Introduction Alkane skeletal isomerization is an important part of the petroleum refining process. Isomerization of n-pentane and n-hexane is motivated by the increased octane rating of the product stream; isobutane is used in C4 alkylation or further processed to isobutene. Solid acids catalyze skeletal isomerization, but sites present on these materials also catalyze undesired reactions such as dehydrogenation, oligomerization, and cyclization that lead to the buildup of carbonaceous deposits. Accumulation of such deposits and the associated deactivation are typically prevented by adding platinum to the catalyst and H2 to the feed. To identify alternative measures to control deactivation, understanding of the surface chemistry is needed.


The article considers the conceptual apparatus of transport, transport system and transport infrastructure and studies the existing classifications of transport infrastructure on the basis of their object content. The key characteristics of these classifications are determined and enlarged groups of infrastructure elements are identified, on the basis of which a consolidated grouping of transport infrastructure objects is formulated. The main problems of classification of transport infrastructure objects and approaches to their formation are identified. The author's classification of transport infrastructure elements is developed, including two new concepts: social transport infrastructure and industrial transport infrastructure. In order to justify the advantages of the author's classification, a detailed differentiation of infrastructure objects by means of transport within two new groups is made.


The prevailing model in the studies that estimate bus travel time is the linear regression which assumes the limit of the normal distribution for all observations. Besides, survival models can calculate that the probability of an event can change over time. Thus, examining event probabilities that change over time is ideal for risky basic models such as survival ones. Although these kinds of models are used less in the research of bus travel time, in this study Accelerated Failure Time (AFT) survival models and linear regression models are compared in the form of two modeling approaches, link-based, and section-based. As for modeling the Automated Vehicle Location (AVL), data of 32 buses in line number 313 in Tehran (from Sepah Sq. to Enqelab Sq.) is used, including the information for one week for May, August, and November 2015. According to the results, the accuracy of survival models is better than the linear regression model in both modeling approaches. Furthermore, the performance of the linear regression model is unfavorable for both observations of short (less than 100 seconds) and long (more than 900 seconds) travel time. In addition, the particular lane that has been built in the opposite direction in this route reduces the bus travel time by an average of about 15.7 percent.


This paper presents manufacturing, testing, and computing steps for determin-ing the fracture toughness property of polyamide PA 2200 processed by laser sintering using different process parameters. The design of the samples was conducted according to ASTM D5045-99 and ASTM D5528-01, and the fracture tests consist of four-point bending in symmetric and asymmetric configuration and double cantilever beam test. The process parameters selected as variables were in-plane orientation, spatial orientation, energy density of the process, and induced structural defects. The results provide an extended view regarding the variation of fracture properties when the manufacturing conditions in laser sintering are changed. of the AM parts. SLS is one of the AM technologies that belongs to the powder bed fusion branch. It uses raw material in powder form and a laser source for sintering the particles together. The sinterization process led to a porous structure in the entire volume of the part, which directly influences the mechanical properties. Despite intensive research on fracture mechanics of classical obtained materials, 5 – 8 few studies cover the fracture behavior of polyamide processed by SLS. 9 – 11 The paper presents an overview of the authors' work on fracture properties of selectively sintered polyamide (PA2200). Since the fracture properties of AM materials are related to the process parameters, the work highlights the influence of in-plane orientation, spatial orientation, energy density, and structural defects on Mode I and II fracture toughness. The paper presents the authors' work on the fracture toughness of polyamide PA2200 processed by laser sintering. Two different types of samples were used: SENB and DCB for conducting pour-point bending tests in symmetric and asymmetric configurations and DCB test. In processing the samples, four process parameters were used: in-plane orientation, spatial orientation, energy density of the process, and induced structural defects.


Introduction: The aim of the present study is to determine peripheral blood eosinophil counts and eosinophil cationic pro tein (ECP) serum concentration in hospitalized patients with acute viral bronchiolitis and to compare with different degrees of severity. methodology: Peripheral blood eosinophil counts and eosinophil cationic protein serum concentration was performed on infants under 12 months of age who were hospitalized presenting acute viral bronchiolitis. Associations of eosinophil counts and ECP concentration among groups of patients were performed according to severity, gender and age. Severity was defined by haemoglobin saturation in room air and prevalence of mechanical ventilation. Results: Fifty-eight patients were studied. The mean age was 2 months. Nineteen patients were classified as severe according to haemoglo bin saturation, lower than 90%. Seven patients needed mechanical ventilation (12%). Eosinophil counts ranged from 0 to 1104 and the median value was 100. Eosinophil counts were lower in patients with lower saturation (p<0.05). Patients who needed mechanical ventilation also showed lower eosinophil counts. ECP serum concentration ranged from 2 to 114 mg/l and the median value was 6 mg/l. ECP was not associated with neither saturation nor mechanical ventilation. Conclusion: A correlation was found between eosinophil counts and severity measured by haemoglobin saturation. There was no correlation between ECP and severity. Additional studies are necessary to better explain the role of eosinophils and its proteins to determine the severity of bronchiolitis.


It is inherently allowed that a user engages in more than one activity at the same time. The interweave of multiple activities makes an activity have more than two states, i.e. the paused state in addition to active and inactive states and move from one state to another. In this paper, we propose an activity lifecycle management scheme that enables a system to adapt the services which help a user to do an activity to the state transitions of the activity. The proposed scheme detects the interruption between activities in terms of perceivable effects of their associated services. The state transitions of an activity driven by the interruption are handled by Event-Condition-State-Action (ECSA) policy, which is extended from ECA policy. It specifies how the services should be adapted to the interruption degree - how much the interrupting activity interferes the current activity as well as the state transition of an activity.


The population of Quetta city and surroundings is almost totally dependent upon groundwater, which is abstracted from the aquifer system of the valley through tube wells. Due to overdraft of groundwater the aquifer system is under tremendous stress.The water table is declining continuously at an increasing rate.The average decline in water table in 2007 was about one meter. The situation is quite alarming and points towards the danger of the complete depletion of the aquifer system.To study the problem in-depth, the aquifer system of Quetta valley was evaluated through integrated application of geophysical methods and groundwater flow modeling.Geometry of an aquifer is a prerequisite for groundwater flow modeling, but there was no data available about the depth to bedrock, therefore, electrical resistivity, seismic reflection and gravity methods were employed. GM SYS; a gravity software of Northwest Geophysical Associates, USA was used for modeling of gravity data and the depth to bedrock determined through interpretation of electrical resistivity and seismic reflection data was used as constraint in the modeling. From the results of gravity modeling a map of depth to bedrock was prepared.For groundwater flow modeling Visual MODFLOW of the Waterloo Hydrogeologic Inc., Canada was used. The aquifer system of the valley was simulated by a simplified model consisting only of two layers, the top layer for the unconsolidated and semi-consolidated rocks aquifers and bottom layer for the consolidated rocks aquifers.Data of the depth to bedrock were put into the groundwater flow model as the bottom of the top layer.The model was successfully calibrated against the water table observation data from 1955 to 1995.Calibration was performed under both the steady and transient conditions.Verification of the model was done with the observation data from 1996 to 2007.With the assumption that the natural conditions of recharge and discharge will not change in future, four future scenarios differing only in the abstraction of groundwater were prepared.These scenarios were simulated and predictions by the model were made for the period 2008 to 2030 Results of the study show that groundwater abstraction is too much high in comparison to recharge of the aquifer, therefore negative water balance will continue and that water table will decline necessarily despite of attempting efforts to arrest it.At the most the decline in water table can be slowed down by keeping the groundwater abstraction at the level of 2007.


This survey provides a snap shot of the nutritional content of potato and chicken products sold in fast food and convenience outlets across the island of Ireland.


Abstract Icons have been in use for a very long time, as early as the Middle Ages complex iconic systems had been developed such as the heraldic coats of arms and systems of astrological signs. In modern society everyone is familiar with icons, both in and out of work: for example, icons on the toilet door, iconic road signs and complex icons on electronic goods. From the everyday context of living to the packaging for the latest products, one encounters icons as a daily occurrence. In the computer world, the use of icons has been an extension of their traditional uses but computer and related technologies offer the unique possibility of exploiting animation and interaction. Furthermore, a computer interface language which consisted entirely of icons would have many advantages. It would avoid the need for foreign language translation, it would assist those with language and learning difficulties and it would help in the teaching of new systems. To explore the design of such an iconic system, we look first...


The Jurkat cells were treated with hydroxycamptothecine,the cells were stained with FITC-annexin V and PI,examined with the flow cytometry.The results showed that part of the cells are stained with fluorescence after treated with hydroxycamptothecine,indicating hydroxycamptothecine can induce the cells apoptosis


The assumed-modes method in multibody dynamics allows the elastic deformation of each component in the system to be approximated by a sum of products of spatial and temporal functions commonly known as modes and modal coordinates, respectively. This paper focuses on the choice of component modes used to model articulating and nonarticulating flexible multibody systems. Attention is directed toward three classical component mode synthesis methods whereby component normal modes are generated by treating the component interface as either fixed, free, or loaded with mass and stiffness contributions from the remaining components. The fixed and free interface normal modes are augmented by static shape functions termed constraint and residual modes, respectively. In this paper, a mode selection procedure is outlined whereby component modes are selected from the Craig-Bampton (fixed interface plus constraint), MacNeal-Rubin (free interface plus residual), or Benfield-Hruda (loaded interface) mode sets in accordance with a modal ordering scheme derived from balanced realization theory. The success of the approach is judged by comparing the actuator-to-sensor frequency response of the reduced-order system with that of the full-order system over the frequency range of interest. A finite element model of the Galileo spacecraft serves as an example in demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed mode selection method.


