Objective:To dominate the quality of shiquandabu pill, the content of paeoniflorin in shiquandabu pill was Determined by Reversed Phase HPLC(high performance liquid chromatography). Method:Paeoniflorin was separated on spherisorb C 18 column by using acetonitrile 0.1% phosphoric acid (15∶85) as mobile phase and wavelength detection at 230 nm by UV. Results:The resolution was 3.9; The number of theoretical plates calculaled for paeoniflorin peak was 35 440; The average recovery of the added index was 99.0 %( n =5). RSD obtained by 5 times of determination was 0.90%. There was a good linear relationship between the concentration of paeoniflorin and absorption area value in the range of 0.25 2.50 μg. Conclusion:The method is highly reproducible and accurate.


Yellow Faience, Flintware and Lustreware In the 19th century, contacts between potteries around the Baltic Sea and the Sound were essential and frequent, but they remain almost entirely unrecorded. New styles, materials and glazes were shared among manufacturers in a variety of ways, mostly informally, directly and from person to person, or indirectly through exhibitions or in the form of illustrations, for example in price lists. The article discusses and compares pottery manufactured in the county of Scania in Sweden and on the Danish islands of Bornholm and Sjrelland, where various types of contact were clearly made. I look at issues concerning 19th century design trends and discuss established and potential communication routes that existed, or can reasonably be assumed to have existed, among the potteries. (Less)


. Synthesis of water-soluble polyelectrolytes by quaternizing copolymers containing chloromethyl styrene with a phosphine was reported. 10 However, direct polymerization of phosphonium-containing monomers was not well demonstrated. 1, 7 Here we synthesized a novel elastomeric ionomer containing quaternary phosphonium salts—poly(n-butyl acrylate-r-trioctyl-4-vinylbenzyl phosphonium chloride) through direct polymerization of ionic monomers and studied the morphology of ionic aggregates and dynamic mechanical properties in the hope of correlating the morphology of the ionomer with its macroscopic properties. Experimental Materials. Trioctylphosphine (90%), adenine (99%) and 2,6-di-tert- butyl-4-methylphenol (99%) were purchased from Aldrich and used without further purification. n-Butyl acrylate (99%) was purchased from Aldrich and was distilled from calcium hydride. 4-Vinylbenzylchloride (90%) was purchased from Aldrich and purified from alumina column. Instrumentation. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) was performed using a Waters size exclusion chromatograph. The instrument was equipped with an autosampler, three 5 µm PLgel Mixed-C columns, a Waters 2410 refractive index (RI) detector operating at 880 nm, a Wyatt Technologies miniDAWN multi-angle laser light scattering (MALLS) detector operating at 690 nm, and a Viscotek 270 viscosity detector at 50 °C at a flow rate of 1 mL/min in DMF/ 0.1 M LiBr. 1


In this article, we prove the existence of mild and classical solutions of Sobolev type semilinear integrodifferential equations of the form d dt [Ex(t)] = A[x(t) + ∫ t 0 F (t− s)x(s)ds] + f(t, x(t)) in Banach spaces. The results are obtained by using the Banach contraction mapping principle and resolvent operator. An application is provided to illustrate the theory.


A ruthenium-dioxolene-amine complex, [Ru 111 (NH 2 -L)(Bu2sq)](PF6)2·0.5H 2 O (NH 2 -L = bis(2-pyridylmethyl)-2-aminoethylamine, Bu 2 sq- = 3,5-di-tert-butylsemiquinonate), was newly prepared. The complex undergoes spontaneous one-electron reduction under basic conditions in MeOH and works as an electrocatalyst in the oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde under electrolysis at +0.4V(vs SCE).


Objective:To investigate deforming characteristics and cl assification of the secondary deformities after primary repair of the bilateral cleft lip and bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate.Methods:Fifty patients with secondary deformities after primary repair of the bilatera l cleft lip and bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate from Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of Xiangya Hospital,Central South University were observe d their 19 secondary deforming contents on the nose,lip and occlusion and jaw.Th ese contents include flattened nasal tip, displacement of the alar cartilages,as ymmetrical nastrils,no nostril sill, short columella.tight upper lip, loose uppe r lip, no Cupid's bow and Cupid's bow peak, no median tubercle, whistling lip de formity.reversed overbite in the anterior teeth, displaced or missed canines, cl eft alveolar bridge, small dental arch, disorder of the dentition, no anterior a lveolar bridge and retruded anterior maxillae.Results:Fift y patients with the secondary deformities after primary repair of the bilateral cleft lip and bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate all have the deformities of t he flattened nasal tip, displacement of the alar cartilages, asymmetrical nostri ls, no nostril sill, short columella, no Cupid's bow, no Cupid's bow peak and th e whisting lip deformity.Forty-two patients of them have the cleft alveolar brid ge and the disorders of the dentition.Thirty-three patients repaired the bilater al cleft lip and the bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate to use Barcky's method all have reversed overbite in the anterior teeth, the disorder of the dentition and the retruded anterior maxillae.Twenty-eight patents of 50 patients have sho wed the whisting lip deformity.Conclusions:The patients af ter primary repair the bilateral cleft lip and cleft lip and cleft palate presen t the nasal、lip、occlusial and maxillary deformities, which must be managed by using the secondary repair.


Both Willson (1971) and Robel et al. (1974) reported that wild birds eat the most abundant seeds available, regardless of energy content. A contrary view is held by Pulliainnen (1965), Moss (1968), and Gardarsson and Moss (1968), who report that some gallinaceous birds select food on the basis of nutritional quality. Selection for dietary items with higher nutritional qualities has obvious survival value (Royama 1970, Smigel and Rosenzweig 1974). Studies by Willson (1971) and Willson and Harmeson (1973) found that seed selection by finches was related to bill size, and that ease of handling was the most important factor related to seed preferences of finches. The controversy surrounding seed selection by birds, and the desire of the U.S. Soil Conservation Service (SCS) to establish wildlife plantings preferred by song birds, led us to study preferences of cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) and field sparrows (Spizella pusilla) among seeds of 4 plant species being propagated at the SCS Plant Materials Center, 10 km south of Manhattan, Kansas.


ABSTRACT High-reliability organization (HRO) research has nearly always presented HRO theory positively, causing a skewed perspective that favors implementation of these principles without adequate understanding of the costs to HRO members of chronic mindfulness. This paper presents some of the costs to workers of implementing HRO theory. Without proper management, mindfulness can be exhausted when workers experience protective distortion. A phronetic iterative approach identified five consequences of protective distortion: compulsive hypervigilance, complexity avoidance, mental fatigue, jadedness, and a pathological assumption of responsibility. Contrary to unequivocal calls from HRO researchers for all organizations to implement these principles, organizational leaders should exercise mindfulness regarding how they implement mindfulness-promoting practices. We also identified four coping strategies employed by participants: avoiding, reframing, seeking professional therapy, and cathartic expressing. Those officers who were best able to avoid the costs identified above, were those who had means of testing their sensemaking through open communication with trusted others.


Since the case of Karen Ann Quinlan, perspectives on severe brain injury have been fixed in the public mind. This has led to their collective neglect with patients receiving little more than what is euphemistically described as "custodial care." Drawing on growing scientific understanding of patients in the minimally conscious state, I challenge these presumptions and argue that conscious is a civil right and that these patients need to be more fully integrated into civil society, drawing a parallel to the American civil rights movement.


It is essential to have a fast, reliable, and energy-efficient connection between wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Control specifications, networking layers, media access control, and physical layers should be optimised or co-designed. Health insurance will become more expensive for individuals with lower incomes. There are privacy and cyber security issues, an increased risk of malpractice lawsuits, and more costs in terms of both time and money for doctors and patients. In this paper, personal health biomedical clothing based on wireless sensor networks (PH-BC-WSN) was used to enhance access to quality health care, boost food production through precision agriculture, and improve the quality of human resources. The internet of things enables the creation of healthcare and medical asset monitoring systems that are more efficient. There was extensive discussion of medical data eavesdropping, manipulation, fabrication of warnings, denial of services, position and tracker of users, physical interference with devices, and electromagnetic attacks.


Starting from a microscopic approach and using the formalism of quantum Brownian motion, partition function of a system composed of two separated pieces of anisotropic matter and a fluctuating medium in finite temperature is obtained rigorously. A general expression for fluctuation-induced free energy between the separated anisotropic pieces of matter is obtained and it is shown that in the framework of induced-force, the free energy of mean-force and effective free energy are equivalent.


CNOOC found low-permeability oil and gas field in southwest of Weizhou sag in the west water of South China Sea.At present,this oilfield is facing the issues of large-scale reserves in the extra-low-permeability oil reservoir(permeability is less than 10×10-3μm2),trying to enhance productivity of the low-permeability reservoir and how to produce reserves effectively,and low injection capability in water flooding.Because of low viscosity and light weight of crude oil,gas injection is the effective tool for enhancing recovery efficiency in the low-permeability oil reservoir.Otherwise,a large amount of associated gas will be produced in the process of oilfield development,which will provide enough gas source.So,reinjection of the associated gas is a method of EOR worthy for exploring.In this paper,through the study of long core displacement test,we evaluated the injection ways in the low-permeability oil and gas field,which will provide foundation for development programming for offshore low-permeability oilfield.Low-permeability reservoirs in Liushagang formation,some oilfield of Weizhou were selected.Displacement efficiency and flow characteristics when depletion,water drive,gas drive and gas/water alternating displacement were evaluated comprehensively through long-core displacement test study.It will give the data support and reference to choose the development fashion such as water injection or gas injection for enhancing the recovery efficiency.The results show that: in Weizhou oilfield,it has the worst effects when the depletion exploitation and the effect of water injection is better than gas injection,but LPG injection pre-slug and external gas drive will achieve the best effect of displacement.


