This article describes recent advances in the techniques of weather forecasting, notably the automation of observing methods, the production of objective numerical forecasts with the aid of powerful computers and the use of cloud pictures and other data from satellites. The high quality of the computed charts and the promising results of research on even more complex mathematical models of the atmosphere strongly suggest that, given an adequate global coverage of observations, faster communications and much more powerful computers than exist at present, it will be possible to produce more accurate forecasts that will remain reliable for 5-7 days ahead. These global requirements are being planned as a major objective of the World Weather Watch but they cannot be adequately met by expansion of the present operational system. Continuous global surveillance of the atmosphere will be possible only from satellites which, besides observing the cloud cover, can also be expected to determine the distribution of temperature, pressure, humidity, etc., by sensing the atmosphere's emitted radiation, and to measure winds by tracking drifting balloons. Satellites are also likely to be used for interrogating unmanned weather stations on land, ships, ocean buoys and balloons, and for relaying the data to ground stations for processing and analysis by computer. Promising techniques for achieving these aims are described and assessed in the second part of the article.


Within the framework of the theory of latent variables teachers' professional performance based on portfolio is measured. The analysis of portfolio as a measuring tool is carried out and distinctive indicators of portfolio are considered. Results of measurement of teachers' professional performance are used for comparison of schools.


The study intends to ponder over the impact made by the information technology in library and information science education .Precisely it attempts to find out the extent of IT content in LIS curriculum in Bachelor Degree and Master Degree programmes and the extent of training required for teachers to teach that content


Insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus are major risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD), and studies with transgenic mouse models of AD have provided supportive evidence with some controversies. To overcome potential artifacts derived from transgenes, we used a knock‐in mouse model, AppNL−F/NL−F, which accumulates Aβ plaques from 6 months of age and shows mild cognitive impairment at 18 months of age, without the overproduction of APP. In the present study, 6‐month‐old male AppNL−F/NL−F and wild‐type mice were fed a regular or high‐fat diet (HFD) for 12 months. HFD treatment caused obesity and impaired glucose tolerance (i.e., T2DM conditions) in both wild‐type and AppNL−F/NL−F mice, but only the latter animals exhibited an impaired cognitive function accompanied by marked increases in both Aβ deposition and microgliosis as well as insulin resistance in the hippocampus. Furthermore, HFD‐fed AppNL−F/NL−F mice exhibited a significant decrease in volume of the granule cell layer in the dentate gyrus and an increased accumulation of 8‐oxoguanine, an oxidized guanine base, in the nuclei of granule cells. Gene expression profiling by microarrays revealed that the populations of the cell types in hippocampus were not significantly different between the two mouse lines, regardless of the diet. In addition, HFD treatment decreased the expression of the Aβ binding protein transthyretin (TTR) in AppNL−F/NL−F mice, suggesting that the depletion of TTR underlies the increased Aβ deposition in the hippocampus of HFD‐fed AppNL−F/NL−F mice.


Background & Objective: Outpatient surgery can be performed by general or spinal anesthesia. Spinal anesthetic drugs have side effects. Many anesthesiologists choose general anesthesia, because of its relative predictability and to avoid undesirable side effects associated with spinal anesthesia. For example lidocaine is frequently associated with Transient Neuroligic Symptoms (TNS). Bupivacaine may cause urinary retention, prolonged discharge time and unpredictable level of anesthesia dependent on dose. Reducing bupivacaine dose will shorten the duration of action and its anesthesia level will be predictable in saddle block technique. This study was designed to assess the effects of hyperbaric, low dose bupivacaine in level of sensory block, duration of anesthesia and selective sensory block in an rectal surgery and its comparison with lidocaine. Materials & Methods: In a clinical trial study, 64 patients who were the candidates for anorectal surgery were divided in two groups randomly. In one group, hyperbaric bupivacaine 0.5% was injected in sitting position. The other group received hyperbaric lidocaine 5% in the same position. The patients were laid in lithotomy position after 5 minute. Blood pressure, pulse rate, severity of sensory & motor block, duration of anesthesia and tonicity of anal sphincter were recorded in two groups. The results were analyzed through T-test, chi square and variance analysis. Results: Sensory level and anesthesia duration in bupivacaine group were higher than lidocaine group. Motor block degree and anal sphincter tonicity loss in lidocaine group were greater than the other one. Blood pressure decreasing in lidocaine group was significantly higher to bupivacaine group. Conclusion: The proper sensory level and short anesthetic duration of low-dose hyperbaric bupivacaine are comparable with lidocaine in saddle block position, and selective sensory block may be useful for anorectal surgery in lithotomy position.


Combined with the experience of China railway construction management,and on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of railway engineering project risk factors and risk mechanism,with integrated risk management theory and comprehensive risk management theory as the theoretical basis,this paper constructed the railway proiect risk management system. The systemis composed by six modules,which are target system,organizational systems,resources and support systems,workflow systems,methods systems,information systems,respectively,Moreover,the structure and function of the system is analyzed systematically. To ensure the effective operation of the risk management system,the framework model of railway construction project risk management system is established. And the operating mode of risk management system is fully discussed from the key aspects of the risk management organization and responsibilities division,the development of risk management plan,the risk management process control,the risk management assessment and evaluation,risk management infrastructure. According to the important and ditlicult problems of the risk management system and its operation,the continual improvement suggestions for railway projects risk management are proposed.


Poverty is a complex problem, the impact of poverty spreading to various aspects of life. Poverty is a phenomenon and a fact that has not been able to be resolved well since then. Such conditions need to be seen from the perspective of the Koran, how the Koran explains the problem of poverty. This paper is a qualitative research based on library research. This research uses the interpretation approach of maqashidi, where the basic principle is maqashid al-Qur'an and maqashid al-Shari'ah. The results of this study include; First, poverty is a state that will always exist, among its aims to balance the rich people as a form of social care and so that someone tries more to improve their quality of life. Secondly, attention paid to poverty is a form of contributing to islah al-Mujtama', islah al-fard, hifz al-din, hidz al-mal, hifz al-nasl, dan hifz al-nafs.


The water channels inside the Nafion membrane are considered as the elastic particles and the effect of the elastic modulus of the particles on the deformation behavior of the membrane is discussed with a particle-contained composite model, which is constituted based on the homogenization method. The results show that the deformation resistance of the membrane is quite dependent on the elastic modulus of the particles, whereas the strain softening behavior after the yielding of the membrane is almost derived from the onset and the propagation of the localized shear band in the matrix, which also leads to the dramatic disappearance of the entanglement points in the molecular chain network of the matrix.


Owing to the scarce financial support in agricultural industrialization,there appear new requirement for the development of agricultural rural economy and the market-oriented cereal circulation system reform in the new period.This paper proposes some suggestions as to supporting agricultural industrialization.


This paper points out that electronic teaching system of Descriptive Geometry can be developed with the language of AutoLISP supplied by the developmental platform of AutoCAD2002.This system not only can flexibly present its contents and regulations but also can make full use of the mighty graphic edit function provided by AutoCAD to really operate and compile all the objects caused by the system.So to say,it opens a new application field of AutoCAD,in addition to convenient teaching.


Enumerating a number of good solutions to a problem has an increasing demand in recented research in computational science.In this paper,we presented a fixed-parameter enumeration algorithm for the 3-D Matching problem.More precisely,we developed an algorithm that,on a given set S of n weighted triples and two integers k and z,produces z "best" k-matchings in time O(5.483kkn2z).Our algorithm is based on the recent improved color-coding techniques and the fixed-parameter enumeration framework.This result shows that the 3-D Matching problem is fixed parameter linearly enumerable.


In this paper, design and manufactured UWB BPF. Manufactured UWB BPF can miniaturize the structure by controlling impedance and biographical one dimension that is allocated in transmission line each section. Proposed UWB BPF designed most suitable using Agilent company's ADS2008 Momentum and Ansoft company's HFSS 10. Manufactured UWB BPF has pass-band filter of 3.1 [GHz]~10.6 [GHz] and insertion loss is 0.39 [dB] in 8.3 [GHz], and reflection loss displayed special quality of 12.394 [dB] in 9.37 [GHz].


This piece is an extract from an interview with Phebe Sessions, a family therapist who for the last twenty six years has taught social workers at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. This piece describes a number of themes including caring for teachers, diversifying authority, responding to students' past experiences of trauma, and articulating the similarities and differences between teaching and therapy.


Interferometric X-ray imaging becomes more and more attractive for applications such as medical imaging or non-destructive testing, where a compact setup is needed. Therefore a so-called Talbot-Lau interferometer in combination with a conventional X-ray tube is used. Thereby, three different kinds of images can be obtained. An attenuation image like in conventional X-ray imaging, an image of the differential phase-shifts caused by the object and the so-called dark-field image. The dark-field image shows information about the object's granularity even in sub-pixel dimensions what especially seems very promising for applications like mammography. With respect to optimizing the output of interferometric X-ray imaging in any application, it is inevitable to know the energy response of the interferometer as well as the energy dependence of the interactions of X- rays with matter. In this contribution, simulations and measurements using a Medipix 2 and a Timepix detector are presented.


