The potential of the arts to facilitate reconciliation in conflict-affected societies has been repeatedly pointed out in recent peacebuilding research.1 There is broad agreement that by appealing to the "moral imagination",2 the arts can "open space for dialogue grounded in mutual respect"3 and thereby encourage tolerance of difference and pluralism, which are conducive to maintaining peace.4 Furthermore, there is a multi-disciplinary consensus that the arts provide "a means of dealing with trauma".5 In this regard, the visual arts have often been cited: "artistic interventions have potential to fill a gap in which everyday language is inadequate to relay the extent of trauma and the depth of emotions that survivors experience".6 In comparison, the role of literature, and more specifically of lyric poetry, in promoting recovery and reconciliation has received less scholarly attention. This is remarkable, since in recent history, poems – and not other forms of literature or visual artwork – were widely shared after large-scale traumatic events.7 Drawing on current models developed in trauma therapy and peacebuilding research, this brief makes the case for the hitherto largely unexplored potential in lyric poetry to deal with trauma in the aftermath of genocide and internecine violence. By taking the example of


In recent years, pH/temperature-sensitive polymers have attracted increasing attention as drug/protein delivery systems. In this study, the main objective was to synthesize a pH-sensitive oligoester. The oligoester was synthesized by condensation reaction from carboxylic and hydroxyl groups of D,L-Serine, which had been previously modified with benezenesulfonyl chloride in order to create sulfonamides as pH sensitive groups. Various molecular weights of the oligoesters were obtained by means of manipulating the mole ratio of N,N'-Dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC)/Serine (DCC acts as a coupling agent) and the Dimethylformamide (DMF)/Serine (v/w) ratio (DMF acts as solvent). The synthesized oligoesters were characterized by 1 H-NMR and their molecular weights were measured by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Also, the pK a values of pH-sensitive oligoesters were obtained by the titration method. This pH dependent property of the polymers could be very useful for preparing drug carriers that are sensitive to pH environment.


PurposeThe aim of this paper is to investigate the scope of digitalization in the EMAS-registered organizations for better understanding its extent in environmental committed firms' activities.Design/methodology/approachA content analysis was employed to examine the environmental statements of the EMAS-registered organizations. About 60 Italian and Polish entities were selected from the EMAS database using simple random sampling method.FindingsThe article fills the gap in the theory of managing change in an environmental context, suggesting that the action plan for sustainable development does not meet the objectives of digitalization. Organizations registered in EMAS do not express a strong tendency to introduce ICT in the pursuit of environmental goals, which is contrary to the assumptions about the benefits of digitalization for sustainable development.Research limitations/implicationsThe first limitation refers to the small size of the sample. Since environmental statements are always published in national languages, only two countries – Italy and Poland – were chosen for investigation. The use of national language hinders comparison, but the inclusion of more registered organizations could give additional explanations. Secondly, the content analysis would have benefited from the collection of additional source of information (webpages and company documentations), since many firms do not refer to digitalization in the environmental statements. Gathering primary data from managers explaining the motives behind their strategic environmental decisions could be also useful.Practical implicationsGiving the agreement about the environmental advantages of digitalization, this study offers to the practitioners the chance to catch new opportunities within the field of environmental sustainability by the employment of more integrated approach to digitalization.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to examine two dynamically developing areas, namely digitalization and environmental sustainability. This study enriches current knowledge about both areas, examining the level of digitalization of European high-environmental performing firms. In doing this, it reports lack of important use of digitalization in the action plans for environmental commitments in Polish and Italian EMAS-registered organizations.


education. Education needs the support of an interested, concerned public so that good understanding can support educational change necessitated by new bodies of knowledge, social problems, economic trends, and other societal metamorphoses. In writing about education, however, any author must have the breadth of background to see educational problems in their current settings and to evaluate ideas in terms of present techniques and objectives. We are told that it is possible to find evidence in support of any criticism of education somewhere. It is also possible to identify trends, to observe concentrations of research and practice, and to delineate change as it affects the classroom today.


Cognitive health is a concern athwart all population but particularly among elder's subjects. The occurrence of cognitive problems is predictable to double each two decades because age of the world population. For that reason, identifying factors and creating pathways that lead to cognitive decline is a public health priority. Several studies have suggested that hearing loss is independently associated with cognitive decline functioning, probably during the effects of hearing loss on cognitive load and/or mediation through reduced social engagement [1,2].


In earlier papers [Opns. Res. 9, 849-859 1961, and 11, 863-888 1963] the one-dimensional cutting stock problem was discussed as a linear programming problem. There it was shown how the difficulty of the enormous number of columns occurring in the linear programming formulation could be overcome by solving a knapsack problem at every pivot step. In this paper higher dimensional cutting stock problems are discussed as linear programming problems. The corresponding difficulty of the number of columns cannot in general be overcome for there is no efficient method for solving the generalized knapsack problem of the higher dimensional problem. However a wide class of cutting stock problems of industry have restrictions that permit their generalized knapsack problem to be efficiently solved. All of the cutting stock problems that yield to this treatment are ones in which the cutting is done in stages. In treating these practical cutting problems, one often encounters additional conditions that affect the solution. An example of this occurs in the cutting of corrugated boxes, which involves an auxiliary sequencing problem. This problem is discussed in some detail, and a solution described for the sequencing problem under given simplifying assumptions.


This paper presents a new on-line model for the prediction of the roll force profile across the strip in cold rolling. Also presented is a new on-line model for the prediction of roll deformed profile in a six-high mill. It is shown that an integrated model may be formed for the prediction of the strip profile on the basis of them. The prediction accuracy of the proposed models is examined through comparison with the predictions from Finite Element simulation.


A technical method has been used to measure the boron concentration in soil samples in the Basra governorate by detecting alpha track density in CR-39 plastic detector. The measurements were performed by analyzing the soil samples collected from 39 location using SSNTDs method. The Boron concentrations which are obtained ranged from 0.512 ppm in Eastren star to 3.581 ppm in Alnagme in soils samples. The results are presented and compared with other studies. The results could be utilized to make distinctive supplementary contributions when contamination event occurs and to implement soil quality standards by concerned authorities to maintain radioactive contamination-free drinking water supplies for the people. The study further reveals that 39 surface soil samples have boron below detection limit. It may be due to higher leaching of boron during monsoon rains from surface soils beyond the root zone. Thus, there is possibility of severe pollution problem with boron in near future.


The detection and monitoring of animal sounds can be used to analyze the diversity and abundance ofspecies, which is of critical importance for environmental protection. In the era of big data, the study of thegeneral-purpose automatic species recognition algorithms is crucial for the sharing and scalability of algorithms.In this paper, the Time Probabilistic Automata (hereinafter referred to as TPA for short) relying on the naturalprocessing language is put forward based on the detailed exploration of the design principles for the generalautomatic recognition algorithms (Raven, Song Scope). Comparative study is carried out on the Raven, SongScope and TPA algorithms through the experiment. In addition, the monitoring data are used to perform theverification. The results show that compared with Raven and Song Scope algorithms, the average accuracy,recall and precision of the TPA algorithm are increased by about 20%.


This study aims to analyze the causal effect among the users' lifestyle, preference for the rural amenity resources, and participation in rural tourism activity and figure out the implication for revitalization of the rural tourism The data was collected from the Boramae Park and Uldong Park as the survey sites to obtain the citizens' various characteristics. Total of 475 samples were collected by convenient sampling method. For analyzing data, the researcher has conducted reliability and validity test, frequency analysis, factor analysis, multiple regression analysis, and canonical correlation analysis using SPSS Window Ver. 12.0. The relationships between the preference for rural amenity resources and participation in rural tourism activity have a correlation and causality. For the future study, however, it is necessary to look into attributes of the destination focusing on the rural amenity resources and rural tourism activity.


Camelia was registered in Romania as camelina (Camelina sativa L. Crantz) cultivar in 2011, but camelina seeds have been found in archaeological excavations from the transition Eneolithic to Bronze Age in different Romanian localities. "Inisor" and "lubit" are the Romanian popular common names for the camelina. As a crop, camelina was recently grown in Romania, when ARTEGO Târgu Jiu used its seeds, oil and meal in regeneration rubber composition and the EU project ITAKA to support the use of sustainable biofuels in aviation was launched. A five year (2009-2013) yield trial in organic farming and a three year (2008-2010) yield trial in conventional farming established that camelina is a suitable crop to grow in Romania, producing in the best years, on the average, 1,231 kg ha seeds in organic farming and 2,427 kg seeds ha -1 in low input farming. The sowing time had a large effect on camelina seed yield in organic farming, ranging from simple to double, in the 683-1,502 kg ha -1 range in the late autumn, and from simple to six fold, in the 270-1,682 kg ha -1 range at early spring. A good yield potential was estimated in newly developed Camelia versatile cultivar – 1,682 kg ha -1 in organic farming and 2,829 kg ha -1 in low input farming. The hectolitre weight of Camelia ranged 66-69 kg hl -1 in autumn sowing time and 61-66 kg hl -1 in early spring sowing time.


Small concentrations of 6‐azauridine augmented the contractions of the guinea‐pig isolated ileum to acetylcholine, nicotine, histamine, barium chloride and to coaxial stimulation. High concentrations partially inhibited all the responses. After prolonged contact with high concentrations of 6‐azauridine, the anti‐spasmogenic effect persisted long after washing out the compound. The acetylcholine output did not change under these conditions. Comparison of the actions of 6‐azauridine with those of papaverine is made and the possible mechanisms of action are discussed.


