PURPOSE: A method for synthesizing images and letters that are provided online is provided to enable the user to organize the program in an online network that uses HTTP protocol and enables connection with PCs, to store and supply diverse image data and the image analyzation design forms, to synthesize an image desired by the user by receiving images and letters provided by the user, and to allow simple designing of image synthesis to users who are unfamiliar with the program. CONSTITUTION: A user connects to the image synthesis device(200) in accordance to the general internet management method when the communication device(101), which is connected to the user(100), connects to the internet(1). The program connection starter(2) is initiated for image synthesis and the user is registered. The server(3) displays the background picture and the decoration picture in the picture displayer(4) and stores the selected picture in accordance to the selector(5). The letter input department(6) receives the user's temporary letters and displays the letters in the standard location of the picture and the letter displayer(7). The user adjusts the stored image and the letter by using the location adjuster(8). Once the location adjustment is completed, the completed image file is stored in the server(3) by the synthetic file creator(9) and transmitted to the user through the transmitter(10). The user's PC can download the transmitted image document and print the image through the printer(11).


Palladium-catalyzed cyclization of pyrrole and imidazole derivatives was studied. Some annelated isoindoles were synthesized via Pd(OAc)2-2PPh3 as catalyst. Regio selectivity and catalytic effect of different palladium compounds were discussed.


There have been distinct attitudes as to the practice of the natural resource leading stratagem or the information resource leading stratagem during the process of the open up of Western resources. By demonstrative research on the relationship among the gifts of the regional natural resources, the abundance of the information resources and the level of the economic development, the author thinks that the open up of the information resources should be dominant in the Go west Campaign.


During the process of entering into the nation's political system and realizing the national development,Naxi nationality by melting together multi-culture,such as Buddhism,Taoism,Confucianism,Superstition etc,created Naxi culture,in which Dong Ba culture is a very important part.During the process of political system construction and political life,Naxi culture,by forming the nation's special system and behaviou modes has influenced the process deeply,which is also the influence on the Naxi political culture.


Purpose: This study was conducted to describe the relationship of parents` stress, coping, and partnership between nurse and parents whose children were hospitalized in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Methods: A descriptive correlation study design was used. The participants were 81 parents whose children were hospitalized at S-hospital located in Seoul from October 18 to November 27, 2012. This study used the ``Parental Stress Scale: Pediatric Intensive Care Unit,`` the coping scale, and ``Pediatric Nurse Parents Partnership Scale, PNPPS``. The data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA and pearson correlation. Results: The parents of children hospitalized in pediatric intensive care unit were experiencing high level of stress (3.22±0.82). There was a significant positive correlation between parents` coping and nurse parents partnership (p<.001), however there was no relationship between parents` stress and coping, and parents` stress and nurse parents partnership. Conclusion: Nurse-parents partnership had significant relationship with parents` coping In the care of children hospitalized in pediatric intensive care unit. The results of this study provided a foundation to recognize importance of nurse parents partnership and to develop intervention program for nurses and parents to improve their partnership.


ABSTRACT This article presents the history of the administration of courts in Israel, from 1948 to circa 1995, unearthing a series of tensions that undergirded the management of Israeli courts throughout their history. It illustrates that judiciary-executive tensions, as well as intra-judiciary and other extra-judiciary tensions, informed the trajectory of Israeli court administration. Furthermore, the article singles out two outstanding figures in the history of the Israeli judiciary, chief justices Yitzhak Olshan and Meir Shamgar, whose lesser-known preoccupation with the administration of courts – alongside the work of even lesser-known Israeli jurists who "managed" Israeli courts for decades – is revealed in the article.


The paper deals with experimental studies into the level of hemolysis that accompanies the performance of artificial cardiac valves (ACV). The studies were conducted by two ways. The first study determined the level of hemolysis when artificial cardiac valves worked and donor blood performed. The second one was that a polymer was added to the model physiological fluid, the degree of hemolysis was determined by the changes occurring in the time of relaxation of elastic stress in the model fluid samples taken during tests. The experiments showed polyethylene oxide break-down to be the most accurately modelling process of hemolysis.


The stability of a relatively hydrophobic lipase from Pseudomonas sp., solubilized in reverse micellar media or suspended in dry solvents, was studied and compared. Factors such as the enzyme-solvent interaction, enzyme environment, hydration degree of the system, interphase quality, droplet size, and water activity were studied. A mixed micellar system which stabilized the lipase is reported. In the case of simple AOT micelles, lipase destabilization with respect to water in small droplet sizes and stabilization in the biggest micelles was observed. These effects resulted from lipase penetration into the interphase of the smaller nanodroplets, and the restriction of its conformational mobility in the region of structured water of the largest micelles, respectively. Mixed micelles increased lipase stability, which was mainly related to increased droplet size. Modification with polyethylene glycol decreased lipase stability in reverse micelles, due to the greater interaction with the micellar interphase. T...


This paper presents a control method proposed for power optimization in photovoltaic system. This is to ensure that power generated is maximized under different conditions. Due to partial shading conditions, the power-voltage characteristics exhibit multiple local maxima; one of such phenomena is the global maximum. Such conditions are very challenging for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique to locate the global maximum. Many tracking algorithms have been proposed for this purpose. One of the most commonly used techniques is the incremental conductance. In this paper, a hybrid MPPT technique combining particle swarm optimization and incremental conductance for photovoltaic system is proposed. Initially, the incremental conductance method is employed to locate the nearest local maximum; then, the PSO method is used to search for the global maximum point. The advantage of using the proposed hybrid method is that the searching area of the PSO is reduced, and hence, the time that is required for convergence greatly reduced. The excellent performance of the proposed method is verified by comparing it against the conventional PSO method using simulation model. The results show better response time of the proposed system.


Lower extremity rehabilitation-assisted exoskeleton robots bring together multiple disciplines such as biomechanics, control engineering, robotics, and computer science. The main role of lower extremity rehabilitation exoskeleton robots is to help patients and rehabilitators to maintain or restore the mobility of lower extremities, therefore, proper research and discussion of human gait analysis is the basis for establishing and improving such exoskeleton robots. To analyse and evaluate the positive effects of modern technology on stroke patients, the development of human gait capture and simulation technologies will be mainly summarized, the latest human gait capture and simulation technologies will be classified and evaluated. And through a comprehensive review and analysis of research advances in these areas, the usefulness of lower extremity rehabilitation-assisted exoskeleton robots for stroke populations is evaluated. This paper is informative in studying the usefulness of a lower limb exoskeleton robot combined with gait capture and simulation technology for rehabilitation training of stroke patients.


Interactive cinema will soon be a reality, following the current evolution of computer games. So far, however, interactivity is still limited, in particular because it is based on conscious operations of the viewer (e.g. through buttons, joystick, keyboards, voice, gestures). Instead, it would be desirable to adapt the movie plot to the viewers state of mind, without the need of deliberate actions, just by means of thoughts, unconscious preferences, and feelings. Such an interaction would represent an interesting alternative to traditional ways of movie watching, and an advance with respect to more mechanical types of interactivity.


The invention relates to a high-concentration mixed alcohol fuel and a manufacturing method thereof. The manufacturing method comprises the following step that: alcohol, naphtha, isopropyl alcohol, butanol alcohol and toluene are mixed according to a certain proportion so as to obtain a finished product. The high-concentration mixed alcohol fuel has lower production cost, and greatly reduces emission as compared with the prior fuel; moreover, the mixed alcohol fuel has high combustion rate and abundant combustion heat.


Based on the mathematical model of the permanent-magnet synchronous-motor(PMSM), a novel method for modeling and simulation of PMSM system in Matlab had been proposed. In Matlab/Simulink, the independent functional blocks and such as PMSM block, vector controller block, hysteresis current controller block and speed controller, ect., had been modeled. By the organic combination of these blocks, the model of PMSM could be easily established. In the double loop of control system, a PI controller was adopted in the speed loop and a hysteresis current controller was adopted in the current loop. The reasonability and validity had been testified by the simulation results. The novel method offers a new platform for designing and debugging actual motors.


This paper proposes an effective framework for the assume-guarantee verification of component-based software in the context of component evolution at system design level. In this framework, when a component is evolved after adapting some refinements, we do not recheck all components in the evolved system, but only the evolved component. For this purpose, if the design model of the evolved component satisfies the current assumption of the system before evolving, the evolved system still satisfies the required property. Otherwise, if the assumption is too strong to be satisfied by the model, a new assumption must be generated again. We propose two methods for regenerating the new assumption called assumption regeneration and minimized assumption regeneration. The methods reuse the assumption to reduce a large number of required membership queries and candidate assumptions which are needed to generate again the new assumption. An implementation and experimental results are presented.


SIR,-The paper by Dr. A. M. S. Mason and others (5 December, p. 596) on fibrosing alveolitis with renal tubular acidosis has prompted us to write of a case under our care at present. The seven cases of fibrosing alveolitis studied by them had a normal response to an ammonium chloride load. We have seen a renal acidification defect develop in a woman with Sjogren's syndrome, fibrosing alveolitis, and hyperglobulinaemic purpura. The patient presented in 1954 at the age of 54 with keratoconjunctivitis sicca and xerostomia. Three years later she developed Waldenstrom's hvperglobulinaemic purpura and fibrosing alveolitis. In May 1969 she was able to elaborate urine of pH less than 5 3. She was admitted to Northwick Park Hospital on 11 November 1970 having recently had a sore throat which had made her reluctant to drink. On examination she was grossly dehydrated and confused. After rehvdration she remained acidotic (plasma bicarbonate 15 m Eq/I.) and despite this her urine pH was never below 6.2. Thus between May 1969 and now this patient has developed renal tubular acidosis. In sequence our patient presented with Siogren's syndrome, hvnerglobulinaemic purpura, fibrosing alveolitis, and renal tubular acidosis. We believe that this is the first occasion on which an acidification defect has been seen to appear in such a case. Full details are to be presented.'-We are, etc., A. M. ZALIN. JOAN WEEPLE. M. GUMPEL. Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, Middx.


