John edgar wideman's fiction was first published when the black arts movement was fast developing in his country, the united states of america. Yet it owes little to "black" nationalism. From the start any racial definition of man is forcefully rejected by this heir to richard wright, ralph ellison and robert hayden. In his first three novels, published between 1967 and 1973, he laments at length the prevailing "black" / "white" dichotomy, but fails to find consistent ways out of what he calls "little time", i. E. Racial history. Perceived as yet another rehash of the paradigm of race, black heroics are unambiguously disqualified in hurry home and the lynchers. Only in 1981-1983 with the homewood trilogy does wideman strike a new and more jubilant note, as he lovingly gathers up the numerous stories of ordinary life which were told around him when a child. Authorship is no longer a matter of absolute control over the text; rather it means opening up to the many voices competing for air time and truth within society. The storyteller acts as medium to them all. Only then can he hope to gain access to (african) "great time" or (australian) "dreamtime", "a nonlinear, atemporal medium in which all things that ever have been, are, or will be mingle freely". As all stories go backward and forward, linear time collapses and the always present tense of narrative takes over. To counter the notorious slavers' shuttle and erase racial history, wideman has now come to rely on the semi-autonomous shuttle of narrative. Since 1989 his assiduous and ever more sophisticated weaving of textual "great time" is coupled with an uninhibited revisiting of the so-called enlightenment, when africans were transported to the new world, the modern notions of "race" and "ethnicity" invented and ancient greece remodeled and cleansed of all egyptian influence. Because there is always one more voice to hear, there can be no end to the storytelling. Narrative "great time" is what comes next and next and next. In wideman's fiction "blackness" is the opposite of a boxed-in identity: it means revealing and exploring man's infinite possibilities.


Preliterate, the most ignored art form. And yet for all its primitivity, and despite its surely universal occurrence among the literate peoples of the world, there was no English word for the behavior we now call doodling until the middle of the twentieth century. The Oxford English Dictionary (which defines the doodle as "an aimless scrawl made by a person while his mind is otherwise applied") cites a source for the first use of the word doodle in the familiar, autohypnotographic sense Russell M. Arundel, who in his 1937 book Everybody's Pixillated defines the doodle as "a scribble or sketch made while the conscious mind is concerned with matters wholly unrelated to the scribbling." Arundel makes the claim that civilized man's natural state is one of "pixillation" a condition of pixie-like enchantment that, though concealed by the lumber and business of modern life, emerges most clearly in the "automatic writing" he calls "doodling." To prove his point, Arundel catalogues the doodles of midcentury notables the likes of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Cab Calloway are represented with thumbnail psychological workups of each one based on elements of doodling style. Arundel finishes with a "pixillation chart" that taxonomizes major doodling motifs, allowing the reader to gather an accurate picture of his own fey subconscious. Someone who scrawls rhyming words, for instance, is "poetic in nature and a lover of music"; the mere "repetition of words and letters," on the other hand, "indicates you are cynical or morbid." After Arundel, doodle quickly appears in popular magazines, such as Life; in 1942, Punch described Labour M.P. Clement Attlee as a maker of


Who has the power to make decisions in your practice? This question was posed at a seminar I attended this week on leadership for practice nurses. Power is probably not something most practice nurses feel very familiar or comfortable with. It is easy to assume that, naturally, power lies with the senior partner, the GPs or even the receptionist. It may seem like patients have more power than nurses in the era of the patient survey. And then there is the power of the QOF.


To what extent has there been a shift in attitudes toward asylum seekers in the UK during the refugee crisis? Bridget Anderson writes that in the wave of support for welcoming refugees there has been a surprising silence about the situation of asylum seekers already in the UK. She argues that if we are to avoid a competition between marginalised and impoverished groups it is necessary to make the case that better services for Syrian arrivals must mean better services for everybody.


The utility model discloses a metal cable clamp for fixing cable at the tail end. The metal cable clamp comprises a metal cable clamp, a connector and a cable outtake sleeve, and is characterized in that the cable outtake sleeve is composed of a flange, a cable outtake sleeve and a cable compressing tube; the flange is a rectangular plate provided with a central through hole and stairs; the cable outtake sleeve is a sleeve on which a platform is arranged at the middle part and a saw-tooth shaped cylindrical plane and a knurl cylindrical plane are arranged at two ends respectively; a groove is arranged at a port at one side of the metal cable clamp; the cable outtake sleeve is sleeved inside the groove; and the connector is fixed at the port at the other side of the metal cable clamp through a screw. Compared with the prior art, the metal cable clamp is simple in structure, convenient to assembly, solid and durable in cable clamp and strong in external interference resistance ability, and a shielding layer is grounded conveniently, a cable outtake cylinder in match with the diameter of a cable can be selected to be used in combination according to demands, and the intermatching property of the cable is good.


The RETRAN analyses of three areas of thermal-hydraulic concerns are presented. The first evaluated whether a 360-deg through-wall crack could be detected based on system response with leakage through the crack. The second analysis was to identify the hydraulic load on the shroud and possible consequences early in the main steam-line break. The last was the evaluation of the thermal limit (ACPR) oflimiting transients with leakage. Some of the analyses were used for justification of continued operation of the current cycle, and some will be useful in the evaluation of the repair design.


The stability of landslide has been greatly affected by the role of reservoir effect,such as deformation induced by the effect of the reservoir,the slippery body,where the part underwater is more advanced to deform than that above,monitoring the landslide deformation underwater can make judgment of its stability earlier and win more time for disaster prevention. Landslide deformation monitoring underwater has been always a difficult problem in the field, and the methods of conventional landslide monitoring underwater are not applicable. In Shuping landslide,located in zigui county of Three Gorges Reservoir Area,a set of deformation automatic monitoring system underwater had been established,carbon fiber material traction telescopic meter and surface inclinometer were combined to monitor the landslide deformation which was 36 meters deep under the water level of 175 meters in Shuping landslide. After several years of operation test,it proves that the method of monitoring sliding body deformation underwater is feasible and reliable,and has a certain value of popularization.


We examined a large dataset of female metastatic breast cancers (MBCs) profiled with comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) to identify the prevalence and distribution of immunotherapy responsiveness‐associated biomarkers. DNA was extracted from 3831 consecutive MBCs: 1237 (ERpos/HER2neg), 1953 ERneg/HER2amp, and 641 triple‐negative breast cancer (TNBC). CGP was performed using the FoundationOne® or FoundationOne®CDx NGS assay. Tumor mutational burden (TMB) and microsatellite instability (MSI) were determined in a subset of cases. PD‐L1 expression in immunocytes in a subset of cases was determined by immunohistochemistry using the companion diagnostic VENTANA PD‐L1 SP142 Assay. The median age of the cohort was 54 years (range 20–89). Genomic alterations (GAs)/tumor were similar (range: 5.9–7.3). Markers of potential immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICPI) benefit included: CD274 (PD‐L1) amplification (1%–3%), BRAF GA (1%–4%), TMB of ≥10 mutations/Mb (8%–12%), MSI‐high (0.1%–0.4%), PBRM1 GA (1%), and positive PD‐L1 staining of immunocytes ranging from 13% in ERpos/HER2neg and 33% in ERneg/HER2amp to 47% in the TNBC group. Potential markers of ICPI resistance included inactivating STK11 GA (1%–2%) and MDM2 amplification (3%–6%). MTOR pathway targets were common with lowest frequency in TNBC. ERBB2 short variant mutations were most frequent ERpos/HER2neg and absent in TNBC. BRCA1/2 GA were least frequent in ERneg/HER2amp. The demonstrations of clinical benefit of immunotherapy in MBC support the need for development and utilization of biomarkers to guide the use of ICPIs for these patients. In addition to guiding therapy selection, CGP shows potential to identify GA linked to response and resistance to ICPI in MBC.


ABSTRACT This paper looks at multicompetence aspects of multilingual learning and offers a new conceptual framework for the discussion of multicompetence. The paper takes Cook's multicompetence theory as the point of departure and proposes a reconceptualisation thereof which is broader in scope and keyed to a dynamic systems and complexity theory perspective. The new concept construes multicompetence as a dynamic and multicomponential phenomenon resulting from the interplay of complex, non-linear and emergent processes. The paper first delineates the theoretical foundations guiding the present discussion and outlines the main tenets of a dynamic systems and complexity theory approach. Next, it presents and analyses selective qualitative data from an empirical study carried out at the primary level in South Tyrol and it discusses young multilingual learners' linguistic productions in relation to the notion of multicompetence as envisioned here. The paper closes with an outlook on future directions by pointing to potential advantages of multicompetence approaches to teaching and learning and by suggesting some modest alterations to current school policy provisions in South Tyrol.