Introduction The mechanisms underlying the fibrotic lesions observed in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), two smoking-associated diseases, are imperfectly understood. Objectives Are circulating fibrocytes dysregulated in, a)   Smokers with COPD or IPF compared to matched smokers with no known lung disease? b)   Smokers with IPF compared to non-smokers with IPF? Materials and Methods Fibrocytes are isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and defined as cells positive for CD45, Col-1 and CXCR4 by flow cytometry 1 . They are quantified in three patients from each group including healthy non-smokers, smokers with no lung disease, COPD smokers, IPF non-smokers and IPF smokers. (n=15) Results IPF non-smokers had the highest number of circulating fibrocytes, followed by IPF smokers, healthy non-smokers, smokers with no lung diseases and least in COPD smokers in our study cohort (Table-1). There was no significant difference in the number of circulating fibrocytes between COPD smokers (p=0.40) or IPF smokers (p=0.34), compared to age matched smokers with no lung diseases. Furthermore, no significant difference is observed in circulating fibrocytes in IPF smokers with IPF non-smokers (p=0.89). As expected, fibrocytes are upregulated in IPF patients combined as compared to all other subjects combined (p=0.047) and significantly higher than in COPD smokers (p=0.016). They trend to be at higher concentration in IPF smokers in comparison to COPD smokers (p=0.18). Conclusion There are concordant trends towards decreasing number of fibrocytes in smokers as compared to non-smokers across different disease states. The highest number of fibrocytes was in IPF non-smokers with lowest in COPD smokers.


Scientific names of species referred to in this text 1. Introduction Rory Putman, Reidar Andersen and Marco Apollonio 2. Status and distribution patterns of European ungulates: genetics, population history and conservation John D. C. Linnell and Frank E. Zachos 3. A review of the various legal and administrative systems governing management of large herbivores in Europe Rory Putman 4. Hunting seasons in relation to biological breeding seasons and the implications for the control or regulation of ungulate populations Marco Apollonio, Stefano Grignolio, Rory Putman and Ludek Bartos 5. The census and management of populations of ungulates in Europe Nicolas Morellet, Francois Klein, Erling Solberg and Reidar Andersen 6. Impacts of wild ungulates on vegetation: costs and benefits Friedrich Reimoser and Rory Putman 7. Wild ungulate diseases and the risk for livestock and public health Ezio Ferroglio, Christian Gortazar and Joaquin Vicente 8. Traffic collisions involving deer and other ungulates in Europe and available measures for mitigation Jochen Langbein, Rory Putman and Bostjan Pokorny 9. Large herbivores as 'environmental engineers' Chris Smit and Rory Putman 10. Ungulate-large' carnivore relationships in Europe Wlodzimierz Jedrzejewski, Marco Apollonio, Bogumila Jedrzejewska and Ilpo Kojola 11. The role of pathogens in the population dynamics of European ungulates Marion L. East, Bruno Bassano and Bjornar Ytrehus 12. Climate change and implications for the future distribution and management of ungulates in Europe Atle Mysterud and Bernt-Erik S'ther 13. Ungulate management in Europe: towards a sustainable future Robert Kenward and Rory Putman.


The penetration of blue light (460 nm) and UV-A (360 nm) radiation into needles of spruce (Picea engelmannii Parry ex. Engelm.) and fir [Abies lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt. var. Iasiocrpa] was examined. The distribution of collimated and scattered light in intact needles was measured by quartz fiber optic microprobes. Both blue light and UV-A were attenuated more rapidly with depth in fir than in spruce, although the light profiles for the two light regimes were different; blue light penetrated to a greater depth than UV-A, Removal of the epicuticular wax from the needle surface increased the amount of internal blue light slightly, but had little effect on the amount of UV-A. The differences in light penetration in light penetration in spruce and fir may be caused bhy different pigmentation and leaf anatomy.


DC urban rail train load characteristics and regenerative power generated during braking, such as an analysis of urban railway substation DC power system analysis, power flow through the power train was studied recycling. This train service in order to analyze the regenerative power substation power feeding equipment in recording and analysis of the power flow, the travel time in accordance with section eleven EMU amount of regenerative power flow analysis was measured. Trains operating conditions and hence the analysis of track conditions, hourly train service power flow, rectifier power supply by performing a comparative analysis of the regenerative power of urban rail DC power system based on power flow analysis was studied.


Pasture-based production systems represent a significant sustainable supplier of animal source foods worldwide. For such systems, mounting evidence highlights the importance of plant diversity on the proper functioning of soils, plants and animals. A diversity of forages and biochemicals –primary and secondary compounds- at appropriate doses and sequences of ingestion, may lead to benefits to the animal and their environment that are greater than grazing monocultures and the isolated effects of single chemicals. Here we review the importance of plant and phytochemical diversity on animal nutrition, welfare, health, and environmental impact while exploring some novel ideas about pasture design and management based on the biochemical complexity of traditional and non-traditional forage sources. Such effort will require an integration and synthesis on the morphology, ecophysiology, and biochemistry of traditional and non-traditional forage species, as well as on the foraging behavior of livestock grazing diverse pasturelands. Thus, the challenge ahead entails selecting the "right" species combination, spatial aggregation, distribution and management of the forage resource such that productivity and stability of plant communities and ecological services provided by grazing are enhanced. We conclude that there is strong experimental support for replacing simple traditional agricultural pastures of reduced phytochemical diversity with multiple arrays of complementary forage species that enable ruminants to select a diet in benefit of their nutrition, health and welfare, whilst reducing the negative environmental impacts caused by livestock production systems.


Sustainable economic growth is very important for sustainable welfare of society. In this context, it is vital to determine the factors affecting sustainable economic growth and to design economic policies for affecting sustainable economic growth. Main aim of this study is to investigate the determinants of sustainable economic growth and to recommend economic policies and strategies for selected Central Asian Turkish Republics, namely, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in order to achieve sustainable economic growth and development. The main result of the study is that the main source of economic growth of Turkish Republics depends on the natural resources, which is not enough for sustainable economic growth in the long run. For this reason, Turkish Republics should transform their economic structures from natural sources based economic growth into sciencetechnology and innovation based and global competitiveness oriented economic growth path by designing economic policies for developing human capital, education, research and development, national industry strategy improving the business and investment environment for investors and eliminating structural and institutional problems. JEL Codes: O11, O13, O32


Many annotation tasks in natural language processing are highly subjective in that there can be different valid and justified perspectives on what is a proper label for a given example. This also applies to the judgment of argument quality, where the assignment of a single ground truth is often questionable. At the same time, there are generally accepted concepts behind argumentation that form a common ground. To best represent the interplay of individual and shared perspectives, we consider a continuum of approaches ranging from models that fully aggregate perspectives into a majority label to"share nothing"-architectures in which each annotator is considered in isolation from all other annotators. In between these extremes, inspired by models used in the field of recommender systems, we investigate the extent to which architectures that include layers to model the relations between different annotators are beneficial for predicting single-annotator labels. By means of two tasks of argument quality classification (argument concreteness and validity/novelty of conclusions), we show that recommender architectures increase the averaged annotator-individual F$_1$-scores up to $43\%$ over a majority label model. Our findings indicate that approaches to subjectivity can benefit from relating individual perspectives.


The number of nodes of an edge quadtree representing a figure is the measure of its space complexity. This number depends on the figure's shape, its resolution and its precision. The goal of this work is to find a function which yields the number of nodes of an edge-quadtree when these three parameters are specified in input. A unique value to represent both the resolution and the precision is used. To measure the shape of the image we use the fractal dimension and a methodology to calculate the fractal dimension and the fractal measure in the case of a discrete image is proposed. Given these three parameters we use a neural network to approximate the function. The computational results show the effectiveness of this approach.


In order to duly analyze problems of students' learning and accurately evaluate the learning achievement of students during a period of time,a mathematical model of generating test paper based on integer programming is presented in this paper,which is realized by an algorithm of particle swarm optimization with binary code.With the application of the model to generate a series of paper that meet various evaluation criteria,it is shown that the work efficiency of generating test paper in large-scale item bank is wholly improved.


Poor understanding of screening procedures by elderly people is one of the greatest problems in early detection of colorectal cancer in third age (Doria-Rose et al., 2005; Rawl et al., 2005; Segnan et al., 2005; Shieh et al., 2005; Shokar et al., 2005; Straus et al., 2005; Wei et al., 2005). Paradoxically, co-operation is better in hospitalized patients than in 'successfully old' people (Mladen et al., 2003).