Assuming the quasi-crystalline model for the multi-component liquid systems, the effective Debye temperature has been investigated from the density and sound velocity measurements of three ternary and three quaternary liquid systems containing n-alkanes over the entire range of mole fractions at 298.15 K. The results obtained have been interpreted in terms of intermolecular interactions and modifications of the internal structure of the mixtures.


Objective:To analyse the clinical effect of percutaneous nucleoplasty on cervical disc herniation by DSA. Method:Thirty-eight patients with cervical disc herniation were treated with nucleoplasty. The data collected was analysed via comparing pain VAS(visual analog scale) preoperatively and postoperatively. Result:Thirty-eight patients were followed up for an average of 6 months postoperatively. There was a significant difference between the average VAS of preoperative and postoperative time(P0.01).The total effective rate was 80.22% on 6th month afteroperation .No major complication occurred. Conclusion:Nucleoplasty is an effective,minimally invasive and safe procedure for the patients with cervical disc herniation, and the therapeutic effect is ensured during long time follow-up.


This paper describes the Enhanced System Monitor (ESM); a multipurpose computer site monitor developed at Pacific Bell® for internal use. ESM offers real time monitoring, predictive monitoring, and consulting functions for computer sites. Control Blackboarding techniques were developed to allow model based reasoning to be performed with a simple production rule expert system shell, owing to the lack of more powerful tools in the standard UNIX® environment at the time. The project was conducted in a manner unusual for large corporations: Domain personnel were used to build a large scale application and funding was secured in an "entrepreneurial" fashion. The resulting system offers greater flexibility and functionality than comparable eommerieal monitoring systems and was delivered at a cost of $250,000 one eighth the cost of a comparable commercial system. Development, installation and training were completed in only 11 months a time frame comparable to deployment of a large commercial system. Based on labor costs during outages, the system is expected to pay for itself in less than 3years. Definition of Problem Pacific Bell® has many computer services which are required to be online 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. As residential and business customers increase in number, the need for these systems to be available to company personnel becomes more critical to meet corporate service and satisfaction goals. Unfortunately, the need for increased system availability is hard to meet by use of operator personnel alone. A typical computer site contains hundreds of processors and applications, requiring operators to be experts in a number of unrelated computer environments. Furthermore, the sheer size of the installations makes it difficult for operators to detect and correct problems before they become critical. In a typical data center, the schedule only allows for spot checking processors once every two hours, yet a common cause of outage happens within five to ten minutes of the manifestation of a symptom. Description of deployed Application ESM uses Expert System technology to provide complex decision support operations essential to the monitoring and maintenance of computer systems. ESM is the first significant Expert System application developed at Pacific Bell® for the UNIX® environment. ESM was designed and delivered entirely in the C programming language and optimized to use the intrinsically powerful and portable features of the UNIX® operating system. The system can be maintained and reconfignred by administrative personnel, and is designed to be able to monitor any type of computer site. ESM was prototyped onAT&T 6300 + microcomputers and the first production system was delivered on an AT&T 3B2/600. EXSYS, a C-based commercial expert system shell, was used to program complex decision tasks. ESM has been installed in two major Pacific Bell® computer sites. Each ESM installation can monitor up to a hundred individual computers and provides the following functions (see also Figure 1): ̄ Online Monitor: This subsystem scans messages obtained directly from monitored CPU consoles. The monitor considers message patterns and thresholds to identify and prioritize alarm conditions. Priority alarms are announced on a public address system using a DECTALK® speech synthesizer. Online Monitor eliminates the need to have Operators roaming the floors to spot check the processors. It is accessible from remote locations via modem (see Online Monitor Architecture Diagram, Figure 2). ̄ Forecaster: This subsystem consists of a series of rule-based expert systems which periodically login to monitored CPUs, gather performance statistics, and notify support personnel of impending problems before they become serious (see Forecaster Architecture Diagram, Figure 3). Forecaster concentrates data which was once culled manually 67 From: IAAI-89 Proceedings. Copyright © 1989, AAAI (www.aaai.org). All rights reserved. from thousands of pages of daily status reports into a summary consisting of a few paragraphs. ̄ Consultant: This subsystem provides online diagnostic consulting services and assistance with procedure manuals. End user personnel have been trained in the construction of rule-based expert systems and have assumed the task of maintaining and expanding this subsystem. Consultant improves Operator access to job aids and technical manuals, and is accessible from remote locations via modem. Consultant subsystem architecture is discussed under Blackboarding techniques, below. ESM has proven popular with both operators and management because their feedback was continually sought during development. Si~ificant outages were prevented even when the project was still in the prototype phase. Innovation & technological breakthrough In order for ESM to be a successful project, it had to be built with a minimum expenditure of resources and be maintainable by existing staff. An entrepreneurial project management technique was applied, special software utilities were developed to expand the capabilities of a low end expert system shell (EXSYS), and rapid prototyping lead to an early approval of the full project. . Project Management. Funding for the project was secured by cooperation between several user management groups. These groups raised sufficient funding to conduct the project without a formal business case. In exchange for funding, the Pacific Bell Advanced Systems Group trained end user management and staff in the conduct of expert system projects and knowledge ngineering techniques. User interest and productivity was high, the quality of work excellent, and end user personnel received new promotion and training opportunities. Blackboarding techniques. The domain for ESM was seen to be very broad. It covers knoMedge about many different kinds of computer equipment, as well as meta-knowledge about the interrelationships of the equipment. At odds with the complexity of the domain was the desire to use simple, low cost, high performance tools to keep the knowledge bases straightforward enough to maintain by end user personnel. A control blackboard utility, Metashell was developed at Pacific Bell in 1986 to allow construction of multiple state EXSYS knowledge bases with the capability of dynamic referral. Metashell waived the need for a more sophisticated, expensive structured rule tool, allowed development in standard UNIX@ (sophisticated, structured rule tools were not available), and greatly simplified the training requirements for end user personnel (see Metashell Blackboard Architecture diagram, figure 4). Metashell allows the Consultant portion of ESM to Monitored Host I Machine I


This special supplement of The Journal of Nursing Administration (JONA) is devoted exclusively to research that investigated the relationship of factors in nursing work environments to patient, nurse, or organizational outcomes. It includes 6 previously published articles selected to represent a variety of nursing work environment factors and a range of approaches to studying them. Research has shown that the nurse practice environment contains many opportunities for both nurses and patients. In its 2004 landmark report, Keeping Patients Safe: Transforming the Work Environment of Nurses,1 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) offered recommendations regarding leadership, management, learning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and organizational culture to enable nurses to practice effectively and improve patient safety. The American Nurses Credentialing Center's (ANCC's) Pathway to Excellence® Program recognizes healthcare organizations that create an ideal nursing practice work environment. A Pathway to Excellence– designated organization is committed to nurses, to what nurses identify as important to their practice, and to valuing nurses' contributions in the workplace. The standards are based on evidence showing the impact of positive practice environments on patient care quality and nurse and patient satisfaction. This designation confirms to all— patients, colleagues, and the community— that the organization incorporates standards that support a desirable and positive nursing practice environment. ANCC recently announced the new Pathway to Excellence in Long Term Care Program, the first recognition of its kind for longterm-care facilities. Since the IOM report, there has been increased interest in the ability of nurses to create a safe environment. Two of the studies reprinted in this issue focused on environment factors hypothesized to reduce medication errors. Chang and Mark2 examined the relationship of learning climate, frequent interruptions, number of RNs in the nurse mix, and communication with physicians to medication errors. Learning climate in this study was measured as employees' willingness Karen Drenkard, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN Executive Director, ANCC


Tungsten oxynitride films (W-O-N) were prepared by DC reactive magnetron sputtering in a wide range of compositions from tungsten nitride (WN) to tungsten oxide (WO3), by changing the oxygen and nitrogen flows, fO2 and fN2, respectively. The total pressure was 0.3 Pa and the (p?+?p)/pAr ratio was kept constant at 1:1. The coatings were characterized concerning the chemical composition, structure, electrical, and optical properties by electron probe microanalysis, X-ray diffraction, four-point probe, and ellipsometry, respectively. A linear increase in the oxygen content was observed as a function of the increasing O2 flux. The composition will influence the structure and the electrical and optical properties of the coatings.


The kinetics of ring opening of azlactone in water – acetonitrile mixtures in the presence of morpholine have been studied under pseudo-first order condition in the temperature range 40-60°C. Non-linear plots of log kobs with the reciprocal of relative permittivity of the solvent were obtained while linear plots of log kobs against the Y value were observed. The thermodynamic parameters ΔH≠, ΔS≠ and ΔG≠ have been determined; ΔG≠ increases gradually as the mole fraction of the cosolvent increase, due to a complex quasi-mirror image compensation of ΔH≠ and ΔS≠. The negative values of the entropy of activation and the non-linear relation of log kobs with the reciprocal of relative permittivity suggested selective solvation by the more highly polar water molecules. The isokinetic temperature obtained indicated that the reaction was enthalpy-controlled. The presence of an electron-releasing or electron-withdrawing para-substituent in the benzylidene moiety affected the reaction rate, i.e. it being accelerated by p-Br but retarded by p-OMe substituents. Also the rate was decreased by increasing the content of organic cosolvent. The reactivity was analysed in the light of various simple and multiple regression equations using Kamlet–Taft solvatochromic parameters which were applied successfully in mixed aqueous – acetonitrile mixtures.