"ElectrizArte" (spanish words combinedfrom "electrify" and "art") consists of an extracurricular activity where students design, implement and operate electronic projects in which they combine arts with engineering. The students develop both engineering and artistic components of the event. The objectives of ElectrizArte are: use engineering to magnify the perception of the arts and conversely, use arts to show the capabilities of engineering. Another motivation for the students: they usually suffered from misunderstandings ofwhat they do at school, among family and friends. This certainly undermines their motivation can affect their academic performance. With ElectrizArte, they can show off their abilities and demonstrate what they are capable of, and along the way, spark interest in engineering among the general public. The projects were conceived, designed and developed by 30 undergraduate students during the Winter quarter in 2011, and included fields such as: photonics, computer vision, power electronics, and digital electronics. Students have their own motivation and had to learn in those topics by themselves.All projects were shown to the general public at acampus-wide event, and as a result, students had a real world design experience, a hands-on project and new knowledge complementing their academic courses. ElectrizArte proved to be an attractive way to engage students in extracurricular activities including engineering and art, for the benefit and satisfaction of the participants. This activity is now likely to become an annual tradition.


In order to determine the stock structure of the cresthead flounder Pleuronectes schrenki around Hokkaido, stocks were separated by morphometric characters and tagging experiments. The twenty morphometric characters of cresthead flounder (male: 543, female: 464) collected from ten locations be tween October 1993 and November 1994 were measured. Measurements were standardized to all male and female mean body length. When canonical discriminant analysis was applied to eleven morphomet ric characters which were selected by stepwise discriminant analysis, the cresthead flounder stocks were classified into two groups, i.e. the sea group and the lake group. Tagged cresthead flounders of 1,011 individuals were released from Abashiri Bay and the Sea of Okhotsk off Saroma Lake between 1993 and 1995. A total of 40 recaptures of individuals released off Sa roma Lake were caught in the tagging area between April 1993 and September 1995. A total of 43 recap tures of those released in Abashiri Bay were caught in the northwestward region from Abashiri Bay and the Japan Sea coast of Hokkaido between April 1995 and December 1996. Tag recaptures were com pared with the results of the canonical discriminant analysis.


Objective
To discuss the correlation between the serum cortisol level and C type behaviors of perioperative patients with lung cancer.

Methods
A total of 100 patients from the thoracic department of Anhui Provincial Hospital were enrolled as the study object. The general information, the serum cortisol level, the C type behavior of perioperative patients with lung cancer were investigated by using the General Information Questionnaire, Serum cortisol testing and C Type Behavior Scales.

Results
The serum cortisol level of 100 patients was (447.85±87.65)μg/L. The C Type Behaviors Scale showed that the scores of anxiety were significantly higher in these patients than in the norm, P <0.05, depression scores were significantly higher in these patients than in the norm, P<0.01, while the extroversion anger, reason, optimism and social support were significantly lower, P<0.01. The serum cortisol of patients was positively correlated with anxiety, depression and introversion anger of C type behaviors, r=0.215, 0.241, 0.225, P < 0.05. The serum cortisol of patients was negatively correlated with optimism and social support of C type behaviors, r=-0.223,-0.276, P<0.05.

Conclusions
The serum cortisol level of perioperative patients was higher than the norm, and correlated with the C type behaviors.

Key words:
Lung neoplasms; Perioperative nursing; Hydrocortisone; Patients; C type behaviors


Online hate speech has been a topic of public concern and research interest for some time. Initially the focus of this centred on the proliferation of online groups and websites promoting and distributing discriminatory content. Since the introduction of more interactive tools and platforms in the mid-2000s that enabled new and faster ways of disseminating content in a relatively anonymous fashion, concerns about online hate speech becoming a pervasive behavior have increased.Current research and analysis acknowledge the complex nature of online hate, the mediating role of technology and the influence of other contextual factors (e.g. social or political events). However, despite the growing attention on the topic, New Zealand-based research looking at personal experiences and/or exposure to online hate is surprisingly absent. This study seeks to address this gap. It builds on existing international research on young people's experiences to explore those of the adult New Zealand population based on a nationally representative sample. The research instrument used for this study was an online survey. The survey was administered by Colmar Brunton in June 2018. The maximum margin of error for the whole population is ±3.1% at the 95% confidence level. The sample is representative of the wider population on key demographics: age, gender, ethnicity, and location.


Description and discussion of a series of experiments which vary each of several important processing parameters including wafer orientation, temperature, gravity greater than 1 g, and ultimately zero gravity. These experiments are in progress and results to date are included from experiments which control temperature, duration of thermal cycle, and wafer orientation during 1 g processing. Preliminary evidence is presented which indicates that gravitational stresses play a role in defect generation during processing at 1 g.


A new two-dimensional (2D) coordination polymer of the formula {Cu(ox)(4-Hmpz)·1/3H2O}n (1) (ox = oxalate and 4-Hmpz = 4-methyl-1H-pyrazole) has been prepared, and its structure has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. It consists of corrugated oxalato-bridged copper(II) neutral layers featuring two alternating bridging modes of the oxalate group within each layer, the symmetric bis-bidentate (μ-κ2O1,O2:κ2O2′,O1′) and the asymmetric bis(bidentate/monodentate) (μ4-κO1:κ2O1,O2:κO2′:κ2O2′,O1′) coordination modes. The three crystallographically independent six-coordinate copper(II) ions that occur in 1 have tetragonally elongated surroundings with three oxygen atoms from two oxalate ligands, a methylpyrazole-nitrogen defining the equatorial plane, and two other oxalate-oxygen atoms occupying the axial positions. The monodentate 4-Hmpz ligands alternatively extrude above and below each oxalate-bridged copper(II) layer, and the water molecules of crystallization are located between the layers. Compound 1 exhibits a fast and selective adsorption of methylamine vapors to afford the adsorbate of formula {Cu(ox)(4-Hmpz)·3MeNH2·1/3H2O}n (2), which is accompanied by a concomitant color change from cyan to deep blue. Compound 2 transforms into {Cu(ox)(4-Hmpz)·MeNH2·1/3H2O}n (3) under vacuum for three hours. The cryomagnetic study of 1–3 revealed a unique switching from strong (1) to weak (2 and 3) antiferromagnetic interactions. The external control of the optical and magnetic properties along this series of compounds might make them suitable candidates for switching optical and magnetic devices for chemical sensing.


The U.S. Federal Emission Standards ruled that particulate emissions from '87 models should be no more than 0.20 g/mile for passenger cars and 0.26 g/mile for light-duty trucks. A complete ceramic swirl chamber with a heat insulating air gap has been developed to meet the above standards without sacrificing fuel economy or power output. The whole process by which the ceramic swirl chamber was developed is described: optimization of materials, design, manufacturing, and the method and system of quality control. The results of long term durability tests are described, which demonstrate the chamber's excellent reliability.


The Norrish type I1 photochemistry of five alkylphenones, PhCO(CH2),H (la, n = 4; lb , n = 10; IC, n = 17; Id, n = 19; le, n = 21), 10-nonadecanone (2), and 2-undecanone (3) was studied in the isotropic, smectic, and solid phases of n-butyl stearate. The ratio of elimination-to-cyclization products for ketones lc-e and 2 exhibits a strong phase dependence with a 7-8-fold increase in the smectic phase relative to the isotropic phase. The ratio of isomeric cyclobutanols from 2 shows a similar change. Further increases in the elimination-to-cyclization ratio are observed for Id in the solid phase. The product ratios for ketones la, lb, and 3 are the same in all the phases studied. Transient absorption studies on the intermediate 1,4-biradical produced from laser flash photolysis of Id yield lifetimes of 64 i 5 and 70 f 5 ns in the isotropic and smectic phases, respectively. These results are explained in terms of the structures of the various phases of n-butyl stearate and the accepted behavior of Norrish type I1 biradicals. The Norrish Type I1 reaction is one of the most extensively studied and best understood photochemical reactions of The efficiency of the type I1 reaction is known to be a sensitive function of solvent polarity,2b temperature,2c and substitution.2d The wealth of data available on this reaction in homogeneous solutions has made it a useful probe for the properties of a variety of unusual environments. Numerous studies have appeared involving type I1 ketone photochemistry in media such as micelles$5 monolayer^,^ polymers,6 inclusion compounds,' and crystalline solids.6,8 It has previously been shown that the ordered structure in liquid crystalline solvents can influence the outcome of a variety of chemical reactions. Dimerization reaction^,^ radical-pair dynamics,' and unimolecular isomerizations1° have been shown to depend on the phase of the liquid crystalline solvent. In particular, the efficiency of the type I1 reaction of a-diketoneslla and the ease of intramolecular excimer formation from a,w-bis( 1-pyreny1)alkanesIlb have been shown to depend on the solvent molecular order. Type I1 reactivity of ketones is known to be influenced strongly by conformational flexibility in the m~lecule .~ Since it is possible that the ordered structure of liquid crystalline mesophases may impart some control on the conformational dynamics of dissolved solute molecules,I0J1 we have studied the type I1 photochemistry of five n-alkylphenones (la-e) and two dialkyl ketones, IO-nonadecanone (2) and 2-undecanone (3), in isotropic and liquid crystalline solvents. The liquid crystal used was n-butyl stearate which exhibits an isotropic phase above 26.1 "C and a smectic phase between 15.0 and 26.1 OC. The smectic phase consists of discrete layers of fully extended, hexagonally close-packed molecules in which the long axes are parallel to one another and perpendicular to the layer planes1*


The modelling of large systems is greatly simplified if their hierarchical decomposition and interconnection structure can be described graphically. The paper describes a system allowing input of block diagrams and continuous zooming to view internal details. Model equations are automatically transformed to assignment statements when possible, allowing efficient explicit integration routines to be used without additional burdens for the modeller


The extinction of radiation in suspensions is traditionally described by the Bouguer-Lambert-Beer law (BLBL). Based on a quasi-continuum approach, the BLBL does not account for the discrete nature of particles or their spatial extension and arrangement. If an extinction measurement is made with a high spatial and temporal resolution, the transmitted intensity signal shows significant fluctuations. The strength of fluctuation is related to the physical properties of the suspension and the process of spatial and temporal averaging. Exploiting this connection, it is possible to calculate the particle size distribution and the particle concentration from transmission measurements.