Purpose – To explain the objectivity of the globalisation process by using the mathematical theory of topological structures.Design/methodology/approach – After a brief presentation of the history and features of the globalisation phenomena, there are presented the basic notions of the mathematical concept of topology. Besides geometrical distance and geometrical topology, the authors define informational distance and informational topology. An informational neighbourhood of a person P is the informational medium that he/she masters, a set of persons with whom P communicates in a well‐determined interval of time. There is presented a hierarchy of informational topologies which structured human life on Earth. Nowadays, the world benefits from the finest topology, the topology of communication by the internet (TCI).Findings – The possibility to conceive the globalisation process as a multidimensional vector function defined on the set of the world population. The projections of this vector function on the s...


ly about texts even before entering school. 73 Book-sharing time is one very important activity for socializing children into the use of abstract language. However, other researchers have examined parental modeling of abstract language during other activities, such as during mealtimes (Beals, 1993) or during play with play-doh (Sorsby & Martlew, 1991). van Kleeck and colleagues (1997) suggested that book-sharing is the most likely time that parents might scaffold (Wood et al., 1976) children's development of abstract language because there was no motor activity to distract them. The research of van Kleeck and colleagues (1997, 2011, 2014) suggested that middle-class children enjoyed innumerable opportunities to develop abstract language before arriving at school, perhaps putting lower-income peers at a disadvantage. Academic Language and Literacy Some of the research on academic language has investigated how education professionals help the youngest children (preschoolers and kindergarteners) to learn this language in the context of literacy lessons (Cain & Oakhill, 2007; Cain, Oakhill, Barnes, & Bryant, 2001; Cain, Oakhill, & Elbro, 2003; van Kleeck, 2008). Many of these studies looked at how educators supported the development of academic language through teaching inferencing skills. While many of these studies suggested implications for mathematical language development, none of them addressed this development directly. There is a gap in the literature that must be filled in order to understand how academic language functions in the mathematics classroom. Although the work of van Kleeck (2011, 2014) focused on reading and book sharing, the ultimate focus was on school talk and reasoning, and thus there are clear implications for mathematical talk and reasoning. 74 Layers of Linguistic Difference Most research on linguistic differences in the classroom pertains to students who struggle because they are still learning the English language (DiCerbo, Anstrom, Baker, & Rivera, 2014; Moschkovich, 2007). Other researchers examined students who spoke dialects of English other than Standard American English (Edwards et al., 2014; Labov, 1972) and how this linguistic difference could pose a challenge for learning academic language. For example, speakers of African American English might find themselves left out of academic conversations because of their linguistic minority status. However, the concept of school talk adds a more nuanced layer to the problem of linguistic difference in the classroom. A student can be an English speaker, and even a speaker of Standard American English, and still lack fluency in the specific vocabulary, grammar, and other language conventions associated with mathematical (Halliday, 1978; Pimm, 1987). Because knowledge of this specific style of speech is necessary in order to comprehend and communicate academically (Cazden, 2001; Gee, 2009), teachers must teach it explicitly (Chapin & O'Connor, 2007) or teach in such a way that makes the workings of academic language explicit (Temple & Doerr, 2012). The following sections describe some of the characteristics of academic language. Features of Academic Language at the Preschool Level Very little research exists on educators' use of mathematical language with preschoolers (Klibanoff et al., 2006). However, research on academic language use with preschoolers is growing (van Kleeck, 2014). It should be noted that much overlap exists between casual or everyday talk and academic talk. Other vocabulary words, 75 grammatical structures (Schleppegrell, 2004), as well as social-interactive and cognitive conventions (van Kleeck, 2014) are specific to academic talk. Here, I will outline the features researchers have identified as being particular to the academic language that teachers use with preschoolers. See Figure 1 for an illustration of how teacher conversation strategies assist students in the linguistic minority in improving their academic language skills within their ZPDs. This assistance occurs in the context of the classroom microculture. Figure 1. Theoretical framework of current research. It is important to note that the features particular to academic language are also often present in the home language of White, middleand upper-class students. Thus, academic language favors these students more than students from other demographics. in a synthesis of literature on preschool classrooms, van Kleeck (2014) described features of academic language, which are related in the following sections. Halliday (1978) and 76 Pimm (1987) described mathematics language in strictly linguistic terms. However, more research is required to describe the characteristics of mathematics language in terms that benefit early childhood teachers who do not have a background in linguistics. The language of school is quite similar to the language spoken in White, middleto upper-middle class homes (Barletta, 2008; Lagrander & Reid, 2000; van Kleeck, 2011). Thus, these students more easily join in on academic conversations. Teachers, for their part, rewarded and reinforce these students' efforts. Conversely, they tend to dismiss student contributions when those students speaking are linguistic minorities (Heller, 2006). In order to scaffold (Wood et al., 1976) the development of students' academic language, it is important to review some of the special features of this language. The features outlined below describe academic language. Many of them describe more specific mathematical language as well (Halliday, 1978; Pimm, 1987). Autonomy. Research suggests that U.S. teachers often expect even the youngest students to be autonomous thinkers and speakers (Degotardi & Torr, 2007). Students are expected to express novel opinions as opposed to simply repeating what has already been said. These school cultures value Western individualism over Eastern collectivism. Children are expected to possess unique interests and opinions and to verbalize them. Williams (1999, 2001) examined opening clauses of teacher speech and found that these teachers often modeled verbalization of states of consciousness, saying, "I wonder if . . ." or "I hope that . . . ." In research summarized by Barletta (2008), teachers positively reinforced the speech of students whose speech resembled their own and often 77 dismissed students whose language did not. Thus, students from cultures that value collectivism more than individualism may have been at a disadvantage. Some refer to these marginalized students as linguistic minorities (O'Neal & Ringler, 2010). In this sense, and in others described in the following sections, students can become linguistic minorities in their classrooms. Verbal display. Another expectation that preschool teachers have demonstrated is for students to display their knowledge verbally (Scollon & Scollon, 1981). In some cultures, young children are expected to passively listen to those who possess more expertise than themselves. However, in U.S. schools, teachers deliberately ask questions they already know the answer to in order to elicit answers from young children. The purpose of this practice is for the asker to discover how much or how little the child has learned. Thus, those who supposedly know the least are often in the role of the exhibitionist rather than the spectator. Students from cultures in which young children are accustomed to being spectators may be at a disadvantage. Heath (1983) found that working-class, African-American children were not socialized into this practice. In fact, when adults asked questions children already knew the answer to, it was usually to chide them. However, verbal display was present in music like hip-hop and rap. The function in these forms of music are not to provide information to an authority figure. Unfortunately, Heath (1983) noted, these amazing performances were rarely examined or praised in the classroom setting. Heath also noted that known-answer questions were mostly absent from the socialization of MexicanAmerican children. These adults only asked known-answer questions to tease children. 78 Teachers may also expect preschoolers to verbally display not just their knowledge but also their thought processes. van Kleeck (2006) found that parents sharing books with preschoolers modeled discussion on known information 60% of the time and on making inferences 40% of the time. These two foci reflect the two goals of helping children feel successful and also building upon prior knowledge (van Kleeck et al., 1997). Researchers suggest that these two types of linguistic interaction be used judiciously and in balance (Cazden, 2001). Teachers often expect children to verbally display such thought processes while reading. Formality. It may go without saying that academic language is more formal than is casual language (van Kleeck, 2014). It is said to be more impersonal and more objective. The vocabulary of academic language is more literary and Latinate. Casual language draws from more Germanic lexicon (Bar-Ilan & Berman, 2007). Words and phrases like smart, land, huge, kid, and get are common in casual language. Words like relinquish, fidelity, sequence, inquire, and cognizant are likely to be found only in academic language. Further, contractions and personal pronouns are more likely to be found in casual language, especially the first person nominative, I. Casual language contains more appreciative markers that communicate personal interest (Gee, 2005). A variety of moods are found in casual language (declarative, interrogative, imperative), giving it a more informal sound. The declarative is the most common mood found in academic language (Schleppegrell, 2001). The active voice is most common in casual language, while the passive voice is most common in academic language (Biber, 2003). 79 Discreteness of objects. Once again drawing a distinction between Western (individualistic) and Eastern (collectivist) culture, Nisbett (2004) de


Wrapping an alpaca blanket around my body, already layered with thermal underwear, two long-sleeved shirts, a sweater, and a fleece jacket, I sat huddled close to Juana,1 a good friend and the director of a small school in Ccara, a community in a harshly cold and desolate region of Cuzco, Peru. We were listening to a small group of self-labeled authorities on education policy, including a representative of the Peruvian government's regional education center, a teacher-trainer from a local nongovernmental organization (NGO) involved in education programs in the area, a health specialist from the nearest medical post (about a five-hour walk away), and a teacher from a community near the highland city of Cuzco. Packed into one of the three classrooms that made up the school, women and men from Ccara listened patiently to the reasons the visitors presented for the forthcoming change in their children's education. By way of introduction, the NGO representative proudly informed them that Ccara had been chosen as one of ten communities that the Ministry of Education in Lima (the Peruvian capital) had recently added to its jurisdiction. This meant, among other things, that teaching at their school would no longer be conducted in Spanish only.


Population changes - impact and patterns an overview lifestyles and family fertility behaviour economic modelling of fertility economic constraints upon family size - a survey of parental attitudes fertility patters of the transition onset - insights of the living standard model a lifestyle-norm/time constraint model for analysis of long-run changes in fertility a test of the living standard model policy implications of lifestyle approach agenda for further research.


Background Newborn life support (NLS) manikins have been used for clinical training for over 30 years. Over this period the mechanical construction of manikins has changed little, as reflected in their continued poor anatomical and physiological fidelity. This poor fidelity may inadequately prepare clinicians to deliver sufficiently deep and consistent chest compressions (CCs) during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Objectives We aim to develop a NLS manikin with higher human fidelity by employing a combination of MRI imaging, 3D printing, material selection, and casting. Methods Using a full body MRI scan of a 37-week old newborn, a replica of the bone structure and molds of the thoracic organs was 3D printed. After casting in Ecoflex 5 silicone, the prototype NLS manikin was assembled (Figure 1 (top)). To validate its fidelity force-displacement tests were performed on a Resusci Anne manikin and the prototype NLS manikin design following NLS CC guidelines (Figure 1 (bottom)). These data were then quantitatively compared to compression data from rabbits [1]. Conclusion The results suggest that the prototype has higher human fidelity.