Two major problems for quantitative x-ray mapping (QXRM) are interpretation of results under nonideal conditions (strong overlap and small peak size relative to background), and the time required to obtain a good quality x-ray map. Quantitative means that the elements are fully background corrected, overlap corrected and inter-element corrected. With the development of single and multiple Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs), x-ray mapping at count rates of 100Kcps to 1,000Kcps output are possible at optimal energy resolution. With a single Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS) detector at 200kcps output, a 512x512 quantitative map can be obtained in around 4 to 7 hours for major elements >1wt% evenly distributed and minor elements >0.1wt% localised. Thus a 512x512 x-ray map performed in 30 minutes, gives major elements >10wt% evenly distributed and minor elements >1wt% localised. The ability to have very large collection efficiencies resulting in much higher count rates and their ability to maintain resolution performance means that their sensitivity is vastly superior to Si(Li) detectors. This has led to the subsequent abandonment of the standard Si(Li) detector from the new equipment list, even with the poorer performance for x-rays >10keV compared to a Si(Li) detector. Although we have not quite reached "live" x-ray images we are now able to view moderate resolution x-ray images in very short times. SDD's have improved our EDS mapping to such an extent that we can now map 4k x 4k. If the x-ray volume is say 2.5 micron, then this allows an area of 10mm x 10mm to be mapped in a single pass.


When programmers try to reuse a software system developed by other programmers, the difficulty of understanding the system limits reuses [1]. It is not easy to measure software understandability because understanding is an internal process of humans. This paper proposes "integral of understandability" as a model for measuring software understandability which can extract first the best value of software understandability from factors with higher weight. In other words, we gave an integrated aspect of measuring software understandability through the literature on the subject.


The aim of the present study is to detect the chaotic behavior in monetary economic relevant dynamical system. The study employs three different forms of Taylor rules: current, forward, and backward looking. The result suggests the existence of the chaotic behavior in all three systems. In addition, the results strongly represent that using expectations in policy rule especially rational expectation hypothesis can increase complexity of the system and leads to more chaotic behavior. Keywords—Chaos theory, GMM estimator, Lyapunov Exponent, Monetary System, Taylor Rule.


A procedure of simulation of an ideal selective coating is suggested that decreases the reflection factor for the surface of a solar energy converter to zero over a given spectral range.


In progress global concern about food security, the aim of this study was identify food insecurity and some associated characteristics among elderly women in Tehran, Iran. A crosssectional study was conducted on 300 eligible women ≥ 60, who was randomly selected from public health centers under patronage of Tehran University of Medical Science. Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and food insecurity status assessed by using demographic, socioeconomic and 18-item USDA household food security questionnaires. Overall, subjects were reported food security and some level of food insecurity 53.3% and 46.7% respectively. Characteristics for reporting food insecurity included participants living alone (OR 2.33, 95% CI: 1.194.55), chewing problem (OR 2.77, 95% CI: 0.977-7.87), poor socioeconomic status (OR 10.4, 95% CI: 4.08-26.5) and moderate socioeconomic status (OR 3.89, 95% CI: 1.65-9.19). A relatively high level of food insecurity among this representative population of older women in Tehran should be an issue of concern for policy makers and health and welfare service providers. Addressing food insecurity should be a priority of integrated national food and nutrition policies in this vulnerable population.


12 in the 8°C, 14°C, and 20°C tubs did not produce statistically different cooling rates (P=.36). A 2004 review of 72 exertional heat stroke– related heterogeneous treatment RCTs and case reports (N not reported) evaluated the efficacy of cold water immersion, evaporative cooling, ice pack application, and "invasive cooling techniques." Invasive techniques were not performed on human subjects; reported cooling rate ranges were 0.15°C/min to 0.23°C/min for cold water immersion and 0.046°C/min to 0.34°C/min for evaporative techniques. Considerable heterogeneity of water immersion temperatures and evaporative techniques was present. Only 3 controlled trials directly compared evaporative cooling with cold water immersion. Two of these 3 comparison trials treated hyperpyrexic patients without clinical diagnosis of heat stroke (core temperature >40°C and altered mental status) and demonstrated superior temperature reduction from evaporative cooling. (The magnitude of effect was not reported.) The third comparison trial included 21 distance runners with the clinical diagnosis of heat stroke and demonstrated superior cooling rates with cold water immersion versus evaporative cooling (0.20°C/min vs 0.11°C/min, respectively; P value not reported). A 2012 review of 53 heterogeneous exertional heat stroke–related case-controlled trials, RCTs, and cohort trials analyzed experiences from multiple military installations and long-distance road races that used a variety of cooling methods, including evaporation, cold water immersion, and ice water immersion. The reviewers concluded that when core temperature is reduced to <40°C within 30 min after collapse, the fatality rate is 0. The reviewers located no record of any victim of exertional heat stroke who died when this standard was met. A 2002 consensus opinion statement issued by the National Athletic Trainers' Association states that cold water immersion is the fastest way to decrease core body temperature after exertional heat stroke.


Luiz Mendes, Electronic Resources Librarian, California State University, Northridge; Coleen Martin, Coordinator, Outreach Services, California State University, Northridge; Marcia Henry, Database Coordinator, Reference & Instructional Services, California State University, Northridge.

This poster describes the implementation of the MetaLib X-server-based Xerxes at CSU Northridge. It provides a rationale for migrating MetaLib to the X-Server and presents features of the new interface as well as its benefits and advantages. Provides results of survey conducted to analyze librarians response to the implementation, including librarians' promotion of new interface, Multisearch. Presents usage data for 63 discipline categories and Multisearch. Learning Outcomes (Audience): To learn about the benefits of implementing the MetaLib X-server through a local implementation, including customizations and features adopted. To use the survey designed and conducted as a model to assess librarians response to and promotion of MetaLib in a new interface.


Inflated-parameter Harris distribution is introduced and its properties are studied. A characterization based on p.g.f is given. The maximum likelihood and moment estimators of the parameters are found out together with their standard errors. The distribution is seen to be a good fit to a real life situation concerning the published results of Kerala Public Service Commission.


Abstract This article is the fuller version of the 2021 'Feanley Hartley Lecture' that was given on 17 May. This paper is drawn from more current research and a reappraisal of my earliest post-doctoral scholarship, dating back twenty years, in order to assess the theological challenge of systemic racism and the socio-cultural, economic and political challenge of 'Whiteness'. Utilising the scholarship of Willie James Jennings' After Whiteness and my 2003 book Nobodies to Somebodies, I seek to reflect on the extent to which the contemporary and historic phenomenon that is the Methodist Church of Great Britain has been enshrined in and defined by 'Whiteness'.


The Qu political power construction played an important part in the forming of the grass-roots level power system of modern China in the Republic of China. Its status changed from a self-government unit to an administrative one reflected the complicated relation between the state and society, and furthermore brought about the changes of power structure in countryside society. Unfortunately, the construction target was not realized due to certain factors.


It is shown that the presence of a gyrotropic lossless plasma slab covering a rectangular slot radiator does not alter significantly the radiation pattern in the vertical plane when the static magnetic field is perpendicular to the slot. The plasma covered antenna remains omnidirectional and the radiated power is not significantly reduced when the cyclotron frequency exceeds the operating frequency by one order of magnitude ( \omega_{b}^{2} \gg \omega^{2} ). It is also found that the matching between the antenna and its surrounding is sharply improved, if the antenna is covered with such a slab, at critical combinations of the plasma slab parameters and the operating frequency; this finding may be useful for plasma diagnostics, in order to determine the slab width L, the plasma frequency \omega_{p} , and the collision frequency \upsilon , by varying \omega_{b} and \omega .


Previous studies identified clones of the U937 promonocytic cell line that were either permissive or non- permissive for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) replication. These clones were investigated further in the search for host restriction factors that could explain their differential capacity to support HIV-1 replication. Among known HIV-1 restriction factors screened, tripartite motif-containing protein 22 (TRIM22) was the only factor constitutively expressed in nonpermissive and absent in permissive U937 cells. Stable TRIM22 knockdown (KD) rescued HIV-1 long-terminal-repeat (LTR)-driven


Irradiation of B16 pigmented melanoma subcutaneously transplanted in C57 mice with a single 650 mj pulse (10 ns) of 1064 nm light from a Q‐switched Nd: YAG laser caused instantaneous bleaching of the pigmented tissue. Visual and histological examination of the resulting gray‐colored tumor revealed the breakdown of melanosomes with no detectable alteration of the normal and tumor‐overlying skin. Histological examination of the irradiated tumor showed some degree of vascular damage; the depth of the photodamage was not affected by the successive delivery of three consecutive light pulses. The bleached tumor grew at a modestly slower rate but the high‐peak‐power (HPP) laser treatment did not affect the tumor concentration of a photodynamic sensitizer Si(IV)‐naphthalocyanine (isoBO‐SiNc) intravenously injected 24 h before Nd : YAG irradiation. Treatment of the B16 pigmented melanoma by photodynamic therapy (PDT: 1 mg/kg isoBO‐SiNc, 300 mW/cm2, 520 J/cm2) from a 774 nm diode laser immediately after the 1064 nm irradiation resulted in a 16 day delay of tumor regrowth, which was markedly longer than the delay (ca 6 days) obtained after PDT under identical conditions without the preirradia‐tion. Thus, pretreatment of pigmented tumors with HPP 1064 nm light appears to enhance their susceptibility to conventional PDT. The tumor response was further enhanced by repeating the combined HPP/PDT treatment at an interval of 10 days (regrowth delay: 27 days), as well as by applying hyperthermia immediately after HPP/PDT (regrowth delay: ca 34 days).


