Purpose: CT Perfusion (CTP) imaging is of great importance in acute ischemic stroke management due to its potential to detect hypoperfused yet salvageable tissue and distinguish it from definitely unsalvageable tissue. However, current CTP imaging suffers from poor image quality and high radiation dose (up to 5 mSv). The purpose of this work was to demonstrate that technical innovations such as Prior Image Constrained Compressed Sensing (PICCS) have the potential to address these challenges and achieve high quality and sub-mSv CTP imaging. Methods: (1) A spatial-temporal 4D cascaded system model was developed to indentify the bottlenecks in the current CTP technology; (2) A task-based framework was developed to optimize the CTP system parameters; (3) Guided by (1) and (2), PICCS was customized for the reconstruction of CTP source images. Digital anthropomorphic perfusion phantoms, animal studies, and preliminary human subject studies were used to validate and evaluate the potentials of using these innovations to advance the CTP technology. Results: The 4D cascaded model was validated in both phantom and canine stroke models. Based upon this cascaded model, it has been discovered that, as long as the spatial resolution and noise properties of the 4D source CT images are given, the 3D MTF and NPS of the final CTP maps can be analytically derived for a given set of processing methods and parameters. The cascaded model analysis also identified that the most critical technical factor in CTP is how to acquire and reconstruct high quality source images; it has very little to do with the denoising techniques often used after parametric perfusion calculations. This explained why PICCS resulted in a five-fold dose reduction or substantial improvement in image quality. Conclusion: Technical innovations generated promising results towards achieving high quality and sub-mSv CTP imaging for reliable and safe assessment of acute ischemic strokes. K. Li, K. Niu, Y. Wu: Nothing to disclose. G.-H. Chen: Research funded, GE Healthcare; Research funded, Siemens AX.


Battelle two curve model (BTCM) was developed in the 1970s and successfully used for determining arrest toughness for ductile gas transmission pipelines in terms of Charpy vee-notched (CVN) impact energy. Practice has shown that the BTCM is accurate only for pipeline grades up to X65, but not for high strength pipeline grades X70 and above. Different methods to improve the BTCM were proposed over the years. This paper reviews the BTCM and its modified methods in terms of CVN energy or drop weight tear test (DWTT) energy for determining arrest toughness of ductile gas pipeline steels, particularly for high strength pipeline steels X80 and beyond. This includes the often-used Leis correction method, the CSM factor method, Wilkowski DWTT method and others. The CVN and DWTT energy-based methods are evaluated and discussed through the critical analysis and comparison with full-scale experimental data. The objective is to identify reasonable methods to be used for determining the minimum fracture toughness required to arrest a ductile running crack in a modern high strength, high pressure gas pipeline. The results show that available nonlinear models to correlate the standard DWTT and CVN energies are questionable, and the Leis correction method is a viable approach for determining arrest toughness for high strength pipeline steels, but further study is needed for ultra-high pipeline grades. Suggestions for further improving the BTCM are discussed.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


A standardized' procedure is presented for planning, designing, and fabricating cast arch bars to meet the needs of the oral surgeon, the prosthodontist, and the laboratory technician. By use of this procedure, clinical and laboratory time can be reduced to a minimum.


Municipal solid waste management has become a complex developmental issue. It has been found not only to affect the environment and public health but it is noted to hinder efforts by several Governments especially in developing countries in the management of the environment. The study aimed at assessing waste management practices at the Vittin Target area, to estimate the quantity and components of waste generated. Questionnaires were distributed to 80 respondents and 80 samples of waste were collected from the various households.  Data was analyzed using SPSS software. The study revealed high dependence on private waste collection service providers instead of the usual communal collection systems. About 10% of the respondents practiced waste sorting in the study areas. The rate of solid waste generation was 22.07 kg/day whiles the per capita rate of solid waste generation was 0.33 kg/person/day. The waste was sorted into six fractions of which the highest component was organic, 41.5% by weight. Regression analysis showed a significant positive relationship between generation rate of solid waste and the household size. The results indicate that household size could be an important tool to predict the generation rate of solid waste in the study area, in addition to other social and economic parameters. Based on the findings, there should be regular supervision and monitoring of waste collection by the sanitation institutions to prevent any possible outbreak of diseases such as cholera. Keywords: Municipal solid waste, Waste sorting, Generation rate, Household waste, regression analysis


Remanufacture engineering is an emerging industry that saves resources as well as protects the environment. However, cracks on remanufactured components can result in serious trouble. Therefore, in order to avoid unnecessary waste of resources and energy, these cracks should be repaired radically in order to ensure the smooth progressing of the remanufacturing process. Consequently, the crack healing technique of metal materials is very important in the field of remanufacturing. In this study, the U-shape vane stainless steel of a centrifugal compressor which had cracks was processed by pulse current using a high pulse current discharge device, and the influence of the streaming effect and Joule heating effect of pulse current on the crack healing of metal materials was studied, aiming to provide references for the better application of this technology in the remanufacturing field in the future.


This article focuses on the use of Microsoft's latest in the WDK example Passthru to develop network control program.Discusses the basic network monitoring process, and gives some of the code.


Summary form only given. We summarize some metallic features observed in heavily doped polypyrrole-hexafluorophosphate, PPy(PF/sub 6/). Measurements of the conductivity, thermoelectric power, electron spin resonance (ESR) and optical reflectance are carried out for the electroclunically prepared sample at low temperature (-40/spl deg/C), with the characteristic resistivity ratio P/sub r/=P(1.4K)/P(300K)=l.8. The sample shows a positive temperature coefficient of the resistivity (TCR) at temperatures below T/spl ap/15K. The thermoelectric power (S) increases linearly in proportion to the temperature, with S /spl ap/ 7 /spl mu/V/K at room temperature. High reflectance in far IR as well as a plasma resonance around 1.7 eV were observed in reflectance measurement. The temperature independent paramagnetic susceptibility down to 50K also confirms the existence of finite density of states at Fermi level. The results suggest that the electronic structure of PPy(PF/sub 6/) is characteristic of a disordered metal.


Tho' the following theorem is agreeable to, and deducible from, mechanical principles, yet as it has not been taken notice of by mechanical writers, though often talk'd of among handicraft workmen, I thought it might not be improper to take notice of it here, and to make an experiment agreeable to the demonstration.


STRUCTURE OF LlPOYll€LLlN 232 EM Studies of Microcryst& 232 X-Ray Crywol Srruclure 233 NEUTRON STUOIE? BY CONTRAST V&RIAT\TION: LOCATION OP THE LlPlU DOMAN 236 Controst Variation and Neulron Scarrering 236


Investigation of the factors affecting the carbonization process is very important for the manufacture of desired, on-demand carbon fibrous morphologies. In this work, the effect of the average fiber diameter on the carbonization of precursor polymer fibers into carbon fibers was examined. Three electrospun fibrous mats consisting of a lignin/recycled PET blend with mass ratio of 1/1 and having different average fiber diameter (80, 387 and 781 nm) were prepared. After they were carbonized at 600 °C, it was found that the thicker fibers (387 and 781 nm) yield well-formed carbon fibrous morphologies, with average diameter of the same range as the precursor ones. In contrast, the thinnest nanofibers with an average diameter of 80 nm fuse with each other and lose their fibrous morphology, due to the maximization of heat and mass transfer during the process. These results highlight the decisive role of the nanoscale dimension in processes controlled by heat and mass transfer phenomena, as in the case of carbon fiber manufacture.


Sir,

Infusion devices remain high-risk devices capable of delivering drugs unpredictably leading to mortality and morbidity. The problem of performance, degradation, and quality was the cause for 20% of reported incidences relating to the infusion pump in UK between 1990 and 2000.[1] Thus, it is important for the clinician to be familiar with the features and function of the infusion device they are using.

A 55-year-old lady with middle cerebral artery aneurysm underwent microsurgical clipping of the aneurysm under general anesthesia uneventfully. After clipping, with the target of raising systolic blood pressure (SBP) to 160 mm Hg, noradrenalin infusion was started at 1.6 μg/min. The solution was prepared in a 50 ml syringe with 8 mg of noradrenaline bitartrate diluted in 40 mL normal saline and infused at 2 mL/h. The solution was infused using Orchestra® DPS + (Fresenius Kabi) infusion pump. (Ref 082594/21126459) La Grand Chamin-38590 Brezins- France. Initially, there was a surge in SBP up to 240 mm Hg. No intervention was done as the surge was expected to settle down. However, after the blood pressure decreased to 110 mm Hg, there was another surge in SBP up to 200 mm Hg after approximately 5 min. This was followed by 4 similar cyclical surges at 10 min intervals [Figure 1]. We changed the syringe but again the fluctuations in blood pressure persisted.

Figure 1

Snapshot showing graphical representation of fluctuation in invasive blood pressure

Pulsatile flow of drug at low dose rates in syringe pump was then thought to be the cause and to smoothen the fluctuations, the drug in the syringe solution was double diluted (i.e. 4 mg in 40 mL) and the dose rate was also doubled (4 mL/h). Following this intervention, the surges flattened out considerably, and the SBP fluctuated between 170 and 150 mm Hg thereafter [Figure 1].