The literature reviewed earlier in this report demonstrates that evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare is persuasive and remarkably consistent across a range of health conditions and procedures, and cannot be fully explained by differences in access to care, such as insurance status. Moreover, the literature suggests several sources for these disparities. This evidence, however, does not suffice for an authoritative, comprehensive, unambiguous account of how disparities arise. A number of uncertainties confound efforts to synthesize what is known empirically about stereotypes and prejudice, doctor-patient relations, clinical judgment and patient preferences, as well as the social, institutional, financial, and legal forces that shape the practice of medicine. Yet an effort at such a synthesis is essential to construct an evidence-based account of how disparities in care emerge, and of what might be done to eliminate these disparities. To begin, this chapter presents a model of how disparities might occur. This model builds upon the wide foundation of empirical evidence but makes reasoned inferences when they are necessary to explain observed disparities. The committee makes such inferences when, in our judgment, they are more probable than not and when practical consequences, in the form of recommended actions to ameliorate known disparities, follow from these inferences. In doing so, the committee acknowledges that gaps in our understanding about causation remain and that further research has the potential to enhance understanding. The chapter then presents a review of empirical literature that raises hypotheses regarding potential sources of racial and ethnic disparities in


We examined the role of melatonin in the pathogenesis of diabetes in the Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rat, which served as a model of type 2 diabetes. Six-week-old male OLETF rats were pinealectomized (PINX) and were then subjected to an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and glucose clamping at 33 weeks old. Their liver and quadriceps muscle glycogen levels as well as their plasma levels of various hormones were measured at 35 weeks old. Sham-operated OLETF rats (SO group) displayed weight gain and visceral fat accumulation, exhibited hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia during OGTT, and demonstrated a decreased glucose infusion rate (G1R) on glucose clamping. The controls for the above tests were sham-operated Long-Evans Tokushima Otsuka rats (SL group). The PINX OLETF rats (PO group) exhibited similar hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia during OGTT to that seen in the SO group, but showed a significant decrease in either GIR on glucose clamping or glycogen content in their quadriceps muscles in comparison to the SO group. However, there were no differences in daytime plasma melatonin, other hormones, or other factors between the SO and PO rats. Our findings indicate that PINX in OLETF rats significantly increases insulin resistance and decreases the glycogen content in peripheral muscles, supporting a role for the pineal gland in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes, probably through circadian fluctuations in plasma melatonin release.


Trafficking of proteins, which is an essential process for all living organisms, has been extensively studied in bacteria and eukarya. Very little, however, is known about protein transport in the third domain of life, the Archaea. These organisms are prokaryotes, thus have the same cellular organization as bacteria, but phylogenetic analyses showed that archaea are evolutionarily distinct from both bacteria and eukarya (Woese et al., 1990). A unique aspect of archaea is the composition of their cytoplasmic membrane: whereas bacterial and eukaryal membranes are composed of fatty acids linked to glycerol by an ester bond, archaeal phospholipids are composed of branched isoprene units linked to glycerol by an ether group. These lipids play an important role in surviving the extreme environments in which archaea are frequently found, as they are less permeable to ions and protons and more resistant to extreme temperatures or high salt concentrations (van de Vossenberg et al., 1998). Because of the unique cytoplasmic membrane and the extreme environment in which many archaea thrive, it is likely that protein translocation machineries of archaea contain specific adaptations or even completely novel components that are important for protein transport.


The apparent failure to encounter immune mice in the spontaneous mouse infections described by Dochez, et al., 1 and us 2 , 3 suggested this attempt to produce evidence of immunity experimentally. It is of particular interest because the host-virus relationship seemed to be latent until provoked experimentally. The virus then grew highly virulent, killing all mice that became sick. None of the surviving mice appeared to be immune to the latent virus. Approximately 400 mice obtained at different times from a Missouri breeder were observed for varying periods of time up to 14 months. These stock mice appeared to be well although they were known to carry the virus. None of these mice died spontaneously with pneumonitis. Mice were anesthetized with ether and inoculated intranasally with 1:20 suspension of infected lung emulsion in saline. Lungs of sick mice were cultured on blood agar plates and 30% ascitic fluid agar, aerobically and anaerobically. Occasional colonies appeared from lungs of moribund animals but no organisms grew consistently enough to have etiological significance. Pleuropneumonia-like organisms4, 5 were sought particularly since these have confused work with viruses in mice. Groups of mice were inoculated by various routes in an attempt to immunize them. The survivors were reinoculated intranasally with virus 30 days after the initial attempts in order to test for immunity. The results are seen in Table I. During one period of observation about 50% of the stock mice became ill and died with the disease after intranasal inoculation of sterile physiological saline. Animals that did not die after such treatment were found, nevertheless, to be susceptible to the disease by inoculation with virus. At other times saline seldom affected the mice. They were all susceptible to the disease, however, when inoculated with virus.


First introduces the demands of remote education system for network transmission, and points out that only using streaming media technology can resolve the transmission problem of multimedia information on middle or low bandwidth network well, and accordingly the conception of streaming media is introduced. Then it introduces briefly the advanced system format ASF, the core of Windows Media of Microsoft corporation. Finally it particularizes the methods and steps of attaining the synchronization between audio/video file and content of Web page when make on line courseware using the technology of streaming media.


Summary A method was developed for preparing antibody to Fischer-344 rat transplantation antigen, using as an antibody source serum from Buffalo rats immunized by repeated transplants of a carcinogen-induced Fischer tumor. Immune y-globulin was labeled with 125I and radioactive antibody isolated by twice repeated adsorption onto Fischer red blood cells and elution from stroma prepared from these cells. In vitro such antibody bound specifically to Fischer red blood cells. In vivo this antibody localized preferentially in the Fischer tumor grown in immunologically suppressed Buffalo rats.


Abstract This paper presents a robust optimization technique for the reconfigurable measurement of sensory electronics for industry 4.0 to obtain a robust solution even in the presence of observer uncertainty using a cost-effective performance measurement method. The extrinsic evaluation of the proposed methodology is performed on an indirect current-feedback instrumentation amplifier (CFIA), which is a fundamental part of sensory systems. To reduce the CFIA device performance evaluation set-up cost, a low-cost test stimulus is applied to the circuit under test, and the output response of the circuit is examined to correlate with the device's performance parameters. Due to the complexity of the smart sensory electronics search space, the meta-heuristic optimization algorithm is being selected as an optimizer. For objective space or observer uncertainty, the Gaussian process regression from the Bayesian statistical regression process is used to estimate the uncertainty level efficiently. Six different classical metrics have been used to evaluate the regression model accuracy. The highest achieved average expected error metrics value is 0.313, and the minimum value of correlation performance metrics is 0.908. The device is implemented using 0.35 μm austriamicrosystems technology.


If there was anything worse than losing the award you'd been working towards for the past three years, it would have to be losing it to your best mate. But instead of packing it in, Paul Robinson returned and gave the competition his all in 2014, proving to himself he had what it takes to be New Zealand's Young Viticulturist of the Year. He has a exciting viticulture career ahead of him, but Paul Robinson's story begins a decade ago, in a land far, far away.


The paper focuses on the kimberlite body,geological conditions of diamond placer,distributive province in the southern part of Liaoning Province,including genetic type of diamond placer,distributive regularity and prognosis of metallogenic prospect.


To cite this article: de Blay F. Provocation tests as measure of efficacy and dosage. Allergy 2011; 66 (Suppl. 95): 47–49.


Here we summarise the properties and algorithms of the Gray code. De- scriptions are given of the Gray code definition, algorithms and circuits for gener- ating the code and for conversion between binary and Gray code, for incrementing, counting, and adding Gray code words. Some interesting applications of the code are also treated. Java implementations of the algorithms in this paper are available at: http://www.jucs.org/jucs 13 11/the gray code/data/DoranGrayPrograms.zip.


Millet,as a strategic reserve,is an important crop for dealing with the water shortage seriously,and millet is also the perferred selection on optimization and adjustment of planting structure in rural areas of China. Based on analyzing current status,advantages,and distribution of millet production in China,according to the principles of advantage region distribution of millet production,the advantage region distribution was studied. The millet industry development system with Chinese characters was constructed. To promote the millet industry development in China,several suggestions were put forward,such as support by policy,joint between production and market,market adjustment and so on.


Productivity analysis is a frequent topic on the agenda for many researchers, whose efforts are focused on establishing adequate measurement criteria and then applying them to specific case studies. Based on accountancy micro-data for 2000 to 2009 for a group of fruit-growing farms, the purpose of this study was to verify the similarity between two methods of productivity measurement: the total factor productivity (TFP) index and the Malmquist index. The results broadly confirm the substantial congruence of the two indices and show an increase in the productivity of fruit farms in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. However, the results should be carefully interpreted, since the productivity fluctuations during the decade suggest that this kind of analysis should be conducted using medium to long-term time-series data. Furthermore, the TFP index seems to be generally higher than the Malmquist index, implying that these measures are suitable for an overview of trends rather than exact measures of productivity.


Introduction. The advantages of a patient-specific 3D-model of the Spine for congenital scoliosis have been lately attested by some clinical researches (Peng et al. 2006. Chin J Radiol. 40(3):297–300). Method. This preliminary study was conducted on a patient affected by congenital scoliosis. She benefited from an EOS biplanar X-ray exam. Results. The full spine could be reconstructed including the hemivertebra. The precision of the reconstruction was qualitatively compared to a CT reconstruction and various parameters could be quantified. Conclusions. Providing a clinical validation, the presented method could extend the actual possibilities of today's algorithm to reconstruct congenital 3D-deformations.


BACKGROUND
To evaluate differences between older women and men with HIV regarding HIV variables, comorbidity, physical function, and quality of life.

SETTING
the Modena HIV clinic.

