construction. This suggests that CLIL, as any other novel approach, takes time to root and develop and also points towards the importance of pedagogical skills in making CLIL a successful experience. The study's findings also suggest that longitudinal designs are a great desideratum in CLIL research. Tom Morton is also concerned with classroom interaction, his study examining it from the perspective of vocabulary explanations in the CLIL classroom. With the focus on the sequential organisation of explanations and the resources deployed in them, Morton analyses both how the explanations reflect pedagogical orientations relevant to CLIL and whether these are consistent with a Focus of Form approach often advocated as a useful strategy to support language learning in content-based contexts. Morton's findings show


The 1 549 mm continuous hot rolling mill in TISCO.has been reformed in 2002. But the roughing mill had a big problem when it rolled the stainless stee l slab. The head of the bar made a severe ski after the first pass, what not onl y broke the normal production, but also damaged the equipments. The ski QC group analyse the reason of the problem and resolved it by adjusting the electric con trol, heating technics and rolling operation.


The immigrant neighborhood was for decades a distinctive element in the American urban landscape. Even today, two generations after the last of the great waves of European immigration, when brooding empty churches often bear the only witness to immigrant neighborhoods that once were, past ethnic identification may remain an important key to present neighborhood occupancy, and newer migrant groups continue to find in the neighborhood a focus for acculturation to urban life. Confronted with the inescapable physical presence of ethnically identifiable neighborhoods, scholars long ascribed to the immigrant neighborhood a central role both in the emergence of ethnic identity among immigrants and in the subsequent process of assimilation. But several recent studies have questioned the degree of immigrant concentration in such neighborhoods and consequently the ability of the neighborhood to influence the adaptive process. Such conclusions, if valid, have important implications for current efforts of immigration historians to shift emphasis from the process of assimilation to the role of factors like the family, church, and workplace in encouraging the maintenance of ethnic culture and social distinctiveness. I However, a brief review of relevant scholarship, with special emphasis on the experience of German immigrants, suggests that the issue is by no means resolved; many questions about the relationship between residence and ethnicity remain unanswered, even unasked. To some of the first scholars to explore this issue, the early urban ecologists, ethnicity was a fundamental influence upon residential choice. Immigrant neighborhoods were regarded as natural areas that first emerged when newly arrived immigrants clustered for cultural and economic reasons in ghettolike slums in a "zone in transition," just beyond the central business district, and


AbstractThis paper presents a new way of modeling in-stream bacteria concentrations by examining a watershed in terms of wet and dry hydrologic states. Flow-duration curves were developed for four catchments of the Little River Experimental Watershed in Tifton, Georgia, and HSPF and SWAT bacteria models were built for the catchments. The flow-duration curves were used to designate wet and dry states of the catchments based on flow conditions instead of calendar day, the bacteria data sets were divided into wet and dry groups accordingly, and the models were calibrated to the wet and dry states. Water-quality parameter sensitivities revealed that each model placed varying emphasis on the parameters in each state according to the model's structure, and certain parameters were insensitive in both wet and dry states. A custom parameter added to the models to represent background in-stream and/or distributed loads was consistently sensitive across hydrologic states and improved model predictions in both comput...


In cloud robotics environments, software components play important roles by acquiring data from heterogeneous devices and then performing context-aware computing with the help of knowledge bases organized by the data. However, there are numerous tasks that must be performed to create such components, their corresponding database schemas, services, and repositories, and these tasks can be burdensome for developers. In this paper, a framework for constructing a data acquisition system with integrated robotic technology components and modern web-based technologies is presented. Our proposed framework enables developers to construct a robot environment with data acquisition functionalities by defining scenarios in an ontology language. The framework is realized in such a way that allows it to automatically generate the required software components and their corresponding repositories, which are deployed on the cloud. A case study showcasing the proposed framework is also demonstrated.