We investigate the implications of a recent measurement of the muon anomalous magnetic moment for the direct detection of neutralino dark matter in three different SUSY models: mSUGRA, a model with non-universal Higgs mass, and an SO(10) GUT model. We consider two cases for the value of ∆aµ ,2 7× 10 −10 <∆ a µ < 59 × 10 −10 (corresponding to a range of 1σ about the experimental value) and0 <∆ a µ < 11 × 10 −10 (corresponding to a range more than 2σ below the experimental value). In the mSUGRA model, the counting ratio may be above the sensitivity of future experiments in the case that parameters are within a 1σ bound of ∆aµ. However, Ωχ tends to be large compared to the currently accepted value Ω =0 .3. For models with non-universal scalar masses, the possibility of having a consistent Ωχ and a large counting ratio exists in the region of parameter space where the Higgsino mass µ is smaller than the mSUGRA prediction. In particular, in the SO(10) model, the LSP dark matter detection rate may be enhanced by almost one order of magnitude compared to that in mSUGRA andthe mod el with non-universal Higgs mass, for cosmologically acceptable Ωχh 2 . The highest detection rate of LSP dark matter occurs in the region where the LSP constitutes a subdominant part of the local halo DM. The implications of the SUSY mass parameter measurement subject to the cosmological constraint are also discussed.


This article discusses dynamic factor analysis, a technique for estimating common trends in multivariate time series. Unlike more common time series techniques such as spectral analysis and ARIMA models, dynamic factor analysis can analyse short, non‐stationary time series containing missing values. Typically, the parameters in dynamic factor analysis are estimated by direct optimization, which means that only small data sets can be analysed if computing time is not to become prohibitively long and the chances of obtaining sub‐optimal estimates are to be avoided. This article shows how the parameters of dynamic factor analysis can be estimated using the EM algorithm, allowing larger data sets to be analysed. The technique is illustrated on a marine environmental data set. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This paper describes a method for displaying pictures or drawings by luster scanning method. An arbitrary picture film can be processed for a digital coding method which will minimize the number of code levels required to describe a picture.Ordinary drawings or moire fringe photographs consist of binary data with "black" and "white", where the code levels are limited within the two. An introduction of the partial differentiation through the Fast Fourier Transform has led to the calculation of moving the side band spectrum in the two-dimensional Fourier transform transmitted over the channel of luster scanning binary data series. For displaying the successively changing patterns equi-moving coordinates are dotted by a dot-printer machine which is better to draw such as scanned pictures than by a conventional computer aided drafting machine or X - Y plotter.This method shows a good merit for displaying not only linear but also non-linear change phenomena in the engineering fields.


On 4 May 2011, the Higher Regional Court of Dusseldorf rejected the complaint of an association of hearing aid acousticians that claimed that the German Cartel Office (FCO) did not have the right,…


Executive functions enable an individual to initiate and stop actions, track and modify behavior as necessary, and plan imminent behavior when faced with specific tasks and circumstances. It also helps one to predict results and adjust to evolving and difficult circumstances. This study, therefore, identified a connection between the executive functions and management efficacy of academic leaders of a State University in the Philippines. The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version was used in a correlation analysis to gauge the executive functions of academic leaders and a researcher-made questionnaire was administered to determine their management efficacy. The study was conducted using t-scores, means, and Pearson r. The stronger the potential of academic leaders to carry out their management skills, the more their emotional regulation leans towards the borderline. When they surprisingly practice their management skills, they appear to be average in inhibition, shift, self-monitoring, initiation, planning/organization, and task monitoring. As academic leaders' management skills reach a remarkable level, the more they are predisposed to functioning on their own initiative and can control their actions in the light of the circumstances. On the other hand, when academic leaders normally conduct change, self-monitoring, initiation, planning/organization, and task monitoring functions, they exemplify outstanding performance in their communication skills, adaptability, interpersonal relationships, and initiative, and imagination. But when their working memory, cognitive control, inhibition, and arrangement of materials is at the borderline, better interpersonal relationships, decision-making and judgment, and initiative and imagination are achieved.


Abstract The article deals with a step-up multiple comparison procedure for testing the homogeneity of all the subsets of scale parameter of distributions indexed by location and scale parameters. The methods of computation of exact critical constants for and simulated critical constants for are discussed and critical constants are tabulated for selected configurations. Using Monte Carlo simulation, it is shown that the proposed procedure has more power than the single-step procedure and the Newman-Keuls type step-down procedure. Application of the proposed procedure to exponential probability model is discussed.


New applications for helium have resulted in significant growth in helium demand in recent years. The primary source of helium in the USA is natural gas reservoirs. Typically natural gas reservoirs that contain helium also contain nitrogen. The presence of nitrogen requires that the heating value of the gas be upgraded using nitrogen rejection units (NRU). Thermal integration of the NRU process with the helium recovery process is described. Further integration of NRU and helium recovery process to produce cold helium gas suitable for use as a feed to a helium liquefier is also described. A key aspect of the integrated process is the use of refrigeration from the NRU to reduce power requirements, and capital cost for the helium recovery process.


We performed a thorough sensitivity analysis of the herd immunity threshold for discrete-time SIR compartmental models with a static network structure. We find unexpectedly that these models violate classical intuition which holds that the herd immunity threshold should monotonically increase with the transmission parameter. We find the existence of bifurcations in the herd immunity threshold in the high transmission probability regime. The extent of these bifurcations is modulated by the graph heterogeneity, the recovery parameter, and the network size. In the limit of large, well-mixed networks, the behavior approaches that of difference equation models, suggesting this behavior is a universal feature of all discrete-time SIR models. These results suggest careful attention is needed in both selecting the assumptions on how to model time and heterogeneity in epidemiological models and the subsequent conclusions that can be drawn.


Refinement-based formal methods provide a systematic process to develop software that is correct by construction through a gradual enrichment of models. However, their waterfall-like linear sequence of refinements makes it difficult to express properties at the desired level of abstraction without cluttering the models' specification. Consequently, models become difficult to develop, organize and understand. In this paper, we present an approach based on the notion of "observation levels" to organize the model development in such a way that facilitates the inclusion of new properties into the model without compromising its understand ability. The approach is demonstrated by its application on two real-life high-assurance case studies.


The mucus layer of the nasopharynx and bronchial epithelium has a barrier function against inhaled pathogens such as the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. We recently found that inorganic polyphosphate (polyP), a physiological, metabolic energy (ATP)-providing polymer released from blood platelets, blocks the binding of the receptor binding domain (RBD) to the cellular ACE2 receptor in vitro. PolyP is a marine natural product and is abundantly present in marine bacteria. Now, we have approached the in vivo situation by studying the effect of polyP on the human alveolar basal epithelial A549 cells in a mucus-like mucin environment. These cells express mucins as well as the ectoenzymes alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and adenylate kinase (ADK), which are involved in the extracellular production of ATP from polyP. Mucin, integrated into a collagen-based hydrogel, stimulated cell growth and attachment. The addition of polyP to the hydrogel significantly increased cell attachment and also the expression of the membrane-tethered mucin MUC1 and the secreted mucin MUC5AC. The increased synthesis of MUC1 was also confirmed by immunostaining. This morphogenetic effect of polyP was associated with a rise in extracellular ATP level. We conclude that the nontoxic and non-immunogenic polymer polyP could possibly also exert a protective effect against SARS-CoV-2-cell attachment; first, by stimulating the innate antiviral response by strengthening the mucin barrier with its antimicrobial proteins, and second, by inhibiting virus attachment to the cells, as deduced from the reduction in the strength of binding between the viral RBD and the cellular ACE2 receptor.


In current organizations, managing teams is becoming more important and complex, due to the critical, practical, and strategic implications of doing so. Team composition has dramatically changed in companies, capturing new social and demographic tendencies, and making teams more diverse and multicultural. In this context, organizations should pay particular attention not only to teams and their functioning, but also to team managers and how they effectively implement practices to guide teams towards company goals.


Child-directed speech, as a specialized form of speech directed toward young children, has been found across numerous languages around the world and has been suggested as a universal feature of human experience. However, variation in its implementation and the extent to which it is culturally supported has called its universality into question. Child-directed speech has also been posited to be associated with expression of positive affect or "happy talk." Here, we examined Canadian English-speaking adults' ability to discriminate child-directed from adult-directed speech samples from two dissimilar language/cultural communities; an urban Farsi-speaking population, and a rural, horticulturalist Tseltal Mayan speaking community. We also examined the relationship between participants' addressee classification and ratings of positive affect. Naive raters could successfully classify CDS in Farsi, but only trained raters were successful with the Tseltal Mayan sample. Associations with some affective ratings were found for the Farsi samples, but not reliably for happy speech. These findings point to a complex relationship between perception of affect and CDS, and context-specific effects on the ability to classify CDS across languages.


Preliminary results of bone marrow transplantation of 8 patients are presented with particular reference to the irradiation technique. 5 patients died 0.5 to 8 months after transplantation. 3 patients are alive and in good condition 2 to 15 month after transplantation.