METHODS
Prospective cohort study. Cross-sectional analysis. Patients > 50 years were included, stratified by sex. We recorded sociodemographic data, comorbidities, variables related to HIV infection, frailty, data on body composition, physical function, physical activity, and quality of life.

RESULTS
We evaluated 1126 older adults with HIV, of which 284 (25.2%) were women. Median age was 55 (IQR 6) years. There were significant differences between women and men in the median current CD4+ T-cell and the mean CD4/CD8 ratio. There were differences regarding alcohol consumption, cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension, DM, and renal failure. Sarcopenia and slower gait speed were found more prevalent among men but without significant differences. Significant differences were found regarding lower extremity strength measured by the chair stand test and in the SPPB score. SPPB < 9 was detected for 11.1% women vs. 5.6% men (p = 0.002). EQ5D5L score was 0.87 in women vs. 0.89 in men (p = 0.002).

CONCLUSIONS
In our cohort, older women represented one in four of the total patients. Despite the fact that women have better immunological recovery measured by CD4 T-cell count and CD4/CD8 ratio, and fewer CVD and cardiovascular (CV) risk factors than men, their physical function and their quality of life are worse. Therefore, older HIV-infected women have special characteristics, and the assessment of physical function in this group seems to be crucial.


Abstract— Aminooxyacetic acid (AOAA) administration produced an increase in γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels in regions of cerebral cortex, subcortex and cerebellum. In some cortical areas studied, the maximal effect was observed with 25 mg/kg AOAA; in other regions GABA levels were increased further with 50 and 75 mg/kg AOAA. Pretreatment with 25 mg/kg AOAA effectively inhibited GABA:2‐oxoglutarate aminotransferase (GABA‐T) and partially inhibited glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) activity in regions of cerebral cortex. However, this dose did not affect GAD activity in substantia nigra while GABA‐T in the nigra and in the cerebellum was only partially inhibited. In both cortical and subcortical areas, the increase in GABA produced by 25 mg/kg of AOAA was linear. In contrast, l‐glutamic acid‐hydrazide (GAH) had no effect in the pyriform and cingulate cortex for the first 60 min after injection, and produced a biphasic GABA increase in caudate and substantia nigra over a 4 h period. Results suggest that GAH and AOAA affect regional GABA metabolism differentially and that there are several problems associated with estimating absolute GABA synthesis rates by measuring the rate or GABA accumulation after inhibition of GABA catabolism with these agents. This approach, however, may provide an easily obtainable indication of whether drugs or other manipulations are altering GABA synthesis in a given region.


Objectives To determine the retentive strength and failure mode of undercut composite post, glass fiber post and polyethylene fiber post luted with flowable composite resin and resin-cement. Materials and Methods Coronal parts of 120 primary canine teeth were sectioned and specimens were treated endodontically. The teeth were randomly divided into 6 groups (n = 20). Prepared root canals received intracanal retainers with a short composite post, undercut composite post, glass fiber post luted with flowable resin or resin-cement, and polyethylene fiber post luted with flowable resin or resin-cement. After crown reconstruction, samples were tested for retentive strength and failure mode. Statistical analysis was done with one-way ANOVA and Tukey tests (p < 0.05). Results There were statistically significant differences between groups (p = 0.001). Mean bond strength in the undercut group was significantly greater than in the short composite post (p = 0.030), and the glass fiber post (p = 0.001) and the polyethylene fiber post group luted with resin-cement (p = 0.008). However, the differences between the undercut group and the groups with flowable composite as the luting agent were not significant (p = 0.068, p = 0.557). Adhesive failure was more frequent in the fiber post groups. Conclusions Although the composite post with undercutting showed the greatest resistance to dislodgement, fiber posts cemented with flowable composite resin provided acceptable results in terms of retentive strength and fracture mode.


The text of V. Surkov offered for discussion is of interest, above all, because it comes from a person who occupies a high position in today's Russian state and, what is more, is commonly believed to be directly involved in the elaboration of its ideology. People who lived in the Brezhnev era (from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s) will be very familiar with the role that the then party ideologist M. Suslov played in the country's life. The significance of ideology in the life of totalitarian regimes, to which category the Soviet Union indubitably belonged, was so great that, for example, the post of head of the political department of a division that existed in the Soviet army was more important than that of divisional commander. Unlike a candidate for the latter post, a candidate for the post of a political department head had to be approved by the top political leadership of the country—the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Central Committee. So for today's Russia, which possesses features of an authoritarian to no less an extent than it does of a democratic order, the significance of ideology is just as great.


Since December 2011, Russia has traversed difficult times. The irregularities at the State Duma elections pushed an important part of the urban population, mainly in Moscow, to take the streets demanding clean elections and finishing the impunity of corruption. Up to the March 2012 presidential election, the protesters manifested peacefully; but in May, the day before and during Vladimir Putin's inauguration as president, the protests degenerated into violence, showing how dangerous things may turn. Impressed by Russia's internal evolutions, some observers heralded that "le temps des troubles" were back.2 Yet, even though a part of the Russian society is agitated, there is no sign of revolution. President Putin maintains the support of a considerable part of the society, especially from the provincial areas. Nevertheless, experts estimate that these events marked considerably Russia's governance and that the "Putin consensus" has ended.3Although the "Putin consensus" has ended, debates in the expert, journalistic and policymaker circles have only just begun. The evolutions in Russia around the elections and its outcome-the weaker rule of President Putin-reopened the old debates about how Russian internal factors will affect its foreign policy and the West. This question presents important implications for a broader debate in International Relations theory over the most important factors that account for foreign policy. On the one side stand domestic-level explanations,4 stressing the regime-type variable; differences between leaders or societal actors and their identities and other factors, and on the other side, realist explanations with the focus on external/systemic factors, emphasising factors related to security and balance-of-power.5In the case of Russia and its foreign policy under President Putin, the most voiced opinions are pessimistic. Analysts forecast that Russia's relations with the West (especially the U.S.) will considerably suffer. There are generally three unit-level arguments. First, that Putin's authoritarian rule is weakened, and as a means to address this vulnerability he will resort to aggressive discourses and foreign actions. The second argument is that there is a difference between President Dmitri Medvedev and Putin, assigning to the former the improvement of relations with the U.S. and Europe. And the third is focused on the implications of how the West could change its attitude on Russia because of Putin's return as president.The argument of this article is that these assessments are exaggeratedly pessimistic. Thus, in the first part we look at the first two arguments and in the second part we reverse the perspective and evaluate if Putin will be a factor in eventual changes of Western attitude toward Russia. The first part contains two sections. In the first, we present counter-arguments for the two domestic-level arguments, highlighting that we could also draw a positive hypothesis from the regime-type logic. Then we present some evidence from the early and late period of Medvedev's presidency in order to show that he was a realist, not a "pro-Western" leader. Afterwards, we move on to evaluate Russia's prospects in relation to the EU, and the United States. Russia's European policy will not change, but relations with Washington will be a critical factor for Russia and the EU. This issue deserves special attention, and it is perhaps the most debated subject in recent period. The mood seems pessimistic and many observers6 are claiming that Russia will end the "reset" with the U.S.7 If this is correct, then the return to the confrontationist years of 2005-2008 will expectably lead to a negative outcome for Europe as a whole, and for its relations with Russia. The improvement in U.S.-Russia relations since 2009 was also beneficial for the EU. Enhanced U.S.-Russia relations have, on the one hand, helped lay the base for Moscow's rapprochement with Central-Eastern European countries by alleviating mutual security concerns,8 and encouraged them to "forge consensus in the EU on engagement with-rather than containment of-Russia. …


When infants remain in a persistently supine position without any preferential head turn from torticollis, and without the developmental benefits of turning their heads from side to side during regular periods of tummy time while awake and under direct adult observation, their heads become progressively flattened through the impact of gravity and persistent occipital mechanical pressure. Brachycephaly refers to a head, which is shortened in the anteroposterior dimension and wide between the biparietal eminences, with a cranial index (CI = width divided by length × 100%) greater than 81%.1 Dolichocephaly is present when the CI is less than 76%, so the normal CI ranges from 76% to 81%. Positional brachycephaly results from gravitational deformation of the infant's skull during exclusive or persistent supine positioning during both sleeping and waking hours. Normal brain growth, combined with a constant supine postnatal resting position, can result in progressive cranial widening with occipital flattening. The malleable neonatal cranium reflects the mechanical interaction between internal brain growth and external deforming forces. While excessive brachycephaly is considered abnormal today, it may not have been so in the past. The purposeful use of external, mechanical forces to deform the shape of an infant's head was practiced by various cultures for thousands of years and a variety of head shapes were purposefully created by using various external shaping devices.2,3 Certain wooden cribs and cradle boards with flat bottoms were particularly likely to deform an infant's head. Other cultures used pads and bindings to create deforming devices made out of various materials. Brachycephaly has a worldwide distribution because of supine positioning on a hard surface. Immobility or cradling also resulted in brachycephaly, as many cultures bound their infants in a supine position. The inability of a swaddled infant to reposition itself, combined with constant supine positioning on a firm surface, often resulted in brachycephaly.3 Since both unintentional and deliberate cranial deformations persist throughout life, it is essential for pediatricians to recognize the impact of postnatal mechanical forces in shaping infant heads. The typical brachycephalic head shape is flat in the back and quite wide with peaking of the vertex. Sometimes the head is so flattened that it is wider than it is long, with a CI greater than 100% in the most severe cases. Cultures that put their infants to sleep in a supine position are more brachycephalic than cultures that put their infants to sleep in a prone position.4 The CI is 80% for term neonates delivered by cesarean section, which is similar to that of prone sleeping cultures. During infancy in India (where infants sleep supine) the CI is higher than later childhood. Of note, child-rearing practices in India promote frequent tummy time when the infant is awake and under observation. Prone sleeping cultures have a mean CI of 80% (with a range from 76% to 81%), while school children in Japan and Korea (supine sleeping cultures) are more brachycephalic (85% to 91%).4 With the continued success of the "Back to


An actuator is configured to move a sensor array between first and second positions in order to provide color image data and other data with full resolution of the sensor array. In many embodiments, the output resolution of the sensor array for each type of data comprises twice the resolution of the sensor array without movement. The alternating movement of the sensor array between the first and second positions provides output images with decreased artifacts that might otherwise be present without the alternating movement of the sensor array.