This second part provides an analytical solution for the description of transmission fluctuations in terms of the expectancy of the transmission square, including both variations of the beam diameter to particle diameter ratio and variation of the temporal resolution of the signal capture.

The result also provides the basis for describing the transmission fluctuations for beams of variable diameter and allows to define a measurement volume for the case of focussed beams.


It is shown that electromagnetically induced vibratory forces on the stator windings of large turbine?generators can be substantially reduced by using winding arrangements that permit an increased number of stator slots. Three methods for doing this without increasing the generator voltage are described: delta-connected windings, a new three-phase winding system using variable-pitch coils, and a " multi-three-phase" system using a six-phase generator, six buses, and a six-phase-three-phase power conversion in the generator stepup transformers. Generator voltages may be equal to, or slightly lower than, present levels. In some cases bus and transformer costs may be slightly higher, but this will be more than offset if the generator availability (over the life of the equipment) is increased by even a few days because of the reduced duty. Additional benefits in the generator design, in operating characteristics, and in the ability to build larger kVA ratings are described.


Within the framework of geometrical optics, we obtain the on-axis Gaussian beam scattering of nonuniform glass microbeads. The phase shift due to the optical path is deduced and the scattering angles of the p ray are given. On the basis of this work, the scattering intensity distribution is calculated and compared with that obtained by the generalized Lorenz–Mie theory. As indicated by the comparison, the surface wave effect of this gradient index (GRIN) microbead is smaller than that of a homogeneous microbead. The calculation time of the geometrical-optics approximation (GOA) is much less than that of generalized Lorenz–Mie theory (GLMT).


ABSTRACT Polycarbonate/aluminum alloy hybrids were prepared using a homemade ultrasound-assisted hot pressing molding (UAHPM) technique, and their properties and structures at the plastic-metal interface were also investigated. The aluminum alloy surface was chemically etched and anodized to form micron and nano-holes structures. The joint strength of 21.58 MPa was achieved at the optimum molding process by optimizing the process parameters of ultrasonic hot compression molding. The specific structure and morphology of the polycarbonate/aluminum hybrid material bonding layer were observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) using the ultrathin sectioning technique, and the plastic embedding depth reached about 3.8 µm under the optimal process conditions. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis revealed that the bonding layer not only has a micro-nano interlocking structure but also forms an Al-O-C chemical bonding interaction. The plastic in the bonding layer was exposed by dissolving the aluminum alloy of the joint, and the filling form of the plastic in the micro-nanoholes was directly observed.


To determine whether or not tolerance limits at the germination stage of development and annual germination patterns affect plant distribution in an inland salt marsh, we assessed germination of dimorphic seeds for Atriplex prostrata Boucher ex DC. and Salicornia europaea L. under field and laboratory conditions. Statistically significant differences were found in germination across marsh zones for both species in the field. However, germination percentages for small seeds of A. prostrata and S. europaea were above 50% and 75%, respectively, across all zones for seeds placed on the surface. For large seeds of each species placed on the surface, germination was above 90% across all zones. Small seeds for both species had primary dormancy, a light requirement for germination, and appeared to exhibit dormancy cycling. Large seeds of A. prostrata were nondormant from December through March, whereas large seeds of S. europaea were nondormant when produced. Persistent seed banks were most likely to be formed fr...


Swollen physical magneto-responsive gels were obtained by self-assembly of triblock copolymers containing dispersed soft magnetic particles. When subject to simple shear cyclic loading–unloading cycles in the presence of a magnetic field, magnetorheological (MR) gels show a stress hardening behavior. The stress-hardening was characterized by the increase of the maximum stress against the number of cycles. Most of the stress increases are achieved in the first and second cycles and only minor effects take place in the subsequent ones. The cyclic behaviour of MR gels with dilute particle volume fraction is also studied with the help of a homemade shear cell mounted on an optical microscope. Despite the difference of particle volume fraction, we are able to relate cyclic stress hardening to the change in particle–particle distribution observed directly at the microscopic scale. While anisotropic particle strings created by a pre-structuring process (original sample alignment) still has many defects, the history of simple shear in the presence of the magnetic field gradually removes the defects of the particle strings and helps them to relax towards a zipped cluster. We show here the first directly observed example of the shear-annealing effect in MR gels. The shear induced rearrangement of the particle network serves as the microscopic origins of the above mentioned cyclic stress hardening behavior of MR gels and seems to be fully reversible after the removal of the magnetic field. Results show that a slow quiescent process also takes place and it is suggested to be related to solvent flow outwards of the clusters, while they get more compact. Interestingly, all directly observed rearrangements including string breaking seem to be fully reversible after removal of the magnetic field.


All wastewater utilities have a primary obligation towards their customers to maintain the level of service and improve it wherever and whenever possible. The secondary goals are to rejuvenate the system and stem the decline in capital value. With the private sector increasingly foraying into the water and wastewater sector, long-run profitability is also becoming one of the considerations in decision-making. In Oslo, in the period 1991-2006, the operation and maintenance expenses on wastewater pipelines were higher than the investments, the network aged and its capital value plummeted. Changes in approach are very much necessary. One would ponder over whether the pipelines should be depreciated over a longer period than the 40 years which is adopted now? Should the economic method be replaced by a more engineering-based method, whereby the pipes are assessed 'on merit' – on the basis of their service lives? There are numerous issues and a good decision will ease the road ahead. This paper, using Life Cycle Costing Analysis and scenarios therein, looks at how the Oslo water/wastewater utility could strike a balance between expending on O&M, investing in upgrading the network, and decelerating the ageing of the network while augmenting the capital value, and what is the best attainable set of targets they could aim for, at the end of the next 20 years. A vis -a-vis study of the engineering and economic approaches, is attempted in this paper.


The current trend of torpedo development is summarized by analyzing the change in torpedo technologies showed on the undersea defense technology (UDT) conferences and exhibitions held in Europe in recent years. With regard to the ideas of torpedo development, a more practical approach is adopted by major western countries to ensure the reliable and effective torpedo weapons in real warfare scenarios, which includes serial development of torpedoes and gradual improvement of torpedo performances on the basis of cost-effectiveness principle and the method of "build-test-build". As for torpedo design, the major improvements are currently focused on the fields of guidance, propulsion, stealth, and littoral operations, etc. The reliability, supportability and low cost are also pursued in design. In guidance system, the standard common bus, integrated design and open architecture system with commercial-off-the shelf (COTS) electronics are usually utilized for easy extension, rapid upgrade of software and hardware, and improvement of tactical performance. The practical results show that those ideas meet the requirements and can achieve significant comprehensive performances with minimum cost.


Mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells (MSC/MPC) from a variety of tissue sources (bone marrow, adipose tissue, fat pads, synovial membranes, synovial fluid, skin, muscle and periosteal tissue) have been widely applied for tissue engineering applications to generate replacements for injured or degenerated tissues. Alternatively, they have also been injected as free cells in an attempt to facilitate in vivo repair. Nearly all studies reported have used mixed cell populations of MSC/MPC, usually defined by cell surface phenotypes and/or functional ability to differentiate towards multiple cell lineages. Using more detailed cell surface phenotyping and limiting dilution approaches to isolate individual MSC/MPC clones have indicated that such mixed cell populations are very heterogeneous. In addition subsets of cells from different sources may have epigenetic modifications. While it is clear that MSC/MPC cells exhibit heterogeneity, the question of why this is the case has not been well addressed. This review will address some of these issues, as well as provide some insights into the implications when using such diverse cells for tissue engineering applications.


It is well established that phospholipase C (PLC) h1 plays a role in the nuclear compartment and is involved in the signalling pathway that controls the switching of the erythroleukemia cells programming from an undifferentiated to a differentiated state. Constitutive overexpression of nuclear PLCh1 has been previously shown to inhibit Friend cells differentiation. For further characterization, we investigated the localization of PLCh1a and PLCh1b in Friend cells by fusing their cDNA to enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP). To investigate the potential target of nuclear PLCh1 in Friend differentiation, we studied the expression of p45/NF-E2 transcription factor, which is an enhancer binding protein for expression of the h-globin gene and the expression of GATA proteins that are important for the survival and differentiation of erythroid cells. Our data suggest that the overexpression of PLCh1 (both 1a and 1b) only in the nuclear compartment significantly reduces the expression of p45/NF-E2. The effect observed is attributable to the specific action of nuclear PLCh1 signalling given that GATA-1 and GATA-3 are not affected at all. Here we show the existence of a unique target, i.e. the transcription factor p45/NF-E2, whose expression is specifically inhibited by the nuclear signalling evoked by PLCh1 forms. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.