The Orchestra® DPS + pump uses stepper motors with the lead screw, and the flow rate accuracy of the motor is documented to be ± 1% on drive mechanism and ±2% on syringes.[2] However, at low flow rates, the flow may be discontinuous and pulsatile. Stepper motors are known to produce flow in a series of discrete fixed volume pulses. The volume and rate of pulses at fixed flow rates depend on the number of steps per revolution of the lead screw. If the time duration between the pulses is relatively large compared to the half-life of the drug, the result may be wide variation in effect of the drug.[3] Another reason may be stiction (i.e., the friction which tends to prevent stationary surfaces from being set in motion) between syringe plunger and barrel.[4] A similar problem was investigated by Capes et al. and they found Terumo syringes to be significantly associated with the noncontinuous flow.[5]

In our case, the syringe change did not affect the fluctuations while increasing the flow rates with the same syringe caused smoothening of fluctuations. Thus, it appears that the motor mechanism to be at fault at low flow rates. This effect though occasionally observed is of serious concern and the technique described here may be easily employed to mitigate the problem.


In the present study, to measure the optimum controlled parameters for face milling operation of Al5083 materials under semi coolant conditions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) in Mini Tab and fuzzy logic control in MATLAB software are used to effectively develop an analytical analysis for surface roughness and material removal rate. The experimental controlled parameters such as spindle speed, radial depth of cut, axial feed rate, and axial depth of cut are consideration for the present study. The experimental conditions are plan based on Taguchi L27 array with controlled parameters using carbide inserts (ASX 445). Significant results on surface roughness are spindle speed and interaction parameters between spindle speed and axial feed rate with contribution of 30.94 % and 33.47% respectively.


Seasonal climate forecasting is of vital importance to society, having great relevance for various sectors such as agriculture, energy and civil defense. It is a complex process consisting of the gathering and interpretation of a wide range of information complemented with prior knowledge of the regional climatology. This work documents steps for the elaboration of a climate forecast, using the forecast for Brazil during the southern Winter of 2020 as an example. Steps of a forecast (determination of climatologies, diagnostic analysis, seasonal prognosis and subjective validation) are presented and developed, and incorrect predictions of precipitation anomalies over the south and north of the country are analyzed in terms of possible climate forcings that led to their occurrence. Finally, challenges inherent to climate forecasting are listed, such as the joint action and relative impact of different climatic oscillations, the high spatial variability of precipitation and the need to be careful with the indicated predictions of numerical forecasting models.


Considering the continuity of a data stream, the accessed windows information of a data stream may not be useful as a concept change is effected on further data. In order to support frequent item mining over data stream, the interesting recent concept change of a data stream needs to be identified flexibly. Based on this, an algorithm can be able to identify the range of the further window. A method for finding frequent itemsets over a data stream based on a sliding window has been proposed here, which finds the interesting further range of frequent itemsets by the concept changes observed in recent windows.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Surgical indications in stages 4B and 5 retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) are not universally accepted. The authors' purpose is to evaluate the long-term anatomic and visual outcomes of vitrectomy for retinal detachment (RD) associated with stages 4B and 5 ROP.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Data of patients who consecutively underwent vitrectomy for stages 4B and 5 ROP from 1999 to 2013 were retrospectively reviewed and included grade of retinal attachment and visual acuity (VA) at the last follow-up.

RESULTS
Seventy eyes of 38 infants were included: 23 with stage 4B and 47 with stage 5 ROP. Lens-sparing vitrectomy was performed in 11 eyes, combined lensectomy / vitrectomy in 59 eyes. Mean follow-up was 8.5 years. Anatomic success was maintained in 41 eyes (58.5%), and among them, VA greater than 5/200 was achieved in 17 eyes (41.4%).

CONCLUSION
The long-term visual and anatomic success rates were encouraging for the surgical correction of RD associated with late stages ROP. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2019;50:208-214.].


The traditional contrast of cultural meanings of color words have achieved some results,whereas the former studies are only restricted to the contrast of basic color words and a comprehensive,systematic and scientific way of contrasting color terms has not been found yet.In accordance with the concept of semantic field,a contrast is made among all the color terms of different languages on the basis of a rather scientific,systematic and multi-dimensional model—functional semantic field by comparing the basic Chinese color term"红"and English"red".The perspective provides a new and practical model for cross-cultural competence cultivation,second language acquisition and language translation.


Background: Immune checkpoint blockade, in particular anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1-directed approaches, have improved outcomes in various tumor types. However, little is known about the efficacy of these agents in metastatic rare solid tumors. We report here the results of the neuroendocrine cohort of SWOG S1609 Dual Anti-CTLA-4 & Anti-PD-1 blockade in Rare Tumors (DART). Methods: We performed a prospective, open-label, multicenter phase 2 clinical trial of ipilimumab (1mg/kg q6 weeks) plus nivolumab (240mg intravenously every 2 weeks) across multiple cohorts of rare tumors, with the neuroendocrine cohort reported here. Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors are currently being accrued to a separate cohort of S1609. The primary endpoint was overall response rate (ORR) by RECIST v1.1 (complete (CR) and partial responses (PR)); secondary endpoints included progression-free (PFS) and, overall survival (OS), stable disease (SD) >6 months, and toxicity. Results: Thirty-three eligible patients received therapy; 58% (N= 19) had high-grade disease; most common sites were gastrointestinal (non-pancreatic) (45%; N = 15) and lung (18%; N = 6). Patients had received a median of 2 lines of prior therapy. The overall response rate was 24% (CR, 3%; PR, 21%). Patients with high-grade neuroendocrine cancer had a 42% (8 of 19 patients) response rate vs. 0% in low/intermediate grade tumors (0/14 patients; p = 0.01). The 6-month PFS was 30%; median OS was 11 months. The most common toxicities were fatigue (30% of patients) and nausea (27%). Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation (9%) was the most common grade 3-4 irAE, with no grade 5 toxicities. Conclusions: Ipilimumab plus nivolumab was well tolerated with a 42% ORR in patients with high-grade neuroendocrine cancer, regardless of primary site. Further investigation of this combination is warranted. Citation Format: Sandip Pravin Patel, Megan Othus, Young Kwang Chae, Francis Giles, Donna Hansel, Preet Singh, Annette Fontaine, Manisha Shah, Anup Kasi, Tareq Al Baghdadi, Marc Matrana, Zoran Gatalica, W. Michael Korn, Jourdain Hayward, Christine MMcLeod, Helen X. Chen, Elad Sharon, Edward Mayerson, Christopher W. Ryan, Melissa Plets, Charles D. Blanke, Razelle Kurzrock. A Phase II basket trial of dual anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1 blockade in rare tumors (DART) S1609: The neuroendocrine cohort [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr CT039.


In response to the development of religious personalization, the old marketing strategies of most religious destinations have been unable to effectively promote their popularity in modern times. This article deeply explored how to use contemporary art to design religious destinations comprehensively and proposed an effective solution to enhance the popularity of religious destinations in religious tourism. We established an actor network in religious tourism with qualitative and quantitative analyses and took the Buddhism Yuan-Dao Guanyin Temple in Taiwan as a case analysis. We found temples to be the main actors in religious tourism networks and temple organizations to serve as their spokespersons. The successful obligatory point of passage (OPP) in the network was that "the religious performance of Yuan-Dao Guanyin Temple is a contemporary art style, and every subject who enters the temple field can obtain interests". This is primarily formulated by the interaction between religion and contemporary art. The results show that adopting a contemporary art style in this case can successfully expand the popularity of the religious destination. Through the actor network model proposed in this paper, it can be used as a strategy for other religious destinations to improve religious tourism.


Several issues continue to be challenges to the Health Situation and Trend Assessment Program of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the coming decade and beyond, and these developments over the 1948-88 period are reviewed, with a certain focus on the research and development aspect. The Health Situation and Trend Assessment Program, initiated in 1982, merged the program on health statistics and the program on epidemiological surveillance of communicable diseases. These programs had been functioning as an essential part of WHO's mandate since its creation in 1948. During the 1948-58 decade, priority was given to the mandates inherited from WHO's precursors. The 1st World Health Assembly in 1948 adopted WHO Regulations No. 1 regarding nomenclature with respect to diseases and causes of death and decided to synthesize the then existing international sanitary conventions. There was a continuation and further development of the priority activities of the 1st decade in 1958-68. 2 noteworthy areas were the expansion of "technical assistance" to Member States and the emphasis placed on international collaborative studies, including statistical support to epidemiological research on diseases of public health importance. A computer was installed at WHO headquarters in 1966, and a considerable part of the statistical work was computerized during the 3rd decade. Statistical data processing was expedited and the computer made it practicable to store time series in an easily retrievable form, including the data received by WHO from Member States since 1950. During this decade much interest arose among epidemiologists and disease control managers in dynamic models of disease. Efforts to develop comprehensive computer-based management information systems over the decade were not successful mostly because of the overemphasis on computerization and a lack of clear recognition of the importance of prerequisites to such computerization. The most significant events during the 1978-88 decade were the adoption of the Alma-Ata Declaration on primary health care and the launching of the Global Strategy for Health for All, as well as the accelerated decentralization of WHO's activities. Many health problems remain to be solved, and some new health problems have emerged. Epidemiology and statistics will have to contribute to the solution of these problems. Challenges to WHO for the next decade are evident in several areas: health information systems; cost-effectiveness of health action; health systems research; health indicators; measurement and analysis of morbidity, disability, and mortality; international and collaborative epidemiological studies; and ICD and related issues.


Undergraduate research experience is an important aspect of education in American research universities.There are four main models according to the goals and characteristics of undergraduate research programmes:retention,career promotion,research apprenticeship,and research-based learning.


A 5 year-old Omani girl, who had been previously healthy, was referred from a local hospital in Salalah, Dhofar to Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH) for further evaluation and management of thrombocytopenia. She presented to the local hospital complaining of gum bleeding, multiple petechial spots on the lower limbs and trunk, and epistaxis for the preceding 10 days. There was no history of fever, pallor, bony aches, arthralgia/ arthritis, headache, or other skin rashes. She had history of recurrent epistaxis, and foul smelling nasal discharge for 3 months before presentation. Family history was negative for low platelets or easy bruising. Her clinical examination was unremarkable apart from multiple ecchymotic lesions on both legs, few petechiae on anterior chest wall and face. There was no other active bleeding, no hepatosplenomegaly, and no lymphadenopathy. Right sided nasal foreign body was suspected, but surgical removal was postponed because of her low platelet count.