Aiming at the strategy for higher yield and better quality of the early rice by means of improved growing and breeding practices, thus making the product of the early rice market better,a survey of the panicle characteristics and the milling qualities of the early rice varieties in the Four lake Area was made. The results showed that in comparison with the previous varieties (non high quality rice varieties), the current varieties had quite improvements in the total grain number per ear and the milling quality, but the bearing rate reduced obviously at the same time. Although the panicle characteristic of high quality varieties were more likely affected by the growing environment than the common quality varieties, owing to their better milling quality , the high quality varieties showed an excellent potential higher yield and having good milling quality as well with an improved growing method. As for the Large ear type varieties, the panicle characteristics and the milling qualities tended to become worse as the ear became larger, it would not be wise to be obstinate seeking for the Large ear type varieties in the breeding of the early rice.


there is little attention to class, race, and ethnicity here, and we still lack a clear picture of precisely how the BC environment shaped women's decisions about work. The book is short on details, and limited in its comparisons. How are these women similar to or different from other wage-earning women in the West, and elsewhere in Canada? How are they different from women working in maledominated professions, another group of autonomous women working in a man's world? These questions remain. Nevertheless, the book makes a significant contribution to the field, providing new insights into women's entrepreneurship and married women's work in BC in the early 20th century. Tracey Adams University of Western Ontario


The purpose of this project was to search for a repeatable, scalable, and sustainable business model, based on machine learning technology, by applying the Lean Startup Methodology. The theoretical framework of the project was based three domains of literature. First, the Lean Startup Methodology, including Business Model Design, the Customer Development Process and Agile Engineering. Second, Machine Learning. Third, Sustainable development. The methods of this project concerned the topics of Venture Creation and applying the Lean Startup Methodology. The result of applying these methods was a validation of problem-solution fit for the Customer Segment, as well as interest and preference for the Value Proposition. A functional Minimum Viable Product, based on Machine Learning, was built and can be found at http://selleri.io/. The product helped sellers on the second hand market who wanted to sell their Macbooks, by o ering them insights and recommendations about the selling price through a web application. However, in the end, a pivot was proposed from a business to consumer model, to a business to business model. This would o er the Product, as software as a service, to online marketplaces of electronic devices rather than the consumer.


Transitional structures of Cs+ at the outer Helmholtz plane (OHP) have been determined using time-resolved X-ray diffraction during the double-layer charging/discharging on the Ag(100) electrode in CsBr solution. At the double-layer potential region at which c(2 × 2)-Br is formed on Ag(100), the transient current comprises two exponential terms with different time scales: a rapid and a slow one are due to the dielectric polarization of water molecules and the transfer of Cs+, respectively. The slow term is composed of different dynamic processes of Cs+ during charging and discharging. When the potential is stepped in the positive direction, the coverage of Cs+ at the OHP decreases. In this step, the transient X-ray intensity at the (0 0 1) reflection, which is sensitive to the OHP structure, shows that Cs+ is released from the OHP according to exponential function of time. The decay of transient intensity of X-ray has a time scale similar to that of the current transient measurement. On the other hand, th...


This paper considers the stability and stabilization of fractional order systems (FOS) with the fractional order α: 0 < α < 1 case. The equivalence between stability of fractional order systems and D–stability of a matrix A in specific region is proven. The criteria of stability and stabilization of fractional order system are presented. The conditions are expressed in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) which can be easily calculated with standard feasible solution problem in MATLAB LMI toolbox. When α = 1, the results reduce to the conditions of stability and stabilization of integer order systems. Numerical examples are given to verify the effectiveness of the criteria. With the approach proposed in this paper, we can analyze and design fractional order systems in the same way as what we do to the integer order system state-space models.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


We previously demonstrated that interleukin‐17A (IL‐17A) is associated with the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, its role in the invasion–metastasis cascade of HCC and the efficacy of IL‐17A‐targeting therapeutics in HCC remain largely unknown. In this study, we found that IL‐17A promoted intrahepatic and pulmonary metastasesis of HCC cells in an orthotopic implant model. Moreover, our results showed that IL‐17A induced epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and promoted HCC cell colonization in vitro and in vivo, and the role of IL‐17A in invasion–metastasis was dependent on activation of the AKT pathway. Remarkably, combined therapy using both secukinumab and sorafenib has better inhibition on tumour growth and metastasis compared to sorafenib monotherapy. Additionally, the combination of intratumoral IL‐17A+ cells and E‐cadherin predicted the outcome of patients with HCC at an early stage after hepatectomy based on tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry. In conclusion, our studies reveal that IL‐17A induces early EMT and promotes late colonization of HCC metastasis by activating AKT signalling. Secukinumab is a promising candidate for clinical development in combination with sorafenib for the management of HCC.


Presented in this paper are selected new methods and applications of non-linear apodization for irregularly-shaped and sparse coherent apertures and arrays. The benefits include improved impulse response performance, i.e. reduced peak sidelobes and integrated sidelobe power, along with improved mainlobe resolution, compared to classic windowing techniques. Non-linear apodization (NLA) techniques can also serve as powerful engines for effective superresolution and bandwidth extrapolation of coherent data for filling sparse apertures. The sparse aperture filling property of superresolution algorithms for radar data forms the basis for a new concept which is introduced here: synthetic multiple aperture radar technology (SMART). Increased swath and/or reduced antenna size are some of the benefits postulated for SMART applied to synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems. The benefits of these new methods and applications for nonlinear apodization are then demonstrated for two specific applications: 1) side lobe control for Y-type synthetic aperture radiometers, such as the European soil moisture and ocean salinity (SMOS) system [12] and JPL's proposed GeoSTAR [13] concept; and, 2) filling of sparse synthetic aperture radar data by exploiting the bandwidth extrapolation properties of non-linear apodization based superresolution techniques. The methods that have been developed and demonstrated here have potential application to a wide range of passive and e microwave remote sensing and radar systems.


A model of cost estimation and control for the test automation based on the Return On Investment(ROI) model and COCOMO measurement results is presented.The maintenance cost of regression test is also taken into account.This model proposes a concept of mean maintenance cost factor and precisely predicts its threshold.We can make use of this threshold to find a suitable test mode and control its cost during the testing process in order to provide dynamic guidance and correct strategy for the whole software test automation.


According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the problem of sex trafficking has no borders, no limits, and impacts men, women, and children from all communities causing emotional and physical distress with lasting negative health outcomes (2017). Sexual predators prey on vulnerable populations to manipulate their victims into a silent captivity, and trap in a world of degradation and dehumanizing experiences, decreasing possibility for transition to fully functioning adult (Oram et al, 2012). Women and children are more likely to be trafficked for sexual exploitation. It is important for health care providers to have a method to assess and identify sex trafficking victims to advocate effectively.


The article is devoted to the problems of common and special legal capacity on the example of credit organizations, stock exchanges and trust companies which perform management of mutual investment fund.


One lethal factor in the skin secretion from the oriental catfish Plotosus lineatus was purified successively by DEAE-cellulose, CM-cellulose and Sephadex G-75 and its homogeneity was sup-ported by analytical disc electrophoresis. The purified lethal factor had a LD50 of 0.71mg/kg (intravenous injection into mice). In addition, it exhibited a strong edema-forming activity; the minimum edema dose inducing 130% edema ratio was as small as 0.89μg. The molecular weight was estimated to be 11, 000 by gel filtration on Sephadex G-75. Unexpectedly the molecular weight determination by SDS disc electrophoresis was unsuccessful because no band was detected under the various tried conditions. Although the purified lethal factor was a basic protein, it was richer in acidic amino acids than basic amino acids, indicating that the acidic amino acids exist in the molecule as an amide form.


THE SPANISH HOLOCAUST: INQUISITION AND EXTERMINATION IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY SPAIN By Paul Preston. New York: Norton, 2012. 700 pp.During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), more than 200,000 Spaniards were murdered without trial and another 200,000 died in battle. The num- bers do not include the countless rapes, torture, and bombing of innocent civilians; the systematic abuse of women and children; and other atrocities perpetrated by both sides but mostly by the followers of Francisco Franco. This bloody history of atrocity is documented by Paul Preston, Principe des Asturias Professor of Contemporary Spanish History at the London School of Economics, as well as the author of ten previous books, including The Triumph of Democracy in Spain, The Spanish Civil War, and Franco: A Biography.Franco Spain, which was neutral during World War II, is generally cred- ited with permitting more than 25,000 Jews to use its territory as an escape route to find sanctuary from the Nazis. Spanish diplomats protected 4,000 Jews in France and in the Balkans, and in 1944 Spain took part in the effort to rescue Hungarian Jewry by accepting 2,750 refugees. However, the vast majority of the Jews who took refuge in Spain later left for other countries. In- deed, Stanley Payne, the noted scholar of twentieth-century Spanish history, in his entry on the Spanish Civil War for The Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, writes the following about the attitude of Franco's followers towards Jews:the movement's (Fascist) propaganda included references to "Jew- ish speculation" and "Jewish capitalism" but anti-Semitic themes were never prominent, if only because they could have little point of reference in Spanish society. . . . Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera (who founded the Falange movement in 1933) rejected anti-Sem- itism, and no specific anti-Jewish remarks are to be found in his speeches and writings . . . anti-Jewish doctrines could play little role in a society almost without any Jewish community, and in which the main fascist leaders had no interest in anti-Semitism. (4: 1395)This is not Preston's view of the role of antisemitism during the Spanish Civil War. He argues that in the first stage of the fascist rebellion against the Republic, the betrayal of the oath to the government by military lead- ers was justified by the assertion that Spain had to be saved from the "Jew- ish-Bolshevik-Masonic conspiracy," which was allegedly responsible for the breakdown of law and order. Preston notes that that even before the civil war, the members of the Spanish Catholic Church were collecting lists of supposed Jews and Freemasons. Following the "liberation of Toledo," its Archbishop in a broadcast to a large radio audience proclaimed the rebel capture of the city the high point of the "clash of civilization" with barba- rism and Moscow. Preston writes that the Archbishop, who was also the Primate of all Spain, "thundered against the 'bastard soul of the sons of Moscow and the Jews and the Freemasons.' The archbishop claimed that the nation was poisoned with absurd doctrines . . . dressed up as political and social systems in the dark societies controlled by the Semite International."The loss of the Church's privileges under the Republic led to their con- doning violence in behalf of those opposed to the democratically elected government. Preston convincingly shows how the Spanish Church, backed by the Vatican, waged a successful propaganda campaign against the Re- public with claims that left-wingers and liberals were neither really Spanish nor even really human, and for this reason they were a threat to the nation's existence and should be exterminated. …


