Pneumatic transport technology is a key technology in PFBC experimental power-station,which is related to whether the fuel can be sent into the pressured fluidized bed continuously and steadily,and ensures the fuel to combust normally and steadily in the pressured fluidized bed.This paper mainly studies the influences of the ratio of solid to gas and the position of gas nozzle in the injector (without secondary nozzle) on the stability of pneumatic conveying at a terminal pressure of 0.6 MPa.


Abstract Mary Hays's Memoirs of Emma Courtney is an antecedent of, and possible influence on, Emily Brontë. Hays's Memoirs (1796) and Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1847) offer parallel representations of the passionate female. While Emily's Catherine Earnshaw has received much attention in academia, Hays's Emma Courtney remains overlooked. I examine Emma as an early 'Catherine', which, in turn, reveals Hays's and Brontë's similar criticism of 'respectable', patriarchal society, which allows no place for such passionate female expression. It is not coincidental that in the course of the novels, both Emma and Catherine are continually upbraided for and warned against their wayward passionate natures, both submit to passionless marriages, and, eventually, both are either psychologically or physically destroyed.


Stochastic modeling of vector hydrologic time series exhibiting spatial as well as temporal correlations is examined with the general class of STARIMA, space-time autoregressive integrated moving-average models.


Pedro Valcarcel, fire protection manager with Victaulic, describes a new type of fire protection installation in the new Vielha Tunnel bore in Spain.


Abstract The purpose of this study was to introduce photovoice as a pedagogical tool in an in-service program for geography teachers, demonstrate the implementation of this methodology, and examine its outcomes, strengths, and weaknesses. The applicability of photovoice as a pedagogical tool for secondary school geography as well as its strengths and weaknesses were clarified. As a pedagogical tool for geography, photovoice not only allowed in-service geography teachers to develop critical thinking, but also fostered active citizenship. In addition, photovoice afforded in-service geography teachers the opportunity to capture the public geography learned in the classroom in the field and subsequently add their own voice to discover their own personal geography. Despite these strengths, in order for geography teachers to employ photovoice in their classes, issues such as time, evaluation, place, and safety as well as inviting decision-makers and policymakers to the presentation process are challenges that need to be addressed. As this study focuses on geography teacher education, further research needs to be done with younger students.


The disclosed methods and systems provide for the registry and authorization of media on a media player. The method involves maintaining a registry of registered media. Media to be played by the media player is compared to the maintained registry of registered media. If media is registered, authorization it then required to play the registered media.


Effect of addition of vermicompost on anaerobic digestion of corn stalk in biogas production was investigated with total solid (TS) concentration 50 g·kg-1 and fermentation temperature 35 ℃.It was found that when corn stalk was in the digestor alone,the cumulative biogas yield per gram TS was 333.3 mL·g-1 and the cumulative methane yield per gram TS was 202.0 mL·g-1,but when vermicompost was added (1:1 in TS mass ratio),their outputs were increased by 20.0% and 35.5%,reaching 400.0 and 269.6 mL·g-1,respectively.Moreover,the phenomenon of acidification disappeared during the process of fermentation.All these demonstrate that vermicompost is a suitable amendment in anaerobic digestion of corn stalk for biogas production.


Cloud computing provides the scalable computation capability based on a virtualization technique. The energy conservation for green computing is one of the vital issues while allocating resources. To improve energy efficiency, the dynamic power-saving resource allocation (DPRA) mechanism based on a particle swarm optimization algorithm is proposed. The DPRA mechanism not only considers the energy consumption of physical machine (PM) and virtual machine (VM) but also newly tackles the energy efficiency ratio of air conditioner. Moreover, the least squares regression method is utilized to forecast PM's resource utilization for allocating VM and eliminating VM migrations. In simulation, the proposed DPRA mechanism is compared with three familiar allocation schemes and one previous solution. Simulation results show that in the presence of VM number, DPRA outperforms traditional schemes and previous solution in terms of total energy consumption (includes PMs and air conditioners), total electric bill, VM migration, and the number of shutdown PMs, chosen as objective performance metrics.


476 NATURE | VOL 391 | 29 JANUARY 1998 We perform the calculation a third time using DT̄A at all locations and times of year. In this case, the result for 1990–2100 for SUL is 109 mm, GHG 149 mm, almost 20% less in each case than from the first method. This is because DT̄A is less than the local temperature change for most glaciers, as the warming is generally larger over land than sea, and is greater in northern high latitudes. Most of the water on land resides in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, but the uncertainty about their state of mass balance is as large as the current observed rate of sea-level rise. However, it is relevant to consider the perturbations that might arise from anthropogenic climate change. The Greenland ice sheet is similar to other high-latitude ice caps in that increased ablation will be the dominant effect of climate change on the mass balance. Therefore we extend the glacier model by defining four additional regions to cover Greenland, corresponding to different climate regimes. They give a total sea-level rise of 76 mm for 1990–2100 in SUL, 93 mm in GHG. This is only about half the size of the glacier melt in each case (Fig. 3), despite the vastly greater area of the ice sheet, because its high latitude and altitude mean that its average surface temperature will remain low. Expressed as a temperature sensitivity, the contribution from Greenland to sea-level rise is 0.35 mm yr K in SUL and 0.30 mm yr K in GHG. Various other estimates have been made of this sensitivity, mostly lying within a range of 0:30 6 0:15 mm yr 2 1 K 2 , an uncertainty of 50%. As with mountain glaciers, we find that the total is increased by the use of DTA, but reduced with DT̄A. The Antarctic ice sheet experiences little ablation in either the current or future climates. Accumulation is mainly balanced by calving of icebergs, at a rate which is unlikely to change substantially over the next century, because it responds on the long timescale of ice-sheet dynamics. But precipitation over Antarctica apparently increases strongly with temperature, so climate change in Antarctica will make a negative contribution to sea level, as a consequence of the greater accumulation which will occur in a warmer climate. The sensitivity has been estimated as 2 0:30 6 0:15 mm yr 2 1 K 2 , which would result in a sea-level fall of 79 mm over 1990–2100 with the temperature changes predicted by SUL, roughly cancelling the contribution from Greenland, as other studies have also suggested. M


The McMurry crossed coupling reactions of p,p′-disubstituted benzophenones (1) with pivalaldehyde (Pv) gave the corresponding ethenes (2) in fair to excellent yield. The observed geometrical selectivity is varied depending on a kind of p-substituent of the aromatic moiety of 1, when p′-substituent is limited to methyl. According to the known reaction mechanism, the reason why the geometry selection occurred is discussed by a conformational analysis of a possible intermediate, titanium bound pinacolate, and molecular orbital calculations of the starting carbonyl compounds. As a result, the selection is caused by electronic and stereochemical structures of anion radical of 1 and approaching mode of Pv anion radical to them. Distribution of a spin density and unsymmetrical nature of two aromatic moieties of anion radical of 1 provide predetermined pathway to bring about the pinacolate without any rotational conversion under the reaction conditions. Subsequent workup affords 2 with the observed geometry.


The main goal of the work is in quantum-chemical prove of existence the stable complex species formed by the transition metal halide complex and outer-sphere shell of the certain composition in alkali metal halide melts. The novelty of the approach used in this study is the direct calculation of the interaction energies of the second coordination sphere fragments with both the chromium complex itself and the outside environment of this fragment. As an example, the extended model systems M 3CrCl 6+18MCl (M Na, K) are used, for which the optimized structures and energies are obtained by quantum-chemical methods. Based on these data and additional calculations related to fragments of these systems, it was concluded that the stable particles "complex with outer-sphere shell" are formed in such systems.


Talent management is critical for SMEs who face competition from bigger firm. In
this research, review of academic work and attempt to organize the literature by
creating a theoretical framework for understanding in talent management among
SMEs in Melaka, Malaysia. To guide this research, theoretical framework highlights
several level of knowledge in talent management among SMEs in Melaka, Malaysia
for its sustainability. This research will also highlight the potential role of human
resource activities in addressing those talent management challenges. This research
will be conducted by providing true information by random sample without bias. One
hundred respondents in random manufacturing SMEs companies participated in this
study. An ANOV A test was used to investigate differences in the extent of
companies' practices and talent management strategies types. Hierarchical regression
analysis was carried out to examine the relationship between market orientation and
organizational performance and the moderating effects of market environment
variables.


The transition from FFDM to digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) necessitates new approaches for training radiology residents and fellows that highlight depiction differences between the same abnormalities on the two modalities. We developed a unique, flexible training module that enables training with complete feedback, as well as testing performance before and after use of this training module. Currently, 219 examinations, with priors and other relevant information, are included. Using a special interface to the Secure View workstation (Hologic), we developed a management program that displays each case in a randomized manner and in a sequential mode (i.e. FFDM first followed by FFDM+DBT) and allows the reader to rate the case followed by viewing the images side by side with results of the full imaging based history (reporting) by the screening interpreter, the diagnostic workup interpreter (when applicable), and the actual pathology (biopsy and/or surgical). This approach allows the reader to review their correct and/or incorrect interpretation at each step of the management decision making. The module also has sets of pre- and post-training cases, allowing for a test-train-test study to be performed, if so desired. Two observer studies using 18 radiologists, residents, and fellows have been performed using this module, to date. The training module was assembled, tested, and implemented. We found it to be extremely flexible and useful in training. After completing two observer performance studies, the module was installed in our clinical facility and is currently being used to train residents and fellows at their own pace. All users found this module to be useful and extremely informative.


