Microcellular poly(propylene-ethylene) random copolymer (r-PP-PE)/nanoclay (nanocomposite) and r-PP-PE/nanoclay/polypropylene fibers (nanohomocomposite) were autoclave-foamed via a solid-state microcellular foaming process using supercritical N2 as a foaming agent. Polypropylene grafted with maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) was used as a compatibilizer. Amount of PP-g-MA to nanoclay was 3:1. This study investigated the effects of clay content and the presence of polypropylene fiber on the expansion ratio and cell morphology of the samples. The results indicated that nanoclay increased the expansion ratio of the samples, but the expansion ratio for nanohomocomposites was slightly lower than the nanocomposites. In addition, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation showed that the nanoclay decreased the cell size and increased the cell density, except for the nanocomposite with the highest nanoclay content, 3 wt%, which had larger cell size compared to the samples with 1.5 wt% nanoclay and less. On the other hand, the simultaneous presence of nanoclay and polypropylene fibers synergistically increased the cell nucleation effect; thus there was a dramatic increase in cell density. The Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis showed that the microcellular foaming process decreased the crystallinity of both types of samples.


Nowadays the use of implants as a increasing therapy in dentistry and it has become a usual treatment in dental offices. More and more dentists have dental implants included in treatment plans for patients with missing teeth. Therefore is necessary that all dentists know all the possibilities of these treatments. Together with the emergence of dental implants, it is also beginning to see an increase in the onset of lasers in dentistry. These two new techniques in dentistry can be supplemented because as we will see the use of lasers in different cases can improve implant treatment.


sentially industrial one even our farms are now largely factories. We have seen the increasing integration of our society into a single whole an integration wrought by modern transportation and communication, an integration requiring a corresponding social organization. We have seen an ever broadening size of scope of that social structure until now it is close to encompassing the entire world. We have seen the ever increasing impact of technology until we have learned not only to accept change but even to expect it. We have seen an ever increasing specialization an essential ingredient of complexity until the day when one man could legitimately be viewed as a universal genius is long past. We have seen an ever increasing magnitude, in both breadth and depth, of recorded knowledge until the day when one man's personal library could be the basis for a


Moderate chronic alcoholic intoxication within 10 weeks does not cause significant changes of the Fund of free amino acids in the cells of rats, however, is a violation of metabolism of some amino acids. Course introduction antibodies to TNF-а (Remicade, I.P., 1 mg/kg of body weight daily for 10 days) animals with chronic alcohol intoxication, activates the metabolism of amino acids in the thymus lymphocytes. In animals receiving Remicade, the content of amino acids in тимоцитах that can trigger a cascade of protective immune responses that hinder the development of inflammatory process and steatosis of the liver tissue.


Abstract Modifications of microstructural and mechanical properties of polyethylene (PE) have been investigated by many authors, but nearly always on drawn polymers. Only a few papers deal with rolling of polymers. The aim of this work is to study the changes in morphological and mechanical properties due to cold-rolling, and the evolution of these same properties with thermal treatment after coldrolling. High density polyethylene (HDPE) with various rolling ratio (0—390%) is analyzed by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). During cold-rolling, the crystalline lattice is partly transformed from orthorhombic to monoclinic structure. This transformation is reversible when the material is annealed one hour at 130°C. A great diminution of the size of the spherulites is observed during rolling. Mechanical properties are analyzed with tensile tests. The strain energy per unit volume is highly increased by rolling due to the raise of the number of links between crystalline and amorphous phas...


The research was carried out to reveal the discourses, behaviors, and practices of principals working in middle schools in Turkey and Ohio, the US, evaluate them in terms of values education, and compare the two countries. The study is a case study design, one of the qualitative research designs. The research was carried out in two phases, the first phase was in Turkey in 2018-2019 and the second phase was in the US between 2020 and 2022. Totally 24 teachers participated in both countries (12 Turkey and 12 US). As a result of the research, it was found that there are some similarities and differences between the two countries; some suggestions are given according to the research findings. Chromebooks and free lunch can be provided to students by the Turkish Ministry of National Education, and principals in Turkey can communicate more with students by spending their lunches and breaks.


Let $L/K$ be a finite Galois extension of local fields. The Hasse-Arf theorem says that if Gal$(L/K)$ is abelian then the upper ramification breaks of $L/K$ must be integers. We prove the following converse to the Hasse-Arf theorem: Let $G$ be a nonabelian group which is isomorphic to the Galois group of some totally ramified extension $E/F$ of local fields with residue characteristic $p>2$. Then there is a totally ramified extension of local fields $L/K$ with residue characteristic $p$ such that Gal$(L/K)\cong G$ and $L/K$ has at least one nonintegral upper ramification break.


Dana Arnold, ed., The Metropolis and Its Image: Constructing Identities for London, c. 1750-1950. London: Blackwell, 1999. 184 pp. $30.95. Dana Arnold, Re-presenting the Metropolis: Architecture, Urban Experience and Social Life in London 1800-1840. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2000. 168 pp. $84.95. Paul Griffiths and Mark S.R. Jenner, eds., Londinopolis: Essays in the Cultural and Social History of Early Modern London. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000. 256 pp. $74.95. J.F. Merritt, ed., Imagining Early Modern London: Perceptions 8s Portrayals of the City from Stow to Strype 1598-1720. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 300 pp. $60.00. Lena Cowen Orlin, ed., Material London, ca. 1600. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. 384 pp. $26.50.


This paper examines the intergenerational transmission of participation in Quebec's social assistance program. The analysis takes into account two sources of intergenerational transmission: one that is due to a causal link between parents' and children's participation and one that is due to a correlation between individual or environment-specific characteristics across generations. Our data come from the records of Quebec's Ministere de la Solidarite Sociale and cover 17,203 young people who were 18 years old in 1990 and whose parents were recipients of social assistance during at least one month between 1979 and 1990. Our results reveal that, on average, a one-month increase in the parental participation during the youth's pre-adult years (age 7-17) raises the youth's participation by about 0.15 month during early adulthood (age 18-21). Moreover, this impact is stronger during the early stages of childhood (age 7-9) and late adolescence (age 16-17).


The cost of a telecom service development is correlated to the discontinuity and the complexity of the process. To solve this problem, we propose a method dedicated to telecom service development, called EA4UP method. The first EA4UP characteristic is the use of the Enterprise Architecture (EA) for the design activity. The EA promotes component reusing, and improves development process continuity thanks to a Model Driven Engineering approach. In this new method, EA enforces the transformation of an analysis model into a design model. The second EA4UP characteristic is to place functions in the core of the method (instead of data). The assessments of eleven projects allow to measure profits of this EA4UP method with regard to the previous ones.


An abstract of the thesis of Mary Ellen Scofield for the Master of Arts in English presented July 12, 1996. Title: Willa Cather's Spirituality Both overtly and subtly, the early twentieth century American author Willa Cather (1873-1947) gives her readers a sense of a spiritual realm in the world of her novels. '!'his study explores Cather's changing <;onceptions of spirituality and ways_in which she portrays them in three ~ her novels. I propose that though Cather is seldom considered a modernist, her interest in spirituality parallels Virginia Woolf's interest in moments of heightened consciousness, and that she invented ways to express ineffable connections with a spiritual dimension of life. In 0 Pioneers! (1913), Cather proposes that those who use their intuition to express themselves recognize and unite with a spiritual current that runs underneath and through all experience and natural phenomena. In The Professor's House (1925), Cather questions whether union with the spiritual current can endure, and doubts the ultimate value of such a union. In Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927), she suggests that recognition of this spiritual current comes and goes, and resigns herself to the need for spiritual traditions, such as Catholicism, to be able to sustain belief in the current, to sense it, and to value a union with it. All her life, Cather searched for spiritual meaning, expressed in her interest in the philosopher Henri Bergson, in connections between art and religion, and in the Episcopal Church. Cather's conception of spirituality changes, but the spiritual dimension of her novels commonly includes a sense of space, place, transcendence and ambiguity. Because the spiritual realm is beyond words, Cather uses juxtaposition and repetition to create an expansive, imaginative space that resonates silently through her stories. Powerful landscapes express the spiritual realm, and enhance characters' ability to recognize it. Awareness of this realm allows characters to transcend mental and cultural barriers and experience a common consciousness. Cather embraces darkness and contradictions as part of the spiritual realm, resulting in powerful ambiguities. As her spiritual vision changes during her life from exuberant to deeply reserved, these ambiguities become increasingly highlighted in her novels. WILLA CATHER'S SPIRITUALITY by MARY ELLEN SCOFIELD A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS 1n ENGLISH Portland State University 1996 To my large, helpful, supportive familyMansons, Scofields, Harlans, Hendersons, and especially David.


Some simple models for criticality problems are reviewed. The emphasis is on fast systems with moderating reflectors. Albedo and multigroup albedo models for fast cores with moderating reflectors are described. Comparisons with experiment are made for U/sup 235/ and Pu/sup 235/ cores with reflectors of water and graphite. A model for calculations on the interaction of mixed assemblied of fast and thermal cores is described and results are compared with experiment. An outline is then given of some unusual models under development. Preliminary results are encouraging. A generalization of diffusion theory takes into account the size of the system. Two novel models for reactor calculations are described-- the shell and the neutron traffic model. A composite model based on generalized diffusion theory and the neutron traffic model is then described. (auth)


Background: Acute pancreatitis (AP) is severe inflammation of the pancreas that can be of two major types: mild AP and severe AP. In this case, some pancreatic cells can produce various pro-inflammatory cytokines and transcription factors thereby affecting the function of pancreas. Objective: to study the efficacy of Ibudilast in comparison with octreotide, in a rat model of AP. Methods: A total of 48 male rats were randomly divided into 8 groups (6 per each). AP was induced by Larginine model which has a high reproducibility. Octreotide and Ibudilast were administered individually or in combination at 0, 8or 16 hr after induction. After 24 hr of treatment, each rat was weighed and blood samples were collected for measurement of biochemical markers, and then the pancreas was extracted to obtain the pancreatic weight to the total body weight (PW/TBW) ratio and for vertical gel electrophoresis experiments. Results: In both octreotide-treated group and ibudilast-treated group, there were statistically significant decrease in serum pro-calcitonin (PCT) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) when compared to control group or sham group, as well as, a decrease in PW/TBW ratio and in nuclear factor kappa B (NFB)protein level using vertical gel electrophoresis. However, in octreotide + ibudilast-treated group there was no statistically significant difference when compared with groups treated with either agents. Conclusion: Ibudilast and octreotide can significantly attenuate the local and systemic effect of AP. The efficacy of ibudilast and octreotide are almost the same. Co-treatment of rats with both Ibudilast and octreotide has no preferential effect when compared with rats treated with the individual agent.