Disclosed is a method for electroless-copper-plating a through-hole of a printed circuit board in which a conductive layer and a non-conductive layer are laminated. The method comprises the following steps of: allowing a through-hole to be negative ions by using an alkaline pre-dip solution; catalyst-treating the through-hole by using a catalyst solution including a complex compound formed of a palladium ion ligand and a palladium ion selected from pyridine or 3-pyridinemethanol; and electroless-copper-plating a surface of the through-hole.


In large wind farms, wake distribution behind a wind turbine causes a considerable reduction of wind velocity for downstream wind turbines, resulting in a significant amount of power loss. Therefore, it is very crucial to predict wind turbine wakes efficiently. Thus, we propose a large-eddy simulation (LES) methodology, which takes the vorticity stretching to model transients in wind turbine wakes. In addition, we present an improved actuator disk model, which accounts for two-way feedback between the atmosphere and the wakes. First, we show that the vertical profile of the mean wind predicted with the new model has an excellent agreement with experimental measurements. Next, we validate the predicted Reynolds stresses against wind tunnel data and show that the dispersive stresses account for about 40% of Reynolds stresses. Finally, we show that the proposed LES method accurately predicts the characteristics of wind turbine wakes. Comparing the LES results with previously reported data, we have found that the new LES framework accurately predicts the flow statistics in both the near-wake and the far-wake regions.


This paper is devoted to the performance analysis of the detectors proposed in the companion paper (Orlando et al., 2022) where a comprehensive design framework is presented for the adaptive detection of subspace signals. The framework addresses four variations on subspace detection: the subspace may be known or known only by its dimension; consecutive visits to the subspace may be unconstrained or they may be constrained by a prior probability distribution. In this paper, Monte Carlo simulations are used to compare the detectors derived in (Orlando et al., 2022) with estimate-and-plug (EP) approximations of the generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) detectors. Remarkably, some of the EP approximations appear here for the first time (at least to the best of the authors' knowledge). The numerical examples indicate that GLR detectors are effective for the detection of partially-known signals affected by inherent uncertainties due to the system or the operating environment. In particular, if the signal subspace is known, GLR detectors tend to ouperform EP detectors. If, instead, the signal subspace is known only by its dimension, the performance of GLR and EP detectors is very similar. Actually, there does not exist a general rule for recommending the first-order approach with respect to the second-order one and vice versa. Nevertheless, the analysis contains a specific case where the second-order detectors can outperform the first-order detectors.


The academic mainstream in the period of late Ming and early Qing transformed from the doctrine of mind to the doctrine of textual criticism. The internal drive of the transformation was rooted in the critical trend of thought in then intellectual circles which renounced the declining Neo - Confucianism . At that time the country was going through a historical turn from the fall of the Ming Dynasty to the establishment of the Qing. As a result a national rejuvenation gave way to a national salvation, and the focus of enlightenment turned from political reforms to nationalism. Intellectually, in the process of criticizing the empty and even useless doctrine of mind advocated by the Ming Neo - Confucianism the doctrine of textual criticism began to rise as an ideological weapon in opposition to the Qing Dynasty.


ABSTRACT Biogenic phosphates in some diagenetically modified sandstones are subject to pressure solution by detrital quartz and/or to replacement by silica. Silica replacement preserves the shape of the fossil, whereas pressure solution destroys the fossil and leaves a welded aggregate of quartz. In either case the resulting product is distinctive, and its recognition should enable petrographers to document the former presence of biogenic phosphates in diagenetically altered sandstone.


The author discusses the historical impact of heroism as a motivating force toward positive change and an ever-present need for physician commitment to integrity and ethics in shaping the future of neurosurgery.


Poly (ethylene terephthalate), PET, fibrous assembly was treated by atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) jet with three different reactive gas sources, air, nitrogen and argon. The change in the wettability of single fiber surface due to the treatment was determined by the wetting force measurement with moving the fiber/water/air three-phase boundary. Both advancing and receding contact angles of water on the PET fiber decreased considerably by the APP treatment, even if the hydrophobic recovery of the treated fiber surface after the aging in air and rinsing with water was taken into consideration. The contact angles on a treated single fiber surface showed periodic variation along the fiber axis, indicating that the fiber surfaces were not treated uniformly because of fiber crimps due to the structure of the fibrous assembly. The water wicking into the capillaries of the fibrous assembly was promoted after the APP treatment, in good agreement with single fiber wettability. From X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy, the oxygen concentration and the roughness on the PET fiber surface were found to enhance after the APP treatment. The above changes in the surface properties of a single fiber were remarkable for using nitrogen as a reactive gas.


SEVERAL investigations have dealt with the sensory impulses produced in the cutaneous nerves of the frog by stimulating the skin [Adrian, 1926; Bronk, 1929; Matthews, 1929], but until recently there was no certain method of restricting the discharge to a single nerve fibre. Sharp localization of the stimulus goes some way towards this, but there is so much overlapping in the areas of distribution of the sensory fibres that we can rarely be sure of confining the excitation to one of them. Section of all but one of the fibres might be tried, but owing to the arrangement of the connective tissue in the nerves of the frog it would be exceedingly difficult to carry out. This lack of a convenient method of observing the discharge in single fibres has made it impossible in the past to investigate the cutaneous receptors with anything like the accuracy obtainable in the case of the muscle receptors, but a method has now been found for the end-organs responding to touch, and in this paper we give some preliminary results obtained by its use. The method was discovered by chance in an investigation of the impulses in sympathetic fibres [Adrian, 1930 a]. In the spinal frog if one of the dorsal cutaneous nerves is cut where it enters the skin and suspended on electrodes it is found that sympathetic discharges take place when various parts of the body surface are rubbed or pinched. The impulses are easily recognizable by their slow time relations, and they cease when either the spinal cord or the sympathetic ganglion chain is destroyed3. But in some animals stimulation of the body surface gives 1 Cornell University Medical College. 2 Parker Fellow, Harvard University. 3 In many preparations a light touch on almost any part of the body surface gives an immediate reflex discharge in the sympathetic fibres. The impulses cease when the stimulus is withdrawn, but with stronger stimulation (pinching) there is often a long after-discharge. Pinching the leg of a spinal frog produces a considerable secretion from the mucous glands of the skin and presumably the sympathetic reflexes are chiefly concerned with skin secretion.


Despite a great deal of feminist work that has highlighted its social construction, menstruation seems a self-evidently "natural" bodily process. Yet, how menstruation is defined or what "counts" as menstruation is rarely questioned. Examining menstruation alongside technologies that alter it highlights these definitional questions. In this article, I examine menstrual suppression through an analysis of medical journal articles and FDA advisory committee transcripts, paired with websites used to market menstrual suppression to consumers. Across these contexts (clinical research, FDA regulation, and advertising), new definitions of menstruation converged on a distinction between bleeding that occurs when women are taking hormonal birth control and when they are not. The case of menstrual suppression birth control pills provides an opportunity to study the work of redefining a biological process understood as quintessentially natural and deeply significant for gendered embodiment, as well as a challenge to consider both the social and material construction of gendered bodies.


The understanding of long-term climate variability may provide valuable perspective on possible response of human societies to modern climate changes. The present study, based on the geochemical and sedimentological analyses on well dated (using AMS 14C and optically stimulated luminescence-OSL dates) alluvial sediments from Sina River basin (in Maharashtra, central India) provides a detailed understanding of complex interplay between climate and cultural dynamics during the Late Holocene. The radiocarbon dates of the organic residues from the potsherds represents the Medieval period (∼1600 to 950 cal yr BP), whereas the OSL sample shows the age of ∼7.5±0.4 ka. Further, several cultural objects (e.g., potsherds, shell bangles, and copper artefacts) available at the site were also investigated in order to understand the extent of human activity in the region. The temporal changes in the proxies along with the abundance of cultural materials in the fluvial section during the medieval period suggest that the human population attempted to adapt against the fluctuating climate conditions. The regional comparison of geo-archaeological data sets shows that the pronounced weakening of the monsoonal rainfall during the Late Holocene coincides with the disruption, migration and resettlement of the indigenous societies, deciphering the possible impact of climate on human settlement.


B ooks So let's go further afield: with a few clicks from "Theatre" I can reach Cocteau's "The Blood of A Poet," "William Montgomery Watt," and the "Chorégies d'Orange." From "Performance" I can reach "LaVeyan Satanism," "Bobby Thomson," and "Ballet technique." From "Performance studies" I can reach "Sarah Lawrence College," "Prince Charles," and "John Capellanus." This more or less random distribution of information is clearly a shortcoming as well as a hallmark. Unless a topic has a relatively broad and informed set of "editors" contributing to its article, it will suffer both insignificance and dismissal. The challenge of not being found on Wikipedia unless present elsewhere—i.e., "verifiability"—can be a hindrance to the open connectivity that I prize.


From the Publisher:
Written for the practicing electronics professional, Tolerance Analysis of Electronic Circuits Using MATLAB offers a comprehensive, step-by-step treatment of methods used to perform analyses essential to the design process of circuit cards and systems of cards, including worse case analysis, limits for production testing, component stress analysis, determining if a design meets specification limits, and manufacturing yield analysis.. "Using a practical approach that allows engineers and technicians to put the techniques directly into practice, the author presents the mathematical procedures used to determine performance limits. Of particular interest is the author's comparison of MATLAB results to those of Spice derived CAD programs. He shows that Spice returns incorrect results in ac worst-case analyses, and it cannot accommodate the asymmetric tolerances that often occur in design verification. Thus, unlike MATLAB, it is of little use in such problems.. "Along with this important finding, the book includes other original and unpublished material. This includes techniques for performing EVA and RSS using asymmetric tolerances, sensitivity equations for the multiple feedback bandpass filter, and a demonstration that for some ac circuits a true EVA is not realizable.