We study a variant of a robust description source coding framework, which is a relevant model for goal-oriented semantic information transmission, via its corresponding characterization. Considering two individual single-letter separable distortion constraints and input and output data acting as the intrinsic and extrinsic message, respectively, we first derive a lower bound on the optimal rates of the problem, as well as necessary and sufficient conditions for this bound to be tight. Subsequently, we prove a general result that provides in parametric form the optimal solution of the characterization of this problem. Capitalizing on these results, we examine the structure of the solution for one case study of general binary alphabets under Hamming distortions and solve in closed form a special case. We also solve another general binary alphabet case where a Hamming and an erasure distortion coexist, as a means to highlight the importance of selecting the type of the distortion constraint in goal-oriented semantic communication. Furthermore, we develop a goal-oriented Blahut-Arimoto (BA) algorithm, which can be used for the computation of any finite alphabet intrinsic or extrinsic message under individual distortion criteria. Finally, we revisit the problem for multidimensional independent and identically distributed ( $\mathop {\mathrm {i.i.d.}}$ ) jointly Gaussian processes with individual mean-square error (MSE) distortion constraints, providing new insights that have previously been overlooked. This work reveals the cardinal role of context-dependent fidelity criteria in goal-oriented semantic communication.


Phototunable photonic band gap materials were prepared by infiltration of a liquid crystalline azopolymer into voids of a SiO2 inverse opal film. Linearly polarized light irradiation resulted in a reversible and stable shift of the reflection band to longer wavelength region due to the transformation of azobenzene groups from random to anisotropic molecular orientation. Acrylate and methacrylate copolymers having both azobenzene and tolane groups in side chain have been synthesized in order to improve switching property. Upon irradiation of linearly polarized light SiO2 inverse opal film infiltrated with methacrylate copolymer showed a larger wavelength shift of the reflection band compared to that of the composite film infiltrated with acrylate copolymer.


The article is devoted to modeling the dynamics of migration at the regional level. In the context of the transition to a post-industrial society, population migration becomes more dynamic, which requires improving approaches to its forecasting and makes significant the study of personal strategies for choosing the time of migration and the host region by agents. Different strategies of agents lead to the emergence of migrant strata with dynamically changing number, unevenly distributed among the receiving regions. As a result, it can observed nonlinear fluctuations in the number of migrants, for the study of which simulation modeling tools are relevant. This research is devoted to the study of the migration processes complex dynamics by the method of agent-based modeling. The simulation is based on the assumption that a migrant, when choosing a region, follows a strategy, characteristic of his age group, which in the long end directly affects the distribution of the number of migrants of various cohorts and the total number of migrants in the region. At this, the strategy choice is determined by socio-economic characteristics of the regions: different levels of economic, social and environmental attractiveness. The authors hypothesized that different strategies of migration behavior can lead to complex migration dynamics. To test the hypothesis, the authors built a basic agent-based model of migration for three regions, which takes into account various strategies of agents' migration behavior, including the choice of a region with the highest economic, social or environmental level of attractiveness. The result of numerical experiments shows that a combination of various strategies for choosing a region with a change in the age structure of migrants leads to periodic and complex regimes of migration dynamics. The authors have found the conditions under which complex dynamics in the model occurs in the short - and medium-term periods.


The invention relates to a method for measuring the parameter of an omega welding seam defect, in particular to a method for measuring the parameter of an omega welding seam defect, which is applied to a control rod drive mechanism of a nuclear power plant. The method adopts a welding technique estimation test piece of the omega welding seam to manufacture a contrast test block, adopts an automatic detection device containing an ultrasonic detection method and a vortex detection method to measure the parameter of the defect and judges the parameter of the defect integrally. The method can effectively measure the parameter of the omega welding seam defect of the control rod drive mechanism of the nuclear power plant accurately, provides data support for the preventive maintenance of the control rod drive mechanism, provides guarantee for the nuclear safety and is suitable for detecting the parameter of the welding seam defect in nuclear industry system.


ABSTRACT: This article is a research finding aiming at reconstructing and analyzing the slogans related to Indonesian nation integration in the 1968-1998 New Order regime printed mass media. The research questions of this paper are as follows: (1) What slogans were used?; and (2) How and why did the national integration propaganda slogans take place in the New Order regime? The article also searched for how the New Order regime's machine produced a lot of slogans regarding the ideas of national integration done in various ways. This paper used discourse analysis and historical interpretation. The reason why this research was conducted is the fact that the slogans on the national integration in the New Order regime have not yet documented and analysed. This analysis deals with the understanding of slogan texts as the record of the New Order regime. Another objective of the research is to complete the study on New Order regime, as well as as a comparative study with the slogans taking place in the Reform era. KEY WORDS: Slogan, New Order regime, printed media, national integration, and comparative study.  About the Authors: Dr. Zeffry Alkatiri and Muhammad Wasith Albar, M.Hum. are Lecturers at the Department of History, Faculty of Humanities UI (University of Indonesia), Campus UI Depok 16424, West Java, Indonesia. They can be reached at: firstname.lastname@example.com and firstname.lastname@example.com How to cite this article? Alkatiri, Zeffry & Muhammad Wasith Albar. (2010). "National Integration Slogans in Printed Mass Media in the Era of New Order Regime in Indonesia, 1968-1998" in TAWARIKH: International Journal for Historical Studies , Vol.2(1) October, pp.109-122. Bandung, Indonesia: ASPENSI [Asosiasi Sarjana Pendidikan Sejarah Indonesia], ISSN 2085-0980. Chronicle of the article: Accepted (August 12, 2010); Revised (September 24, 2010); and Published (October 28, 2010).


ABSTRACT: Biochemical and pharmacologic studies suggest that I2 imidazoline binding sites (I2BS) represent a heterogeneous family of membrane proteins. Indeed, the imidazoline binding sites located on monoamine oxidases (MAO) A and B display different pharmacologic properties. Recent results suggest that in liver and brain, I2BS may be located on proteins distinct from MAOs. The following observations indicate that in liver and brain, [3H]idazoxan binds exclusively to I2BS located on MAO‐B: (1) size exclusion chromatography of digitonin‐solubilized preparations from rabbit and human liver showed that [3H]idazoxan‐specific binding eluted only in two peaks (∼175,000 and ∼100,000 Da, corresponding to 90% and 10% of the recovered [3H]idazoxan binding) which also contained MAOs as determined by [14C]tyramine oxidation and Western blot analysis; (2) according to previous results obtained in various human and rat tissues, experiments performed in mice liver and brain showed that idazoxan was a potent inhibitor of [125I]‐AZIPI photoincorporation to MAO‐B but not to MAO‐A; (3) in MAO‐deficient transgenic mice, [3H]idazoxan binding to liver and brain membranes was completely abolished in MAO‐B knockout mice and was not affected in MAO‐A knockout mice. Together, these results show that in both liver and brain, I2BS are located exclusively on MAO‐B. The imidazoline binding site on MAO‐A, which photoincorporates [125I]‐AZIPI and displays a low affinity for idazoxan, may not belong to the family of the I2 imidazoline binding sites.


This research purposes to know the activities, role, and those public
communication campaign activities held by Indonesian Child Protection
Commission (KPAI) to protect children in 2011 especially reviewed from Law
No. 23 of 2002. The campaign is a response or reaction due to more intense
violence against children cases occurred in Indonesia. More media reported
violence against children cases. Ironically, most of the violence against children
cases did by close people of the victims. As one of the efforts to handle the
problem, KPAI formulated public communication campaign about how
importance to give protection to children. As a government institution that its duty
is to watch and ensure the implementation of Law No. 23 of 2002
Regarding Child Protection, KPAI next cooperated with independent institution
and another government institution to educated society about children protection
from violence and also about a child rights fulfillment in his/her social life.
The campaign that aims to aware society so they care to protect the
children from various violence, did by informed the society about the A to Z of
violence against children. Information about acts that include to violence against
children, sentence for the perpetrator, negative effect that may happen to a child
that experienced violence, was delivered to all elements of society because KPAI
assumed that all element in society having possibility to do violence against
children.


Identity-based authenticated key exchange protocol(IBAKE) with perfect forward security(PFS) is one of the major advancement in the field of cryptography. This protocol is used to establish secure communication between two parties who are provided with their own unique identities, by establishing their common secret keys without the need of sending and verifying their public key certificates. This scheme involves a key generation centre(KGC) which would provide the two parties involved, with their static key that can be authenticated by the parties. Our protocol can be viewed as a variant of the protocol proposed by Xie et al. in 2012 [8]. Our protocol does not rely on bilinear pairings. We have made a comparative study of the existing protocol and the proposed protocol and proved that our protocol is more efficient. We have also provided enough proofs to verfy that our protocol is secure under attacks and is not forgeable.


The archaeological material found in the small fishing-village founded during the Ptolemaic period on the site of Tell el-Moufariq but now no longer in existence, was very homogeneous in nature. Associated with the domestic installations and the crocodile skeletons, 32 stamped amphora handles were found, the majority dating to the years 220-175 B.C.