Purpose
That neuronal injury plays a major role in diabetic retinopathy (DR) is gaining increasing recognition. In particular, we have recently shown, using an ex vivo model of early DR, that neuroprotection may also reduce the expression of proangiogenic factors. Given the importance of neuronal health in DR, we chose to better analyze the mechanisms of cell death involved in this disease. Our hypothesis was that the balance between neuronal death and survival may depend on a similar equilibrium between apoptosis and autophagy: in this context, a neuroprotective treatment would act by influencing this equilibrium.

Methods
Ex vivo mouse retinal explants were treated with high glucose (HG, 75 mM) for 10 days and the somatostatin analog octreotide (OCT, 1µM) was used as a neuroprotectant. Chloroquine (CQ, 10µM) was used as an autophagy inhibitor. Apoptotic and autophagic markers were evaluated using  Western blot and immunohistochemistry.

Results
Consistent with our previous observations, HG-treated retinal explants displayed a significant increase of apoptosis. Concurrently, HG treatment caused a significant decrease of the autophagic flux, which was likely to be due to increased activity of the autophagy regulator mTOR. Treatment with OCT rescued HG-treated retinal explants from apoptosis and determined an increase of autophagic activity with concomitant mTOR inhibition. Blocking the autophagic flux with CQ completely abolished the anti-apoptotic effect of OCT.

Conclusions
Apoptosis and autophagy seem to play opposite roles and a delicate balance between apoptotic and autophagic fluxes is responsible for the death or survival of retinal neurons in stressing conditions like HG. Consistently, the data obtained with CQ suggest that the anti-apoptotic effect of OCT in HG-treated retinas is mediated by an increase of the autophagic flux.


This paper presents, a new and simple CMOS realization of VDTA is presented. And the proposed block use for the design of an electronically tunable Tow-Thomas biquad filter. The presented filter is constructed using two VDTAs, two capacitors all are grounded. This circuit simultaneously realizes Low Pass and Band Pass filter responses, without changing the circuit topology. Tow-Thomas biquad filters implemented using VDTA are simulated with PSPICE simulation using the 0.18um CMOS technology to confirm the good performance of the proposed design in the paper.


Microwave heterodyne receivers were used to measure the nonthermal emission during ohmic (OH) discharges and lower hybrid current driven (LHCD) on the HL-1 tokamak. The nonthermal emission caused by magnetic plasma wave, electron cyclotron emission (ECE) and Cherenkov emission of the relativistic electrons has been described in detail. The fluctuation of the magnetic plasma wave emission and the abrupt increasing of ECE are related to the anomalous Doppler instabilities (ADI) driven by tail anisotropy of the electron distribution function. During LHCD, ADI is suppressed obviously and the particle confinement is improved. The suppression mechanism of ADI, and the relations between the suppression of ADI and the improvement of the particle confinement are discussed.


Accurate device models and parameter extraction methods are of utmost importance for characterizing graphene FETs (GFETs) and for predicting their performance in circuit applications. For dc characterization, accurate extraction of mobility and series resistance is of particular concern. In this article, we show how a first-order mobility degradation model can be used to separate information about mobility degradation and series resistance for a set of GFETs of different channel lengths. Data from a large set of top-gated GFETs based on chemical vapor deposited (CVD) graphene was analyzed to validate the proposed model and extraction procedures. For removing any uncertainties caused by the observed device-to-device data variations due to the uneven quality of CVD graphene, the same methods were applied to a set of closely located bottom-gated GFETs found in literature. Those GFETs were designed for transfer length methods and fabricated on exfoliated graphene of homogeneous quality. Similar mobility degradation behavior was observed for both sets of devices with the mobility being reduced to half for a voltage-induced charge carrier density of 1013 cm−2.


A dose‐response study was performed with three doses of colestipol, using postprandial serum bile acid levels to assess bile acid sequestering activity in 40 volunteers with asymptomatic hyperlipidaemia. Subjects who entered the study had total serum cholesterol concentrations greater than 220 mg/dl and triglyceride concentrations less than 200 mg/dl. They were randomly assigned to one of four parallel treatment groups: (a) placebo b.d., colestipol (as Colestid hydrochloride granules) 2.5 g b.d., (c) colestipol 5 g b.d., and (d) colestipol 7.5 g b.d. Subjects were maintained on a constant repeating solid diet throughout the 6‐day study period, and colestipol was ingested 30 min before breakfast and dinner. No drug was administered on Days 1–3; baseline (pre‐treatment) serum bile acid concentration profiles were determined on Day 3. The above treatments were given on Days 4–6, and total serum bile acid


There is much debate on which types of computer-based systems have the most impact in healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. Safety surveillance systems, which have been around for several years, are probably at the top of the list. These provider-oriented clinical decision support systems allow healthcare providers to monitor the safety of medications and other interventions that are critical to prevent poor outcomes. However, another rapidly growing type of system related to personal health records (PHR) is likely to be a contender for the top position within the next few years. These 'consumer'-oriented systems currently have a primary focus on providing information to patients, but soon will follow the evolution of provider-oriented systems to expand into consumer-oriented decision support systems. In this issue of JAMIA , we cover safety surveillance systems and patient-centric systems, which nicely complement articles covering the same topics that were published in our extraordinary online issue last December.

A perspective by Coiera et al ( see page 2 ) reviews the main developments in safety surveillance in the USA and abroad, highlighting opportune areas that remain uncharted. For …


The video camera and its use for detection of obstacles in the way of a mobile robot were described in detail.With inverse perspective mapping obtained through inverse conversion following the perspective mapping principle of a video camera,the position of an obstacle in the world coordinate system was established by computing the position of an obstacle in an image plane.A control algorithm had been established to gain the depth imformation by using a single camera,which simplifies the robot's vision system.


This appendix describes ToonFace, the system used for animating GandalfÕs face and hand. It employs a simple scheme for generating effective facial animation (Figure A1-1). It differs from prior efforts for character animation primarily in its simplicity and its way of representing facial features. The next section discusses the background for this work, as well as its motivation and goals. Section A1.2 describes the particulars of the drawing and animation routines. Section A1.3 gives a comparison between ToonFace and the Facial Action Coding Scheme (FACS, Ekman & Friesen 1978). Lastly, current applications and future enhancements are described in section A1.4. A quick user guide to the Editor and Animator are found in Th—risson [1996].


Objective To investigate the value of laparoscopy combined with choledochoscopy in treatment of cholecystolithiasis complicated with choledocholithiasis.Methods Clinical data of 168 patients with cholecystolithiasis and choledocholithiasis treated in our haspital from June 2005 to June 2009 were analysed.Ninety patients were randomly selected and treated by laparoscopic cholecystectomy combined with choledocholithotomy and T-tube drainage (group A),the other 78 patients,as control group,underwent routine cholecystectomy and choledocholithotomy plus T-tube drainage by laparotomy (group B).Results The hospital stay and the mean time to passage of flatus in group A was much shorter than that in group B (P0.05);and the postoperative complication rate in group A was obviously lower than that in group B(P0.05);while the mean operative time and cost of hospitalization between the two groups had no statistical difference(P0.05).Conclusions Laparoscopic cholecystectomy combined with choledocholithotomy and T-tube drainage for cholecystolithiasis and choledocholithiasis is a microtrauma management with advantages of quick recovery and shorter hospital stay,that makes it superior to the open operation.


On the basis of 1∶500000 regional geochemical exploration transverse, in combination with the geochemical characteristics of the landscape, the Hs-19 No. anomaly area was selected for 1∶1000000 stream sediment and 1∶100000 rock reconnaissance, followed by the affirmation by geological engineering work. Finally the target area of the Qingshuiquan Cu-Au-Pt-Pa deposit was defined. Geological practice in the exploration of Cu-Au-Pt-Pa deposits in the Altai region of Xinjiang has shown that to stress the importance of selecting regionally geochemical exploration anomaly areas, conduct systematic anomaly investigations, and carry out geological tracing and engineering disclosing of the optimal anomaly areas is able to effectively reduce the time period of geological exploration and save the funds for geochemical exploration.


The infrastructure asset management (IAM) paradigm has emerged to assist in the challenging task of maintaining and improving infrastructure systems. However, IAM is data-driven and thus cannot be effective until proper tools and methods are developed for managing and integrating infrastructure data. Infrastructure data changes as new improvements to the infrastructure system are constructed and as new analysis results are incorporated. This paper presents the development and application of a tool (Update Layers) for updating infrastructure data in Geographical Information Systems (GIS). In such data environment, intersecting and creating new GIS layers in which calculations take place is required. Update Layers was created using a combination of ArcGIS's Model Builder and VBA programming tools. The steps and processes taken to develop this data management tool are described in this paper, along with examples and an application of the tool to update the drainage infrastructure system of a case study area in the City of El Paso, TX.