In proposing a more rational,economic and effective anchorage segment length on conducting the internal stability analysis,an indoor model test and finite element analysis on anchors is clay were made.The indoor model test shows that the top and foot is most prone to damage,so the length of anchors in the top and foot of the slope should be strengthened in design.Through finite element analysis,the anchor stress concentration factor corresponding to all floors of the anchor is measured.With focus on the analysis of changes in law for stress concentration factor,a conclusion was drawn that anchor corresponding stress concentration factor are different in slope's different positions.The paper suggested using different factor of safety according to bolt's different location in the calculation of the anchor's effective bolt length.A reference principle for design of anchor is provided for projects.


SUMMARY We derive group sequential tests to minimize expected sample size. A parametric family of group sequential tests is proposed containing tests which are nearly optimal, in terms of minimizing expected sample size, amongst all group sequential tests. These parametric tests can be implemented when group sizes are unequal and unpredictable. They are shown to achieve error rates close to their nominal level in a wide range of situations and to be efficient when compared with other tests based on the same group sizes and achieving the same error rates. We consider group sequential procedures for choosing between two hypotheses concerning the mean of a normal distribution with known variance. The group sequential approach (Pocock, 1977) offers a practicable alternative to 'fully' sequential tests, which require accumulating data to be examined as each new observation is recorded. It is also desirable to ensure the maximum sample size needed in a long-term experiment is not much greater than that of the corresponding fixed sample size test, and we shall take the specification of the maximum allowable sample size and the number of groups of observations as our starting point in deriving sequential procedures. In ? 2 we formulate the testing problem and discuss its relevance to clinical trials. In ? 3 we describe the derivation of boundaries which are optimal in the sense of minimizing various expected sample sizes, subject to a fixed number of equally sized groups and a fixed maximum sample size. In ? 4 we introduce a parametric family of group sequential tests, containing tests which are nearly optimal by the criteria of ? 3; these tests are easily adapted to allow unequal and unpredictable group sizes. We show in ? 5 that they remain efficient when actual group sizes are quite different from those anticipated. Programs used for the calculations are available from the author.


The paper presents a case study of initial softening, followed by creep, of a compacted clay slope near the top of a mountain in La Jolla, CA, USA. In 1974, a canyon was filled with compacted clay, to create a split-level building site, behind which a fill slope was constructed. The average degree of saturation during compaction was 80%. Subsurface exploration in 1987 showed that the moisture content of the fill had increased, probably because of infiltration of water from rain and irrigation. The infiltration increased the unit weight and decreased the effective stress of the compacted clay, whose average degree of compaction had risen to 96%. This resulted in 'slope softening', deformation of the slope to mobilise the shear stress required to maintain stability. A manometer survey in 1986 revealed 55mm of slab-on-grade differential, and a downward tilt of the slab-on-grade towards the top of the slope. There was also a lateral movement and damage to the rear yard. Monitoring by an inclinometer from 1987 to 1995 showed a progressive creep of the whole fill slope, not a discrete failure plane. The creep of the slope is affected by a loss in peak shear strength with further strain, and by seasonal moisture changes near the surface.


Objective:To study the anti-fatigue effect of Qishenfukang Capsule.Methods:The mice were administrated with Qishenfukang Capsule's contents for 15 d, Shenqi Tablet0.8 g/(kg·d) control group and blank control group were set.The mice underwent a high-temperature tolerance test, and then the contents of blood lactic acid(BLA) as well as liver glycogen were determined.Results:Compared with blank control group, the survival times in each Qishenfukang Capsule group and Shenqi Tablet group were significantly prolonged, the content of blood lactic acid decreased and the content of liver glycogen increased significantly.Conclusion:Qishenfukang Capsule has an anti-fatigue effect and it could also enhance the tolerance ability against the high temperature.


Background/Aims: Secure messaging within electronic medical records (EMR) between primary and specialty providers (virtual consults) may lead to streamlined care processes. Methods: An observational study of the use of traditional consults (TC) and virtual consults (VC) by adult primary care physicians to specialty departments conducted from June 2008 to November 2008. We compiled data for all consult orders made within the EMR. We conducted manual chart reviews, physician and patient surveys on a random selection of consults to determine the reason for the consult, the advice returned, the number of people involved in processing the consult, and the turn -around time for the consult. We report mid-study descriptive statistics on the number of patients with consults, patient demographics, the types of consults, and to which departments. We also report on the number of patient satisfaction surveys attempted and completed. Results: We identified 33,390 consult orders (93.6% TC, 6.4% VC) for 27,932 patients with ages ranging from 18 to 99 (mean 53.95). Of these patients, 83.8% had one, 13.5% had two, and 2.7% had three or more consult orders. The top departments for TC were: Physical Therapy (29.2%), Orthopedics (11.9%), Cardiology (11.2%), General Surgery (8.8%), and Dermatology (8.3%). The top departments for VC were: Dermatology (18.3%), Neurosurgery (12.3%), Endocrinology (9.6%), Neurology (7.2%), and General Surgery (6.2%). The average response time for VC was 3.2 days (range 130 days) with over 50% returned within one day. We randomly selected 540 patients (equally divided between TC and VC), contacted 340 thus far, and 154 participated in the survey. Forty percent of these patients received VC and 67% of these patients eventually saw a specialist. Of all patients surveyed, 79.4% were satisfied with the specialist recommendations (not significantly different between consult types). Conclusions: The primary care providers use virtual consults for different purposes than traditional consults. Physician and patient surveys and chart reviews are scheduled for completion in 2009 allowing a full comparison of virtual consults to traditional consults from multiple perspectives. If effective, virtual consults may improve patient satisfaction and streamline the care delivery process.


The contributions of the cosmological constant to the deflection angle and the time delays are derived from the integration of the gravitational potential as well as from Fermat's principle. The findings are in agreement with recent results using exact solutions to Einstein's equations and reproduce precisely the new {lambda} term in the bending angle and the lens equation. The consequences on time-delay expressions are explored. While it is known that {lambda} contributes to the gravitational time delay, it is shown here that a new {lambda} term appears in the geometrical time delay as well. Although these newly derived terms are perhaps small for current observations, they do not cancel out as previously claimed. Moreover, as shown before, at galaxy cluster scale, the {lambda} contribution can be larger than the second-order term in the Einstein deflection angle for several cluster lens systems.


was hydrolysed with purified cycad ƒÀ-glucosidase, and the freed sugar component and aglycon were analyzed by manometry or quantitative paper chromatography and by spectrophotometry or polarography, respectively. When the hydrolysis was stopped by ice-cooling or byacidification, the reaction mixture showed the characteristic absorption spectrum and polarogram similar tothose of cycasin in spite of the liberation of glucose. However, if the reaction was stopped by heating, the spectrum and polarogram were not observed. This fact was considered to indicate that the free aglycon of cycasin formed in its enzymatic hydrolysis was decomposed by the heat treatment.


In recent years, devices based on the Peltier effect, which is the basis for solid-state thermoelectric cooling, have evolved rapidly to meet the fast-growing electronic industry. The Peltier effect corresponds to the heat extraction or absorption occurring at the contact between two different conducting media when a direct current (DC) electric current flows through this contact. A comprehensive study of the mechanisms of heating and cooling originated by an electrical current in semiconductor devices is reported. The thermoelectric cooling in n-n, p-p, and p-n junction contacts, as well as inhomogeneous bulk semiconductors, are analyzed. Both degenerate and nondegenerate electron and hole gases are considered. The role of recombination and nonequilibrium charge carriers in the contact cooling (heating) effect is discussed. Along with the above, special attention is paid to several aspects of nonequilibrium thermodynamics of thermoelectric phenomena involved in Peltier effect in semiconductors that demand a careful examination. The formulation of an adequate self-consistent theoretical model describing the Peltier effect is also presented.