A series of three new 1-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-2,5-di(2-thienyl)pyrrole-based polymers such as poly[1-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-2,5-di(2-thienyl)pyrrole] (PTPT), poly[1,4-(2,5-bis(octyloxy)phenylene)-alt 5,5'-(1-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-2,5-di(2-thienyl)pyrrole)] (PPTPT), and poly[2,5-(3-octylthiophene)-alt-5,5'-(1-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-2,5-di(2-thienyl)pyrrole)] (PTTPT) were synthesized and characterized. The new polymers were readily soluble in common organic solvents and the thermogravimetric analysis showed that the three polymers are thermally stable with the 5% degradation temperature >379 °C. The absorption maxima of the polymers were 478, 483, and 485 nm in thin film and the optical band gaps calculated from the onset wavelength of the optical absorption were 2.15, 2.20, and 2.13 eV, respectively. Each of the polymers was investigated as an electron donor blending with PC 70 BM as an electron acceptor in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. BHJ solar cells were fabricated in ITO/PEDOT:PSS/polymer:PC 70 BM/TiO x /Al configurations. The BHJ solar cell with PPTPT:PC 70 BM (1:5 wt %) showed the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.35% (J sc = 7.41 mA/cm 2 , V oc = 0.56 V, FF = 33%), measured using AM 1.5G solar simulator at 100 mW/cm 2 light illumination.


Venezuela ranks fifth in the world in oil proven reserves and has the largest accumulation of liquid fuel in the world. With its importance as an oil country, many countries including the U.S. have expressed concerns about Venezuela's current economic and political situation. Using the popular SWOT analysis, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats facing the country, are identified. The discussion and conclusions summarize the observations and address the relative tradeoffs within the country. Finally goals and policies appropriate for Venezuelan reform are presented.


The genetic parameters of body height,body length,chest girth,hind leg girth and shank circumference of 6-,12-and 18-month-old Xianan cattle were estimated based on the data recorded from 1992 to 2005 by animal model using MTDFREML.The result showed that heritability of these body measurement traits ranged from 0.31 to 0.60;the genetic correlation of body measurements at 6 months,12 months and 18 months varied in the range of 0.72~0.94,0.71~0.88 and 0.73~0.95,respectively;and the genetic correlation of body measurement between different age groups varied from 0.87 to 0.95.


It is well-known that every sufficiently large positive integer is the sum of seven cubes. Both proofs of this result, due to Linnik and Watson, are ineffective. Here we show that Watson's proof may be made effective.


The fabrication process of the GaAs-based materials included the deposition of the (Ga,Mn)As alloy at low temperature by conventional solid-source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and subsequent thermal annealing. The ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases are found to coexist in the whole temperature range below Tc. Rapid thermal annealing turns the ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As into a paramagnetic matrix. The structural and magnetic properties of granular films prepared by using different annealing recipes have been investigated by X-ray diffraction, superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry, and transmission electron microscopy. The temperature dependence of the lattice parameter a of the nanoclusters also exhibits a significant variation around the bulk MnAs phase transition temperature.


The study empirically investigates the impact of the legal and regulatory environments on financial intermediation in an emerging sub-saharan economy, with evidence drawn from the Nigerian Commercial banks. The method employed included the construction, estimation and analysis of econometric models. Using annual time-series data (1970–2000), the models attempted to investigate the relationships between the nominated financial intermediation indices (financial interrelation ratio, FIR and the commercial banking ratio, CBR), and the indicators of the legal environment, geographic, price, and product regulation. The results show that the legal and regulatory environments exert a very significant effect on financial intermediation operations of commercial banks in Nigeria. Particularly, the legal environmental index and the index of geographic regulation, individually, affect financial intermediation significantly as expected. The results suggest programs aimed at reducing banking density in the country; enhancing the legal structures and system; and the promulgation of amiable laws and regulations that would encourage intermediation activities.


Etk,one member of the BTK family of non-receptor protein tyrosine kinases,expressed mostly in a variety of epithelial,and endothelial cells,which has been demonstrated to be involved in several cellular processes,including proliferation,differentiation and apoptosis.With deeply understanding on its structure and function,more people pay attention to the relationship between tumors and non-receptor tyrosine kinase Etk.The present article reviewed the Etk structure,its roles in signal transduction and relation with the occurrence and development of tumors.


Background: The coronavirus pandemic had a major impact on health care service delivery globally. Work force in the health care sector and resources were focused on the critically ill from Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) following the huge number of patients contracting this rapidly spreading virus. All medical specialties not directly involved in treatment of COVID-19 witnessed interruption in services, urologic care was not spared. Objective: This study aims to assess the impact of coronavirus Disease -19 (COVID-19) on patients visiting urology outpatient clinic at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital. Methods: It was a prospective cross-sectional study conducted to assess impact of COVID-19 on patients visiting outpatient urology clinic. All consecutive patients aged 18 years and above who consented were recruited. Continuous data like age were presented in mean and standard deviation, while categorical data were presented in percentages. Association between dependent and independent variables were determined using Pearson chi square or fisher's exact where appropriate while predictors of impact were assessed using multivariate logistic regression. P-value set as ˂0.05. Results: A total of 154 respondents participated. Mean age was 61.9 years. Males constitute 90.3% of respondent. Only 6% of participants felt negative impact of COVID-19 on urology care. Age of respondent was the only determinant of impact of COVID-19 (p-value=0.014). There were no predictors of impact amongst socio demographic characteristics in a multivariate logistic regression. In the study 48.1%, 16.2% and 12.3% of participants suggested the use of phone calls, home visits and telemedicine as means of consultation to improve outpatient urology care and reduce the spread of COVID-19. Conclusions: The impact of COVID-19 on outpatients urology care was minimal at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital. Age was a determinant of impact. Improvement in access to telemedicine and phone calls were suggested as measures to further improve urology care while efforts are put in place to prevent spread of disease and achieve cure during the pandemic.


The article presents the results of the subjective well-being study of a certain social and professional group – scientific and pedagogical workers of modern universities. The results of a survey of 750 scientific and pedagogical workers of universities in the Southern Federal District and North-Caucasian Federal District, as well as 10 federal universities of Russia, with a focus on identifying the importance of subjective well-being factors of higher education teachers, are presented and the contribution of materialism and post-materialism to this phenomenon is revealed. The conclusion is drawn about the relationship of well-being in the field of scientific and pedagogical activity with indicators of satisfaction with life, social relations, and emotional involvement of teachers in professional activities. The results are interpreted in a interdisciplinary studies methodological framework of positive psychology, sociology, institutional and behavioral


Objective:To detect a new agarose gel electrophoretic method for separating bone and liver alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes in serum.Method:Four groups of buffers were choiced to made 0 7% of agarose and adding 1% Triton X-100 in it.For treating samples with neuraminidate before electrophoresis,then the samples were scanned by fluoresce.Results:barbital/HCL/EDTA was the best of the buffers.Adding neuraminidate was changed the migration of liver ALP and bone ALP,made the distance of separation wide.Adding Triton X-100 made the bands more tightness and isoenzymes was easy to identify.Conclusion:The method used the suitably buffer system,neuraminidate and Triton X-100,it made the quantitive analysis bone and liver ALP isoenzyme in serum become impossible and let us satisfied to sensitivity and precision. [WT5HZ]


Adoption of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology in clinical practice has increased over the past few years with numerous studies demonstrating its benefit in persons with diabetes. In addition, the use of CGM systems is now recommended in multiple guidelines for diabetes care. Implementation of personal‐ and professional‐use CGM technology can facilitate patient‐centered discussions in clinical decision making and empower behavioral change. Pharmacists can incorporate CGM into diabetes management practices to help optimize therapy and overcome therapeutic inertia. This "how to" guide is written for pharmacists who are interested in integrating CGM into their clinical practice to improve care for those living with diabetes. It provides an overview of the different CGM systems available and describes the differences between personal‐ and professional‐use CGM to facilitate decision making for use in clinical practice. It also discusses considerations for use, candidates for coverage, billing for CGM services, data interpretation, and documentation. Lessons learned and advice for implementing into clinical practice are also provided.


In the academic field, it is generally believed that the latter part of the poem "Drive Nuo" written by Li Se describes the common people. However,it is not the case. Actually,it is a mask performance,a ancient Korea Nuo performance, which was greatly influenced by the palace Nuo politeness and western foreign culture in Tang and Song dynasties.


Two production lines in a farm with Hog cholera for years,which basic conditions were completely identical,were used as groups in the Veterinary Epidemiology experiment to study the vaccination Schedules for control of Hog cholera.Going through four stages,three schedeles had been studied and one of them was Considered the best schedule in the farm with Hog cholera.This schedule includs two inoculations,the first inoculation to piglets is carried out before having colostrum and the second is carried out when piglets are 30 days old.