Since the original method was reported by Takeuchi and Kuriaki (28), it has been known that the histochemical demonstration of phosphorylase activity with iodine under the light microscope produces various colors according to the' kind: of tissue cells. On the other hand, electron microscopic observation of polyglucose synthesized from glucosel -phosphate by phosphorylase activity was first made by Sasaki and Takeuchi in human muscle fibers (18) . Since then, intracellular polyglucose synthesis has been studied in several kinds of tissue cells under the electron microscope (2, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 26, 29, 30, 31, 33). Takeuchi and his co-workers found that newly-formed polyglucose particles synthesized from glucose 1-phosphate (Gl-P) by the phosphorylase and branching glycosyltransferase system (PBG-system) under histochemical conditions varied in size, shape and electron-density according to the kind of tissue cells and that they were different from endogenous glycogen particles. As reported previously, Miyayama (12, 14) demonstrated that newly formed polyglucose particles synthesized from G 1-P by the PBG system in white muscle fibers of the rat were stained blue with iodine and were either amorphous aggregates or much smaller in size than endogenous glycogen particles. This finding coincided with Takeuchi and Sasaki's finding (18, 30) that polyglucose particles synthesized by phosphorylase activity alone were amorphous aggregates, stained blue with iodine. On the other hand, newly formed polyglucose particles stained red with iodine were much larger than endogenous glycogen particles. Takeuchi and Miyayama (29) also reported that the size of polyglucose particles synthesized in capillary endothelial and pericytic cells could reach a maximum diameter of


Raman spectra of binary and ternary solvent systems in different concentrations were carried out. The mixtures containing equimolar quantities of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and acetonitrile (ACN), or those in different compositions, do not show any spectral evidence for the formation of a Lewis acid–base adduct. On the contrary, the formamide (FA), DMSO and ACN mixtures exhibit new bands. In the S stretching region, the band at 1025 cm−1 is assigned to the FA–DMSO adduct whereas, in the C stretching region, the 2257 cm−1 band corresponds to the FA–ACN adduct. The positions of these two new bands in the present system are in agreement with our recent works. In addition, in the NH2 bending region, the 1613 cm−1 band has been described as a mixture of both adducts. Quantitative analyses performed in the S and C stretching regions show that the association extent for the FA–DMSO adduct is greater than for the FA–ACN adduct, and this is in excellent agreement with the acid–base concepts commonly used to nonaqueous solvents. Preferential interactions between FA molecules as well as their dependence on the ternary mixture composition are also discussed. The results described here open up new possibilities to study the acid–base reactions nature involving FA adducts and can be useful for a better description of biological systems in which peptide groups have a special role. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Globally, there is the quest to improve quality education as highlighted by the Sustainable Development Goal 4. One of the quintessential factors that could facilitate the attainment of this global goal is effective and adequate educational process factors. The study specifically sought to assess the state of educational process factors such as teacher use of instructional time, level of parental and community involvement, type of leadership, curriculum coverage among the urban, rural, public, and private junior high schools in the Central Region of Ghana. The descriptive survey design was used to carry out the study. Through stratified sampling technique, 1260 respondents comprising 126 head teachers, and 378 junior high school teachers were engaged in the study. Two sets of questionnaires were designed for the headteachers and teachers. Data gathered were analysed using frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations as well as chi-square test of association and independent samples t-test. It was found that educational process factors were generally better in urban schools as well as private schools. For rural schools and public schools, the educational process factors were poor, particularly, the percentage of syllabus coverage was low for English, Mathematics, and Integrated Science. It was concluded that deficit in educational process factors posed threat to the quality of education. It was suggested that the Ministry of Education, together with teachers should strive to enhance process variables in schools.


Several heterogeneous, intelligent, and distributed devices can be connected to interact with one another over the Internet in what is termed internet of things (IoT). Also, the concept of IoT can be exploited in the industrial environment for enhancing the production of goods and services and for mitigating the risk of disaster occurrences. This application of IoT for enhancing industrial production is known as industrial IoT (IIoT). Emergent configuration (EC) is a technology that can be adopted to enhance the operation and collaboration of IoT connected devices in order to improve the efficiency of the connected IoT systems for maximum user satisfaction. To meet user goals, the connected devices are required to cooperate with one another in an adaptive, interoperable, and homogeneous manner. In this paper, a survey of the concept of IoT is presented in addition to a review of IIoT systems. The application of ubiquitous computing-aided software define networking (SDN)-based EC architecture is propounded for enhancing the throughput of oil and gas production in the maritime ecosystems by managing the exploration process especially in emergency situations that involve anthropogenic oil and gas spillages.


DEVELOPING PASTORS' UNDERSTANDING AND PRACTICE ON BIBLICAL FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP: THE KEY TO IMPACTING THE GROWTH OF THE BIBLE CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CHURCH OF INDONESIA by Tandi Frederik Randa The purpose of the research was to train pastors in biblical financial stewardship by offering a two-day workshop for increasing their respective understanding and practice of biblical financial stewardship. Pastors have the key role to bring the significant impact on the spiritual growth of their congregations. Without a proper understanding of biblical principles of stewardship, pastors cannot teach their congregations God's will for his Church. People who believe in Christ do not automatically understand their responsibility about giving for God's work. Pastors are responsible to teach and equip their people to understand and practice God's will for his people. The literature review examines the biblical foundations of giving, especially the teachings of the Apostle Paul to the church in Corinth where he showed the example of Macedonian churches and how they practiced giving as their grateful expression and love for God and others. The literature review also addresses how Christians have to manage and handle the money in the church in order to glorify God. The findings suggest that prior to the workshop on biblical financial stewardship, most participants had limited understanding and practice of biblical stewardship. Most pastors did not give proportionally, regularly, or systematically so that they felt uncomfortable to preach about giving. The majority of participants acknowledged that they had a misconception of the offering in which they thought that 1,000 or 2,000 rupiah (11 cents or 22 cents) were the normative values for Sunday offering since those gifts had been common practice in their respective places. As a result of attending the seminar, all participants stated that the reason for giving is because God is the owner and they are his stewards who are expected to be faithful and accountable in managing his property entrusted to them. Pastors realized that lack of funding in the church is not just a matter of negligence or carelessness. They understood the core reason of bad stewardship is generally a fundamental misunderstanding or false claim regarding ownership. Therefore, they wanted to teach their congregations that Christians live in this world as stewards of God, who so generously entrusts all his possessions to human beings and allows them to make use of them. Thus, they now understand that a primary problem is that they tend to forget that God is only allowing them to use what still belongs to him. The success of this project can increase the understanding of pastors about financial stewardship that can be directly linked to church development and mission accomplishment. DISSERTATION APPROVAL This is to certify that the dissertation entitled DEVELOPING PASTORS' UNDERSTANDING AND PRACTICE ON BIBLICAL FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP: THE KEY TO IMPACTING THE GROWTH OF THE BIBLE CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CHURCH OF INDONESIA presented by Tandi Frederik Randa has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for the DOCTOR OF MINISTRY degree at Asbury Theological Seminary May 1, 2012 Mentor Date May 1, 2012 Internal Reader Date May 1, 2012 Representative, Doctor of Ministry Program Date May 1, 2012 Dean of the Beeson Center Date DEVELOPING PASTORS' UNDERSTANDING AND PRACTICE ON BIBLICAL FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP: THE KEY TO IMPACTING THE GROWTH OF THE BIBLE CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CHURCH OF INDONESIA A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry by Tandi Frederik Randa May 2012 © 2011 Tandi Frederik Randa ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


Based on analyzing the meanings of juristic consciousness, this article talks about the necessity of strengthening the cultivation of undergraduates' juristic consciousness, and discusses the approaches for this strengthening.


This paper presents an approach for multizone wideband sound field generation using an efficient harmonic nested (EHN) dictionary for sparse loudspeakers' placement and weight. Effectively, the nested arrays provide a priori knowledge of prospective loudspeaker locations based on the frequency bands of interest. The nested arrays are then further optimized in the Lasso stage to form an efficient loudspeakers' location dictionary. The final loudspeaker locations and weightings are estimated by a two-stage Lasso-LS pressure matching optimization. In the first stage Lasso algorithm, the center band frequencies of octave bands from 1 kHz to 8 kHz were used to select active loudspeakers. A second stage then optimizes reproduction using all selected loudspeakers on the basis of a regularized LS algorithm. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach provides a solution for the multizone sound system with the mean squared error (MSE) under -30 dB across the targeted frequency range (500 Hz16 kHz) using a linear array e.g. 13 loudspeakers. While, the single-stage LS approach generates the MSE peaks of -10 dB and -9 dB at 9 kHz within the active and silent zones respectively using an identical number of loudspeakers and array length.


Prior research has established that children from traditional, two-parent nuclear families experience a lower risk of delinquency than children raised in alternative family structures. However, many studies have ignored the effect of parental cohabiting on delinquent development. A growing body of research suggests that cohabiting (even among biological parents) may be harmful to children. This study tests the hypothesis that cohabiting is associated with four different types of delinquent behavior. It examines two theoretical models, a family stress model and a community stress/selection model, as possible explanations of ''the cohabiting effect.'' The analysis reveals that cohabiting is generally associated with increased risk of misbehavior (although the effects do vary somewhat by type of delinquency). Although the theoretical models could not completely explain ''the cohabiting effect,'' substantial evidence of both mediation and moderation is found. The implications of the findings are discussed.


A 30-year-old man presented with a 6-day history of fever, conjunctivitis, rhinitis, dry cough and dyspnea. A maculopapular rash had appeared on his face the day before presentation and had spread to his upper torso and shoulders. The patient had never been vaccinated against measles. On examination


In this paper we first present a series of pickup proton solar wind solutions following the fluid motion in the upwind direction to show that the wind speed V and temperature T, at a given r outside 10 AU, are primarily functions of the 1 AU wind speed V0. This relationship is attributed to the accumulated effects of the pickup proton process on the heating and deceleration of the solar wind. Because pickup protons are expected to have similar effects on the solar wind at all latitudes in the upwind side of the heliosphere, in the second part of the paper, the two formulae V(r, V0) and T(r, V0) are extended to study the termination shock at 35° latitude. Wang and Sheeley have an empirical model for calculating the 1 AU wind speed V0 from the observed photospheric field. We use the simulated wind speed V0 to calculate V and T outside 60 AU following the fluid motion; then we can study the solar cycle variation of the termination shock. The shock location near 35° is unambiguously dependent on the solar cycle, with a period of approximately 1 solar cycle; the amplitude for variation of the shock location is greater than 50 AU. The new result supports the idea that the first encounter of Voyager 1 with the termination shock may occur during the declining phase of cycle 23. After the first encounter, the spacecraft will cross the shock two more times over a period of 8 years.