The objective of this study was to construct reference ranges of the neonatal cerebellar vermis height with respect to the gestational age at birth.


A review of Johann Baptist Fickler. Das Inventar der Munchner herzoglichen Kunstkammer von 1598. Editionsband. Transkription der lnventarhandschrift cgm 2133 (editor Peter Diemer). In the 16th century, the Dukes of Bavaria were important art collectors, especially Albrecht V and his son Wilhelm V. When Maximilian I came to power, he commissioned his former tutor Johann Baptist Fickler to draw up an inventory of the collection. The inventory is now held in Munich library. This scientific edition of the inventory, annotated with a complete transcription, is impeccable, the only cavil being the retention of the original spelling.


We present a systematic review of 1,252 lesions published in the past 25 years, the largest to date. We also include our own experience of 41 cases.


Inmate-on-inmate violence is a serious problem in prisons and young offender institutions. However, most studies on predictors of violent misconduct have focussed on adult inmates. This study examines the perpetration of violence in multiple young offender institutions, using the self-report data of 865 male inmates. Prevalence rates indicate that violence occurs to a high extent in the institutions. Regression analyses show that both importation and deprivation variables significantly predict the perpetration of physical and sexual violence. Specifically, drug use during imprisonment, violent beliefs, and a negative inmate–staff relationship were found to increase the risk of violent misconduct. The implications of these findings are discussed.


It is obvious that arc bevel gear designing is a highly complex and fallible work.This paper introduces how to set up arc bevel gear optimization design mathematics model in order to increase design efficiency of arc bevel gear reducer.


There are several green methods available to synthesize iron-based nanoparticles using different bio-based reducing agents. Although their useful properties in degradation of organic dyes, chlorinated organics, or arsenic have been described earlier, their characterization has been ambiguous, and further research is needed in this area. Synthesis and characterization details on iron-based nanoparticles produced by green tea extract are described in detail; characterization was carried out by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and UV–vis spectrometry followed by ecotoxicological assay. XRD and TEM analyses revealed that iron forms amorphous nanosized particles with size depending on reaction time. Moreover, low-temperature Mossbauer spectroscopy confirmed progressive reduction of Fe3+ to Fe2+ during the reaction. Finally, the iron(II,III) nanoparticles prepared by green tea extract (GT–Fe nanoparticles) were found to have negative ecotoxicological impacts on important a...


The high-speed processing ability of recent computers has made it easier for people to understand the meaning expressed by mathematical theory in fields such as mathematics and engineering. Therefore, using 3D computer animation techniques with geometric figures to simulate mathematical models in physics and engineering can help learners understand mathematical theory with greater ease. The purpose of this study was to use computer programming code to convert static mathematical functions into mathematical curve animations, and then place such dynamic mathematical media into a website learning system platform. The learner could select mathematical functions in the platform and use it to display related mathematical figures with 3D dynamic movement to engage in mathematical learning, and at the same time engage in analysis and exploration of the learning accomplishments from dynamic mathematics simulated animation, in order to understand the effects and results of applying programming language to the learning of mathematical functions. Providing the learner with rich visual and dynamic images makes it easy to attract his attention and elicit active and proactive learning, which are beneficial to cultivating the observation and thinking abilities of a learner. This greatly inspires learning interest, enhances anthroposophic training and creative applied thinking for mathematics, leading to efficacy for the amount of effort expended.


According to experimentizing influence of environment temperature no at the instrument constant of a type of gyrotheodite,we analyze and deal with the data of instrument constant on each temperature,and summarize the diversification accord with linearity rule.Then it is possible to realize automatic compensation for influence of temperature to instrument constant drifting.This has practical value in improving the orientation accuracy and nicety of gyrotheodolite.


Abstract The effects of hydrazine on bluegills, Lepomis macrochirus, were assessed in terms of acute toxicity and by examining the alterations hydrazine induced in the dorsal light response and aggressiveness. The static 96-hour median lethal concentration (LC50) of hydrazine was 1.08 mg/liter and the 96-hour continuous-flow no-lethal-effect concentration was 0.43 mg/liter. The dorsal light response in the presence of an artificial prey was significantly decreased within 15 minutes of exposure to hydrazine concentrations well below the 96-hour static LC50. This was true both in static and in continuous-flow conditions. In addition, aggressiveness, as measured by the number of attacks on the prey, was increased in a dose-related manner. Control fish made no attacks, but attacks increased as the hydrazine concentrations increased. These behavioral measurements offer some promise as monitors of subtle, sublethal effects of hydrazine and possibly other aquatic pollutants on fish.


Photovoltaic-array/power-conditioner interface studies are updated. An experiment conducted to evaluate different operating-point strategies, such as constant voltage and pilot cells, and to determine array energy losses when the array is operated off the maximum power points is described. Initial results over a test period of three and a half weeks showed a 2% energy loss when the array is operated at a fixed voltage. Degraded-array studies conducted at NE RES that used a range of simulated common types of degraded I-V curves are reviewed. The instrumentation installed at the JPL field-test site to obtain the irradiance data was described. Experiments using an optical filter to adjust the spectral irradiance of the large-area pulsed solar simulator (LAPSS) to AM1.5 are described. Residential-array research activity is reviewed. Voltage isolation test results are described. Experiments performed on one type of module to determine the relationship between leakage current and temperature are reviewed. An encapsulated-cell testing approach is explained. The test program, data reduction methods, and initial results of long-duration module testing are described.


A survey of 29 trained and untrained youths aged 18 to 20 years was carried out. It has been shown that the optimal level of adaptation of a trained body to prolonged and intense physical exercise is provided by the activation of not only the constitutive calcium-dependent nitric oxide synthesis, but also by oxidative arginase metabolism of arginine, which yields a range of important low-molecular bioregulators and antioxidants, including urea. Significant reduction in the functionality of the body of trained youths at the end of competition period and as a consequence the manifestation of disadaptation signs correlates with increased oxidative calcium independent nitric oxide synthesis and its non-oxidative synthesis due to reutilization of stable circulating NO metabolites.


The present invention discloses a built-in with good electrical properties and mutual capacitance touch panel layout. In the region above the effective mutual capacitance touch panel embedded in the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer as a transmitter electrode and bridge electrode of the multi-purpose use. Below the effective area of the second conductive layer and the transparent conductive layer as an electrode and a transmitter multifunction electrode bridging purposes. With more than two groups of at least one transmitter electrode driving IC and the electrode pin versatile design, and at least a number of driving IC depends on the size of the embedded mutual capacitance touch panel. Meanwhile, the second conductive layer so as to trace multiple parallel wires in the same effective area of the electrode region. Accordingly, the present invention is embedded in mutual capacitance touch panel resistive capacitive load can be greatly reduced.


We consider a homogenous good oligopoly with identical consumers who learn about prices either by (sequentially) visiting firms or by consulting a price agency who sells information about which firm charges the lowest price.


A mean-field free-energy lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is applied to simulate moving contact line dynamics. It is found that the common bounceback boundary condition leads to an unphysical velocity at the solid wall in the presence of surface forces. The magnitude of the unphysical velocity is shown proportional to the local force term. The velocity-pressure boundary condition is generalized to solve the problem of the unphysical velocity. The simulation results are compared with three different theories for moving contact lines, including a hydrodynamic theory, a molecular kinetic theory, and a linear cosine law of moving contact angle versus capillary number. It is shown that the current LBM can be used to replace the three theories in handling moving contact line problems.© 2006 ASME


Recently, the patients that decreased renal function and abnormal glucose tolerance have been increasing with rapid aging. Since it corresponds to such a case, the liquid diet in which digestion is gradual and the blood glucose level does not rise easily in consideration of the burden on the renal disorder is demanded. Then, in the liquid diet which decreased the content of protein, Na, K, and P, we investigated the effect of carbohydrate on blood glucose level transition in rat by the difference in the combination of palatinose, trehalose, and high branched dextrin as a source of carbohydrates. As a result of examination, when the percentage to all the carbohydrates are palatinose 40%, trehalose 20% and high branched dextrin 40%, as compared with the liquid diet containing dextrin(DE:10-12), it became clear that the blood glucose level after administration shows a low value significantly. These results suggest that the application to the renal disease patient who has abnormal glucose tolerance, such as diabetic nephropathy, is expected.


The article deals with ethnic and religious situation in the sphere of the republic, its issues, trends and prospects for development based on sociological studies carried out on the territory of the Republic of Bashkortostan in 2007-2008, 2012, on the data of expert interviews of 2007, 2014 and on the research work on the topic "ethno-confessional relations in the Republic of Bashkortostan: the main issues, trends and contradictions" in 2014. In the field of ethno-religious in our multinational and multi-country, the state continues to play the most important role. Today there is no single concept of church-state policy towards the main confessions and other religious movements and groups. The legal relationship between the state and religious associations are civil, liberal, corresponding to the main international normative acts. Church-state relations are governed by law. The right to worship is moved out of the plane "the state religious organization" to the plane "state confession society" gaining greater sense of interaction and relationships. In the Republic of Bashkortostan, state-confessional and ethnic and religious relations can be characterized as stable and resistant to the existing socio-economic and political conditions. This is achieved by peaceful relations between Islam and Orthodoxy, exhausted language of interreligious dialogue (68% and 20% of all religious associations of the republic). The authorities is in constant readiness for surgery in coordination of interfaith interaction and consultation in the intra-relationship. This is strength and weakness of the state-religious policy, since it takes constant monitoring of the situation of ethnic and religious, and the potential willingness to work out the correct operational and tactical decisions. Today, the task of managing these complicated relationships is strengthening of the national factor in the religious sphere. As well as existing in a latent phase, wearing a hidden character intra conflict between "official" and "unofficial" Islam and various religious currents and groups.