[1] An investigation was conducted on the horizontal crustal deformation in Kyushu using the coordinate data from GPS Earth Observation Network (GEONET) for the 4 years from 1998 to 2002, for which the annual variations are corrected. We examined the spatial differences in the displacement rate relative to the Amurian plate by subtracting the velocity of the Amurian plate at each of the Global Positioning System (GPS) stations. Models for interplate coupling in Hyuganada and the dilatational source beneath Sakurajima are obtained. The crustal deformation in eastern Kyushu is well explained by the model of interplate coupling in Hyuganada, which is strong in the north and weak in the south. When the effects of the interplate coupling and the dilatational source are removed, a southward extensional field is recognized in and to the south of the Beppu-Shimabara graben in western Kyushu. In southern Kyushu, to the south of around latitude 32°N, a southeastward movement is conspicuous. It must be noted that the displacement field is extensional, indicating that southern Kyushu is being dragged at the base by a flow in the mantle, not moving like a raft on the flow. It is probable that the flow in the mantle is driven by the rising of hot materials in the Okinawa Trough and a retreat of the trench where the Philippine Sea plate is subducting. A gap in the magnitude of the eastward displacement rate around latitude 32°N implies that the velocity of the flow in the mantle decreases substantially to the north of the line. The Beppu-Shimabara graben may be a continuation of the Okinawa Trough, but the significant southwestward displacement rate observed in the eastern part suggests that the deformation in the graben, at least to the east of Aso volcano, is affected by the westward movement of the forearc sliver produced by the oblique subduction of the Philippine Sea plate on the Nankai Trough off Shikoku Island. We think that the strong coupling in the Bungo Channel in our model is probably not real, but might be a result of our assumption that all the westward displacements in northeastern Kyushu, a part of which are actually due to the movement of the forearc sliver, are produced by interplate coupling.


The purpose of this study was to explore the challenges that contribute to low uptake of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) among Small and Medium scale Enterprise (SMEs) in Kafue, Zambia. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have been identified as the substance for economic growth and national development for both developed and developing countries. The method in this study was sought to comprehend the challenges that led to low uptake of constituency development fund among the SMEs of Kafue District. The study adopted a qualitative approach and employed a purposive sampling. Primary data was collected from 40 study respondents using; semi-structured interviews, literature review and two focus group discussions (FDGs). The data was analysed in a thematic approach and there was document analysis and validating of data. The results of this study identified the challenges affecting the performance of SMEs in utilizing the existing CDF, and some of the findings were;  inconsistent disbursement, lack of accountability, lack of new technology, lack of skills labour, government unfavorable fiscal policy and policy in consistences, lack of sensitization, political influence and little money or insufficient fund. The emergent themes reported in this study indicate significant qualitative, disparities on the challenges among SMEs on the low uptake of CDF. This in return, affects the development of communities where these SMEs operate with business dimensions across different contexts. Our findings in this study suggests increase of 40% allocation of funds in the current CDF policy of 2022, monitoring and implementation programs must be strengthened, and skills training should be given enough concentration on both SMEs and CDF technocrats. Lastly, the corporate entrepreneurs should inculcate the team spirit of training and developing their management and workforce in order to build a strong capacity building, that is ready to face business challenges and take advantage of Constituency Development Fund. In conclusion, the study suggests that policy makers may consider the findings in this study, to formulate policies which may create an environment that is feasible for the development of SMEs through Constituency Development Fund in Kafue, Zambia.


In total, more than 500 X-ray mirrors have been produced by Media Lario for the assembly of the six XMM telescopes. The x-ray performance of the individual mirrors has been evaluated both in terms of mirror shape and surface quality with the help of several metrology devices. In this paper we will present first eh metrology operations which were applied on the XMM mirrors to product their optical performance. Then, the metrology result will be analyzed and compared to the performance obtained during the verification and calibration campaigns. Finally, from the large XMM experience, we will conclude by giving some recommendations on the metrology tools to be used for the prediction of the performance of the next generation of x-ray telescopes.


Clonostachys rosea(=Gliocladium roseum) is a mycoparasite of many plant fungal pathogens and potential biocontrol agent. An effective strain 67-1 of the fungus screened in lab was chosen to study the biological characteristics of its chlamydospores and conidia harvested in different media in submerged culture. The results showed that no differ-ence existed in growth rate and fresh hyphal weight between the colonies respectively generated from its chlamydos-pores and conidia. However, the amount of spores produced on colonies generated from chlamydospores was 6 times higher than that from conidia. C. rosea was sensitive to higher temperature and dryness, especially the conidia. During processing course at 40–50°C, the two types of spores were significantly different in activities(P0.05). The chlamydos-pores of strain 67-1 showed much higher ability to bear UV-irradiation as compared with the conidia. Illuminating UV light without adding protective agent for 60 s, the activity of the chlamydospores maintained 62.6%, one time higher than that of the conidia under the same treatment. The chlamydospores of strain 67-1 were relatively insensitive to soil fun-gistasis. The chlamydospore germination rate reached 47.2% in 24 h, but the conidial germination rate only 4.6%. Except chlorothalonil, the chlamydospores of strain 67-1 had a good resistibility to most tested chemical pesticides. Under nor-mal concentration of pesticides in field, the chlamydospore maintained germination rate of more than 70%, much higher than conidial germination rate(P0.05). The investigation of parasitism to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum indicated that parasit-ic ability of chlamydospores and conidia was no dissimilarity, and 4th grade infection of sclerotia accounted for 58.9%–60.0%. When chlamydospores and conidia of strain 67-1 were respectively mixed with cucumber seeds at con-centration of 106spores/m L, their control efficiency to cucumber Fusarium wilt both reached over 65%.