This research describes about syria interests in Lebanon in conducting diplomatic relations. In the beginning, Syria did not agree with the establishment of the Lebanese State because it leads to reduced part of Syrian territory. Syria initially determined not to open formal diplomatic relations with Lebanon. In 2008 Syria began to open the way for diplomatic relations. The attitude of Syria in opening diplomatic relations with Lebanon certainly has its own importance. This research uses a realist perspective. Where the realist focused that the State is a major actor in international politics. Syria opened relations with Lebanon to achieve the interests of his country. In this paper, the author uses the analysis of the level of the nation state that focuses on the discussion of the diplomatic relations forged by Syria in Lebanon. The author uses the method of library research to collect data, the data collection methods of books, journals, articles, internet and other supporting media. The results of this research indicate that Syria has a national interest in Lebanon. Therefore, syria opened diplomatic relations with Lebanon which will provide benefits in syria, namely in the field of military security, and regional integration. Keywords :diplomatic relations, national interest, regional integration


Although numerous studies have been conducted on the needs of cancer patients at the end of their life, there is a lack of studies focused on older patients with non-oncological complex chronic multipathologies. Examining these needs would help to gain a greater understanding of the profile of this specific population within the palliative care (PC) pathway and how the health and care systems can address them. Substantial changes are needed in health and care systems at the institutional level to provide more specialized PC environments and systematized PC processes for multimorbid older patients. It is vital to understand and address the needs of multimorbid older patients and their caregivers given that the number of these patients is growing, which may challenge current healthcare systems


"Diabesity" is a new compound word that grates on Minerva, but it gets 140 000 hits on Google, 180 hits on PubMed, and already has several websites, so there is probably no stopping its spread. Whatever people choose to call it, the epidemic of obesity induced diabetes among young people in many developed and developing countries is deeply worrying. An Australian registry study in Diabetes Care (2013, doi:10.2337/ dc12-2455) compares outcomes in 354 people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) between ages 15 and 30 years with those in 470 people with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) diagnosed at roughly the same age. During a median follow-up period of over 20 years, the T2DM group had significantly greater mortality, and a higher incidence of neuropathy, albuminuria, and macrovascular outcomes. The researchers conclude: "Young-onset T2DM is the more lethal phenotype of diabetes and associated with a greater mortality, more diabetes complications and unfavorable cardiovascular disease risk factors than T1DM." Where do you want to die? Palliative care doctors encourage us to ask this question (if not so bluntly), and in the United Kingdom, they have helped to improve the proportion of patients with cancer who die in their place of preference. But most people do not die of cancer, and for them the situation is not so good and may have worsened since 2004, according to a systematic review in BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care (2013, doi:10. 1136/bmjspcare-2012-000292). The authors looked at 26 studies (12 of which were from the UK) of congruence between patients' wishes and their ultimate place of death. For those with non-cancer diagnoses, achievement of the preferred place of death occurred in 54.7% of patients, compared with 64.6% of those with a cancer diagnosis—and there are indications that the disparity is growing. Effective thrombolysis for stroke depends on rapid recognition, and the first stage is when a patient, or more probably a bystander, calls the emergency services. The words used in 473 such calls were analysed and compared with 277 non-stroke emergency calls in Emergency Medicine Journal (2013, doi:10. 1136/emermed-2013-202752). During emergency calls requesting an ambulance for cases later confirmed as stroke, "stroke" wasmentioned in 40% of instances, and limbweakness and speech difficulty in 15% each; during non-stroke calls, the proportions were 3-4% for each key word. That still leaves many stroke calls that fail to mention any key words. Fatigue comes top of the symptom list in most chronic illnesses, but gets relatively little research attention. Every week, Minerva reads about new interventional trials in multiple sclerosis (MS), but seldom any directly investigating the overwhelming fatigue that is the biggest burden for many people with MS. So she welcomes the FACETS trial reported in Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry (2013, doi:10.1136/jnnp-2012303816), in which 164 patients with MS were randomised to usual care or that plus a complex, six session intervention aimed at reducing fatigue severity. The investigators proved that the intervention had benefit, but were unable to calculate cost effectiveness because (bizarrely) improvements in fatigue are not reflected in the calculation of quality adjusted life year outcomes. "Nerd" was a pejorative word when it first appeared in the United States early in the 1950s, but is increasingly used as a badge of pride by those who know how to delve into the innards (innerds?) of information technology. Those who delve into the innards of the human body use NERD in a different sense—it is non-erosive reflux disease, used to describe heartburn accompanied by normal findings on endoscopy. You can read about the possible mechanisms of this "disease" in Gut (2013, doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2013-305101); or if you have it, you can just take some omeprazole. History teaches us that when doctors knowwhat they are doing, they all do the same thing. History also teaches us that when doctors don't know what they are doing, they do a lot of different things, according to the colour of their robes. A paper inUrology (2013, doi:10.1016/j.urology.2013.04.060) explores the differences in treatment recommendations in the US between those wearing the blue robes of a urological surgeon and those wearing the white livery of a radiation oncologist, when presented with a patient with pathologically advanced prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy. Faced with various specific clinical features—such as Gleason scores and disease margins—the radiation oncologists and urologists recommended markedly different treatments for adjuvant and salvage radiotherapy. The authors suggest that "Patients with adverse pathologic features after radical prostatectomy should consult with both a urologist and radiation oncologist to hear a diversity of opinions to make the most informed decision possible." Or perhaps this just means more confusion for the patients, and more robe money for the doctors. Many languages contain particles, which are simply there to fill the space between thoughts: the ancient Greeks would put a "de" in now and again, and medieval Englishmen would stick in an "eke" whenever they felt short of a syllable (hence the expression "eke out"). Most of us content ourselves with the odd "um" and "er"; but the use of "like" as a particle, which used to be endemic to certain regions such as northeast England and to certain social classes, has now become pandemic. It seems, like, impossible to communicate within certain groups without using "like," like, all the time. Teenage girls are, like, the main vectors of this infection—but according to a study in the invaluable journal of the American Dialect Society (American Speech 2013, doi:10.1215/00031283-2346825), its use has now spread to American children as young as, like, 4.


Given a matrix $A\in SL(N,\Z)$, form the semidirect product $G=\Z^N\rtimes_A \Z$ where the $\Z$ factor acts on $\Z^N$ by $A$. Such a $G$ arises naturally as the fundamental group of an $N$-dimensional torus bundle which fibers over the circle. In this paper we prove that if $A$ has distinct eigenvalues not lying on the unit circle, then there exists a finite index subgroup $H\leq G$ possessing rational growth series for some generating set. In contrast, we show that if $A$ has at least one eigenvalue not lying on the unit circle, then $G$ is not almost convex for any generating set.


The purpose of this study is to examine the economic function that rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) serve in the lives of the poor. The proposition is that the primary function of ROSCAs is to assist their members to save money in the face of wavering self-discipline. Evidence to this effect is derived from data collected in two rural areas of South Africa. The issue of imperfect self-discipline is related to the concept of dynamic inconsistency, by which is meant the tendency to deviate from one's plans or intentions. In the context of ROSCAs, dynamic inconsistency means failing to save as much money as one needs or intends to save. It is proposed that people are susceptible to this type of dynamic inconsistency due to at least three factors: cognitive difficulty in identifying the optimal savings plan in the first place; vulnerability to impulse spending; and a high degree of impatience. ROSCAs serve as a potent antidote to dynamic inconsistency, because they establish a robust commitment to regimented behavior. People join ROSCAs precisely because ROSCAs promise to enforce a consistency in behavior that one may fail to achieve on one's own.


Arid and semi-arid areas occupy one third of the total area of the world. This vast region is rich in natural resources. In recent times, desertification has become a world-wide phenomenon, due to human activities. China also suffers from this problem. Desertification is especially severe in the southeastern part of the arid and semi-arid region of the country. In this paper, the use of remote sensing and geographical information systems for monitoring desertification and environmental change is described and an example is given of how such information can be used for regional planning.


The CA certificate is a certificate issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) to an entity as authentication certificate. With this type of authentication certificate, the entity is also allowed to issue a sub-certificate to the end nodes. In this paper we present a protocol of CA certificate that issued to particular routers in the Internet, which in turn, the router is allowable to issue sub-certificates to the connected nodes. The format of the CA certificate and the sub-certificate is an extension to what had presented in user's digital certificate. However the protocol for issuing, renewing and revoking the router's CA certificate and the node's subcertificates is new and first time presented in the literature. Analysis of the security consideration of each part of this protocol is also presented. By the introduction of this protocol we are able to avoid the replay attack, man in the middle attack and denial of service attack (flooding type).


With just one quick glance at the scene, a sighted person can obtained enough spatial information to navigate through the scene. A wall on the left and the right, a ball is situated just right in the front. This is the spatial information that helps us navigate through any unfamiliar environment. As sighted person, we are taking this spatial information for granted. This much-needed information is lost on the visually impaired and the blind. Preliminary literature investigations have shown how spatial information of the facing scene can greatly benefit individuals with impairments. This paper investigated the possibility of extracting spatial information awareness of the facing scene given its disparity image. After the whole disparity image is analysed using gradient operator, it is broken into three equal sections, foreground, mid-ground and background. Each section is analysed independently according to the needed spatial information. The relative size of the object occupied in the three sections contains needed information of the facing scene spatial information and also information regarding the type of the facing scene, close range, mid range or outer range. Experiments, which extracted spatial information awareness, were conducted on both a synthetic disparity image and real disparity images, yielding promising results.


ABSTRACT It has long been observed that speakers employ spatial concepts "front" and "back" to talk about temporal concepts "past" and "future." However, the direction of space-time mappings varies across cultures. According to Temporal Focus Hypothesis (TFH), people's implicit associations between space and time are conditioned by their temporal focus. Here we tested whether pregnancy can affect Chinese women's temporal focus and thereby influence their space-time mappings. One of the most striking characteristics of pregnant women noted by previous research is their future-oriented thought. Based on this, we predicted that pregnant women should be more future-focused. Consistent with this prediction, the results demonstrated that pregnant women tended to be more future-focused than non-pregnant women and demonstrated a greater tendency to conceptualize the future as in front of them, supporting the TFH. The current research offers a new perspective that culture-external factors such as pregnancy can also influence people's spatialization of time.