Summary and Conclusions How can we summarize the progress that has been made in the field since this topic was previously reviewed? Should we feel optimistic that the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place, as suggested recently (118), or do we have a disquieting sense that as we work out the details in one area—all the reaction pathways, products, side reactions—the perspective shifts and the puzzle of glycation, like a fractal, regenerates complexity? Perhaps both are appropriate. Glyco-oxidative damage represents the interface between the orderly workings of genomic intelligence and the disorganizing force of stochastic events. This interface, the cusp of our mortality, is the Faustian bargain of evolution. The passage from the unconscious immortality of unicellular existence to the complexities of sentient life required the development of an oxidative metabolism, the slow fire that consumes us. Until now we have only been able to watch it and study it; whether we can change it remains to be seen.


The Aharon-Vaidman game exemplifies the advantage of using quantum systems to outperform classical strategies. We present an experimental test of this advantage by using a qutrit encoded in a single photon passing through three slits.


Determination of optimum operating conditions of industrial fluidized bed reactors. Fluidized bed technology has long been successfully used in numerous industrial processes. Nevertheless, the design and optimization of fluidized bed reactors still give rise to considerable difficulties owing to the complex nature of the gas/solids flow. Advances in the mathematical description of fluidized bed reactors have now been made by formulation of a model describing the catalytic reaction in a gas/solids fluidized bed in terms of absorption of reactants from the bubble phase with subsequent pseudohomogeneous reaction in the catalyst suspension surrounding the bubbles. Empirical relations are reported for mass transfer, specific transfer area, and bubble gas hold-up, taking into account the influence of fluidized-bed geometry which is of great importance in scale-up. The state of development reached and the practical use of the model is demonstrated by evaluation of various reactions taken from the literature. Any desired reaction mechanism can be incorporated into the model. It is shown for the example of the selectivity behaviour of a system of consecutive reactions that a detailed knowledge of the reaction kinetics is a necessary condition for the design and operational optimization of industrial fluidized bed reactors.


Brachycephalic dogs have a normal lower jaw and a receded upper jaw, and these dogs are predisposed to nostril stenosis, elongated palate, tracheal hypoplasia and hyperthermia due to heat stress. Giventhese characteristics, these dogs are more predisposed to respiratory and cardiovascular disorders. The popularity of brachycephalic dogsthathave a greatertendency for cardiorespiratory disorders, such as French bulldogs,has increased recently; however, studies on the cardiorespiratoryand haematological parameters in this breedare lacking. Thus, the present study sought to evaluatethe cardiorespiratory and haematological parameters of healthy French bulldogs to standardize normal values forthisbreed. Thirty-six French bulldogs wereused without predilection for age or sex, and the following parameters were evaluated: temperature (T), heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), erythrogram, leukogram, total plasma protein, plasmatic fibrinogen, blood platelet count, urea, creatinine, alkaline phosphatase (AP) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). The mean and standard deviation wereas follows: T°C (38.3±0.4), HR (111.1±27.0) beats per minute, RR (54.8±32.5) breaths per minute, erythrocyte count (7.3±1.2x106), haemoglobin (16.9±2.8 g/dL), haematocrit (48.9±7.7%), MCV (67.6±2.4fL), MCH (23.3±0.7 pg), MCHC (34.6±0.8%), RDW-CV (9.3±0.9; 9.2-12.0%), total leukocytes (11009.7±2907.3/mm3), band neutrophils (250.0±260.4/mm3), segmented neutrophils (7094.4±2307.3/mm3), eosinophils (589.7±561.3/mm3), lymphocytes (2020.8±1457.5/mm3), monocytes (987.6±528.4/mm3), total plasma protein (6.9±0.5 g/dL), plasmatic fibrinogen (274.1±96.5 mg/dL), blood platelet count (366.4±88.5/mm3), urea (35.2±12.6 mg/dL), creatinine (0.8±0.2/mg/dL), AP (49.1±25.8U/L),ALT (36.2±12.3U/L). The haematological parameters and heart rate were within the normal values for the species, but the respiratory rate values (54.8±32.5 breaths per minute)were greater than the normal averageof10 to 30 breaths per minute. We conclude thatthehaematological parameters and heart rateof healthy French bulldogs arewithin the normal limit for dogs; however, the respiratory rate is above referencevalues, reinforcing the notion that dogs of this breed, although healthy,exhibitan increasedrisk of respiratory disorders


The historical-political researches of Western and Russian Canadianist do not mark out 1920s as the period of the swift building of Canadian society. The author believes this period formed the basis of Canadian nation and its further political development on the way of liberal social reforming. In author's mind the development of all sides of life was the basis of further successes in Canada. These years formed the basis of Canadian liberal tradition, which defined the reformist course of M. King's liberal government. The main problem of Canadian nation's unity have been solved successfully by M. King's government and helped continue the holding and the completion of The Second National Policy. The author emphasizes the choiceless of the political leadership in Canada in 1920s. Neither the Conservative party of Canada nor arose the widening progressive movement were not able lead necessary reformist actions at the beginning of century.


As the archetype magnetic intermetallic compounds IJNiAI (antiferromagnet, TN = 19K) and URhAI (ferromagnet, TC = 27K) [1] ., iJNi0.39Rh0.61A1 crystallizes in the hexagonal ZrNiAI-type structure . UNi0 .39Rh0.61A1 undergoes antiferromagnetic (AF) at TN = 13K . Here, we report on resistance and magnetoresistance studies on single-crystalline UNi0 .39Rh0.61A1 in magnetic field up to 18T applied along and perpendicular to the c-axis. 20-Tesla National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) at Los Alamos has been used to investigate such magnetic properties . This compound is found to exhibit highly anisotropic properties with the easy magnetization axis along the c-axis . While for fields applied along c-axis, 3T completely suppresses the AF ordering, antiferromagnetism persists up to the highest field of 18T applied perpendicular to the c-axis, see Fig.(1) which shows R(ohm) vs B (T) . The results are discussed in terms of variation of the 5f-ligand hybridization compared to the one of its parent compounds.


Savanna regions are some of the most highly populated places in the tropics, as well as the world, and it is certain that many will see a substantial increase in human populations in the future. Linked to population increase are problems of deforestation, desertification, vegetation burning and climate change, all leading to increased fragmentation of savanna lands. For example, in the Brazilian savannas, termed cerrado, the rate of agricultural expansion and subsequent habitat destruction presently exceeds that of the Amazon (Alho and Martins, 1995). With the numbers of people living in or around savannas forecast to rise in the future, the global issues facing savannas outlined above are only destined to become more prominent. As we progress into the twenty-first century, new technologies are bound to play an increasingly important role in studying and aiding the management of the changes set to take place. In this article, I would like to focus on some of the computerbased tools already being used in savannas, which include remote sensing and spatial analysis, modelling and decision-support systems.


The success of long-run consumption risk in pricing assets is tied to labor income risk. Labor income shocks are disproportionately borne by stockholders and stockholder ultimate consumption risk captures the cross-sectional variation in asset returns, including the size and value premia. Under Epstein-Zin preferences, risk aversion as low as 6.5 is sufficient to match both the cross-sectional price of risk and the equity premium for the wealthiest stockholders. In addition, the stockholder share of aggregate consumption captures time-variation in stock and bond market returns and mirrors the dynamics of the aggregate consumption-to-wealth ratio. The results highlight the importance of stockholder consumption risk and its ties to human capital risk for asset pricing. ∗London Business School, University of Chicago and NBER, and Northwestern University and NBER, respectively. We are grateful to John Cochrane, Lauren Cohen, Josh Coval, Eugene Fama, Francisco Gomes, Lars Hansen, John Heaton, Ravi Jagannathan, Jonathan Parker, Monika Piazzesi, Jacob Sagi, and seminar participants at the Northwestern Finance lunch and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve for helpful comments and suggestions. We also thank Ken French for providing data. Moskowitz thanks the Center for Research in Security Prices for financial support. Correspondence to: Tobias Moskowitz, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago, 1101 E. 58th St., Chicago, IL 60637. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com. The central insight of asset pricing theory is that differences in expected returns across assets and time can be explained by differences in risk. A cornerstone of asset pricing theory focuses on consumption risk (i.e., the consumption CAPM) and the role of human capital in making consumption and portfolio decisions. Recent evidence suggests that long-run or ultimate aggregate consumption risk, the covariance of returns with the present value of long-run changes in aggregate consumption growth, captures cross-sectional and aggregate stock returns (Parker and Julliard (2004), Bansal, Dittmar, and Lundblad (2004), Parker (2001), Bansal and Yaron (2004), Hansen, Heaton, and Li (2005)). The empirical success of long-run consumption risk raises several questions. Why does consumption take so long to adjust to news in stock returns? What are the underlying shocks driving stock returns and consumption? Do households that actually own and trade stocks care about these risks? If so, does stockholder consumption risk price assets even better? In this paper, we tie ultimate consumption risk to labor income risk and show that the consumption risk of households who hold financial assets is particularly relevant for asset pricing. We find that ultimate aggregate labor income risk, or the covariance of returns with the present value of long-run changes in labor income growth, is equally able to explain cross-sectional variation in average stock returns as ultimate aggregate consumption risk. This finding suggests that the reason aggregate consumption growth responds slowly to news in asset returns is that aggregate labor income (and total income) growth responds slowly. We then argue that analyzing who bears aggregate labor income risk is important for understanding why it is priced. Using micro-level household data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) for the period 1982 to 2001, we show that long-run consumption growth rates of the set of agents who bear stock market risk is highly sensitive to the long-run growth rates in aggregate labor income, and exhibits significant non-linearities. As a result, the ultimate consumption risk of stockholders is even better at capturing the cross-sectional variation of average stock returns. There are statistically and economically significant differences across assets in their covariation with long-run stockholder consumption growth. In particular, small and value stocks earn low returns when the future consumption growth of stockholders is low, requiring a premium for stockholders to bear this risk. Following Bansal and Yaron (2004) and Hansen, Heaton, and Li (2005) we interpret our findings within a framework that adopts Epstein-Zin (1989) and Weil (1989) preferences, allowing for the separation of the elasticity of intertemporal substitution (EIS) from risk aversion. In this setting,


Stress fractures of varying severity were created using a rat model of skeletal fatigue loading. Periosteal woven bone formed in proportion to the level of bone damage, resulting in the rapid recovery of whole bone strength independent of stress fracture severity.