Recent ECRH experiments in FTU have provided new results in two plasma scenarios, both characterized by the absence of the sawtooth activity and by flat or reversed q profiles. The first is the current ramp-up phase where low density plasmas have been heated up to high electron temperature. When the heating is localized on the plasma axis, the high additional power density has produced the evidence of a deformation of the bulk of the local electron distribution function, which is in agreement with the results of a detailed kinetic simulation. When off-axis heating is applied, no clear evidence of non-diffusive energy transport has been found. In the second scenario, ECRH has been applied on the high density plasma produced by pellet injection, resulting in strong ion heating as shown by the increase of the neutron yield. The analysis of this scenario shows that, when the post pellet phase is MHD quiescent, an enhanced energy confinement regime can be obtained with ECRH as found previously in ohmically heated post-pellet plasmas.


Summary
Inhibition by l-methionine-dl-sulphoximine (MSX) of growth, nitrate and ammonia uptake in Gloeotrichia ghosei Singh disappeared after a lag period of 6 to 8 d. The ability of the organism to resume growth or nitrogen uptake following a lag period was not due to decay of the inhibitor. Amino acids such as glutamine or methionine, which function as nitrogen sources, abolished the inhibitory action of MSX.


Small enterprises are increasingly playing a significant role in Sri Lankan economy. But, only a few studies have been conducted on motivations of individuals who are entering into entrepreneurial career, their perceived success factors and problems of Sri Lankan entrepreneurs. This study is based on the survey conducted with 76 entrepreneurs in Colombo district, Sri Lanka, to understand their motivations for entrepreneurial career; perceived success factors, and problems. The sample was selected from a list of entrepreneurs who were following the Certificate Course on Entrepreneurship at Open University of Sri Lanka. Results show that primary reasons for starting a business are to increase income, to obtain personal freedom, and to ensure job security. Factor analysis results revealed that owners of small and medium-sized enterprises are driven more by income related rewards than intrinsic rewards. Important business success variables include entrepreneur related characteristics, product and finance issues, social connections and human capital. Other critical success factors include management skills and government connections. Lack of reliable employees is the most serious problem faced by small entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. In addition to that, weak economy, inability to obtain long-term finance, and too much competition, were also identified as important problems.


Carvacrol is an active phenolic monoterpenoid with enormous anticancerous potential against numerous carcinomas, including prostate, gall bladder, and cervical, and has gained wider recognition in chemotherapeutics. Therefore, this review targeted to study and summarize various in vitro and in vivo research studies associated with the anticancerous potential of carvacrol with its associated mechanisms in several carcinomas. Carvacrol-treated cancer cells have exhibited significant apoptotic induction, cell cycle arrest, cytotoxicity, antimetastatic activity, and different antiproliferative effects via targeting numerous signaling pathways, including MAPKs, Notch PI3K, mTOR, and AKT. In vitro, carvacrol appears to be a highly potent phytoactive compound against several carcinomas. However, more in vivo research with better methodology are still needed to elucidate safe and standard dose, determine their toxic effects and elaborate its exact mode of action to develop a potential therapeutic approach for cancer management.


When the number of signal is more than 2,the results of BSS(blind source separation) by JADE(joint approximate decomposition of eigen matrices) are not desirable.In this paper,a new algorithm of BSS based on PSO(particle swarm optimization) is proposed.The operation of joint diagonalization is instead of PSO.Using kurtosis of the mixed signal to the target function of BSS,it succeeds to separate the instantaneous mixed signal by the method of independent component analysis.The analysis and simulations suggest that the scheme is feasible and effective.


The input of aeolian mineral dust to the oceans is regarded as the major source in supplying bioavailable iron for phytoplankton growth. Severe dust events swept over East Asia during the 26 March to the 4 April 2018, decreasing air quality to hazardous levels, with maximum PM10 mass concentrations above 3000 μg m−3 in northern China. Based on a comprehensive approach that combines multiple satellite measurements, ground observations, and model simulation, we revealed that two severe Asian dust events originating from the Taklimakan and Gobi deserts on 26 March and 1 April, were transported through northern China and the East/Japan Sea, to the North Pacific Ocean by westerly wind systems. Transportation pathways dominated by mineral dust aerosols were observed at altitudes of 2–7 km in the source regions, and then ascending to 3–10 km in the North Pacific Ocean, with relatively denser dust plumes within the second dust episode than there were during the first. Our results suggest that mineral dust emitted from the Taklimakan and Gobi deserts could increase ocean primary productivity in the North Pacific Ocean by up to ~50%, compared to average conditions. This emphasizes the potential importance of the deposition of Asian mineral dust over the North Pacific Ocean for enhancing the biological pump.


Social group optimization (SGO) is a human-based metaheuristic optimization technique which shows accurate results for different benchmark functions but has not been studied for civil engineering structural health monitoring problems. This article deals with the use of SGO for damage analysis of different modelled civil engineering structures and a real-life American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) benchmark structure using a stiffness-based objective function. It is observed that SGO is not able to identify the damage in the structures owing to the algorithm becoming trapped in local optima. To improve the performance of SGO, a modified social group optimization (MSGO) is proposed, which deals with the drawbacks of SGO in dealing with the complicated objective functions of civil structures. It is observed that MSGO shows accurate damage detection capability, with errors of less than 1%, in the civil structures considered, even in the presence of noise.


Who marries whom? Patterns of spouse selection among migrants have become a subject of debate in politics and the public arena, especially so because they are seen as indicators of the integration or non-integration of migrants. This paper first looks into a broad range of empirical studies dealing with the issue of migrants' marriages. Their results point to a consistent pattern: Many migrants choose spouses from their countries of origin. In order to analyse and explain such choices this paper uses the concept of transnational migration and transnational social spaces. Within this framework it identifies three major reasons and motivations: first, obligations of family solidarity; second, prospects of upward social mobility; third, hopes of re-shaping the power balance within the couple relationship. Seen in this light such choices are not the product of a rigid clinging to tradition or a resistance to integration. Rather they present a hybrid, a mixing, where traditional patterns of behaviour are being adapted to the ambitions, demands and constraints of life in transnational social spaces.


We report on the analysis of silica-based glasses after processing with ultrashort laser pulses at high repetition rates. Heat accumulation leads to strong local heating of the glass. The subsequent quenching results in a fictive temperature rise that scales with the repetition rate. Consequently, the relative volume change leads to residual tensile strain within the modified volume of larger than 10−3, which is confirmed by wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) measurements. Studying the surface topography after cleaving of laser-modified regions allows for quantification of the corresponding elastic strain as well as the glass density behavior on the fictive temperature.


Considering the important role of Individual Differences (IDs) factors in variations in the ultimate success of learners learning second language (L2, this study investigated Indonesian college students' two ID components, self-perceived communication competence (SPCC) and their communication apprehension (CA), in English as L2. Several rationales become the basis of the present study. Despite the importance of learners' SPCC in L2 learning as suggested by several empirical studies outside Indonesia, there have not been any specific study investigating learners' SPCC in the Indonesian context despite the country being the home of one of the largest number of L2 speakers of English in the world. As a seminal study in the context, the study using quantitative methods enables generalisation which could pave a way for further studies in the field in the Indonesian context. A total of 276 non-English major college students participated in the study in a survey using probability random sampling. Using descriptive statistics in SPSS 21, the study found that learners had medium level of SPCC and medium level of CA. Through correlation formula, the study also found that there was moderate significant association between learners' SPCC and their CA. Through regression analysis, it was found that their SPCC could predict 23% of variance in their CA. The findings urge teachers to provide as many learning opportunities as possible in enjoyable learning environment to increase learners' perception of their capability, in turn boosting their confidence to speak in English. Based on the findings and several limitations of the study, several suggestions of future studies are presented.


Based on analytical system, UV-Vis spectrophotometer can be divided into two types, single beam, and double beam. This research will look at the influence of the type of spectrophotometer is used to validate the method of determining nitrite. Validation parameters are compared is the limit of detection (LOD), the limit of quantification (LOQ), linearity, precision, and accuracy. A t-test was carried out to see the difference in validation parameters for the two types of spectrophotometers. The results showed that there was no difference in performance between single and double beam spectrophotometers for the determination of nitrite concentration in samples, LOD, LOQ, linearity, and precision. The difference in the performance of the two spectrophotometers is indicated by the value of accuracy. The double beam UV-Vis spectrophotometer has better accuracy about 89.96%.


To improve dispersion of medium chrome yellow in paint vehicle,simethicone was used to modify the medium chrome yellow pigment by modification method.Through considering the influence law of surface modification on pigment oil absorption,liquidity,settlement time,FTIR and SEM,the modified mechanism was discussed.The results show that the dispersion of medium chrome yellow pigment in dry state and organic polymer matrix can be improved by utilizing simethicone as surface modification.With the increment of the modifier amount,the oil absorption every one hundred grams reduced from 30 g to 16 g.After modification by simethicone,the settlement time of medium chrome yellow in kerosene increases from 1 h to about 16 h.The optimum condition is 2.5% of simethicone of the mass of medium chrome yellow.The adsorption style between simethicone molecular and surface of the particles is physical coating.The dispersion of the particles are observably improved in the dry state after surface modification.


The cylindrical, center-driven antenna is analyzed as a boundary-value problem of electromagnetic theory. An integral equation in the current (originally obtained in a different way by Hallén) is derived. Its solution is outlined briefly and the general formula is given. Complete curves for the distribution of current for a wide range of lengths and ratios of length to radius are given. These include curves showing the components of current in phase with the driving potential difference and in quadrature with this, and curves giving the magnitude of the current and its phase angle referred to the driving potential difference. The conventionally assumed sinusoidal distribution of current is shown to be a fair approximation for extremely thin antennas and for thicker antennas which do not greatly exceed λ/2 in length.