Keywords:

thermoelectric cooling (heating) in semiconductors;
heat balance equation;
recombination;
nonequilibrium carriers


1. Peachia quinquecapitata kept in sea water tanks at the Friday Harbor Laboratories were induced to spawn. The egg is 120 µ in diameter and is covered with spines 20 µ in length.2. Cleavage leads to a hollow blastula which becomes ciliated. As the cilia appear the spines become shorter and disappear.3. Gastrulation is by invagination. The planula stage is reached when the gastrula develops an apical tuft of long cilia.4. A swimming planula can be ingested by the medusa Phialidium gregarium. After ingestion the larva begins to grow and differentiate. Planulae which did not get ingested would not develop in the laboratory.5. The larvae remained endoparasitic for an average of 11 days and probably were feeding on material in the gatrovascular cavity of the host medusa.6. After 11 days the larvae became ectoparasitic and fed on the gonads of the host medusa. After an average of 31 days of ectoparasitism anemones had acquired their adult characteristics and dropped off the host medusa to become free-living.7....


enda San Bartolome, sent word to the court in Puebla de los Angeles in central Mexico. He complained that his nine-year=old son, Salvador Antonio, had disappeared while working on the estate. His son's occupation on the estate was to assist Juan Ramos, the bueyero (the cattle herder). Several months before he contacted the court Juan Jose had sent Salvador to work with Juan Ramos, but his son did not return home that night. Juan Jose began a two-month search for his son that took him to forty villages in the surrounding region. The distraught father was not a wealthy man, so his decision to undertake such an extensive and lengthy search for his son meant that he, his wife, and the children he left at home suffered &dquo;very grave miseries and hungers.&dquo; He came back from his journey convinced that Juan Ramos had killed his son and buried him in the countryside. He asked the court to force Ramos to reveal where his son


Bacillus sp. strain K-1, which produces a strong fibrinolytic enzyme, was isolated from chongkukjang, a traditional Korean fermented soybean paste. The fibrinolytic enzyme was purified from chongkukjang base by using ammonium sulfate fractionation and chromatographic techniques. Purified enzyme, CK K-1 was demonstrated to be homogeneous by SDS-PAGE and isoelectric focusing electrophoresis, and has molecular mass of a 12.4 kDa and a pI of 8.0. The optimal reaction pH value and temperature were 8.0 and 40℃, respectively. Phenyl-methyl-sulfonyl-fluoride (PMSF; serine protease inhibitor), ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetic acid (EDTA; metallo protease inhibitor), copper ion, ferric ion and lead ion inhibited the enzyme activity. These results indicated that the fibrinolytic enzyme is a metallo-serine protease and different from nattokinase and chongkukjangkinase.


The characteristics of back dragging forces using horizontal directional drilling machine are studied, parameters selection and formulae are analyzed, and the prediction data and experimental data are compared. The result shows that the dragging forces has inverse ratio to bore diameter.


Article titled "Relationship of Logistics and Marketing in Distribution of Goods" deals with the functions of distribution and marketing logistics, their significance in the process of product realisation. In publications on marketing, the issues of distribution of goods are interrelated with the marketing logistics, which is defined as solutions and actions associated with the physical movement of goods from the manufacturer to the consumer. However, before starting the delivery of goods, the following actions should be performed: orders are to be processed, selected, batches of the goods requested are to be assembled, the goods are to be properly packed, and larger shipment quantities and consignment documents are to be prepared. All this is dealt by the marketing logistics, which covers a considerably greater scope of operations than marketing logistics. Overview of the functions of the distribution logistics, which are far broader than the marketing logistics enables to conclude that a marketing complex element – distribution – performs only one function, i.e. selection of a distribution channel. The article reveals the substance of international distribution logistics, necessity of its improvement for the development of the distribution system in the European Union market. Since long ago large trade companies of Western Europe have developed a supply logistics system coordinated on the international scale. The national and international trade is transiting to the supply of supermarkets via their own distribution channels instead of direct supply. With the expansion of supermarket networks in Lithuania this supply tendency is likely to be characteristic to the national market and outside its territory in the near future. All those things are interrelated with the development of the distribution system. Aiming to improve the customer service, the distribution logistics is to meet the requirements of the supply flexibility and complexity of flows of materials and goods. The article deals with the structure of the international distribution system and efficiency factors of the distribution logistics: delivery time, delivery reliability and delivery flexibility.


This research analyzes the errors made by the English learners of academic year (2013) at FKIP UHN Pematangsiantar in using punctuation marks in writing. Punctuation is a large part of a system of conventions in which the function is to assist the written language in indicating those elements of speech which cannot be conveniently set down on paper: chiefly pause, pitch, and stress. From the background of this research, the writer formulated a question as a problem, that is: what are the types of interference errors of punctuations found in the English compositions made by English learners of the academic year (2013) semester V at English Department in FKIP UHN Pematangsiantar? To discuss the problem, the writer uses theories of Markwardt (1990), Ritter (2002), Edward (2001), Swan (1980), Marcella Frank (1972), and Tregidgo (1949). Norrish (1983:7) says that error is a systematic deviation from the accepted system of the target language. Punctuation exists to clarify meanings in the written word (Ritter, 2002:113). The lack of punctuation is likely to cause great strain for the reader and lower marks for the students. In the methodology, the writer uses qualitative research to solve the problem, which is focused on the process. In getting data, the writer explains about punctuation marks and their usage. After that the writer makes a test to know whether the students understand the explanation or not. The writer gives a text without punctuation. Here, the writer will find out the errors made by the students and make the correct one. The writer found that the common errors made by the students are the use of capitalization and quotation marks. It is followed by the use of full stop, comma, question marks and the last is quotation mark. There are forty students' writings used as the subject of the research. Keywords : errors, punctuation, English composition


PURPOSE: To provide a high-torque reactance-type step motor by using each 180-degree opposite pole member in radial direction, excited concurrently when the outer and inner stator members in three phases are driven. CONSTITUTION: Pole piece 18 and 20 of an inner stator 10 and an outer stator 14 are provided at intervals around a rotating shaft 16. The pole piece 18 is aligned with the pole piece 20 and has a pole tooth 22, while the pole piece 20 has a pole tooth 28. A rotor 12 has two pairs of teeth 24 and 26 located opposite to pole teeth 22 and 28. The positions of the teeth 22 to 28 are located so as to cross an imaginary face vertical to a rotating axis 16. When a current flows in at coils 30', 32', 32", and 30", a flux path 34 passes through the inner rotor pole 18, the rotor 12 and the stator pole 20'. Further, the flux path 34 extends around the outer stator 14 and passes through two coils with no current flowing therein, the outer stator pole 20, and the rotor 12, and reaches inner stator poles 18" and 18' to complete a closed loop. In this way, all the magnetic fluxes extend radially inwards or outwards in the rotor 12. COPYRIGHT: (C)1994,JPO


This Work In Progress paper will describe changes made to the first year Introduction to Engineering course at Arizona State University in order to promote the entrepreneurial mindset. The changes were made to the team-based hands-on design projects to involve customers using three different approaches including fictional customers, real world customers but no direct student-customer interactions, and real world customers with direct student-customer interactions. Preliminary assessment shows that all three approaches are effective at raising students' customer awareness, though the third approach which involves real world customer and provides opportunities for students to engage with customers throughout the design process has been found to be the most effective approach for instilling the entrepreneurial mindset.


Between 1971 and 1988, twenty total hip arthroplasties in thirteen patients with ankylosing spondilitis were evaluated at one to seventeen years (average 65 months). Clinical results were %25 excellent, %20 good, %25 fair, %30 poor. Significant improvement was noted as regards pain, mobility, and ability to walk. %75 of the patients had no difficulties with routine activites. Although only 4 patients could continue their original jobs, most of them were able to work actively. There were three failed arthroplasties due to infection, trauma and femoral stem fracture. The incidence of radiolucent lines around the acetabular and femoral components were %65 and %18, respectively. The only grade IV lucency was in femoral zone l. Myositis ossificans developed in %47.4 of the cases but none of them affected the clinical results. It is concluded that %85 of the patients with ankylosing spondilitis are satisfied after total hip replacement.


The working principle of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) based on the knolledge of the relative motion between the vehicle (strictly is Antenna Phase Center)and the target. If the flight path of the vehicle is not accurately known or the SARprocessor is limited in its ability to take the flight data into account, the SAR imagewill be degraded. The purpose of this paper is to study the stripmap SAR MotionCompensation (SARMC) requirement to complicated Line-of-Sight (LOS) motionerrors of flight vehicle and to derive analytical equations of SARMC quantitativerequirement expressed as allowable maximum value of the mainlobe shift, quadraticphase error, cubic phase error and the Integrated Sidelobe Ratio (ISLR).


The paper proposes an algorithm for determining the flow rate of an oil producing well based on dynamometer data. The dynamogram is presented as a two-dimensional image processed using a convolutional neural network that solves the problem of nonlinear regression between the dynamogram image and the flow rate value. The structure of the dynamometer data collection and processing system is presented, the main steps of the data analysis algorithm are described. The resulting model makes it possible to estimate the production rate with an error in the range of 15-20%.


We consider the issue of matching 3D objects extracted from medical images. We show that crest lines computed on the object surfaces correspond to meaningful anatomical features, and that they are stable with respect to rigid transformations. We present the current chain of algorithmic modules which automatically extract the major crest lines in 3D CT-Scan images, and then use differential invariants on these lines to register together the 3D images with a high precision. The extraction of the crest lines is done by computing up to third order derivatives of the image intensity function with appropriate 3D filtering of the volumetric images, and by the 'marching lines' algorithm. The recovered lines are then approximated by splines curves, to compute at each point a number of differential invariants. Matching is finally performed by a new geometric hashing method. The whole chain is now completely automatic, and provides extremely robust and accurate results, even in the presence of severe occlusions. In this paper, we briefly describe the whole chain of processes, already presented to evaluate the accuracy of the approach on a couple of CT-scan images of a skull containing external markers.


STEREO VISION - Cont. Eye base (interpupillary distance) - In designing binocular instruments the interpupillary distance adjustment range is usually from 50 to 76 mm. d = eye base for the "standard observer". d = 62mm or 2.5 in., approx.