Using literature review,questionnaire and mathematics statistics,the paper took 36 higher education institutes to do survey on the effectiveness of the implementation of the school physical education in higher education institutes in the East China.Conclusions: Some colleges and universities of the East China have inadequate attention to sport development.A long-term mechanism has not yet been established.For school physical education,there is still much room for development.For the enthusiasm of the students participating physical education,the students of the first and second grade have more enthusiasm than the ones of the third and fourth grade.In the East China region,85% of the students in 70% higher education institutes have reached and passed the National Student Physical Health Standard.The University sports facilities in East China do not increase at the pace of the increase of the students and fail to satisfy the demand of the physical education.The one-hour exercise per day campaign has not been fully implemented in the region.


The invention relates to a nickel-free black tin cobalt alloy plating solution and an electroplating technology by using same. The parameters and contents of all components of the plating solution are as follows: the content of tin ions in a tin salt is 0.05-6g/L; the content of cobalt ions in a cobalt salt is 0.05-0.8g/L; the content of third metallic ions is 0.02-50g/L; the content of a complexing agent is 0.1-180g/L; the content of a blacking agent is 0.1-50g/L; the content of a PH buffer is 5-300g/L; the baume degree of the plating solution is 6-250; the temperature is 20-55 DEG C; and PH is 9-13. According to the technology provided by the invention, tin is taken as a main alloy layer and few cobalt and third and fourth metal ions are added in tin to form a ternary or quaternary alloy system; the cobalt content in the common black tin cobalt alloy plating solution excesses 8g/L, but the cobalt content is reduced to 0.05g/L according to the new electroplating technology provided by the invention; the special biodegradable or non-biodegradable stabilizing complexing agent and PH buffer are used, so that the production cost is lowered; and the nickel-free black tin cobalt alloy plating solution meets the limitation requirement on CO in the European Union Rosh standard, Germany LMBG standard, Mattel children toy standard, European Oeko-Tex Standard 100 standard and the like.


Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, as one of universities of the first batches conducting the innovation plan in students in Shanghai, has explored the construction of a long-term effective mechanism in innovative work, and developed a systemic and complete train of thinking. The university has get prominent results in the improvement of the innovative thinking and ability in students through carrying out the innovation plan, insisting the principles of interests activation, independent practice and emphasis on process, and building up management and security mechanisms.


These results are based on your genetic data and any sex and ancestry information you have provided along with population-level risk data for specified age ranges. They do not take into account non-genetic factors, family history, or additional genetic factors that may influence these conditions. Only results for genetic associations that are scientifically well established are included. This overview does not provide details regarding diseases for which you are at typical or lower than average genetic risk, heritable diseases for which you aren't known to carry a variant, or drugs to which you are likely to have a typical response. If you would like more information on any of your 23andMe results, please go to that topic's individual report page on our website at https://www.23andme.com /you/health/. 23andMe Printable Report https://www.23andme.com/user/report/health/


The mono-hydrazinium salt of succinic acid (hydrazinium hydrogensuccinate salt) was prepared by reacting hydrazine hydrate and succinic acid. Its spectral, thermal and structural properties have been determined. The salt, N 2 H 5 + .C 4 H 5 O 4 - , is a molecular salt containing discrete hydrazinium cations and hydrogen succinate anions. The crystal packing consists of infinite chains of anions and cations that are alternatively linked through O-H···N and bifurcated N-H···O bonds and this chain is connected to ad- jacent antiparallel chains by N-H···O hydrogen bonding. The adjacent chains are cross linked by N-H···O bonds from the donor N2H5 + ions, thus forming a three-dimensional network. The salt undergoes melting followed by decomposition to give gaseous


It is introduced briefly to understand the overall state of mineral resources of Argentina profile of 30 major ore deposits and mining projects. Prospecting deposits are mostly concentrated on the Northwestern and Midwestern area in Argentina and this fact implies that deposit formation is strongly related to Andean Orogeny. Argentina is important mineral exporting country for copper, gold, silver, lead, zinc, lithium and boron. For a long-term strategy of fuel energy and mineral supply active cooperation of geological research and mine business between Korea and Argentina is needed.


The influence of a transverse rotating magnetic field on the fluid motion in semiconductor melts has been investigated, both experimentally and by means of numerical simulations. Hereto a magnet array based on two pairs of electromagnet s for generating a rotating magnetic field has been developed and accommodated into a spacecompatible multizone heater. A maximum induction of 11 mT could be achieved with a primary power of 100 W. The frequency for the field rotation ranges from 5 to 400 Hz. In a gallium melt as reference configuration a transition from a 3D time-dependent to a 2D axi-symmetric flow regime could be observed for an induction of less than 1 mT. Crystal growth experiments on germanium yielded a reduction of dopant striations and an indication for an enhanced mass transport. The numerical simulations showed a good agreement with the experimental results. It can be concluded that the forced convection is a powerful tool to create well-defined stationary flow fields for semiconductor crystal growth. A similar magnet system as presented is planned for the Low Gradient Furnace of the Materials Science Laboratory to be flown on the International Space Station. Furthermore, an implementatio n of such a magnet system in the Commercial Float Zone Furnace (CFZF) to be flown again on a S/H mission is envisaged.


: Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) offer a promising choice to replace fossil-fuel dependent Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles with a low-emission transport solution. To overcome barriers hindering the purchasing activity, governments, automotive manufacturers, and charging infrastructure operators have deployed market-boosting initiatives. Here, we analyze the influence of socio-demographic, technical, and economic factors on the BEV and PHEV markets, separately, in French departments from 2015 to 2019, using fixed- and random-effects panel data regressions. We find BEV/PHEV models numbers and the gasoline price positively associated with both BEV and PHEV adoption. Contrary to slow-and-normal charger density, fast, ultrafast chargers and financial incentives boost the BEV market. Regarding the PHEV model, only fast charger density had a significant and negative influence on the sales from all charging powers densities. Based on the results, policy recommendations are discussed for the automotive industry, the charging operator, and the local authorities.


This article builds on increasing interest in family volunteering by presenting it as a family life education tool for strengthening relationships and family functioning. In this context, family volunteering is similar to service learning in which families learn together while giving back to their community. Informed by a discussion on bioecological systems theory, psychosocial development theory, and select studies on volunteering, this article seeks to discover how family volunteering benefits individual and family growth. Existing research indicates that, due to its rich resources, it can deepen relationships, reinforce effective interpersonal skills, and help individuals overcome life's crises. Implications for family life educators and future research are presented, including the need for collaboration and stronger data on which to base flexible and fun volunteer opportunities for families.


Between 1912 and 1937, the Yangzi Delta experienced a process of rapid industrialization. At the eve of the Japanese occupation, the regional economy of the Jiang-Zhe area (covering the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and the city of Shanghai) was only comparable to Japan and was the second most industrialized region of East Asia. However, the rest of China did not follow the same path and, despite the efforts of Republican China to modernize its economy, it remained rural and poor. In 1933, per capita GDP of China was USD 578 while Japan's was 2,129. One of the most striking elements of this process of industrialization is that the largest contributor to China's industrial growth—a growth rate that averaged 8 percent annually between 1912 and 1936—was the textile sector of the Yangzi Delta. Ironically, cloth consumption per capita for the Chinese population fell during this same period. The fragmentation in the Chinese market explains this "dual economy," where regional industrialization contrasted with the rest of the country. The Chinese official history attributes this unequal development to speculation and the imperialistic character of the compradore class, while the rest of the country remained under a feudalistic yoke. Other literature, however, tries to find institutional constraints in the state, or in the structure of Chinese firms, to explain the lack of development and the failure of strong spillover effects. Surprisingly, interfirm relations and the situation of consumer markets have received scarcer attention, although both are fundamental to the economic performance of a modern industry. Industrial production requires regular supplies and expansive markets, so that costs of production and sales can be predicted. These conditions can be secured outside the country, as in the case of the British cotton industry, or by expanding domestic markets, as it happened in the United States. But the existence of regular supplies and an expanding consumption market is a sine qua non condition for sustaining


Novel electrochemical DNA-sensor based on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with Ag nanoparticles, Neutral red covalently attached to its surface and native DNA adsorbed on modifier coating was developed for the estimation of DNA damage on example of model system based on Fenton reagent. As was shown, the oxidation process resulted in synchronous increase of electron transfer resistance and capacitance measured by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The contribution of each sensor component on the signal was specified and sensitivity estimated against similar surface coatings. The shift of EIS parameters was found to be higher than that of similar biosensors reported. The DNA sensor was tested on the estimation of antioxidant capacity of green tea infusions again the results of coulometric titration with electrogenerated bromine.


The paper emphasizes prognostics that are derived from data currently available within or from electronic components, thus avoiding the need for additional sensors and extensive physical modification of systems and permitting immediate savings to be realized. Areas where this approach is particularly suitable include: semiconductor memories; data communications; initialization procedures; and feedback control loops. The melding of the empirical methodology addressed here with the more comprehensive physics of failure based approach is anticipated.