Measurement. Heat flow measurements in Lake Biwa were first carried out in 1971 using a 197.2 m deep borehole drilled in the middle of the lake by Kyoto University (Uyeda et at. 1973) . They showed that the heat flow value in Lake Biwa was about 50 mW/m2, and suggested that the low heat flow zone is extended from the Seto Inland Sea region to Lake Biwa. Recently, the Kyoto University group (chief scientist, Prof. S. Hone) has successfully carried out the project of drilling a deep borehole in the central part of Lake Biwa in order to sample a long core of bottom sediments. This borehole reached the depth of 1422.5 m below the lake bottom and provided a good opportunity for measuring the heat flow value in the lake. The present paper reports the heat flow measured in this hole. The temperature gradient was measured to the depth of about 1000 m by using the buried thermistor method (Honda et at. 1982) and thermistors were set at every 20 m on a cable. Temperature measurements in the borehole were made from 2 to 8 May, 1983. Measurements began 4 days after the cessation of drilling, and the last measurement was made 10 days after the cessation of drilling. But valid measurements were made on 2, 6, 7 and 8, May. Fig. 1 shows the observed temperatures in the first and the last measurement of 2 and 8, May plotted against the depth below the lake bottom. Probably because of the circulation of drilling fluid, the temperature in the top sediments (shallower than 250 m) was not stable. In contrast, in a deeper part (>350 m) of the borehole, the observed temperatures are almost always stable. Therefore, in the shallower part, original temperatures at various depths are estimated by the following relation (Jaeger 1961) T =To-(gl4nK) log (8/t+e) where To is the original temperature, q is the heat generation or absorption per unit length and unit time, K is the thermal conductivity, B is the measurement time after the cessation of drilling, and t is the duration of drilling at each depth (= period of drilling fluid circulation). Fig. 2 shows estimated original temperatures at various depths. In Fig. 2, five sets of temperature records (0800PM, 2, 0100PM, 6, 1000PM, 6, 1000PM, 7 and 0600AM, 8, May) are used to calculate original temperatures assuming t=100 days. The whole drilling operation lasted for about 350 days, but from the logging records, we estimated that the period of drilling fluid circulation was about one-third of the whole


Determination of the fuzzy membership functions in a given fuzzy logic system is the key factor for resulting in the best performance. Thus, in this study, particle swarm optimization (PSO) and artificial bee colony (ABC), relatively new member of swarm intelligence, are used to adjust the shape of fuzzy membership functions, respectively. Proposed methods have been implemented and compared for a single input-output (SI-O) fuzzy system. The obtained results show that using PSO and ABC methods are capable and effective to find optimal values of fuzzy membership functions in a reasonable time.


Live Commerce is a new online shopping method that is more convenient than traditional online shopping through real-time communication, proxy experience of products or services, and various products, and can give great satisfaction while receiving more trust from consumers. In addition, due to COVID-19, untact consumption methods have been actively developed, and live commerce has achieved massive explosive growth in China. This study conducted an online survey of users using China TikTok live commerce. The collected questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 and Amos 22.0.
This study analyzed the impact of Tik Tok, a popular live commerce platform in China, on consumer sustainability intention using the Extended Technology Acceptance Model (ETAM). As for the empirical analysis results, the expanded technology acceptance model has better predictive and explanatory power due to the introduction of external factor interactions. Interaction was found to have a significant effect on perceived pleasure, ease, usefulness, and reliability. The respondents of this study are all familiar with online shopping because they are more than 80% young, and the perceived ease of online shopping is less important than the initial technology acceptance model, and the perceived ease has no statistical significance in satisfaction.


With the rapid development of highway construction and gradual improvement of road network construction in China, road maintenance work has been paid more and more attention. The research for pavement cracks automatic detection and recognition is particularly urgent. This thesis designs a pavement crack detection system based on FPGA. The system uses Altera's DE2 development board as the hardware platform, a CMOS image sensor to collect pavement crack materials, and uses hardware and software co-design approach to image gray-scale transformation, image enhancement, adaptive filtering, image segmentation and thinning process and so on. based on the characteristics of various types of cracks resulting image analysis, feature extraction values and based on the eigenvalues of BP neural network to classify. Finally, we calculate the geometric characteristics of fractures, and fractures of the damage evaluation. Tests show that the system achieve better pavement crack detection function. System, image acquisition, image caching, and image display three modules Verilog hardware description language to write, crack detection module built SOPC, using the C programming language processing implementation in Nios II IDE environment.


A self-adaptive differential evolution with dynamic selecting mutation strategy (DSMSDE) is proposed to improve the performance of differential evolution algorithm by three improvements. Mutation strategies are dynamically selected, and the successfully updated individuals are stored into the archive, which is beneficial for improving the convergence performance. A mechanism that is related to the best individual at the current population is employed to help the stagnation solutions to get rid of local minima. Self-adaptive parameters control is used to accelerate the convergence speed. DSMSDE is compared with the other state-of-the-art algorithms, and they are tested on nine benchmark functions. Experimental results show that DSMSDE has higher accuracy, faster speed and better reliability.


This study evrlluted the efficacy of 2% zinc phosphide grain bait as a control agent for black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomysludovicignus) and the rate at which prairie dogs returned to treated areas. Visual counts of prairie dogs closely corresponded to actual population trends and were chosen as the technique to evaluate changes of prairie dog numbers. Treatment of al1 of 2, and portions of 5, prairie dog colonies with zinc phosphide grain bait between 30 July and 25 August 1978 resulted in an average of 85% (range 65 to 95%) reduction in prairie dog numbers. Rest results were obtained in the 2 colonies treated totally. The 2 colonies treated along the perimeter had the lowest percentage decrease in numbers of prairie dogs and were among the treatment types with the fastest population recovery. Prairie dogs returned to pretreatment levels within 1 year posttreatment at 1 colony. After 2 years posttreatment, 3 other colonies were approaching pretreatment population levels. Three to 5 years posttreatment appeared to be needed to obtain pretreatment numbers in the 2 colonies treated totally. Control of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) is often considered economically feasible because it is thought to provide more forage to livestock. Marsh (1967) considered a 90% reduction in rodent populations necessary to achieve satisfactory relief from economic damage. In general, studies have found grain baits treated with strychnine or zinc phosphide to be effective at reducing prairie dog numbers to levels considered efficacious (Tietjen 1976, Sullins 1977,1980a,b, Tietjenand Matschke 1982). There is little information available, however, to indicate how rapidly prairie dogs return to treated areas following substantial population reductions. Deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) invaded treated areas so rapidly as to negate any economic benefits of control (Gashwiler 1969, Pank and Matschke 1972, Sullivan 1979). The rate of population recovery following control with toxicants is important in the assessment of the cost/ benefit ratio of such projects (Collins et al. 1984). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of zinc phosphide grain bait as a control agent for black-tailed prairie dogs and to determine the rate of population recovery in treated areas.


The paper presents a quality assessment system for the PPG waveform considering different noise conditions to reduce monitoring errors. The proposed algorithm adopts the hierarchical decision rules combining the absolute value of amplitude, zero-crossing threshold, and autocorrelation function characteristics. During assessment for 1782 unacceptable PPG waveform segments and 17918 acceptable PPG waveform segments, the algorithm achieves a sensitivity of 99.94%, a specificity of 99.39%, and an accuracy rate of 99.89%.


This paper deals with a fundamental investigation of an electrostatic liquid filter. Aiming at clarifying the capturing mechanism of contaminants on a collector and the relationships between the quantity of captured particles and various factors, experiments have been conducted using a single fibre model which uses a single fibre as a simplified model of the collector. The effects of base oil and additive have been investigated. The experiments have revealed that the electrification characteristics of particles in oil are strongly affected by the type of base oil and additive, and that the form and quantity of deposition of particles on a collector differ considerably from one combination of base oil, additive and additive concentration to another.


Introduction: Laboratories play an important role in the diagnosis and management of the disease. In the modern day diagnostics, with the advent of technologies and automation in the laboratories, the manual workload has decreased. Automation has reduced the number of errors but still few errors do occur. Present study was undertaken to evaluate different types & frequencies of pre-analytical and post-analytical errors in hematology laboratory of a tertiary care hospital. Methods: Present study is a prospective study. All the samples received in hematology laboratory of our hospital over a period of one year were included in the study. All the pre-analytical variables such as clotted samples, quantity not sufficient, wrong sample, sample without label, wrong label and post analytical variables such as printing error, delayed dispatch of report and reports misplaced were noted & studied. Results: In the present study total 1, 21,470 samples were received in hematological laboratory over a period of one year. Preanalytical errors were noted in 1,218 samples. Clotted sample was noted in 573 cases, inadequate quantity in 213 cases, hemolysed sample in 176 cases, improper requisition form in 114 cases, improper container in 92 cases & diluted sample in 50 cases. Post analytical errors were noted in 213 samples. Delayed dispatch of report was noted in 107 cases, printing errors in 69 cases and misplaced reports in 37 cases. Conclusion: Preanalytical and post analytical errors in hematological laboratory can be reduced by regular analysis of the variables & regular education and training of staff concerned with blood collection & handling of blood samples.