Prior to 1974, the only documented functions of high molecular weight kininogen (HK) and low molecular weight kininogen (LK) were as substrates for the proteolytic release of bradykinin (Bk) and lysyl-bradykinin by plasma and tissue kallikreins, respectively (1). Currently, both of these multifunctional, multidomain pro teins are known to possess additional functions. HK is the čofactor for the activation of the contact system (2); it complexes with (3, 4) and modulates the inhibition of plasma kallikrein and factor XIa (5, 6); it is an antiadhesive protein capable of displacing fibrinogen from artificial surfaces and cells (7, 8), as well as a binding protein for factor XI to platelets and plasma kallikrein to neutrophils (9, 10). Both HK and LK inhibit thrombin binding to and activation of platelets (11, 12), as well as inhibiting thiol proteases (13-15). Ms. Mayme Williams, the first individual reported who lacked both HK and LK (Williams Trait) (16), was willing to further scientific and medical research over a 17 year period by providing her blood, plasma, and cells as well as by permitting in vivo studies of her renin-angiotensin and nociceptive systems. By doing so, Ms. Williams facilitated the efforts of biomedical scientists around the world. Assays based on correction of her kininogen-deficient plasma have enhanced the understanding of the participation of the contact system in septic shock, adult respiratory distress syndrome, and hereditary angioedema. The death of Ms. Williams on May 6, 1991, from a massive pulmonary embolism secondary to metastatic lung cancer (again demonstrat


Aim: To further characterize the sperm defects in Fragile X men. Methods: Two different polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based methods were used for the molecular diagnosis of FXS. Sperm collection was done mostly according to the laboratory manual of the World Health Organization. Results: We failed to collect sperm samples from five Fragile X subjects aged 18–60 years as a result of an unexpected erectile dysfunction. Conclusion: Erectile reflex is an instinctive response in all healthy males. The absence of erection can be caused by hormonal, physical or neuronal malfunction. As hormonal profiles arereported to be generally normal in Fragile X men, we propose that an unknown physical factor or the neuronal circuit, or both, underlying the erection is compromised. (Asian J Androl 2006 ; : )


We have studied the diffuse radiation in the surroundings of M42 using photometric data from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) in the far-ultraviolet (FUV) and infrared observations of the AKARI space telescope. The main source of the FUV diffuse emission is the starlight from the Trapezium stars scattered by dust in front of the nebula. We initially compare the diffuse FUV with the far-infrared (FIR) observations at the same locations. The FUV-IR correlations enable us to determine the type of dust contributing to this emission. We then use an existing model for studying the FUV dust scattering in Orion to check if it can be extended to regions away from the centre in a 10 deg radius. We obtain an albedo, {\alpha} = 0.7 and scattering phase function asymmetry factor, g = 0.6 as the median values for our dust locations on different sides of the central Orion region. We find a uniform value of optical parameters across our sample of locations with the dust properties varying significantly from those at the centre of the nebula.


Dolabr-4(17),15(16)-dien-3-one, isopimar-8(14)-en-15,16-diol, isopimar-8(14)-en-16-hydroxy-15-one, lupeol, lup-20(29)-en-3â,28-diol and lup-20(29)-en-3â-hydroxy-28-oic acid were isolated from the roots of a marine mangrove Ceriops tagal (Rhizophoraceae). The compounds were evaluated for activation of caspase-3 enzyme using Caspase-3 Colourimetric Assay. Caspase-3 enzyme was activated by all compounds in cleaving pNA from Ac-DEVD-pNA in the presence of caspase-3-inhibitor; Ac-DEVD-CHO. Lup-20(29)-en-3â- hydroxyl-28-oic acid, isopimar-8(14)-en-15,16-diol and isopimar-8(14)-en-16-hydroxy-15-one cleaved 41.7, 39.42 and 34.19 imol/L of pNA respectively. This study is therefore demonstrating that the isolated compounds may serve as leads for development of new chemotherapeutic drugs which acts by inducing apoptosis in the cancerous cells.


The occurrence of jaundice in cases of heart failure was first attributed to mechanical pressure of the blood stasis in the liver. This supposition has been supplanted recently by the theory advocated by Rich and his co-workers1that jaundice in these cases is the result of anoxemia of the liver cells. The chief support for the hypothesis of anoxemia lies in the experimental observations of Binger, Brow and Branch2that pulmonary infarction is attended by anoxemia and in the numerous clinical observations3that jaundice often supervenes on pulmonary infarction. According to Rich and his co-workers, the retention of bile pigment in the blood which occurs in practically every case of outspoken passive congestion of the liver is caused by two factors, impairment of the excretory function of the liver by anoxemia and the increased burden placed on the functionally impaired liver by the demand for the excretion


Histology of the heart. The histology of the heart was studied in detail by taking three parallel sections (Chaturvedi and Mehrotra, 1967a). Histological findings such as necrosis, inflammatory and mesenchymal reactions were graded as mild (+), moderate (+ +) or severe (+ + +), depending upon the extent and intensity of change (Chaturvedi and Mehrotra, 1969). Antibody determination. Tanned red-cell agglutinating and agar-gel precipitating antibodies in serum against whole-heart tissue antigen were determined as reported earlier (Chaturvedi et al., 1971b). The cellular antibodies were detected by passive transfer of spleen-cell suspensions into normal rats by the intraperitoneal route (Chaturvedi and Mehrotra, 1967a; Chaturvedi et al., 1971b) so that the spleen from one rat was given to two animals. These animals were killed 24 hr after injection, and the histology of the heart was studied as above.


Foster-Miller is developing a new family of SLM devices, based on the Franz-Keldysh (FK) effect in bulk III-V semiconductors, for several applications in optical signal processing and switching. Spatial light modulators constructed using the FK effect offer contrast ratios and switching energies rivalling state-of-the-art devices. However, our devices require typically only 2 or 3 bulk epilayers (available commercially), significantly reducing the materials and fabrication cost. Using the FK effect in an asymmetric Fabry-Perot geometry, we demonstrate high contrast (120:1 best, 50:1 typical) with drive voltages roughly 10 - 20 V and 2 - 3 nm optical bandwidth. We demonstrate high-contrast reflection mode optical modulation at a number of wavelengths in the 800 - 950 nm band.


This document defines an RTCP XR Report Block that allows the
reporting of Delay metrics for use in a range of RTP applications.


Women entrepreneurship has already proven itself as a key to ensuring women's empowerment. It typically brings a positive change in attitudes and behaviors of family members and society towards them. The worldwide pandemic situation due to Covid-19 has exacerbated the overall condition of women entrepreneurs. This study specifically explores and evaluates the socio-economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women entrepreneurs in Rangpur City Corporation, Bangladesh. It is a descriptive study and it involves the collection of both qualitative and quantitative evidence about the impact of Covid-19 on women entrepreneurs in Rangpur City Corporation. This study reveals that the negative consequences of Covid- 19 have extensive and critical influences on women's lives and livelihoods. At the end of this article, a few measures have been suggested, which are based on our research findings, for overcoming the socio-economic challenges and upgrading the status of Women Entrepreneurs.


We develop a cross-market simulation trading platform of stock and stock index future on the basis of MASON system with agent-base computational finance method.We analyze the impact of the number of arbitragers on stock index future market volatility using 5-second high frequent data.We find that too many or too few arbitragers will both make market fluctuate,so keeping appropriate number of arbitragers is very important for reducing market volatility and price discovery.Regulatory agencies should strengthen the efficiency and quality of supervision,to ensure reasonable investor structure,and keep the diversity of the types of investors.


Rural China serves as a barometer of Chinese political and historical weather. The notion of rural China is rooted in the Chinese mentality and has navigated and shaped national policy making and individual's words and actions over China's long history. Chinese rural cinema occupied a dominant position in the screenscape of Mainland China since the People's Republic of China (PRC), or New China, was established in 1949. However, the rural theme no longer enjoyed its prominence in Chinese cinema in the last three decades of the 20th century. Since 1978, China has rapidly and vigorously shifted from a planned economy to a market economy. The economic revolution has brought about unprecedented changes. One of the changes is that market forces fractured the system that kept farmers pinned to their land for four decades. In the economic reform era, Chinese farmers became one of the vital forces in the construction of these changes with a scenario that veered towards a near total reconfiguration and reconstruction of a long history of pro-village ideology, and postulated a new pattern of the rural-urban dynamic in present day China. Enjoying this rare opportunity, farmers first expanded and relocated roadside or small-scale businesses to the city, and then continued to fill various gaps in the city job market as cinematically represented in the films discussed in this article. The migration of about 200 million farmers to the city is one of the most striking social phenomena today.1 Forceful modernizations and irresistible globalization have blurred the line between the country and the city and renewed Chinese urban vitality and visibility. The extended urbanization of the rural area, on the one hand, brings about many positive changes in the country, but on the other hand, poses a new challenge to farmers––uprooting them from their farmland. San nong wenti (the issue of farmers, countryside, and agriculture), a rhetoric and expression concerning Chinese farmers, frequently becomes the headline of various news media in China. The dislocation of farmers and the rupture of their tradition have appeared as urgent ENCIRCLING THE CITY Ping Fu