In this paper, we investigate how to incorporate intelligence into the human-centric IoT edges to detect arrhythmia, a heart condition often associated with morbidity and even mortality. We propose a classification algorithm based on the intrapatient convolutional neural network model and the interpatient attention residual network model to automatically identify the type of arrhythmia in the edges. As the imbalance categories in the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database which needs to be used in the algorithm, we slice and overlap the original ECG signal to homogenize the heartbeat sets of different types, and then the preprocessed data was used to train the two proposed network models; the results reached an overall accuracy rate of 99.03% and an F1 value of 0.87, respectively. The proposed algorithm model can be used as a real-time diagnostic tool for the remote E-health system in next generation wireless communication networks.


Abstract. A key is provided for the determination of the seven species of Aparupa Andrewes including three new species, nepalensis and lateromarginalis from Nepal, and andrewesi from northern India.


Thus Horatio on the ghost of Hamlet's father. Good dramatic poetry; but here it must serve a baser turn, as an illustration of my theme. My question is this: when the spirit is being extravagant and erring, just what is it being ? The editors are quite willing to tell us. For example, Dowden, in the Arden Shakespeare, has the following notes: extravagant] wandering out of bounds, vagrant; 'erring', straying; and the Variorum Shakespeare takes a similar view. So Hamlet's father's ghost is simply wandering about away from the nether world to which it must return at daybreak.


The problem of absorption and dispersion of electromagnetic waves in a dense electron gas is treated semiclassically by the use of Boltzmann equation and FermiDirac statistics. The singularity in the dispersion formula is treated by the method of Van Kampen. Expressions for the dielectric constant and conductivity as functions of frequency were obtained for temperatures at and near absolute zero. (auth)


The consumer survey approach here employed has its difficulties. Procedures employed for assessing consumer evaluation of taste quality must be accurate, water systems studied must contain no significant taste or odor-producing substances other than normal minerals, and factors affecting consumer evaluation, such as habituation to mineral taste, must be adequately dealt with. This report presents the major results obtained from the consumer survey. Consumer evaluations of the taste of mineralized domestic water are


Radiant cooling systems are proving to be an energy efficient solution due to higher thermal capacity of cooling fluid especially for the buildings that require individual zone controls and where the latent loads are moderate. The Conventional air conditioners work at very low temperature i.e.5-8 c (refrigerant evaporator inlet) while the radiant cooling systems, also referred as high temperature cooling system, work at high temperatures i.e. 14-18 c. The radiant cooling systems can maintain lower MRT (Mean Radiant Temperature) as ceiling panels maintain uniform temperature gradient inside room and provide higher human comfort. The radiant cooling systems are relatively new systems and their operation and energy savings potential are not quantified for a large number of buildings and operational parameters. Moreover, there are only limited numbers of whole building simulation studies have been carried out for these systems to have a full confidence in the capability of modelling tools to simulate these systems and predict the impact of various operating parameters. Theoretically, savings achieve due to higher temperature set point of chilled water, which reduces chiller-running time. However, conventional air conditioner runs continuously to maintain requisite temperature. In this paper, experimental study for performance evaluation of radiant cooling system carriedmore » out on system installed at Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur. This paper quantifies the energy savings opportunities and effective temperature by radiant cooling system at different chilled water flow rates and temperature range. The data collected/ analysed through experimental study will used for calibration and validation of system model of building prepared in building performance simulation software. This validated model used for exploring optimized combinations of key parameters for composite climate. These optimized combinations will used in formulation of radiant cooling system operations control strategy.« less


The user's sense of presence within a virtual environment is very important as it affects their propensity to experience the virtual world as if it were real. A common method of immersion is to use a head-mounted display (HMD) which gives the user a stereoscopic view of the virtual world encompassing their entire field of vision. However, the disadvantage to using an HMD is that the user's view of the real world is completely blocked including the view of his or her own body, thereby removing any sense of embodiment in the virtual world. Without a body, the user is left feeling that they are merely observing a virtual world, rather than experiencing it. We propose using a video-based see-thru HMD (VSTHMD) to capture video of the view of the real-world and then segment the user's body from that video and composite it into the virtual environment. We have developed a VSTHMD using commercial-off-the-shelf components, and have developed a preliminary algorithm to segment and composite the user's arms and hands. This algorithm works by building probabilistic models of the appearance of the room within which the VSTHMD is used, and the user's body. These are then used to classify input video pixels in real-time into foreground and background layers. The approach has promise, but additional measures need to be taken to more robustly handle situations in which the background contains skin-colored objects such as wooden doors. We propose several methods to eliminate such false positives, and discuss the initial results of using the 3D data from a Kinect to identify false positives.


Tough requirements on electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) of electronic equipment forces the demand for low electromagnetic emission (EME) of integrated circuit devices. To enable an efficient application of measures reducing the noise emission, automatic model generation tools are needed to be part of the design flow. In this paper we present a method for high level modeling of dynamic switching currents of complex digital IC modules as well as the verification of the simulation results with a high speed on-chip current and voltage sensor. The current profile calculation for single modules is based on statistical approaches, and parasitic effects of cell interconnects are modeled by utilizing signal processing methods.


The aim of the study was to control of potato mosaic virus by using hot-air, hot-water and freezing as a physical pre-thermal treatments. Infected tubers of Lady Rosetta and Mondial potato ( Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivars were treated by hot-air and hot-water treatments at 55 ± 2 C and freezing treatment at -18 ± 2 C for 1, 2, 3 and 4 hours.  Hot-air and freezing treatments showed complete elimination of mosaic virus from treated tubers. Hot-water treatment caused tuber damage at different exposure times. In this respect, hot-air treatment at 55 ± 2 C and freezing treatment at -18 ± 2 C for two hours gave the best results of eliminating the virus from tubers and did not affect on economic characters of potato cultivars.


This paper presents the participation of DBMS-KU Interpolation system in WMT19 shared task, namely, Kazakh-English language pair. We examine the use of interpolation method using a different language model order. Our Interpolation system combines a direct translation with Russian as a pivot language. We use 3-gram and 5-gram language model orders to perform the language translation in this work. To reduce noise in the pivot translation process, we prune the phrase table of source-pivot and pivot-target. Our experimental results show that our Interpolation system outperforms the Baseline in terms of BLEU-cased score by +0.5 and +0.1 points in Kazakh-English and English-Kazakh, respectively. In particular, using the 5-gram language model order in our system could obtain better BLEU-cased score than utilizing the 3-gram one. Interestingly, we found that by employing the Interpolation system could reduce the perplexity score of English-Kazakh when using 3-gram language model order.


In the present note, a linked form of spin-paired functions for an N-electron system in spin state S is suggested. This is found to lead to a simple scheme for generating the representation matrices of the elements of permutation group without searching for linkages in the superposition diagrams. The program based on this is found to generate the representation matrices more efficiently than do currently available procedures. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


Ferulic acid (FA) is commonly found in soils and is considered an allelochemical. Studies have suggested that FA and other phenolic acids decrease plant growth in part by decreasing the absorption of mineral nutrients and water. However, no studies have examined these parameters in a single experimental system to investigate how FA affected both ion uptake and plant-water relations in whole plants. Using intact cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. cv.Early Green Cluster) seedlings, we examined short-term effects of FA on ion uptake kinetics, transport promoters and inhibitors, and water relations as indicated by a pressure-volume analysis


The Illinois Basin Province divides itself geologically into two parts: 1) The Illinois Basin proper in the midcontinent of the United States, primarily in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky, but including small areas in Tennessee and Missouri; and 2) the northern part of the Mississippi embayment at the southern end of the Illinois Basin in Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The Illinois Basin proper and the Northern Mississippi Embayment will be treated separately here.


An infusion alarm device comprises a fixed device and an infusion alarm circuit arranged on the fixed device. Two detection electrodes of the infusion alarm circuit are used for detecting whether liquid exists in an infusion tube, if the liquid does exist in the infusion tube, the two detection electrodes control a capacitive touch chip to send signals to a micro control unit and finally control an alarm unit to give an alarm so as to remind medical staff of handling. The capacitive detection is adopted, so that the infusion alarm device has the advantages that the interference resistance is high, the cost is low, the infusion alarm device does not contact with medicine, and the like.


In a clinical trial to compare two treatments, subjects may be allocated sequentially to treatment groups by a restricted randomization rule. Suppose that at the end of the trial, the investigator is interested in a post-stratified or subgroup analysis with respect to a particular demographic or clinical factor which was not selected prior to the trial for stratified randomization. Under a randomization model, large sample theory of two-sample post-stratified permutational tests is developed with a broad class of restricted randomization treatment allocation rules. The test procedures proposed here are illustrated with a real-life example. The results of this example indicate that it is not always possible to ignore the treatment rule used in the trial in the design-based analysis.


e21183 Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are effective therapies for advanced lung cancer however they are also associated with immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Obesity has been shown to be correlated with both ICIs' anti-tumor efficacy particularly in melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, there have been conflicting reports between the relationship between BMI and the incidence of irAEs. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study on the use of immune checkpoint inhibitor in advance lung cancer from Mount Auburn Hospital, a community-based teaching hospital in the United States, between 2016 to 2020. We studied the association between overweight (BMI of more than 25 kg/m2) versus normal weight patients (BMI 18.5 - 24.99 kg/m2) and incidence of irAEs or progression free survival. Results: A total of 51 patients with advanced lung cancer were treated with either Pembrolizumab, Nivolumab, Durvalumab or Atezolizumab. NSCLC accounted for 90.2% of the histological findings and adenocarcinoma represented 45.0% of the cohort. Among these patients 61.0% were classified as. There was a trend to increase in the incidence of irAEs in overweight compared to normal weight patients (48.3% vs. 25.0%, OR 1.91, 95% CI 0.56-6.99, p = 0.308). The most common irAEs in this cohort was thyroid dysfunction. The overweight group also had a higher baseline blood glucose level (120.5 ± 39.9 mg/dL vs. 92.9 ± 13.8 mg/dL, p < 0.01). However, no difference in progression free survival was found between the two groups (HR 1.19, 95%CI 0.58-2.42, p = 0.6). Conclusions: Although limited by sample size, here we reported a real-world experience where excessive weight may be an important predictor of irAEs development in patients with lung cancer.