" APOTBECARIEB' HAL OF IRELAND. "To the Editor of the Medical Press. Snm,-The attention of the Council of the Apothecaries' Hsll of Dublin having been called to an article entitled 'Amended Proposals for a Medical Bill by the Medical Corporations of the United Kingdom', which appeared in the last weekt' number of the Dublin Medical Press, the Council deem it right to state that they are no parties to the proposed measure, and that it will be their duty to give to it all the opposition in their power. With the request that you will give this communication a place in the forthcoming number of your journal, "I remain, sir, your very obedient servant, " C. H. LEET, Secretary. 'Apothecarles' Hall, Dublin, November 14th, 1856."


Biomass fast pyrolysis is considered an alternative route to replace fossil fuels as primary source of energy and chemicals [1]. Fast pyrolysis of biomass can yield up to 75% (w/w) biooil (of the fed biomass), provided the applied reactor technology can simultaneously satisfy the several demands, the most pressing ones being: high heat flux to biomass particles, reduced contact time between generated bio-oil vapors and char particles, and rapid removal and condensation of these vapors. Gas-Solid Vortex Reactors (GSVR) are a new generation of multiphase reactors in which a rotating fluidized bed is realized via gas injection at high tangential velocities (~60 – 120 m s). Centrifugal instead of the gravitational force counteracts the drag force on the bed of particles, resulting in relatively denser beds and higher gas-solid slip velocities (5 – 6 m s) as compared to conventional fluidized bed reactors. Due to the overall higher gas velocities (20 – 40 m s for particulate flows), the residence time of the gas phase in a GSVR is lower, thus reducing undesired gas-phase secondary reactions in the pyrolysis product mixture. Considering all these advantages, a GSVR becomes a suitable candidate to perform fast pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass.


Through many experiments,the rooting effect of water culture of Dracaena sanderiana Cv.Golden Edge dealing with different concentration of Naphthaleneacetic Acid was studied.The result showed that concentration of 5 mg/L is the best.In this condition,the rooting amount of Dracaena sanderiana Cv.Golden Edge are maximum,which is 55;average root length are longest,which is 14.5 cm;root growth is fastest.Growth hormone can shorten the period of rooting time.


Objective
To verify the application effect of self-developed strait jackets to patients with restlessness in intensive care unit.

Methods
Broke through the traditional constraint method of restraint tool and design a kind of full-body strait jacket for the purpose of protection, restraint and convenience. The patients in the intensive care unit of our hospital were randomly selected from June 2017 to May 2018 by convenient sampling method. There are 48 cases in the experimental group and 48 cases in the control group. The patients in the experimental group were restrained by full-body strait jackets and the patients in the control group were restrained by wrist restraint strap. The rate of release of restraint tools, the incidence of skin pressure injury and the incidence of limb skin edema, comfort level were observed.

Results
The incidence of stress injury, unplanned extubation rate, hydroderma rate at the limb end and release rate of restraint band in the experimental group were 2.08% (1/48), 2.08% (1/48), 4.16% (2/48), 6.25% (3/48) respectively, while the rates in the control group were 14.58% (7/48), 16.66% (8/48),22.91% (11/48), 22.91% (11/48) respectively. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (χ2=4.909, 6.007-7.207, P<0.05).

Conclusion
The full-body strait jacket can protect the patients better, effectively reduce the incidence of stress injury, prevent patients from releasing, reduce unplanned extubation, reduce skin edema at the extremities, improve the comfort level of patients, and facilitate nurses to check patients.

Key words:
Nursing care; Strait jacket


Background: The co-existence of both diabetes and thyroid disorders has been associated with increased long-term morbidity and mortality. The present study was conducted to find out the relationship between type 2 DM and thyroid dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes. Material and Methods: A total of 160 diabetic patients and 80 controls were randomly selected from diabetic & medicine OPD/IPD/ICU in Department of Medicine, MLB Medical College Jhansi over the period of 2012 to 2014. Thyroid profile was sent and cases were compared to controls using Chi square test. Results: The study showed that thyroid dysfunction was more prevalent in diabetic subjects than in controls. Difference in TSH was more significant between study and control groups (p<0.01). The difference of mean of free T4 between cases & control was statistically low in females (p<0.0001) but the mean of free T4 in males although low in cases as compared to control was not statistically significant (p=0.38). The mean TSH was more in cases as compared to controls in both males & females & the difference was statistically significant in both males (0.0042) and females (0.0104). Subclinical hypothyroidism was significantly more common than overt hypothyroidism. Conclusions: The study shows that hypothyroidism was associated with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. TSH level is more affected than FT4 level indicating that subclinical hypothyroidism is more common than overt hypothyroidism in Type 2 Diabetes patients. The study also showed that the thyroid status of females was more deranged as compared to males.


AbstractIn this study, ferrofluid-modified multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MMWCNT) was used as an efficient adsorbent for the removal of bismarck brown R (BBR) and Cd(II) ions from aqueous solution using batch and column operations. An adsorption capacity (qm) of 76.92 and 38.17 mg/g was achieved for BBR and Cd(II), respectively. A maximum column adsorption capacity was 98.16 and 39.15 mg/g for BBR and Cd(II), respectively. The column experimental data conformed to Thomas model. The experimental data were best fitted into Langmuir isotherm suggesting homogenous, monolayer adsorption of both the dye and metal on MMWCNT surface. The energy obtained from DKR isotherm for BBR (2.24 kJ/mol) and Cd(II) (1.58–7.07 kJ/mol) indicated physical adsorption. The adsorption of both dye and metal followed pseudo-second-order kinetics and the mechanism was both liquid film and intraparticle diffusion controlled. The adsorption process was thermodynamically spontaneous and endothermic in nature.


1. A pharmaceutical composition for sublingual delivery of opioid containing an opioid and etanol.2. The composition of claim 1 which further comprises glitserin.3. A composition according to claim 1, wherein the opioid is not fentanilom.4. A composition according to claim 1, wherein said opioid is metadon.5. A composition according to claim 1, which is contained in the container and wherein the container substance that is in contact with the composition is a copolymer of cyclic olefin (COC) .6. A pharmaceutical composition for sublingual delivery of opioid containing an opioid and medium chain triglyceride, wherein the composition is contained in a container and wherein the container substance that is in contact with the composition, represents polipropilen.7. The composition according to claim 6, wherein the opioid is not metadonom.8. A composition according to claim 6, wherein said opioid is fentanil.9. A composition according to any of claims 5-8, wherein the container comprises a device dostavki.10. A composition according to claim 9, wherein the delivery device dispenses one vybrosom.11 composition. A composition according to claim 9, wherein the delivery device dispenses the composition as spreya.12. A composition according to claim 11, wherein said liquid spray comprises droplets having an average diameter of at least about 10 microns, preferably at least about 20 microns, more preferably from about 20 microns to about 200 microns, and most preferably from about 20 microns to about 100 mkm.13. The composition according to claim 9, wherein the delivery device is not under davleniem.14. A composition according to claim 9, wherein the delivery device comprises a sealing and / or plungers, and wherein said sealing agent and / or a plunger which is in contact with the composition is sobo


In previous papers, a data reduction method for determining a frequency‐dependent ''effective scatterer number density'' in ultrasound was reported [Chen et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 95, 77–95 (1994); 96, 2556–2563 (1994)]. The effective scatterer number density is the actual number density of scatterers multiplied by a frequency‐dependent factor that depends on the differential scattering cross sections of the scatterers. Evaluation of this technique based on measurements applied to a phantom with a distribution of scatterer diameters is reported here. This condition yields an effective scatterer number density that depends on the dominant scatterer concentration at the analysis frequency. Measured scatterer number densities at 3.5, 5, and 8 MHz were in agreement with theoretical computations of this parameter for the phantom.


The purpose of this paper is to present the state of the art situation of the use of polymers in concrete. Different types of polymer concrete are described and the problems associated with each, highlighted. The advantages and disadvantages of polymers in concrete are compared and it is concluded that polymers supplied by agencies should be thoroughly tested under service conditions before use. The different applications of polymer concrete are discussed and it is shown that there is a need for the development of a polymer technology so that polymers could be used properly, and with confidence, while quality assurance can be applied with greater understanding. Risks should be limited by preferring machines to control the processes, rather than humans to control them manually. (TRRL)


Background: Sexuality is an important part of people's health and well-being. The treatment of breast cancer can cause extensive side effects that have a detrimental effect on the women's self-imag ...