Abstract This article opens with a discussion of what is implied by the term 'convergence' in communications systems, linking it to a related process of divergence. An important aspect of the process of convergence is how systems of control and administration increasingly become a central element in converging media and communications systems. This applies both to issues related to freedom of expression and information, and copyright (or rather, authors' rights). The main thrust of the article is a discussion of what is implied by copyright in an electronic environment – the focus is on trying to balance the interests of creators and producers with the interests of users in a new copyright environment. In this context the rights of authors, publishers and the public are addressed, in relation to a tendency to commercialise everything. Thus the article implies a defence of the importance of having strong copyright legislation, with a critique of the tendency to extend the principle too widely. It thus proposes to extend the public service concept from broadcasting to other forms of communication. With this as background, the article discusses initiatives such as the 'creative commons' movement. Against the backdrop of how copyright and authors' rights can be looked at from the perspective of citizens' rights, the article furthermore treats issues related to the question of communication systems and development of the 'digital divide'. The essay ends with a principled discussion of how to protect fundamental human rights such as freedom of expression and information, as well as privacy in the new environment of communication rights management.


A detailed study of the de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) effect in Pd by the field modulation technique is presented. The dHvA oscillations were observed in magnetic fields up to 53 kG at temperatures between 1 and 2\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K. Two distinct sets of oscillations were observed with the field in either the (110) or the (100) planes. These are interpreted by a rigid-band model using the known Cu band structure. The oscillations correspond to (1) electrons in the $s$ band and (2) small pockets of holes in one of the $d$ bands. The electron surface is closed and it is centered at $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$. The hole surfaces, also closed, are located at $X$; and they are approximately ellipsoidal with their major axis along [100]. The electron surface contains 0.36\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.01 electrons/atom while the hole ellipsoids contain only 5.4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ holes/atom. The average effective mass $m=2.2{m}_{0}$ for the electrons, and the smallest hole mass ${m}_{100}=(0.63\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.05){m}_{0}$. There is also a second $d$-band hole surface which is open along [100]. The total number of holes is thus 0.36\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.01 per atom, since Pd is a compensated metal. This model also provides a complete interpretation of the galvanomagnetic data. The effects of spin-orbit coupling on the $d$-band surfaces are discussed in terms of a semiempirical calculation by Mueller. Since the known Cu band structure explains almost every detail of the present experiment, it provides direct evidence that the band structures of certain transition metals have many common features.


ABSTRACT This study sought to identify issues rural, low-income mothers face within their housing conditions and implications for their health and well-being. In-depth interview data from 79 rural, low-income mothers across 11 states who participated in the multi-state USDA Hatch funded project, Rural Families Speak about Health (RFSH), were analyzed. A conceptual framework that incorporated both Morris and Winter's theory of family housing adjustment and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's principles of healthy homes was used to organize the findings. Findings revealed that mothers faced multiple, interconnected housing deficiencies that have grave implications for their health and well-being. Implications for research and practice making connections between the condition of the physical home environment and people's health. This study advances the literature in that it provides important insights into the physical housing conditions facing a growing, vulnerable population – low-income families across rural America, and implications for their health and well-being.


Monetary independence is at the core of the macroeconomic policy trilemma stating that an independent monetary policy, a fixed exchange rate and free movement of capital cannot exist at the same time. This study examines the relationship between monetary autonomy and inflation dynamics in a panel of Caribbean countries over the period 1980–2017. The empirical results show that monetary independence is a significant factor in determining inflation, even after controlling for macroeconomic developments. In other words, greater monetary policy independence, measured as a country's ability to conduct its own monetary policy for domestic purposes independent of external monetary influences, leads to lower consumer price inflation. This relationship—robust to alternative specifications and estimation methodologies—has clear policy implications, especially for countries that maintain pegged exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar with a critical bearing on monetary autonomy.


Atlantis Computing today released version 4.0 of its storage solution for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environments. Version 4.0 now allows customers to run persistent virtual ...


Objective: Advance care planning (ACP) can support patients in achieving current and future medical care that aligns with their values and goals. In primary care, a lack of standardized processes hinders implementation of ACP conversations. This study reports a quality improvement process to identify and engage patients and clinicians in ACP. Methods: Primary care clinicians received training in conversations based on the Serious Illness Conversation Guide and tools to support ACP. In December 2019, patients 65 years of age and older with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were systematically identified, mailed ACP resources and telephoned by the clinic to invite them to an ACP appointment. We tracked the attendance of the patients and evaluated patient experience using a survey. Results: Of the 91 patients telephoned, 50 were reached, and 27 attended the appointment. Further efforts were suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirteen patients completed the survey. There were statistically significant increases in the patient's perception of being heard and understood by their physician, feeling hopeful about quality of life and feeling peaceful. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that with training, tools and processes, patients and primary care clinicians can be effectively engaged in ACP conversations.


Vapor−liquid equilibria (VLE) for new refrigerant mixtures containing hydrofluorocarbons, alkanes, alkenes, dimethyl ether, CO2, and perfluoroalkanes are of great interest. Those mixtures generally exhibit azeotropes, high nonideality, association effects, and contain supercritical compounds. The modified Soave−Redlich−Kwong equation of state is used with zero reference pressure GE−EoS mixing rules and the UNIFAC group contribution model in this study to form a group contribution model for predicting vapor−liquid equilibria. A new functional group assignment strategy is used, and the values of interaction parameters between groups are provided. These parameters are optimized from selected binary vapor−liquid equilibria data to give good representations of the experimental VLE data. A ternary system was also accurately predicted using the group contribution model. The method is totally predictive because only the structures and the critical constants of the pure components are needed to calculate the therm...


Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises plays a major role in improving a country's economic development. Whereas research identifies the role played by Information Technology adoption in improving the growth of organizations, much emphasis has been given to understanding large organizations in developed countries. This has left SMEs in developing countries prone to low growth and limited survival in the market with the contemporary competitive business environment. More so, SMEs contribute approximately 20% of GDP in most developing countries. Apparently, due to a weak link between Information Technology adoption and Growth of SMEs. In Uganda, it appears that there is need for a greater emphasis on studies that link information technology adoption and growth of SMEs. In this study a mixed methods approach and cross-sectional research design was used to establish the effect of information technology adoption and growth of small and medium enterprises in greater Kampala metropolitan area on a sample of 189 top administrators of SMEs. Findings revealed approximately a large correlation between information technology adoption and growth of SMEs. Linear regression results revealed that 42.2% of growth of SMEs according to this study was explained by variations in information technology adoption practices. As a result, this study recommends that SMEs ought to take advantage of the existing sophisticated and the ever varying information technologies in order to achieve their ultimate goal which is growth.


The report contains recommendations and supplementary conclusions, and discusses in highly summarized form the background to the Corridor's transportation problems, the general study approach and the evaluation of alternative. (Author)


Objective To investigate the application of microcolum gel test for serodiagnosis of hemolytic disease of newborn (HDN).Methods Microcolum gel test was used in three tests:direct antiglobulin test,free IgG determination and erythrocyte antibody elution test for 116 blood samples.Results The experimental time was shortened.The results were easy to be judged.Both sensitivity and specificity were increased.Conclusion Whether the method or the results of microcolum gel test is better than that of the tube agglutination test.This method is fast,simple and convenient,requires less sample.The results are easy to be repeated,judged and preservable,and helpful for future check.


The nano-Ag I thin film is synthesized by the reaction of the silver film with I2 ethanol solution at ambient temperature,the silver film is sputtered on the glass in advance. The influences of the thickness of sputtered silver,reaction time,the type and dosage of the surfactant on the growth of crystal are investigated. The resultant films are characterized by X-ray diffraction( XRD) and scanning electron microscopy( SEM). The results show that the average diameter of the Ag I film product obtained at the optimal condition is 50 nm,and the phase transition is lagged with 13 ℃,so the α-phase Ag I with highconductivity can exist at the lower temperature.


One of the educational component is very important in improving the quality of education is a supervisor and teacher. Although these two components have the same duties and functions, but both have an attachment and a clear link and close. To ensure the quality of the learning process in classes conducted by teachers,the supervisor has a very important role is to supervise the activities of the learning process. Quantitative research with the survey method involves 52 supervisors and 102 teachers. Data were analyzed using correlation test, the correlation between the knowledge of the regulatory supervision (X) on the ability of teachers coaching (Y1) and increased work motivation of teachers (Y2). Based on data and discuss as described above, we can conclude the following matters: (a). Knowledge of the regulatory supervision Madrasah Aliyah in Jambi city average in the category of "good / moderate" is as much as 78.38%. That means, the implementation of the guiding teachers in the school to run well, (b) There is a significant correlation between the knowledge of the regulatory supervision of the teacher training variables with significant correlation level and (c). There is a significant correlation between the variables knowledge of the regulatory supervision of the independent variable is the level of motivation working with significant correlation. b. A significant correlation between the knowledge of the regulatory supervision of the teacher coaching Madrasah Aliyah in Jambi, indicating that supervisors should develop coaching programs are more systematic, integrated, directed and continuous in order to improve the quality of education.


We report a µsec resolved XAFS measurement of the excited triplet electronic state 3A2u(dσ*pσ) of Pt2(P2O5H2)44- in solution employing a new technique. The measurement utilizes a vertical flow of 10 m/s produced by a small nozzle, similiar to that of a dye laser. A line focused laser excites the molecules in the flow while a 10 µm vertically confined line of x-ray radiation probes the flow downstream of the laser. We find that the phosphor planes of the molecule in the excited state each move inward along the Pt-Pt axis by 0.26(08) Å, relative to its the center. Also, the platinum phosphorous bonds contract 0.050(11) Å. The optical transition promotes an electron from an anti-bonding orbital to a bonding orbital, and the observations indicate that this occupied bonding orbital strongly increases the overall structural bonding forces of the molecule.