Proving is an essential activity in mathematics but there are serious difficulties encountered by mathematics undergraduates in engaging with proof in the intended way. This article presents an initial analysis of (i) a quantitative study of a large sample of UK mathematics undergraduates which describes their declared perceptions about proof, and (ii) a qualitative study of a subsample of these students which analyses their actual proof perceptions as well as their actual proof practices. A comparison is also made between their publicly declared perceptions of proof and their personal proclivities in proving.


The best way to approach all medical records in relation to HIPAA and the HITECH Act is the same as you do with patients: use universal precautions.


Objective To construct prokaryotic expression vector consisted of TB10. 4,and to express and purify the protein,then to investigate its immunogenicity. Methods The gene was obtained from p ET- SUMO- TB10. 4,then inserted into p ET- 28 a. The recombinant plasmid was transformed into E. coli DH5α while positive clones were randomly selected,then the plasmid was transformed into competent E. coli BL21( DE3)after sequenced correctly. Recombinant protein was induced by IPTG and identified by SDS- PAGE analysis,and then the protein was purified by Ni- NTA resin. Female C57 BL /6 mice were randomly divided into three groups called Trs- HCl + DDA / Poly I∶ C,TB10. 4 + DDA / Poly I∶ C and BCG,ten mice per group. The mice were immunized subcutaneously at weeks 1,4,7. The level of IFN- γ secreted by spleen lymphocytes stimulated by TB10. 4 was detected at the last immunization. The antibodies of Ig G2 b and Ig G1 in sera were detected by Elisa. Results Recombinant plasmid pet28a- TB10. 4 was constructed,and the protein band about10. 4 Kda was observed. The mice immunized by TB10. 4 could induce antigen- specific antibody of Ig G2 b and Ig G1 in sera. The IFN- γ level in TB10. 4 group was significantly higher than that of Trs- HCl and BCG group.Conclusion The subunit vaccine was constructed by protein TB10. 4 and adjuvants. It can induce antigen-specific immune response. It can be used as a candidate of novel TB subunit vaccine for further evaluation.


In accordance with the 1-Wire bussing technique of DALLAS and iButton,this paper discusses the feasibility of developing oilfield patrol system by employing VB platforms and SQL Server data base,and realizing the overall design,the hardware design and the software design of the system.


Globally, government is experiencing difficulties in generating adequate revenue to finance their activities. In Nigeria, studies have shown that the recent sharp reduction in the revenue was as a result of decline in crude oil prices which inversely affected the financial ability of government towards growth and development of the nation. To this end, this paper therefore investigated the effect of non-oil taxes on economic growth and development of Nigeria. The study employed ex-post facto research design. Macro data for the period 1994Q1-2017Q4 representing seventy six (76) observations were obtained from CBN statistical bulletin and National Bureau of Statistics. The documents were already exposed to the scrutiny of the appropriate regulatory agencies. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics employing multiple regressions. The study discovered that non-oil taxes (custom and excise duties, capital gain tax, company income tax, tertiary education tax and value added tax) have significant effect on economic growth. (Adj. R2 = 0.75, F(5,71) = 213.43, p< .0.05). The individual effects are also positive and statistically significant: (VAT- β = 8.011, t(76)= 2.802, ρ<0.05, CIT- β = 2.560, t(76)= 2.383, ρ<0.05, CED - β = 1.767, t(76)=3.092, ρ<0.05, CGT- β = 4.162, t(76)= 3.509, ρ<0.05, and TET- β = 0.161, t(76)= 2.443, ρ<0.05). This study concluded that non-oil taxes significantly influenced both economic growth and economic development in Nigeria. The study recommended that government must strive to sustain the current unflinching commitment towards improving non-oil tax revenue, ensure Tertiary Education Tax collected translates into real development and also ensure efficient utilization of tax payers' money to boost non-oil tax revenue collection which will then lead to economic growth and development.


The effect of combined road and railway noise on the listener is one of the topics of the German project Leiser Verkehr. Currently a joint study is performed by three laboratories (IfADo, Dortmund; IUG, Eichstätt; SASS, Essen) to find out whether the combination of these noises has specific effects on the listener or not. Within the context of this project two experiments were performed in our laboratory to clarify methodological issues related to the establishment of a representative catalogue of traffic sounds. Previous data based on car interior noise showed that the perception of these noises is primarily related to four factors: pleasantness, power, timbre and impulsiveness [1]. As a working hypothesis for the present study it is assumed that (exterior) road and railway noise may be classified in a similar way. Taking this assumption as a starting point the major objective of the study is the development of a valid strategy for the psychometric classification of traffic sounds. Two methods are compared to each other. Method 1 (experiment 1) has the advantage that more sounds can be presented to the subject during an experimental session as compared to method 2 (experiment 2). On the other hand data gained with method 2 may be more specific and reliable as subjects are allowed to better concentrate on the various perceptual aspects of traffic sounds.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the measurement invariance in the Turkish version of the Satisfaction with Life Scale according to gender among university students. A convenience sample of 312 university students (194 females) was participated in the study. Multi-group confirmatory factorial analyses were performed to examine the measurement invariance. The results showed a first-order one-factor solution fitted to the Turkish sample. The findings revealed that the configural and metric invariances were achieved with respect to gender. However, scalar invariance could not be reached across gender. When constrained the parameter of item four across gender, then partial scalar invariance was achieved. Ongoing analysis showed that strict invariance was achieved across gender. Establishing at least partial scalar invariance is important in that it permits comparison of latent means between subgroups. Understanding how satisfaction with life differs depending on gender and culture in the context of psychological well-being could lead a deeper conceptualization of this attribute. Moreover, this study emphasizes that valid inferences are only possible with well-developed psychometric tools.


In order to study the effects of summer cover crops and their residues, and mechanical and chemical weed control methods, on weed density and biomass in Valencia orange orchards, an experiment based on randomized complete block design with 7 treatments and 3 replications was conducted in 2005 at Research Garden of Orangery Research Institute of Ramsar, Iran. The treatments consisted of soybean (Glycine max), alfalfa (Medicago sativa), and berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum) cover crops, rotivator, rice straw mulch, glyphosate herbicide, and weedy control. Cover crops were planted on first day of May month as well as rice straw mulch. Rotivator has been done each 30 days until the end of experiment. Herbicide was applied on mid-July month, simultaneously as mowing cover crop. The results of this study showed that soybean and alfalfa cover crops produced the highest and lowest biomass among cover crops, respectively. Similarly, the highest and lowest amount of LAI was observed in soybean and alfalfa, respectively. Soybean cover crop and tillage resulted in lowest weed biomass, while control and alfalfa cover crop resulted in highest weed biomass. Rice straw mulch and berseem clover cover crop have resulted the best in decreasing weed density, while alfalfa cover crop was the most inefficacious one. In conclusion, soybean cover crop and tillage were the most efficacious and alfalfa cover crop was the most inefficacious treatment for controlling weeds in studied orchard.


The PVDF /Ag TNT flat membrane and patterned membrane were prepared by phase-inversion method with Ag doped TiO2 nanotubes added in the PVDF casting solution. The microstructure, hydrophilic, antifouling and antibiofouling ability of this patterned membrane were studied by SEM, contact angle test, filtering experiment and anti-biofouling experiment. The results showed that the separation performance, hydrophilic, antifouling and anti-biofouling ability of the PVDF/Ag TNT patterned membrane were improved due to the addition of Ag TNT. The pure water flux increased by 70%. The contact angle had a largest decline of 67.7°. The patterned membrane′s Rir declined 37.8% for HA. The static adsorption experiment showed that the patterned membranes′ adsorption amount for HA decreased by 42.3%, and the absorption rate increased by 25.1%.


: The issue of gender equality is a very topical agenda of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and is gradually receiving attention among researchers in all spheres of life with a view to bridging the gap. Within the Sub‐ Saharan Africa (SSA), women are voiceless politically, their population notwithstanding, because they are largely economically and educationally disadvantaged. This paper presents an empirical evaluation of the effect of gender differences and self‐efficacy in e‐Democracy implementation using an extended technology acceptance model (TAM). Online survey method was employed with questionnaire administered to colleagues on the authors' mailing lists and other recipients on the mailing lists of others in a viral manner to have a reasonable number of respondents. The questionnaire was divided into three sections. The first section consists of demographic profile of respondents, the second section deals with the level of technology usage by respondents, while the third section includes measures of variables to be studied: perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), computer self‐efficacy (CSE), attitude (ATT), and behavioral intention (BI). Items of the model's constructs were adapted from existing validated measures, a total number of 339 respondents submitted valid responses and were used for the analysis. To test the formulated hypotheses, a multivariate analytical methodology involving path analysis was used to empirically examine the sets of relationships in the form of linear causal models. Findings revealed that perceived ease of use has a stronger influence on female than male users of e‐ democracy. Perceived usefulness significantly influence user's attitude while perceived ease of use was found to have a negative effect on attitude. This may be due to high literacy level of the respondents and may be subjected to further research using a different set of population sample. However, self‐efficacy was found to have no significant effect on the attitude of both male female users.


Image can have a crucial meaning for functioning of organization. Gaining the desired reputation requires systematic and long-term efforts aiming at optimization of management of information and promotion policy. Realization of communication strategy should thus base on the effective work of a PR unit, proper location of which in the organizational structure as well as its proper range of competences will help to achieve the image objectives.