ABSTRACT Texture analyses for fish and fish products are important in research, quality control and product development in the seafood industry. Numerous mechanical methods have been used to measure texture, however, there is little agreement on which is the best method. The different instruments used for measuring texture of raw as well as cooked flesh, together with examples of different species are presented in this paper. Correlation between sensory and instrumental measurements of fish texture is emphasized to verify the efficacy of both methodologies. A description of equipment and methods commonly used for instrumental evaluation, sensory evaluation, and chemical analyses is given.


This paper deals with the preparation and characterization of Nickelcoated Aluminum ceramic particles by Electroless Plating Technique. Aluminum powder is used for plating. The bath for Electroless Nickel Plating is prepared with some chemicals like Nickel Chloride hexahydrate, Sodium hypophosphate Monohydrate, Ammonium Chloride, Tri Sodium Citrate, Sodium Hydroxide. A bath temperature of 85°C, pH value of 8 and stirring time of 20 min is considered to carry out the deposition. And we checked for the colour change, hardness and density values have given the primary indications and the results of SEM (scanning electron microscopy) is whether convincing or not. The results shown a great change in colour change i.e, deposition of nickel is rich that indicates the coating is done on the Aluminum powder, also there is a great change in density.


This paper uses the ideology of solving hyperbolic equations using the Euler balance-characteristic approach, which allows economically and correctly resolving the dynamics of pollution propagation processes with large concentration gradients characteristic of an accident. The purpose of the study is to develop a three-dimensional model of advectiondiffusion in a non-uniform velocity field and non-isotropic field of turbulent diffusion, taking into account some physical processes: gravity sedimentation, sediment accumulation and their dynamics. As well as the implementation of the interaction model with the hydrodynamic module, based on solving the equations of the theory of shallow water in the approximation of Saint-Venant.


The 1.85 Ga Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC) and its thermal aureole are unique on Earth with regard to unraveling the effects of a large impact melt sheet on adjacent target rocks. Notably, the formation of Footwall Breccia, lining the basal SIC, remains controversial and has been attributed to impact, cratering, and postcratering processes. Based on detailed field mapping and microstructural analysis of thermal aureole rocks, we identified three distinct zones characterized by static recrystallization, incipient melting, and crystallization textures. The temperature gradient in the thermal aureole increases toward the SIC and culminates in a zone of partial melting, which correlates spatially with the Footwall Breccia. We therefore conclude that assimilation of target rock into initially superheated impact melt and simultaneous deformation after cratering strongly contributed to breccia formation. Estimated melt fractions of the Footwall Breccia amount to 80 vol% and attest to an extreme loss in mechanical strength and, thus, high mobility of the Breccia during assimilation. Transport of highly mobile Footwall Breccia material into the overlying Sublayer Norite of the SIC and vice versa can be attributed to Raleigh–Taylor instability of both units, long‐term crater modification caused by viscous relaxation of crust underlying the Sudbury impact structure, or both.


Aquatic macroinvertebrates play significant role in responding to a variety of environmental conditions of rivers and streams and therefore may be used as bio-indicators for water quality assessment. In the past, biological communities like plankton, periphyton, microphytobenthos, macrozoobenthos, aquatic macrophytes, fishes etc. have been used for the assessment of water quality of rivers and streams, but now the use of benthic macroinverte- brates as bio-indicators is gaining importance as these can be easily caught and seen with naked eyes and the method is less costlier and less time consuming compared to other methods given above. Behta River of Paonta Sahib in Hi- machal Pradesh was chosen to assess the suitability of river water for drinking purposes. The present study involved sampling, pre-identification and identification of macroinvertebrates and computing the percent of occurrence of families of various taxonomic groups and conducting physico-chemical analysis of samples from selected location. Macroinvertebrates chosen were identified up to family level, and bio-assessment at various locations has been done using NEPBIOS score system. It was found that out of total 30 genus belonging to 10 families of taxonomical group like Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, Plecoptera, Coleoptera, Heteroptera, Odonata, Diptera Mollusca, Oligochaetes etc. have been found in different composition inhabiting the river. The results further show that all the locations assessed for quality using macroinvertebrates and physico-chemical analysis are in the range of water quality class ill (Moderately Polluted) and the water can not be used for drinking purposes. The measures tOcreduce


The first Ni-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura coupling of alkyl halides with alkenyl-(9-BBN) reagents is reported. Both primary and secondary alkyl halides including alkyl chlorides can be coupled. The coupling method can be combined with hydroboration of terminal alkynes, allowing the expedited synthesis of functionalized alkyl alkenes from readily available alkynes with complete (E)-selectivity in one pot. The method was applied to the total synthesis of (±)-Recifeiolide, a natural macrolide.


Exploratory search is a complex, long-lasting and highly iterative process. Users may have only a vague or an open-ended information need that is likely to change during the search process. Besides the insufficient domain knowledge, most users lack experience in efficient information search. Hence, they have to be guided during the search process by strategic recommendations. In this work, we present an overview of our strategy-oriented search platform that derives appropriate composite web applications from recommended and preferred search strategies with respect to the current user and search context. Moreover, we give a glimpse into our meta-model of search strategies, which represent best practices on how to solve search problems and are described using hierarchical task models. Keywords–Mashup; End-User Development; Exploratory Search; Search Strategy; Strategy Recommendation.


Objective To evaluate the effect of biphasic positive airway pressure ventilation(BIPAP)in patients with acute lung injury(ALI).Methods 20 patients with ALI receiving treatment of mechanical ventilation were randomized into volume controlled ventilation group and biphasic positive airway pressure ventilation group(n=10 in each group).Blood gas analysis and respiratory mechanics were monitored.Results After ventilation,arterial partial pressure of oxygen(PaO2),arterial oxygen saturatioin(SaO2),oxygenation index(OI)were significantly greater in the BIPAP group than those in the VCV group(P0.05).At the end of ventilation,the dosage of sedation and duration of intubation were greatly in the VCV group than in those in the BIPAP group(P0.05).Conclusion BIPAP is an effective mode of mechanical ventilation therapy for ALI patients.It shortens the duration of mechanical ventilation.


For the successful design of low-cost and high-performance radar systems accurate and efficient system simulation is a key requirement. In this paper we present a new versatile simulation environment for frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar systems. Besides common hardware simulation it covers integrated system simulation and concept analysis from signal synthesis to baseband. It includes a flexible scenario generator, accurate noise modeling, and efficiently delivers simulation data for development and testing of signal processing algorithms. A comparison of simulations and measurement results for an integrated 77-GHz radar prototype shows the capabilities of the simulator on two different scenarios.


Spurred by ongoing discussions in our group, as well as by prearation for my upcoming talks in Canada and Israel, I've been thinking more about the underlying physical basis for the increase in stellar luminosity with mass, and how this is affected by the approach to the Eddington limit. The notes here are an attempt to lay this out in as simple and straightward way possible, building in some ways on the basis developed last winter in Rich, Ken and my analyses of stellar structure within the "Eddington Standard Model" (ESM).


The feasibility of the main teaching building of Chongqing University additional lake water source heat pump during the winter heating is analyzed and the water temperature and quality of the artificial lake are determined,that the water is more serious eutrophication,and it must be purified before the water enters heat exchangers.Heat carrying capacity of lake is analyzed and hourly temperature of the lake is simulated during the winter heating operating conditions.When the average temperature is 5~8 ℃in January in Chongqing,the lake as an evaporator cycle water provide energy to heat pump constantly,assumed initial temperature of water is 13.7 ℃,hourly water temperature is simulated in January.The water temperature has dropped to 4.04 ℃ at 24 d,the evaporator surface may be frozen and cause the phenomenon of ice-clogging,which will endanger the safety of heat transfer equipment,therefore,auxiliary heater must be set to ensure the main building heating.


In this study, 14 novel eugenol derivatives with the carbamate moiety were synthesized and their inhibitory effects on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) were evaluated. 4-allyl-2-methoxyphenyl-(3,4dicholorophenyl)carbamate (3f) was found to be the most potent AChE inhibitor with IC50 value of 71.6 μM, and 4allyl-2-methoxyphenyl(3-methoxyphenyl)carbamate (3a) exhibited the strongest inhibition against BuChE with IC50 value of 0.58 μM. Additionally, structure-activity relationship were also investigated.