Recently, there has been a great interest among statisticians and applied  researchers in constructing flexible distributions for better modeling non-monotone failure rates. We study a lifetime model of the  beta generated family, called the beta Nadarajah-Haghighi distribution, which can be used to model survival data. The proposed model  includes as special models some important distributions. The hazard rate function is an important quantity characterizing life phenomena.  Its hazard function can be constant, decreasing, increasing, upsidedown bathtub and bathtub-shaped depending on the parameters. We  provide a comprehensive mathematical treatment of the new distribution and derive explicit expressions for some of its basic mathematical  quantities. The method of maximum likelihood is used for estimating the model parameters and a small Monte Carlo simulation is conducted. We fit the proposed model to two real data sets to prove empirically its flexibility as compared to other lifetime distributions


In this paper, the Quality Assurance (QA) and Data Quality Monitoring (DQM) of the ALICE Silicon Drift Detectors will be discussed. The Quality Assurance functionality has been implemented as part of AliRoot, the ALICE software framework, so as to use the same code in offline and online mode. The QA system manages the three sub-detectors of the Inner Tracking System (ITS) in a modular way, in order to run the Quality Assurance of all or just one of them, creating the QA distributions for the selected detector(s). The ITS-QA framework can also be used for the online monitoring of the sub-detectors thanks to its interface to the AMORE (Automatic MonitoRing Environment) Data Quality Monitoring (DQM) framework, in turn interfaced to the Data Acquisition System. The online mode is steered by a specific subdetector agent that makes use of functionality provided by AMORE to connect and receive events from the Data Acquisition System, invokes AliRoot code for their reconstruction and analysis and for filling the QA distributions and then handles these distributions to AMORE that publishes them to its Database. A dedicated GUI allows the operators to retrieve and display the subdetector QA distributions from the AMORE Database. The SDD QA and DQM are fully operational since the beginning of the ALICE data taking and are important tools to assess the data quality both in real time and in the offline analysis.


This letter presents an exploratory social human–robot interaction (HRI) study that investigates and compares the persuasive effectiveness of robots attempting to influence a user with different behavior strategies. Ten multimodal persuasive strategies were uniquely designed based on compliance gaining behaviors. These persuasive strategies were then compared using two competing social robots attempting to influence participant's estimate during a jelly bean guessing game. The results of our exploratory study with 200 participants showed that affective and logical strategies had a higher potential for persuasive influence and warrant further research.


IN the course of experiments on the oxidation of fatty acids by the liver of guinea-pigs it was found that the yield of acetoacetic acid appeared to depend on the state of nutrition of the animal. Preliminary experiments indicated that the livers of guinea-pigs fed for a lengthy period on a scorbutic diet behaved differently from the normal, a lower yield of acetoacetic acid being produced, and for this reason work was commenced on the effects of ascorbic acid on fatty acid oxidations of liver. Although further experiment has not shown a very strict line of demarcation between the activities of the livers of scorbutic and normal guinea-pigs, it has become abundantly clear that ascorbic acid exercises very definite effects on the respiration of, and on the power to oxidise fatty acids by, the livers of both guinea-pigs and rats. It appears that the most significant effect of the addition of ascorbic acid to liver slices is the maintenance of respiration at a relatively high level for a much longer period than occurs in liver slices to which ascorbic acid has not been added. This is particularly noticeable with the rat where the respiration of a liver slice falls off quickly after an initial period of a fairly constant rate of oxygen uptake. It is much less noticeable in the guinea-pig where the Qo2 tends to remain constant over a long period; hence results with guinea-pigs are irregular and apparently much more dependent on nutritional conditions than is the case with the rat. Increases of acetoacetic acid production ranging from 30 to 200 % due to the addition of ascorbic acid have been noted with the rat and from 0 to 60 % with the guinea-pig; these increases in the yield of acetoacetic acid are probably closely connected with the maintenance of the relatively high levels in the rate of oxygen uptake, the oxidation of fatty acids being greatly dependent on the general respiratory metabolism of the liver cell.