Predicting an electrolyte mixture's water activity, i.e. the ratio of water vapor pressure over a solution with that of pure water, in principle reveals both boiling point and solubilities for that mixture. Better predictions of these properties helps support the ongoing missions to concentrate complex nuclear waste mixtures in order to conserve tank space and improved predictions of water activity will help. A new approach for predicting water activity, the solvation cluster equilibria (SCE) model, uses pure electrolyte water activities to predict water activity for a complex mixture of those electrolytes. An SCE function based on electrolyte hydration free energy and a standard DebyeHuckel (DH) charge compression fits each pure electrolyte's water activity with three parameters. Given these pure electrolyte water activities, the SCE predicts any mixture water activity over a large range of concentration with an additional parameter for each mixture vector, the multinarity. In contrast to ionic strength, which scales with concentration, multinarity is related to the relative proportion of electrolytes in a mixture and can either increase or decrease the water activity prediction over a broad range of concentration for that mixture.


Starting with textile products in the middle of 1990, environmental requirements on prohibition of hazardous sub- stances in products have been led by EU member countries and expanded to electrical and electronic equipment with imple- mentaion of RoHS (Restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment) in 2006. Under EU REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of CHemicals), the concept of SVHC (Substances of Very High Concern) and resulting regulatory duties regarding it have been introduced to the supply chain of almost all industry sectors. In this tech- nical review, kinds of hazardous substances, reasons for restrictions and related directives and regulations are reviewed with its influence on the international market. Suggestions are made how to cope with environmental regulations as well as mid-to-long term market strategy to secure global market competitiveness.


capsule rupture in a child with posterior lenticonus. A citation from our article would have been pertinent to illustrate this global phenomenon. We think posterior capsule rupture in children provokes a sudden and complete opacification of the lens, which we have called acute infantile leucocoria. However, in adults, posterior capsule rupture as described by Ho et al. seems to result in partial dislocation of the lens in the vitreous, with remaining dense cortical material in the lens capsular bag.We think the contrast between these two descriptions shows that age is a factor in the behavior of the crystalline lens in spontaneous posterior capsule rupture.


Objective: To study the effects of raloxifene on the growth of the human ovarian cancer cell line Skov3 and on the expression of cell proliferative antigen Ki-67 in vitro.Methods: The proliferative capacity of the ovarian cancer cell line Skov3 in the culture medium with raloxifene was evaluated by the microculture tetrazolium assay (MTT) and the expression of cell proliferation was appraised by the immunohistochemical staining of ki-67.Results: The growth of ovarian cancer cell line Skov3 was inhibited by raloxifene at high concentrations, while a trend of growth promotion at initial then followed by growth inhibition was found when raloxifene was at low concentrations. Raloxifene at high concentrations not only significantly reduced the expression of Ki-67 but also destroyed the cell structure.Conclusion: Raloxifene does not stimulate the growth of human ovarian cancer cell line Skov3significantly.


Suspension control is the key technology of maglev train system. At present, the commonly used algorithm is PID control based on current feedback. However, due to the time-varying uncertainty of maglev train operation and the nonlinearity of maglev system itself, PID control is difficult to achieve the ideal control effect, and there are some problems, such as small parameter stability range, large overshoot and so on. This paper studies the application of BP neural network in suspension control system, designs PID controller based on BP neural network, and realizes on-line self-tuning of PID parameters. The simulation results in Matlab / Simulink show that compared with the simple PID control, the response speed and overshoot have been greatly improved, and the control performance of the suspension system has been improved.


Periods of democratization exhibit economically large spikes in risk premia. Using a panel data set covering 57 countries over 200 years, I show that during periods of democratization, the equity premium and corporate credit spreads are significantly elevated, despite little to no effect on aggregate consumption and dividends. Further, I use a quasi-natural experiment coming from a shift in Catholic church attitudes toward democracy and show that this change was associated with a large increase in average excess returns for majority Catholic and autocratic countries. Finally, I show that these results can be rationalized through a standard political economy model in which the wealthiest segments of society are negatively impacted by the consolidation of democracy. These results are key to understanding how political institutions and the distribution of wealth and political power influence asset returns.


Numerical simulations of two dimensional flows are performed with a conservative form of S-A turbulence model and the simulation results are compared to those of the standard form and the compressible form. The conservative form is derived, from the standard form, which is in non-conservative form, using the continuity equation. The model constant of the conservative form is corrected to compensate for the differences between the conservative and the non-conservative discretizations. For verification of the conservative form of the equation, flows over a flat plate at various flow conditions are computed and the results are compared to those of the other forms as well as other computational results and theories. For subsonic flows, little difference is observed between the results of three forms. For supersonic and hypersonic flows, however, skin frictions of the compressible form and the conservative form are slightly larger than that of the standard form. Furthermore, numerical simulations of a transonic flow around an airfoil are performed with three forms and usefulness of the conservative form is confirmed by obtaining reasonable results.


For almost a decade scholars from a variety of disciplines have engaged in critical inquiries into the global phenomenon that is Electronic Dance Music (EDM) and into the many questions it raises about spectacle, representation, identity, collective experience, cultural appropriation, and its many gendered, classed, and sexuality-based inequalities. However, few scholars have interrogated the racial dimensions of EDM – dimensions that we see as clearly evident. The purpose of this special section of Popular Music and Society is to provide critical, interdisciplinary inquiries that expand our understanding of how race may intersect with, organize, and structure the experience, promotion, and production of Electronic Dance Music worldwide. We intend for this special section to grapple with the realities and processes of race, racial ideology, and racisms within EDM and in the culture surrounding EDM. In this section, we explore issues of racial dynamics from three perspectives. First, Liam Maloney explores the influence of religion and gospel on early EDM scenes. The author makes three key assertions: (1) that disco used gospel elements to create a "quasi-religious proto-PLUR" (Peace, Love, Unity, Respect) ideology that permeated dance floors during the height of disco in the 1970s; (2) that this ideology was a means of expression used by the marginalized populations in the early EDM culture; and (3) that disco, contrary to popular perception, was not an exclusively gay scene (although it was important aspect of gay liberation) – in addition, it comprised individuals from varying racial backgrounds and was an expression of those made Other by aspects of either race or sexuality. In the second article, Kaitlyne A. Motl examines how EDM festivalgoers construct symbols and narratives that reinforce EDM participation as a demographically and ideologically white terrain. In doing so, Motl analyzes the stylization of festival participants, particularly the ways in which they dress and forms of body modifications such as tattoos and piercings. Last, William Tsitsos takes a historical approach to illuminate the intersection of race and social class with the origins of techno and rap music. The author contends that techno and rap music emerged from working-class black suburban areas that were either in decay or immersed in large construction projects. POPULAR MUSIC AND SOCIETY 2018, VOL. 41, NO. 3, iii https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2018.1538605


The Penang National Park (PNP), the smallest national park in the world, was formerly known as Pantai Acheh Forest Reserve. Penang National Park processes some unique characteristics. Among them, its diversity of ecological habitats, the rich fauna and the number of unique flora found. The Penang National Park is one of the few remaining areas on Penang Island which still comprises natural rainforest and small mammals. This park has a number of habitats like dipterocarp forest, riparian, mangroves, coastal area and Meromictic Lake. It is one of the few natural heritages in Northern Peninsular Malaysia with unique feature such as Meromictic Lake which natural process of inundating and drawing out water from this lake happen intermittently and its bottom layer is made up of warm salt water from the sea, and the upper layer comprising cool and fresh water from river and rain. Declared as national park in 2003, these features could prove to be potentials and opportunities for ecotourism. The study focuses to five main places in Penang National Park which is the main office to national park, Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS, USM), Teluk Duyung known as Monkey Beach, Teluk Kampi and Pantai Kerachut. Pantai Keracut is known as place for turtle sanctuary where from September to February the beach is full with Olive-Ridley Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), while from April to August, visitors can see the Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) nesting ground. The SWOT analysis of policy and organization in PNP have been taken by using Naturalism Qualitative approach. SWOT analysis has shown that the Penang National Park are embodied with the Malaysia National Park Policy and 1980 Act. Based on the SWOT analysis the accessibility feature and the uniqueness of environment landscape of PNP are the strength whereas the inefficient of enforcement of rules and regulation policy management were found to be the weakness. Creating an environmental awareness through education program and collaboration with the NGOs services would help in promoting the PNP as an ecotourism destination were found to be the main opportunities. The loss of flora and fauna and the environment issue were found to be the main threat. Through the finding, TOWS analysis technique was deployed to identify the strategic policy and regulation options. It was conducted in manner that internal strength and external opportunities were maximized while the internal weaknesses and external threats on the PNP were minimized. Several strategic policy for PNP in ecotourism context have been identified which are enhance the enforcement of PNP rules and regulation planning for the visitor and set a sustainable guidelines for future development in national parks. In addition, strategic option has been identified to counter against the external threats and internal weakness such as insufficient of enforcement policy and encroachment and poachers of flora and fauna. Understanding this information will help park managers to create an efficient park management, and thus will make contribution to the long term sustainable development of ecotourism areas especially national parks. This information, not only important for management and planning purposes but also implementation of policy and regulation process. Keywords— Penang, tourism policy, ecotourism, national park, wildlife, turtle sanctuary, MeromicticLake


The primary focus of this work is to develop a new analytical approach for thermal modeling of Nickel Titanium (NiTi) shape memory alloy membranes undergoing both phase transformation and large deflections. This paper describes a thermal model of a NiTi plate or thin film, including all the modes of heat loss and latent heat dissipation during the phase transformation. This model is used to predict the NiTi temperature during cooling. The results are compared with experiments conducted on a NiTi plate and thin film (3 micrometers thick), and very good agreement is found. The thermal model is also used to predict the temperature response of a bubble actuator proposed for use in a forced flow environment. Using a 3 mm diameter, 3 micrometers thickness bubble under forced airflow conditions it is possible to achieve a frequency response faster than 300 Hz. Additional calculations were made to verify the structural stability of the actuator system. Predictions indicated that for specific geometries a pressure of at least 35 kPa can be supported by the NiTi membrane. Deflections of a bubble actuator are shown to be on the order of 10% of its diameter while the strain remains below 4%.