This article examines the new science of 'econophysics' that utilizes physics models to explain economic and financial behaviour. First neologized in 1995, this innovative research methodology combines non-linear models, scaling laws, statistical mechanics and the Cauchy and Levy distributions to explain economic and financial behaviour more robustly than traditional economic and financial tools, which predominantly utilize linear models and Gaussian distributions. The conclusion of this article is that economics and finance will eventually absorb the powerful tools of econophysics as they continue to evolve as dominant social sciences.


Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) is becoming to be employed by many manufacturing factories. Performance prediction and multi objectives optimization are much needed in current CBM. The research of Intelligent Maintenance System grows rapidly. This paper summarized the key technologies of intelligent maintenance. It reviewed the recent research and developments in data acquisition, feature extraction, health evaluation and reliability prediction. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of possible future trend of intelligent maintenance.


Background: University has a great responsibility for the education of students. In order to achieve this target, it must provide academic counseling for students. The aim of this study is to investigate the attitudes of students after using a portal for virtual counseling.
Methods: A questionnaire which is based on the goals that mentioned in mentorship law was designed and validated by educational research committee of Mashhad University of medical sciences. It was presented to the students of dental school (step 1). A web based portal was designed and presented to the students and their mentors. The questionnaire was presented after 6 month of portal usage (step 2) and date were analyzed by SPSS ver .11.5.
Results: 207 students participated in the first step and 201 in the second one. There was an increase in mentor visit but it was not statistically significant whereas the availability and consultation presented were increased (p = 0.05).
Conclusions: It can be concluded; mentorship portal could increase the mentor student interactions but it need to be improved to be a suitable method in mentorship.


In this article I share my reflections on the 21st Annual Conference of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, which took place in Australia this year. For a PhD student with a research focus on bipolar disorders like myself, this conference provided an invaluable opportunity to engage with pioneer clinicians and researchers of this field, and interact with people with lived experiences from all around the world. This article will focus on my motivation, expectations and experiences gained attending this conference.


Sir: Hyperprolactinemia is of particular concern with antipsychotic medication, as symptoms associated with high prolactin levels, e.g., sexual dysfunction, can have a negative impact on the patient's adherence to treatment, and has significant implications for the short-term and long-term health of patients. In general, second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) produce lower increases in prolactin levels than first-generation antipsychotics due to the differences in these drugs' binding affinity for the dopamine D2 receptor. 1,2 Particularly, olanzapine, quetiapine, and clozapine have been shown to produce no significant or sustained increase in prolactin. Conversely, SGAs that have been associated with increases in prolactin levels are amisulpride, zotepine, and risperidone. Besides monomeric prolactin, which accounts for approximately 85% of total prolactin in normal sera, higher-molecularweight variants of prolactin are known. Macroprolactin, which in the majority of cases consists of antigen-antibody complexes of monomeric prolactin and immunoglobulin G, contributes less than 1% to circulating prolactin levels. However, in some patients with supraphysiologic prolactin levels, macroprolactin was demonstrated to be the predominant form without eliciting the classical signs and symptoms of the hyperprolactinemic syndrome. Commonly used immunoassays for prolactin measurement fail to differentiate between biologically active monomeric prolactin and macroprolactin because of the assays' variable degree of reactivity with macroprolactin. Conservative estimates suggest that the presence of macroprolactin leads to misdiagnosis in as many as 10% of all reported instances of biochemical hyperprolactinemia. In this prospective study, we investigated whether SGA treatment–induced hyperprolactinemia might be the result of an increase in macroprolactin levels in order to allow for better differentiation between symptoms caused by the antipsychotic agent and those that are disease related.


Summary: This session will describe a active simulation-based education model that was designed to advance interprofessional collaborative competencies in licensed health providers as part of an overall healthy work environment. Learner outcome measurement and results will also be shared. Content Outline: Content Outline


Random phase noises arising from frequency jitter of transmit signal and atmospheric turbulence result in corrupted synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery, which in turn degrades change detection (CD) performance. In this paper, a phase retrieval (PR) based SAR reconstruction autofocus framework by exploiting the hidden convexity is proposed with the goal of achieving reliable persistent surveillance CD. Firstly the original non-convex quartic SAR reconstruction is reformulated as a convex quadratic program. Under the minimum phase assumption, the auto-correlation retrieval- Kolmogorov factorization (CoRK) algorithm is then utilized to optimally and efficiently retrieve the underlying SAR reflectivity. The devised scheme possesses effective capabilities of phase noise mitigation, thus has a superior CD performance. Experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.


The general method of Flat Panel Display(FPD)nonlinear correction is introduced in this paper,specification of the character of Field Emission Display(FED) nonlinear correction is explained.And the characteristics of display of FED is deeply discussed.Then B-T pre-correction curve of the character of FED′s display is given,and the arithmetic of nonlinear correction of FED is provided.A project of a system design based on PW113 is proposed.The project has been successfully used in the circuit of 25 inch color FED nonlinear correction which provides excellent video source.Finally,the contrast graphics between the arithmetic in this paper and the general arithmetic is provided.


Childhood obesity, which may lead to increased risk for heart diseases in children as well as adults, is one of the most important health problems throughout the world. Prevalences of morbid obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) are being increased during childhood age group. MetS is a cluster of metabolic and vascular abnormalities including hypercoagulability and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). There are also some relations between some components of MetS and leukocytes. The aim of this study is to investigate complete blood cell count parameters that differ between morbidly obese boys and girls with MetS diagnosis. A total of 117 morbid obese children with MetS consulted to Department of Pediatrics in Faculty of Medicine Hospital at Namik Kemal University were included into the scope of the study. The study population was classified based upon their genders (60 girls and 57 boys). Their heights and weights were measured and body mass index (BMI) values were calculated. WHO BMI-for age and sex percentiles were used. The values above 99 percentile were defined as morbid obesity. Anthropometric measurements were performed. Waist-to-hip and head-to-neck ratios as well as homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were calculated. Components of MetS (central obesity, glucose intolerance, high blood pressure, high triacylglycerol levels, low levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol) were determined. Hematological variables were measured. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS. The degree for statistical significance was p ≤ 0.05. There was no statistically significant difference between the ages (11.2±2.6 years vs 11.2±3.0 years) and BMIs (28.6±5.2 kg/m2 vs 29.3±5.2 kg/m2) of boys and girls (p ≥ 0.05), respectively. Significantly increased waist-to-hip ratios were obtained for boys (0.94±0.08 vs 0.91±0.06; p=0.023). Significantly elevated values of hemoglobin (13.55±0.98 vs 13.06±0.82; p=0.004), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (33.79±0.91 vs 33.21±1.14; p=0.003), eosinophils (0.300±0.253 vs 0.196±0.197; p=0.014), and platelet (347.1±81.7 vs 319.0±65.9; p=0.042) were detected for boys. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratios as well as HOMA-IR values (p ≥ 0.05). Statistically significant gender-based differences were found for hemoglobin as well as mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration and hence, separate reference intervals for two genders should be considered for these parameters. Eosinophils may contribute to the development of thrombus in acute coronary syndrome. Eosinophils are also known to make an important contribution to mechanisms related to thrombosis pathogenesis in acute myocardial infarction. Increased platelet activity is observed in patients with MetS and these individuals are more susceptible to CVDs. In our study, elevated platelets described as dominant contributors to hypercoagulability and elevated eosinophil counts suggested to be related to the development of CVDs observed in boys O. D. is with the Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Department of Medical Biochemistry, Istanbul, Turkey (corresponding author to provide phone: 00-90-532-371-72-07; fax: 00-90-212-632-00-50; e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com). M. M. D. is with the Namik Kemal University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Tekirdag, Turkey (e-mail: mdonma@ gmail.com). may be the early indicators of the future cardiometabolic complications in this gender. Keywords—Children, complete blood count, gender, metabolic syndrome.


The micropolar fluid theory augments the laws of classical continuum mechanics by incorporating the effects of fluid molecules on the continuum. So, the micropolar theory has been able to explain many phenomena at micro and nano scales. In this paper, a finite element formulation for the numerical analysis of micropolar laminar fluid flow is developed. In order to validate the results of the FE formulation, analytical solution of the Poiseuille flow of micropolar fluid in a microchannel is presented, and an excellent agreement between the results of the analytical solution and those of the FE formulation is observed. It is shown that the micropolar viscosity and the length scale parameter have significant roles on changing the flow characteristics. Then, the behavior of an incompressible viscous fluid flow in a lid-driven square cavity is investigated. The obtained results are compared to the results reported in the literature, and an excellent agreement is observed.


Low-dose trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) alone was found to be as effective as low-dose TMP-SMX plus zidovudine and standard-dose TMP-SMX alone in preventing and treating Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in an immunosuppressed-rat model. Zidovudine alone had no preventive or curative effect on PCP. We conclude that the initially reported reduced incidence of PCP in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients treated with zidovudine alone is not due to anti-P. carinii activity of zidovudine. Furthermore, the clinical efficacy of low-dose TMP-SMX for the prevention and treatment of PCP should be further investigated.