In this paper the solvability problems of some boundary value problems for a non-local Poisson equation are studied. A non-local Poisson equation is represented by using some orthogonal matrix. The properties and examples of such matrices are given. In the current boundary value problem, which being considered in the paper, the fractional order differentiation operators are used as boundary operators. These operators are defined as derivatives of the Hadamard-Caputo type. Note that in particular cases of the parameters of the boundary conditions we obtain well known conditions of the Dirichlet, Neumann, and Robin type problems. For the problems under consideration, theorems on the existence and uniqueness of solutions are proved. The exact solvability conditions for the problem under study are found. In addition, we obtained representation for the solution of the fractional boundary problem for non-local Poisson equation.In this paper the solvability problems of some boundary value problems for a non-local Poisson equation are studied. A non-local Poisson equation is represented by using some orthogonal matrix. The properties and examples of such matrices are given. In the current boundary value problem, which being considered in the paper, the fractional order differentiation operators are used as boundary operators. These operators are defined as derivatives of the Hadamard-Caputo type. Note that in particular cases of the parameters of the boundary conditions we obtain well known conditions of the Dirichlet, Neumann, and Robin type problems. For the problems under consideration, theorems on the existence and uniqueness of solutions are proved. The exact solvability conditions for the problem under study are found. In addition, we obtained representation for the solution of the fractional boundary problem for non-local Poisson equation.


This dissertation is a case study from Norway focusing on social interaction between refugees and caseworkers within the framework of a recent integration programme, the so-called Introductory Programme. The main objective of my analysis is to illustrate how the relation between the refugees and caseworkers is influenced by the policy, and to describe some of the challenges they face. My central argument is that both the refugees and the caseworkers have adopted more complex tasks and roles under the programme, and I discuss what impacts this appears to have on the relation between the two parties.


The present invention relates to a kind of method for tooling of anti-creep device, especially a kind of method for tooling of Anti-creep device of rail vehicle, belong to vehicular equipment frock technical field.The present invention is the front end described anti-creep device being fixed on rail vehicle, comprise the following steps: difference fixed mounting on the draw bar of both sides, rail vehicle front end, in one end of the hinged corresponding movable parts of the front end of each mount pad difference, the other end of each movable parts is arranged on respectively the two ends of anti-creeper, to be fixed on described draw bar bottom the connecting rod of gas spring, the piston end of gas spring be by being hinged on movable parts, near the position of mount pad.Its beneficial effect is: ensure personal security, meets installation requirement while increasing the effect of operational space under car.


Pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated from intravenous data based upon a two-compartment open model. These parameters were subsequently used to determine the absorption rates and bioavailability of cephradine administered intramuscularly and orally. The results indicate that cephradine obeys dose-independent kinetics and that biological availability is complete from all dosage forms.


To the Editor. The patient, a 32-year-old female, was discovered to have bilateral sensory deafness whenshe was 9 years old. There was no history of tetany attack nor congenital immune deficiency in her family. At 20 years of her age, she married a manwho had sensory deafness. There was, however, no consanguinity between them. She had a tetany attack after the delivery of her first baby, when she was 22 years old. Since then, she has had tetany attacks several times a year, but unfortunately her condition was misdiagnosed as hyperventilation. She has given birth to five babies, but the second and fifth babies died from infantile respiratory distress syndrome and renal hypoplasia, respectively, and the third baby had polydactyly. In July 1997, she visited our hospital and was diagnosed as idiopathic hypoparathyroidism: Ca, Ca++, iP were 5.5 mg/dl, 0.69 mmol//, 5. 1 mg/dl and parathyroid hormone (PTH)-intact and high sensitive PTH were <5 pg/ml and <50 pg/ml, respectively. Urinary CAMPand Pi responses were normal to exogenous PTH. The pituitary, thyroid, adrenal and renal functions were normal, and no autoantibodies to pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid or adrenal glands were observed.


With the evolution of internet towards web 2.0 and real time communications and the adoption of IMS by telecommunications service providers, SIP becomes the next major protocol that application developer may want to rely on to develop their latest applications.
 As SIP specifications stabilize, SIP application server become well understood entities. In fact most application servers, like J2EE, now support SIP servlet containers. As a result it become essential to understand how such SIP applications should interact with other web or IT applications.
 In this paper, we describe a call control driven MVC programming model for converged applications, defined as application that mix Web and SIP. The programming model is then generalized to any call or media control situation.
 As most telecommunications networks, in particular mobile network evolve towards the IMS, such programming model is expected to become essential to the development of future IMS mobile applications. It is in fact not limited to mobile, but extends to any application on network deploying IP (internet, broadband, wired and wireless with or without IMS as well as converged applications that provides a same experience across multiple such access networks).
 The programming model presented in this paper can be extended to rely on the notion of enabler, thereby supporting the combination of call control with other mobile, voice and communication features and the deployment over any network (IMS, SIP and other SIP deployments as well as legacy networks (e.g. PSTN and IN)).


This study aims to determine the effectiveness of the performance of the Padang Disaster Management Agency in coordinating among stakeholders in disaster management in the city of Padang. The research method used in this study is qualitative research. Data collection techniques in this study were conducted by interview and documentation study. The research was conducted at the Padang Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) office, Padang Social Service office, Padang Search and Relief Agency office, and Padang Red Cross (PMI) Headquarters. The technique of selecting informants that the researchers used was purposive sampling. The results of the study showed that the function of coordination carried out by the BPBD of Padang City could be said to be effective. This is because all stakeholders are involved in handling disasters, especially during emergency response. Among the forms of coordination is the involvement of the Rapid Reaction Team (TRC) which plays a role in identifying disaster status so that handling can be quickly carried out. Furthermore BPBD along with relevant stakeholders also coordinated to carry out joint handling in providing assistance to disaster victims.


Design, Development and Evaluation of Nanoparticulate Based Carrier Systems for Ocular Drug delivery P ag e1 4 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF EYE The unique anatomy, physiology and biochemistry of eye render this organ impervious to foreign substances, thus presenting a constant challenge to the formulator to circumvent the protective barriers of the eye without causing permanent tissue damage (Karthikayen et al., 2008). 1.1.1 Structure of the ocular globe Anatomically, the eye is divided into the anterior and posterior segments. The former includes the cornea, the anterior chamber, the iris, the ciliary body, and the lens; the latter is composed of the vitreous, the choroid, the sclera the retina and the retinal pigment epithelium (Ambati et al., 2002).


The present invention relates to an effective sync state management method between the E-UMTS (Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) system and a wireless terminal in the system. Synchronous state management method of the mobile communication system according to the present invention, the terminal transmits the state information to the base station, the base station manages the synchronization state of the mobile station according to status information of the terminal transmitted from the down-direction data flows with the mobile station by, using the radio resources more efficiently and to extend the battery life of the terminal. E-UMTS, the synchronization status management of the terminal


Two Apollo 14 breccias have been found to contain xenon from the spontaneous fission of 82 my Pu-244. A third contains 60 times as much fission xenon as local uranium can account for and is probably of similar character. One of the breccias shows a Xe-129 excess most likely due to the decay of 17 my I-129. That these components can be separated and identified at all implies that complete isotopic homogenization has not occurred over a period which encompasses both extinction of these radionuclides and compaction of the breccias into their final form. In this sense isotope pre-history has been preserved in some lunar breccias providing information that pre-dates the formation of the rock itself (as determined by conventional techniques).


N-doped mesoporous carbons containing small amounts of graphitic carbon have been successfully prepared using the nanocasting technique. Polypyrrole was used as N-dopant carbon precursor and SBA-15 or silica xerogel as templates. Graphitic carbon domains provide a good electronic conductivity of up to 0.33 S cm−1, a necessary property for electrochemical applications, while a mesoporous structure reduces mass transport limitations. These characteristics are further combined with a high N content (3.55–5.45 wt%). As a result, the as-prepared materials exhibit an enhanced intrinsic electrocatalytic activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). They exhibit an onset potential of ∼−90 to −70 mV vs. Ag/AgCl and a current density in the lower potential regime that exceeds that of a commercial platinum catalyst in a basic medium. Their behavior is superior to that of Vulcan XC72R carbon. Furthermore, unlike commercial Pt catalysts, they are unaffected by the methanol cross-over effect. It was found that the graphitic content must be well-balanced as, on the one hand, it enhances conductivity but, on the other hand, it selectively catalyses an unfavorable 2e− process.


Dairy management information service platform based on PDA is constructed by embedded technology and artificial intelligence.The platform not only achieve dairy performance management,dairy feeding management and other basic data acquisition and information retrieval,but also can estimate the inbreeding coefficient by using the path theory,the system can avoid dairy inbreeding and reach the scientific Heredity improvement.


When the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, the country reverted to a civil war between the Northern Alliance and the Taliban. After 9/11, the U.S. led coalition enabled the Alliance to defeat the Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies. By December 2001 the city of Kandahar was abandoned by the Taliban and under the Bonn Agreement, Hamid Karzai became President of the Afghan Transitional Government. By January 2002, NATO forces in Operation Anaconda forced the retreat of al-Qaeda from Afghanistan to Pakistan.


This paper reports the results of a first attempt at compensating for variability in formant-trajectory representations due to differences in suspect and offender recording conditions. Formant-trajectory measurements were made on tokens of /iau/ in a database of high-quality and mobile-to-landline-transmitted recordings of 60 female speakers of Chinese. Discrete cosine transforms (DCT) were fitted to the formant trajectories. DCTs were transformed using feature mapping and using canonical linear discriminant functions. Transformed coefficients were used to calculate likelihood ratios via the multivariate kernel density formula. Application of the compensation procedures did not lead to substantial improvement in validity or reliability.