Many academic disciplines in the UK have recently introduced subject benchmarks that specify core or minimum content for particular degrees. The article suggests that efficiency, quality, and transparency arguments in favour of such benchmarks may be undermined by problems in specification, identification, and implementation. By contrasting the programme specification for the Master's in development studies at Bath (overspecified) with the benchmark for Master's in management and business administration (underspecified), it suggests that an intermediate benchmark for development studies could usefully enhance transparency about what development studies is and what it has to offer. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The ternary scale of notation has basic arithmetic advantages in comparison with a classical binary scale of notation, it is more economic (by 1,5-2 times) and possesses big speed (less operations of shift and transfers when performing operations of addition, multiplication and division).The foundation of scale is number 3.The peculiarity of a ternary scale of notation is the usage for submission of each category of a number of three figures {,0,1 }, i.e. the basic system of elements must have a memory element with three steady states. Simple rules of addition, subtraction and multiplication for a ternary scale of notation have been developed. It is obvious that the operating systems that will demand a development of corresponding ADC and DAC will become one of the first usages of the processor with a ternary numeral system. In the article three variants of creation of DAC for a ternary numeral system have been considered. Implementation of DAC on an attenuator of a ladder type with summation of equal positive and negative currents is represented to the simplest. Formulas for calculation of resistors of an attenuator have been received. The experimental check of 5-digit DAC completely confirmed the appropriateness of the received analytical expressions. At turning on of each generator of current, tension was separately formed: 1500mv, 500mv, 167mv, 58mv, 19mv, i.e. a coefficient of division 3,000 was provided with the requisite accuracy. The option of creation of DAC with summation of tension on an attenuator of ladder type was considered. The analysis confirmed that such DAC can be constructed on resistors only of 2 face values. The experimental verification of the scheme of 5-digit DAC with summation of tension at R=2kom and 0,75r =1,5kom completely confirmed theoretical results. At a reference tension 5,000 B output tension made: 2500 mv, 833 mv, 278mv, 93 mv, 31 mv. The scheme DAC with summation of the weighed currents on an entrance of the operational amplifier was investigated. Weight resistors for basic tension 5,000B (REF02) were calculated. At experimental check of 5-digit DAC with weight resistors output tension corresponding to a ternary numeral system was also received. Thus, all three considered DAC can be used for the devices using a ternary numeral scale. The main difference of these DAC from traditional DAC in a binary numeral scale is application of three-position keys, other face values of resistors and by 1,5 times a smaller expense of the equipment. All three options of DAC can be realized in microelectronic execution.


It is a similar imperialism of the mind which inhibits western critics from making a sensitive assessment of the literature of the Third World. Whether this stems from a genuine ignorance compounded by a sense of racial superiority or from the fear of losing one's intellectual investment in African or Asian or Latin American studies is unimportant. What is to the point, however, is that these pundits should exercise the power of life and death over the works of Third World writers without themselves having done their homework or unloading their minds of imperial lumber. From Gandhi to Guevara is a corrective to such insensibility. Here, in this book of readings, are gathered the thoughts, the ideas, the dreams of men who


In this study, the Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC) emitted from wood-based panels were compared by two analytical methods using the GC/FID and the GC/MS. Japanese Larch, Yellow Poplar, Particle Board (PB) and Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) were selected as target materials. Major compounds emitted from the panels were Toluene, -pinene, -pinene and limonene. In case of TVOC using GC/FID method, MDF E2 (1,497 ) revealed the highest concentration among all wood-based panels, while Japanese Larch (1,772 ) showed the highest value with respect to GC/MS method. Furthermore, it was found that the amount of VOC emitted from panels was different depending upon analytical methods. This significant difference was attributed to analytical sensitivities of GC/FID and GC/MS for various VOC. Besides, it was found that the composition ratios of main VOC compounds were not significantly different.


Ewa Stanczyk's Contact Zone Identities is a book whose the value will be determined by the background, interests, and needs of the reader who takes it in hand. For the theoretically inclined, it will be a valuable and informative work, never more so than in its overview of postcolonial theory in Poland, a topic all the more engaging in that, while the jury may still be out on Poland as a "colonized" society, it certainly has served as a "colonizer" of others in the past. For the textual critics, it is a bit more problematic. One hopes that this is not the last text on Harasymowicz to come from Ewa Stanczyk's able pen and that future ones will eschew theory for closer readings.


The evolution of free D- and L-amino acids in sourdoughs started with various lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts was studied. Lactobacillus brevis subsp. lindneri CB1 and Lactobacillus plantrum DC400 had high proteolytic activity. During sourdough fermentation, Saccharomyces cerevisiae 141 and Saccharomyces exiguus M14 sequentially utilized free amino acids produced by bacterial activity. Due to increased cell yeast autolysis, more S. exiguus M14 inocula caused more free amino acids which were partially utilized by LAB without causing hydrolysis of wheat flour protein. D-alanine, D-glutamic acid and traces of other D-isomers were observed in sourdoughs fermented with L. brevis subsp. lindneri CB1 and S. cerevisiae 141. Free total D- and L-amino acid content decreased by more than 44% after baking the sourdoughs. No abiotic generation of new D-amino acid isomers was detected in the baked sourdoughs.


Amorphous solids, such as certain polymers, alloys, and polymer-based composites,are increasingly used materials in engineering components and thus, their fatigue behavioris of utmost importance. The article presents a unified approach suitable for modeling bothisothermal high cycle and low cycle fatigue behavior. The emphasis is placed on the ductilefatigue in which fatigue damage represents the material degeneration during the creation ofmicro-cracks governing majority of the total fatigue life (up to 95%). The model's capability fortechnologically important polycarbonate (PC) polymer is addressed. The results, in accordancewith experimental observations, favor ductile fatigue behavior, i.e. damage fields remain smallfor most of the fatigue life and do not cause the macroscopic stress reduction. Due to thisproperty, fatigue life of an entire structural element can be evaluated by exploiting singlelocations at which the fatigue damage decisively emerges.


Today's Internet service architectures rely extensively on distributed key-value stores (KV-stores) to meet their performance requirements. One of the bottlenecks lies in the un-balanced load among key-value store nodes caused by the skewed workloads. With the flexibility and power of programmable switch ASICs, in-network computing becomes a propeller of application performance. This paper introduces KVLB, a new system that uses the programmable switch to achieve load balancing between key-value store nodes. KVLB uses selective replication of hot items and allocates replica node locations to the hot items through multi-value hash. This allows the switch to reroute the hot item to the replica node through a multi-valued hash calculation and requires fewer hardware resources for programmable switch ASICs. Our experimental results on an initial prototype show that KVLB improves the throughput of KV-stores at various degrees of skew and rely only on a small amount of switch hardware resources.


[structure: see text]. Iodobenzene diacetate-mediated reactions of methylenecyclopropanes 1, vinylidenecyclopropanes 2, and a methylenecyclobutane 3a with phthalhydrazide give the corresponding [3+2] cycloaddition products in good yields under mild conditions. In these reactions, phthalhydrazide was transformed to a 1,3-dipole intermediate in the presence of iodobenzene diacetate. A plausible reaction mechanism has been proposed.


With the escalating temperature of the Chinese fever overseas,not only are more and more people learning Modern Chinese but the number of people learning Classical Chinese are also rapidly increasing.Many universities already have or are in the process of adding a Classical Chinese curriculum to their course offerings.Therefore,the medium of instruction to teaching Classical Chinese has become a controversial issue among experts and scholars.What factors should be considered when choosing the medium of instruction for teaching Classical Chinese? What is the current situation of Classical Chinese language teaching and its future trend overseas? What is enlightenment on the international promotion of Chinese.In this article,we analyze and discuss these questions by investigating the current status of Classical Chinese language teaching in more than 30 universities and colleges and through some email correspondence between the two parties on both sides of the argument.


Secretory carcinoma of breast is a rare malignancy of breast. It occurs at any age & is seen in both males and females. It is important to know that secretory carcinoma of breast can resemble other benign proliferative lesions, particularly lactational changes and lactating adenoma which could be major pitfall in the diagnosis of this lesion on FNAC. This case is being presented because of its rarity of occurrence.


This article examines the functioning of military power in the Petrograd garrison during the revolution of 1917. This problem is viewed as part of a study of the dual power system. Formally, all power over the soldiers in Petrograd belonged to the Commander-in-Chief and the headquarters of the Petrograd Military District. However, the conditions of the revolution created a new contact body between the Commander and the Petrograd Soviet called the Commander's Council. This body solved a wide range of issues, but mainly controlled the withdrawal of military units from the city. The history of the Council demonstrates the periodisation of dual power from February to October. At the beginning, mistrust, then cooperation, then an attempt by the military command to take all power into their own hands, and, finally, the struggle of the Soviet for complete control over the garrison, which ended with the October uprising. The article concludes that dual power in this period of political instability reduced distrust in the decisions of the military authorities. However, it took an effort on both sides to keep the system in balance; attempts to assume complete power led to an open struggle.


Softpower of the Korean Wave should be reinterpreted under the basic understanding of European Culture and Civilization. This paper presumes that European Culture can be, instead of Hellenism and Hebraism dichotomy, analysed and interpreted by three characteristics; Mythos, Pathos and Ethos. This three characteristics are mixed in the faces of European culture. Logos and Pathos are originated by Apolon and Dionysos. This paper finds that Hellenism is not objected by Hebraism but can be hamonized. This three faces are the main sources of European integration. In this context, in the age of global peace initiated by softpowers of G2, Korea needs to understand the origin of both China and European cultures to keep up with the world politics initiated by Softpowers of G2.