In many neotropical areas, Orchid bees are the primary bee pollinators, so knowing their biogeographical and altitudinal distribution in Monteverde, Costa Rica could be useful for understanding ecosystem health. The Orchid bees' optical uniqueness, large biodiversity and accessibility serve as useful and easily identifiable bioindicators of farm and ecosystem health. The biogeographical distribution of Orchid bees has been thoroughly researched, but there are few scientific papers conducting surveys on their altitudinal distribution. I caught a total of 138 bees from six different species: Euglossa viridissima, Euglossa imperialis, Euglossa mixta, Euglossa maculilabris, Exaerete smaragdina and Eulaema bombiformis using methyl salicylate, cineole and eugenol in four different locations of altitudes ranging from about 1200 m to 1800 m. I spent two mornings and three hours each day at Bajo del tigre, the Crandell reserve, la Estacion Biologica and the TV towers. The region of lowest elevation had the highest abundance and species richness. I found five species and 66 individuals at Bajo del Tigre and only two species and six individuals at the TV towers. Surprisingly, a site at medium elevation, la Estacion Biologica had the highest Shannon diversity due to possessing the most heterogenous species composition and a presence of four species. Since my results show that bee biodiversity does vary with altitude, they would make useful indicators of ecosystem change over time as climate change causes locations of lower elevations to heat up and become less habitable. Mayor abundancia y riqueza de especies de abejas euglosinas en las elevaciones más bajas de Monteverde RESUMEN En muchas áreas neotropicales, las abejas de las orquídeas o euglosinas son los polinizadores primarios de este grupo de insectos. Por lo tanto conocer su distribución biogeográfica y altitudinal en Monteverde, Costa Rica podría ser útil para entender el salud del ecosistema. La singularidad óptica de las abejas euglosinas, su gran biodiversidad y su accesibilidad, les permiten servir como bioindicadores útiles y identificables fáciles de la salud de las granjas y de la salud del ecosistema. La distribución biogeográfica de las abejas de la orquídea ha sido investigada a fondo, pero hay pocos documentos científicos que realizan encuestas sobre su distribución altitudinal. Se capturaron un total de 138 abejas de seis especies diferentes: Euglossa viridissima, Euglossa imperialis, Euglossa mixta, Euglossa maculilabris, Euglossine bee Altitudinal Distribution Huebner 2 Exaerete smaragdina y Eulaema bombiformis usando salicilato de metilo, cineol y eugenol en cuatro ubicaciones diferentes de altitudes de aproximadamente 1200 m a 1800 m. Pasé dos mañanas y tres horas cada día en Bajo del tigre, la reserva de Crandell, la Estación Biológica y las torres de TV. La región de menor elevación tuvo la mayor abundancia y riqueza de especies. Encontré 5 especies y 66 individuos en Bajo del Tigre y sólo dos especies y seis individuos en las torres de TV. Sorprendentemente, un sitio en la elevación media, la Estación Biologica tenía la diversidad más alta del Shannon debido a poseer la composición más heterogénea de la especie y una presencia de cuatro especies. Como mis resultados muestran que las abejas tienen una preferencia altitudes menores. Este grupo de especies pueden resultar indicadores útiles de la salud del ecosistema. El cambio climático podría provocar que a raíz del calentamiento global, estas abejas suban a altitudes mayors como respuesta. INTRODUCTION A critical aspect of ecological restoration and conservation is understanding species distributions and abundance over biogeographical boundaries. In many neotropical forests, the Euglossine tribe comprises the main bee component. Therefore, having knowledge of their population's distribution is essential for the preservation of their role as pollinators (Roubik and Hanson, 2004). It is predicted that insects will be very important bioindicators of ecosystem changes along the altitudinal gradient as climate change variably affects these regions (Morochz, 2015). For example, global warming will cause many species to migrate to higher altitudes in search of cooler conditions. This has been seen with Grassland Butterflies of the Sierra de Guadarrama, where the average occupancy of elevation increased by about 150 meters over 31 years (Gutierrez, 2005). Euglossine bees are also accurate bio-indicators of farm health (Hedstrom, 2005). For example, the number of euglossine bees on organic farms is on average 3 times higher than on conventional farms. The biogeography of Euglossine bees has been studied latitudinally and grouped into six geographical zones, including Mexico to Nicaragua and Panama to Costa Rica. Despite widespread knowledge of their latitudinal species distribution, little is known about their altitudinal species distribution and abundance in each region. However, research was conducted on the pacific and atlantic slopes of Costa Rica and in San Luis by UCEAP students showing that the bees' biodiversity is higher at lower elevations (Christie, 2008). The bees' geographical distribution is affected by climate, vegetation and intraspecific and interspecific competition (Roubik and Hanson, 2004). Similar factors could also contribute to species diversity and abundance distribution changes across elevation, such as temperature, resources and floral distribution (Uehara-Prado, 2006). Costa Rica has 70 species of orchid bees, but their altitudinal distribution is unknown (Roubik and Hanson, 2004). One study determined that species abundance of Eufriesea violacea varies between 700 and 1,100 meters in Pindamonhangaba, Brazil (Uehara-Prado, 2006). If one species of orchid bees has a preference, it is likely that other species will exhibit a similar behavior. To pursue this idea further, I did a Euglossine bee Altitudinal Distribution Huebner 3 survey of most orchid bee species present in Monteverde between 1,100 and 1,800 meters, providing a biogeographical overview of the tribe Euglossini that is more general than UeharaPrado's research. Monteverde, specifically the area between Bajo del Tigre and the TV towers, is an ideal place to conduct a survey on the species distribution of Euglossine bees across the altitudinal gradient because of the steep rise in altitude within a small area. The latitudinal linear distance between the TV towers and my area of study in Bajo del Tigre is around 3,800 meters while the altitudinal difference in distance was 617 meters. Since altitude changes rapidly relative to latitude between the locations tested, changes in species distribution and abundance can be attributed to altitudinal variation and potentially habitat fragmentation instead of latitudinal variation. I addressed: how does Euglossine bee distribution and abundance vary with altitude? METHODS My research was conducted in Monteverde, Costa Rica between May 18 and May 26, 2017. I spent two mornings doing bee surveys from 7:30 am to 10:30 am for each of the locations. My locations were Bajo del tigre at 1,216 meters, the Crandell Memorial Reserve at 1,378 meters, la Estacion Biologica, at 1,517 meters, and the TV towers at 1,833 meters. Bajo del tigre is a drier variety of forest, called rain shadow forest, while the TV towers, the Crandell Memorial reserve and la Estacion Biologica are cloud forest. I used the attractants Cineole, Eugenol and Methyl Salicylate to pipette 0.5 ml of each fragrance on one paper towel sheet hung 1.5 meters from the ground and one meter apart from each other using string. I reapplied with 0.25 ml of fragrance every 30 minutes. I captured bees using a butterfly net and identified them in the field using the book 'The Orchid bees of Tropical America Biology and Field Guide' (Roubik and Hanson, 2004). I marked specimens by painting a dot of white-out on their scutelum, so that I would not count them twice if re-captured. RESULTS A total of 138 bees were captured and identified. Species were found in the genera Euglossa, Eulaema and Exaerete. Species richness and abundance at every site My Euglossine bee survey showed that there is a slight shift in the species present and a large shift in the abundance between locations of different altitudes. I found 11 times as many individuals in Bajo del Tigre than TV towers (Table 1, Fig. 1). Bajo del Tigre had 5 species present including Euglossa viridissima, Eulaema bombiformis, Euglossa imperialis, Euglossa mixta, Exaerete smaragdina, and Euglossa maculilabris. The Crandell reserve had 3 species present, including Euglossa viridissima, Eulaema bombiformis and Euglossa imperialis. La Estacion Biologica had 4 species, including Euglossa viridissima, Eulaema bombiformis, Euglossa imperialis and Euglossa mixta. TV towers had 2 species, including Eulaema bombiformis and Exaerete smaragdina (Table 1). Eulaema bombiformis was the only species Euglossine bee Altitudinal Distribution Huebner 4 that I found at every location. I found that two species were specific to one location; I only found Euglossa maculilabris at 1833 m and I only found Exaerete at 1216 meters (Table 1). However, many more mornings of research would have to be done at the TV towers and Bajo del Tigre to definitively determine this. The Shannon diversities were H= 0.83 at Bajo del Tigre, H= 0.62 at the Crandell Reserve, H=1.01 at la Estacion Biologica and H=0.64 at the TV towers. Table 1: The number of individuals per Euglossine bee species present at each location. Bajo del Tigre Crandell Reserve Estacion Biologica TV towers Altitude (m) 1216 1378 1517 1833 Euglossa viridissima 55 37 12 0 Eulaema bombiformis 3 6 4 4 Euglossa imperialis 3 3 1 0 Euglossa mixta 5 0 2 0 Exaerete smaragdina 1 0 0 0 Euglossa maculilabris 0 0 0 2


Objective: To obtain sense/antisense eukaryotic expression vectors for human cathepsin L gene, and study the biological effects on human osteosarcoma cell line MG-63 after transfection. Methods: Cathepsin L gene sense/antisense eukaryotic expression vectors were constructed with recombinant technology and transfected into the human osteosarcoma cell line MG-63. The expression of cathepsin L gene mRNA was examined with RT-PCR and the expression of cathepsin L was examined with Western blot. Results: The sense/antisense recombinant eukaryotic expression vectors for cathepsin L were successfully constructed and transfected into MG-63 cell.Conclusion: Antisense cathepsin L gene can significantly inhibit the expression of cathepsin L mRNA and protein.


[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to find out the characteristics of large and small arterial compliance and regional body composition in middle-aged and elderly adults. [Subjects] The subjects were 103 middle-aged and elderly adults (33 men and 70 women; mean age, 53.7 ± 8.4 years; range, 34-69 years). [Methods] Large and small arterial compliances were measured as indices of arterial wall elasticity. Waist circumference, hip circumference and the waist-to-hip ratio were anthropometrically determined. As an index of regional body composition, peripheral and central lean and fat mass were measured by a dual energy X-ray absorptiometry method. [Results] Large arterial compliance was negatively correlated with the waist-to-hip ratio. Small arterial compliance was positively correlated with peripheral and central lean mass. [Conclusion] We conclude that stiffness of large arteries is positively associated with increased abdominal fat mass relative to fat and lean mass of the hip and lower extremities in middle-aged and elderly adults, whereas stiffness of small arteries is inversely associated with muscle volume of the whole body.


Stomach Qi is an important concept of TCM,Providing nutrients for Zang organs and Fu organs,playing an significant role in Diagnosis,treatments and Prescription For thousands of years.The enteral nutrition in modern medicine acts in the theory of stomach Qi,conforming to the normal physiological mechanism.It absorbing nutrition through the gastrointestinal tract,thus raising the Quality of life and Prolonging the survival period.All of these show the important role of somach Qi of TCM in the medical process.