Libraries provide implementation for the concepts of a particular domain. When programmers use a library, they do not work any more with the real-world concepts but with their implementation available within the used library. From this point of view, libraries represent the "reality" at which the programmers have to adapt. Ideally, in order to be easy to use, the implementation of concepts in libraries should accurately mirror the concepts and their relations from the real world. Unfortunately, this is not always realised and this results in a bias between the real-world concepts and their implementation. Depending on the kind of the bias, the users can adapt themselves or not to the library's "reality". In this paper we propose a method to describe and evaluate the bias of the library implementation of real-world concepts expressed within an ontology. We use our method to describe several primitive bias classes in a formal framework and to discuss how can they affect the library's users. We present our results with the help of bias examples which we (semi-)automatically identified in the Java standard library


Included in the terms of Korean Nongak rhythmic patterns are Chai or Machi, some of which are numbered. For example Il-chai-koot, Oeh-machi, Oeh-machi-jilkoot, I-chai-koot, Du-machi, Deon-sam-chai-koot, Neurin-sam-chai-koot, Se-machi, O-chai-jilkoot, and Kilgunak-chil-chai. These rhythmic patterns are independent of Nongak Sibi-chai that consists of 12 serial rhythmic patterns. Chai is a mallet which they play percussion with; Machi is also a mallet. Chida and Machida mean striking and playing in Nongak. Chai and Machi mean rhythmic pattern in Nongak and sharmanism music, such as Chun-doong-chai and Kyup-machi. The figure added to these terms of rhythmic pattern originated from the number of strokes played by the Jing(Large Gong): ① In Il-chai-koot (onc-chai), Oeh-machi (Single-machi), Oeh-machi-jilkook(single-machi-march) the Jing is beaten once in a measure. ② In I-chai-kook (two-chai), Du-machi (two-machi) the Jing is beaten twice. ③ In Doen-sam-chai (fast-three-chai), Neurin-sam-chei (slow three-chai), Se-machi (three machi) the Jing is bitten three times. ④ In O-chai-kook (five-chai), O-chai-jilkoot (five-chai-march) the Jing is beaten five times. ⑤ In Kilgunak-chil-chai (seven-chai-march) the Jing is beaten seven times. There are two types. In the first type the ling is beaten many times in a measure, and in the second type just one time. In the older style the ling is beaten many times. For in sharmanism music the Jing is beaten many times. The mixed time, as in O-chai-jilkoot and Kilgunak-chil-chai, is an older style in Korean music. These rhythmic patterns which include Chai or Machi motivate to combine into Nongak-12chai.


Every year, the interest in solving more complex problems is growing, due to automation, the need for communication processes in intelligent systems. One of the promising directions for solving this problem is based on the use of artificial neural networks and neurocomputers, as the most progressive in relation to corporate governance problems.


This paper presents a voltage and frequency controller (VFC) for parallel operated isolated asynchronous generators (IAGs) in pico and micro hydro systems feeding 3-phase 4-wire loads. The proposed VF controller regulates the system voltage and frequency in decoupled manner through control of reactive and active powers. The controller is a combination of a static compensator (STATCOM) and an electronic load controller (ELC). The STATCOM is used for reactive power compensation for voltage control, load balancing, harmonic elimination and neutral current compensation while an ELC is used for active power control at the terminals of the generators, which in turn keeps the system frequency constant. Modelling of the proposed generating system is carried out in MATLAB-based environment and a set of simulation results are given to demonstrate the performance of the controller in an isolated electrical distribution system using SIMULINK and PSB (Power System Block sets) toolboxes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Debates on precarious employment in the UK have followed two key concepts: flexibility and vulnerability. During the 1980s, in the context of high unemployment, homelessness and industrial restructuring, debate focused on the growth of numerical flexibility (part-time work, temporary work and subcontracting) (Atkinson and Meager 1986; Pollert 1991). Did these 'new' jobs represent 'atypical', 'precarious' or 'insecure' employment? Research gathered the characteristics of these workers and their employment conditions. Subsequently, questions arose as to whether workers in these new categories could make transitions into permanent full-time employment (O'Reilly and Bothfeld 2002). Since the late 1980s there has been a wealth of cross-national comparative research on 'atypical' employment, as well as a number of government and company initiatives to encourage and remove regulatory anomalies around flexible work and encourage better 'work–life balance' (O'Reilly 2003). For example, legislation in the UK in May 2008 granted temporary agency workers the same rights as permanent workers after 12 weeks employment (BBC 2008). A key component of this debate has focused on gender differentials and the different ways households combine care and work.


The radial distribution functions for a central force model of water, derived from a combination of computer simulation and integral equation techniques, are used to calculate the density-density and charge-charge structure factors. These quantities are compared with neutron scattering measurements of light and heavy water. From the behaviour of the density-density and charge-charge structure factors in the thermodynamic limit of small wavenumbers, the extent of density and charge fluctuations is estimated. In particular, the density fluctuations in water are found to extend to longer distances than charge fluctuates. The relations between the charge fluctuations and the behaviour of the static dielectric function as well as some dynamical properties are discussed.


Focusing on the dissection of cadavers by first-year medical students, this article examines the process of professional initiation at a medical school in the United States. The essay argues that medical training reifies not only 'the patient,' but also 'the doctor': the first as an object that can be known and handled through disenchanted professional routines, and the second as an agent who handles human bodies with such routines in all circumstances,


A small, southeastern Christian university has two independent programs for students studying abroad or serving as missionaries for an academic year. This study examines the correlation between perceived support students felt from their university and their academic success in their first returning semester. Because of the differences in these programs our research sought to examine student perceived support before, during and after their year abroad with GPA before and after their experience. No correlation was found between perceived support and academic success, but findings showed that neither group of student sojourners felt significantly supported during the year abroad. Study abroad students' GPA drop significantly in their first return semester while student missionaries' GPA dropped only marginally. Further research should identify effective means to increase perceived support of students while abroad and to determine if learning shock may explain the significant drop in study abroad student GPAs. When student sojourners return to their home university after a year abroad, there is a need for enhanced student support before, during, and after their experience. The theory of reverse culture shock explains the process of readjusting, reacculturating, and reassimilating once a person has returned to one's own home culture (Gaw, p.83). This process can be experienced in varying degrees by returnees and can have severe negative effects on students' academic success. This study seeks to discover if there is a correlation between stronger perceived support before, during and after the sojourn experience and students' academic success in their first returning semester. This knowledge may shed light on the importance of institutional support and how it may enhance student experiences abroad and in returning to their home university. Study Abroad Students & Student Missionaries A small, Christian university in the Southeast contributes to the increase of international students through its study abroad program, Adventist Colleges Abroad (ACA) and student missionary (SM) program. These independent programs differ in requirements and expectations of participating students, yet both groups spend nine to 12 months abroad in a foreign country and culture. Possible service positions in the SM program include: teaching, construction work, medical assistants, and chaplaincy. Students are required to enroll in an orientation class or comparable online course the semester before their departure. The returning SMs attend a mandatory re-entry retreat and are encouraged to participate in the Student Missions Club, assisting with mailing SMs care packages and promoting mission service at assemblies and planned events throughout the year. SMs are immersed in the culture and language of their host country and may live without first world commodities of home. ACA students are immersed in a foreign culture while becoming conversant in its language and completing classes relevant to their degrees. The ACA program is managed through the modern languages department. Students are expected to attend informational and orientation meetings the semester prior to their travel. Returning ACA students have no suggested or required events, however, a pilot class was offered in the fall semester of 2011 for returning ACA students majoring in modern languages. When ACA students study abroad they usually have taken classes on the spoken language of the country. The modern languages department encourages students to make the main purpose of studying abroad to experience a new culture. Therefore, the student will try to fully submerse himself in the culture.


Abstract : The authors have investigated image analysis methods for tracking moving objects in marine environments. They focused on information-theoretic approaches that compare image regions of interest with the statistical models of the objects to be tracked. They evaluated the tracking performance of mean-shift and block-matching algorithms on videos of waterways. It is challenging to track naval vessels in these videos due to glare from the water surface, up and down movements of vessels, and occlusions. They found that the performance of the mean-shift tracking approach was superior to the performance of the block-matching approach in videos with low contrast between the naval vessels to be tracked and the surrounding water surface, and where the scale and orientation of the vessels changed.


The robust associations between suicide and substances arise because alcohol or other drug use functions as both a chronic risk factor for suicidality, and an acute precipitant of suicidal behaviour. Chronic drug use substantially increases the risk of experiencing mental health problems such as depression or psychosis, which are themselves significant risk factors for suicide, particularly when they co-occur with substance use disorders. Moreover, independent of the influence of mental illness, substance use disorders themselves increase the risk of suicide, possibly due to alterations in neurotransmitter levels.


Time‐dependent Stokesian fluid flow around an arbitrary body can be analyzed in terms of time‐harmonic phasors. Analytical techniques commonly used for frequency‐domain scattering can therefore be brought to use. The scattering response of a body is often quantitated by the extinction cross section. However, the wave number for Stokesian flows is necessarily complex, so the usual interpretation of the extinction cross section is untenable in the present instance. It is shown, however, that a detector‐based interpretation of the extinction cross section is unambiguous and experimentally relevant. An almost exact formula is derived for the extinction coefficient for the far‐field, forward scattering case. Computed values of extinction cross sections are presented for spheres and spheroids.