Transmission of digital audio and video streams is one of the major applications in future wireless networks. Increasing bandwidths and processing power make it possible to receive video streams almost everywhere. But the classes of mobile devices vary from multimedia enabled mobile phones to high-end notebooks. The capabilities of these devices such as display resolution, processing power, memory size or network connection vary also so that we have to deal with a great heterogeneity of client devices. Thus, content providers have to take into account plenty of different requirements when offering video streams to users with mobile devices. In this paper we present a comprehensive gateway architecture for multimedia streaming using IETF standard protocols such as RTSP and RTP. This gateway system provides a video adaptation service for users with mobile devices. A mobile client discovers an appropriate gateway by using a gateway location mechanism. Based on the capabilities of the mobile device as well as on the user's preferences, a suitable media format and adaptation method are chosen at the gateway by which the video is tailored to the requirements of the client.


Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM) is a technique of inferring the power consumption of each appliance from an aggregate power data gathered from a single metering point. Fridges and freezers occupy the central part of total power consumption. In this paper, an unsupervised approach based on DBSCAN (Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise) is proposed for identifying the temporal characteristic of fridges and freezes,and decomposing them from the aggregate data. Validation results on the publicly available ECO dataset have shown that the proposed approach is a promising solution to extract the pattern of fridges and that the approach can effectively disaggregate the consumption with more than 80% accuracy. Furthermore, the remaining parts of aggregate data after decomposition can be used for further NILM studies.


THE MODIFICATION OF SELECTED DISTINCTIVE FEATURE RULES OF ENGLISH IN SPANISH SPEAKING ADULTS BY SANDRA STOLWORTHY BROADHEAD, B.A. Master of Arts in Speech New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New Mexico, 1974 Doctor Edgar R. Garrett, Chairman This study had a two-fold purpose. It was concerned not only with the effect of programmed articulation therapy on Spanish speaking subjects; but also, it was concerned with the role that distinctive features play on the phonological rules that affect articulation of the English phonemes /v/, /1/, and /0/.. Fourteen adult Spanish speaking subjects were involved and each demonstrated a functional misarticulation. Programmed therapy proved to be a sufficient technique for improving misarticulation for the phonemes /v/ and /0/ but not for the phoneme /g/. A comparison between the Spanish distinctive features and the English distinctive features proved that Spanish subjects substituted known Spanish distinctive features for unknown English distinctive features, thus, explaining several misarticulations. These results are very important to the therapist for they point to an efficient therapy program and show that by looking at the underlying rules that it is possible to gain a broader and more complete picture of what is creating the misarticulations in each individual case of Spanish speaking adults.


Vehicle exhaust resonator so as to define a venturi effect region is characterized by comprising an intake pipe of the exhaust gases having a shape previously is narrowed. Air intake hole in a housing of the resonator provide a fluid passage between the outside of the cooling air and the resonator inside the intake chamber. The fluid passage in the intake chamber, a further air inlet in the exhaust pipe of the resonator is formed. By Venturi effect in the intake pipe section, occurs a pressure drop that draws air inside the intake chamber from the outside, this air, to mix with the exhaust gas is cooled is drawn into the exhaust pipe of the resonator.


Objective To investigate the effect of chewing gum on relieving gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Methods 16 patients with gastroesophageal reflux were divided into 2 groups, patients in experiment group chewed gum after eating, the patients in control group didn't. The pH in esophagus was detected at 24 hours before chewing and 14 days after chewing. The scores of symptom were recorded before experiment and 7 and 14 days after treatment. Results pH and score of symptom were 55.7±3.5 and 15.7±5.2 in experiment group before treatment, they were 26.7±2.8 and 7.0±5.2 after treatment. In control group, they were 56.1±3.3, 55.9±3.2, 14.8±5.0 and 14.2±5.0 separately. The difference between two groups after treatment was significant (P0.01). Conclusions Chewing gum can be the assistant treatment for patients with GERD.


In arguing that a narrow concept of utilitarianism is having a profound effect on multilateral institutions, especially the UN, the author states that alternating between hectoring and using the organization selectively cannot continue to characterize the U.S. stance toward the UN. The United States, he argues, must take a role in defining the UN's role and in building its capacity to act in areas where national and global interests coincide, signaling a return to ethical utilitarianism.


Abstract Women continue to have higher prevalence rates of functional impairment and depressive symptoms than men. In addition, women from certain ethnic groups experience disproportionately higher rates of ADL limitation, and are less likely to be screened for depression. The current study examines the association between race/ethnicity and depressive symptoms on functional limitations in Black, White and Hispanic women. We examined prevalence and adjusted odds of ADL limitations by race in n=9,846 women aged 50+ with low (CESD <4) and high (CESD =>4) depressive symptoms from the 2014 wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Overall, Black and Hispanic women had significantly higher rates of depression (p <.001) and ADL limitations (p<.001) than White women. Among those with high depressive symptoms, Black OR 1.98 [1.17, 3.34] and Hispanic OR 2.82 [1.42, 5.6] women have significantly higher rates of ADL limitations as compared to White women.


Variants of the ``hard‐core'' model for liquids were studied. In the hard‐core model the interaction between molecules consists of a perfectly rigid repulsive core and finite, negative outer potential. Of primary concern were values of the potential energy per molecule, call it u, for the various model systems. The model systems studied were the lattice gas, hard‐core models with long‐range outer potentials, and hard‐core models at high temperatures. For the cases studied it was found that at high density u is dominated by a term which is a function only of the density n. Furthermore, in several cases this function of density is given either approximately or exactly by —an, where a is a constant. It was noted that certain thermodynamic properties of liquids at high density and low pressure are consistent with a potential energy with a dominant term of the form —an.


In the knowledge and information-based society, school libraries function as a space for self-initiative learning. Thus, roles of librarians are getting more important to operate them efficiently. In addition, as teachers in general have direct influences on students' use of a school library as coop...


A Profile of Political Jurisdictions 1. Counties in the SWMD; 2. Brief overview of the communities in each county. This overview identifies the communities that make up the SWMD. The overview identifies the largest communities and other notable political jurisdictions located within the SWMD. B. Population 1. Reference year population 2. Population distribution – This section provides an overview of how the population is spread out among the member counties and the communities within each county as well as among incorporated and unincorporated areas. 3. Population change – This section summarizes projected population change throughout the planning period. Population change is typically based on projections that are made available by the Ohio Development Services Agency. C. Profile of Commercial and Institutional Sector This section provides a general overview of the SWMD's commercial and institutional sector, including the types or categories of businesses that influence waste generation and recycling practices, and projected change in the sector during the planning period. Commercial entities include non-manufacturing and service providing businesses such as retailers, restaurants, hospitals, farms, sport venues, amusement parks, etc. Institutional entities include government agencies, schools, universities, etc. D. Profile of Industrial Sector Characteristics – This section provides a general overview of SWMD's manufacturing sector, including the major industrial sectors and types of manufacturing businesses that influence waste generation and recycling practices, and projected change in the industrial sector during the planning period. E. Other Characteristics – This section describes any characteristics that are unique to the SWMD or that present the SWMD with waste management challenges.


This study presents a descriptive-analytical argument for exploring the concept of definiteness in Arabic adopting Chesterman's theory of definiteness as a scalar and non-binary system. It investigates the meanings and functions of the Arabic article al- focusing on the divergent nature of definiteness as indicated by this article. Results have shown that al- has different meanings which serve various functions of which definiteness is only one. It has three distinct structures (a) nominal al- (al al-mawṣūla) which functions as a relative noun, (b) an article of definiteness (al al-taʽrīf) and (c) augmented al- (al al-zā'ida). When used as a definite article, al- does not always indicate true definiteness; it can be used pragmatically to indicate verbal 'non-referential' definiteness (taʽrīf lafẓī) equal to what Chesterman refers to as 'inclusiveness' as an area of opposition in definiteness. This paper concludes that definiteness in Arabic is a scalar rather than a bi-polar concept where al- does serve, though not in all cases, as an article of definiteness. The oppositions indicated in the way definiteness are linguistically encoded and semantically decoded by Arabic definiteness constructions in general, and those indicated by the Arabic article al- in particular, are not discrete but scalar. It is recommended that definiteness is viewed as a continuum of scales and degrees depending on contextual pragmatic factors.


To the Editor: Dexmedetomidine has been used to treat agitation and delirium in the intensive care units (ICUs). However, there is very little literature reporting agitation following use of dexmedetomidine. A 45-year-old male weighing 72 kg presented to our pain clinic with sharp and lancinating pain on the right side of face and forehead for one year. The pain was not relieved by different medications and remained within the distribution of V1 and V2 divisions of the trigeminal nerve. His past history and physical examination were unremarkable. Radiofrequency ablation of the respective divisions under sedation was planned. In the operating, routine monitors such as ECG, noninvasive blood pressure (BP), SpO2, EtCO2 (via nasal prongs) were attached, baseline vitals recorded, and an intravenous (IV) access was secured. Oxygen was administered via nasal prongs at 2 L/minute and a loading dose of dexmedetomidine (1 lg/kg over 10 minutes)was startedwith an infusion pump. Five minutes later (35 lg dexmedetomidine infused), the patient displayed signs of agitation, disorientation, flailing of arms, and irritable behavior.His heart ratewas 96/min, BP130/84 mmHg, and SpO2100%. Dexmedetomidinewaspresumedtobe thepossible causeofagitation, and hence, the infusion was stopped; the patient was kept under observation. His behavior became normal after 15 minutes, and he had no recall of the event. Although the patient requested to proceed with the procedure, it was decided to postpone it to a later date. Aweek later, he underwent the procedure, uneventfully, under sedation with midazolam 2 mg and fentanyl 100 lg IV; there was no sign of agitation. The pain relief was complete, and there was no recurrence of agitation at 1-month follow-up. Dexmedetomidine is known to reduce emergence agitation during thepostoperativeperiod. It is alsoused to reduceagitationanddelirium in ICU as it has sedative and analgesic properties without respiratory depression. These effects are attributed to selective central presynaptic a-2 agonist properties, which inhibits the action of norepinephrine and epinephrine centrally and peripherally by inhibiting presynaptic as well as postsynaptic a-2 receptors. The reduction in central sympathetic activity which inhibits nociception is mainly responsible for reducing agitation. However, the presence of agitation during infusion in this case points toward the possibility of increase in central sympathetic activities. Agitation has been reportedwith the use of dexmedetomidine for prolonged ICU sedation (more than 24 hours), with an incidence of 2%. However, this is the first report of agitation with infusion of dexmedetomidine during procedural sedation, observed at a small dose of 0.5 lg/kg. We believe that dexmedetomidine may have some degree of unknown central postsynaptic a-receptor activity increasing sympathetic surge which may result in agitation. Caution must therefore be exercised, and possible occurrence of agitation may be anticipated during infusion of dexmedetomidine for procedural sedation. Sujoy Banik, MD, DM* Girija Prasad Rath, MD, DM* *Department of Neuroanaesthesiology and Critical Care, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (A.I.I.M.S.), New Delhi, India Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