Background: The unmet need of family planning refers to the gap between reproduction intention of a couple and their contraceptive behavior. According to NFHS-4 the unmet need for family planning is 12.9 in India. The objectives of the study were to assess the unmet need for family planning and to find out the contraceptive choices among married women.Methods: This cross sectional study was undertaken in the rural field practice area of Department of Community Medicine, Index Medical College, Indore, from October 2016 to March 2017. Total sample size calculated was 640. Systematic random sampling was used to select eligible couple a pretested, semi-structured questionnaire was administered to women of reproductive age (15-49 year) in local Hindi language after taking consent.Results: Out of 640 participants 39 (6.1%) were desiring pregnancy, 454 (70.9%) using contraceptives while 147 (23%) had unmet need and among them 74 (11.6%) for limiting while 73 (11.4%) for spacing. Unmet need was found more in age group of 15-24 (35%), Muslims (48.6%), illiterates (45.9%), housewives (24.4%) and in poor socioeconomic status (53.4%). Overall contraceptive use was 70.9% and tubectomy (60.8%) was the most preferred method followed by male condom and OCP. Unmet need was higher among those who were not having male child (p=0.00, X2=42.2).The main reasons for not using contraception was identified as family interference and cultural as well as religious restrictions.Conclusions: The study conclude that still there is need to create awareness regarding importance of spacing method as well as limiting methods and to clear the myths regarding contraceptives not only in young couples but also in other family members.


Comparative genomics identified a novel enhancer element of the SALL1 zinc finger transcription factor located on 16q12.1 in the human genome. SALL1 is one of the four human homologues of the Drosophila region-specific homeotic gene spalt; heterozygous mutations of which cause Townes-Brocks syndrome, characterized by anal defects, upper limb pre-axial defects, first and second arch defects including the ears and jaw, kidney malformations, and occasionally mental retardation. See page 660


We have developed a flexible reduced graphene oxide (RGO) temperature sensor on filter paper based cellulose substrate using vacuum filtration method. One of the most commonly used synthesized methods for RGO thin films is vacuum filtration process. It has several advantages such as simple operation and good controllability. The structural analysis was carried out by FE-SEM, in which the surface morphology images confirm the formation of RGO nanostructures on the filter paper substrate. It was observed that the pores of the filter paper were completely filled with the RGO material during the filtration process, subsequently the formation of continuous RGO thin films. As a results, the RGO films exhibits a piezoresistive property. The resulted RGO based films on the filter paper reveals the semiconducting behavior having sensitivity of 0.278 Omega/degrees C and negative temperature coefficient (NTC) about -0.00254 Omega / Omega /degrees C. Thus, we demonstrate a simplified way for the fabrication of RGO films on filter paper that possesses better and easier measurable macroscopic electrical properties. Our approach is for easy way of electronics, cost-effective and environment friendly fabrication route for flexible conducting graphene films on filter paper. This will enable for the potential applications in flexible electronics in various fields including biomedical, automobile and aerospace engineering.


The decision-making of enterprises involved in the anti-dumping charges concerning whether or not to give response or to what degree of participation depends on the tradeoffs between benefits and costs. Based on the dynamic game theory, this paper establishes a dynamic game model of the export enterprises' decision-making to give response to suits in the context of incomplete information. It quantifies the respondent costs and benefits and constructs a decision-making model for export enterprises to respond to anti-dumping charges based on the "cost-benefit" theory. Taking the price and quantity of export products as standards, it works out the five critical points for export enterprises involved in the charges to make decisions through mathematical derivation. It is thus clear that to quantify the decision-making of responding to anti-dumping charges is the essence for Chinese enterprises to overcome the lack of confidence, avoid being defeated and build efficient mechanisms for responding to anti-dumping charges.


This study examines the effect of Board Characteristics on Earnings Quality of Nigeria Conglomerate firms. Data were extracted from the audited accounts of Nigeria conglomerate firms using secondary source of data collection. Two step regression was employed in analyzing the data extracted. The result indicated that the board characteristics proxies have a significant impact on earnings quality of Nigerian Conglomerate firms. This establishes the fact that board characteristics play a significant role in checkmating the unethical behaviours of managers in the Nigerian conglomerate firms and thus improving the earnings quality. The study therefore, recommends that the proportion of non executive directors should be maximized. Emphases should be on experience and objectivity when appointing women as members on board of directors not by mere quest for gender sensitivity. The implication of the findings is that firm with higher number of non executive and women directors are more likely to report quality earnings.


This is the third in a series of papers in which spiral galaxy rotation curves are considered in the context of Milgrom's modified dynamics (MOND). The present sample of 30 objects is drawn from a complete sample of galaxies in the Ursa Major cluster, with photometric data from Tully et al. and 21 cm line data from Verheijen. The galaxies are roughly all at the same distance (15 to 16 Mpc). The radio observations are made with the Westerbork Synthesis Array, which means that the linear resolution of all rotation curves is comparable. The greatest advantage of this sample is the existence of K'-band surface photometry for all galaxies; the near-infrared emission, being relatively free of the effects of dust absorption and less sensitive to recent star formation, is a more precise tracer of the mean radial distribution of the dominant stellar population. The predicted rotation curves are calculated from the K'-band surface photometry and the observed distribution of neutral hydrogen using the simple MOND prescription, in which the one adjustable parameter is the mass of the stellar disk or the implied mass-to-light ratio. The predicted rotation curves generally agree with the observed curves, and the mean M/L in the near-infrared is about 0.9 with a small dispersion. The fitted M/L in the B-band correlates with B-V color in the sense predicted by population synthesis models. Including earlier work, about 80 galaxy rotation curves are now well reproduced from the observed distribution of detectable matter using the MOND formula to calculate the gravitational acceleration; this lends considerable observational support to Milgrom's unconventional hypothesis.


In order to improve the accuracy of quality evaluation in operation of navigable crew, a model of crew operation quality evaluation system based on improved entropy weight method is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the existing evaluation system of operational quality of navigation crew is processed, and important indexes are extracted to exclude the meaningless ones. Then, the weights of each index are calculated by AHP method and entropy weight method respectively. Finally, the combined weights of each index are calculated by Lagrange least multiplier method, combining with actual data. The model is used to rank and evaluate the operation of the crew. The results show that compared with the single subjective and objective empowerment method, the improved method is more comprehensive and can provide effective evidence for staff to evaluate the quality of work.


In the past the greatest fault of Ginling Women's College was in only thinking of how fine, how fine, Ginling was in lifeless reading of a few books and engaging in so-called social service. But we didn't know whom we were trying to reach with our service, nor what goal we were trying to achieve. Then doing only a few tiny superficial things was counted as social service. Therefore, when I think of all that in the past, I feel very ashamed.


We investigated both the atomic arrangements in the core structure of threading dislocations (TDs) and their behaviors in unintentionally doped c-plane-GaN layers grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy and hydride vapor phase epitaxy using high angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM). The extra image contrast near the core was attributed to an extra displacement in a-type TDs in addition to the core structures revealed in previous reports; we used the notation "with displacement" to describe the new core structure. We found that TDs incline towards both the m- and a-directions from the c-direction. The transition of a-type TDs from the conventional core structure to the structure with displacement was deduced from its relationship to the TD inclination. We also found similarities between a-type screw dislocations and a-type TDs with displacement in the atomic-scale HAADF-STEM images. We concluded that a-type TDs could incline towards the a-direction via a-type sc...


With DICOM, information of patient can be stored with the actual images. Content-based access to medical images for supporting clinical decision-making has been proposed to ease the management of clinical data. The paper presents a method of medical image retrieval based on color-texture correlogram and GIT model for endoscopic images. First we define a new image feature called color-texture correlogram which is the extension of color correlogram. The texture image extracted by texture spectrum algorithm is combined with color feature vector , then we calculate the spatial correlation of color-texture feature vector. In order to obviate the expensive computation, we have another way to calculate the pixels' correlation to reduce its time complexity. Similarity measure is also the key technology during domain of image retrieval, GTI model is used in medical image retrieval for similarity measure, and the technique of relevance feedback is used in the algorithm to enhance the effectiveness of retrieval. Experiment results show that the method discussed in this paper is much more effective.


The present study involves the photo catalytic degradation of methyl orange and methylene blue by heterogeneous photo catalytic process using TiO2 as semi conductor. An attempt has been made to study the effect of process parameters viz. → concentration of dye and pH on photo catalytic degradation of methyl orange and methylene blue. The experiments were carried out by the irradiating the aqueous solution of dyes containing photo catalyst with UV and solar light. The rate of decolorization was estimated from residual concentration spectro- photometrically. The % reduction of methyl orange and methylene blue was estimated under UV / solar system.


This study aims to suggest the basic data for making enactments of the anti-light pollution by Gwangju Metropolitan City. For this purpose, four target areas which were classified such as natural, residential and commercial areas according to 'Light Pollution Prevention Act by night lighting' were s...


Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a prominent form of neurological disorder that impairs a person's ability to engage socially and interact effectively with others. ASD is also characterised by a tendency toward repetitive and restricted behaviours. The costs associated with autism can rise during the time it takes to get a diagnosis and begin treatment, but many of these expenditures are long-term and will remain with a person throughout their lives. Optimization and machine learning methods have been used in many different industries and professions in an effort to improve results.In this paper, an bioinspired optimization-based classifier namely Adaptive Whale Optimization based Support Vector Machine (AWO-SVM) is proposed for precisely detect ASD. AWO-SVM performs classification after optimization phase gets complete. AWO-SVM involves three different phases namely Exploitation Phase, Exploration Phase, and Classification Phase. Each phase of AWO-SVM plays a major role to predict ASD more accurately. The metrics "accuracy" and "F-Measure" are used to evaluate AWO-SVM on three distinct ASD screening datasets. When AWO-SVM results are compared to those of other classifiers, it is clear that AWO-SVM is superior in terms of accuracy in predicting ASD.