Promotion as one of the methods used by companies in selling products or services had an important role in marketing activities and the most important part in marketing strategy to assist the implementation of sales. The analysis based on simple linear regression analysis which used to determine whether the variables being studied are interconnected. One variable needed another variable and the extented of its influence, and also can foresee or predict the value of a variable. Analysis on the simple correlation coefficient and determination coefficient used to find out how big or tightness level of the relationship between the variables under investigation and to determine how well one variable affects other variables, and hypothesis testing by using the t distribution. From the above analysis could be identified that the cost of promotional sales rate affected on selling price. If there was an effort to increase the cost of promotion, It will also be followed by the increase in selling product. While others things are determined by other factors, such as taste, price and customer satisfaction levels.


Social media data are used to enhance crisis management, as people widely adopt social media to share and acquire information to cope with uncertainties in crises. Identification and extraction of informative communications out of large volumes of data is critical for accurate situational awareness and timely response. Existing studies use conditions of geolocations, keywords, and topics separately or jointly to retrieve data that can be crisis related, but are not enough to filter subsets of data for different crisis management tasks. We propose that the crisis communication purposes of users can be detected to enhance data selection and prioritization for different crisis management tasks. A classification framework was built to identify three facets of a message: content type, audience type, and information source. The definitions of these categories are not dependent on a specific type of crises. So the classification framework can be potentially applied to different crisis scenarios. Machine learning models were created for the automatic classification of messages. Results showed the CNN-based model achieved the best accuracy (88.5%) for the classification of content type. The proposed Naive Bayes and logistic repression with predetermined features can best differentiate audience types and information source with an accuracy of 72.7% and 72.2%, respectively.


Earthquake is a natural disaster which causes extensive poverty damage as well as the death of thousands and thousands of people. In this study, we tried to find the unknown characteristics of earthquakes using association rule mining methods global earthquake data occurred since 1973. As a way for mining of quantitative association rule on the earthquake data which includes date, location, magnitude and depth of earthquake. we divided it into small sections and applied a method to find out association rule by repeating the process to merge nearby sections. As the result from study, we could derive associate relationship between time and magnitude, depth and magnitude, as well as location and frequency. This result could prove the relationship more efficiently when data mining technique was applied to earthquake data. It would serve as a reference for further study of relationship with other attributes such as geology, tectonic and so on.


The ability for musicians to interact face-to-face has been highly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Physical distancing and travel restrictions have forced teaching, rehearsals, and performances to be moved online. The use of videoconference platforms designed for conversation has also meant accepting their limitations when used in musical contexts. For example, in networked music performance (NMP), low-latency audio is usually transmitted alongside a separate video image. Since videoconference systems usually have a higher degree of in-built delay, the result is that performers often ignore the video image of each other in order to maintain a steady rhythm. If musicians usually avoid looking at each other during NMPs, could virtual reality provide a viable alternative to videoconferencing? In recent years, virtual reality has reemerged as an immersive medium with the ability to bring users together in an online space. However, there is a relatively small body of literature that is concerned with realistic acoustic interaction approaches in NMP when virtual reality is used as the visual medium. This paper explores research at the intersection of networked music performance, virtual reality, and virtual environments. It finds that virtual reality as a visual alternative to videoconferencing in NMP is worthy of further investigation and points to priorities for future research.


The purpose of our study was to determine the changes in the smoking habits of active smokers hospitalized with Coronavirus disease-19 (Covid-19) We conducted a single-center, retrospective research on smokers hospitalized with Covid-19 between March 2020 and June 2020 A total of 105 patients were included in the study The age, gender, comorbidities, cigarette pack per year, PCR test results of the patients were recorded from the patient files Patients were approached by telephone and a questionnaire was applied to them to evaluate smoking habits following discharge A total of 105 patients participated in the study 42 (40 0%) were female and the mean age of the patients was 39 80 ± 12 66 (width, 16-69) years Patients smoked 14 51 ±13 88 packs of cigarettes a year on average Of the patients, 13 33% quit smoking In our study, it was determined that after having Covid -19, 86 66% (n: 91) of the patients continued to smoke Of those who did not quit smoking, 53 8% stated that they reduced smoking compared to the past, 76 9% thought to quit smoking, and 48 4% said they needed professional support to quit smoking In addition, 38 5% of those who didn't quit smoking stated that they believed they were caught Covid-19 due to smoking Raising awareness that quitting smoking reduces the risks and complications of Covid-19 and activating new smoking cessation programs may help individuals to quit smoking during the pandemic [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Eastern Journal of Medicine is the property of Yuzuncu Yil University, Faculty of Medicine and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )


Current study empirically investigates the impact of institutional ownership on discretionary accruals; we took a sample size of 68 listed non -financial companies from a population of 652 companies listed on Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). This data was gathered for the period of 5 years, starting from 2006 up to 2010. Modified Jones Model was employed for this study to quantify discretionary accruals while institutional ownership measured by dividing number of shares kept by institutions from total number of shares outstanding. The fix effect model showed that the magnitude of discretionary accruals in Pakistani listed firms tends to significantly decrease for the firms where institutions hold a decent amount of share of that particular firm. Thus the findings of this study are in consensus with our hypothesis, which proposes that institutional ownership is quite an effective tool in aligning insider management and administration to take the right decision for value maximizing of the companies, and thus shareholders.


Since soybean seed yield is the product of both biomass accumulation and harvest index, the objective of the present study was to measure the correlations of seed yield with the other two traits as well as with biomass accumulation at different seed development stages, to map their QTLs, and to reveal the QTL basis of the correlations. A RIL population, NJRIKY, derived from the cross between Nannong 1138-2 and Kefeng 1, quite diverse in biomass, harvest index and yield, was used to study the correla- tion among biomass accumulation, apparent harvest index and yield, to map the QTLs of the traits for revealing the genetic basis of the correlation among the traits. The results obtained were as follows: (1) Yield was closely and positively correlated with bio- mass accumulation and their correlation increased in the process of growth with the highest R2=0.76 at harvest stage. There ap- peared some negative exponential correlation between yield and biomass at R1, R3, and R5, with the biomass of 1 000, 2 300, and 5 500 kg ha-1 as the highest turning point, respectively. A linear correlation of yield with biomass at harvest stage [BM (H)] was detected, but without upper limit of the biomass found in the present experiment. There was an exponential correlation between yield and apparent harvest index, with 0.42 as the turning point, positive relationship as less than 0.42 and negative relationship as larger than 0.42. (2) 9, 10, and 10 QTLs for yield, apparent harvest index and BM (H) were detected in NJRIKY and 2, 3, and 3 QTLs of them respectively detected in both years. In addition, 6, 9, and 6 QTLs for biomass at R1, R3, and R5 were identified in the population, respectively, with 2 of them being detected across R1 through R5 in both years. (3) Among the 9 yield QTLs, 6 marker intervals were found to have QTLs conferring biomass and apparent harvest index, which implied a partially common genetic basis among the three traits.


Today's production systems need to adapt rapidly to changing product requirements. Adaptation can be eased by formal models, representing product requirements and system capabilities, which convey the necessary information for adaptation planning activities. This paper presents an adaptation approach based on matching product requirements with resource capabilities, and applies it to a practical case study in TUT-microfactory environment. The main emphasis is placed firstly on introducing the ontological resource description, which facilitates the representation of resource capabilities. Secondly, the rules, according to which information about product requirements and resource capabilities is compared to find the match, are highlighted. The proposed approach facilitates automatic filtering, reasoning, and generation of alternative adaptation scenarios from a vast amount of resource information. As a result, less manual information handling and reasoning are required during adaptation planning.


We analyse the relationship between functional income distribution and economic growth in France and Germany from 1960 until 2005. The analysis is based on a demand-driven distribution and growth model for an open economy inspired by Bhaduri & Marglin (1990), which allows for profit- or wage-led growth. First, we apply a single equation approach, estimating the effects of redistribution on the demand aggregates and summing up these effects in order to obtain the total effect of redistribution on GDP growth. Since interactions between the demand aggregates are omitted from this approach, we also apply a simulation approach taking into account these interactions. In the single equation approach we find that growth in France was wage-led, whereas the effect in Germany was undetermined. The results of the simulation approach, however, suggest that the wage-led nature of growth in France becomes even more pronounced when considering the interactions between the demand aggregates, while in Germany the simulations show a tendency towards wage-led growth in the longer run.


This paper introduces the locking methods of ORACLE database.It analyses the characteristic of share updating lock.The paper discusses update and row-level locking of multi-tables and how to fix deadlock errors.


| A variety of alternative medicine is aromatherapy that uses essential oils for treating and preventing dis-ease. The current study was applied to investigate the possible protective effects of Thymus vulgaris essential oil ( TEO ) against carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ) toxicity. Forty-eight rats were equally allocated into six experimental groups and effectively treated for 4 weeks as follows: control group; the group treated with CCl 4 (1ml/ kg b.w) CCl 4 twice a week; the groups treated daily with low and high doses of TEO (2.5 and 5 mg/kg b.w) and the groups received CCl 4 twice a week and treated daily with TEO at the two tested doses. At the end of the treatment period, blood and tissue samples were collected for estimation of hematological, biochemical, antioxidant, immunological parameters, and histopathological assessment, and immunohistochemistry for cleave caspase and PCNA in hepatic tissue. CCl 4 significantly decreased all hematological parameters except neutrophils and toxic neutrophils counts were significantly increased. Moreover, CCl 4 increased the liver enzymes level and hepatic oxidative stress parameters. Meanwhile, the antioxidants, respiratory burst, phagocytic, serum lysozyme, and bactericidal activities were significantly suppressed in CCl 4 - intoxicated rats . Also, CCl 4 raised serum levels of TNF- α , IL-6, and diminished IL-10, IL-12. It also increased caspase 3 and PCNA. The treatment with T. vulgaris oil attenuated the toxic effect of CCl 4 in all hematological parameters. It also reduced the hepatotoxic effect of CCl 4 , enhanced the antioxidant system, and improved the innate immune parameters and inflammatory markers to their normal level. Based on histopathological analysis T. assessment depicted immunoreactivity treated group. Meanwhile, significantly increases at PCNA Immunoreactivity which indicates hepatocellular regeneration in T. vulgaris oil. More pronounced improvement was noticed in the group received the high dose of TEO . Our results suggested that Thymus vulgaris essential oil has a potential antioxidant activity and many protective effects against liver toxicity induced by CCl 4 and this protection was dose-dependent.