The purpose of this study is to inform decision makers in Thailand about the cost implications of AIDS treatment. This information will be an incentive to use resources as effectively as possible,aiming at preventing AIDS and improving patientsu lives.  The research was done to analyze cost components to Government including(1) routine service cost: RSC (cost/IP day) by using the retrospective data base from the Division of Provincial Hospital during 1988-1991, (2) medical care cost:MCC(cost/case) by using the retrospective data from the available medical records of patients with AIDS/ARC during 1988-1992,and (3) external cost: EC (cost/case) to the relatives of the patients which was cross-sectional prospective data denved from inspection interview questionnaires collected in regional and general hospitals.  It was found that the RSC(labour and operating cost) was Thai Baht 341.19 per IP day ($US 13.65: costin 1992),the MCC(laboratory test,procedures and medication cost) was Thai Bahi 4.236.47 per case ($US169.460),and the EC was Thai Baht 1.153.91 per case ($US 46,16). The aggregation of RSC and average MCC is c Hospital Care Coste. By using these costs and epidemic information, it will be able to help the government in predicting resources needed for AIDS/ARC medical care. The cost incurred by patients and their relatives can reflect annual income and household burden. Therefore this analysis will be implied to socio-economic impact of AIDS/ARC.


Human blood leucocytes from certain individuals cultured alone — as "controls" for experiments designed to demonstrate the mutual reactivity of mixed cultures of leucocytes from different donors — revealed an intense proliferative response by the fifth day as measured by the incorporation of radioactive thymidine. Furthermore, thymidine incorporation into control leucocyte cultures from most donors was markedly elevated by the seventh day of culture. Because these high background levels tended to obscure the mutual reactivity of mixed leucocyte cultures, experiments were designed to elucidate the nature of and to circumvent these difficulties. By supplementing the growth media with human plasma, rather than calf serum, the background activity of the control cultures could be maintained at low levels without compromising the mutual reactivity of lymphocytes in the nixed cultures. One other source of variability which proved simple to control was the relative number of "contaminating" non-lymphoid cells in the cultures. This factor was important since, in the preparation of the leucocyte suspensions with erythrocyte sedimentation procedures, the number of contaminating granulocyte cell types can be expected to vary over a wide range.

Phytohemagglutinin (PHA) was used as a mitogen in experiments designed to define further some of the parameters of the lymphocyte response in vitro. When a standard number of lymphocytes — either as a "purified" suspension or as one containing significant numbers of contaminating granulocytes — was cultured with various concentrations of PHA, a dose-dependent response was observed. Partially purified lymphocyte suspensions were only one-half to one-third as active as non-purified leucocyte suspensions containing the same number of lymphocytes. This could not be attributed to a deleterious effect of PHA on purified cultures with a lower cell density since (1) the peak response of both cultures occurred with the same concentration of PHA, and (2) the maximal reactivity to PHA could be restored by increasing the granulocyte content.


Objectives Calpains are calcium dependent proteases that are reported to be implicated in processes such as signal transduction, cytoskeleton remodeling and apoptotic cell death. Upregulation of calpains have been seen in tumors and cancers including gastric cancer, breast, and ovarian cancer suggesting its activity in cancer development. However, their activity in colon cancer remain unknown. To investigate a potential role in colon cancer, we have stimulated human colon cancer cell line with WNT3A, Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF) and both for 24 hours. After WNT stimulation, the relative mRNA expression of calpain-8 and calpain-9 significantly increased, whereas TNF did not affect the expression of calpain-8 and 9. However, when stimulated with both; TNF has suppressed the ability of WNT to upregulate, suggesting an interaction between the two. We also found that calpain-9 to be highly expressed in murine colon through our immunohistochemical analysis. Taken together, our result suggest a possible role for calpains-8 and 9 that warrants further investigation. Methods Quantitative real-time PCR was used to analyze our stimulated RKO (colon cancer) cells. Slides of wildtype mouse colon tissue were treated with specific calpain antibodies to analyze calpain expression Results Wnt3a increased the expression of calpains 8 and 9 in RKO cells. The expression of calpains 8 and 9 in colon and stomach was made evident through our IHC results. Conclusions After wnt3a stimulation, the relative mRNA expression of calpains-8/9 increased by 18-fold. In contrast, stimulation with TNF did not affect calpain 8/9 expression in colon cancer cells. Interestingly, concurrent stimulation of TNF with wnt3a abrogated the ability of wnt3a to upregulate calpains 8/9, suggesting an interaction between the wnt3a and TNF signaling pathways. No significant change in calpains 1/2 were found with any stimulation, consistent with their known ubiquitous expression in most tissues. Furthermore, both calpains 8/9 were found to be expressed in the epithelium of murine colon as well as stomach. Previously reports describe an increase of calpain-2 activity in colorectal adenocarcinomas compared to normal mucosa While the expression of calpain-9 was reported to be decreased in gastric cancer, the expression in colorectal cancer is unknown. Further research is needed to determine the expression and consequence of calpain-8/9 in the normal colon and colon cancer.


This paper employs the event-related potential (ERP) paradigm to examine the neural responses to semantically anomalous but syntactically well-formed sentences. In the previous studies by Kim and Osterhout (2005) and Kim and Sikos (2011), L1 native speakers were observed to register a syntactically-induced late positivity (P600) rather than a semantically-induced earlier negativity (N400) for such sentences. This is somewhat surprising, in that those sentences are apparently not syntactically but semantically inappropriate. Since it has been still a moot point whether L2 learners capitalize on syntactic processes as fully as L1 (Clahsen and Felser, 2006), we take up the same type of sentences to probe into how Korean L2 learners of English understand them. It was found in the experiment that those sentences evoked N400 and in addition, 'anterior" P600 for L2 learners. We take these components to indicate that Korean learners of English detect semantic anomaly of those sentences right away, unable to anticipate syntactic reanalysis that those sentences call for. We also suggest that 'anterior" P600 recorded for L2 learners may point to a non-syntactic process, unlike 'posterior" P600 registered for L1 speakers that is definitely known to be a reflection of a syntactic process.


As an example,by teaching the Schmidt's orthogonalization method in advanced algebra,this paper describes the importance and the effects of teaching reform in advanced algebra with these three areas:taking the inner connection of knowledge;training students' radial cogitation,thinking the inadequacy of existing methods,making better methods and introducing the mind of mathematical experiment.


The problem of "human error" is pervasive in engineering systems in which the human is involved. In contrast to the common engineering approach of dealing with error probabilistically, the present research seeks to alleviate problems associated with error by gaining a greater understanding of causes and contributing factors from a human information processing perspective. The general approach involves identifying conditions which are hypothesized to contribute to errors, and experimentally creating the conditions in order to verify the hypotheses. The conceptual framework which serves as the basis for this research is discussed briefly, followed by a description of upcoming research. Finally, the potential relevance of this research to design, training, and aiding issues is discussed.


The notion of approximate resolution has its predecessor in inverse system,resolution and approximate inverse system. It is shown that among all conditions which characterize an approximate polyhedral resolution of a
topological space, only two of them are essential, which are usually denoted
by (AS) and (B1).


Background: Biofilm formation plays an important role in resistance of Staphylococcus aureus isolates; especially multidrug-resistant isolates are a threat to healthcare settings. Objectives: The aims of this study were to detect biofilm formation and presence of several related genes among multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolates of Staphylococcus aureus. Patients and Methods: A total Of 209 S. aureus strains were isolated from patients and identified by conventional diagnostic tests. The multidrug-resistant MRSA isolates were detected by antibiotic susceptibility test. The phenotypic biofilm formation was detected by micro-titre tissue plate assay. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to detect the mecA, Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome mec (SCCmec) types, accessory gene regulatory (agr) genes, the icaADBC and several genes encoding staphylococcal surface proteins including clfAB, fnbAB, fib, eno, can, ebps and bbp genes with specific primers. Results: Sixty-four (30.6%) isolates were methicillin-resistant, among which thirty-six (56.2%) were MDR. These isolates were resistant to amoxicillin, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, erythromycin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (except to 6 isolates). All the isolates were susceptible to vancomycin and linezolid. All the MDR-MRSA harbored SCCmec type III. All the MDR- MRSA isolates were strong biofilm producers in the phenotypic test. The majority of MDR- MRSA was belonged to agrI (67%, n = 24), followed by agr II (17%, n = 6), agrIV (11%, n = 4) and agrIII (5.5%, n = 2). The frequency of icaADBC genes were 75% (n = 27), 61% (n = 22), 72% (n = 26) and 72% (n = 26), respectively. Furthermore, the prevalence of clfA, clfB, fnbA, fnbB, fib, can, eno, ebps and bbp genes was 100%, 100%, 67%, 56%, 80%, 63%, 78%, 7% and 0%, respectively. Furthermore, approximately all the MRSA was strong biofilm producers. Conclusions: Multidrug-resistant isolates produced biofilm strongly and the majority harbored most of biofilm related genes, suggesting that biofilm formation is associated to the presence of these genes, and also biofilm production can increase the antibiotic resistance as have demonstrated in MDR-MRSA isolates.