A common problem in optical networking is that the large quantity of raw bandwidth available in such networks is often difficult to access. We show that time-division multiplexing (TDM) can be used to operate bus and ring architectures in a manner akin to a switch. Doing so substantially reduces the amount of hardware [particularly, add-drop multiplexers (ADMs)] needed to utilize fully the available bandwidth in a range of optical networks. We show that a significant fraction (and in some cases all) of the bandwidth available to the system can be utilized even if each node in the system has only a single ADM. Our approach is probabilistic in nature, using generalizations of the Birkhoff-von Neumann statistical multiplexing approaches that have been successful in switching theory. Our techniques rely on decompositions of fractional matchings (for architectures without erasures) and fractional interval graph colorings (for architectures with erasures) into integral matchings and colorings.


The tunability in lasing wavelength of the In<inf>0.65</inf>Ga<inf>0.35</inf>As quantum dots-in-a-well microdisk lasers was observed from λ=1190 to 1270 nm by varying the diameter of microdisk cavities from 1.70 µm to 1.83 µm. The magnitude of continuous tuning range is about 80 nm.


Effective discernment and prevention of the culture venture in Merger Acquisitions (MA) of an enterprise offer an important guarantee for the success of MA. This paper analyzes the features of culture venture in MA and its main expressive forms, and discusses the influence of cultural difference on MA. Additionally, procedures and methods of discernment are studied


When lightning strike to microwave tower of electric power building,part of lightning current will flow through shield layer of microwave communication line,and will produce lightning induced voltage in the line between core line and its shield layer.The voltage can endanger microwave receiving equipment when it is high enough.Calculation on lightning current distribution and induced voltage of microwave communication line is conducted in this paper.The results show that ground resistance affects induced voltage level of communication line largely.The less is the ground resistance,the less is the amplitude of induced voltage.The amplitude of induced voltage will decrease with the increase of communication line length slightly,and increase with the amplitude of lightning current linearly.Microwave equipment lightning protector should be fixed as close as possible to the equipment,and the delay time of discharge should also be shorten as possible.


The Phoenix plants,viewed as the 'upstart' of Palmae family,appeared in people's vision more and more frequently.In this paper,the biological characteristics,the breeding technology and the application in landscaping of Phoenix dactylifera and Phoenix canariensis were introduced.


This paper argues that the more ambitious prognosticatons of the outcome of the current "Fintech" revolution, a transformation of banking to the benefit of customers, depend critically on the appropriate use of competition law and policy, in particular the regulation of access to banking platforms. Without supportive intervention of this kind by regulators and central banks to promote incentives for adoption, for example through requiring standardised information exchange through "application programming interfaces" (APIs) and widening access to central bank money, incumbents are likely to successfully resist substantial change.


We introduce a cost-benefit model for network formation, where exchanges among nodes are based on reciprocity. Peers receive from the network an amount of resources commensurate with their contribution. When creating links is costly, peers tend to limit the number of their connections, and sparsity of the exchange network may be desirable. In a fully connected graph, finding the sparsest exchanges that achieve a desired level of reciprocity is in general NP-hard. To capture near optimal allocations, we consider variants of the Eisenberg–Gale program, and an equivalent formulation given by Shmyrev, with sparsity penalties. We propose two decentralized algorithms for reciprocation, whereby peers approximately compute the sparsest allocations, by submitting bids for each other's resources. The algorithms extend the proportional–response dynamics, and promote sparsity through nonlinear pricing either at the bidding or the allocation stage. Numerical results illustrate the network formation process by peers who achieve almost-perfect reciprocity, with a small number of active connections. The proposed self-organization model leverages the reciprocity vs sparsity tradeoff to generate cyclic motifs in exchange networks.


This study was conducted to obtain a clearer understanding of the functional status of children in rural Cambodia with disabilities, and to learn how families perceived and used relevant services for their children. Using existing databases, a survey was conducted targeting caregivers of 500 identified children with different types of disabilities, in two rural Cambodian provinces. Although 25% of the children with disabilities had difficulty seeing, almost none wore glasses. 42% of the children had difficulty with movement, but only half of that group used a mobility aid. Parents also reported that many children had trouble hearing, speaking, understanding, playing or talking to others, learning at school, remembering or concentrating on tasks, and holding or using objects. Many children had difficulty with activities because of emotional problems (53%) or pain (42%). Of the school-aged children, 55% had attended some school, and most of them had only attended one or two grades. Some needed services and equipment are available but not always used by families, and other needed resources are currently unavailable. Barriers that need to be overcome are both informational and practical (e.g. financial) in nature. Strategies to meet needs should include assertive outreach, a coordinated mix of public and private providers, and greater involvement of families in problem-solving and decision-making.


ABSTRACT The judiciary in South Africa has made great strides in creating a diverse bench. However challenges continue as regards the appointment of women, some of which are attributable to the nature of the legal profession. Currently, there are 86 women judges in the Superior Courts nationally out of a total of 243. Judges are drawn from the professions of advocates, attorneys, magistracy and academia. Women in these areas of law are confronted with issues that have a bearing on any aspirations of future accession to the judicial bench. The aim of this article is to analyse two specific challenges faced by women advocates and attorneys that were identified over the course of the last three years through legal sector meetings. These are the unequal distribution of work and discriminatory perceptions of women's abilities. I argue that the two factors are directly related to the inadequate representation of women on the bench. My argument will be informed by, amongst others, dialogues from the legal sector meetings, observations of the judicial appointments process and desktop research. I conclude that failing to engage with the identified obstacles will negate any efforts to further increase the number of women judges.


A number of studies(1) has been made for measurement of the heat of mixing of liquid alloys. However, any extremely reliable method does not yet exist for the systematical analysis of the data. An attempt employing the electron theory of metals(2)(3) has been limited to some cases of alkali alloys and so on. An analytical method based on a simple cellular model(4)(5) has contained some unjustifiable assumptions. Other analyses(6)-(8) have also not been successful. In the present study, a method of classifying successfully the alloy systems of total 138 was found out on the basis of an empirical rule on alloying.


Underlying data structures, such as symmetries or invariances to transformations, are often exploited to improve the solution of learning tasks. However, embedding these properties in models or learning algorithms can be challenging and computationally intensive. Data augmentation, on the other hand, induces these symmetries during training by applying multiple transformations to the input data. Despite its ubiquity, its effectiveness depends on the choices of which transformations to apply, when to do so, and how often. In fact, there is both empirical and theoretical evidence that the indiscriminate use of data augmentation can introduce biases that outweigh its benefits. This work tackles these issues by automatically adapting the data augmentation while solving the learning task. To do so, it formulates data augmentation as an invariance-constrained learning problem and leverages Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) sampling to solve it. The result is a practical algorithm that not only does away with a priori searches for augmentation distributions, but also dynamically controls if and when data augmentation is applied. Our experiments illustrate the performance of this method, which achieves state-of-the-art results in automatic data augmentation benchmarks for CIFAR datasets. Furthermore, this approach can be used to gather insights on the actual symmetries underlying a learning task.


As one of the hottest areas in the current technology industry, the field of autonomous driving has attracted the attention of many technology workers. How to use point cloud data for accurate multi-objective prediction is a key issue, which includes 3D object detection and multi-object tracking. CenterPoint proposes a novel anchor-free, two-stage 3D object detection method. The first stage uses a CenterNet approach, that is, using the center point to represent the object, using the feature map after feature extraction as input, and outputting a heatmap of the probability of the location of the center of the object for each category to predict the location of the target object, and obtaining other properties from the feature regression of the point location. The second stage is to extract features from the center point of the bounding box of the prediction target to refine the prediction results. However, the 3D backbone network of the CenterPoint has the disadvantages of low feature extraction accuracy and low second stage refinement accuracy. In order to solve these problems, this paper proposes to use VoxelResBackBone8x based on deep residual network Resnet as the 3D backbone network, simplify the 2D backbone network to improve feature extraction accuracy, and use the Set Abstraction Module to make the model use both the processed advanced features and the original point cloud features to further improve the accuracy.


The microbiological structure for rhizosphere of flax, brought up in different microclimatic conditions in facilities of Tomsk area, were studied. The rating of influence for varieties of flax on dynamic of quantitative and qualitative structure microorganisms of rhizosphere was assessed.


With the aid of vectorial method, relative amounts of phases in alloy GH163 are worked out by solving the matrix equations based on the composition data from EDS on the objective sites measured and from the chemical analysis of phases. It is shown that the amounts of the phases can be determined and the sites where the phases possibly reside can be judged with this method.


In 1874 the author discovered a form of microscope giving constant magnification along the optic axis, so that objects were shown by it in microscopic perspective. By writing (f1+f2 + H) for the distance between two thin lenses, he obtained for the formula of the system f2(f2 + H)u - f1 f2 (f1 + f2 + H)/Hu - f1 (f1 + H) = v; u being the distance from the object to the first lens, and v that from the second lens to the image.


A missense mutation, p.S358L, in the transmembrane protein 43 (TMEM43/LUMA) gene causes arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy type 5 (ARVC5). ARVC5 is characterized by sudden cardiac death and fibro‐fatty replacement of the myocardium, particularly, in the right ventricle (RV). It has been hypothesized that the TMEM43 mutation impacts function via Ppar signaling, major regulators of adipogenesis. Little is known regarding the mechanistic basis of the S358L mutation‐induced effects.