In this research work we investigate which factors influence the probability of leaving the unemployment state among people registered in the District Labor Office in S lupsk. The multiepisode hazard models with time-varying variables are suitable tools for this analysis. We introduced the changing labor market structure into the risk model. The main results achieved show that the job finding process depends on the historical time of the entry into the unemployment state and the actual historical time. Also, the specific individual characteristics of people unemployed, such as gender, age, marital status, place of residence, education level, influence the probability of exiting the unemployment state. There is a greater tendency to leave the unemployment state when the person doesn't receive the unemployment benefit. The participation in the vocational training doesn't increase the transition rate into employment.


With the construction of northern and western wind power base, large-scale regional wind power grid connection begins to affect power system and several power grid accidents in Fuxin grid resulted in partial off-grid in recent years, causing certain damages on the security and stability of power system. The author takes Fuxin power grid as example to analyze on two problems existing in large-scale wind power centralized grid connection: frequent fluctuations and reactive voltage control, study on the effect of large-scale wind power centralized grid connection on the security and stability of power system and proposes countermeasures and suggestions.


In this paper we present a method to combine measurement techniques that reduce uncertainties and improve measurement throughput. The approach has immediate utility when performing model-based optical critical dimension (OCD) measurements. When modeling optical measurements, a library of curves is assembled through the simulation of a multi-dimensional parameter space. Parametric correlation and measurement noise lead to measurement uncertainty in the fitting process resulting in fundamental limitations due to parametric correlations. We provide a strategy to decouple parametric correlation and reduce measurement uncertainties. We also develop the rigorous underlying Bayesian statistical model to apply this methodology to OCD metrology. These statistical methods use a priori information rigorously to reduce measurement uncertainty, improve throughput and develop an improved foundation for comprehensive reference metrology.


Small s o l i d tantalum c a p a c i t o r s wi th r a t in g s o f 5 v o l t s t o 50 v o l t s dc provide c a p a c i t o r f i l t e r i n g from dc o ut through the GHz frequency ra nge . Unlike normal exten ded f o i l or d i s c bypass c a p a c i t o r s ( i . e . , mylar, m e t a l l i z e d p o l y s t y r e n e , m e t a l l i z e d mylar, ceramic and m i c a ) , they do not sh arp ly r e s o n a t e wi th t h e i r own i n t e r n a l and lea d ind uctance a t some f r e  quency , turn i n d u c t i v e and s t o p a c t i n g l i k e f i l t e r s a t high f r e q u e n c i e s . They f u n c t i o n l i k e c a p a c i t o r f i l t e r s


Advances in networking and database technology have brought vast amounts of data together. In the right hands, such networked data and content can be invaluable. But for all its potential good use, the same data has great potential for misuse. A new breed of Hippocratic Databases is emerging as one way to empower and protect databased content


Mono-disperse emulsion is of great significance for both chemical and industrial applications. The current study reports a new microfluidic system capable of formation of micro-droplets in liquids for emulsification applications. The new emulsion chip can precisely generate uniform droplets using a novel combination of hydrodynamic-focusing and liquid-chopping techniques. Experimental data show that micro-droplets with a diameter ranging from several to tens of micrometers could be precisely generated. The emulsification behavior at different ratios of sample flow rate (v1) and sheath flow rate (v2) and chopping frequency is systematically investigated. The micro-droplets have a uniform size while compared to previous studies. This novel device can be promising for emulsification and other related applications.


Mating with close relatives generally results in reduced reproductive success(inbreeding depression)because it increases the risk that rare deleterious recessive alleles will be expressed in offspring,and such matings decrease the viability of resulting offspring.Parental investment theory suggests that if sexual aversion to close relatives does occur,it should be stronger in females than males because of females' greater investment in each offspring and hence greater potential costs resulting from less viable offspring.In this study,we collected data on the sexual behavior of adult males and females,using focal animal sampling,ad libitum sampling and continuous recording in YA_1 troop at Huangshan from September 2006 to April 2007.Overall,336 copulations were recorded during the study period in the focal troop.None of copulations involved in mother-son dyads;7(2.1%)of copulations were among siblings;329(97.9%)of copulations were among non-kin dyads.During the mating season,males followed and sex-inspected their matrilineal females less than non-kin dyads.However,there was no significant difference in male's Proximity Maintenance Index between kin and non-kin dyads.In females,the frequency of refusals of mating to kin was higher than non-kin males.There was a significant difference in female's Proximity Maintenance Index between kin and non-kin dyads in mating season.However,there was no significant difference during the birth season.Although males showed behavioral propensities inhibiting copulation between matrilineal relatives and matings with their kin females less than non-kin females in mating season,they occasionally sought copulations or force matings with kin dyads,but were always refused by females.However,the hourly rate of social grooming and proximity in matrilineal relatives was higher than that in non-kin dyads during the mating and birth seasons.These results strongly suggest that behavioral propensities inhibit copulations between matrilineal relatives in wild Thibetan macaques.Females appear to be more averse than males to copulating with relatives.Our results are consistent with parental investment theory.


Evaluation of rheological behavior of soft tissues provides an important diagnosis tool. Nowadays, most of the available commercial ultrasound systems assume tissues as isotropic and purely elastic. Recently in order to fully characterize the rheological behavior of tissues, methods to estimate both shear wave speed (V) and attenuation (α) were developed for isotropic media [1, 2]. In acoustic radiation force elastography, generated shear waves are not plane and a diffraction correction is needed to estimate α [1]. Here a diffraction correction is studied through numerical simulation and experimentally to measure α for an homogeneous transverse isotropic, viscoelastic (TIV) medium.


As part of a large-scale study, the current study explored the barriers perceived by Iranian EFL teachers to impede their professional development. To this end, 200 EFL teachers teaching at various private foreign language institutes participated in the study. The study enjoyed a mixed-method design. That is, first, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 50 participants of the study on the basis of which the barriers to teachers' PD questionnaire (BTPDQ) was developed and validated. The results of the interview content analysis and the findings of the descriptive statistics of BTPDQ revealed the barriers were attributed to three major factors including 'teachers themselves' (e.g., lack of motivation, lack of teamwork spirit, etc.), 'managers of the language institutes' (e.g., institutes' not having organized plans for PD, low payments, etc.), and 'educational policy-makers' (e.g., curriculum developers' top-to-down managerial behavior, etc.). The findings might prove fruitful and innovative for the managers of foreign language education centers, teachers, and policy makers. Foreign language education policy makers, curriculum developers and syllabus designers are thus suggested to plan such effective and durable PD activities as teacher study groups, peer observation, online teacher PD methods and social-media-based programs in order to interest and involve EFL teachers in up-to-date PD activities.


Ionomers, polymers decorated with ionizable groups, have found application in numerous technologies where ionic transport is required. The ionic groups associate into random clusters resulting in substantial effect on structure, dynamics and transport of these materials. The effects of topology, size and dynamics of these aggregates however remain an open question. Here we probe cluster formation correlated with polymer dynamics through a model system of randomly sulfonated polystyrene (SPS) melts with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations over a broad time and length scales ranging from that within the ionic clusters through polymer segmental dynamics to the motion of the entire molecules. The cluster evolution was probed by fully atomistic studies. We find ladder-like aggregates that transform to globule-like with increasing the dielectric constant of media for sodium neutralized SPS. With increasing dielectric constant, the size of the aggregates decrease and their number increases. Concurrently, the mobility of the polymer increases. The counterion radius and valency affect both morphology and dynamics as is evident in the calculated static and dynamic structure factors. It is further manifested in the results of viscosity obtained through non-equilibrium molecular dynamics technique. Finally, to access larger length scales a three bead coarse-grained model to describe sulfonated styrene that we have developed will be discussed in view of the outstanding challenges in ionic polymers.


The invention discloses an indoor positioning method and system and a positioning platform, and relates to the technical field of positioning of the mobile Internet. The method includes: obtaining prior probability of wireless signal strength detected at reference points according to the wireless signal strength of a positioned terminal and a signal strength probability distribution diagram of the reference points; obtaining posterior probability according to the prior probability and based on a Bayesian decision; and multiplying the posterior probability with a matrix of transition probability of the reference points, and outputting the reference point with the maximal transition probability as a positioning result of the positioned terminal. The method, system and platform build the indoor wireless signal strength probability distribution diagram through a transfer HMM model to realize a universal method for accurate positioning, and by combination of a wireless signal strength acquisition and preprocessing mechanism and a probability distribution matching method based on the transfer HMM model, an indoor accurate positioning service with good experience can be provided to a user.


When powders aluminium oxide is electrolyzed,how to raise the current efficiency in electrolytic cell and reduce cost is studied in this paper.