The invention discloses a vacuum plating paint, and preparation and construction methods thereof. The vacuum plating paint is composed of a priming coat, an undercoat and a finish coat, wherein the priming coat is prepared from polyurethane acrylate resin, acrylate, photoinitiator, organosiloxane leveling agent, butyl acetate, ethyl acetate and isopropanol; the undercoat is prepared from polyester-modified polyurethane acrylate resin, polyurethane acrylate resin, phosphate acrylate, photoinitiator, butyl acetate, ethyl acetate and isopropanol; and the finish coat is prepared from polyurethaneacrylate resin, acrylate, phosphate acrylate, photoinitiator, organosiloxane leveling agent, butyl acetate, ethyl acetate and isopropanol. By adopting imported environment-friendly raw materials, thevacuum plating paint has the advantage of low toxicity; no high-temperature high-pressure process is carried out in the production process, so the vacuum plating paint has the advantage of high safety; the vacuum plating paint does not need to be diluted, and thus, can be directly used conveniently; and the priming coat, undercoat and finish coat are cured under ultraviolet, so the vacuum platingpaint has the advantage of high production efficiency.


Introduction The idea of Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is to destroy braintumour cells by doping them with boron-rich molecules followed by neutron irradiation. The energy released after the neutron capture interaction kills the tumour cell. The isotope B has very good abilities for capturing thermal neutrons, followed by an instantaneous disintegration into two particles: a helium and a lithium nucleus. These nuclei have kinetic energies of about 2.5 MeV and a very short stopping range in tissue of about 10 μm [B(n,α)Li]. Such reactions, when produced selectively in tumour cells, open an effective new modality for cancer treatment. The first clinical trial in Europe of BNCT for the treatment of certain brain tumours (glioblastoma) started in October 1997 at the High Flux Reactor (HFR) in Petten. For most of the BNCT facilities in the world, an epithermal neutron beam is used with an average energy of around 10keV. In human tissue, containing B compounds, the beam produces effectively four main dose components, all with different biological effectiveness: the boron neutron capture absorbed dose, the nitrogen neutron capture absorbed dose, the proton recoil absorbed dose and the gamma ray absorbed dose. The last one is a composition of the gamma rays already present in the beam and the induced gamma rays by the presence of hydrogen in human tissue.


In November 1970, Jack Anderson reported in the Washington Post that the radical leftist group, the Weather Underground. Know to be responsible for numerous bombings in protest of the Vietnam War, had attempted to obtain an unknown biological agents from the Untied States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease at Fort Detrick, Maryland No evidence was found to support this accusation.


The present invention relates to a method for operating a multi-touch capable display (01) and an apparatus having computer functionality. In a step of the method according to the invention manipulable content on or within the display (01) are displayed visually. The contents include a hierarchical structure interaction objects (04, 06) of a first hierarchical level and a second hierarchical level. In a further step, a first carried out by the user touch on the display (01) is detected, resulting in information on the first touch. This information is used for the manipulation of interaction objects (06) of the first hierarchy level. In a further step, a second touch on the display (01) is detected, resulting in information on the second touch. According to the invention the information of the second touch for the manipulation of interaction objects (04) of the second hierarchical level are used when the second touch than a certain period of time after the first touch is detected more and the first touch continues to be detected. However, the information on the second touch for the manipulation of interaction objects (06) of the first hierarchical level to be used in the invention, when the second touch is not more than the certain period of time is detected after the first touch.


Ficus microcarpa bears 1-4 crops a year in Guangzhou, South China, and therefore it has to produce lots of seeds to maintain large pollinating fig wasp population. However, it has a low population density under natural conditions, even in tropical forests. Seed germination under different conditions was conducted, and the result showed substrate type was an important factor for fig tree seed germination. Low germination rate was found on forest soil, and moreover, forest soil was not a good substrate for longer term survival of seedlings. The effects of temperature and nutrient on seed germination were not significant, but low germination percentage occurred in acid Hoagland. So acid forest soil was considered as a key limiting factor to seed germination and seedling establishment, and was probably one of reasons of low abundances of figs in the natural forest.


Objective To explore the influence of propofol vein anesthesia on the result of vaginal egg retrival. Methods The patients were divided into two groups : anesthesia group and control group, the anesthesia effect was evaluated and the clinical results of IVF-ET were compared. Results Anesthesia group had a higher OPU rate(P﹤0.01), but there was no significant difference between two groups in good embryo rate and pregnancy rate(P﹥0.05). Conclution Propofol vein anesthesia using in vaginal egg retrival could help achieve a satisfactory clinical result and had no influence to oocyte quality and treatment result.


Investigations pursued in this paper contribute to a research project introduced by Resconi, Klir, and St. Clair [1] whose purpose is to employ syntactic and semantic structures of modal logic as a unifying framework within which various uncertainty theories can be formalized, compared, and organized hierarchically. This paper focuses on the explicit use of modal logic semantics to formalize fuzzy sets, belief measures, plausibility measures, and Sugeno λ-measures.


The proposed work presented a modified MAX-MIN Ant System (MMAS) algorithm to solve the routing problem, in which known demand are supplied from a store house with parallel routes for new local search. Routing Problem is an optimization problem and solved to nearly optimum by heuristics. The objective of routing issues is to use a fleet of vehicles with specified capacity to serve a number of users with dissimilar demands at minimum cost, without violating the capacity and route length constraints. Many meta-heuristic approaches like Simulated Annealing (SA), Tabu Search (TS) and An Improved Ant Colony System (IACS) algorithm are compared for the performance result analysis. The well-founded theory of fuzzy sets is a special way to model the uncertainty. The rules in a fuzzy model contain a set of propositions, each of which restricts a fuzzy variable to a single fuzzy value by means of the predicate equivalency. That way, each rule covers a single fuzzy region of the fuzzy grid. The proposed system of this thesis extends this structure to provide more general fuzzy rules, covering the input space as much as possible. In order to do this, new predicates are considered and a Max-Min Ant System is proposed to learn such fuzzy rules.


The goal of our paper is to find out the readiness in Estonia to raise awareness of cyber security-related social engineering, especially among common people. We suggest that the awareness and understanding of online social engineering can raise the Estonian defence potential to a new level. Future cyber attacks may complement server attacks with human engineering and spreading misinformation in order to create incentives for treason or mutiny against the decisions of the state. Social engineering of information and people is one way to wage modern information wars. Estonia is probably closer than anyone else to a functioning e-society, so it is important to build it up as safely and trustworthy as possible, inform people about potential downsides and suggest solutions for them. Due to widespread adoption of various e-solutions, the Estonian situation of e-safety and awareness could be considered adequate, but it can also turn out to be a weakness. Trust in the e-government, e-police, e-tax office etc. can lead to complete trust in e-channels as a whole, in turn creating extensive dependence on them. We have conducted a study involving schoolchildren and ICT students, as well as members of the Estonian Defence League Cyber Defence Unit (EDLCDU). The findings suggest a way to carry out related training programmes or campaigns. The recommendations are useful for coordinating the efforts of the four Ministries involved, addressing the crossroads of technical cyber security, social interaction, communication and education.


Through initial development, validation, and analysis of response data from an instrument designed to concurrently assess the attitudes of secondary school students towards energy concepts and several other select science-related topical areas, a factor analytic path model was generated. Several statistically significant direct correlations were identified betwen the energy concepts topical area and environmental issues, science concepts, and metrication topical areas, along with a significant inverse correlation with the nuclear energy topical area. A high association betwen the energy concepts topical area and a major "proximal" factor was also identified, and may represent a feeling of the participants' personal involvement in issues perceived by them to relate to "energy concepts". It is hoped that consideration of these identified attitudinal relationships by educators during curriculum planning and daily classroom activities would assist in the promotion of scientifically literate general public.<<ETX>>


• Five minute speech segments were randomly selected from each dyad for analysis. Table 1. Window and lag for each dyad. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dyad TT rate Window(sec) Lag (sec) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 0.18 2 2 2 0.37 3 1 3 1.08 5 2 4 0.15 2 3 5 0.49 4 3 6 0.20 3 2 7 0.35 3 3 8 0.87 4 3 9 1.03 5 3 10 1.15 6 4 11 0.90 5 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------TT rate is represented as the difference in speech rate between the members of a dyad.


As one can see, without several examples worked out with a pencil and paper, this formal definition is not very insightful. To understand where restricted patterns really originated from, we draw on visual imagery and replace "one-dimensional" permutations by "twodimensional" objects, matrices. In doing so, we shall violate the customary labeling of the top row as the "first" row of a matrix. Instead, we shall coordinatize our matrices from the bottom left corner, just like in a Cartesian coordinate system; thus, the origin will always be placed at the bottom left corner of the matrix (cf. Fig. 1) so that our first row will be the bottom row, and our first column will be (as usual) the leftmost column of a matrix. This is done in order to keep the resemblance with the "shape" of permutations, in other words, with their graphs as functions π : [n] → [n].