The sphere of activity is nature: the rain and the groundwaters are to be withheld; the wind is commanded to parch the ground, and the land is forbidden to be fruitful. In contrast to this image of expansive and impersonal sterility, the poet provides a detailed description of the consequences of such deprivation in human terms in tablet II column iv. After the initial lines of column iv establish the barrenness of the land using imagery carefully chosen to mirror Enlil's decree,2 the poet describes the progressive deterioration of food-stores. In year one the people survive on "old (grain)"; in year two they deplete their reserves.3 By year three the effects of famine are apparent, and the poet devotes seven lines (lines 12-18) to a graphic description of human starvation. The structure of this description and the physical signs of starvation both suggest a new understanding for line 14. The text of lines 12-18 is:


The amount of elderly people is growing up all over the world. It is supposed that by 2025 the amount of elderly will be 15% from the whole population. For most of these groups of patients it is difficult to select the proper treatment because of secondary drug effects and complications. With the help of methods of traditional medicine we can decrease the dosage of medical treatment. So we can achieve not only therapeutical effect but also economical advantage.


Background: Mutations in the Shaker-like voltage-gated potassium channel Kv1.1 are known to cause episodic ataxia type 1 and temporal lobe epilepsy. Mice that express a malfunctional, truncated Kv1.1 (BALB/cByJ-Kv1.1mceph/mceph) show a markedly enlarged hippocampus and ventral cortex in adulthood. Results: To determine if mice lacking Kv1.1 also develop a brain enlargement similar to mceph/ mceph, we transferred Kv1.1 null alleles to the BALB/cByJ background. Hippocampus and ventral cortex was then studied using in vivo 3D-magnetic resonance imaging and volume segmentation in adult Kv1.1 null mice, BALB/cByJ-Kv1.1mceph/mceph, BALB/cByJ-Kv1.1mceph/+, BALB.C3HeB -Kv1.1-/+ and wild type littermates. The Kv1.1 null brains had dramatically enlarged hippocampus and ventral cortex. Mice heterozygous for either the null allele or the mceph allele had normal-sized hippocampus and ventral cortex. Conclusion: Total absence of Kv1.1 can induce excessive overgrowth of hippocampus and ventral cortex in mice with a BALB/cByJ background, while mice with one wild type Kv1.1 allele develop normal-sized brains. Background The megencephaly BALB/cByJ-Kv1.1mceph/mceph mice (mceph/ mceph), [1] show dramatic and progressive increase in brain size [2] after birth. The phenotype results from an 11 base-pair deletion in the gene encoding the Shaker-like voltage-gated potassium channel subunit Kv1.1 [3]. Kv1.1 is expressed in axons and dendrites of neurons and forms tetramers with other Kv1 subunits creating channels that regulate neuronal excitability and nerve signaling. The mceph/mceph mice express a truncated Kv1.1 protein in the endoplasmatic reticulum (ER), MCEPH, consisting of 230 out of 495 amino acids. MCEPH has a dominant negative effect on Kv1.2 and Kv1.3 currents when overexpressing MCEPH in Xenopus oocytes. However, in brain, no ERretention of Kv1.2 was seen probably due to rapid MCEPH degradation and low MCEPH levels [4]. mceph/ mceph mice behave normally at birth but from postnatal week 4 they begin to display progressive motor disturPublished: 24 January 2007 BMC Neuroscience 2007, 8:10 doi:10.1186/1471-2202-8-10 Received: 18 July 2006 Accepted: 24 January 2007 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2202/8/10 © 2007 Persson et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


PurposeThis research aims to investigate the role of brand types (value brand vs premium brand) in determining review content. Specifically, this research focuses on attribute-based reviews for an innovative product and suggests that consumers of value brands tend to discuss more attributes in their product reviews than those of premium brands. Also, this research suggests that review valence and time have moderating effects on the relationship between brand types and the number of attributes discussed in a review.Design/methodology/approachThis research employed a data set of online consumer reviews (N = 106,980) for wireless earbuds from Amazon.com. It extracted products' attributes from review text using Bigram analysis and measured the number of attributes discussed in a review. It then analyzed the effect of brand types (value brand vs premium brand) on the number of attributes and the moderating effect of review valence and time.FindingsThe estimation results of Poisson models reveal that reviews for value brands tend to contain more product attributes than reviews for premium brands. Interestingly, the tendency is stronger among positive (vs negative) reviews, and it decreases over time as more reviews are accumulated.Originality/valueWhile existing studies focused on the outcomes of the review content, there was not enough investigation into the determinants of the review content. This study focuses on the number of attributes discussed in a review, a key content characteristic, and provides the first empirical evidence that review content differs by brand types of an innovative product.


A number of political, socioeconomic, and cultural factors have been identified as having an effect on the level of parliamentary representation of women. Studies concentrating on the most prosperous longstanding democracies accentuate the importance of political factors, whereas most of the studies that include less developed nations suggest a more pronounced role for socioeconomic and/ or cultural factors. Conclusions about the relevance of a particular group of factors become much less clear-cut when tested on a sample of nations such as the postcommunist bloc, which does not clearly belong to either the most affluent longstanding democracies or the less developed nations. This study examines the effects of the electoral system designthe most prominent of the political factors, using what Lijphart calls the controlled comparison method in a single post-communist country: Croatia. Since Croatia represents a single cultural and developmental 'container') changes in its levels of women's parliamentary representation must be attributed to some other factors. The conclusion of this study is that the gradual increase in the proportion of female representatives in Croatia cannot be wholly attributed to the changes in its electoral system. Identifying all of the reasons for that increase would require further party-level research. This article is available in Res Publica Journal of Undergraduate Research: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/ respublica/vol6/iss1/5 Croatia's Leap toward Gender Equality in the Parliament: The Role of the Electoral System Design Josip Glaurdic A number of political, socioeconomic, and cultural factors have been identified as having an effect on the level of parliamentary representation of women. Studies concentrating on the most prosperous longstanding democracies accentuate the importance of political factors, whereas most of the studies that include less developed nations suggest a more pronounced role for socioeconomic and/ or cultural factors. Conclusions about the relevance of a particular group of factors become much less clear-cut when tested on a sample of nations such as the postcommunist bloc, which does not clearly belong to either the most affluent longstanding democracies or the less developed nations. This study examines the effects of the electoral system designthe most prominent of the political factors, using what Lijphart calls the controlled comparison method in a single post-communist country: Croatia. Since Croatia represents a single cultural and developmental 'container') changes in its levels of women's parliamentary representation must be attributed to some other factors. The conclusion of this study is that the gradual increase in the proportion of female representatives in Croatia cannot be wholly attributed to the changes in its electoral system. Identifying all of the reasons for that increase would require further party-level research. Contrary to recent trends seen in most Western democracies, newly democratic Eastern European nations have witnessed a decline in levels of women's parliamentary representation in the period after the fall of communist rule. The decreases range from the extreme case of Romania, which saw its level of women's parliamentary representation initially shrink by 30.8 percentage points, to the less pronounced example of Poland whose level initially shrunk by 6.7 percentage points (Figure 1 provides a more detailed description of these dynamics). Though subsequent elections have in many cases reversed the trend, the region-wide average remains below the levels seen in many of the established Western democracies (Inter-Parliamentary Union 2000). In Eastern Europe, where parliaments have been the center of democratization and political life, the failure to include women has important ramifications for the quality of the emerging democracy. As Darcy, Welch, and Clark (1994,15-17) indicate, increasing the representation of women can affect the quality of the democracy in a number of ways. Firstly, it is questionable how well a male-dominated parliament can truly represent the interests of women and address the issues that tend to be of greater importance for them. This argument appears to be supported in the context of Eastern European parliaments since it can easily be suggested that throughout the process of transition lawmakers have not appropriately addressed what are generally considered "women's issues" (education, social security, health care, etc.). Secondly, due to their different professional experiences, women have knowledge and insights into some matters that men do not have. Not utilizing that expertise by fostering greater parliamentary representation of women weakens the scope of the legislature's decision-making powers. Thirdly, it is argued that the quality of political leadership will necessarily improve if women fully enter into political competition simply due to the larger pool of individuals competing for office. And finally, more equal political representation of women contributes to the legitimacy of the political system because it increases its ability to represent all strata of the society, which is particularly salient in the context of fledgling democracies. Given the importance of these issues, scholars have tried to identify the factors that encourage or inhibit women's access to political power. Figure 1. Proportion of Women in Some Eastern European Parliaments A number of political, socioeconomic and cultural factors have been identified as having an effect on the level of parliamentary representation of women. Studies concentrating on the most prosperous longstanding democracies accentuate the importance of political factors, whereas most of the studies that include less developed nations suggest a more pronounced role for socioeconomic and/or cultural factors. Conclusions about the relevance of a particular group of factors become much less clear-cut when tested on a sample of nations such as the post-communist bloc, which does not clearly belong to either the most affluent longstanding democracies or the less developed nations and has a very particular cultural and socio-demographic legacy. That is why the purpose of this study is to expand the literature dealing with the bloc of newly democratic countries by examining the effects of the most prominent of the political factors on the level of women's parliamentary representationthe electoral system design. Electoral System Design: Previous Findings Although some studies do attribute a formidable level of importance to such political factors as the time of women's suffrage (Rule, 1981) and the degree of political democracy (Paxton, 1997), electoral and party system features have received most attention from researchers examining the effects of political factors on the level of women's legislative representation. One of the implications of that research has been that women can expect greater success in electoral competitions conducted under party list proportional representation (PR) rather than singlemember district (SMD) rules. As Kenworthy and Malami (1999:237) argue, "parties are more likely to nominate women for office, and voters are more likely to vote for them, if women represent only part of a larger group of candidates." Most of the theoretical arguments for district magnitude's positive effect on female representation stem from the assumption that as district magnitude increases, election strategies change (Matland, 1993: 738). An increase in district magnitude ought to make it easier for party decision-makers to slate female candidates for a couple of reasons. First, as district magnitude increases, the exclusion of women from the party's list of candidates increases the danger of a negative reaction from voters. Second, it ought to be easier to slate women in districts with large magnitudes because then entrenched male interests within the party do not need to be deposed in order for women to be placed on party lists. In other words, balancing a ticket is much easier when district magnitude is large. However, the explanatory power of district magnitude has been questioned. A number of studies have found at best modest effects of district magnitude on female representation (Welch & Studlar, Matland, 1993). Several possible explanations for the inconsistent results in the literature have been found, one of these being the 'party magnitude explanation'. Some authors argue that it is the party magnitude (the number of seats a party expects to win in a district) that makes a difference in the levels of women's representation. As Matland and Taylor (1997: 189) point out, it is possible to have a system with high district magnitude, but where many parties win just a few seats, as in Israel. Briefly put, the availability of ticket-balancing dynamics primarily depends on the number of seats parties have a realistic chance of winning. Naturally, parties' expectations about electoral results depend on the number of effective competitors. One electoral system feature that has consistently been found to limit the number of electoral competitors is the threshold. Thresholds basically set a lower limit for parliamentary entry, thereby blocking legislative representation of smaller parties and consequently increasing party magnitude for major parties. From this brief literature overview we can infer that electoral system factors potentially have a decisive effect on the level of women's parliamentary representation and consequently warrant ample scrutiny. Designing the Application of the Controlled Comparison Method: The Simulation Approach In the context of newly democratic nations, exploring the effects of factors such as electoral system design on the level of women's parliamentary representation becomes a matter of simple practicality. Quantifying and testing cultural and socio-economic factors in a highly volatile environment such as Eastern Europe has pr