Indirect immunofluorescence staining of fungi with specific antisera was demonstrated in biopsy specimens taken from six patients with chronic Trichophyton rubrum infections. However, there was no evidence of immunoglobulin or C3 deposition in the vicinity of the organisms or elsewhere in the sections. Circulating antibodies to dermatophyte fungi are often not demonstrable in these patients. However, these results suggest that antibody affinity for epithelium docs not account for their absence in patients' serum.


A number of dialkyltin(IV) salts of phosphorus oxy-acids R2Sn(PO2H2)2 (R = CH3, C2H5, n-C4H9), R2SnPO3X (R = CH3, C2H5, n-C4H9, X = H; R = CH3, X = F, OH), and [(CH3)2Sn]3(PO4)2 have been prepared in aqueous solution from the appropriate dialkyltin(IV) dichloride and the sodium salts of phosphorus oxy-acids.Infrared and 119Sn Mossbauer spectra of the dialkyltin dihypophosphites, R2Sn(PO2H2)2, are consistent with hexacoordination for tin with the alkyl groups in trans-octahedral positions and bidentate bridging hypophosphite groups coordinated through oxygens. For the dialkyltin phosphites, R2SnPO3X, polymeric structures with a non-linear R2Sn arrangement are involved, and the magnetic hyperfine Mossbauer spectrum (X = F) is consistent with either distorted trans-octahedral or distorted trigonal bipyramidal structures (with both apical or both equatorial methyl groups). In [(CH3)2Sn]3(PO4)2 the three tin environments are indistinguishable by Mossbauer spectroscopy, but the high value of the asymmetry param...


The recent advent of the miniaturization technology witnessed over the last decades has led to development and creation of several conventional microfluidic techniques. A microfluidic platform can be broken down into a set of fluidic unit operations which are miniaturized versions of orthodox large scale (bio- chemical) laboratory operations. These miniaturized operations are designed for easy integration and automation within a well-defined fabrication technology; which permits simple, easy, fast, and cost-efficient implementation of different application-specific bio-chemical processes for point care diagnostics. Processes that can be automated at this scale include nucleic acid extraction, amplification and detection. The improvement in technology within the previous decades has led to significant developments of techniques used in implementing several microfluidic processes. The auspicious developments that have greatly impacted areas in medical research, therapeutics and POCT applications are brought into focus by this research on a continuous flow configuration. Through these visualization platforms such as pressure driven flow, magneto- hydrodynamics dielectrophoresis, large-scale integration are analyzed under continuous flow characteristics. Finally this review also provides adequate examples whilst investigating the strengths and limitations of every technique. Copyright © 2014 IFSA Publishing, S. L.


Before launching a satellite, space environment test is conducted to validate the satellite performance under the simulated space environment condition. When the payload of satellite is a high resolution optical camera, lots of things should be considered for the test such as contamination, thermal distortion, over- or under-tests, etc. In this paper, several thermal vacuum test methods are introduced for the optical payload satellite to avoid contamination against the optical system and over-test satisfying the predicted space thermal environment. Before the test, the numerical prediction is performed and the prediction results are compared with the test results.


Reactive kinetic of bulk polymerization of HDI/HTPB was studied by means of titration analysis.The effect of catalyst DBTDL was detailed. Results show that the reactive speed of catalysed system can meet the retention time of reactive extrusion based on twin-screw extruder.


We present a method for simulating the melting and flowing of material in burning objects fast enough to be of use in video games where most of the graphical and computational resources are needed elsewhere. The standard practice of using particle engines or fluid dynamics for melting are far too costly for use in this environment. We demonstrate that our method, which is based on systematic polygonal expanding and folding, uses only a fraction of the computational power available by implementing the computation on a modest GPU using CUDA.


The biggest family of receptor tyrosine kinases, eph receptors interact with membrane-bound ephrin ligands to regulate a wide range of vital human activities, from embryonic development to adult tissue homeostasis. Eph receptors and ephrin ligands are widely expressed throughout immune system and cardiovascular system, which emphasises how crucial these molecules are for coordinating the best response. The numerous functions of Eph receptors and ephrin ligands. In their interaction with Eph receptors might be a potential therapeutic target in treatment of myocardial infarction are summarised in this study. We also go over the significance of Ephrin-Eph signalling has been shown to reduce inflammation and apoptosis after an ischemic insult and promote angiogenesis. Doxazosin has been reported to activate EphA2 receptors at 25 μM and 50μM. in HEK and PC-3 cells respectively. Oxidative stress generated within first few minutes of myocardial reperfusion has been reported in myocardial injury and cardiomyocyte death through a number of differ mechanisms that PI3/AKt pathway may be involved in cardio protective effect of Doxazosin downstream Ephrin A2 receptor activation. The numerous and important functions investigated of Eph receptors and ephrin ligands throughout the system both when it is dormant and active.


Glaucoma is characterized by optic nerve head cupping and visual field defects that could be detected with long-term rigorous monitoring of patients. There is not yet a good screening test for the disease, hence emphasis should be on prevention of progression of the disease by risk reduction. Currently, the only proven method to prevent the progression glaucomatous disease is lowering the intraocular pressure (IOP). The precise mechanism by which IOP contributes to the development and progression of glaucoma is not completely understood [1,2]. This is, in part, due to the variability in individual susceptibility to IOP [3]. To better understand this individual susceptibility, it is essential to understand this relationship between IOP and glaucomatous optic neuropathy (GON) for effective management of the disease.


Rapid prototyping technology is widely used to fabricate 3-D objects with all features of a design using Computer Aided Design (CAD) model. The final fabricated object with rapid prototyping technique has to be evaluated regarding the extent of its closeness to CAD model. Geometric conformity analysis has to be used in determining a measure of the geometric deviation between designed and fabricated 3-D models. In this paper evaluation technique is used to provide an aggregate measure of overall geometric deviation between designed free formed surface and its fabricated geometries using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technique. This approach is typically utilized for large or more complex assemblies such as vehicle interiors and exteriors and full scale aircraft etc. Computer Aided Inspection with CMM aims at development of suitable methodology so as to convert data obtained from CMM to convenient formats to measure dimensional and form errors of freeform surface objects. The present work used in additive manufacturing with the newer methodology of inspecting in rapid product development also.


In the south Mediterranean countries and especially the North Africa, the water demands, since many decades, have increased while the conventional water availability has decreased dramatically. These trends continue. The obligation to use other non-conventional water resources such as desalinating water or waste water reuse becomes a necessity. Electrodialysis is a membrane process that competes with reverse osmosis for desalination and the removal of specific inorganic contaminants The experiments for desalination were carried out of various synthetic brackish waters containing 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 g/l NaCl in order to determinate the operating conditions of electrodialysis process. The pilot used supplied by the Tokuyama Corp. The influence on the desalination performances of many running parameters such as voltage and salinities was investigated. These studies demonstrated that the electrodialysis is an effective method of being used to desalinate brackish water was well as water with higher salt concentrations up to about 10 g/L NaCl.


The results of the effect of scandium alloying of additive wires such as SvАМg4 and SvАМg63 on the structure and mechanical properties of welded joints of sheets and plates of 1420 alloy in mechanized single-passing and manual multi-pass welding are presented. It is shown that the introduction of 0.17...0.25 % scandium in the SvАМg4 and SvАМg63 filling wires contributes to decrease in the cracking rate and significant increase in the critical rate of deformation of the sample during welding on the МVТU sample. The level of microporosities and their location in multi-pass welding of plates of 1420 alloy depend on the magnesium content in the filling wire. The alloying of the SvАМg4 and SvАМg63 filling wires by scandium increases the ultimate strength of both the welding joint as whole and the weld metal.


We estimate the minimum SNR necessary for object detection in the projection domain. We assume there is a set of objects O and we study an ideal observer that sequentially compares each member of O to the null hypothesis. This reduces to one-dimensional signal detection between two Gaussians. We find that for a search task of a circular 6 mm lesion in a region of interest 60 mm by 60 mm by 10 slices, and for a required sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 80%, the minimum required projection SNR is 5.1, a finding reminiscent of the Rose criterion.


– Characterization of precipitation extremes and trends in two regions of North Africa. To identify extreme precipitation, we use the "Standardized Precipitation Index" (SPI) method designed to determine periods of climatic drought. This research attempts to assess the synchronization of cycles of precipitation and trends in two regions of the Mediterranean basin, the Soummam Valley (north east of Algeria) and the Cap Bon which forming a peninsula in north-east Tunisia. The results show a severe climate drought observed in these regions from the late eighties and a rainfall return observed at end of the series ( but more confirmed in the Cap Bon region).


An automated algorithm for pitch frequency measurement for diagnostic systems of borderline mental disorders is developed. It is based on decomposition of a speech signal into frequency components using an adaptive method for analyzing of non-stationary signals, improved complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (improved CEEMDAN), and isolating the component containing pitch. A block diagram for the developed algorithm and a detailed mathematical description are presented. A research of the algorithm using the formed verified signal base of healthy patients, and male and female patients with psychogenic disorders, aged from 18 to 60, is conducted. The research results are evaluated in comparison with the known algorithms for pitch frequency measurement. In accordance with the results of the study, the developed algorithm for pitch frequency measurement provides an accuracy increase in determination of borderline mental disorders: for the error of the first kind, on the average, it is more accurate by 10.7%, and for the second type error by 4.7%.