Ab rac st t – The broad p omo on of XML as the standa d me a-language appl ed to define ma kups for Web documen s encou aged mu p e esearches on p om sing XML que y languages. In this pape we study diffe ent approaches on def ning XML based query languages and we propose WQGL (Web Query Graphica Language) an extension of WQFL (Web Que y Fo mu a ng Language). WQGL g ves suppor o cons ruc graph ca and n u ive Web in e faces for assis ng users o bu ld complex que es. r ti r t i r t r lti l r r i r r r i l r r l ti i t t t t i l i t it t r ti t i ri


In the last two years, geophysical surveys have been carried out to investigate the unexplored portions of the ancient Etruscan Necropolis, to provide a complete mapping of the position of the tombs. Ground Penetrating Radar and the Magnetometric methods have been used during 2018 to investigate few parts of the Necropolis. During 2019 (July and September) GPR system SIR 3000 (GSSI), equipped with a 400 MHz antenna with constant offset, SIR4000 (GSSI) equipped with a dual frequency antenna with 300/800 MHz and the 3D Radar Geoscope multichannel stepped frequency system were employed to survey 5 hectares where the presence of tombs was hypothesized from previous archaeological studies.


For producing and delivering a specific service unit, certain service resources are necessary. The service capacity describes the amount of service resources which are available for service production and delivery. Due to the direct contact between these service resources and the customer (or their objects), which are integrated into the service process, a service provider can only deliver as many service units as service capacities are available. However, in every service setting there are often situations where there is a gap between demand and capacity, meaning the gap between the number of potential users of the service and the amount of service resources available.


The Internet facilitates nowadays interaction and collaboration between persons located at very long distances from each other. It also facilitates interactions between software systems located at great distances. The key concept is the identification of the subject involved in the interaction. It is necessary to validate whether the person performing certain activities on a software system is the person entitled and not an unauthorized one. In this paper we propose a study of the actual context in user authentication domain, in various online applications. Therefore, the purpose of this document is to provide stakeholders (software developers) the characteristics on users conduct within online mobile applications. Based on these features, specific profiles can be created for each user. By using the completed profiles, we can achieve recognition models based on user behavior.


Zijinshan copper-gold deposit is rare epithermal hydrothermal-porphyry copper-gold deposit in the world. The upper of deposit is gold and the lower copper in spatial zonation. Zijinshan Complex massif is one of the most important host rocks of the upper gold deposit. However, the report about the era of Zijinshan Complex massif is poor at present. In order to determine their ages of Zijinshan Complex massif accurately, the three groups of LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating of situ zircon from Zijinshan Complex massif are tested. Results show that 206Pb/238U weighted average ages of the first Jingmei pluton is (157.9±1.2) Ma (n=13, MSWD=0.92), the second Wulongzi pluton is (149.3±1.6) Ma(n=13,MSWD=1.2), and the latest Jinlongqiao pluton is (146.3±1.6) Ma(n=8,MSWD=0.39).Zijinshan Complex massif intrusived in late Jurassic, and provide an important new material for epoch of host rock.


Accurate software cost estimation is essential to both developers and customers. Most of the cost estimating models based on the size measure methods, such as LOC and FP, are obtained through size estimation. The accuracy of size estimation directly influences the accuracy of cost estimation. As a result, the overall structure of regression-based cost models applies the power function based on software size. Many growth phenomenon in nature such as the growth in living organism, performance of technology, and learning capability of human show an S-shaped curve. This paper proposes a model which estimates the developing effort by using the growth curve. The presented model assumes that the relation cost and size follows the growth curve. The appropriateness of the growth curve model based on Function Point, Full-Function Point and Use-Case Point, which are the general methods in estimating the software size have been confirmed. The proposed growth curve model shows similar performance with power function model. In conclusion, the growth curve model can be applied in the estimation of the software cost.


This paper introduces IVI specification and systematical architecture,also describes the operation process of IVI instrument driver and emphatically discusses the basic method of developing the IVI instrument driver.


186 Background: Physician communication skills are associated with important outcomes, including medical results, treatment adherence, malpractice claims, patient safety, and physician satisfaction. Recently, patient satisfaction with physicain communication became a factor influencing Medicare reimbursement. In 2010, the Cleveland Clinic began building a physician communication training program to improve doctor communication skills.

METHODS
Following a literature review and a survey of communication skills programs at a variety of U.S. hospitals, we collaborated with the American Academy of Communication in Healthcare (AACH) to develop a full-day course based on Frankel and Stein's Four Habits model. The model emphasizes skills related to initiating the encounter, eliciting the patient's story, expressing empathy, educating the patient and collaboratively developing a plan. The course was designed to be taught by physicians and was highly experiential and skills based, making extensive use of role-play exercises. An AACH consultant trained 15 physicians to teach the course during several 7-day train-the-trainer courses.

RESULTS
Between September 2011 and May 2013, over 800 physicians took the course. It became very popular and has been consistently oversubscribed. For the first 450 physicians trained, we reviewed patient satisfaction survey scores for the 6 months before and after they took the course. For all 13 items on the Press Ganey ambulatory patient survey used, scores were higher after taking the course. For 7 of the 13, the difference was statistically significant (p values ranging from .003 to .044).

CONCLUSIONS
Our experience with communication skills training indicates that such training can be well received by physicians if it is high quality. Key elements of our program that we believe contributed to its success are the following: it was developed by physicians for physicians; it is taught by physicians with substantial clinical practices so that the atmosphere is colleagues teaching colleagues; and it is skills based rather than cognitive in focus so that participants have tangible tools that they can use in their practice.


Plasma sheet injections associated with low flux tube entropy bubbles have been found to be the primary means of mass transport from the plasma sheet to the inner magnetosphere. This phenomenon has been primarily studied with satellite data and stand‐alone ring current models with artificial boundary conditions. This study introduces a new two‐way coupling between a kinetic ring current model (Rice Convection Model, or RCM) and a global magnetosphere MHD model (Open Geospace General Circulation Model, or OpenGGCM). Multiple geomagnetic storms and one period of quiet are modeled to track and characterize inward flow behavior. Simulations show that (1) there is a clear association of plasma sheet injections with bubbles, (2) the majority of inward plasma transport in the magnetotail beyond 6.6 RE is due to bubbles, regardless of storm activity, and (3) the average peak velocity of injections is higher for increasing downtail distances, stronger storms (when compared with storms having similar drivers), and storms driven by corotating interaction regions (when compared with coronal mass ejection‐driven storms of similar strength).


How does the scientific value of innovations vary with the maturity of the knowledge that underlies them? We reconcile conflicting views in the innovation literature by introducing a contingency perspective that underscores the role of knowledge distance along technological and geographical domains. We predict an inverted U-shaped effect of knowledge maturity on the scientific value of new innovations. We further suggest that incorporating geographically distant knowledge can enhance the value contribution of knowledge maturity, whereas incorporating technologically distant knowledge or waiting for the adoption of knowledge in the industry mitigates this value. Our analysis of 5,575 biotechnology patented innovations offers support for our conjectures. We thus advance research on knowledge management and innovation by underscoring the temporal aspect of innovation and its interplay with technological and geographical distances.


Congestion charging encourages road users to seek alternatives to driving during peak hours. The effectiveness of congestion charging as a way to moderate demand for road space has been widely acknowledged and supported by economic theory. Examples from overseas highlight the potential for congestion charging to gain community support and reduce peak hour traffic. This paper assesses the design elements of schemes operating in London, Stockholm and Singapore and provides a platform for any future congestion charging within Australia. The design variables reviewed include: price, charging times, boundary, technology and governance. A key finding of this paper is that while the London, Stockholm and Singapore systems are all grouped under the banner of lcongestion chargingr, it is their differences, rather than their similarities, that are striking. The differences in design and functionality highlight the flexibility and robustness of congestion charging in practice. This opens up a number of design possibilities for any future implementation in Australian cities.


The article analyses the military-political situation, the main frontiers of Russia tensions, revealed a methodical approach to assess the effectiveness of implementation of tasks the SC of the MES of Russia in time of war


Based on choosing the research papers on Disk attached to books which published in 2002-2011 years from China Academic Journal Network Publishing Database(CAJD),this paper analyzed papers of Disk attached to books on distribution of years,journal,authors,subject and citation situation with literature metrology method,in order to provide some references and inspirations to the future study on this theme.


Background We have seen throughout this book that central to an approach or method in language teaching is a view of the nature of language, and this shapes teaching goals, the type of syllabus that is adopted, and the emphasis given in classroom teaching. A lexical approach in language teaching refers to one derived from the belief that the building blocks of language learning and communication are not grammar, functions, notions, or some other unit of planning and teaching but lexis, that is, words and word combinations. Lexical approaches in language teaching reflect a belief in the centrality of the lexicon to language structure, second language learning, and language use, and in particular to multiword lexical units or "chunks" that are learned and used as single items. Linguistic theory has also recognized a more central role for vocabulary in linguistic description. Formal transformational/generative linguistics, which previously took syntax as the primary focus, now gives more central attention to the lexicon and how the lexicon is formatted, coded, and organized. Chomsky, the father of contemporary studies in syntax, has recently adopted a "lexicon-is-prime" position in his Minimalist Linguistic theory. The role of lexical units has been stressed in both first and second language acquisition research. These have been referred to by many different labels, including "holophrases" (Corder 1973), "prefabricated patterns" (Hakuta 1974), "gambits" (Keller 1979), "speech formulae" (Peters 1983), and "lexicalized stems" (Pawley and Syder 1983). Several approaches to language learning have been proposed that view vocabulary and lexical units as central in learning and teaching.