A considerableamount of discussion of the health needs of Aboriginal people has revolved around the ethnocentric and, in many cases, racist stereotypes that abound in uninformed opinion. Many people in the Australian community view the needs of Aboriginal Australians as an unwelcome burden on the resources of the country. It is unfortunate that so many decision-makers are unwilling to take a stand on vital issues in Aboriginal affairs, such as that of Aboriginal health. Moreover, it is a blight on Australian society that, in recent public comment, a growing penchant has appeared, to "blame the victim" in this case the Aboriginal people for the appalling social and economic conditions that appear to be ourlot. It must be recognized that Aboriginal people in this country enjoyed good health at the time of colonization. Something happened to interrupt the erstwhile preserving and continuing cycle of the Aboriginal life-style. In fact, Aboriginal people, as a matter of government policyand public opinion, were considered incapable of looking after either their personal or their public affairs. Consequently, for reasons of duty in employment or for reasons of religious or moralistic zeal, colonists sought to impose attitudes and behaviour which they considered necessary to ease "the poor natives' plight". Some may say that the times of British colonialism are no longer with us and that, as a consequence, we have a "new ball game with new players and rules". Some may even urge Aboriginal people to start living within the political reality of Australia in 1985. Some would even demand behavioural and attitudinal changes on the part of Aborigines, so that a resolution may be found more speedily. However, the reality of Aboriginal existence is quite different from that recounted to support these demands. Aboriginal people are penalized with patterns of ill-health and social and economic disadvantage that form a life-threatening maze from which Aboriginal people are expected to extricate themselves, without sufficient resources or support from either the body politic or the community. Recently, at a national conference, a large number of non-Aboriginal people were engaged in lengthy and heated discussion about the quality of life. Two Aboriginal women at that conference were moved to say, "You are on about quality of life Aboriginal people are on about survival". This is the simple fact of the concerns of Aboriginal people. When the indicators of Aboriginal health are examined, the status of Aboriginal health is from three to 80 times worse than that which is acceptable in non-Aboriginal society no matter the illness or condition of illhealth that is chosen. The changes in Aboriginal health status have been achieved most noticeably in areas where there have been community-controlled Aboriginal health services. Consider carefully the definition of health that has been adopted by Aboriginal health services: "Health does not mean the physical well-being of an individual, but refers to the social, emotional and cultural well-being of the whole community". Within this evolving definition, Aboriginal health services have carefully entwined all the threads of life that have a bearing on our opportunity for survival. In this way, Aboriginal people have considered both cause and consequence. Aboriginal health services have shown that they are capable of developing the preventive and clinical services and programmes that will accelerate the attack on Aboriginal illhealth. The fight for good health is not simple. Many individuals and corporate structures have placed expensivebarriers to the work of our people. To combat the often overt, or covert, racism or assimilationist nature of these barriers, many dollars and much time would be required. It is a reality of Aboriginal existence that neither time nor money is available in quantity. However, what is available is the commitment and sense of identity that is felt by the indigenous people of Australia. The dilemma is how to reconcile these two realities. Nothing will be achieved by the prevailing ideology of the decision and opinion makers that "might makes right", or, as many Aboriginal communities have perceived it, "white makes right". A popular song of the Aboriginal people, written as an expression of our resolve, declares:


Recently, PSEN1 has been reported to have mutations in dilated cardiomyopathy pedigrees. However, the function and mechanism of PSEN1 in cardiomyopathy remains unresolved. Here, we established four types of genetically modified mice to determine the function of PSEN1 in cardiac development and pathology. PSEN1 null mutation resulted in perinatal death, retardation of heart growth, ventricular dilatation, septum defects, and valvular thickening. PSEN1 knockout in adults led to decreased muscle fibers, widened sarcomere Z lines and reduced lengths of sarcomeres in cardiomyocytes. Cardiovascular loss of function of PSEN1 induced by Sm22a‐Cre or Myh6‐Cre/ER/tamoxifen also resulted in severe ultrastructural abnormalities, such as relaxed gap junctions between neighboring cardiomyocytes. Functionally, cardiovascular deletion of PSEN1 caused spontaneous mortality from birth to adulthood and led to diastolic heart dysfunction, including decreased volume of the left ventricle at the end‐systolic and end‐diastolic stages. Additionally, in a myocardial ischemia model, deletion of PSEN1 in the cardiovascular system first protected mice by inducing adaptive hypertrophy but ultimately resulted in severe heart failure. Furthermore, a collection of genes was abnormally expressed in the hearts of cardiac‐specific PSEN1 knockout mice. They were enriched in cell proliferation, calcium regulation, and so on. Taken together, dynamic regulation and abnormal function of PSEN1 underlie the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases due to ultrastructural abnormality of cardiomyocytes.


Objective: To determine if there were any differences between the histopathological structures of the polyps with or without cholesteatoma Materials and Methods: In our study, 41 patients underwent operation with complaints of chronic otitis media with polyp. The patients were divided into those who had cholesteatoma and those who did not, so that discriminatory features were identified. Chronic otitis media with polyp was associated with cholesteatoma in 21 patients. Cholesteatoma was not found in 20 patients with chronic otitis media with polyp. Specimens removed from the both of patients groups were evaluated and compared between the groups in according to histopathologic features. Results: We observed that specimens of polyps with cholesteatoma were comprised of keratinized masses, keratinized tissue layers, and abundant immature granulation tissue, whereas, specimens of the polyps without cholesteatoma consisted of copious glandular stroma bordered by smooth epithelium (p<0,05). Conclusion: Our study showed that histopathologic features of the polyps suggest the presence or absence of cholesteatoma.


Abstract Physiotherapy is a discipline of clinical medicine, using its own diagnostic and therapeutic methods, including the treatment of movement and physical stimuli. The new legal regulations resulting from the Act of 25 September 2015 on the Profession of Physiotherapy have granted a special professional status to this group of specialists, what results from the fact that it is recognized as an independent medical profession. It should be noted, however, that the introduced law, although expected for many years, did not stabilize the legal situation of this professional group until the end. There are still doubts of a juridical nature which make it difficult to provide unambiguous answers to the basic questions regarding the legal status of physiotherapists as persons performing an independent medical profession. This publication, referring to the applicable statutory regulations and views presented in the legal doctrine, analyzes the current legal status, indicates the weaknesses of the adopted legislative solutions and avoids the changes.


With the characteristics of easy to learn,easy to play,better acceptance and more amusing,soft volleyball is more and more popular with the students and teachers in colleges and universities.Attaching importance to the further development of soft volleyball,strengthening the training of teachers and coaches,putting the soft volleyball into teaching plan and promoting the demonstration matches in different levels will help to popularize soft volleyball in colleges and universities.


Autonomous vehicle (AV) is defined as a motor vehicle that uses artificial intelligence (AI), sensors, cameras and global positioning system to perceive and cognize its environment, decide what route to take to its destination, and drive without any human input. The term AV is broadly used to denote autonomous trucks and autonomous cars. Currently, every major automobile manufacturer is researching extensively to make AVs a commercial reality. It is predicted that an entirely autonomous car, also known as a driverless car or self-driving car, will be a reality in the next two decades. It is forecasted that when it happens, our roads will be safer as the driverless cars will always be attentive to the environment, obey the traffic rules, and never get tired, distracted, drunk or have fits of road rage.
This article attempts to provide an overview regarding the levels of automation in AV and the impact AVs will make on industries including auto and insurance. It may be easy to guess that before AV becomes a reality, it will have to overcome a lot of technological, operational, and regulatory challenges. This article also talks about two such interesting challenges: the first one is about ethical decision making that AVs must learn and the second is with respect to determining who is to be held liable for the AV crashes and accidents.


The modeling and simulation of smoke, like other fluid phenomena, is an important and challenging problem in Computer Graphics. In order to achieve high levels of visual realism, physically based methods are usually used. Smoke is treated as a non-reactive substance that is transported by an incompressible fluid. The dynamics of such a fluid is described by a set of non-linear partial differential equations known as the Navier-Stokes (NS) equations. Numerical methods for solving the NS equations can broadly be classified into two categories, top-down and bottom-up. Top-down methods are well-studied and have been successfully used in Computer Graphics to produce highly realistic animations of smoke and other fluid phenomena. On the other hand, bottom-up methods such as the LatticeBoltzmann Method (LBM) are still being improved and have only been recently investigated by the Computer Graphics community. In this thesis, we adapt the Lattice-Boltzmann Method for the purpose of smoke simulation in both two and three dimensions, and qualitatively compare the simulation results with those obtained through a top-down method. In order to achieve visual realism, we use physically based buoyancy and vorticity forces to drive the flow and employ a semiLagrangian method to advect smoke densities along the flow. Our simulation results reveal that the LBM retains much of the realism characteristic of the top-down methods, and at the same time, offers considerable advantages in terms of simplicity and efficiency.


: In a previous study, we suggested an information system to store, manage and treat millions of gathered patient's information. The application is able to fulfill the most important criterions, mainly measurement, monitoring, guidance, Data management and their analysis. The developed e-Health system can be accessed via the Internet. Availability, confidentiality and security issues arise that have to be considered carefully. The highest level of availability of these services is required. The main objective of this paper is to improve and enhance the both aspects of an information system: availability and reliability. The information system should be reachable constantly to satisfy the professional requirements. Today, the new technologies could help to resolve some infrastructure and connection problems. Connected machines are increasingly being introduced into safety-critical health care systems. Concretely in this study, we introduced replication, backup and restoration procedures to obtain a safe and continuous data management system in order to guarantee a highly reliable concept. By integrating the new technologies, we profited from the innovative connection utility—Internet of things -, which offers several possibilities to ensure the continued and desirable service. By implementing a distributed information system, we were able to increase the percentage of uptime to 99.8% (down time less than 20 mins/week). The vulnerability and the penetration tests were also successful and demonstrate the efficiency of the implemented redundancy, replication and restoration procedures.