In the modern world, in using land resources, we are faced with a number of problems, this is more expressed in megacities, because the majority of the population of our planet lives in these territories.
The article briefly analyzes the current state of Krasnoyarsk, physical-geographical and economic conditions of the city development. The issues of territorial planning in the city are considered on the example of the microdistrict "Pokrovsky". High-rise buildings and their crowding influenced on the formation of wind flows and dispersion of impurities. It is established that the building affects the wind speed, reducing it by nearly 25-30% compared to the undeveloped urban part. In a dense building, the wind speed can be reduced to 70%. Inefficient land use model is reflected in the quality of the living environment, including the connectivity of the territory. The infrastructure is developed for children of younger preschool age-yard areas are everywhere equipped with children's game elements. Social adaptability for the elderly in the district is poorly expressed. The issue of parking spaces is acute, and their lack indicates the impossibility of creating a neighborhood with a high level of quality of life. Local problems include the construction of noise screens along major highways, which have a low-quality design and technical solution. The provision of public transport is unsatisfactory. Spatially in the "intercession" we need a clear separation of yards and public spaces. Due to this, within the four large neighborhoods-quarters there will be a quasi-quarterly structure that helps to organize the hierarchy of spaces, eliminating or minimizing transit traffic through the yards.


The invention relates to a multi-functional bracelet type human body intelligent monitor system. The multi-functional bracelet type human body intelligent monitor system comprises a heart rate sensor, a human body posture sensor, a key module, a micro vibrating motor, a GPS module, a GSM module, a power module, a system processor, a storage module, a data server and an intelligent terminal. The system processor can set a heart rate dangerous value alpha and an alarming value beta through the key module, and a three-stage monitoring mechanism is used for judging the three stages of movement states of falling down, normal walking and sleeping of a human body; an SIM card in the GSM module presets an alarming telephone number 110, a local hospital assistant telephone number and a relative telephone number. By using the system, automatic alarm can be achieved for the conditions of heart attacks and human body falling, and the falling states can be pre-judged accurately and transmitted to the user intelligent terminal.


While much literature suggested that highly elevated MMPI profiles are of questionable validity, Newmark and Sines (1972) found that even profiles with elevations ≥70T on scales 1–9 have clinical significance. The two studies reported here were designed to investigate further such "floating profiles." In Study I, MMPI profiles from 67 male psychiatric inpatients who produced "floating profiles" were subjected to Veldman's Hierarchical cluster analysis and five floating profile subtypes were identified. In Study II the entire sample of floaters as well as the subtypes were compared with a randomly selected sample of 40 nonfloaters in terms of a number of demographic and clinical variables. Results generally suggested that individuals who produce floating profiles differ significantly from individuals who produce more traditionally "valid" profiles. Also, results supported the assumption that the floater subtypes represent unique personality types. Findings are compared with the Newmark and Sines (1972) results, and implications of the current research are discussed.


Flexible roll film has been generally used in industrial and agricultural production,but researches on modeling and simulation of the roll are also relatively less. By programming with Adams,the modeling and simulation about a seedling greenhouse roll film were carried out based on the basic idea of multi-rigid-body discrete flexible body. First,coordinate values of multiple discrete points for uniform distribution on helix about roll film were obtained by programming in Matlab,and transfer them to Adams by data file,then create several pieces of roll film by programming in Adams and applying revolute pairs and contact force are used to describe the relationship among them. Search the temporal variation laws of the location and velocity center of mass of a piece of roll film by the simulation and the results show that the proposed modeling method in this paper is feasible.


A key problem in crowdsourcing is the aggregation of judgments of proportions. For example, workers might be presented with a news article or an image, and be asked to identify the proportion of each topic, sentiment, object, or colour present in it. These varying judgments then need to be aggregated to form a consensus view of the document's or image's contents. Often, however, these judgments are skewed by workers who provide judgments randomly. Such spammers make the cost of acquiring judgments more expensive and degrade the accuracy of the aggregation. For such cases, we provide a new Bayesian framework for aggregating these responses (expressed in the form of categorical distributions) that for the first time accounts for spammers. We elicit 796 judgments about proportions of objects and colours in images. Experimental results show comparable aggregation accuracy when 60% of the workers are spammers, as other state of the art approaches do when there are no spammers.


Sexually transmitted infections in the United Kingdom are continuing to rise, according to latest figures from the Health Protection Agency, the infectious diseases watchdog. The figures show particularly big increases in new cases of chlamydia and syphilis.