DFT calculations have been conducted to understand the conformational and tautomeric preference of 4-amino-5-(2-hydroyphenyl)-2,4-dihydro-3 H -1,2,4-triazole-3-thione ligand. The results suggest that the thione tautomer is found to be the most stable form in the gas phase, which is in very good agreement with the FT-IR and crystallographic data. The protonation constants of the ligand and the stability constants of its complexes with Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) have been determined by potentiometry in water-ethanol (90:10, v : v ) mixture. The absolute pKa values of the ligand have been calculated using DFT method to complement and help the assignment of potentiometric data. DFT calculations have also been carried out for some metallic complexes species formed in solution in order to propose their most probable structures.


The human memory, on one of its many levels, manifests itself in three overlapping categories: the historical and communal; the familial and social; the autobiographical and personal. At one end of the scale is the constellation of collective memories, given by one's socio-economic class, ethnic background, education, religion, the historical period of one's life, nationality, and so on. At the other end of the spectrum, in a purely private shrine in one's own unique ego, there are those individual memories that no one else, past, present or future, will ever share or know. Social-familial memories tend to connect to both categories, the public and the private. At the extremes of the spectrum there appears to be, on the communal side, an assertion: "We are what we are," and at the private end a question: "Who am I?'


Specially engineered drug particles can solve solubility and formulation problems, which are major challenges for the pharmaceutical industry. Particle size reduction of poorly water soluble drugs results in increased dissolution rate and higher bioavailability or better processability as demonstrated in previous studies [1, 2]. High-pressure homogenization can be used to decrease particle size, since it induces cavitation forces and causes highly localized increase in temperature and pressure within the fluid, resulting in decrease of particle size and inhibition of agglomeration. The current study is focused on properties inherent to particle engineering as well as methods for production and characterization of micro-and nanocrystals. The meloxicam, a low molecular weight analgetic for oral administration, exhibits a slow dissolution, therefore, it was formulated as micro-or nanosized particles by high-pressure homogenization. The samples were freeze-dried and characterized regarding particle size, morphology, structural analyses (DSC, XRPD) and in vitro dissolution rate. The final formulations were free of organic solvent and contained micro-(4–8 μm) or nano-sized (400–1000 nm) meloxicam crystals. Meloxicam in vitro dissolution rate was significantly improved and its particle size was found to be dependant on stabilizers used. To conclude, the new meloxicam formulations can potentially expand its application also to alternative administration routes (e. g. pulmonary and intranasal). This work was supported by TÁMOP-Hungary research project: Development of teranostics in cardiovascular, metabolics, and inflammatory diseases (TÁMOP-4.2.2-08/1-2008-0013). Investigation of preparation parameters to improve the dissolution rate of poorly soluble meloxicam.


CFDP is a planning system based on the paradigm of planning as constraint satisfaction, that searches for costoptimal plans. Basically it is an Iterative Deepening DepthFirst Search procedure (Korf 1985) like its predecessor FDP (Grandcolas & Pain-Barre 2007) (FDP produces optimal sequential plans). CFDP works directly on a structure related to Graphplan's planning graph: given a fixed bound on the length of the plan, the structure is incrementally build. Each time the structure is extended, a search for cost-optimal sequential plans is made. The process stops either if it can be proved that searching for longer plans will only produce plans of worse quality, or if the given bound is reached and no plan has been found. The search procedure is not complete since if no solution is found it cannot prove that there is no solution. If a solution is found, in most cases the procedure provides a cost-optimal plan and the proof of its optimality. In some cases a solution is found with no assurance of its optimality (this problem is due to the fixed bound and can easily be corrected).


The defects that drying in concrete yards impose on coffee beans and the search for gourmet coffee production have prompted the emergence of new drying technologies. This work verified the technical and economic feasibility of drying coffee with dehumidified air with a refrigerating capacity of 422,908.7 J s -1 , compatible with static capacity dryers equal to 75 m 3 . Considering the sale price of coffee, the cost of electric energy acquisition, the monthly interest rate and maintenance time, expenses that are equivalent to the depreciation of the concrete yard, a central compound rotational design was considered with 28 tests for the feasibility analysis, including the internal rate of return, net present value and the return on investment. The results showed that in the electric drying units, the dried coffee presents fewer broken and defective beans and has higher retention in a N o . 17 sieve. With a higher beverage quality and a price 12.11% higher, drying with dehydrated air showed a PBD of 2.27 years and a return of US$ 2.49 million. The optimisation results were 98.98% desirable. It was concluded that it is economically feasible to dry coffee with dehydrated air and without using a concrete yard.


Increased size, severity and frequency of wildfire is predicted as a consequence of prolonged droughts associated with climate change. In south-eastern Australia severe landscape-scale wildfires (mega-fires) have elicited a strong anthropocentric response due to the significant life and property impacts. However, the impact of mega-fires on fauna, habitat and subsequent management actions are poorly understood. Small mammals were surveyed to examine mega-fire impact using the post-2006 wildfire landscape of the Grampians National Park, Victoria, Australia. Long-term research sites were established with 9620 trap nights completed in autumn 2008 across thirty-six sampling units. Vegetation structure, floristics, fire severity, patch size and overall fuel hazard were measured to investigate correlations with changes in small mammal abundance.Two years post-wildfire, rapid resurgence of house mouse (Mus musculus) was detected, conversely the abundance of native small mammal species was severely impacted. No sampling category within the burnt perimeter provided superior refuge presenting potential conservation implications. A habitat vacancy model is introduced where small mammal recolonisation post-wildfire depends on a lack of isolation and connectivity of populations. Floristic and structural contributions of vegetation to higher overall fuel hazard areas are essential in maintaining diverse fauna assemblages. As such, prescribed burning or fire suppression tactics such as 'patching out' or 'burning out' require consideration when contributing to further reduction of complex habitat patches following fires.


A subsection calculating numerical simulating method is presented,based on the different dynamic responses of rock under blasting and the different limitations of dynamic finite element algorithms and traditional numerical simulating algorithms of seismic wave.The subsection calculating method divides the simulating region into an elastic region in which dynamic finite element algorithms are applied and an inelastic region in which traditional numerical simulating algorithms are applied while displacement is applied to the boundary conditions between different regions.The numerical simulating results indicate that the subsection calculating method is correct and effective in numerical simulations of seismic wave in rock under blasting.


As water resources become further stressed due to increasing levels of societal demand, understanding the effect of climate change on various components of the water cycle is of strategic importance in management of this essential resource. In this study, we used a hydrologic model of Iran to study the impact of future climate on the country's water resources. The hydrologic model was created using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model and calibrated for the period from 1980 to 2002 using daily river discharges and annual wheat yield data at a subbasin level. Future climate scenarios for periods of 2010–2040 and 2070–2100 were generated from the Canadian Global Coupled Model (CGCM 3.1) for scenarios A1B, B1, and A2, which were downscaled for 37 climate stations across the country. The hydrologic model was then applied to these periods to analyze the effect of future climate on precipitation, blue water, green water, and yield of wheat across the country. For future scenarios we found that in general, wet regions of the country will receive more rainfall while dry regions will receive less. Analysis of daily rainfall intensities indicated more frequent and larger‐intensity floods in the wet regions and more prolonged droughts in the dry regions. When aggregated to provincial levels, the differences in the predictions due to the three future scenarios were smaller than the uncertainty in the hydrologic model. However, at the subbasin level the three climate scenarios produced quite different results in the dry regions of the country, although the results in the wet regions were more or less similar.


The network video monitor system based on S3C2410 and embedded linux was designed.The principle of embedded system architecture was introduced,also the video data collection,MPEG4 data coding and network transmission were analyzed detailedly.Comparing with the traditional video system,the scheme features small volume,low cost,stability,etc.


2-(Anilinomethyl)imidazolines with 2'-esters or 2'-amides are potent agonists of the cloned human alpha(1)-adrenoceptors in vitro. The size and shape of the ortho substituent can have significant effects on the potency, efficacy, and subtype selectivity of these 2-(anilinomethyl)imidazolines. alpha(1A)-subtype selective agonists have been identified.


Digital media production and editing technologies have led to widespread forgeries and unauthorized sharing of digital video. This paper presents a method to detect video tampering and differ it from video processing operations, such as recompression, noise, and brightness increase, using a practical watermarking scheme for real-time authentication of digital video. It can be configured to adjust transparency, robustness, and capacity of the system. The watermark signals represent the macroblock's and frame's indices, and are embedded into the nonzero quantized discrete cosine transform value of blocks, mostly the last nonzero values, enabling our method to detect spatial, temporal, and spatiotemporal tampering. Our method causes smaller video distortion, leading to a PSNR degradation of about 0.88 dB and structural similarity index decrease of 0.0090 with only 0.05% increase in bitrate, and with the bit correct rate of 0.71 to 0.88 after H.264/AVC recompression.


In recent years, differential privacy has seen significant advancements in image classification; however, its application to video activity recognition remains under-explored. This paper addresses the challenges of applying differential privacy to video activity recognition, which primarily stem from: (1) a discrepancy between the desired privacy level for entire videos and the nature of input data processed by contemporary video architectures, which are typically short, segmented clips; and (2) the complexity and sheer size of video datasets relative to those in image classification, which render traditional differential privacy methods inadequate. To tackle these issues, we propose Multi-Clip DP-SGD, a novel framework for enforcing video-level differential privacy through clip-based classification models. This method samples multiple clips from each video, averages their gradients, and applies gradient clipping in DP-SGD without incurring additional privacy loss. Moreover, we incorporate a parameter-efficient transfer learning strategy to make the model scalable for large-scale video datasets. Through extensive evaluations on the UCF-101 and HMDB-51 datasets, our approach exhibits impressive performance, achieving 81% accuracy with a privacy budget of epsilon=5 on UCF-101, marking a 76% improvement compared to a direct application of DP-SGD. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our transfer learning strategy is versatile and can enhance differentially private image classification across an array of datasets including CheXpert, ImageNet, CIFAR-10, and CIFAR-100.