The study, evaluation of the approaches used by graduates in job search in Ghana, employed an exploratory design approach by surveying both employed and unemployed graduates using a questionnaire. A total of 132 employed graduates and 128 unemployed graduates were reached for the study.The findings of the study revealed that both the employed and unemployed graduates consider use of application letters, personal contacts, references and networking to be an effective means in gaining job employment. Majority of the respondents indicated that, the response rate of companies to the use of the above mentioned methods of job search was very high and encouraging. Majority of the respondents indicated that they received responses from about five companies offering them a chance of dialogue about the possibility of handing them employment. Most of the employed graduates expressed their desire to recommend it and also to re-use them should the need to change job arise. The extent of their belief in the use of these methods of job search is that using them in job search can guarantee a favourable outcome of finding a job within one year.The study recommends among others that organisations should ease the requirements used as criteria for qualification for employment so that more graduates can be offered work. Also, it is suggested that graduates should be more confident and persistent in their job search, exploring more other job search options to secure themselves work. In addition, the researchers advise that HR experts and managers should build their recruitment and selection strategies around advert and the use of websites and social media.


The existence of foreign workers, which so far has not been balanced with clear legal arrangements, has in its development led to problems of legal certainty in the field of employment. This writing uses doctrinal research or normative juridical research as for the research results obtained that the re-orientation of the implementation of legal policies on the use of foreign workers has not been able to achieve justice. This is because the legal politics of the use of foreign workers has resulted in reduced job opportunities for domestic workers, which in turn resulted in unemployment and poverty problems. Weaknesses in the implementation of the politics of using foreign workers are the shortcomings in the form of time limits and the amount of use of foreign workers is not clearly regulated in the politics of foreign labor law in Indonesia, then the weakness in the case of dualism in work permits for foreigners in Act No. 13 of 2003 and Act No. 6 of 2011.


Surgical interventions on humans need to be performed with a high grade of efficiency, security and care. A major problem is the absence of possibilities for learning and training of surgical operations under realistic conditions. Virtual Reality (VR) based training systems seem to be a good alternative to classical training methods, which allow unlimited repeatable training with objective assessment. VR based training systems mostly offer a realistic environment with haptic input devices and virtual surgical interactions with deformable or static organ models. The level of realism of a VR based surgical training system depends mostly on the quality of the tissue model. Tissue modelling covers the topics of geometrical model creation using CT and MR data, the physical simulation of object deformation, the realistic visualisation and the surgical model interactions. In this project, we developed new methods for modelling, visualisation and the simulation of tissue deformation. As a development environment we used "VSOne", a VR based training system for minimally invasive surgery developed at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe. We developed a software module for modelling deformable objects with implicit surfaces, which are most suitable for inexperienced modellers without any geometrical knowledge. This module supports also the geometrical modification of existing 3d models. Special model 10-procedures enable to convert static models into a deformable model representation and to import them into the simulation kernel of "VSOne". The support of deformable models with arbitrary triangle meshes within our simulation software allows the model exchange with other developers and helps to build up a world-wide network of model databases. Further development was done in the area of realistic visualisation of virtual tissue for real-time applications. A real-time texture composition algorithm enables to map basic, structure and lighting textures onto the 3d objects utilizing modern graphics card's multi-texturing option, but also supports older hardware with single texture-units. Real-time simulation of soft tissue deformation is mostly done using mass-spring models. As an alternative we use the Fast-Finite-Element-Method (FFE). We extended the existing implementation with several new features like object-oriented and adaptive calculation of the stiffness matrix and the possibility for hybrid deformation simulation. A two-step FFE-simulation was examined for suitability in a VR based surgical training system.


In this monograph, we analyze the role of International Organizations (IOs) as transmitters of development proposal and educational reforms in Latin America. Nowadays, IOs are central agents of educational government. In this case, we refer only to IOs that are part of intra governmental organizations that act in the educational field. Since the decade of 1990, the presence of OIs has considerable increased; furthermore, they have expanded to new activities related to education. IOs are part of national debates regarding educational policies, the role of the National State in the regulation of formal educational, and the characteristics of academic structures in the national educational system. They have promoted the insertion of high-quality performance standards for the students, professors, and even to the institutions, as well as implementing new educational evaluation criteria and new delimitations for public education offering and financing. The upsurge of IOs in the educational field, allows us to identify new ways of educational management. Because of this, they are conceptualized as transmitters of very exceptional perspectives of what education should be and about educational reforms in developing countries, which should incorporate an instrumental orientation and market-oriented criteria, promoting the marketization of education as a service that may be acquired in the labor market through consumer competition. Under this perspective, education is not conceived as a basic human; instead, it should be promoted by the nations through educational policies to make it accessible to every member of society.


Purpose: To increase the signal sensitivity (temporal SNR/√acquisition time) of high-resolution functional MRI by means of two novel segmented 3D-EPI modifications: the use of variable flip angles (vFA) and, optionally, the use of variable echo train lengths (vETL) facilitated by employing elliptical k-space subsampling. While vFA has the potential to increase the base signal-to-noise ratio, vETL leads to shorter volume repetition times. The methods are simulated and validated by means of high-resolution acquisitions at 3 and at 7 Tesla.


Dyadic interaction is modelled as an adaptive process between personality of the partners involved and the characteristics of the theme. The theme structure and the principles which control the adaptation process are referred to as "syntality". The material of the studies reported are the speech signals of the verbal interaction reduced to an on-off pattern. In a first study individual speech behavior was found to remain stable in dyads even if partners changed. The second study showed the stability of the speech patterns for different interaction themes even if dyads changed. These apparently contradictory results are reconciled by introducing the concept of "adaptive stability". Individual speech behavior does not happen at a stable activity level, but is characterized by a constant relationship ("less" or "more") to the respective activity of the other partner.


ABSTRACT Background: Stroke causes communication impairments but we lack the real-world population-level data needed to inform inpatient and community services. Aims: To establish prevalence of aphasia and dysarthria within inpatient stroke survivors, describe those affected, the amount of therapy they receive and their outcomes. Methods & Procedures: Secondary analysis of data from the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme, England, Wales and Norther Ireland, including inpatient stroke survivors after 72 hours, with completed National Institute of Health Stroke Scale data (communication items), excluding those already discharged, not conscious or with incomplete data. Outcomes & Results: 64% of the 88,974 stroke survivors meeting our criteria were communication impaired: 28% had both aphasia and dysarthria, 24% had dysarthria only and 12% had aphasia only. Those in the older age range and with more severe stroke were more likely to have a communication impairment and had a worse outcome than those without communication impairment. On average, those with both communication impairments had a 21 day length of stay and 10 minutes of speech and language therapy for communication and/or dysphagia per day of stay. Conclusions: Communication impairment is common during the inpatient phase of stroke care yet average therapy provision is below the recommended levels and is likely to include dysphagia assessment and intervention. Dysarthria is reported as more prevalent than aphasia at this early stage, although this is not necessarily diagnosed by a speech and language therapist. The most common presentation is to have a combination of aphasia and dysarthria for which there is limited clinical guidance.


In this paper, we combine thermal effects with Landau-Zener (LZ) quantum tunneling effects in a dynamical Monte Carlo (DMC) framework to produce satisfactory magnetization curves of single-molecule magnet (SMM) systems. We use the giant spin approximation for SMM spins and consider regular lattices of SMMs with magnetic dipolar interactions (MDIs). We calculate spin-reversal probabilities from thermal-activated barrier hurdling, direct LZ tunneling, and thermal-assisted LZ tunnelings in the presence of sweeping magnetic fields. We do systematical DMC simulations for Mn(12) systems with various temperatures and sweeping rates. Our simulations produce clear step structures in low-temperature magnetization curves, and our results show that the thermally activated barrier hurdling becomes dominating at high temperature near 3 K and the thermal-assisted tunnelings play important roles at intermediate temperature. These are consistent with corresponding experimental results on good Mn(12) samples (with less disorders) in the presence of little misalignments between the easy axis and applied magnetic fields, and therefore our magnetization curves are satisfactory. Furthermore, our DMC results show that the MDI, with the thermal effects, have important effects on the LZ tunneling processes, but both the MDI and the LZ tunneling give place to the thermal-activated barrier hurdling effect in determining the magnetization curves when the temperature is near 3 K. This DMC approach can be applicable to other SMM systems and could be used to study other properties of SMM systems.


In-plane bending of curved tubes is analyzed numerically in the elastic-plastic range on the assumption of pure bending, uniform deformation along its longitudinal axis and the Kirchhoff-Love hypothesis. The equilibrium equations of pure bending of tubes, derived by E.L. Axelrad, are transformed into incremental forms and solved by the updated Lagrange method. The material of tubes is assumed to obey a power-hardening law and the Prandtl-Reuss flow theory. The curved tube is discretized by a rigid body-spring model, which is composed of rigid plate elements connected with nonlinear springs that are distributed over the ends. The in-plane stiffness and flexural rigidity of the tube wall are obtained by numerically integrating generalized incremental stiffness over the wall thickness. Numerical analyses have been carried out for various combinations of initial in-plane curvature, diameter and thickness of the curved tube. The present analyses simulate well the relation between bending moment and change in curvature, and flattening of cross sections which are obtained by bending experiments in aluminum tubes by Murota and Endo.