Over the last two decades, several developing countries have adopted right to information (RTI) laws, bringing the number of countries with such laws to more than 90. But empirical evidence on how effectively RTIs have worked, whether they have been effectively enforced, and if they have had any impact on improving accountability, is limited. This note examines how RTI laws have worked in different country contexts, drawing from an analysis of their implementation in eight countries spanning different regions, income levels, political forms, and administrative traditions. The experiences of these countries show that implementation has faced challenges across countries, but has been especially difficult in countries where the broader governance environment is weaker on dimensions such as the rule of law, government effectiveness, voice and accountability, civil liberties, and political rights. During the implementation phase, with the erosion of the initial political momentum behind the law, the incentives for officials to comply with the new legislation also tended to erode, resulting in efforts to undermine the law. The evidence suggests that as countries with challenging governance environments and capacity limitations adopt RTI laws, they will need to both devise implementation solutions that can adapt to these limitations and undertake complementary initiatives to strengthen their broader governance environment.


Gallbladder cancer rates were found to be low and similar among both patients with and without gallbladder polyps, according to a recent study.


This trail is aimed to demonstrate the effect of husbandry and management system on Sudan desert sheep performance and skin quality. For this purpose a questionnaire was designed and distributed randomly for 20 sheep breeders in each of the five chosen sheep breed area's (Total of 100 ques.). The questionnaire include beside the personal data, twenty two (22) questions mainly about; system of feeding and application methods in each season, husbandry systems in each season , the main effective treatments on skins quality and common skin diseases and external parasites. The results revealed that, most of Sudan desert sheep owners or breeders were illiterate and most of them were herder 48.0%, while 37.5% were herder and farmer at the same time. All respondents confirmed that the open system depending on natural grazing was the main h usbandry and management system in all study target area. In autumn sheep depends totally on natural pasture grazing, while in winter sheep partly fed on natural grazing and the breeders complete it's feeding depending on the litter that remained from food crops after harvesting. Sudan desert sheep breeder in summer are using their stock of forage hay that collected either during the rainy season from good growing autumn pastures or from agricultural byproducts such as sorghum and sesame straw or groundnut r esiduals. The additional diets is varies by the variation of Sudan desert sheep locations. sometimes when forage are limited and for marketing purposes Sudan desert sheep breeders adding little amount or uncountable amount of sorghum grains, cotton seed ca kes, groundnut seed cake as finisher diet concentrate beside agricultural byproducts such as groundnut byproduct hay, sorghum byproduct hay and sesame byproduct hay for the herd that offered for sale or for fleshing or steaming up ewes during lambing seaso n. Branding is the most common and known damage in skins generally. Also some animal breeder's belief that by means of hot iron branding some animals may acquire immunity against certain diseases. The respondents attributed causes of mechanical damages of skins of animals on range land mainly to the domination of thorny bushes and grass with hairy and spiny seeds in pastures. External parasites and skin diseases cause most of skins damages and wastages in Sudan generally. Sheep pox spreads on sheep skins wi th high rates (88%). On the other hand, mange are resulting in (8%) of sheep skins infections. However, ticks infect most of sheep skins (80%), when Lice infection estimated at 20% of sheep skins.


Burn is responsible for an estimated 180,000 deaths annually. A burn is skin damage caused through either high temperature or because of radiation, radioactivity, electricity, or contact with chemicals. A burn is skin damage, which is resulted because of electricity, radiation, radioactivity, or exposure to chemicals. Skin is the primary barrier to infection and burns patients lose their skin the risk of infection persists as the barrier is absent. The leading cause of death after burn injury is sepsis. Sepsis is lethal organ dysfunction caused by a host's dysregulated response to infection. Multiple antibiotic-resistant bacteria are responsible for the majority of deaths due to sepsis. Third-degree burns go through the skin and deeper tissues are affected. Third-degree burns may need more thorough treatments. Treatment includes intravenous antibiotics to prevent infections, surgical excision, and skin grafting. Treatments given to third-degree burnt patients are not giving satisfactory results. As robotics is a suitable way to work in delicate environments it can be an effective way to deal with sensitive burnt areas. This review focuses on the cause of infection and treatment of burnt patients.


http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/journal/9/2/199.porr Addressing the double contingency problem with approaches that generate such learning would allow more sophisticated subsystem organization because each subsystem could control more sophisticated interactions than a linear control loop. Therefore, we anticipate that addressing the problem of subsystem formation driven by double contingency within the general framework of learning by experiencing would allow more advances in constructivist agent design.


Along with the increasing development of distance education,some problems and defects have gradually highlights,such as inadequate supervision of teachers,lack of teacher-student interaction and so on.These problems seriously affect the quality of teaching in distance education,and also reflect the teaching mode unreasonable.In this paper,cooperative learning,interactive teaching methods and inquiry teaching methods are analyzed.And according to characteristics of distance education learners and professional courses,the teaching model is designed.Finally,the authors put the teaching model into professional courses' teaching and reflect on the practice.


Malignant glioma can be understood as a cancer stem cell disease. There is strong evidence that expression of a core set of neural stem cell master regulators is necessary and sufficient for tumour initiation in both adult and childhood disease subtypes, and across a range of underlying mutation signatures and expression profiles. We hypothesise that a double positive SOX2+ OLIG2+ progenitor is the cancer stem cell in H3K27M diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) and adult glioblastoma (GBM) alike. We present expression data in 4 patient-derived cell lines (2 adult GBM, 2 DIPG) in vitro and in a defined mutation mouse model of the H3K27M disease, demonstrating high expression levels of SOX2 and OLIG2 in serum-free culture and especially in the invasive tumour. We then demonstrate derivation of patient-derived human dual reporter lines, using a CRISPR targeting approach to add fluorescent reporters at the endogenous SOX2 and OLIG2 loci. With these tools, we aim to characterise the tumour-initiating potential of the SOX2+ OLIG2+ fraction. We further aim to identify cell surface markers whose expression is driven by this transcription program and which might represent targets for novel molecular therapies.


Introduction. It is known that under many conditions, effective operators will be partial recursive, ([MS], [KLS], [L]). On the other hand, certain pathological examples have been constructed by Friedberg [F] and Pour-El [P] to show that effective operators are not always partial recursive. Pour-El has observed that although it is well known that all partial recursive operators are continuous, the effective but not partial recursive operators of [F] and [P] are not continuous, and she has raised the question of the existence of effective operators which are continuous but not partial recursive. It is easy to see that all partial recursive operators are not just continuous, but are in fact "effectively continuous." This enables us to answer Pour-El's question by constructing an effective operator which is continuous but not "effectively continuous." Since it is continuous, our example of an effective but not partial recursive operator is perhaps less pathological than earlier examples.2


Having records of the massive use of digital tools allows observing additional aspects of the learning process, from the Learning Analytics approach. This study, as a controlled case, analyzes the uses and describes the types of students, according to access to digital resources and temporality, which differ according to the course, gender or presence. It is carried out in cetheris paribus conditions, for different courses, first and fourth, with the same teacher, subject, teaching methodology and period. The results show that first-year students have a more temporally polarized behavior and a greater digital gap with respect to the average, while fourth-year students are more committed to the program, with women being more digitally active, pointing to a positive relationship between grades and digital activity, more consolidated in fourth grade. The cluster analysis confirms the differences in the grouping of students in the different courses, conditional on digital use and performance.


We investigate the relation between managerial (or corporate) caution, defined as the propensity to delay consequential decisions in the face of uncertainty, and conditional accounting conservatism — and document a substitution effect between the two. Economic theory predicts that caution reduces the probability of costly mistakes and improves the quality of information at managers' disposal. Better-quality information ensures that good news in cautious firms is more likely to be persistent than in incautious ones, while bad news is more likely to be transitory. As a result, cautious firms report good news sooner and bad new later than incautious firms; i.e., the former exhibit lower conditional accounting conservatism than the latter. Our empirical results support the theoretical prediction. The study helps explain the standard setters' position toward conservatism and sheds new light on the effect of the quality of managers' private information on the quality of financial reporting.


Recently, there is an emerging trend to move towards a disaggregated hardware architecture that breaks monolithic servers into independent hardware components that are connected to a fast, scalable network [1, 2]. The disaggregated architecture offers several benefits over traditional monolithic server model, including better resource utilization, ease of hardware deployment, and support for heterogeneity. Our vision of the future disaggregated architecture is that each component will have its own controller to manage its hardware and can communicate with other components through a fast network.


In this paper, the problem of depth profiling analysis of nanoscale heterostructures containing doped delta layers and quantum wells using the SIMS method is considered. Based on computer simulation data and previously obtained experimental data, we demonstrated that the RMR model most accurately and completely describes the redistribution of the analyzed element in ultrathin layers that occurs during ion sputtering. A comparative analysis of the surface roughness–ion mixing–recoil implantation (RMR) model with MRI (mixing-roughness-information depth) and UDS (up-and-down slope) models proposed by Hoffman and Dowsett, respectively, was performed. It was shown that the introduction into the MRI model of a parameter describing some layer of constant thickness, in which the components of the analyzed layer and matrix elements are uniformly mixed, is not quite justified. It is concluded that during depth profiling of a monoatomic layer, the center of mass of this layer shifts away from the surface, as predicted by the RMR model, rather than toward the surface, as predicted by the MRI model. It is found that preferential sputtering does not affect the experimental depth distribution of elements obtained by the SIMS method.