Five morphometrical traits (wing and thoraxlength, ovariole number, and thoracic and female abdomen pigmentation) were investigated in laboratory stocks of 20 species belonging to the Drosophila obscura group (subgenus Sophophora). These species originated from four biogeographical regions and represent all five of the presently recognized, taxonomic subgroups. Size-related traits (wing and thorax length) were highly variable across species, and interspecific variation explained more than 90% of total variability. In both traditional and phylogenetic analyses, wing size was positively correlated with latitude of origin. These interspecific correlations were however notably weaker than those for intraspecific correlations. Wing/thoraxratio, which may be related to flight capacity, showed little variation. Ovariole number was highly variabl e (range 27–53) both within and between species, and was positively correlated with the wing/thoraxratio, suggesting that species with relatively large ovaries have relatively low wing loading. Although many species are completely dark, 11 had some regions of light coloration. A light thoraxwith a median darkening was observed in sixspecies. A variable pigmentation of abdominal tergites, in females only, was found in nine species, belonging to three subgroups only. With respect to both molecular phylogeny and morphometrical evolution, the D. obscura subgroup is probably now the best investigated clade in Drosophila.


Virtual CSR co-creation activities have become effective strategic tools for enterprises to promote green consumption. The research objective of the current study is to find out whether the experience value acquired by users in the process of virtual CSR co-creation leads to pro-social behavior, namely, the willingness to purchase green products. This empirical study introduces a moderated mediation effect model with virtual CSR co-creation and self-construal as independent variables. Environmental involvement was introduced as a moderator in the research model, whereas the virtual community identity was introduced as a mediator. A scenario simulation experiment was conducted to explore the mechanism of the virtual CSR co-creation on customers' green product purchase intention. The results indicate that the virtual CSR co-creation promoted the customers' green product purchase intention. The virtual CSR co-creation and self-construal have an interactive effect on green product purchase intention. Environmental involvement plays a moderating role in the interactive effect. The virtual community identity partially mediates this interactive effect, thus impacting consumers' green products purchase intentions indirectly. The research findings provide a new practical path for enterprises to develop target strategies to promote green consumption.


The invention discloses an anti-vibration piezoelectric touch control induction device and an anti-vibration method of the piezoelectric touch control induction device, belonging to the technical field of processing of electric digital data. The anti-vibration piezoelectric touch control induction device comprises a touch control panel, a touch control sensor, a control circuit board and a housing which are arranged on the lower side of the touch control panel, and an anti-vibration surface layer arranged on the surface of the housing and used for reducing the influence of external vibration interference signals on the elements in the housing. By adopting the device and the method, disclosed by the invention, interference on the device caused by external vibration and other factors can be effectively reduced, the stability and the precision of the piezoelectric touch control induction device are further improved, and the range of applications of the piezoelectric touch control induction device is further expanded; and furthermore, the piezoelectric touch control induction device is simple in structure, lower in cost and easy to implement.


Abstract Environmental and natural resource management agencies routinely encounter the task of setting priorities. Limited time, staff and financial resources result in some projects, programmes or issues being given greater attention than others. In multi-stakeholder and multi-objective settings the decision-making process is complex. The task is often made harder by incomplete or inaccurate datasets. Decision makers will aim to adopt a procedure that is analytically robust, auditable, transparent and understandable. This paper presents the assets, threats and solvability (ATS) model for structuring an environmental priority-setting problem. A brief illustration of its use for setting priorities in the Wet Tropics of North Queensland is given. The ATS model provides a structured decision procedure applicable with limited information in a multi-objective policy environment. It helps guide the selection and application of priority-setting criteria under these conditions.


Polycrystalline films of Ni- and Co-ferrites films are prepared from aqueous solution at 90℃ by ferrite plating, which are subjected to Fe 57 conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy in backscatter mode. The average angle of Fe spins relative to the film plane is evaluated as 18 degree and 82 degree for the Ni- and Co-ferrite films, respectively, indication a prominent magnetic anisotropy parallel and perpendicular to the film plane. It was also verified by the magnetization measurements.


. We consider inclusions of type III factors arising from finite group actions. We show the relation between actions and the corresponding subfactors, and compute conjugacy invariants for the subfactors.


This article takes D.P.W.fishing gear and F.Z.W.fishing gear for example,to the question of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces control regulations which emerged in specifical implementation,the author illustrated his viewpoint based on legal and technical level:①The two provinces added the two fishing gears in banned fishing gears in fishery management which is not agree with the principle of"A lower level law cannot contravenes a higher level law"in legal level. The two fishing gears with distinctive advancement represented the combination of their natural quality and subjective initiative;②The reason of principles of law concerned with forbidden fishing gears which is unfulfillable is from management,so the main focus of work should be strengthen management;③Advise on implementing the"law amending"procedure related to banned fishing gears articles in the regulations of fishery management of those two provinces is proposed,and lift ban on the necessary system with system establishment of fishery tackles is put into effect.Namely, it should be based on objective laws as well as space-time distribution of juvenile fish resources to create favorable conditions,so as to protect juvenile fish resources while utilizing resources efficiently.④Because of the situation that is difficult to solve in the short-term by the scientific supporting system of regulations,while lift ban on regulation systems can be only step-by-step instructed and gradually improved.Thus,permissions could be granted according to Article 30 of"The Fishery Law",to implement exploring transitory provisions of closed fishing aiming at sensitive area of natural resources and high season of juvenile fish.Meanwhile,to issue regulations such as,the minimum size of meshes and casual inspection of the percentage of juvenile fish,as supplementary regulations of fishery administration.


Patient: Female, 57 Final Diagnosis: Meningeal carcinomatosis from breast cancer Symptoms: Seizures Medication: — Clinical Procedure: — Specialty: Oncology Objective: Unusual clinical course Background: Meningeal carcinomatosis is a rare complication in breast cancer patients. At present, there are no defined guidelines for its management. The efficacy of systemic treatment seems to depend on its ability to cross the blood-brain-barrier and its interaction with tumor vasculature. Metronomic chemotherapy is a known modality of drug administration able to inhibit tumor angiogenesis. Case Report: We present a case of symptomatic leptomeningeal carcinomatosis from breast cancer successfully treated with capecitabine. Based on the hypothesis that angiogenesis contributes to neoplastic meningitis, the patient was treated with a metronomic schedule that provided long-term clinical benefit with a very low toxicity profile. Conclusions: To assess the real impact of metronomic chemotherapy in patients with meninges involvement, a phase II study will be starting soon in our institution. A review of the literature concerning the management of meningeal carcinomatosis is also presented.


The pH dependent cation exchange capacity (CEC) and pH buffering capacity (pH BC) are two crucial properties in soil fertility management of variable charge soils. However, they are rarely measured, since most of the existing methods are cumbersome and time-consuming. We propose a new method, based on the silver-thiourea (AgTU) method, for the simultaneous measurement of pH dependent CEC and the pH BC. In general, this method consists of first increasing the pH of the soil to about pH 7 and then gradually acidifying the soil by titrating with HNO 3 , while measuring pH and CEC after each equilibration. This way, both CEC at different pH values and the pH BC are measured on the same sample, without the multiple washing steps needed in other procedures. Various aspects of the proposed method were tested and the results obtained were compared with the ion adsorption method. The modified AgTU method obtains field relevant results and is suitable for the routine analysis of large numbers of samples.


Kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) have a lot of potential in the field of astronomical observations; they are easy to fabricate and are highly multiplexible. KIDs can be as simple as a single lithographic layer and 1000s of them can be read out on a single line. Future observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) will require huge pixel count detector arrays and KIDs are able to fill this role promisingly. This paper primarily discusses the design and simulation of KIDs in Sonnet to be used in a polarimeter chip intended for observation of the polarization anisotropy of the CMB. Both background information of the CMB and KID theory will be reviewed.


As educational institutions throughout the world increasingly offer courses via the Internet, a global lifelong learning economy is emerging in which institutions must compete for students worldwide. This competition is especially noticeable in the offering of postgraduate courses aimed at satisfying the continuing professional development needs of practitioners in a wide range of disciplines. E-Learning is fast growing concept of learning, where students as well as instructors can complete their educational goals online through courseware, online reference materials, online assessment and online support provided to facilitate learning. This research examines the nature of change of accessibility in higher education with respect to the introduction and usability of E-Learning. Accessibility is the ability of the learning environment to adjust to the needs of all learners. Accessibility is thus determined by the flexibility of the E-Learning system or learning resource to meet the needs and preferences of all users. To achieve the desired goals in the research, postgraduate students are selected to conduct a survey among them which will further lead to determine the students needs, preferences and usage of E-Learning. The link between accessibility and usability is then analysed, and can be concluded that the lower the level of accessibility of the ELearning system for the students the less usable it will be for them. A prototype of the E-learning system was designed and implemented to incorporate additional features of accessibility and has been evaluated. All the essential contributions of this research were highlighted including future direction of this research.


Climate proxy records and general circulation models suggest that Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) plays a key role for global climate changes. Paleoceanographic data document multiple episodes of prominent AMOC weakening during the early Holocene. However, proxy records at adjacent continents have not been demonstrated to fully capture the climate responses to multiple AMOC variation due to temporal resolution and/or the proxy sensitivity. Here we present decadal- to multidecadal-resolution hydrogen isotopic records of aquatic biomarkers from Blood Pond, Massachusetts during the early Holocene. Our data reveal a full series of prominent and abrupt cooling events centered on 10.6, 10.2, 9.5, 9.2, 8.8 and 8.4 ka. These abrupt climatic reversals coincide with key intervals of weakened AMOC, suggesting an apparent relationship between AMOC oscillations and the abrupt continental climate changes in northeastern North America. The noticeable connection implies that the AMOC variation did play an important role in the abrupt climate changes during the early Holocene. Our data also suggest that northeastern North America may experience significant climatic variations should the predicted major disturbance of AMOC occur in the coming century as a result of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.