Modern space probes such as Solar Orbiter employ a SpaceWire network to connect to on-board computer (OBC), solid state mass memory (SSMM), and scientific instruments. Management of SpaceWire links within scientific instruments is typically performed by a data processing module (DPM) featuring a space qualified processor that is executing on-board software. To adapt to changing mission requirements, account for failures and fix possible software bugs, the ability of uploading and patching instrument software is mandatory. However uploading and over-writing of the software's boot image cannot securely be performed by the software itself. If over-writing the boot image fails, the remaining image might be corrupted. So the processor may not be able to reboot successfully and no further upload would be possible. Therefore reception of uploaded patches must be performed by an independent entity. Currently, this is accomplished by a dedicated boot loader in separate memory area, to be qualified according to ECSS criticality category B. This boot loader processes uploading of patches and copies them to the second boot area, where the actual software including the operating system is stored. Due to the opportunity of modern processors to handle SpaceWire RMAP accesses (e.g. SpW-RTC, UT699, GR712RC [1], or upcoming NGMP [2]), it would be possible to perform uploading and patching of the instrument software independent of software execution using RMAP. This would dramatically simplify the development, eliminate the need for a class-B qualified boot loader, and will inherently improve reliability, as reception of patches would entirely be performed by hardware. This paper presents a possible update and patch process for boot images using hardware based RMAP features. Furthermore implications of the standard ECSS services affecting such patching routines are discussed.


misogynistic ideas and a more temporal misogamy, which often departs from its ascetic and philosophical antecedents in its attempts to dissuade would-be spouses from matrimony through example rather than authority (Wilson and Makowski 9-10). Although both works are narrative rather than dramatic in form, they expose theatricality as an integral part of "real" marriage. Theatricality is not only present in the experiences of the protagonists; these texts also borrow devices from the theatre as structuring principles, so that the reader, medieval or modern, is able to enjoy the spectacle of marriage from a comfortable distance, in the company of the author and sometimes those of his characters who either claim superior knowledge of the institution (allegorical figures in Deschamps) or control its day-to-day realities (most often, the wife - in both texts). What is meant by theatricality? At its most fundamental, it may be defined as "the theatrical quality of a dramatic work; conformity of this work to the characteristics and rules of theatrical art." It may also be a quality of any work which "presents characteristics of the theatre"; in other words, which contains elements specifically "conceived to produce an effect on [a collective] public."3 What, then, might such elements be? Josette Ferai (289-300) has identified three characteristics which constitute the essential foundation of all performance: 1. the manipulation of the body; 2. the manipulation of space; and


The paper explores the relationship between organizational strategies and human resource management strategies. Data was collected from owners or top managers and managers in charge of human resource issues of 100 small and medium sized companies operating in Turkey. Human resource strategies were analyzed on a unipolar dimension ranging from internal orientation to external orientation. An instrument was developed to measure Human resource practices based on human resource functions. Organizational strategy was measured using an instrument developed by Zajac and Shortell (1989) based on Miles and Snow's (1978; 1987) typology. The study revealed that prospector organizations were more likely to have an externally oriented human resource approach. A general external orientation in human resources is reflected in the recruitment, retention, and performance management functions of the organizations.


Because of the subjective character of symptoms, absence of a diagnostic test, modest response to treatments, and at times, patient reports of important functional disability, fibromyalgia remains a challenge for the treating health care professionals in the standard clinical practice.To develop an up to date consensus, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for treat to target management of fibromyalgia.15 key clinical questions were identified by a scientific committee according to the Patient/ Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcomes (PICO) approach. A literature review team performed a systematic review to summarize evidence advocating the benefits and harms of available pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic therapies for fibromyalgia. Subsequently, recommendations were formulated. The level of evidence was determined for each section using the Oxford Centre for Evidence-based Medicine (CEBM) system. A 3-round Delphi process was conducted with 16 experts. All rounds were conducted online. A consensus was achieved on the direction and the strength of the recommendations.An online questionnaire were sent to expert panel who participated in the three rounds (response rate 100%). At the end of round 3, a total of fifteen recommendation items, categorized into 10 sections to address the main fibromyalgia categories, were obtained. Agreement with the recommendations (rank 7-9) ranged from 85-100%. Consensus was reached (i.e.≥80%of respondents strongly agreed or agreed) on the wording of all the 15 clinical standards identified by the scientific committee. Algorithm for the management of fibromyalgia have been suggested.These recommendations provide an updated consensus on both the non-pharmacological as well as the pharmacological treatment of fibromyalgia. The provide strategies to reach optimal treat to target outcomes in common clinical scenarios, based on a combination of evidence and expert opinion. Best treatment decisions should be tailored to each individual patient situation.None declared


The aim of the inquiry is to study the current response in Europe to the problems of road transport, particularly the problems of increasing car use. The basic point of departure is the new Common Transport Policy (CTP) of the EU as of December 1992. Written documents containing strategies for the transformation of existing transport systems are interpreted and subjected to critical analysis focusing on the future role of the automobile in the transport systems. The report find that the present situation of road transport in Europe is a result of interaction failure rather than of market failure or government failure. The reason for this is lack of agreement in the perceptions of problems, goals, measures and their implementation. A way out of this dilemma is indicated; intensified controversies about the perceptions could create opportunities for new forms of interaction. (A)


Thermally stimulated depolarization (TSD), conductivity (TSC) and luminescence (TSL) are now firmly established as experimental techniques for the study of charge trapping and movement in solid dielectrics. However, TSD/TSL and TSC/TSL should be measured simultaneously on the same sample in order to maximise the information which can be drawn from the data; unfortunately few authors have reported simultaneous measurements. In this paper we present the results of simultaneous measurement of TSD/TSL and TSC/TSL on low density polyethylene samples X-irradiated in vacuum at liquid nitrogen temperature and subsequently heated to room temperature. In order to investigate the possible role of carbonyl (C = 0) groups in electron trapping, some samples were exposed to an oxygen/ozone mixture at 40°C and the resulting changes in the glow-curves noted. We also heated some samples to 100°C, before X-irradiating them at liquid nitrogen temperature, in order to investigate the possible dependence of the electron trapping sites on the morphology of the samples.


This study explores whether the multi-round national fertility survey carried out in Belgium from 1966-75 reflects the changes in fertility goals and behavior that have affected Belgium and other Western European countries since 1965. The sample of married women was interviewed in 1966, 1970-71, and 1975-76 concerning their expected and desired family size as well as their fertility outcomes. The changed fertility goals were more likely to be demonstrated by the younger women and the more recently married, who would still have the opportunity to adjust their fertility downward. The sample as a whole expected to have 2.5 children in 1966 and 1970 and actually had 2.5 children in 1975. Those married less than 5 years in 1966 expected to have 2.4 children in 1966, 2.3 in 1970, and actually had 2.1 in 1975. Couples with no children who were married less than 5 years in 1966 expected to have 1.8 in 1966, 1.5 in 1970, and actually had 1.0 in 1975. 18.2% of the 726 women had fewer children in 1975 than they had expected in 1966, 66.2% had the same number, and 15.6% had more. Those who had no children in 1975 had desired 1.82 in 1966, 1.67 in 1970, and 1.58 in 1975. Couples who had 2 children in 1975 had desired 2.36 in 1966, 2.23 in 1970, and 2.09 in 1975. Those with 3 had desired 2.81 in 1966, 2.54 in 1970, and 2.63 in 1975. All those with 3 or more children in 1975 had desired fewer children in 1966 and 1970 on average than they currently had.


The notion ofa successfulcoupling ofM arkov processes,based on the idea that both com ponentsofthecoupled system \intersect"in nitetim ewith probability one,isextended tocoversituationswhen thecouplingisunnecessarilyM arkovianand itscom ponentsareonly converging(in a certain sense)to each otherwith tim e.Undertheseassum ptionstheunique ergodicity ofthe originalM arkov process is proven. A price for this generalization is the weak convergenceto theuniqueinvariantm easureinstead ofthestrong one.Applying these ideasto in niteinteracting particlesystem sweconsidereven m oreinvolved situationswhen theuniqueergodicity can beproven only fora restriction oftheoriginalsystem to a certain classofinitialdistributions(e.g.translationalinvariantones).Q uestionsabouttheexistence ofinvariantm easureswith a given particledensity arediscussed aswell.


Multinational globally distributed projects have becomequite common despite the fact that they are complex and oftenchallenging. Communication between team members in suchprojects needs more effort from the team. This paper is a caseof two organizations, consisting of Finns, Indians and Israelis,working on a software project together. The paperconcentrates on the communication practices of theorganization.In this study communication practices used in caseorganizations are studied using semi-structured interviews andfield observations. The study also discusses the relationshipbetween the organizations and differences and similarities ofpractice usageThe conclusion of the research was that the practicessuggested in literature were known and used to some extent.They were also found to be useful in bridging the geographicdistance between teams. The results also emphasize theimportance of trust in projects.