A credit settlement system wherein: a vendor terminal receives an input billing amount, converts the billing amount into a two-dimensional code, and displays the two-dimensional code on a display; a user mobile terminal captures an image of the two-dimensional code and displays the billing amount on a display, and if this billing amount is approved, the user mobile terminal transmits credit identification information and a user identification ID to a management company server; and the management company server performs a security check of the user mobile terminal on the basis of user identification information, then transmits credit information that has been read on the basis of the credit identification information to the vendor terminal, and thereby permits the vendor terminal to settle the credit transaction.


In the present work an efficient regeneration protocol has been established for mustard (Brassica juncea var Pusa Jaikisan) using hypocotyls of in vitro grown seedlings for callus induction and multiple shoot induction. Different concentrations of phytohormones, auxin (NAA: Naphthalene acetic acid) and cytokinins (BAP: Benzylaminopurine) were used. For callus induction and plant regeneration, the MS medium was supplemented with 3% sucrose and BAP (6-benzylamino purine) and NAA (Naphthalene acetic acid) at different concentrations of 0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 mg/L. About 91.6-100% formation of callus from hypocotyls explants were observed in the MS media supplemented with BAP at 0.5-1.0 mg/L + NAA at 0.5-1.0 mg/L. In these conditions, the explants also produce more number of shoots ranging from 7 to 20 shootlets/explant. It was also observed that at MS medium with BPA at 2.0-2.5 mg/L + NAA at 0.5 mg/L, all the explants (100%) produced callus but shoot induction was found to be very less and about 8.3-33.3% explants showed shoot formation with as less as 1-2 shootlets/explant. This protocol can be further explored for transformation of mustard for incorporation of specific genetic traits for improvement of crops.


The practical utilization of recorded knowledge often requires its communication between persons who read and write different languages. In dealing with the translation problem which thereby arises, a variety of solutions are possible or conceivable. Perhaps the simplest solution, in theory at least, would be to adopt some one language as standard throughout the world for the purpose of communicating recorded knowledge. This would mean, of course, that persons who do not know the selected language would have to learn it well enough to read and to write it. This approach would place most of the translation burden on the authors of written documents. At various stages in history one language or another has been widely used for written communication by persons who may not speak it as their mother tongue. Thus, during the Middle Ages, Latin was widely used for learned communication. More recently, particularly in the latter part of the 19th century and the early years of the present century, there was a tendency for German to dominate the scene in the field of chemistry. In more recent years, there has been a trend to ever wider use of English, particularly in the fields of science and technology. Such trends have not, historically speaking, worked out to the logical conclusion of universal acceptance of some one language. The rise of modern science was accompanied by increasing use of the vernacular tongues as media for communicating results of observation and research. The defeat of Germany in World War I ushered in a decline in the relative importance of German in chemistry and other scientific fields. Perhaps English will manage to achieve the universal acceptance which Latin was unable to maintain even within the confines of Europe, and which German only temporarily and to a limited degree attained. Rapidly increasing interest in science, technology, and industry in the heavily populated countries of the orient, may prove in our day to be an insuperable barrier to the universal adoption of English. In those


Recently, copper wire bonding has been given increasing attention due to its low cost and excellent material performance. Compared with pure copper wire, Palladium-coated copper (Pd-Cu) wire gets more extensive application partly due to the Pd-coated layer protection for Cu FAB from oxidation in the bonding process. Therefore the research of Pd coverage on free air balls (FAB) is an important aspect for Pd-Cu wires. FAB of Pd-Cu wires may have exposed Cu region on top side of FAB where it is to be bonded, this Pd uncovered part could be possibly extended and then exposed to the outside of bonding area. After mold encapsulation, the exposed Cu region on FAB may have higher risk to be subject to corrosion compared with the Pd covered region and lead to failure of first bonding. This paper presents a study for Pd coverage issues on FAB of 0.8mil Pd-Cu wires. A chemical etching method with FeCl3 solution for FAB was adopted to analyze the Pd coverage on FAB. The etching condition had been optimized through careful examinations on the surface morphology of etched FAB. With various FAB forming process parameters, e.g., electronic flame-off (EFO) current intensity and heating, Pd coverage has been studied. The Cu exposure, before and after FAB formation, was also compared and analyzed. This analysis results will provide an important reference for the optimizing FAB process parameters in Cu wire bonding process.


Abstract We have investigated Cu, Zn Superoxide Dismutase (Cu, Zn SOD) metal sites at high pressure using X-ray absorption. XAS (X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy) gives information on local structure and it is particularly suited to metal site investigation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that protein conformational states have been investigated using the high pressure XAS technique. Cu, Zn SOD catalyses the dismutation of toxic oxygen radicals produced in cells; this reaction occurs at the copper metal site. Structural changes around the copper, induced by pressure, can be directly related to protein substates. Their characterisation is thus important in the understanding of protein activity. The high-pressure device was a Paris-Edinburgh large volume cell. Experiments were performed on lyophilised Cu, Zn SOD between 0 and 48 kbar at the copper and zinc K-edges. The two metal local atomic environments have a different behaviour as pressure increases: copper exhibits a more flexible environment; on the contrary, zinc shows small structural modifications. We have identified a state, formed between 3 and 8 kbar, which is stable up to 48 kbar.


Biological filtration is the keystone of any recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Biological treatment process is considered the most economically feasible approach. Unfortunately, there is no ideal biofilter can be used for all different purposes. Understanding the nitrification capacity of different biological filters under actual production conditions will help the recirculating system designers in proper selection of the economically biological filters for the large scale commercial production use. In this review, we shed light on the performance, pros and cons of some of the most commonly used biofiltration systems.


We investigated the impact of El Niño and La Niña climate patterns on the low flows of seven streams in south Georgia. Four stations were located in heavily irrigated areas of southwestern Georgia, whereas three other stations were located in areas of southeastern Georgia with virtually no agriculture. El Niño (La Niña) climate patterns were defined when the 5-month averaged sea surface temperature anomalies recorded by the Japanese Meteorological Association (JMA) are greater than +0.5°C (lower than −0.5°C) for at least six consecutive months, including the October to December period. With the standard JMA approach, an episode lasts from October to the following September. We also investigated the impacts of a modification to this classical method. In the modified method, an ENSO phase only lasts as long as the temperature conditions (± 0.5°C) are met. For the three southeastern stations, low flows recorded during La Niña (El Niño) episodes were usually lower (larger) than the low flows recorded during Neutral episodes from November to April, with differences significant at a level of at least 90 percent from February to April (January to March) only. The four southwestern stations responded similarly, but the significance of the differences was usually lower than for the southeastern stations. The modified classification method tended to give more significant results than the standard method.


The social behavior in laboratory animals occurs in conspecific groups. In the past two decades, the physiological basis of the social behavior in laboratory rats has been gradually elucidated through various neural approaches. In addition, the relevance of social related behavior for psycho-neuroethology studies has been extensively proposed. An analysis of social recognition behavior of new conspecifics is a useful approach for the study of memory without aversive alternatives such as fear, pain and anxiety. Furthermore, it is considered that artificial or experimental social isolation can induce altered emotional states in laboratory rats. This article reviews the past findings regarding social behavior and aspects of its expression, and discusses further possibilities for animal models of human neuro-psychiatric disorders.


Although we previously demonstrated the contribution of the DP1 receptor in nasal obstruction using animals sensitized with ovalbumin in the presence of adjuvant, the contribution of the DP1 receptor in sneezing is unclear. Here, we developed a mouse model of Japanese cedar (JC: Cryptomeria japonica) pollinosis to evaluate the symptoms of sneezing. To achieve this, we used JC pollen crude extract in the absence of adjuvant to sensitize mice to develop a model closer to the pathophysiology of human JC pollinosis. The immunologic and pharmacologic features of this model are highly similar to those observed in JC pollinosis in humans. Using this model, we found that DP1 receptor antagonists suppressed JC pollen extract–induced sneezing and that a DP1 receptor agonist induced sneezing. Moreover, JC pollen extract–induced sneezing was diminished in DP1 receptor knockout mice. In conclusion, we developed a novel mouse model of allergic rhinitis that closely mimics human JC pollinosis. A strong contribution of DP1 receptor signaling to sneezing was demonstrated using this model, suggesting that DP1 receptor antagonists could suppress sneezing and nasal obstruction, and therefore these agents could be a new therapeutic option for allergic rhinitis.


Potential hints for New Physics enhanced b -> sg dipole operators are reviewed. Implications for inclusive kaon spectra, and corrresponding search strategies are discussed. Remarkably, all B meson rare decay constraints can be evaded. Large CP asymmetries are expected if new contributions to the dipole operators contain non-trivial weak phases. A critical comparison of eta' production in the Standard Model and in models with enhanced b -> sg is presented. A Standard Model explanation of the large B -> eta' Xs rate measured by CLEO poses a challenge, evidently requiring novel non-perturbative order of magnitude enhancement of gluon anomaly mediated contributions. However, in the case of enhanced b -> sg the existence of a cocktail solution is very likely.