"According to the encyclical Laudato si 'of Pope Francis, humanity has recently entered a new cultural era:" That of the digital revolution, robotics, biotechnology and nanotechnologies. "In this scenario, and to begin with, it seems important to me starting from the conception of culture and paradigm. There are many ways to define, or better to describe, what culture is. Anthropology, sociology and psychology, among other social and human sciences, conceive culture in different ways, putting the emphasis on one or some of its aspects; after all, these different ways of understanding it are complementary to each other. "
Gerardo Remolina


The General objective of this study is to find out the cost and returns and marketing of super compost production of Gothan under Godhan Nyay Scheme. The Study was based under primary data; conducted in three districts of Chhattisgarh plains viz. Bilaspur, Raigarh and Janjgir-Champa. From each district four Gothans and from each Gothan one self help groups were selected randomly. Thus, a total number of 120 respondents were selected. Criteria of Gothan selection is as follows; Model Gothan, Non-Model Gothan, Village Gothan and City Gothan. The study revealed that Total cost of production of super compost in Model Gothan was lowest 4.24 Rs./Kg and Net Return from super compost production  was highest 1.77 Rs./Kg followed by City Gothan, Non-Model Gothan and Village Gothan. Largest consumer of Supercompost was Farmers followed by Nursery and Agriculture department.


It is rather apt timing that Sociolinguistics in England is welcomed in the world of academia. The distinguished collection of authors, who specialize in the field of sociolinguistics, portrays a rich variety of studies to dig into. It is essential for a book such as this to take the audience from the beginning of the field to the future directions for research, and it is noteworthy that it has been able to achieve that andmore. The first chapter by Sandra Jansen & Natalie Braber sets the correct tone for the book as it takes the reader from the beginning of the 1960s to the present day with significant insights on the topic. They shed light on the Southern Englishes workshop, which in 2017 ran three times, noting that it is pivotal to conduct these types of workshops; as the authors put it, 'the workshop was started to give awareness to the fact that varieties in the South of England are understudied' (7). Anita Auer gives us a historical sociolinguistic outlook in a chapter that looks deeply into urban literacies and processes of supralocalisation. Her research looks at the third person singular forms and analyses 10,000 words from 1560 to 1760. The chapter by Anne Fabricius takes a societal context approach to looking at the social, linguistics, and sociolinguistic change in received pronunciation using mixed method design. An interesting finding from her research revealed that the -s suffix is the local variant in the northern centres of Durham and Lancaster (24). Readers will be interested in chapter 7 by Adam Schembri, Rose Stamp, Jordan Fenlon, & Kearsy Cormier, who have given the field cutting-edge research on British Sign Language (BSL) that highlights its variation and change in varieties. Their study used samples from eights sites across the UK: Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, London, Manchester, and Newcastle (171) with a total of 249 participants. One of the interesting findings revealed that signs 'six' and 'nine' represented the most common variants in Birmingham and London. The final chapter takes a different turn and gives a phonetics and phonology perspective. The authors, Claire Nance, Sam Kirkham, & Eve Groarke look at intonation in varieties of English. Their study found that 'a parameter along which intonation varies is in speech context or style in the Labovian sense' (278). The researchers have also taken into account social context such as the speaker gender and individual variations (282).


Both the history and the current status of the red tide in China Seas were described, and the temporal-spatial distribution and characteristics were discussed, as well as the relative control measure were set forth. According to the statistics,(1) From 1933 to 2011, 1047 times of red tides were recorded in China Seas. The frequency and scale of red tide have increased significantly since 2000.(2) Red tide distributed in both south and north coasts in China. Distribution patterns were different obviously. Estuaries and inner bays were high-frequency red tide areas, in which East China Sea was the highest frequency. High-frequency season was from May to August, and red tide occurred in the South China Sea all year round.(3) Up to 2009, the frequency of red tides caused by dominant species counted as 417, about 45 percent of the total events; and frequency of toxic red tides increased significantly in recent years.( 4) Major nutrient loads were considered to be one of the main reasons that induced the red tide events. Early warning and strengthening pollution control of nitrogen and phosphorus loads would be the main measures to prevent HABs.


There is no consensus among BIM practitioners and theorists as to whether BIM is an evolution from CAD systems or a total revolution in construction. In the history of BIM, there have been a number of important, epoch-making events that have changed the direction of BIM. From the concept of BIM, to the technology used in construction, to the methodology, to the process, to the holistic idea of BIM, one can see the evolution of user approaches to its use. BIM has two dimensions: an information system and a philosophy. Thus, BIM is both a tool and a philosophy that brings about a revolution. Several decades of BIM development prompts reflection and the delineation of perhaps some stages of maturation. This paper presents a theory of cognition (epistemology), essential for understanding the history of BIM. The genesis of the separation of BIM from CAD makes it clear that specific factors influenced further developments. Thus, the aim of the study was to periodise BIM in view of various factors that may be relevant to researchers interested in BIM and companies using or implementing BIM. The literature survey maintained inclusivity to reflect both positive and critical aspects of BIM. The periodisation of the history of BIM was done due to 3 factors: idea, approach and organisational culture. The development of the BIM idea established the direction in which systems and software development was heading, the user approach forced interoperability and the organisational culture emphasised increasing efficiency. Working according to the openBIM approach or within an IPD framework is probably not the end of the anticipated level of BIM maturity. The division into periods will probably be the subject of much discussion, but will perhaps set the directions for the future.


The article presents complex algorithm of evaluating the quality of post-graduate student's work by higher institution's personnel using expert estimations, and also provides recommendations on motivation of this work.


The development of technologies that improve the efficiency and reliability of green hydrogen production and distribution systems is key to lowering the cost and spurring widespread adoption of hydrogen. Electrolyzer reliability is affected by factors such as degradation of catalytic materials and development of anomalies in the membrane electrode assembly, which can in turn lead to hazardous mixing of Hydrogen and Oxygen. Most methods to lower the manufacturing cost further negatively affect the reliability. The effect of such degradation can be alleviated with improved cell monitoring technology [i]—for instance, the ability to predict failures in advance enables predictive maintenance to improve system utilization and minimize impact to the amount of hydrogen produced.
 Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) is a widely used tool in lab settings to understand the properties of electrochemical cells. However, due to a combination of cost and technological barriers, scaling EIS technology to in-situ, in-operando monitoring of megawatt scale electrolyzer stacks has proven challenging. In this talk, Analog Devices presents Andromeda (Fig. 1) – a system that can monitor small electrolyzer stacks (up to 4 cells, 100cm2 at current densities up to 3A/cm2) in-situ. In a lab environment, Andromeda enables the use of EIS during long degradation studies with arbitrary power supplies without interrupting the study. We will show that, with appropriate modifications to the hardware, the architecture of the Andromeda system can be scaled to monitor Megawatt-scale electrolyzer stacks.
 We will additionally show data gathered on small cells that indicates that EIS can be a good indicator of failure mechanisms in an electrolytic cell [ii, iii], which further indicates that in-situ monitoring using EIS can be a powerful tool to monitor electrolyzer state-of-health. As an example, Figure 2 shows that corresponding I/V curves show no discernible difference between a baseline cell and cells with pinholes, indicating that small pinholes, which can be safety hazards, can be challenging to detect during operation. Examination of EIS data (Figure 3a), on the other hand, reveals a widening and depression of the semicircle in the curve from the cell with the pinhole. Detectability has also been demonstrated for defects such as catalyst degradation, membrane poisoning, and drifts in mass transport properties within the cell, proving that an in-situ monitoring system, when combined with modeling and AI, has the potential to give asset owners visibility into their operations that will improve utilization, decrease cost and enable safer production of hydrogen at scale.
 Future work on the integration of semiconductor technology into hydrogen equipment has focused on bypassing failing cells in the stack [iv] (Figure 4) and designing power systems that enable electrolyzers to exploit existing economies of scale.
 References:

 "EIS MONITORING SYSTEMS FOR ELECTROLYZERS ", Patent pending: US 63/150,308

 Siracusano, Stefania et al. "Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy as a Diagnostic Tool in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrolysis." Materials (Basel, Switzerland) vol. 11,8 1368. 7 Aug. 2018

 Rakousky, et al. "An analysis of degradation phenomena in polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis", Journal of Power Sources, vol. 326, 2016, Pages 120-121

 ELECTRICALLY PARALLEL ELECTROLYZERS AND ELECTROLYZERS WITH BYPASSABLE CELLS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HYDROGEN, Patent pending: US 17/336,929

 Figure 1


The inability to seamlessly merge technologies on a flexible, versatile platform has severely limited the development of a truly integrated checkpoint screening system that can effectively detect all explosives and other threats while maintaining throughput demands. L-3 Security and Detection Systems, Inc. is developing a fully integrated checkpoint security solution that answers this challenge with stable, blended, state-of-the-art inspection technologies that dramatically increase the probability of threat detection. The system provides state-of-the-art technology integrated under one umbrella. Fused sensor data and "plug and play" elements combine to allow maximum user flexibility in meeting both customer and regulator checkpoint objectives.