Using the NCAR/NCEP reanalysis, we here present evidence suggesting that the out‐of‐phase relationships of temperature anomalies both between the low and high latitudes and between the stratosphere and troposphere are intimately related to the meridional and downward propagation of anomalies of both signs. The temperature anomalies propagate poleward and downward above the tropopause and propagate equatorward below the tropopause. The characteristic time scale for anomalies of one polarity to propagate from the equator to the pole (or the half period of the complete cycle) is about 55 days. The relatively slow meridional propagation helps to explain the well‐known seesaw oscillatory pattern between low and high latitudes found in monthly data. The equatorward propagation in the troposphere is synchronized with the poleward propagation of the stratospheric temperature anomalies of the opposite sign in both low and high latitudes, responsible for the out‐of‐phase relation between the stratospheric and tropospheric temperature anomalies in the polar region. Since it takes about 55 days for anomalies of one polarity to propagate from the tropics to the pole, such an intimate linkage between the anomalies in the deep tropics and high latitudes would imply a longer lead time for intra‐seasonal climate prediction in the extratropics.


PLLs with a mixer in the loop can perform the up-conversion function in communication systems which use constant envelope modulation techniques. These loops, usually named Frequency Translational Loops (FTL), perform the up-conversion of the modulated signal from an intermediate frequency to the transmitter frequency. Frequency translational loops used in portable wireless communications applications, such as cellular telephony, are required to achieve low phase noise and spurious levels. This paper presents the design of a monolithic FTL which operates in the IF frequency range from 100 MHz to 450 MHz and the frequency range from 900 MHz to 1.9 GHz. The output phase noise level is -120 dBc/Hz at 400 kHz offset and 165 dBc/Hz at 20 MHz offset from a 900 MHz carrier and the spurious levels are lower than 60 dB below the carrier. These characteristics make the FTL suitable for use in cellular telephony applications such as GSM/DCS.


Effective team building is widely considered to be an essential factor of research and development. The purpose of this paper is to explore how team profiles and individual profiles affect team performance, respectively. We focus on technological diversities as a vital profile of both teams and individuals. We examine the relationship between diversity and team performance using patent bibliographic data and patent citation analysis on U.S. patents. Our results show that both interpersonal diversity and generalist inclusion affect teams' inventive performance. From the perspective of team construction, the result indicates that management could flexibly apply interpersonal diversity or generalist inclusion. We hope that our findings could be helpful for team management and human resource in research and development.


In this paper, an interval arithmetic optimization procedure for both discrete-time and continuous-time systems is presented. Besides computation of control strategies for systems with nominal parameters, robustness requirements for systems with interval bounded uncertainties are considered. Considering these uncertainties, control laws are obtained which directly take into account the influence of disturbances and deviations of system parameters from their nominal values. Compared to Bellman's discrete dynamic programming, errors resulting from gridding of state and control variable intervals as well as errors due to rounding to nearest grid points are avoided. Furthermore, the influence of time discretization errors is taken into account by validated integration of continuous-time state equations. Optimization results for a simplified model of a mechanical positioning system with switchings between models for both static and sliding friction demonstrate the efficiency of the suggested approach and its applicability to processes with state-dependent switching characteristics.


This article promotes the view that in further education in the United Kingdom, the part of the education system that needs to be most responsive to adult learners, there is a growing need to develop staff specifically to cope and respond more flexibly to the needs of an increasingly diverse clientele. The role of staff in the college is seen as not only a change agent to bring about the changes in delivery, but also to ensure the implementation, stabilization and self‐renewal of the programme. Staff development is seen as the key to this change. The centrality of the learner is established and the basic components of a flexible learning approach are identified as a four‐stage model. The implications of each of these stages is explored in terms of the needs of a staff development process and how these needs might affect the institution. Finally, the developing role of management in this process is viewed as critical to success thereby ensuring that staff have the opportunity to respond to continual change...


Ultrasonic wave velocity is a characteristic of material, which is considered as a significant factor of nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques. Generally, bulk wave velocity is measured by Time-of-Flight (TOF) of pulse echo from back wall reflection; however, pulse-echo method cannot be applied to surface acoustic wave in a case that an edge does not exist in a close range. Even when we use through-transmission method, it is quite cumbersome to measure the accurate distance between transmitter and receiver; this problem is more critical when using contact angle transducers.


• Sustainability of water supplies a major challenge in rural Africa • This study assesses rural water supply outcomes in Kenya over a 30-year period. • Survival analysis applied to identify risk factors for water supply failure. • Failure risks associated with groundwater salinity, depth, geology, and remote- ness. • Service delivery models need to miti- gate environmental and geographical risks. An improved understanding of failure risks for water supplies in rural sub-Saharan Africa will be critical to achieving the global goal of safe water for all by 2030. In the absence of longitudinal biophysical and operational data, investigations into water point failure risk factors have to date been limited to cross-sectional research de- signs. This retrospective cohort study applies survival analysis to identify factors that predict failure risks for handpumps installed on boreholes along the south coast of Kenya from the 1980s. The analysis is based on a unique dataset linking attributes of N 300 water points at the time of installation with their operational lifespan over the following decades. Cox proportional hazards and accelerated failure timemodels suggest infrastructure failure risks are higher and lifespans are shorter when water supplied is more saline, static water level is deeper, and groundwater is pumped from an unconsolidated sand aquifer. Water point failure risks also appear to grow as distance to spare part suppliers increases. To bolster the sustainability of rural water services and ensure no community is left behind, post-construction support mechanisms will need to mitigate heterogeneous environ- mental and geographical challenges. Further studies are needed to better understand the causal pathways that underlie these risk factors in order to inform policies and practices that ensure water services are sustained even where unfavourable conditions prevail.


This is a response to an important contribution to the understanding and future of our research fi elds that deal with concepts and practices of responsible research and innovation (RRI). Comments are made on the bureaucrapitalist science system that Shanley and colleagues, the authors of this important contribution, hold up to scrutiny, on the relationship of RRI to the military use of science and technology, and on emancipatory perspectives in our research fi elds.


The effects of surfactants on oxide-to-polysilicon selectivity during chemical mechanical polishing have been investigated. Slurries with nonionic surfactants such as Brij surfactants, polyethylene oxide (PEO), and ethylene oxide-propylene oxide-ethylene oxide triblock copolymer enhanced oxide-to-polysilicon polishing selectivity. Although a current conventional oxide slurry has a low oxide-to-polysilicon selectivity of 0.5:1, slurries with nonionic surfactants show a higher selectivity due to a combined effect of adsorption and interfacial adhesion of added nonionic surfactant molecules on the polysilicon surface. The oxide-to-polysilicon selectivity of the Brij surfactant added slurry displayed a stronger dependency on the hydrophile-lipophile-balance (HLB) value than the type of alkyl group or the chain length of surfactants. Especially, Brij52 with low HLB value gave an oxide-to-polysilicon selectivity of 9.3, which is 17 times higher than the selectivity of a commercial oxide slurry. A high molecular weight polymeric surfactant such as PEO also gave a greater selectivity than a low molecular weight surfactant. In addition, slurries with nonionic surfactants reduce the final thickness variation effectively in damascene structure having a polysilicon stopping layer. The final thickness variation polished with the Brij52 added slurry was decreased to one fourth of that with the conventional oxide slurry only.


Although the public schools have been assigned, by law and circumstance, the task of educating and caring for most of the community's disturbed children, they have been granted no special facilities or funds for this mission and their teachers have not been adequately prepared for the responsibility. The author suggests that the natural opportunities within the schools for preventive efforts, cosefunding, and crisis intervention make them ideal as well as actual community mental health centers. The development of the Pittsburgh school mental health program is described as an experimental model.


The invention relates to a cable anti-theft system with a tracker, and belongs to the application field of internet of things. The cable of the cable anti-theft system with the tracker includes a wire core, an insulation layer and an outer sheath layer; the anti-theft system includes a tracker, a server and an alarm device; the tracker, the server and the alarm device are connected in order; the tracker is installed between the insulation layer and the outer sheath layer. By combining electrodynamic theory with application knowledge of internet of things, a set of cable anti-theft system is established. The cable anti-theft system is able to timely inform the property company of the cable stolen information, thus the property company can complete the repair work and reduce loss; besides, the system can provide the basis for the tracking after the event.