In order to solve the problem that the majority of general steganalysis methods cannot estimate the secret message length,this paper proposes an improved general quantitative steg-analysis method that can estimate secret message length.132 dimensional features describing the correlations between DCT coefficients are extracted from stego images.Support vector regression is used to learn the mapping between feature vectors and the relative embedding change rates and construct steganalyzer model.Embedding rates are estimated through new feature sets and steganalyzer model.Simulation is performed on stego images embedded with F5,MB and outguess steganographic algorithms.The results of simulation reveal that the proposed quantitative steganalysis is feasible to estimate the embedding ratio of stego images in practice.


International students struggle with the lack of hierarchy and enforcement, and the apparent differences between international law and the domestic legal system to which they have been exposed. Sometimes, by drawing analogies with these domestic systems, they impose a legal form that is incommensurable with the reality of international legal structures. Newcomers to international law are altogether perplexed by the very concepts of international legal normativity and how they can be reconciled with insights from other disciplines. In short, textbooks are the vehicle through which the next generation will be initiated into the international legal profession.

This paper shares some insights on the writing of an international law textbook that emerged during the writing process. In particular, it focusses on the challenge on how to reconcile the essentially Western, imperial, and colonial heritage of modern international law with a genuine desire to avoid simply reproducing that process of Westernisation. The Eurocentric narrative of international law as a universal legal order is part of its founding myth, and has been integral to the reception and acceptance of international law outside the West. Excavating that myth is a valuable part of international law teaching and scholarship, and not one that can be simply ignored.


sumers, workers, and employers. Prior to the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act and the National Labor Relations Act and the great surge of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, collective bargaining and labor-management contracts as we know them today were largely confined to the skilled crafts in the American Federation of Labor, the coal miners, and the railway unions. The railroad industry has one of the longest records of labor-management relations, the first written contract of record having been made on the New York Central in 1875. It also has the longest record of attempts to deal with the problems of labor-management relations through legislation, the first act dealing with railroad labor relations having been passed by the Congress in 1888, just one year after the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act.


Various effects upon respiratory and circuratory systems induced by breath holding have been investigated by many physiologists for a long time. For instance, it increases the systoric and diastoric blood pressure, and decreases the rate of finger tip blood flow and finger tip volume.These circuratory effects have been considered by the excitation of the sympathetic nerve. The nasal mucous membrane is rich in vessels and these vessels are innervated by sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves. In this paper, it was investigated whether breath holding could have any effect on the vessels in the nasal mucosa. For this purpose, the changes of nasal airway resistance (NAR) were examined. In fifteen normal adults, NAR was determined before and after breath holding. For the determination of NAR, the combined method was used, and the variant ratio of NAR (NAR after breath holding/NAR before breath holding) was calculated. The mean value of fifteen normal adults was 0.57 and the standard deviation was 0.18 In order to investigate the sympathetic effect on this reflex, changes of NAR by breath holding were estimated in four patients with sudden deafness who were treated by stellate ganglion block.In these patients, changes of NAR were not observed. In conclusion, this reflex is highly suspected to be transmitted by the sympathetic nerve.


A practical approach is developed to update the migration velocity model of the PS converted wave for improved imaging. It is achieved by analyzing the hyperbolic velocity of the inverse-NMO common imaging gathers produced from the prestack Kirchhoff time migration procedure. The correct migration velocity can be estimated from this velocity using a simple empirically derived formula. Applying this approach to the Alba data shows that the estimated migration velocity reliably converges to the correct velocity. The effect of velocity ratio on this estimation is small and may be neglected.


I started with the broad lessons we learnt about the financial sector - markets and institutions - as a result of the crisis. I then talked about the efforts at the global level to reach agreements on financial sector reforms and argued why it is important for emerging economies to adopt international standards. I then addressed five specific reform areas, in each case talking about the lessons of the crisis, the response at the global level and our response at the national level. I have concluded with the institutional arrangements for safeguarding financial stability, within the context of the FSLRC recommendations in this regard.


For thousands of years, humans have used body characteristics such as face, voice, gait, and so on to recognize each other. In the mid– 19th century, Alphonse Bertillon, chief of the criminal identification division of the police department in Paris, developed and then practiced the idea of using various body measurements i.e. height, length of arms, feet and fingers; to identify criminals. In the late 19th century, this idea was gaining popularity; it was outshine by a far more significant and practical discovery: the distinctiveness of human fingerprints. Traditionally, user authentication is performed based on passwords something you know or tokens e.g. Smartcards something you have. These techniques are inconvenient and less secure since passwords can be forgotten or guessed and the tokens can be lost or stolen. Biometrics, on the other hand, provides a convenient means of authentication as it is based on something you are that cannot be lost or forgotten. The Government of India is implementing a system to capture and store multiple biometric traits viz. face, fingerprints and iris, from its population of more than 1 billion individuals for the purpose of issuing them a Unique Identification Number (UIN) i.e. Aadhaar Card.1 A template is the final idea of the overall human identity and its compromise can simply lead to an identity loss. A biometric template is a digital representation of unique characteristics that have been extracted from a biometric sample of an individual. Biometric templates are known to be the identity of a person and these are used during the biometric authentication process, the matching module compares the feature set extracted during authentication with the enrolled templates and generates match scores. The decision module processes these match scores in order to either determine or verify the identity of an individual. The biometrics traits are transformed into templates by using different algorithms. A fingerprint image is typically represented as an unordered set of minutiae, which encodes the location {x,y} and orientation { } è of friction ridge discontinuities. Some well–known examples of template transformation include Bio–Hashing2 and cancelable biometrics.3 With the widespread deployment of biometric systems in various applications, there are increasing concerns about the security and privacy of biometric technology. Biometric systems are being widely used to achieve reliable user authentication, a significant component in identity management. But biometric systems security is vulnerable to a number of attacks. Jain4 proposed vulnerability in a biometric system is the leakage of biometric template information, which may lead to serious security and privacy threats. Most of the available template protection techniques fail to meet all the desired requirements of a practical biometric system like revocability, security, privacy, and high matching accuracy. The encoder contains template whose feature is extracted and codeword is appended with a key to obtain helper data. The feature transformation function or biometric cryptosystem for matching fingerprints securely is one of the important but difficult task is the design of a template protection algorithm that quantifies the security provided by the algorithm. There is still no best approach for template protection that completely satisfies the three main requirements of template security–matching, accuracy and revocability. Uludag et al.,5 presents biometric system may be viewed as a pattern recognition system whose function is to classify a biometric signal into one of several identities or into one of two classes–genuine and impostor verification. A biometric system it is also susceptible to various types of threats such as: An intruder may gain access to the system protected by biometrics and peruse sensitive data such as a medical record pertaining to a legitimately enrolled is called as Circumvention, Repudiation, Coercion etc can cause denial of biometric cryptosystems can contribute to template security by supporting biometric matching in secure cryptographic domains. Smart cards are gaining popularity as the medium for storing biometric templates. There is always high risk associated with template misuse, the issue of template security and integrity continues to pose several challenges. Sun et al.,6 presents Key–Mixed Template (KMT) mixes a user's template with a secret key to generate another form of template which is more secured. In the feature extraction process, the user given secret key should be mixed with the permanently biometric template to form a Key–Mixed–Template (KMT). The mixing function M. can mix the key–determined random vector Vi


Ni/TiO_2catalyst was prepared by impregnation method and applied in the hydrogenation of o-chloronitrobenzene to 2,2'-dichlorohydrazobenzene.Based on the experimental results of nitrogen adsorption-desorption,X-ray diffraction(XRD),scanning electron microscope(SEM) and activity evaluation,the physic-chemical properties and catalytic performance of the catalyst were studied.Reaction temperature,dosage of sodium hydroxide and different Ni loadings were investigated in hydrogenation of o-chloronitrobenzene to 2,2'-dichlorohydrazobenzene.The results showed that both the o-chloronitrobenzene conversion and the selectivity for 2,2'-dichlorohydrazobenzene exceeded 99 % when Ni loading was 30%,the temperature of reaction was 353K~363K and m(sodium hydroxide):m(o-chloronitrobenzene) was 0.2.The characterization results suggested that Ni surface area and the strong metal-support interaction were important factors affecting the catalyst performance.


Objective:To observe the influences of BuChangNaoXinTong capsule on Plasma(hs-CRP)and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1(MCP-1)levels in patients with unstable angina(UA)and clinical value.Methods:44patients with UA were assigned to BuChangNaoXinTong treatment group and 41patients with UA were divided to control group in a randomized control study.Plasma samples for MCP-1and high sensitivity C-reaction protein(hs-CRP)were measured in the first 24hand after two weeks.The incidence of the major adverse cardiovascular events(MACE)were recorded during 60 days.Results:(1)plasma levels of MCP-1and hs-CRP after two weeks were lower than the baseline levels in two groups respectively(Pall0.05).(2)plasma levels of TC、TG and LDL-C after two weeks between two groups were not significantly different(Pall0.05);campared with plasma levels of MCP-1or hs-CRP after two weeks respectively,there were statistically significant difference between two groups(Pall0.05).(3)The incidence of MACE during 60days in treatment group was lower than those in control group(P0.05).Conclusion:BuChangNaoXinTong capsule can proceed to decrease the plasma levels of MCP-1on the fundament of regular treatment,it possesses anti-inflammatory effect and may have clinical benefits in preventing cardiovascular disease.