Recently It has been required the research for the load of transport of the unit module to secure the safety of the transport locking device. So the purpose of this study is to analyze the probability distribution of the load of transport of unit modular when transporting unit modular by vehicle


The invention consists of at least one node, including the second node to the first group of nodes, the first node is configured with at least one node, including a first node receiving the beacon by the coordinator and the coordinators transmit receive a beacon transmission in the communication system including a first node group, it proposes a scheme for determining when to transmit a beacon at the coordinator to the first node. The coordinator determines a beacon transmission time in the beacon transmission window and the beacon transmission window for a beacon transmission, and for this purpose, the beacon including information regarding the determined beacon transmission time window and transmits a beacon transmitted from the beacon transmission time. In addition, the first node does not overlap with the beacon transmission time contained in the received beacon proposes a scheme for determining the beacon transmission time in said beacon transmission window. Cluster coordinator, a beacon transmission time of the beacon transmission window, the node


Huge amounts of digital video information appear on the Web. Browsing becomes a predominant issue since (1) the result lists to be expected from video search engines on the Web are likely to be even less accurate than the ones we endure today in search of HTML pages; (2) the time for inspecting a single URL is expected to be even more time-consuming since we have to view time-based information i.e. viewing-over- time is the standard way of inspection, (3) the bandwidth wasted by viewing non-pertinent information tends to be by orders of magnitude larger than for HTML text. We present an approach to fast visual perception of video concepts. Our flexible hierarchical 3D representation is based on an automatic ranking and color evaluation scheme. Our Java implementation generates a set of dynamic VRML2 scenes which can be viewed using VRML2 browsers available for virtually every platform. The ranking is calculated in the compressed domain which results in very high performance for the video indexing portion of the system.


Criteria such as driving safety and overall travel efficiency have led to increasing attempts towards autonomy of vehicles wherein different vehicles can plan their journey, maneuver as per scenario, and communicate to each other to create an error free travel plan. In this paper we present the use of Rapidly Exploring Random Trees (RRT) for the planning of multiple vehicles in traffic scenarios. The planner for each vehicle uses RRT to generate a travel plan. Spline curves are used for smoothing of the path generated by the RRT, which follows non-holonomic constraints. Priority is used as a coordination mechanism wherein a higher priority vehicle attempts to avoid all lower priority vehicles. The planner attempts to find the maximum speed at which the vehicle may travel and the corresponding path. Experimental results show that by using the approach, multiple vehicles may be planned to travel in a fairly complex obstacle grid. Further, the vehicles exhibited behaviors including vehicle following and overtaking which are commonly seen in everyday driving.


Nickel(II) complexes of substituted iminodiacetates, RN(CH2CO2–)2, have been studied in aqueous solution [R = Et, Prn. Pri, Bun, Bui,Bus, But, n- and t-pentyl, HOCH2CH2, HOCHMeCH2, HOCH2CHMe, HOCMe2CH2, HOCH2CMe2, HO(CH2)3, HO(CH2)4, and HO(CH2)5]. Stability constants have been determined for the 1 : 1 and 1 : 2 complexes; comparisons among the values found support earlier suggestions that the substituent hydroxyl group is co-ordinated only in the 1 : 1 complexes with the HO(CH2)3, ligand and with all the hydroxyethyl ligands. The proton resonance spectra of the complexes confirm these suggestions. At < 0 °C, the complex with R = HO(CH2)3 shows a spectrum typical of a rigid puckered conformation for the six-membered chelate ring formed by this substituent group. Electronic spectra and magnetic moments have also been determined for the complexes: they are consistent with approximately octahedral co-ordination around the nickel.


In this paper, the attempt to delimit the content of the concept of the analogy from the analogy of statute. The author addresses the issues of species attributes of the analogy in the logic and the analogy of statute. Carries out the comparative analysis and describes the differences between the concepts. The application of the analogy of statute examine as the process of legitimate state power related. The authors concludes that the analogys differ in the subjects of application.


Love, betrayal and death. Notes about the relationship between discourse and materiality in the dramatic work of Brecht in the 20s.
This contribution shows that specific 'event curves' in Brecht's work do not only portray the circumstances of 'being born into a cold town', but also those of the parting in the direction of a leaving of the world. That concerns the early drama Trommeln in der Nacht - which will be analyzed under the signature of post-colonialism - in the same way as Die Dreigroschenoper or Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthofe. The point of departure is that the essential configurations are bound to an economic order of discourse and that this discourse leads to a poetology in the Heiligen Johanna, which refers to the functioning of the discourse as a materiality. In this respect the question about the practice of behavior within the world of the Brechtian theatre becomes relevant.


NOTE 1. Introduction Until recently, the primary legal liabilities of U.S.-based multinational corporations (MNCs) for their overseas operations consisted of U.S. federal and state laws and the laws of the country that hosted their investments. In addition to these legal liabilities, the court of public opinion frequently has expressed a special distaste for MNCs and their profit-seeking overseas operations, and accordingly has imposed a set of extra-legal liabilities.1 For example, MNCs have been subject to corporate charter revocation actions by U.S. states,2 U.S. state sanctions against MNCs by way of selective purchasing ordinances, municipal boycotts,4 public awareness IMAGE FORMULA6campaigns, consumer boycotts,5 and, in 2001, a hunger protest at sixty-three universities in the United States and abroad.6 But now there is a newly exhumed weapon against MNCs: the forum of U.S. federal court and a thirty-three word federal statute enacted in 1789 called the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA).7 Activists have seized upon this archaic, sparse statute that was originally designed to provide U.S. courts as a forum for foreign victims of pirates and slavers, and have turned it into the newest way to haul MNCs into U.S. federal court. Unlike other, more standard U.S. laws of extraterritorial application that establish liability for violations of domestic law, the ATCA creates legal liability for violations of international law, a body of law much more expansive, obscure, and fluid than domestic law. A brief overview of cases filed using the ATCA as a cause of action reads like a list of "Who's Who" in the Fortune 500. Notable corporate defendants include energy companies Unocal and Chevron, as well as a host of well-known American retailers, including Nordstrom, J. Crew, Gymboree, Cutter and Buck, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Phillips-Van Heusen and Chadwick's of Boston.8 This Note will discuss the new and emerging post-Unocal liabilities of MNCs for their activities abroad. Part II-A will address the threshold question of why firms choose to go abroad and invest instead of producing domestically and then engaging in export trade. Part II-B will briefly discuss the increasing importance of MNCs to the U.S. economy. Part II-C will then discuss the ATCA and other causes of action used to haul MNCs into U.S. courts. It IMAGE FORMULA8will demonstrate that the chances of a MNC being sued in America are clearly on the rise under both the ATCA and other statutes.9 These suits, accompanied by U.S. federal and state claims10 appended to the core ATCA federal claim, are developing as the most significant piece in the larger pattern of U.S. courts serving as an increasingly popular forum for plaintiffs to bring suit against MNCs. Part II-D will provide a detailed examination of the most significant case to date construing the ATCA, Doe v. Unocal ("Doe I").11 In international law circles, this case is widely regarded as having the greatest potential impact on the scope and interpretation of the ATCA.12 Doe I was the first case to find that the ATCA can be used to hold a MNC liable for violations of universally recognized human rights standards committed jointly by the MNC and its foreign business partners.13 This case and others like it face jurisdictional, legal, and factual hurdles, but if the ultimate disposition of the case follows the initial holdings in favor of the plaintiffs, the ATCA will provide another powerful legal weapon against MNCs. The significance of this line of cases is the scope of MNCs' liability in the United States for acts done abroad cannot be overstated. Part III will argue that the confusion resulting from a lack of clear legal rules about the liability of MNCs for their acts abroad could lead to several scenarios: first, the statutory codification in the U.S. of rules designed to spell out the liabilities of MNCs operating abroad; second, codification of such rules in international law in the form of a new international convention (such as one similar to the Multilateral Agreement on Investment) or development of rules by the process of customary international law; third, promulgation of voluntary codes of corporate conduct regarding MNC conduct abroad, formulated by MNCs either alone or with states and other interested groups. …


The uniqueness of the teaching of charcoal drawing for space design was introduced systematically.Five corresponding points of teaching of charcoal drawing were found through analysis of the uniqueness,which were the training of details,the training of abstract composition,the training of light and shade,the training of materials,and the training of view point and view angle.The purpose was to provide reference for breaking out of the existing rigid educational system and to build a bridge between teachings of charcoal drawing and space design.


Abstract. Hysterometry has been used to evaluate the effect on the human myometrium in vivo during early pregnancy of the naturally occurring prostaglandins E2 and F2α. The hystermetric technique is based upon the fact that mechanical distension of smooth muscle induces contraction. According to the analysis of the contractile responses, the effects of the agents have been determined quantitatively.


We propose a new surgical robotic system for intrauterine fetal surgery in an Open MRI. The target disease of the fetal surgery is spina bifida or myelomeningocele that is incomplete closure in the spinal column and one of the common fetal diseases. In the proposed surgical process, the abdominal wall and uterine wall would not widely be opened but rather surgical instruments inserted through the small holes in both walls to perform minimally invasive surgery. In this paper, a prototype of the micro manipulator of diameter is 2.4mm and bending radius 2.45 mm is presented. The diameter and bending radius of this manipulator is one of the smallest ever developed among surgical robots to the best of the knowledge of the investigating authors. The mechanism of the manipulator includes two ball joints and is driven using four wires able to bend through 90 degrees in any direction. The features of the mechanism include a small diameter, small bending radius, ease of fabrication, high rigidity and applicability for other surgical applications. Although the manipulator is not yet MRI compatible, the feature of the prototype demonstrated the feasibility of robotic intrauterine fetal surgery.