Enigmas are recovered from the wreck of U-85 off the coast of North Carolina. Other recovered artefacts include a typewriter and fragments of a codebook.


The study investigates the effect of copper ions and pH of external solution on intracellular calcium homeostasis and lipid peroxidation in winter wheat roots. Experiment was carried out with winter wheat. Sterile seeds were germinated in Petri dishes on the filter paper soaked with acetic buffer (pH 4.7 and 6.2) at 20 °Cin the dark for 48 hours. Copper was added as CuSO 4 . It's concentrations varied from 0 to 50 µM. The Ca 2+ -fluorescent dye Fluo-3/AM ester was loaded on 60 hour. Root fluorescence with Fluo-3 loading was detected using X-Cite Series 120 Q unit attached to microscope Olympus BX53 with camera Olympus DP72. Imaging of root cells was achieved after exciting with 488 nm laser and collection of emission signals above 512 nm. Preliminary analysis of the images was performed using software LabSens; brightness (fluorescence intensity) analysis was carried out by means of ImageJ. Peroxidation of lipids was determined according to Kumar and Knowles method. It was found that pH of solution had effect on release of calcium from intracellular stores. Low pH provokes an increase of [Ca 2+ ]cyt which may be reaction of roots to acidic medium. Copper induces increase in non-selective permeability of plasma membrane and leads to its faster depolarization. This probably initiates Ca-dependent depolarization channels which are responsible for the influx of calcium from apoplast into the cell. Changing of the membrane permeability may occur due to interaction between Cu 2+ ions and Ca-binding sites on plasma membrane or may be due to binding of copper with sulfhydryl groups and increasing of POL. Copper may also damage lipid bilayer and change the activity of some non-selective channels and transporters. Reactive oxygen species which are formed under some types of stress factors, especially the effect of heavy metals, can be activators of Ca-channels. Cu 2+ ions rise MDA content and promote the oxidative stress. Low medium pH also induces its development. Oxidative stress apparently enhances activity of hyperpolarization of Ca-channels and leads to increase of [Ca 2+ ]cyt. These Ca-channels may also be stimulated by calcium, which influxes into the cell, so Ca-signal can be self-enhanced one. Prolonged retention of high calcium concentration may be the evidence of copper toxicity to root cells and the consequence of deactivation of Ca-ATPases which promote Ca efflux from cell. The increase of [Ca 2+ ]cyt may elicit changes in some metabolic processes.


Gamma-ray branching ratios of the 7.12-MeV state in {sup 16}O have been measured using the {gamma}-{gamma} coincidence technique. The extrapolations of several components of the important {sup 12}C({alpha},{gamma}){sup 16}O cross section to helium-burning energies are dependent upon the 7.12{yields}6.92 MeV branching ratio. An experimental upper limit has been placed on this transition; the 7.12{yields}6.13 MeV branching ratio has also been measured. Relative cross sections and {gamma}-ray angular distributions have been measured for the {sup 19}F(p,{alpha}{gamma}) reaction at several energies near E{sub p}=2 MeV, leading to the 6.13-, 6.92-, and 7.12-MeV states of {sup 16}O. Monte Carlo simulations of the various detectors have been developed and the simulated detector efficiencies have been compared and adjusted to experimental measurements. The available experimental data relating to the {sup 12}C({alpha},{gamma}){sup 16}O cross section have been fitted with the R-matrix formalism. The new upper limit on the 7.12{yields}6.92 MeV branching ratio impacts the extrapolation of both the E2 ground-state cross section and the cascade cross section through the 6.92-MeV state.


In the beginning of the 19 century, medical history taking, physical examination and recording of physical findings emerged from linking observational symptoms of disease to anatomical findings. Classical medicine is based on diagnosing physical problems, but is not always effective for dealing with functional and emotional limitations. Today, the goal of treatment, especially cancer treatment, is not only patients to live longer anymore, but also to let them live a worthful life. As the definition of health according the WHO says : "Health is a state of a physical, social and psychological wellbeing". Society has changed and considers human being as much more important, partially due to the media, internet, hobbies and human sciences. These sociological changes have their repercussion in medicine. Patients stand up for their rights. In Belgium, a law on patient rights has been voted in 2002. This law makes patients and doctors real partners. Patients have the right to be informed, they have the right to play an active role in the decision making of treatments. Patients are more emancipated, but doctors are not. Only scientific competence is required from a medical student, no relational or ethical competences. A discrepancy exists between what the patient wants and what the doctor can offer. Surgical training is based on technical skills. Indeed we spend hours in the operating theatre to learn to achieve high surgical skills. But we spend also a lot of time in the clinic, and nobody taught us how to deal with cancer patients, how to break bad news, how to deal with patients who deny their disease or who are anxious or depressive, how to deal with patients overloaded with information from internet, how to deal with carriers of genetic mutations ? Hence, we did not learn to communicate ! Today, oncological surgeons, like other oncological specialists, are not prepared to respond to the needs and questions of patients with cancer. We are only doing half of the job : we are able to take care of the disease, but we are not able to take care of the human being having the disease. Being a good oncological surgeon in 2003 means to be able to do both : being an excellent surgeon and an excellent communicator !. Since the nineties, there is growing interest in doctor-patient relationship and communication. Literature has shown that medical doctors and cancer specialists are not the best communicators they like to think they are. Communication research led to three main hypotheses concerning the way oncologists are consulting : 1) cancer clinics are clinician-dominated, rather than patient-centred (this means the doctor is talking without leaving time to the patient), 2) the level of psychological discussion between the clinician and the patient is low (it means doctors do not look for emotional well-being of their patients, neither how they feel or does feel the family), 3) our clinical behaviour is influenced by the age, sex and prognostic category of our patient. That in mind, FORD (1) videotaped 117 bad news cancer consultations. FORD et al. stated that doctors ask closed questions (you are doing OK, are you not ?) rather than open questions (how are you doing ?) ; patients ask few questions and are seldom given space to initiate discussion. We excel in giving information on diagnosis, prognosis and treatment options without knowing which information the patient wants to have. We do not look for the emotional well-being of our patient. But that kind of poor communication has negative consequences for both health care professionals and patients.


The goal of this thesis "The Human Resources Development Strategy" is to design a human resources development strategy, which will be in line with corporate strategy of particular company. The theoretical part is focused on defining the basic concepts and relationships between development of employees, corporate strategy, corporate culture and corporate organizational structure. Real conditions in the particular company are explored in the practical part and personal development plans for key employees are proposed.


An easy and practical electric circuit system is constituted of Spread a feeling machine, List slice machine, electric circuit of manifestation and some chip related.This system realizes the function of Counting,overflow if super quantity occurs, manifestation for output,and mini-control.expanding for further application has been carried on here.The users can select fixed direction though swithch k(including k1 and k2)or mode is regulated by hardware in system itself.


Kantilal Vardichand Mardia was born on April 3, 1935, in Sirohi, Rajasthan, India. He earned his B.Sc. degree in mathematics from Ismail Yusuf College — University of Bombay, in 1955, M.Sc. degrees in statistics and in pure mathematics from University of Bombay in 1957 and University of Poona in 1961, respectively, and Ph.D. degrees in statistics from the University of Rajasthan and the University of Newcastle, respectively, in 1965 and 1967. For significant contributions in statistics, he was awarded a D.Sc. degree from the University of Newcastle in 1973. He started his career as an Assistant Lecturer in the Institute of Science, Bombay and went to Newcastle as a Commonwealth Scholar. After receiving the Ph.D. degree from Newcastle, he joined the University of Hull as a lecturer in statistics in 1967, later becoming a reader in statistics in 1971. He was appointed a Chair Professor in Applied Statistics at the University of Leeds in 1973 and was the Head of the Department of Statistics during 1976–1993, and again from 1997 to the present. Professor Mardia has made pioneering contributions in many areas of statistics including multivariate analysis, directional data analysis, shape analysis, and spatial statistics. He has been credited for path-breaking contributions in geostatistics, imaging, machine vision, tracking, and spatio-temporal modeling, to name a few. He was instrumental in the founding of the Center of Medical Imaging Research in Leeds and he holds the position of a joint director of this internationally eminent center. He has pushed hard in creating exchange programs between Leeds and other scholarly centers such as the University of Granada, Spain, and the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta. He has written several scholarly books and edited conference proceedings and other special volumes. But perhaps he is best known for


Abstract. Because of the characteristics of public buildings, waste exists in university building heating. The traditional time-sharing heating method is opening valve in heating time, and intermittently open valve in anti-freezing time. This heating strategy without considering the realistic weather factors leads to problematic application of heating. According to above situation, this thesis presents a method which intelligently change the watts of heating. Experiment shows that the new metod can intelligently switch on-off valve, and provide a safety and comfortable surroundings for residents. Moreover. Comparing with time-sharing control scheme more energy is saved.


In the article,the author discusses the fundamental characteristics of urbanization in our country,and further points out that urbanization lagging industrialization,urbanization lagging non agriculture,and extensive land use in urbanization are three problems nowadays. The author also deals with the relationship between urbanization and expanding inner consumption. He concludes that transforming"leave the cultivated land,leave the village"into"leave the land,leave the village"is inevitable to urbanization now,and raising the standards of urbanization is an effective way,which will be good to the economy sustainable development.