Objective To evaluate the long-term effects for patients with developmental dislocation of hips (DDH) by closed reduction and limited immobilization.Methods From Jul 1983 to Jul 2001,86 patients with 119 dislocated hips were enrolled into this study.The matin age when the patients were diagnosed was 19.5 months.After traction for 18 days,the functional apparatus was applied on all the patients averagely for 10.4 months.One hundred and ten dislocated hips of 80 cases were repositioned at bedside,9 hips of 6 cases were repositioned under general anesthesia and only 2 hips of 1 case underwent the tenotomy of the adductors at both sides.Results The mean following up period was 10.2 years.Twenty-one patients were followed up until the epiphyses were closed.X-ray showed that the excellent and good rate was 77.3%.Mckays clinical evaluation showed that the excellent and good rate was 85.7%.Eight hips (6.7%) got avascular necrosis of the femoral head,8 hips got irregular ossification in all or part of the epiphyseal nucleus.Twenty-six hips in 19 cases underwent secondary procedures due to residual deformity at 3 to 8 years after the prior treatment.Conclusions Closed reduction and lirnited immobilization after prior traction is an effective method to treat patients with DDH with fewer complications.The long-term follow-up is necessary to evaluate curative effect of the treatment of DDH by closed reduction.

Key words:
Hip dislocation,developmental; Skeletal traction reduction; Treatment outcome


Metal manufacturing system and associated equipment, gathering the parameter data associated with the welding operation and may be monitored by sending a memory and a processing system. Target for the selected parameter may be pre-defined, it is certain of which may be a standard or the like for the corresponding welding system, position, motion and operator. Upon request, a Web-based reports are generated and delivered to the user, which indicates the time period for such a comparison, a comparison of the actual system performance for systems or system goals.


Poyang Lake ecological economy experimental zone is built for its rich natural resources and well conserved ecological environment.The strategic status,interior characteristics and the construction regime,mechanism and corresponding policies in Poyang Lake ecological economy experimental zone were illustrated.


The invention provides biomarkers for the prediction of diarrhoea based upon the gene expression of certain genes by the subject, the expression of the Diego blood type by the subject, or the results of haematological assays.


1. Young adult zooids of Amaroecium constellatum were divided into branchial and abdominal halves.2. Two branchial halves and one abdominal half were inserted into the tunic of a two-week-old zooid from which the occupant had been evicted.3. The three halves were mildly macerated in order to bring their injured surfaces into contact.4. The epidermal mantle of the three half zooids, by the spreading action of its cells, enclosed the triple members in a common epidermal mantle.5. The organ-parts in each contributing half ressembled their fragments into complete organs.6. Union of organ-parts was effected only between tissues of matching histogenetic character.7. When the dissociated organs re-established their integrity, the organs of each half united with their homologous members in each other half.8. The re-establishment of organs into systems followed the system of axial gradients that characterize these tunicate zooids.9. Within five days, three halves of three zooids reaggregated their constituent part...


At the beginning of the 21st Century, Italy launches an ambitious program of revision of its military system. The legislative base for this new military policy is the "White Paper for International Security and Defence". The article discusses the content of the nation's strategic military doctrine and its influence on the self-identification of Italy within the North Atlantic Alliance, covering the Italian position on the defence of NATO's Southern and Eastern flanks. The study pays particular attention to the problem of Italy's military system's conformity to NATO standards. The author analyzes the perspectives of Italy's leadership in the Euro-Mediterranean region, taking into account the outcomes of the NATO Warsaw Summit (2016) and the results of the recent US election.  Key words: Italy, White Paper for International Security and Defence, collective security, transatlantic collaboration, political-military strategy, NATO, Euro-Mediterranean region, NATO Warsaw Summit.


This study aims to explore the impact of climate change, technology, and agricultural policy on rice production in South Korea. In the presence of a long-run relationship among variables, the results show that an increase in CO2 emissions increases rice production by 0.15%. The mean temperature raises rice production by 1.16%. The rainfall has an adverse impact on rice production which shows improper irrigation systems and weather forecasting reports. Similarly, for technical factors, the area under rice and fertilizer used in the study has a direct effect on rice production. The study suggests that the Korean government needs to implement new policies and acquire advanced technology for weather forecasting. The concerned authorities need to inform rice growers about future weather and climate changes. We recommend that Korea needs to provide virgin arable undivided land to deserving rice growers based on ownership and/or lease for future food security. Finally, the study recommends that legislators should recommend policies for sustainable food security with the introduction of new agricultural technologies and subsidies, along with the provision of new varieties of seeds that can absorb the adverse shock of climate change and ensure a suitable amount of food.


[Objective] To summarize the complication of ureter stone with ureteroscopy and pneumatic lithotripty as well as their managements. [Methods] 131 patients of ureter stone undergone ureteroscopy and pneumatic lithotripty, the intraoperative and postoperative complications as well as their managements were analyzed. [Results] 82.3%(109/131) stones were fragmented in one treatment session. 22 cases ureteroscopy operation were failure, of 5 cases ureteroscopy did not enter ureter lumen, 4 cases ureteroscopy did not get close to stone because of serious curved ureter, 2 cases of ureter perforation, 11 cases stone moved up to renal pelvis. 7 cases underwent open operation, 3 case treated in Chinese crude drug, and 12 case underwent ESWL in above cases. Ureteral perforation occurred in 5 cases, of whom 2 cases underwent open operation and 3 case indwelling double J tubes without open operation. Urinary tract infection occurred in 7 cases, but recovery was achieved after administrating antibiotics. [Conclusions] Treatment of ureter stone with the method has been safe, effective and less serious complications, which mostly may get expectant treatment.


ABSTRACT Analysis of transgene expression under the control of the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter from adenovirus vectors in which the E4 region was modified indicated that E4ORF3 is required for long-term expression in the murine lung. CMV promoter truncation led to the persistence of expression in the absence of E4, thus eliminating the ORF3 requirement.


Naturally occurring nipagin and eugenol were used as the collaborative starting materials for poly(ether ester) materials. In this study, two series of nipagin and eugenol-derived copoly(ether ester)s, PHN11-xE1x and PHN11-xE2x (x = 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%), were prepared with renewable 1,6-hexanediol as a comonomer. The nipagin-derived component acts as the renewable surrogate of petroleum-based dimethyl terephthalate (DMT), while the eugenol-derived component acts as the cooperative property modifier of parent homopoly(ether ester) PHN1. 1,6-Hexanediol was chosen as the spacer because of its renewability and short chain to enhance the glass transition temperatures (Tgs) of materials. The molecular weights and chemical structures were confirmed by gel permeation chromatograph (GPC), NMR and FTIR spectroscopies. Thermal and crystalline properties were studied by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WXRD). The tensile assays were conducted to evaluate the mechanical properties. The results suggest that properties of such kind of poly(ether ester)s can be finely tuned by the relative content of two components. Synergistic interaction of two structurally distinctive parts endows the materials with high performance.


Since the invention of turbo codes, there has been an explosion of interest in iterative decoding and graphical representation of codes. This thesis examines the iterative decoding of codes defined on graphs with cycles, which appears to be an efficient means of achieving the Shannon limit. Much of this analysis is on the iterative min-sum decoding of tail-biting codes and cycle codes. We have identified the pseudocodeword as the cause of the suboptimal performance of the iterative decoder, and we have obtained a union bound for the performance of the iterative decoder on both AWGN and BSC channels. Using the union bound argument, for cycle codes, we have shown that the performance of the iterative decoder is asymptotically as good as that of the ML decoder. As for tail-biting codes, the same thing is true if the lowest weight pseudocodeword is at least the minimum weight of the code. Unfortunately, the analysis of tail-biting codes and cycle codes does not extend to turbo codes and low density parity check codes in general. Our next approach is to determine the average behavior of message passing algorithms by studying the evolution of their "message" densities. For the class of "repeat and accumulate" serially concatenated turbo-like codes, we have devised an algorithm for determining their "threshold" values. When the signal-to-noise ratio is larger than the threshold value, the error probabilities of message passing algorithms approach zero, whereas if the signal-to-noise ratio is less than the threshold value, the error probability stays bounded away from zero. Some message passing algorithms and graphical representation of codes are efficient means of devising ML or MAP decoding algorithms. We have proposed a junction tree representation for linear block codes, and we have shown that the minimum junction tree can be less complex than the minimal trellis.


For the past three decades, the children in Florida and across the nation have experienced a decrease in routine daily physical activity as less and less children walk and bicycle to school. Parents choosing cars and buses over walking and bicycling has increased roadway traffic and negatively impacted the health of Florida's children. In response to this decrease and its related problems, such as increased school transportation costs, increase childhood obesity and diabetes, the federal and state government have passed recent legislation concerning multimodal planning, school siting, and the Safe Ways/Routes to School Program. The objective of this research is to determine how to implement this recent legislation in order to maximize the number of children walking and bicycling to school. Parents' decisions about how to safely get their children to school are complex and dependent upon the travel options available. Multimodal planning and coordinated school planning at the state and local level can provide these options by supplying a safe and predictable built environment in which the Safe Routes to School Program - education, encouragement, enforcement and engineering - can be implemented to increase the opportunities for children to engage in routine physical activity while walking to school. The most critical aspect of the Safe Routes to School Program is the need for ongoing coordination between these diverse programs. The goal of this coordination should be the development of communities that balance the need for safe, continuous, and predictable environments for pedestrians, bicyclists, especially near schools, with the need for mobility within the community. Without attention to the creation of multimodal environments that encourage alternatives to the automobile throughout the community, the traffic near school zones is likely to remain an issue and our children are likely to continue to experience the negative consequences of a lack of physical activity. With improved attention to multimodal transportation planning, coordinated school planning and Safe Routes to School programs we may be able to halt the decline in the number of children walking and bicycling to school.


Chalia larminati Heylaerts is a new pests of mangrove.Aggregation indices such as diffusion coefficient(C),mean crowding(m*) were used to analyze the spatial distribution of Chalia larminati Heylaerts.The results showed that the spatial distribution pattern was an assembly distribution.According to different population densities and errors,the optimum theoretical sampling numbers were given.The survey also found that Aegiceras corniculatum and Kandelia candel were more likely to suffer damage from Chalia larminati.The density of the insect in the area away from the shore is notablely higher than that in the area close to the shore and the density of the insect on the tree of K.candel with a heiht of 1.6-1.7 m is the highest.