Almost 110 000 cases of chlamydia were diagnosed in genitourinary medicine clinics in 2005, an increase of 5% over the previous year and a 223% increase in the past 10 years. Almost three quarters of last year's cases were in the 16-24 age group.

It is vital to "shatter the complacency" that still exists in young people about sexual diseases, said Peter …


In this paper, the theory of reciprocal screws is reviewed. Reciprocal screw systems associated with some frequently used kinematic pairs and chains are developed. Then, the application of reciprocal screw systems for the Jacobian analysis of parallel manipulators is described. The Jacobian and singular conditions of a six-dof parallel manipulator are analyzed.


In dairy farming, there is an active use of systems for the accurate recognizing of cow's teats, which is necessary for robotic milking. Object detection consists both in assessing the exact position of the object (localization of the object) and in determining the category to which it belongs (classification of the object). (Research purpose) The research purpose is developing a method for searching for clusters of points to determine the limits of the teat in three-dimensional maps obtained with a 3D ToF camera. (Materials and methods) An IFM O3D303 camera with a resolution of 352 × 264 pixels was used. Authors have developed a structure for analyzing static and dynamic scenes, the model consists of five blocks of convolutional layers, three fully connected layers of neurons and a classifier layer. The first two blocks contain two layers, the other three blocks contain three convolution layers. (Results and discussion) The software highlights the detected teats in color. The method is considered suitable if at 10 repetitions of the experiment the limits of four teats are recognized and there are no artifacts, the experiment can be considered successful, the permissible error of the experiment is no more than 10 percent. During the search for limits of teats, the algorithm repeatedly searches for points in the bounding cylinder of the refined cluster of points. (Conclusions) A method for searching for clusters of points to identify teats limits in three-dimensional maps processing data from a 3D ToF camera using a neural network with «anchor rectangles». Data from 36 animals and 6000 images were collected for training the neural network, field experiments confirmed the accuracy of the neural network in 90 percent. The proposed method allows determining length X, diameter Y and inclination angle Z of the teat in automatic mode.


ABSTRACT The use of room temperature ionic liquids (ILs) as novel solvents in a range of industrial separation processes has received tremendous attention and research. Here, we investigate the potential application of ILs to remove the wastewater contaminants atenolol and atrazine. Specifically, using molecular simulation we predict IL/water partition coefficients of atenolol and atrazine in seven common 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium based ILs and investigate the underlying structural details. We find that atenolol and atrazine have a large affinity for the ILs over water. With a solute mole fraction of 0.1, the IL characteristic structure is virtually unchanged, suggesting ILs are able to accommodate the solutes well. Additionally, we demonstrate that within an IL, the solute affinity for the IL can be greatly improved by selecting an anion and/or cation that interacts strongly with the solute.


Survival for women with early stage breast cancer who are treated with breast-conservation therapy(local excision and radiotherapy) equals those treated with mastectomy.Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been introduced in preoperative stage of the affected breast in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer because it detects additional foci of cancer that are occult on conventional imaging and is supposed to aid local disease control.However,significant discrepancy still exists concerning the benefit or otherwise of this procedure.This paper focuses on the role of preoperative MRI in detecting residual or additional foci of breast cancer and in guiding future practice,as has been extensively reviewed by an article in"CA:A Cancer Journal for Clinicians"in its 5th issue in 2009.Contentions are expected among investigators.


Based on the research of Artha Dini Akmal, et al in Kenagarian Salimpaung on the model of Nagari regulation formulation in the scope of Nagari Government in 2018, found the fact that there were some difficulties of the Nagari regulators in making the formulation of Nagari regulations, one of which was in formulating Academic Manuscripts. Academic Manuscript is one of the important steps in formulating the Nagari regulations. This happened also in the Salimpaung sub-district, precisely in Nagari Situmbuk and Tabek Patah, this Nagari government often experienced difficulties in formulating Nagari regulations because it did not understand the steps in formulating Nagari regulations in this case related to the formulation of academic texts. This has an impact on the quality and quantity of the Nagari regulations made by the Nagari. With the problems associated with the formulation of the Nagari regulations, we from the service team offered a solution by providing training related to the making of the academic paper. With this training, it is hoped that the Nagari government can increase its capacity in formulating Nagari regulations and the apparatus involved in formulating Nagari regulations can better understand how to make and formulate Nagari regulations properly. This service activity has been carried out beginning with the provision of material related to how to make academic texts, what matters need to be prepared in making academic texts and then to do simulations or direct training with examples of draft regulations that already exist in the village. This activity was attended by all actors involved in the formulation of Nagari regulations namely Walinagari and its staff, BPRN and, KAN.