Aims. We propose a new description of astronomical dust emission in the spectral region from the far-infrared to millimeter wavelengths. Methods. Unlike previous classical models, this description explicitly incorporates the effect of the disordered internal structure of amorphous dust grains. Our model is based on results from solid state physics used to interpret laboratory data. The model takes into account the effect of absorption by disordered charge distribution, as well as the effect of absorption by localized two level systems. Results. We review constraints on the various free parameters of the model from theory and laboratory experimental data. We show that, for realistic values of the free parameters, the shape of the emission spectrum will exhibit very broad structures whose shape will change in a non trivial way with the temperature of dust grains. The spectral shape also depends upon the parameters describing the internal structure of the grains. This opens new perspectives for identifying the nature of astronomical dust from the observed shape of the FIR/mm emission spectrum. A companion paper will provide an explicit comparison of the model with astronomical data.


: The problem of improving the voltage profile and reducing power loss in electrical networks must be solved in an optimal manner. This paper deals with comparative study of Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Differential Evolution (DE) based algorithm for the optimal allocation of multiple FACTS (Flexible AC Transmission System) devices in an interconnected power system for the economic operation as well as to en-hance loadability of lines. Proper placement of FACTS devices like Static VAr Compensator (SVC), Thyristor Controlled Switched Capacitor (TCSC) and controlling reactive generations of the generators and transformer tap settings simultaneously improves the system performance greatly using the proposed approach. These GA & DE based methods are applied on standard IEEE 30 bus system. The system is reactively loaded starting from base to 200% of base load. FACTS devices are installed in the different locations of the power system and system performance is observed with and without FACTS devices. First, the locations, where the FACTS devices to be placed is determined by calculating active and reactive power flows in the lines. GA and DE based algorithm is then applied to find the amount of magnitudes of the FACTS devices. Finally the comparison between these two techniques for the placement of FACTS devices are presented. reactive power flow change takes place at the node i due to TCSC connected to a particular line between the nodes i & j; Q iL (inj) – Reactive power injection due to SVC; V i , V j – Voltage of i th and j th bus respectively; N – Number of lines; G ij , B ij – Real and Imaginary part of admittance between buses i & j respectively; 2 ij – Phase angle between V i & V j


The methods used for lipid profile measurement in humans, a species with LDL ("Low-density lipoprotein") pattern, can be unsuitable for the lipid profile determination in species with HDL ("High-density lipoprotein") pattern. The objective of this study was to compare the precipitation method and the Friedewald method for the measurement of LDL cholesterol in a species with HDL pattern. Blood samples were collected after 24 h fasting in 200 horses of different ages and without discrimination by sex. After serum extraction, levels of LDL cholesterol were determined


As the level of industrial information continues to improve, cement production enterprises have basically achieved continuous acquisition and storage of front-line production data. However, decentralized production sites and relatively independent management modes are not conducive to the improvement of overall production efficiency and the realization of energy conservation and emission reduction. We can build a cement enterprise cloud platform and transfer real-time production data which from different cement manufacturing enterprises to the cloud platform.After that the cloud platform can make summary and analysis and data mining of the data and offer optimization for cement production control algorithm, and also provides rationalization proposals for arrange production tasks, upgrades production processes and reduces pollutant emissions,and this function can be achieved through SQL Server replication and related key technologies.


We present nonlinear optical four-wave mixing in a silicon nanodisk dimer metasurface. Under the oblique incident plane waves, the designed metasurface exhibits a multi-resonant feature with simultaneous excitations of three quasi-bound states in the continuum (BIC). Through employing these quasi-BICs with maximizing electric field energy at the input bump wavelengths, significant enhancement of third-order nonlinear processes including third-harmonic generation, degenerate and non-degenerate four-wave mixing are demonstrated, giving rise to ten new frequencies in the visible wavelengths. This work may lead to a new frontier of ultracompact optical mixer for applications in optical circuitry, ultrasensitive sensing, and quantum nanophotonics.


The past decade has seen efforts to lower costs by "doing more with less", instead of making innovative changes in the way missions are designed and implemented. Now, the industry is turning towards more intelligent approaches to mission design. AeroAstro has developed the Small Payload ORbit Transfer (SPORT/sup TM/) system to provide a flexible low-cost orbit transfer capability, enabling small payloads to use low-cost secondary launch opportunities and still reach their desired final orbits. This allows small payloads to effectively use a wider variety of launch opportunities, including numerous under-utilized geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) slots. Its use, in conjunction with growing opportunities for secondary launches, enables "better, cheaper, faster" missions through innovative mission design and lower cost access to space, not increased risk. SPORT uses a suite of innovative technologies that are packaged in a simple, reliable, modular system. SPORT achieves its orbit transfer capability through a combination of chemical propulsion and aerobraking technology. This paper discusses the SPORT design and its application to overall small satellite mission development.


The article presents an intelligent information system that allows, on the basis of various problem-oriented optimization methods, to automate the planning process and form optimal production schedules for flexible multi-assortment productions. The core of the proposed system are intelligent interfaces that allow ergonomically configuring the system by filling in expert tables of reconfiguration of units and production lines from one type of product to another, formalizing the representation of knowledge about the characteristics of production involved in the formation of the formulation of the optimization problem and the objective function. Information support is described, including updated and augmented databases developed on the basis of intelligence maps that allow graphically structuring information about the parameters of products, orders and equipment involved in planning. Visualization of planning results is presented in the form of a calendar plan - a Gantt chart, as well as in the form of an explanatory tree for solving the optimization problem, which allows you to track the improvement of the value of the objective function at all stages of optimization. The proposed architecture and functionality ensure the variability of the application of the system and its effective use for various flexible multi-assortment productions. The implementation of the system makes it possible to significantly increase the efficiency of the planning process, reduce the cost of production and simplify the process of making production control decisions.


Abstract:After the National Socialists seized power in Austria in 1938 Arthur Schnitzler's library was confiscated and incorporated into the holdings of the Austrian National Library. Once the war was over, what could still be restituted was returned. This article outlines how a reconstruction of the library could be achieved today. In the second part, the copy of Buch der Freundschaft [Book of Friendship, 1884] by Paul Heyse (1830–1914) that was in Schnitzler's possession is used as a means to explore intertextual connections between the novella 'Gute Kameraden' [Good Friends] from that volume, Schnitzler's story 'Die Frau des Weisen' [The Wife of the Wise Man, 1897] and Schnitzler's account in his autobiography of the love story between Olga Waissnix and himself.


Growing concern regarding energy resources and the environment has increased interest in the study of alternative sources of energy. To meet increasing energy requirements, there has been growing interest in alternative fuels like biodiesel to provide a suitable diesel oil substitute for internal combustion engines. Biodiesels offer a very promising alternative fuel for diesel oil since they are renewable and have similar properties. Extensive research and demonstration projects have shown it can be used pure or in blends with conventional diesel fuel in unmodified diesel engines. In the subsequent section, the engine emissions from biodiesel and diesel fuels are compared, paying special attention to the most significant emissions such as nitric oxides and particulate matter.


Mediterranean: The trap of competing policy concepts. The International Journal of Human Rights 15(6): 813–826. Dijstelbloem H (2015) Mediating the Mediterranean: Surveillance and countersurveillance at the southern borders of Europe. In: Jansen Y, et al. (eds) The Irregularization of Migration in Contemporary Europe. London: Rowman and Littlefield International, pp. 103–120. Esperti M (2020) Rescuing migrants in the Central Mediterranean: The emergence of a new civil humanitarianism at the Maritime border. American Behavioral Scientist 64(4): 436– 455. Freedman J (2016) Engendering security at the borders of Europe: Women migrants and the Mediterranean 'crisis. Journal of Refugee Studies 29(4): 568–582. Jumbert MG (2018) Control or rescue at sea? Aims and limits of border surveillance technologies in the Mediterranean Sea. Disasters 42(4): 674–696. Pécoud A (2020) Death at the border: Revisiting the debate in light of the Euro-Mediterranean migration crisis. American Behavioral Scientist 64(4): 379–388.


This case study describes an 'out of field' teacher's use of the Internet to teach a range of mathematical topics in a modified Year 8 mathematics class. It highlights the importance of three factors for implementing a discernible web-based teaching strategy: appropriate choice of web objects, effective 'virtual' pedagogy, and technical support and expertise. Based on these findings, a framework is suggested for constructing an effective teaching strategy to support the use of virtual resources in the actual mathematics classroom.


We explored how the common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus is able to survive on hyper-arid rocky islands along the Peruvian coast in the absence of plants and terrestrial mammals. We used carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses on D. rotundus hairs and feces to assess the pri- mary source of food, and compared our results with field observations near D. rotundus colonies. Data from stable isotope analyses were consistent with field observations, indicating that D. rotundus feeds on the South American sea lion Otaria flavescens, and occupies the third trophic level in a chain linking anchovies Engraulis ringens, O. flavescens, D. rotundus and a hippoboscid fly, Trichobius parasiticus. Our report demonstrates the importance of marine-derived resources for D. rotundus along the Peruvian coast.


Cellulase production study was performed in shake flask and bioreactor system using Cellulomonas cellulans NRRL B 4567 for initial substrate concentration from γs 0 = 2 to 12 g L ―1 . The growth, substrate uptake profile and enzyme activity at different initial substrate concentrations were measured. The results inferred the presence of substrate inhibition kinetics. Various substrate inhibition models were tested and parameters were estimated, using non-linear regression analysis. Han-Levenspiel model was found to be the best fitted model for both shake flask and reactor study. The highest volumetric enzyme activity was observed at initial substrate concentration of γs 0 = 12 g L ―1 and 4 g L ―1 in shake flask and bioreactor respectively.