We investigate the consequences of different regularizations and ambiguities in loop cosmological models on the predictions in the scalar and tensor primordial spectrum of the cosmic microwave background using the dressed metric approach. Three models, standard loop quantum cosmology (LQC), and two modified loop quantum cosmologies (mLQC-I and mLQC-II) arising from different regularizations of the Lorentzian term in the classical Hamiltonian constraint are explored for chaotic inflation in spatially-flat Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) universe. In each model, two different treatments of the conjugate momentum of the scale factor are considered. The first one corresponds to the conventional treatment in dressed metric approach, and the second one is inspired from the hybrid approach which uses the effective Hamiltonian constraint. For these two choices, we find the power spectrum to be scale-invariant in the ultra-violet regime for all three models, but there is at least a $10\%$ relative difference in amplitude in the infra-red and intermediate regimes. All three models result in significant differences in the latter regimes. In mLQC-I, the magnitude of the power spectrum in the infra-red regime is of the order of Planck scale irrespective of the ambiguity in conjugate momentum of the scale factor. The relative difference in the amplitude of the power spectrum between LQC and mLQC-II can be as large as $50\%$ throughout the infra-red and intermediate regimes. Differences in amplitude due to regularizations and ambiguities turn out to be small in the ultra-violet regime.


The undifferential hobbing technology for helical cylindrical gear was systematically analyzed,and a new method to hob helical cylindrical gear with undifferential method was introduced.With this method,a group of changefulgear of high kinematical accuracy can be selected and higher machining accuracy is obtained.It is practical in production.


The use of a small period wiggler (ℓw < 1 cm) together with a sheet electron beam has been proposed as a low cost source of power for electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) in magnetic fusion plas-mas and for space-based radar systems. We have experimentally demonstrated stable propagation of a sheet beam (18 A, 1 mm x 20 mm) through a ten-period wiggler electromagnet with peak field of 1.2 kG. Calculation of microwave wall heating and pressurized water cooling have also been carried out, and indicate the feasibility of operating a near-millimeter, sheet beam FEL with an output power of 1 MW CW (corresponding to power density into the walls of 2 kW/cm2). Based on these encouraging results, a proof-of-principle experiment is being assembled, and is aimed at demonstrating FEL operating at 120 GHz with 300 kW output power in 1 μs pulses; electron energy would be 410 keV. Preliminary design of a 300 GHz, 1 MW FEL with an untapered wiggler is also presented. Finally, a method of modulating high power CW signals for radar applications is suggested.


T H I S IS NOT A COMMENTARY. It is rather a study of the leading themes of the Fourth Gospel in the light of their background and their meaning for the contemporary scene. The characteristic terminology of the Gospel is examined in detail with a view to understanding the writer's message to his own day and its significance for us. The work is scholarly. The notes and bibliography reveal a wide acquaintance with the best and latest works in English, French, German, and Dutch. The Qumran Scrolls and the Gnostic documents are judiciously utilized in helping to clarify the Fourth Gospel's background. The balance is good, inasmuch as a wide range of views is presented on difficult questions and opposing schools of thought are presented with equal consideration. The author reasons cogently and usually gives a clear account of his reasons for accepting a particular judgment on issues. The style is clear and straightforward. An interested layman could follow the argument well if he were willing to put forth the intellectual effort to understand the deep meanings with which the book deals. The critical problems with which the Fourth Gospel bristles are faced squarely and forthrightly. The author tends to agree with Dodd and Brown and many others, against Bultmann, that there is a central historical core, drawn from a source independent of the Synoptics, which must be taken seriously. He is persuaded, however, that the work is an interpretative portrait, an intermixture of history and homily, the continuation of the work of the Spirit through the author, and maybe his followers, to reveal the deep significance of Jesus which could not have been revealed during the pre-resurrection and prePentecost days. No two readers will agree on some of the issues raised by the Fourth Gospel, but this work, even where disagreement is aroused, is stimulating to thought and will reward the reader with a deeper appreciation of the power and range and significance of the theology of the Fourth Gospel.


Zinc is a major residue impurity in the preparation of solar-grade silicon material by the zinc vapor reduction of silicon tetrachloride. This paper projects that in order to get a 17-percent AM1 cell efficiency for the Block IV module of the Low-Cost Solar Array Project,1the concentration of the zinc recombination centers in the base region of silicon solar cells must be less than 4 × 1011Zn/cm3in the p-base n+/p/p+ cell and 7 × 1011Zn/cm3in the n-Base p+/n/n+ cell for a base dopant impurity concentration of 5 × 1014atoms/cm3. If the base dopant impurity concentration is increased by a factor of 10 to 5 × 1015atoms/cm3, then the maximum allowable zinc concentration is increased by a factor of about two for a 17-percent AM1 efficiency. The thermal equilibrium electron and hole recombination and generation rates at the double-acceptor zinc centers are obtained from previous high-field measurements as well as new measurements at zero field described in this paper. These rates are used in the exact dc-circuit model to compute the projections.


We develop analytical formulae for describing the tight focusing field of the Laguerre–Gaussian vector field with space-variant distribution of states of polarization in the frame of the Rayleigh–Sommerfeld theory. The analytical formulae of three radial, azimuthal and longitudinal components are very beneficial in order to understand the tightly focused field. This result is of great importance to improving the design and engineering the tightly focused field, by using phase and polarization, for applications such as optical tweezers and optical manipulation. This method is also applicable to the homogeneously polarized optical fields and optical vortex fields. In particular, these analytical formulae can also describe the dynamic process of the tightly focused fields, for example, average photon trajectories.


Aim of the investigation: to develop the methods of increasing effectiveness of stomatologic accompanying therapy at all stages of locally extended cancer of oral cavity mucus. Material and methods: The results of treatment of 563 patients with locally extended cancer of oral cavity mucus have been analyzed. Among them 205 patients with the proved diagnosis were examined by a dentist. A special committee developed a plan of accompanying therapy where a stomatologic treatment was significant. Other 358 patients were not examined by a dentist before therapy. Re-sults. Planning of stomatologic aid and carrying out measures directed to the prevention of complications against the background of combined and complex therapy of locally extended cancer of oral cavity mucus allows to decrease the number of hemorrhagic complications to 4,9%, local inflammatory processes — to 2,7% as well as other complications. Conclusion: Planning of accompanying stoma-tologic therapy and organization of adequate curable and rehabilitation measures significantly improves life quality of the patients with locally extended cancer of oral cavity mucus.


Background: Stomach cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the world and first cancer in Iran. The northern and northwestern regions of the country are areas with a high prevalence of gastrointestinal cancers, especially gastric cancer. Different factors are effective in the incidence of this cancer. Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate the epidemiology of gastric cancer. Methods: This research was a cross-sectional study. All patients referred to Tohid Hospital in Sanandaj between 2012 and 2018 were examined. Data were extracted using patients' medical records. Descriptive information was collected through SPSS software, and the results were analyzed. Results: The number of patients in this study was 553. The mean age was 66.9 years, and the highest age group was 60 - 80 years. Four hundred twelve patients were male, and 141 were female. In 50% of patients, the location of the cardiac tumor was gastric. Chemotherapy was the most common treatment in more than 60% of patients. Conclusions: The results of this study show that smoking is unfortunately high in patients in this province. An educational intervention to quit smoking is recommended. Smoking is an important risk factor for gastric cancer, and this intervention may also be effective in reducing the incidence of this disease.


We compare the design of three different single mode laser structures consisting in a Reflective Semiconductor Optical Amplifier coupled to a silicon photonic external cavity mirror. The three designs differ for the mirror structure and are compared in terms of SOA power consumption and side mode suppression ratio (SMSR). Assuming then a Quantum Dot active material, we simulate the best laser design using a numerical model that includes the peculiar physical characteristics of the QD gain medium. The simulated QD laser CW characteristics are shown and discussed.


Rhinosporidiosis is a chronic infection caused by an organism called Rhinosporidium seeberi. It primarily affects the mucous membrane of the nose & nasopharynx. Involvement of other mucosal surfaces in the body has been reported but are extremely rare in occurrence. We are presenting a rare case of laryngeal rhinosporidiosis in a 36 year old male who presented with hoarseness of voice and progressive respiratory distress. He had previous history of multiple surgeries for nasal rhinosporidiosis.


Introduction Writing is a medium of various thoughts and feelings. This research presented observations of the differences between boys and girls in delivering the same message in both formal and expressive pieces. The research investigated how girls and boys in seventh grade write differently in informal pieces, how they write differently in creative (personal) pieces, and how teachers can use different types of writing to evaluate and direct creative writing instruction. Literature Review Introduction to Gender Differences Gender and sex have occasionally been confounded and may be seen as one. Butler (1990) explains that gender is not determined at birth; instead it is something we perform. Sex, simply, is being a male or a female based on biological traits. Gender exaggerates these biological differences to the point that each gender has its culturally-specific stereotype (Eckert, 2003). In other words, sex is a physical attribute, whereas gender is something that is developed. Language, culture and society interact to give members of both genders different levels of power and recognition in society. The different ways in which boys and girls are socialized has significant ramifications on how they communicate as adults because this encoding of social behavior is carried into adulthood. Gender roles develop such that there are distinctive differences in the communicative and social styles of males and females. According to Tannen (1995), males and females speak differently as if they had grown up in two separate subcultures. Both males and females have distinctive styles: it is society's role that interprets how males and females talk, walk and interact to denote meaning. Even if boys and girls are raised in the same neighborhood or house, the language used in conversation with both genders is different. In addition, society designs the role gender plays according to cultural and economic background. This distribution of roles starts with the birth of the child. From the time of birth, society starts embedding certain behavior patterns and values that are suitable to society members, starting from baby talk and the color of clothes to establish certain rules such as "Boys don't cry." An example of age and gender roles is found in society. Elinor Ochs (cited in Tannen 1994) points out that the boys in a Kaluli community learn to hit girls because husbands hit wives and the society members learn about female roles from observing their mother talking and interacting in their own families, especially with children. Moreover, children learn their role in play and react to it at an early age. Children learn what is allowed and forbidden in practicing their role in society and inside their homes. Mothers teach stereotype to their children through verbally guiding and manipulating them in a variety of interactions that focus on the ways in which they play, dress, and act" (Schieffelin, 1990). Moreover, Tannen (1990) affirmed how both genders spend more time playing with the same sex group even though they play together. The language used across gender in play is distinguishable. Boys' games have winners and losers. Their play is highly hierarchal and structured. The leader in boys' games gives orders about when and how other group members should play. In contrast, there are no losers and winners in most girls' play like "house" or "school." Even if one girl thinks that she might have a better idea, she would not show it. Girls also rarely brag about their achievements (Tannen, 1990). Children also learn what manner of expression is acceptable for their gender; boys imitate the males and are careful not to pick up "womanly" traits. Children learn to be sensitive in acquiring gender specific vocabulary and probably dialect (Bradly, 1998). How Males and Females Are Different Linguistically The differences in linguistic style between males and females have been studied extensively; Trudgill (1972) and Lakoff (1973) are some early examples. …


This paper presents a force sensitive circuit, based on a CMOS-compatible pressure sensitive Piezo-FET and a low-power quadratic integrate-and-fire CMOS neuron. The neuron operates within a biologically plausible frequency range of DC to 1.2 kHz, depending on the applied force input. The circuit is able to work in either a low-force-detection, a low-power or a bio-mode, in which firing patterns are generated that are representative of slow adapting sensory cells. Depending on the chosen parameters, different output spike pattern can be generated. In the low-force-detection mode, a minimum force of 30mN can be detected. The power consumption is between 940nW in low-power mode and 4.5 μW in low-force-detection mode. A sensitivity of 200 Hz/N is reached in the bio-mode.


The adsorption of biogenic amines (agmatine, histamine, tyramine, tryptamine), amino acids (arginine, lysine, tyrosine), and dipeptides (lysylphenylalanine and arginylphenylalanine) has been studied on fumed silica surface modified with macrocyclic polyether dibenzo-18-crown-6. The apparent binding constants of biomolecule complexes with crown ether fastened to the surface have been calculated according to obtained adsorption isotherms. It has been shown that the binding constants of aromatic amines and dipeptides with crown ether are higher than those of aliphatic compounds. The presence of additional basic groups in arginine and lysine molecules leads to the formation of more stable complexes with crown ether in comparison with that of tyrosine.


The essay reports the AMS-based reconstruction of the paleowind direction variations spanning the past 0.9 Ma in the Jinshan Gorge.The results show that there is resemblance bet-ween the previous studies and this profile,while this profile has its special characteristics.The magnetic foliation(F) of almost all of the samples is higher than the magnetic lineation(L) and the degree of AMS(P) is correlative with F greatly,the shape parameter of the AMS ellipsoid is oblate.Magnetic fabrics indicated that a stable prevailing paleowind of NE-SW direction was established over the past 0.9 Ma and the main direction did not have markedly transformed.This coincidence may imply that the north-south gorge topography might have causally related with the prevailing wind direction in the Jinshan Gorge.


This paper aimed to delineate the behavioral patterns of fathers in seeking and providing peer support on the popular social media site Reddit using a sample of 2,393 users. First, fathers' support-seeking posts were characterized, finding that fathers self-disclosed a range of individual, familial, and societal stressors, including topics sensitive to traditional male gender roles. Second, peers' comments were differentiated by support type, with differences observed in the behaviors, emotions, and language that peers use when providing advice, confirmation and encouragement. Third, the relationship between types of fatherhood stressors and their associated peer comments was mapped. While fathers seeking support for individual stressors received fewer comments, the support provided utilized more action-oriented language. Finally, a statistical model was developed to examine the factors that drive peer support on the fatherhood forums, which are observed to influence the quality of peers' comments and peers' commenting behaviors. Combined, the findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the peer support environment for fathers on social media like Reddit, strengthening the research literature that is limited to qualitative evidence to date. The results have important implications for formal support services targeting fathers, both online and offline.


In this paper we address the task of gender classification on picture sharing social media networks such as Instagram and Flickr. We aim to infer the gender of an user given only a small set of the images shared in its profile. We make the assumption that user's images contain a collection of visual elements that implicitly encode discriminative patterns that allow inferring its gender, in a language independent way. This information can then be used in personalisation and recommendation. Our main hypothesis is that semantic visual features are more adequate for discriminating high-level classes. The gender detection task is formalised as: given an user's profile, represented as a bag of images, we want to infer the gender of the user. Social media profiles can be noisy and contain confounding factors, therefore we classify bags of user-profile's images to provide a more robust prediction. Experiments using a dataset from the picture sharing social network Instagram show that the use of multiple images is key to improve detection performance. Moreover, we verify that deep semantic features are more suited for gender detection than low-level image representations. The methods proposed can infer the gender with precision scores higher than 0.825, and the best performing method achieving 0.911 precision.


The author talks about how he started with his first company, ARCOM, Inc. on 6 January 1995 and how the company succeeded. ARCOM is a company that focuses on the millimeter-wave communication market


The use of steel fibers in reinforced concrete slab construction is discussed. These fibers help to reduce the spallation of concrete from the reverse side of slabs subjected to close-in, high-explosive detonations. The effects of detonations of 20- and 49-lb charges of Composition 4 on seven 5-ft x 5-ft x 18-in.-thick reinforced concrete slabs are presented. Slabs were conventionally reinforced in both faces, with three slabs being additionally fiber-reinforced. Distances from the charge center to face-of-slab ranged from 10 in. to 36 in. Z factors ranged from 0.28 to 1.0. Concrete fragment velocities ranged from 17 ft/s to 70 ft/s. The slabs constructed with steel fibers showed significantly less damage and spall than similar slabs without fibers.


To determine whether a gout polygenic risk score (PRS) is associated with age at gout onset and tophaceous disease in European, East Polynesian, and West Polynesian men and women with gout.


We use a collinear multidimensional coherent spectroscopic technique to measure van der Waals structures with a nearly diffraction-limited spot size. Encapsulation by boron nitride narrows both the homogeneous and inhomogeneous linewidths of MoSe2.


A Proton ligand stability constant (pK) of Substituted Heterocyclic Drug such as phenytoin -5,5diphenylimidazolidine-2,4-dione with Ce(III), Tb(III), Dy (III), Nd(III), Gd(III) and metal ligand complex of Substituted Heterocyclic Drug such as phenytoin -5,5-diphenylimidazolidine-2,4-dione with some metal ions have been investigated 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, 0.1 M ionic strength pH metrically. Phenytion is a commonly antiepileptic. It was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1953 for use in seizures. Phenytoin acts to damp the unwanted, runaway brain activity seen in seizure by reducing electrical conductance among brain cells bu stabilizing the inactive state of voltage gated sodium channels. The value of (pK) proton ligand stability constant and (log K) metal ligand stability constant are utilized to estimate the thermodynamic stability at zero ionic strength and to exact nature of complexation equilibria. It is observed from the slope values, that the value of pK and log K are less than expected values. These values donot give a conclusive evidence regarding the magnitude of charge of reacting species. The discrepancy may be due to the limited application of Bronsted equationFrom the plots of pK/log K verses it and 3 . 0 1 1


The lasing action from a metal-coated GaN with grating structure was observed and the wavelength is approximately 368 nm with the quality factor of 570 due to the surface plasmon polaritons and dielectric mode.


Advances in virtual education models have enabled us to optimize production processes, distribution and access content through the reuse of learning objects (LO), which are stored in repositories In order to improve interoperability, integration and reuse of learning objects have been defined as SCORM standards that improve the structural interoperability of learning objects. However, the levels of reuse and integration of learning objects are not the best because they usually are used for specific contexts. Alternatively, the software architecture provides a distributed repository system supported with web services to improve levels of reuse, integration and interoperability of learning objects.


We analysed several vegetational variables in four populations of White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) to determine if differences exist between the white-stripe (WS) and tan-stripe (TS) morphs at the level of the macrohabitat (territory) and the microhabitat (nest site). Univariate and discriminant function analyses revealed that trees were farther apart, more light penetrated to the forest floor, and fewer shade-tolerant plants occurred in territories of WS than TS males. There was little difference between females of the morphs in selection of nest sites. The distribution of territories of WS males along the discriminant function axis (macrohabitat analysis) was narrower than that of TS males, and was concentrated toward the "open" habitat end of the axis. The distribution of territories of TS males spanned the length of the axis, from "open" to "dense" habitat. The question why WS male × TS female pairs occupy a relatively narrow range of habitat whereas TS male × WS female pairs occupy a ...


This work investigates the possibility that valuable levulinic acid and sulfonated carbon could be produced in a one-pot reaction. p-Toluenesulfonic acid is used as an acidic catalyst as well as a sulfonating agent in the reaction, and its main effects are determined, depending on the water dosage. Relatively low water dosage is conductive to sulfonated carbon formation with high H+ exchange capacity and −SO3H intensity, good carbon framework, improved thermal stability and surface hydrophobicity, and good catalytic activity. In contrast, low water dosage is detrimental to levulinic acid yield. Under optimal reaction conditions, the total carbon utilization ratio of levulinic acid and sulfonated carbon reaches 70%. The sulfonated carbon shows good catalytic activity in the esterification of levulinic acid with ethanol, resulting in a high conversion ratio (93%).


The Truman Show, directed by Peter Weir, is a famous American film released in 1998. The paper does not only try to discuss and analyze the life of the main character in the film, but also attempt to combine the film with our own life to demonstrate that choice makes destiny, furthermore belief and love are the strongest power for lots of"Truman"to promote making choice.