We identified 14 novel polymorphic microsatellite loci in the black-capped vireo ( Vireo atricapillus ). We also attempted to amplify and genotype these loci in other Vireo species, including the white-eyed vireo ( Vireo griseus ), red-eyed vireo ( Vireo olivaceus ), and blueheaded vireo ( Vireo solitarius ). In 33 genotyped black-capped vireos from two locations, total alleles ranged from six to 20, with observed heterozygosity ranging from 0.58 to 0.91 and expected heterozygosity from 0.65 to 0.93. Two loci had detectable levels of null alleles. Many of the loci were able to be amplified in the related Vireo species.


intravascular coagulation might provide a link between these two conditions. We are grateful to Mr G Dickson for permission to report on this patient who was under his care. E TOURVAS, MM (t6Di) surgical registrar (present address: Harlow Wood Hospital, Mansfield) Water intoxication due to carbamazepine The antidiuretic effect of carbamazepine (Tegretol) is well established, 1 2and water intoxication induced by carbamazepine has been reported in a patient with psychogenic polydipsia.3 We have not, however, found any previous report of this complication of carbama-zepine treatment in patients with trigeminal neuralgia or epilepsy. We describe here two patients, one with trigeminal neuralgia, the other with epilepsy, who developed carbamazepine-induced abnormal water retention. Case 1 A 74-year-old man developed left-sided trigeminal neuralgia confined to the mandibular branch in 1965. He also had ischaemic heart disease and hypertension, which were treated with debrisoquine, digoxin, and amiloride with hydrochlorothiazide (Moduretic). He had had several attacks of left ventricular failure, and in 1975, when admitted with urinary retention, he had episodic confusion. His plasma sodium concentration was 123 mmol (mEq)/l, although its significance was not appreciated. His trigeminal neuralgia was well controlled by carbamazepine 600 mg/day, which he had been taking for 10 years.


Let X be a smooth, projective, connected curve of genus g ≥ 2 over an algebraically closed field k. It is a theorem of Faltings and Seshadri that if F is a semistable vector bundle on X, there exists a vector bundle E such that H(X,E ⊗ F ) = 0 for i = 0, 1. Our result is a refined version of the theorem, stating that we can specify the rank and determinant of E. Moreover, our proof is somewhat simpler than the original.


The steady state solution of the linear quadratic optimal control problem with the constraint that only partial state information is available for feedback is derived. This development results in a systematic and computationally efficient approach for reducing the complexity of the control law for high order systems. Numerical examples and performance evaluation of (1) a simple fourth order system, and (2) a free-free flexible beam, are included.


Problems of creation and development of quality culture in institutions of higher education are now the subject of many studies. However, there are no universally accepted concepts and models that could be the basis for developing methods of quality management and a culture of quality in higher education. This paper sets out to analyse the concept of the quality culture in higher education in relation to the academic culture. It also presents the typology of quality cultures in relation to higher education. Key-words: quality culture, academic culture, higher education.


Until 1996 the Italian legislation concerning sexual violence condoned abuse within the family. The legislation reveals that, for generations, Italian women were living without basic civil rights. It took more than 60 years before the Italian parliament accepted that rape was a crime "against the person" and not "against the public moral". The new legislation concerning sexual violence was perceived as a victory for Italian women. But does their victory pose an actual threat to the Italian male-dominated culture? Will it be possible for Italian women to enter the "fields of power" at all?


We present a circuit delay framework in closed form that accounts for the dynamic behavior of signal slope in subthreshold (Vdd V T )r egions. The proposed model converts a signal slope into its effective fanout for delay estimation. Simulations show that for ISCAS benchmark circuits, our framework exhibits a speedup of three orders of magnitude over HSPICE with 5% error. Measured results in 65nm show that for a wide range of interconnect lengths and geometries, the proposed model predicts the circuit delay with 5.7% error at the supply voltage of Vdd =1 .2V , and with 4.5% error at Vdd =0 .4V .


Gamma band is known to be involved in the encoding of visual features in the primary visual cortex (V1). Recent results in rodents V1 highlighted the presence, within a broad gamma band (BB) increasing with contrast, of a narrow gamma band (NB) peaking at ∼60 Hz suppressed by contrast and enhanced by luminance. However, the processing of visual information by the two channels still lacks a proper characterization. Here, by combining experimental analysis and modeling, we prove that the two bands are sensitive to specific thalamic inputs associated with complementary contrast ranges. We recorded local field potentials from V1 of awake mice during the presentation of gratings and observed that NB power progressively decreased from low to intermediate levels of contrast. Conversely, BB power was insensitive to low levels of contrast but it progressively increased going from intermediate to high levels of contrast. Moreover, BB response was stronger immediately after contrast reversal, while the opposite held for NB. All the aforementioned dynamics were accurately reproduced by a recurrent excitatory-inhibitory leaky integrate-and-fire network, mimicking layer IV of mouse V1, provided that the sustained and periodic component of the thalamic input were modulated over complementary contrast ranges. These results shed new light on the origin and function of the two V1 gamma bands. In addition, here we propose a simple and effective model of response to visual contrast that might help in reconstructing network dysfunction underlying pathological alterations of visual information processing. Significance Statement Gamma band is a ubiquitous hallmark of cortical processing of sensory stimuli. Experimental evidence shows that in the mouse visual cortex two types of gamma activity are differentially modulated by contrast: a narrow band (NB), that seems to be rodent specific, and a standard broad band (BB), observed also in other animal models. We found that narrow band correlates and broad band anticorrelates with visual contrast in two complementary contrast ranges (low and high respectively). Moreover, BB displayed an earlier response than NB. A thalamocortical spiking neuron network model reproduced the aforementioned results, suggesting they might be due to the presence of two complementary but distinct components of the thalamic input into visual cortical circuitry.


By researching the process of Changchun parks' construction and history development during each stage of modern times, the article expounds the up-and-down modern history of Changchun from another perspective, and also facilitates the planning and construction of Changchun modern parks. It analyzes, evaluates, and summarizes the planning and construction of Changchun modern parks, hoping to provide the necessary reference for the construction of "green livable cities" of Changchun.


This paper describes a flexible visuo-haptic display module. We have developed a flexible electro-active polymer (EAP) actuator and a thin flexible visual display with 3×3 array configuration via polymer technology. The flexible actuator consists of nine EAP cells vertically moving in response to change in their thickness. The flexible display uses polymer based optical waveguide allowing light to scatter only at specific area. The display film is transparent and identically designed to the array pattern to fit for the arrangement of actuator cells. A pressure sensor is installed under the integrated module. The performance of the actuator is proved to be sufficient for satisfying perceivable range of human touch sense. The integrated system can provide interactive haptic feedback such as key pressing, contact vibration sensations, and etc. in accordance with user input.


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The invention relates to a towing vehicle chassis and wheels own drive for towing an airplane without a tow bar. Such aircraft tractor are, for. B. known to DE 4322985 C2, and EP 0,530,456 B1. DOLLAR A The tugs have a receiving device for the nose landing gear of the aircraft. First, the nose wheels (3) by means of gripper arms (6) extending in telescopic arms (4) are braced in the retaining device (7) and the platform (8) is pivoted. Subsequently, the platform (8) is pivoted upwards. DOLLAR A According to the invention the nose wheels (3) by means of a lifting mechanism in the form of a parallelogram by the lifting cylinder (12) via coupling rods (11) are so far from the apron (13) on the platform (8) raised after the clamping operation, that there is no contact with the ground more takes place and thus unevenness of the apron can not cause more interference (13).


Work defining advanced life support (ALS) technologies and evaluating their applicability to various long-duration missions has continued. Time-dependent and time-invariant costs have been estimated for a variety of life support technology options, including International Space Station (ISS) environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) technologies and improved options under development by the ALS Project. These advanced options include physicochemical (PC) and bioregenerative (BIO) technologies, and may in the future include in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) in an attempt to reduce both logistics costs and dependence on supply from Earth. PC and bioregenerative technologies both provide possibilities for reducing mission equivalent system mass (ESM). PC technologies are most advantageous for missions of up to several years in length, while bioregenerative options are most appropriate for longer missions. ISRU can be synergistic with both PC and bioregenerative options.


Global climate changes and fossil fuel reserve depletion are drivers for the search for environmentally friendly renewable energy sources. In Europe, biomass represents the main alternative to fossil fuels. Among energy crops, sorghum is a promising crop for arid regions. The biomass yield and energy efficiency of sorghum (both silage and grain) were studied based on field experiments conducted in Southern Ukraine. The following climate changes were identified: an increase in temperature and a decrease in precipitation. The total energy inputs for sweet sorghum were estimated at 11.256 GJ/ha. The main contributors to the energy inputs are mineral fertilizers (56.99%). The experiment showed that a yield of 40.6 t/ha could be achieved with annual precipitation of 350 mm. The energy efficiency ratio was determined to be 11.18. The total energy inputs for grain sorghum was 16.081 GJ/ha. Its yield (grain) varied from 1.92 to 7.05 t/ha. The energy efficiency ratio of grain sorghum ranged from 2.8 to 16.7.


We have developed an alternative formulation based on F = Ma rather than F = d P/d t for studying variable mass systems. It is shown that F = Ma can be particularly useful for analysing systems with variable mass, as illustrated by various examples involving chains and ropes. The method implies the division of the whole system into two parts, which are considered separately, allowing us to explore certain aspects as constraint forces.